M.B. Maramkal

MYSORE: Mysore Mayor Narayan could not believe his ears when, on Wednesday, a resident in his locality invited him for lunch.

Twenty-five years ago, the same man refused to go anywhere near him when Narayan went to the area to clean drains as a `safai karmachari' in Mysore municipality.

Mayor Narayan, a former `safai karmachari', was in tears when he narrated how people treated him then and how they treat him now.

At the luncheon, in Vidhyaranyapuram area, Narayan said, he was grateful to the Indian Constitution and the people who reserved the mayoral chair even for the downtrodden.

"They were the people who poured tea into my cup from a distance, now they have invited me for lunch, " he said, hastily adding, he was in no way casting aspersions on the behaviour of the people.

"The system must be blamed, not the people," he said, expressing happiness over changing times and the attitude of the people towards dalits.