villages, a followup

August 7, 2018 · 3 min read · essay, villages

Another huge misconception that I find is that people tend to imagine village people are these truly kind and helping people and that they live in harmony with their people. That it is full of naive people with clear, untainted minds.

Villages are actually filled with narrow-minded, parochial people, completely oblivious to the wider world around them. And most people’s lives have stuck a sort of stasis in growth that they are not able to change their situation and just accept their lives for what it is and live with the reality of staying where they are.

It surprises many when I say that untouchability is a real thing that is still being followed to this day. But, the harsh reality is that they are. I’ve known fights because a lower caste person sat near a higher caste one. I’ve been advised against getting too friendly with lower caste people. I’ve been enquired what caste I am, either in a bluntly straightforward fashion, indirectly or behind my back.

Even though it hurts me to acknowledge this, even my family follows at least some form of this abomination. The sad part is that people due to their low knowledge of anything beyond their village, tend to assume that it is the truth and reality and go with it. The people from lower communities accept the oppression from the higher class and their lives are bent since their birth.

On the other hand, people of upper classes of society get immense pleasure in boasting their castes and take pride over it. They are taught to do so from their childhood and they live in the reality that lower caste people should be kept in check. They actually believe that lower caste people are trash and treat them as such.

Lower caste people tend to have separate utensils in houses where they need to be in constant contact. Like in scenarios where lower caste people work for higher class ones. Also, those people are kept in the far end of the village like a truly unwanted thing. Yet, those people don’t seem to feel anything because they have accepted this reality and have built their lives around it. Which makes Dr.Ambedkar’s achievement so much more astonishing.

Governmental rules have changed their lives by a huge factor. But we haven’t entered a truly great society yet. There is still a lot of things to be changed.

The saddest part in this whole thing is that, this disease of classes has infected even people of my generation. When I go back home from my city hideaway. More recently, I have noticed that people are starting to hangout based more on their classes and caste is a topic of discussion more often. My friends are boasting their classes in their friendly banners. Maybe people get obsessed over classes only after maturity as they grow older. which is irony in itself.

Village life might seem truly peaceful and Harmonious. But the truth is that peace is very few and far between. Some things are beautiful only when watched from afar. I request you, my dear reader, to only admire the beauty from a safe long distance, from the windows of your LCD screens.