Joothan - A Dalit's life || My excerpts
The very title “Joothan” meaning ‘left-out food’ itself made me pause for a second and sit back with the thought of giving it a try. The subtitle goes like ‘A Dalit’s life’ is an autobiography of Omprakash Valmiki translated in English by Arun Prabha Mukherjee, describing the worst clutches of casteism. There is a saying that “People can’t understand certain things until they undergo them’ and I found it true on reading this book. We have heard about the worst forms of casteism but after heavy manual labor just receiving the ‘left-out food’ as the payment is really sickening.
Source: Stree-Samya books
The most interesting part of the book is the ‘Pitaji’, that is the father of the author who showed a denial against the system of caste. He believed that literacy and a high professional position can only help a person to come out of the iron fist of casteism. This very thought is the seed behind the growth of the author as a person not surrendering himself to the ugly frame of casteism. This support lent by his father becomes the major catalyst and pillar of strength for the author to cross all hurdles placed before him in the name of casteism and ended him successful.
The most interesting part of the book is the ‘Pitaji’, that is the father of the author who showed a denial against the system of caste. He believed that literacy and a high professional position can only help a person to come out of the iron fist of casteism. This very thought is the seed behind the growth of the author as a person not surrendering himself to the ugly frame of casteism. This support lent by his father becomes the major catalyst and pillar of strength for the author to cross all hurdles placed before him in the name of casteism and ended him successful.
Source: Feminism in India
I also have a similar thought to that of the ‘Pitaji’ about casteism and it is halfway true as the author narrates about how a so-called upper caste person who is not even ready to offer the ‘Joothan’ to the author’s mother, dines together with the author’s family as the social status of the author rises. I said halfway because even after attaining a high social status and decent economic position, the author had to suffer the negative traits of casteism because, the so-called upper caste whom I mentioned earlier was now in a bit low economic status, but the later sufferings of the author were from the people who were in a higher economic status than the author. So how much you rise in social strata, there will be a few left to taunt you in the name of caste.
I also have a similar thought to that of the ‘Pitaji’ about casteism and it is halfway true as the author narrates about how a so-called upper caste person who is not even ready to offer the ‘Joothan’ to the author’s mother, dines together with the author’s family as the social status of the author rises. I said halfway because even after attaining a high social status and decent economic position, the author had to suffer the negative traits of casteism because, the so-called upper caste whom I mentioned earlier was now in a bit low economic status, but the later sufferings of the author were from the people who were in a higher economic status than the author. So how much you rise in social strata, there will be a few left to taunt you in the name of caste.
Source: Asia the queue
The next major thing I found in this book was about how the system called caste gets fuelled by the very own circle of a person. Except for the father of the author, the other family members including the wife of the author feels low about their caste identity. The author also narrates how the low caste people tune their caste names slightly to make them sound like upper caste titles, for example, ‘Kesle’ turned into ‘Kesval’. The author also undergoes an inner battle on whether to retain or skip using his surname ‘Valmiki’ from which people identify his caste in a fraction of a second. The surname attracts the other way problem too as he is identified as ‘Brahmin’ by a few upper caste people. Because of this confusion, he loses a love track also.
Source: Whatidsay
But I was happy as the author decides to retain back his surname and gets ready to face all consequences and not drag down his caste himself. I feel this is more important because we may or may not believe in casteism but in a society where we live is molded by the system which we cannot escape. We have to face the caste system at some point in our life and one must not degrade his caste identity by feeling low about it. If not he should not expect others to respect him on caste lines. The book ended with the billion-dollar question that haunts the minds of many, "Why do the 'Savarnas' meaning the castes that find a place in the varna system, hate Dalits?". Even I felt the same after reading this book that where does the feeling of superiority comes, even if it arises too why they need to humiliate the Dalits.
Source: The wire
The important message he delivered was about how the consciousness should arise among the low caste people and slowly should be spread to the other dominant castes by attainment of literacy and high position in the social strata. More importantly to ignore the indirect taunts and stand firm with head held high, because as the status rises, people do not dare to humiliate you directly, about which I have dealt in my earlier blogs. Have shared those links below, give a look.
The important message he delivered was about how the consciousness should arise among the low caste people and slowly should be spread to the other dominant castes by attainment of literacy and high position in the social strata. More importantly to ignore the indirect taunts and stand firm with head held high, because as the status rises, people do not dare to humiliate you directly, about which I have dealt in my earlier blogs. Have shared those links below, give a look.
Sanskritization is not a solution for caste discrimination
Disclaimer: The pictures are used only for reference. I do not own the copyrights.
Disclaimer: The pictures are used only for reference. I do not own the copyrights.
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