A marriage beyond all the conservativisms and cultural barriers

A christian, native of America, born and brought up there, fell in Love with an Indian girl hailing from a conservative family. He met her at work.

He followed her all the way to India, and was successful in convincing her parents to get her hand in marriage. Only condition of her parents was that the marriage happens in the Indian style!

He went back to USA, got his parents to India, and the marriage preperations were started.

Meanwhile his friends, wellwishers and neighbours got interested in this strange tie of cultures and booked their flights directly to India. All in all 17 families discented in Bangalore for this extravaganza.

The curiosity they all had for the culture of this land finally turned to Love, looking at the affection locals showered on them. They prepared for the wedding as if it is a celebration of this new found affection.

The Hindu bride was busy shopping sarees for not only her, but also to her in laws and their friends. Her to be husband was to be coronated to brahminism officially with the thread ceremony just before the marriage.

All went well, the groom and his party had a definitive plans to attend the marriage with utmost interest and were fully prepared to patiently follow each and every aspect of the Indian marriage.

The bride's family was nervous on the other hand; this was not only a question of the prestige of the family at stake, but also that of the country at stake! They took cautious steps in arranging for everything related to the marriage. They contacted a host of vedic exponents to learn about what sorts of procedures to be followed, what was the plan in place in sacred texts etc. And every thing was set right in time and the marriage was perfectly organised.

Right from the brilliant fusion of Nadaswara orchestra to the vedic chants mesmerised the visitors. The luncheon contained carefully chosen menu prepared by the best in the business. But not sure how much it appaled the visitors, since they came from a differnt fooding culture. Yet, they all praised the quality of food to be the best.

And the wedding contained all the ceremonies that is performed in a usual south indian marriage; the visitors participating in every thing patiently, and smilingly of course.

Now coming to the point... the "moral of the story" is, the Hindu community is changing, and changing to open itself to that dawn which never sets.

What makes me say so:

• A few centuries ago, Indians had never known of any conversions.
• A few decades ago, there was no conversions to Hinduism.
• Once converted away from Hinduism, there was no question of behaving with that person normally, lest taking him back in to its fold.
• Once the conversion to another religion happened, Hindus would not even consider drinking a drip of water from his hands!
• Even if the convert doesn't eat beaf, nor touch the non vegetarian food, he would be considered a taboo from the society.
• The converts were made to feel neither belong to here, nor to there, and end their lives in the confused state of faith, hatred and sagacity.

Such a community waking up to accepting and allowing 'others' to have a feel of its divine practices....is something miraculous. The good thing about the whole stuff here is that it happened in the Brahman community which is the most conservative of all the internal communities in Hinduism!

I totally appreciate the brave initiative by the groom and her family to honour the real essence of the Vedic living, the "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam"!

Could this well be a beginning of a change that was in waiting for a long time to take place or are the people gaining proper senses to live life like its sacred texts, finally?

Supreme Court rules out Quota for the coming academic year

One good news

SC said, “The Central Government could not justify quotas for the creamy layer.”

Dismissing the plea in the harshest of tones, the apex court categorically stated the government had no data to support quota and had not come up with any new facts to support its case.

The Supreme Court on Monday in an acerbic response to Government’s plea on the OBC quota case flatly refused to allow 27 per cent reservation in Centrally-funded institutes for the academic year 2007-2008.

And the aftermath :

• “This is just the beginning for our victory. We have already shown how wrong their (Government’s) basis is. They are considering the 1931Census and that is wrong. And now, it’s been proved even by the Supreme Court. We will prove it too and this illegal, illogical reservation policy will uprooted,” said a student.
• “We think the SC order is unfortunate. If we go by simple mathematics, Constitutionally, there can’t be more than 50 per cent in Central universities. While 22.5 per cent already exists due to SC/ST reservations and so in that way, the remaining 27 per cent seems to be a pretty rational proposition. People talk of 1931 Census, but 27 per cent anyway happens to be lesser than the least. So, why this debate over the number?” said one student.
• “If the government, by the way of quota, wants to defend the creamy layer and extend some benefits to the rich and is forgetting the poor people, it’s shameful,” said an anti-reservationist.
• When reservation was being given in jobs, there was no need for and OBCs should rather be given education. “Now today when an overwhelming percentage of India’s backward students are given reservations in Central institutions, why are you opposing it,” asked a student.
• “The criteria of identifying OBC people is very biased towards ‘social backwardness’ because the methodology to select is biased. There is a 22-point criteria and there’s an index of 11 points. Those who cross the 11-point index are included in OBCs. Twelve points are awarded for social backwardness, six points for educational backwardness and four for economic backwardness. They are only considering social backwardness right now and including all castes with that framework. It’s not fine,”
• “It’s a big victory for us and the entire nation. It vindicates our stand as politicians want to divide our country and this is a slap on their face,” said a student.“I have seen my colleagues who benefit from reservations. Most of them are not exactly downtrodden, poor or economically backward and they can easily afford education in or abroad. Let reservation be more on economic basis and let’s abolish caste altogether as a concept,”

And from politicos

• “I think government has given enough explanation to the court because the creamy layer issue was settled at the time of Mandal case. Supreme Court had agreed upon certain criteria for creamy layer and that’s being followed. It’s nothing new. Now the policy has to be implemented. Again raising the issue of creamy layer is nothing but an effort to scuttle the very issue of reservation for the OBCs. How long can such a thing continue? Some people are making ridiculous argument that politicians are dividing the society, it’s absolutely stupid,” CPI-M leader D Raja defended.
• “Absolutely not. Thank god for the Supreme Court. This policy was always a bad one and it has exposed the political class. It’s a political ploy and always had a lot of problems. Forget the creamy layer which Mr Raja has not spoken about at all. The question remains as to who is an OBC. I am an OBC, earn in lakhs and get my son an admission to a college despite him scoring less than a poor Brahmin from Ghaziabad. So it’s a ridiculous policy,” said economist Gurcharan Das.
• Says OBC Convenor, Hyderabad, Hanumanthappa, "It's like serving food and then taking the plate away."
• M Karunanidhi addressed the Centre in his speech in the state Assembly saying, "Democracy would be badly affected if the faith of 100 core people is determined by the two or three men."
• "The Goverment is planning to approach the Chief Justice over the quota issue on Tuesday. We will ask for the constitution of a larger bench to decide on the issue. Meanwhile, the Government directives to IIMs to hold the admissions still stand"— Arjun Singh, April 24, 2007
  
  The road ahead
  So, what do you think is the solution to the quota conundrum? Is a caste-based census an option?

Compiled with inputs from CNN-IBN.

Also Read :

• Quota story
• My endeavour with reservation system

Year's first post....But the same old topic....

It has been quiet a long time since I said HI to you guys. Really out of time for anything apart from work. Now, after so many days, I want to share something good with you all.

By now, you all know that I am a staunch anti-reservationist ;). I can declare that I hate this concept out right.

Now, there are some people, no names taken, who will never come to terms with my stance. What do I do with them? I honestly try some stories to make them understand. If they are not budging, simple, I just disagree with them and go ahead. But no one has presented anything to me impressively for his or her love for reservation system. I assume that caste-based reservation system is in existence to make some politicians mass heros and for nothing else.

To all the reservation supporters and also to those who call themselves neutral after supporting the reservationists, here’s a story that spills correct beans as to why no-reservations doesn’t affect social set-up, and how does the set up is affected, by having reservation. Go ahead, read it completely. Its fun :), but unfortunately true too.

Disclaimer : I don’t claim the ownership of the story, as I don’t know who created it. I got it thru e-mail. Just thought of sharing it with my friends.

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OLD VERSION...

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold.

MODERN VERSION
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away. Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.

NDTV, BBC, CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house. Medha Patkar goes on a fast along with other grasshoppers demanding that grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter. Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticize the Indian Government for not upholding the fundamental rights of the grasshopper. The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the grasshopper (many promising Heaven and Everlasting Peace for prompt support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance). Opposition MP's stage a walkout. Left parties call for "Bharat Bandh" in West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry. CPM in Kerala immediately passes a law preventing Ants from working hard in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty among ants and grasshoppers.

Lalu Prasad allocates one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian Railway Trains, aptly named as the 'Grasshopper Rath'.

Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the Prevention of Terrorism Against Grasshoppers Act [POTAGA]", with effect from the beginning of the winter.

Arjun Singh makes Special Reservation for Grass Hopper in educational institutions & in Govt Services.

The ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government and handed over to the grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV.

Arundhati Roy calls it "a triumph of justice". Lalu calls it 'Socialistic Justice'. CPM calls it the 'revolutionary resurgence of the downtrodden' Koffi Annan invites the grasshopper to address the UN General Assembly.

Many years later...The ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi billion dollar company in silicon valley.100s of grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation somewhere in India...
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My endeavor with reservation system

yeTo quote my example itself, I studied in a rural area. My school/village had only a few so-called upper caste students/teachers, and most of the 'others' were peasants.
But still the treatment meted to everyone was same. That was the basic education for me, it was a Govt. school. We were all same when came the choice of education. There was only one difference in the education facilities provided in that village. There was a different school for Urdu learning people and a normal Govt. school for all the others! For this reason I hated the Govt. much earlier then.
Then some convents opened and even Muslims started to admit their children in those schools. So another level of equality achieved.
Then we all had to join a private high school, since we didn’t have a govt school in my village back then, it was a private high school with long history and stuffs. Treatment was same there too. Everyone had his share of "matriculation" there.
But amidst all these things, Govt. used to send some kind of scholarship to SC/ST (only) students, others even if they come from peasant poor background, had to pay the fee as prescribed.
Can you think of the impact these discrimination seals on a child's ability to think?

Till then I thought we were all same and then these people are getting rewarded from the Govt for what they have not achieved (Here, the amount of scholarship becomes unimportant). The discrepancy was brought in by the Govt.
My first experience with the real caste-ism is that. When urbanars talk of caste system in rural areas they tend to generalize and say the system is too bad!! How untrue?! Not all the rural areas are same.

Long back, as far as I know, many villages accepted Gandhiji's version of looking at things, even when practicing their family traditions. It all is in the attitude of the people.
I have also been a witness to one such change. Before 1985, in our village, the scavengers were kept away from entering the temple; but it is interesting to note that people did not avoid them as being shown in movies. Even those people used to attend the school with us and teachers would not treat them any lesser!! (May be I was fortunate enough to have such teachers and all)
But later on, I have witnessed a change in that rule and the village chieftains permitting them inside the temple,

There were so many families that were poor, peasant, home less, and still wanted their children to study, but they were not from the so called SC/ST communities, so had to fund their children's education from their pockets, thus ending their dreams of seeing their children as officers :(
On the other hand, there were some SC/STs who had good cultivable lands in the village, still their children got admissions in good colleges, free of cost; of course through reservations. These children of fortune ended their studies later abruptly. It means they blocked entry for a few of other 'brighter' students, also spoiling the resource of the Govt. for a few years. How shameful.
Please note that, I've never said 'all' in any case,

Also, these reservations have helped some notorious people form groups of their own, miss lead the failed children of a 'lower' community and crying on road for every small issues so as they have to be completely taken care by Govt and they don’t have any responsibility for the society/for themselves!!
This point shows the blacker side of the reservations, I'd rather say its the achievement of reservations, apart from it, the concept has not changed anything in the society.
I rank my village chieftains way higher than the Govt itself, for their honest effort in bringing the equality in their regions.


Now, coming to the ground reality,
Reservations have failed in uplifting the reserved community's standard of living, standard of thinking.
Reservations have failed in removing the rich-poor barrier.
Reservations have created un called for barriers between the communities in the form of community groups.
Reservations have created a kind of irresponsible environment in some of the communities.
I can list so many other things....

Finally what point I wanted to make is, apart from giving some politicians a political mileage, reservations have failed out right, at least in my village and its neighborhood.
I totally oppose the reservations based on castes.