About forty women squatted in small groups on the floor of the room. They had gathered for a special meeting of the
self-help groups that would be led by their supervisor. Poor women, whose husbands were marginal farmers, depended on the loans they could get from banks through their groups.

The meeting concluded when Mangala, the supervisor and coordinator of the project from Bhoruka Charities, thanked the participants. ace
Mahadeva Swamy, his assistant, got up to distribute tea and biscuits, a group of women excused themselves and left, without
have some snack.

The women, who were Vokkaligas, lingayats, kurubas Prayed gollasthey also consider themselves
“superior” to accept food or drinks offered by Swamy, who belonged to a Scheduled Caste.

The people of Madapura, a village in the Taluk of T. Narsipur near Mysore in the state of Karnataka in India, are no different from
their counterparts in the rest of the country. People don’t wear castes on their sleeves; yet it is there in all
mind all the time.

The upper class women’s departure set the stage for a lively discussion about discrimination against people based on caste.

“If we hand out the food parcels, they won’t accept. That’s why Madam (Mangala) usually asks someone from the upper caste to distribute them,” Kantamani laughed mockingly, “so they accept and it doesn’t occur to them that some of us might have prepared them.”

Not even the public schools in the villages practiced equality. For government-sponsored midday meals, only upper caste cooks are employed. “My son has grown a lot. He now refuses to eat at school as they seat students in different rows according to their castes,” Lakshmi complained.

Parvati said that if she had to hand something over to the upper caste, she had to put it down. they had to
keep a safe distance while talking to them. If he drew water from the well first, the upper castes would clean the ‘polluted’ spot with cow dung, before proceeding to draw water. “Water comes from the earth itself. How
What does it matter?” she asked defiantly. Mangala comforted her, “They are the ignorant class. Not you.”

“If we ever ask for water, they won’t give it to us in a glass. They will ask us to cup our hands and they will pour water on us,” Lakshmi said.

“When we travel on buses, they may be forced to sit next to us. Sometimes they stand to avoid sitting near us.
unknowingly they sit near us, some of them go home and take a bath,” Puttalakshmi said, “that’s why we never reveal our
Breeds, if a stranger asks us”.

“We can go to the temple, but not inside the sanctum sanctorum like them,” Puttalakshmi continued, “People from other
villages can enter even if they belong to the scheduled caste, since no one knows who they are.”

I suggest that she too should be bold and enter, but Puttalaksmi says the temple authorities threatened them with fines. People
from other towns perhaps they did not know their customs; but he did, so he shouldn’t break the rules on purpose, the priests reasoned.

Santamma, silent the whole time, said thoughtfully, “It’s all ours. karma. If we start by breaking rules, no matter how small, we will end up in a group clash. Except spilling a little blood, what good will it do?”

His fear was justified. Vokkaligas or Lingayats were generally landowners and possessed too threatening a political influence for the scheduled labor caste they employed to protest.

There is another reason why they do not protest. They see nothing wrong with it, except when they are confronted. They believe
that each caste has its own’shastra‘ or code of conduct and higher caste people are simply following their ‘shastra‘. They also believe that his current position in life is dictated by the actions performed in his previous birth.

One of the interesting comments came from Puttalakshmi, who said that he would not consider sitting with a woman from jadumali
Prayed Madiga, the caste to which the scavengers belonged. He belonged to a higher caste and would never associate with them. In fact, the half dozen self-help groups in the room did not have a single member of these ‘outcasts’. Mangala said that the ‘untouchables’ formed their own groups.

The groups had never before discussed caste discrimination. Mangala, who had been worried that her work as a project
the coordinator must not fall under a cloud for “inciting” the clash, he reminded the group that they must “erase” from their mind
what was discussed at the meeting.

Unless social reforms keep pace with legal provisions, caste discrimination will continue to exist. the media don’t
Watch out, unless a sensational story grabs your attention. Even social welfare organizations gain from it; for those who want to tilt
a neatly stacked apple cart?

Biases that go back at least 3,000 years cannot be easily erased. Especially when it is sanctified by religion, glorified by tradition, and stoked by politicians to get votes.