Thursday, May 25, 2006

Casteism = Racism

Well, you read it right. Thats what I said. If you believe in castes, you are a fucking racist bigot. I am not against reservations per se. And it pains me to see that there is so much anger and hatred when it comes to the government providing reservations to the backward "castes" and other lower strata of society. And as soon as this is done, you go ahead and say that the UPA government supports casteism. Oh! you unlearned, unknowledgeable Indian - that action of reservation is called Affirmative Action. If you have no fucking idea of what it means, please read about it here. I am reading on this page after a day and I see that its tagged with "This article may not conform to the neutral point of view policy. A Wikipedian has nominated this article to be checked for its neutrality. Discussion of this nomination can be found on the talk page". Comeon, leave these pages alone - they are absolutely neutral.

I see scores and scores of students standing in lines on Brigade road, saying that they are against reservation. The frigging heat and smoke from traffic does not bother them. They are even ready to walk on the "hep" parts of Brigade road with papers stuck on their backs mentioning the same. I am sent stupid forwards (for the record, I hate all forwards) and even SMSs that ask me to stand against reservation. I dont think it necessary. I mean, I have seen so many people that have benefited because of reservation. Ok, the basic principle is great, you agree, but it is being misused by a section of the under-priveleged. Ok, so don't take off the whole damn system, refine it! Make a stand, revise it. In a country where certain castes are even called "untouchables" - god forbid the damned term, they do not even have basic rights. Reservation has changed all that. I know that reservation was supposed to be there for a very short time until the caste system changed. But it still is being used. Why? Its only cause the caste system still prevails.

So change the damned caste system. Do YOU have the balls to stand in the sun and rain, smoke and fog and ask the people of India to turn a blind eye to casteism? Have you ever opposed the idea of having to enter your "caste" every time you have to fill in a government form? Can you do that, you racist bigot?? Then, I will join you in your protests!

I love comments, dont flame me - I will just ignore em. And tell me if my thinking is somehow wrong. Cause I think that the fault lies in the caste system, if that was not there, there will be none of this!. Hell, I could not even have imagined this post.

14 comments:

  1. One good thing the Indian government wants to do in a long while...and that has to be fought by the masses. We can't fight against bribery and other malpractices...but only against a little good things?

    So there are lots of poor people in India from both so-called-upper castes and so-called-lower castes. but where is the percentage of these people compared to the overall population?

    Aren't they just trying to bring the equation a little more closer so education reaches everywhere?

    How many doctors we know who go to work in the villages (meritorious yes, but after years of toiling at the college they want to make money. nothing wrong with that, yes.) Very few. Atleast we can maybe expect some people coming from the villages becoming doctors and going back to their roots. And doctors will no longer be only from the middle class to the people with lotsa money...and thats what we are trying to achieve.

    Nobody says the system is perfect or foolproof...atleast somebody tries

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  2. Where are you from... nagercoil??? some damn village??? what do you know about a fc guy slogging his ass out to get in ITT or IIM or mbbs and scores 98% still denied to get in where as a moron who scores less than him gets a to be a doctor...

    plz guys... you dont know, you might be in bangalore, enjoying the luxury NOW, after working for this stupid call center thingie.... Gimme a break if there is no call center... where are you???

    dude, you dont know what life in CITY is... you dont know.... how many people slog their ass to clear iit/jee and fail beacuse they are FC...

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  3. Well said, Naveen..

    Anonymous is so pissed off in life right now that he missed the only point that was being made - Naveen is not for the reservation system. It has long outlived it's usefulness. But the reason we still have it is because of caste. Fight casteism. Kill the root and the toothache goes away. In the meantime, as far as refining the system goes, we could stop any form of reservation after +2, which is one of the proposals now and appears to be a logical step.

    Anonymous, again, made a few remarks there that reflected a certain lack of maturity. Do only guys in the city study to get into the IIT's? Also, "stupid call centre thingie" and "damn village"? I understand his desire to remain anonymous. It seems closely linked with his desire to stay alive.

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  4. Hmmm... this has been a great issue now. Wanted to write on this but broke my hand last week, so I couldn’t. Anyway, this reservation was actually 1 of the rules that was created by Dr. Ambethkar. Hope the Mr. Anonymous is aware of it. This reservation was created only to encourage the so-called SC, ST and other BC people. And Dr. Ambethkar wanted it in place only for 10 to 15 years till they came up in their life and equally competent. But that it has ........... on so-called FCs now.
    People(General public) is not even aware that reservation is not a permanent law, and its only until the so-called BC people become competent, as I said earlier. These SC/St guys, get their quota get into the college and become a doctor. And if assigned to go to a village to treat people there, he wouldn’t. He'll have his own clinic in the city and wouldn’t help his own (so-called)community people. Now because of this even if someone else is interested in doing that work, he is not getting the chance since he is an (so-called)FC.
    Now that’s what is eating people's brain. I too feel its high time they remove reservations or make the required rules to support people in remote places too. One of these has to happen.

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  5. Well, I appreciate all the comments....and even yours, "Anonymous"....thanks....would have been great if you can even create an "anonymous" id and then post comments....kinda makes you more of a person, u know!!

    Yeah, Anwin, especially in the case of doctors, it would be great if they can actually get back to their roots....makes it more better for the rural ppl..

    And Renie, its true, the reservation thing has lost its usefulness....but we still cannot do away with it....

    Hehe and "Anonymous" - whats a stupid call center thingie?? Are you working in a call center? Something tells me you are....and yes, if there was no BTO industry, my friends would have got jobs elsewhere...we do not sit and mourn our losses, we stand up and fight.....unlike what you "unreserved" jokers are doing...

    Yeah, Karthik, it is not permanent, but still cannot be done away with....

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  6. Agreed. Some systems are formulated with great farsight, and for the greater good. Not the common good, the greater good. So when that kind of a system benefits you, pass it on. When that same system does not benefit you, take pleasure in the fact that you're a minority, and accept it - unless you have a better system in mind that caters to those objectives more effectively.

    My apologies Naveen - but anonymous, self-sympathising people who "slog" to get educated while keeping their butts plugged into the matrix at the same time make my SC/ST/FC/POW/KIA/WTF blood boil.

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  7. Sorry guys... it was more personal to me... you would not know how it is to score 98% and still not get into mbbs and joining Bsc physics!!!!

    it was more of an outrage at that given moment. yeah, agree i was damn rude!

    everybody gets a job, if there is no call center, but for everybdy i've known working for IBM or dell or whtever its more of a compromise to work there... aint it?? may be at times i feel if there is no call centers people would still fight and march towards there goal.

    i dunno i got a wirte more to explain more of my stand! i feel its right, what i think... i dont have to make you beleive it :) just thought i would drop in and say "sorry, i was rude"

    Preethi G

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  8. Well, Its Preethi G. Since Naveen and I work in the same company, I'd like to share a part of the answer.
    "Everybody gets a job, if there is no call center, but for everybody I’ve known working for IBM or dell or whatever its more of a compromise to work there... aint it??"
    Well preethi, I, in fact for anyone(with sanity) can understand how difficult it is to score a 98% and still not able to get what you want. It'll hurt even more when some other guy with 76% gets the seat just because he is an SC/ST. As I said, Its not permanent and one or the other day we need to get rid of it.
    To see this from your point of view, "Even the SC/STs are now aware of the system, and its time for them to improve on their own by becoming equally competent." In a way its true. but from a common man's point of view, "Out of 100% quota, the SC/ST anyway get a very less %". And it IS sad when few people with 97%/98% get hit by that.
    It’s not just for doctors, its te same in our engineering colleges too. As naveen said, may be still the SC/STs can’t do without reservations. But its time at least the Govt. announces a specific time in near future to eradicate reservations, and, work towards improving SC/ST education awareness by then. From my point, it IS true that it just cannot be a never-ending story.

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  9. Well... Agreed!

    BTW I have to be anonymous coz i dont have b log :)

    And like i said i apologize i was rude!

    Preethi G

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  10. Well, cool then Preethi G....no issues....life goes on....

    But I guess the reservation topic is not over....there's more to come......thanks for the inputs guys!!

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  11. Yeah no hard feelings Preethi G. As Naveen would put it, shit always happens! :-)

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  12. Alls well that ends well? Good.

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  13. I never got into anything on merit or reservation, I paid my way through engineering college and somehow I do not see people raising hell over the sheer injustice of it all. for every guy who got the 76% and supposedly went into med school, there's someone who got far less but could afford to pay his way through. So why is the guy who got in through reservation the villain here?If this was purely about merit, there should have been more bitching about all places that ask for a capitation fee.

    Surely, by making education a business, the system is depriving someone like the irate commenter here a chance to pursue her dreams. I don't see her or people of her nature raising arms over it. Just why is that?

    Reservation is a cover for people to vent out their bigoted thoughts. Its all in the name of merit.

    Renie's got a very valid point here about the common Good, something our self-righteous meritocrats cannot get their minds around to.

    Affirmative action is about upward mobility, which is the main reason it drives people crazy. Has anyone wondered why this has not been that big an issue in TamilNadu?

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  14. Yeah and a very valid point there too, Samuel

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