SSLA Assignments - India Untouched (Diversity Studies)

So as per SSLA's ongoing academic assessment process, we watched a spectacular documentary called India Untouched: The Story of a Peoples Apart by K. Stalin

[Disclaimer: This post may have material that people might not agree with, I ask you to respect my opinions and if you choose to disagree with me, please feel free to fill in a comment! Offence is intended to a degree]

While the story was a very moving and rattling concept for me to see, The question posed by my teacher for an assignment, regarding the validity of caste made me think, and the result was this:

Diversity Studies Assignment - Response note

‘India Untouched: Stories of a People Apart’

Question: Do you think caste exists in India? Does caste matter to you? Comment on the inherent stigma & stereotypes attached to caste.

Answer:

The film created by Stalin K. is a beautiful and in-depth look into the underbelly of Indian society. Many a persons have tried to address this issue of caste in India and its rampancy, despite the government’s futile efforts to make it illegal.

However, this response note is not on the film, it’s on my opinion, something I’m more than happy to share and explain.

To answer the question: Yes, caste exists in India. Does it matter to me? No.

I shall now, elaborate.

To me, Caste is an assignment of roles and jobs to the people in a society, in India it took the form of Caste, in Europe; it took the form of the Feudal System. The fact is that you can’t have a society where everyone gets to do what they want to do, there has to be some structure.

Now, when you look at it historically, and even sociologically, the reason why these ridge systems failed was because there was no scope to move out of them. If feudal Europe, if I was a knights son, I would be groomed to be a knight, it doesn’t matter if I was good at painting or anything like that, and the system was set.

In India, we see a similar problem with the caste system; it went from a system to ensure that every aspect of society was addressed to a point where it became a tool for the people in high positions to stay at that position. We see this with the roles that the Brahmins and the Kshatriyas had, positions of power and respect. No one would be willing to lose this post, and they misused their positions to ensure that they kept it.

Now the position of the Harijans or Shudras were still considered to be workers, but this means that they could logically, still become rich. After all, a worker who can work well would be rewarded economically? So, the progress would be to make the caste socially unacceptable. By being social outcasts, Harijans would get paid little and get treated even worse, and in a society that was so rigid, they couldn’t even try and get to a better caste.

So, to summarise, and collect my thoughts, Caste in India does prevail, but now a day’s not because of the religious importance, but because of the power that the so called ‘higher castes’ would lose if they allowed the Harijans to move up. This being said, the problem of caste doesn’t exist to people who have been exposed to the world and who are in better positions socially and economically.

This is where I fit in, because, to me, Caste doesn’t exist. How could it? I’ve never had to wonder what my caste is and what it implied. This ignorance makes a huge social problem like castes vanish, by not growing up with it; I have also been spared the problem of dealing with it.

However, this is not the only reason as to why I don’t feel caste matters to me, and that is because I choose not to care about a caste. I judge a person on their character and their interactions with me. I have swept the floors with my grandparent’s servant; I have shaken the hands of the construction workers who have come to do work at my home. By simply refusing to accept that a person can be fit into society before they have even been born, I have broken the system.

It might be naive to say that I have broken it, but that is the only way that caste will truly end. The minute colleges stop asking you for your caste, and the minute that we accept people for who they are, and not what caste they are from is when we can finally integrate India. This being said, I must clarify, I am against the current form of caste, but as an anthropological tool that was used to control society, I must agree that society cannot function without having roles and rules to govern peoples’ lives. If everyone could choose to be a doctor or a sweeper, all of the people would choose to be the doctor, it pays well and there is respect to it. But the fact is that the sweeper plays such an integral part in society that it would probably crumble if it did not have sweepers. You need people to do the menial jobs, and sometimes, it may not be done correctly like in the form of caste, but it still needs to be there.

 The answer that you've just read got me a 10 on 10. Woo Hoo!