2 Dalits Hacked to Death; Another Injured – NDTV
http://www.ndtv.com/tamil-nadu-news/2-dalits-hacked-to-death-another-injured-1231416
Family suicide bid: One more succumbs – The Times Of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/rajkot/Family-suicide-bid-One-more-succumbs/articleshow/49335143.cms
Dalit group offers prayers at Gabela temple, tension continues – The Times Of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/dehradun/Dalit-group-offers-prayers-at-Gabela-temple-tension-continues/articleshow/49327699.cms
Dalit woman alleges she was raped by AIADMK cadre’s son – The Times Of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/coimbatore/Dalit-woman-alleges-she-was-raped-by-AIADMK-cadres-son/articleshow/49332671.cms
Arunthathiyars allege atrocities – The Hindu
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/arunthathiyars-allege-atrocities-near-nagercoil/article7755409.ece
Put all SC/ST atrocity cases online: SIC to Maharashtra government – DNA
http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-put-all-scst-atrocity-cases-online-sic-to-maharashtra-government-2134268
Untouchability in India: Some facts on the oldest social hierarchy still being practiced in India – India Today
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/education/story/untouchability-in-india/1/484816.html
Convention on ‘Save Reservation’ held – The Excelsior
http://www.dailyexcelsior.com/convention-on-save-reservation-held-2/
Report on implementation of SC, ST Act to be released – The Hindu
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/report-on-implementation-of-sc-st-act-to-be-released/article7755172.ece
Job quotas pledge in private sector upsets upper castes – Zee News
http://zeenews.india.com/news/bihar/job-quotas-pledge-in-private-sector-upsets-upper-castes_1808378.html
Of Human Bondage- The Tehelka
http://www.tehelka.com/2015/10/of-human-bondage/
Save Dalit Foundation:
Educate, agitate & organize! – Dr. Ambedkar.
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Please Watch:
Al Jazeera World – Dalit Muslims of India
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7xTSy4P9QI
NDTV
2 Dalits Hacked to Death; Another Injured
http://www.ndtv.com/tamil-nadu-news/2-dalits-hacked-to-death-another-injured-1231416
Tamil Nadu | Press Trust of India | Updated: October 13, 2015 07:17 IST
TIRUNELVELI, TAMIL NADU: Two Dalit men were hacked to death and another seriously injured by a six-member armed gang in Tirunelveli on Monday night, police said.
The gang followed the three men, who were travelling on a two-wheeler, waylaid and attacked them near a petrol station on the Tenkasi road.
Police said Shanmugam (54) and Mariappan (33) died on the spot, while Rajkumar was seriously injured and admitted to hospital.
The reason for the attack is under investigation, police said.
Tension prevailed at Paraiyadi where the deceased lived and armed policemen have been posted in the area.
Special teams have been formed to nab the culprits, police added.
The Times Of India
Family suicide bid: One more succumbs
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/rajkot/Family-suicide-bid-One-more-succumbs/articleshow/49335143.cms
TNN | Oct 13, 2015, 01.32 PM IST
RAJKOT: While two persons booked for allegedly abetting suicide of devipujak family in Sathra village of Talaja taluka in Bhavnagar, were arrested and sent to jail on Sunday, another member of the family died during treatment in hospital.
Ramuben Devipujak (45) and her three young sons had consumed poison on October 8 evening after being allegedly tortured by family members of an upper caste girl who has eloped with her eldest son. Ramuben and her son Manoj (25) had died on their way to hospital in Bhavnagar while her two other sons Rohit (23) and Mangal (20) were admitted to the hospital in a critical condition.
On Sunday, Rohit died while Mangal was said to be out of danger.
Meanwhile, Alang police arrested two persons Dilip Jani and P D Dhandhaliya, family members of the minor girl who had eloped with Vikram, the eldest son of the Devipujak family five days ago.
“Both were arrested for abetting suicide and have been sent to jail by the court,” said investigating officer, M S Renuka of Alang police station.
After Vikram eloped with the 17-year-old Brahmin girl, Jani and Dhandhaliya allegedly started harassing his family members.
Fearing a violent backlash, Vikram’s father Sukhabhai and his younger son Rahul went in search of the duo to Kolkata where one of his eight sons lives.
Ironically, last rites of the deceased members of the devipujak family have not been performed in absence of immediate family members. The one son who did not consume poison was untraceable.
“The bodies have been kept in the hospital’s morgue in Bhavnagar. There are no immediate family members here who can perform the last rites. We are awaiting the return of Sukhabhai from Kolkata,” said Renuka.
The Times Of India
Dalit group offers prayers at Gabela temple, tension continues
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/dehradun/Dalit-group-offers-prayers-at-Gabela-temple-tension-continues/articleshow/49327699.cms
Kautilya Singh,TNN | Oct 12, 2015, 09.51 PM IST
GABELA (DEHRADUN) : It is a nearly four-hour drive from Dehradun to Gabela village. Nestled in the picturesque hills of Sahiya about 125 km from the state capital, Gabela has been in the eye of a storm since a group of Dalits were reportedly denied entry in a local temple on October 5.
On a relatively cold Monday afternoon, the adrenalin ran high and tension was visible on the faces of everyone present in the small village as the Dalit group was to offer prayers in the temple in presence of senior district officials.
While the Dalit group, led by a police jeep, left for Gabela about 10am, senior district officials, police teams from Kalsi and Vikas Nagar and members of revenue police took their positions in the village.
By 2pm, all possible measures had been initiated to ensure that when the Dalit group led by Daulat Kunwar arrived at the temple, the locals were not to be seen around. For about 45 minutes, Kunwar and his team offered prayers, clicked selfies, hugged each other and congratulated everyone for “the victory of Dalits.”
“It is a well-known fact that Dalits are not allowed inside the temples in the Jaunsar Bawar area and this is a major achievement for us. From now on we pledge that whenever a Dalit is stopped from entering a temple, we will raise our voice,” Kunwar told TOI. He added that in and around the Jaunsar Bawar area, Dalits had to pay a penalty of Rs 5,000 and a goat if they entered a temple. “We are in the 21st century but yet to come out of the shadows of the past. The Constitution provides everyone equal rights; why should Dalits be deprived of anything?” he said.
Kunwar’s wife Saraswati termed it a victory for Dalits and that it was just the beginning. “Our next aim is to take the message to other areas. From now on the fight of each Dalit is our fight,” she asserted.
The situation was such that ADM Pratap Shah, SDM of Chakrata A K Pandey, SP (rural) G C Dyani, Vikas Nagar circle officer Swapn Kishore Singh remained on the spot till the group left.
Shah and Pandey appreciated the co-operation offered by locals. “They were not against Kunwar’s entry in the village, but opposed his making the yatra a political mission. The villagers claimed that entering the temple premises amid beating of drums and shouting of slogans was not allowed and Kunwar had tried to break the norms,” Pandey said. However, Kunwar’s statements have not gone down well with the locals. Anoop Chauhan, from the adjoining Lachcha village, said, “To remain in the limelight, Kunwar insulted us and made wrong claims. He now needs to prove that Rs 5,000 and a goat is demanded from every Dalit for entry into the temple. If he continues such tactics, he should be ready to face the consequences.”
Ranveer Sharma, another resident, also decried the “baseless allegations” made by Kunwar and said locals had always shown equal respect for all castes and religions.
The Times Of India
Dalit woman alleges she was raped by AIADMK cadre’s son
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/coimbatore/Dalit-woman-alleges-she-was-raped-by-AIADMK-cadres-son/articleshow/49332671.cms
TNN | Oct 13, 2015, 10.39 AM IST
COIMBATORE: A dalit woman from Pollachi has accused an AIADMK functionary’s son from a dominant caste of raping her several times.
The woman had come to the district collectorate along with a group of villagers, demanding action against the accused. She alleged that though she was raped several times, she was threatened by the politician’s son not to tell anyone about it.
The rape-survivor Shanthi (name changed), 38, of Vettaikaranpudur near Pollachi, said that she has been working for the last seven years as a housemaid in the residence of S Vignesh, 32. Vignesh’s father Senthil was a landlord and an AIADMK functionary in Vettaikaranpudur.
“I was promised a salary of Rs100 for a day. However, I was treated like a slave, forced to work under inhuman conditions for hours together. Vignesh often returned home in a drunken state and sexually harassed. On September 13, I was grazing cattle at the agricultural land belonging to Senthil, when I was summoned by Vignesh into a room in the farm. He raped me there,” alleged Shanthi.
She was confined in the room by Vignesh until her husband Samy (name changed) arrived. Samy, a daily wage labourer, attempted to rescue her and take her home. But Vignesh allegedly threatened her husband against taking her home.
“I have been tortured physically and mentally by Vignesh for the last seven years. He also threatened to murder me and destroy my family if I talked to anyone about the abuse,” alleged Shanthi.
After she was raped on September 13, Shanthi gathered courage and approached Vignesh’s father Senthil, and explained her plight to him. “But Senthil did not take my complaints seriously and asked me to ignore such acts by his son. When I asked for my wages stating that I would no longer work in their house, he refused to pay me,” she alleged.
She said Vignesh used his money power and the support of his community to escape from police action. “I request the police to take action against Vignesh and provide protection to me,” said Shanthi.
Valparai DSP Sakthivel said that he has not received any complaint from Shanthi. “Vignesh is facing another case under SC/ST (prevention of atrocities) act for assaulting Murugan, a dalit in the same village. But I’m not aware of this complaint,” he said.
When contacted, SP M Sudhakar said that he received the petition on Monday. “We would conduct a detailed inquiry and appropriate action would be taken,” said Sudhakar.
The victim came to the collectorate demanding action against the accused. She alleged that she was raped and then threatened by the politician’s son. Police say that they have not received any complaint yet.
The Hindu
Arunthathiyars allege atrocities
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/arunthathiyars-allege-atrocities-near-nagercoil/article7755409.ece
STAFF REPORTER
Families belonging to Arunthathiyar community of Irulappapuram near here have alleged that they are being subjected to atrocities by caste Hindus.
They thronged the camp office of the Collector here on Monday to submit a petition. When they were denied permission to meet him, they squatted on the road, following which vehicular traffic was disrupted for about half an hour.
They were led by State convenor of Adi Dravidar Munnetra Kazhagam John Victor Doss. In their petition, they said that 80 Arunthathiyar families were living on free house sites given to them in 1993 by the Department of Adi Dravidar Welfare and wanted alternative sites so that they could live peacefully.
They said that an autorickshaw belonging to Athiappan, an Arunthathiyar, was damaged in the early hours of Monday and demanded action against the culprits under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Eswaran, Deputy Superintendent of Police, rushed to the spot and pacified the agitators. He convinced them to submit the petition at the grievance day meeting at the Collectorate.
Counter petition
In a counter petition, a group of caste Hindus submitted a petition to the Collector complaining that some of the Arunthathiyars were creating caste-based tension in their area. The government had allotted 80 free house sites to Arunthathiyars and 33 to people belonging to other castes. People belonging to 14 castes had been living amicably there for several years.
The problem arose ever since the name of the area was changed from Meenakshi Nagar to Arunthathiyar Colony earlier this year. The name of the area must be reverted to Meenakshi Nagar to bring back peace, they said.
DNA
Put all SC/ST atrocity cases online: SIC to Maharashtra government
http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-put-all-scst-atrocity-cases-online-sic-to-maharashtra-government-2134268
Tuesday, 13 October 2015 – 8:10am IST | Agency: dna | From the print edition
Ashutosh Shukla
In an order aimed at throwing more light on cases of atrocities in the state, the state information commission (SIC) has directed various arms of the Maharashtra government to put all the information related to it on websites of district collectors and superintendent of police. It has also stated that such information be updated regularly on a monthly basis.
The order given on October 10 also directs certain arms of the state government to take several initiatives and report compliance by November 15. Among them, it asks principal secretary, social justice and special assistance and director general, BARTI, Pune to organize special workshops of non-governmental organizations and social workers belonging to weaker sections in every district and taluka of the state.
It added that the government should publish relevant provisions of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, in prominent local news papers on regular basis and a plan of action prepared for the should be reported to commission before November 15.
The order was given by Ratnakar Gaikwad, state chief information commissioner on a complaint filed by Nagsen Sonare, a resident Kandivali.
Sonare had complained to the commission on non compliance of provisions of suo moto disclosure by the government of the Act by pointing out indifference on the part of public authorities to put relevant information in public domain related to implementation of The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
Among other details, he stated that FIRs registered police station, arrests made, bail given with reasons for it, charge sheets filed in the courts, cases pending with duration of pendency, compensation and socio-economic rehabilitation awarded to victims and several other information.
Stating that such information should have been present on its own and is of public interest, the order directs additional chief secretary, home, principal secretary, social justice and special assistance, director general of police, Maharashtra, additional director general Police (PCR and POA,1989), director general, Babasaheb Ambedkar Research and training institute (BARTI),Pune all collectors and all superintendents of police to ensure implementation of the order.
India Today
Untouchability in India: Some facts on the oldest social hierarchy still being practiced in India
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/education/story/untouchability-in-india/1/484816.html
We are all aware that caste discrimination is one of the oldest and continuing social hierarchy of dividing a society in four castes specifically Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra.
To break the barriers of caste discrimination, Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanam has decided to train Dalits (who were once known as untouchables) as priests. According to the reports, around 200 Dalits will be given a training for about three months on daily Vedic rituals and practices. In another village in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, a school has been set up by a group of teenage children because the village kids who were from a socially barred group were denied access to the only primary school, in the adjoining village.
65 years after the caste system was abolished by the constitution, India still practices one of the cruelest feature of the it, untouchability. It is only now that few organisations have started breaking the social hierarchy.
The data collected by the India Human Development Survey conducted by the National Council of Applied Economic Research says the same. Take a look!
About 27 percent of the Indian households still practice untouchability
Since, Brahmins come on the top of the caste chart, 52 percent of them still practice untouchability
Only 5.34 percent of Indian marriages are inter-caste
About 15 percent of Scheduled Caste and 22 percent of Scheduled Tribe respondents admitted to the practice
It is most widespread in Madhya Pradesh with 53 percent practicing untouchability. Madhya Pradesh is followed by Himachal Pradesh with 50 per cent. Chhattisgarh comes on the 3rd position with 48 percent, Rajasthan and Bihar with 47 percent, Uttar Pradesh with 43 percent, and Uttarakhand with 40 percent
The survey also shows that almost every third Hindu practises untouchability (33-35%)
More than 160 million people in India are considered ‘Untouchable’
Statistics compiled by India’s National Crime Records Bureau indicate that in the year 2000, about 25,455 crimes were committed against Dalits
Every hour two Dalits are assaulted; every day two Dalits are murdered, and two Dalit homes are torched.
The Excelsior
Convention on ‘Save Reservation’ held
http://www.dailyexcelsior.com/convention-on-save-reservation-held-2/
Posted on 13/10/2015 by Dailyexcelsior
Excelsior Correspondent
DODA, Oct 12: A one day convention on ‘Save Reservation’ was held at Chenab Valley Head Quarters Doda by All India Confederation of SC/ST/OBC Organizations Unit Doda.
The convention was presided over by District president of the confederation, Amar Nath Bhagat in which a large number of people from SC, ST, OBC and RBA categories belonging to Doda, Bhaderwah, Thathri, Bhalessa, Kishtwar, Kastigarh, Assar, Batote and Ramban participated.
State president, RK Kalsotra accompanied by State Coordinator, Piar Bhagat and Finance Secretary, Harbans Loach was also present on the occasion.
RK Kalsotra, who was the chief guest, while addressing the gathering said that the Reserved Categories always suffer due to the anti- SC/ST/OBC policies of the Government and vested interests in the bureaucracy create crisis for these communities time and again which forces the people to come on roads.
He further said that in the latest case State Government has failed to defend its Reservation Act-2004 in which the State High Court has struck down the Reservation in Promotion due to slackness of the State Government and its Law Department.
He again castigated the Government for underutilization and diversion of Special Component Plan meant for SCs and STs. He advised the audience to tight their shoes to protect the Constitutional rights of the reserved categories like Baba Sahib B R Ambedkar and Saheed Bhagat Amar Nath Ji and asked them to participate in thousand in Save Reservation Convention/Rally on November 1, 2015 at Jammu and on December 7, 2015 at Delhi.
Amar Nath Bhagat, assured the State president for all sort of cooperation on behalf of the participants to bring thousands of people in Jammu convention. He also launched on spot the membership drive expansion the base of confederation and mobilizes the people.
The Hindu
Report on implementation of SC, ST Act to be released
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/report-on-implementation-of-sc-st-act-to-be-released/article7755172.ece
STAFF REPORTER
The Committee Monitoring And Strengthening SC and ST in Karnataka will release its 6th annual report on the implementation of the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, on Wednesday. Minister for Small-Scale Industries Satish Jarkiholi will release it.
Convener of the committee, Yashoda P., told presspersons here on Monday that based on information gathered from various departments, such as crimes against SCs and STs and conviction rate, the committee has brought out the report. It has also made several recommendations for the effective implementation of the Act. Minister for Social Welfare H. Anjaneya and other dignitaries are expected to attend the programme, she added.
Zee News
Job quotas pledge in private sector upsets upper castes
http://zeenews.india.com/news/bihar/job-quotas-pledge-in-private-sector-upsets-upper-castes_1808378.html
Last Updated: Saturday, October 10, 2015 – 15:07
Patna: The election pledge by BJP allies HAM and LJP to extend job quotas to the private sector if the BJP-led alliance wins the Bihar elections has upset the state’s upper castes.
The move by the Hindustani Awami Morcha (HAM) and the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) is seen as an attempt to cut into the traditional voter base of the rival Grand Alliance of the JD-U, RJD and the Congress.
Barely days ahead of start of staggered ballotting from Monday, LJP leader and union minister Ram Vilas Paswan promised job reservations in the private sector in his party manifesto.
The upper castes, particularly youths and students, are unhappy.
Upper castes, known to be the BJP’s traditional supporters, first expressed their anger after the HAM – a member of the BJP-led alliance – said it desired job reservations in the private sector.
Union minister Upender Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP), another BJP ally, is likely to echo the two parties.
Sushmit Sharma alias Bhim, who is spearheading a campaign against reservation on caste lines in Bihar, said the BJP had failed to persuade its allies not to go ahead with such a promise.
“It is unacceptable to us. We will not allow it,” said Sharma, who is in his late 20s and belongs to the powerful landed upper caste Bhumihar community. He favours job quotas based on economic category.
Sushmit, a businessman, asked the Bharatiya Janata Party to explain its stand on job quotas in the private sector. “How can we support a party like HAM and LJP?” he asked.
Another upper caste youth, Mahender Kumar, a graduate student in Patna preparing for examinations for government jobs, accused all parties in the state of playing the caste card.
Asked Ratinder Nath, an unemployed Brahmin man in his 30s: “Why should we vote for BJP’s allies when they are trying to deprive us of private jobs too?
“As it is, there is little scope for us as far as government jobs matter. Now even private jobs will become difficult to get.”
The HAM and LJP manifestoes have promised to strive for job reservation in the private sector if the BJP-led alliance takes power in the staggered Bihar polls that ends on November 5.
HAM chief Jitan Ram Manjhi is a strong advocate of jobs for the weaker communities in private companies. But his party is contesting only 20 of the 243 assembly seats.
The BJP has fielded 160 candidates, the LJP 40 and the RLSP 23 seats. BJP leaders are tight-lipped on the controversial issue.
Going by the list of candidates, it is clear the BJP is essentially relying on upper caste support in the five-phased election.
The BJP and its three allies have fielded 85 upper castes, including 36 Rajputs and 28 Bhumihars. Upper castes constitute 14-15 percent of Bihar’s population.
The Janata Dal-United, the RJD and the Congress have fielded 64 Yadavs – 48 by the RJD alone – apart from 33 Muslims.
The Grand Alliance is relying heavily on the OBCs – Koeris and Kurmis. Thirty Koeris and 17 Kurmis, who belongs to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s caste, have been fielded. IANS
The Tehelka
Of Human Bondage
http://www.tehelka.com/2015/10/of-human-bondage/
manjula.lal@tehelka.com
Living on the fringes of a village, blighted by the curse of untouchability, a child develops a talent for poetry and storytelling
One can read this — an English version of the first Dalit autobiography in Marathi — as an indictment of the caste system. Or one can get lost in a maze of coming-of-age reminiscences, village vignettes, folk lore and insights into human nature that tumble higgedly-piggedly out of its pages. Between 1978, when it was first published, and the present, when Jerry Pinto did the world a favour by taking on its translation as a labour of love, a lot of the cultural texture of Indian life has been bulldozed by modernity and whitewashed by upper caste intellectuals. Reading this book, then, becomes a rediscovery of India, with pangs of guilt about the humiliation society doles out to outcastes like the Mahars.
The minutiae of a deprived childhood are haunting. He spends hours watching the puppies of an upper caste family but is afraid to touch them, though his grandmother washes and feeds the litter. She was a widow, expected to beg for food and “didn’t have a matchstick worth of happiness in her life.” The boys would sit on a wall gambling on the number-plates of cars passing by. An exorcism, leftover food from weddings, the death of men in the family due to alcoholism, inter-caste love in junior school that ends in the boy being beaten up, another beating after sneaking into a temple and being recognised. Brutal lessons learnt early in life.
While in school, Daya began to escape from his heritage — wherein ancestors stripped carcasses for a living — via books. “The poison of reading took the last few simple pleasures left to me. At that time, we lived like animals in the Maharwada [the designated place for outcastes], our lives based on an earthy philosophy.” He was repulsed by the life they were leading, although a school teacher praised him profusely before the class for his cleanliness and academic performance.
When the family moves to Mumbai, caste oppression does not end. The plates in which they eat are ‘purified’ by scalding. On small pretexts, he relates, riots breaks out on the margins of society where they settle — untouchables vs caste Hindus, Muslims vs untouchables. But when it is Hindu vs Muslims, the latter do not hit out at Mahars, calling out ‘Jai Bhim-wale’. Daya, now an adolescent, spies on copulating couples, watches men bring home sex workers — and sometimes transvestites — from the cages of Kamathipura. After his childhood beating, he never accosts girls, preferring to play safe telling ‘off-colour jokes’ about their anatomies. He does fall in love a number of times, as do others in his world. But they cannot cross the line to consort with the high-born.
With the preamble “The story I’m going to tell you now still haunts me” the author tells a heart-reading tale about how his mother, working as a cook for 60-odd hostellers, is accused of stealing rations. This is actually the handiwork of the superintendent, but the poor woman has to take the rap. The hostel has a mix of castes, and could have been a melting pot from which they emerged as biasfree adults. But society’s grip on its ‘boys’ is too great, especially when it comes to marriage.
Interestingly, the Maharwada slowly became a ghost town. On one of his visits, he finds dogs and pigs roaming through broken walls of abandoned houses: ‘At each door, a decrepit old woman sits, looking like she belongs in a ghost story. Her hair grey and wild, she mumbles to herself, punctuating this with angry gestures.’ Once the Mahars refused to perform the tasks demanded by the villagers, they no longer got a share of the crop and drifted away. The land became prime real estate, with bungalows of the rich and landscaped gardens. The dispossessed were further dispossessed.
Back in his sister’s chawl in Mumbai, the Muslims shun the few Mahar families living amidst them. Yet, as it does happen, a Muslim girl falls for him, pursuing him with a persistence that cannot but boost his self-esteem. One day, he asks her if she’ll drink tea from his cup. “And she swigged the tea that had touched my mouth. All day, pleasure tingled through my body.” Finally, daunted by the incident in which a man like him is forcibly circumcised, he lets her wed another, watching the celebrations next door ‘distraught but not shattered.’
About his marriage, Pawar says wryly, his road to hell was paved with his uncle’s good intentions. A match is arranged with an illiterate girl from a neighbouring village, 10-12 years old, whom he had not even seen. The distraction leads to him failing his exams, mostly because of poor marks in English — ironically, the language in which we are now reading his life story. His search for a job in Mumbai too is thwarted by the language barrier, and his mother has to go out and scrounge for scrap. That he finally achieved fame through his poetry and his autobiography is a relief for a reader drowning in the pathos of it all.
Could he have escaped from his identity crisis via a good marriage or job? The reader wishes fervently for justice to be served, but it is dashed with this passage:
From time to time, when I look through the detritus of personal belongings, I find them. I don’t know what to do with these images. No one worships them, no one bathes them. When we converted to Buddhism, we promised, ‘I will not worship the Hindu religion’s Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh, nor any of the thirty-three crore gods associated with it’.
News monitored by AMRESH & AJEET
