Day 59 – Distinction – Discrimination

I heard the story of a14 yrs old  Dalit school boy, threatened to be expelled from the school by his ‘high class’ teacher, because he drank water from the same pot. Because there no water kept for the ‘other’ students. The boys father was called, because the teacher was adamant, the father pleaded. Being expelled would mean he would not get admission in any school and his future and the future of his family was as good as over. The teacher did not relent. And the father eventually had to keep his ’pagadi”, his head gear, at the feet of the teacher begging him not to. His prestige was at the mercy. The teacher at this point agreed to, provided a written apology of “his grave mistake’ was given. Neither the boy nor his father knew how to do this. So the teacher wrote the letter and also accepted. The matter seemed resolved and the father, went home. Ashamed but relived.

That evening the boy did not come home till late. But then next day when he did not return, panic set in. And eventually later that day, the dead body of the boy was found in the river where he committed suicide. A note was found culched in his desperate hands, stating. He was sorry. He could bear all the humiliations that were meted to him, like they were. But he just could not bear to see his father, who he and the village respected so, who only dreamt of his son studying and becoming a. ‘big man”, be humiliated for what he did. It was too much for him.

This was a story shared, by Martin Macwan. As I read and researched this story, more things came out of the closet. India abolished discrimination against its “untouchables,” or dalits, more than 60 years ago. But despite real progress, centuries of subjugation have left a residue of discrimination that has proven difficult to eradicate, especially in rural areas, where Dalits suffer atrocities at a disproportionate rate, and authorities are often slow to respond to complaints. It was against this backdrop that Martin Macwan, a Dalit, began encouraging dalit tenant farmers to stand up for their rights. Afraid of this threat to their social standing, members of the local landlord class killed four of Macwan’s colleagues in 1986, an attack that became known as the Golana Massacre.

Two years later, Macwan founded the Navsarjan Trust in the western state of Gujurat to work on behalf of dalits’ rights. Today, Navsarjan Trust operates in more than 3,000 villages.

I was, am so disturbed on hearing this. It is making me feel restless. And I know this is happening even as we speak. This kind of discrimination on the basis of caste class gender, colour, is rampant. I feel the outrage, the helplessness, the desperation, the pain deep in my body. These are those times, when I feel the shame and the burden of my being a human. Am I – I wonder.

I look outside where at least 8 different species of birds are sitting on the trees and chirping. Nature created distinctions, in order to propagate diversity. But human beings created discriminations based on these distinctions.  

As a definition, Distinction was a difference or contrast between similar things or people.It is a natural phenomena.

Discrimination is the unfair or prejudicial treatment of people and groups based on characteristics such as race, gender, age or sexual orientation. To name a few. This is unnatural. It is a human creation.

Distinction created feeling of more, of increase. Discrimination created feeling of less, of reduction.

And this is where we slipped, into being Non-human. For many people, discrimination is an everyday reality.

I have personally been at the receiving end of it. When I used to look for houses on rent, many agents read my name Rhea as Reha, a muslim name and then made some excuse or the other to not give me the house. On the other hand I have also been in societies which would ask me for a “baptism certificate”, which when not provided refused entry. It is not enough to just be a decent human being.

And then we wonder how come there are wars?

The worst, I feel is, when we have gotten so used to the discrimination it starts to feel like ”normal”, and we don’t bat an eyelid. When patriarchy becomes a norm, when casteism gets called “tradition” and when discrimination become a culture –the decline of humanity is steep.

“Where the lips are silent the heart has a thousand tongues” -Rumi

We have gotten confused, conveniently I feel with Distinction and Discrimination. And I feel in the name of distinction we don’t even realize we are discriminating.

Cuckoo is a bird that lays eggs in other nests. That is a distinction. That cuckoo bird is therefore bad and selfish is a discrimination.

A distinction does not belt out “Consequences” – A discrimination does.

A Distinction is stating of a Fact. Men have more physical strength. A Discrimination is the ‘meaning’ we give to that fact, which is based on some bias. It’s what comes after, that means. Men have more physical strength that means they are better than women.

It’s NOT ok – That we have become OK .

Perhaps we have such a high need to avoid ambiguity and put things into boxes, that we cannot just leave a fact, a distinction for what it is. A Distinction. A Difference. We have to put it in a “meaning” . We have to differentiate. We feel threatened by different.

I have many questions. And really no answer. But I do feel even then the questions need to be asked. And it is important we reflect. Where are we doing this? Because we are. Because what is undistinguished will continue to rule us. And it is NOT ok.

Some years ago my maid Anita, when she was new, one day came and after giving me my morning tea asked me to get a steel glass for her. I don’t like and don’t have steel cups or glasses. I asked her why? She said, what should I have tea in?. I was a bit annoyed and perplexed. I told here there were so many cups, in my mind she was being “difficult”. But then when we paused awkwardly, I asked her if she had a problem with other cups. She said, as a matter of fact, in all houses all the time her cup was always different. She was not allowed to eat or drink from the same cup. My heart fell into my stomach when I heard that.

 Yes ..This happens every day around us. Untill we get our house right things will continue.

And just like that we create and perpetuate separation. Perhaps we do this because we feel different?. Perhaps we want to be seen and heard and aren’t. Perhaps this discrimination is a need a desperate one to be recognized even if it is at the cost of another or even our own mental and emotional peace.?

Perhaps we put too much premium on this Being Human bit. In the short time that we have existed, we have destroyed more than we have created. And maybe it’s time to see the joke will be on us is we don’t start waking up and seeing how our thinking seeing is impacting the world. There is only one earth. And we share it.  Perhaps we really need to start seeing the similarities for a change. Start maybe learning from birds and animals.

 “The gazelle and the lion are enemies only in the minds of the Takers. The lion that comes across a herd of gazelles doesn’t massacre them, as an enemy would. It kills one, not to satisfy its hatred of gazelles but to satisfy its hunger, and once it has made its kill the gazelles are perfectly content to go on grazing with the lion right in their midst.” – Ishmael, Daniel Quinn

Maybe we need to pause and think every-time we are making a distinction or feel a need to make something distinct – what is our intention behind it. Are we doing it to understand something more or to discriminate?

Perhaps we need to talk more about Human dignity and not just human rights. As Rumi said, “people are not of small universes, but of, great universes, and explains this idea in his masterpiece, “Masnavi,” as follows: “O man, you seem to be a microcosm but in reality actually a macrocosm.” And with that we also have the responsibility. To see. To act different. To participate and not just stand by. Otherwise the death of a boy or the animals, or trees, is still on our collective human consciousness.