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Ssc SOCIAL STUDY CIRCLE di (ESTD
1982) www.dalitindia.com ssc@dalitindia.com *********************************************************************** |
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June 12, 2001
CULTURAL
DEGRADATION OF DALITS
Dalits are the
Native People of the whole Indian Sub-Continent. Unlike the invading nomadic tribes like the Aryans and Mongols;
or the conquerring Greeks, Persians, Turks, other Muslims and Moghuls; or the
traders like the Arabs, Romans, and the Western Europeans, or the explorers
like the Chinese, Italians and the Portugese
They use to get up early in the morning, before the sun
raises, infact before Planet Mercury appears in the horizon. They will get ready, prepare the bulls, pick
up the plough, and collect other implements required for the day, and walk out
of the Village towards their fields. By
the sound of the foot steps in the dark early morning barely with any light,
people will recognise each other and greet, as they go about in different
directions to look after their work.
They were thus highly disciplined hardworking people! The only negative points with them were
that, they use to drink and fight mostly with close and near relatives, on
petty issues, even tough they were otherwise polite mild mannered and in fact
very obedient to the authorities village elders and landlords. They drank often silently at home or very
occasionally with relatives and friends, particularly during festival times or
ceremonies like marriage etc. But in
any case they went to bed early, so as to get up early in the morning for the
next day's work! They were regularly up
in the morning for work, without any fail!
The drinks, therefore they took only in moderation. More over as an excuse, they took some meat
along with these drinks for taste. And
that fortified them adequately, even otherwise! These were also home made drinks, reportedly said to be light and
not intoxicating or harmful, till greedy middle men stepped in, with various
concoction to cause addiction and fleece the poor and their families! Thus, earlier they did not suffer much
physically. These two weaknesses,
perhaps were only deliberate diversionary tactics, to forget their problems,
miseries, sufferings, sickness in the family, shortages, failures somewhere, harassment
and trouble by the landlords etc!
When a boy goes to school he is lost to the family! He is first pampered by the family itself,
and then he stops working for the family!
But at least he is of some help to others, guiding in whatever little
way other children and the neighbors.
But when he passes out of the school to study higher outside the
village, he becomes a big burden on the family! And slowly he is also lost to the village! For, then he thinks too much of
himself. He becomes increasingly
secluded as the days pass by. He starts
disliking the village and his neighborhood.
He starts dreaming about the town future and helplessly tries to imitate
his friends in the class, taxing his parents and others in the family! When in the end he fails to get a job, he
becomes sadly a bad example. He remains
to himself, hardly moving out. When his
father or other elders advice or question other children in the village, and
implore them to study, the children or their parents themselves, sight the case
of this boy, and ask what for they should study? Is it to turn themselves also useless and waste, and also a loss
to the Village! Thus, he
becomes a wrong model, bad example, and that becomes a big disincentive for
other children to study and for their education and learning! If
in case he gets a job and goes out of the village, he is lost by his parents
and family, and also the village, rather permanently! Not only that, he is lost to himself! Confused, rootless,
directionless, really friendless in the big town or the city, he is quickly
sucked in by the urbanising bad factors, and becomes a homeless faceless one in
the unknown millions of the town/city!
Then his degradation that silently kreeped on him right
during his higher education, picks up momentum. He gets up late, never in time for anything, never keeps good
friends, unable to distinguish between good bad and the evil, friends well
wishers and enemies, he is lost to himself!
By the time he gets up, late in the morning, with the sun much above the
origin, the world around him had moved far into the day, leaving him lazy and
still sleepy! And he could neither
catch up with others, or complete his work for the day! What a sad difference between his old
uneducated agricultural farmer back home in the village, and he an young educated
and employed youngster in the town/city!
He is supposed to be dashing and dynamic! Isn't it? He does not
help his younger brothers and sisters, does not think of their education
development and job, nor does he send any money back home! He forgets his friends in the village,
family, elders, parents, younger siblings and the village itself, in due course
of time! He also foolishly imitates and
competes with others and the locals. He
slowly, step by step, picks up one by one, bad evil and harmful habits like
smoking, drinking, spending, unnecessary buying for vanity and only show! Then he does not have any money in hand to
spare! In any case he does not have
sufficient income to live in the town/city.
We must somehow or the other, force such straying Dalits
from going astray. We must coax them,
to take at least the first few steps forward, for progress in their lives as a
People, and not as individuals alone or selfish greedy animals and private
people the brahmins are! We must, if We
have to Copy the brahmins, copy them as a whole Community, helping each
individual member of the community within.
But today, We as a People, are copying all the visible bad qualities of
the brahmins in a worst form - that is to become selfish like them. And We are not copying their private
Community Activities, Collective Care as brahmins alone skillfully do. We are only interested in ourselves, totally
as private individuals! With the
result, while the brahmins are seperate, and are not mixing with the Society or
help other people, and are Selfish not only as Individuals but also
Collectively as One brahmin community as a whole, We are becoming individually
selfish, totally to ourselves! Each one
of us, not forming part of our own Dalit Communities, even though We keep
paying in public lots and lots of lip-sympathies, talking in detail our own
versions of the Community, and about our Messiah Dr Ambedkar, and as Ambedkar
or super-Ambedkar ourselves! That
appears to be only a deliberate ploy, a diversionary tactics, falsehood and a
gimmick to attract the attention of the others and authorities or the employers
or likely patrons! In this we
shamelessly are trying to outbeat and excel the Street Walkers, just as they
only do to attract potential customers for the time, to have some money, take
something and make the day!
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