sotosay

“Caste System is not merely a division of labour. It is also a division of labourers. It is a hierarchy in which the divisions of labourers are graded one above the other. Caste has killed public spirit. Caste has destroyed the sense of public charity. Caste has made public opinion impossible. Virtue has become caste-ridden and morality has become caste-bound. There is no sympathy to the deserving. There is no appreciation of the meritorious. There cannot be a more degrading system of social organisation than the Chaturvarna. It is the system which deadens, paralyses and cripples the people from helpful activity. Caste in the hands of the orthodox has been a powerful weapon for persecuting the reforms and for killing all reform. These castes are anti-national. In the first place because they bring about separation in social life. They are anti-national also because they generate jealousy and antipathy between caste and caste. The Caste system is a system which is infested with the spirit of isolation and in fact it makes isolation of one Caste from another a virtue. There is isolation in the class system. But it does not make isolation virtue nor does it prohibit social intercourse. The class system, it is true produces groups, but they are not akin to Caste groups. The groups in the class system are only non-social while the Castes in the Caste system are in their mutual relations definitively and positively anti-social. Practically speaking, in a class structure, there is on the one hand, tyranny, vanity, pride, arrogance, greed selfishness and on the other insecurity, poverty, degradation, loss of liberty, self-reliance, independence dignity and self-respect. The group set-up prevents an individual from acquiring consistency of mind, which is possible only when society has common ideals, common models.

The group set-up leads to stratification of classes. Those who are masters remain masters and those who are born in slavery remain slaves. Owners remain owners and workers remain workers. The privileged remain privileged and the serfs remain serfs.“

—   Dr. B. R. Ambedkar

Read more at:

http://www.ambedkar.org/

A few stanzas of Sahir from the excellent blog by Bhupinder Singh at:

http://bhupindersingh.blogspot.com/index.html

 The Shadows

Since long has the polemic of politics decreed
That the child that flowers into youth is ripe for slaughter
Since long have the rulers decreed
That poisonous weeds be sown in far- off lands

Since long are the dreams of youth vacuous
Since long love seeks refuge
Since long, on the trampled roads
Life, like a maiden’s honor, seeks a sheltering roof

Let us call upon all suffering souls
To give voice to their wounds
Our secrets are not only ours
They belong to the entire world
Let this entire world, henceforth, be our confidant

Let us tell these political gamblers
That we hate their ways of war and destruction
Life that is draped in hues of only the colour of blood
Is repugnant to us

Let us declare that if a murderer comes this way
Each road shall turn narrower
Each waft of breeze shall turn around viciously
Each delicate branch of every tree
Shall harden into veins of stone

Shri Sudarshan and Shri Dhasal

This surely is death of an era, of an icon, of an idea; make no mistake, not alone in death. This death takes place today and tomorrow again, and takes with it many a heart, many burning hearts.