Today my flat owner just gave me a front-row seat to the caste circus in the city!! The rented flat that I live in is owned by a Rajput woman from Bihar. Owner's parents were visiting their daughter and wanted to have a look at the new property. She called & asked if she can come
I said yes. I quickly hid all the portraits and statues of Dr.Ambedkar from all corners and walls. But missed one portrait, it was still on the wall when they all came.
Owner's old father very confidently asked me what I like the most about Harivansh Rai Bachchan. I was blank for some seconds then I saw him looking at one of the potraits that I missed hiding. He mistook a portrait of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar for Harivansh Rai Bachchan.
Not in my weirdest imagination I can relate to this particular portrait of Dr. Ambedkar with stupid Harivansh Rai Bacchan. I wonder how savarnas never fail at proving their excellence in stupidity & illiteracy.
There are many incidences of such stupid behaviour but another one that immediately striked me today after this incident was the one that happened at TISS, Mumbai.
My PhD hostel roommate, an OBC, a student activist of a left party, asked me if the portrait of Dr. Ambedkar that I hanged in front of my bed was of my grand father. At that moment, I laughed and said yeah!
For so many Dalits, life is a daily struggle with caste, with fear of repercussions and calculating loss. We hide our heroes, while others show off their gods. It's like living in a world turned upside down.
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