One of the stark realities of our country is the class- and caste-hierarchy. Constantly, everywhere we are reminded of people like us and people like them. We automatically sort them into people like us and people like them. We do not like to talk about it other than in entirely academic way and then quietly go back into our homes and continue sorting ourselves into people like us and people like them.
I live in a apartment complex, within the campus. The hierarchy is well-defined. At the top are the faculty, then come the administrative staff (or clerks as a colleague refers), and then sundry other staff. The domestic help and the security guards are at the bottom of the heap. The children very soon learn the distinction and learn to live with that as they emulate their elders. Harsh Mandar in his new book "Looking Away" points out that in the thick of the Devyani Khobragade- Sangeeta Richards case, it was quickly assumed that Devyani (People like us) was right and that Sangeeta Richards (People like them) deserve no hearing. The whole issue was heard from one angle and decided from that angle only.
It bothers me because I then start asking myself what sort of society are we creating for ourselves? A society based on inequality and deepening inequality, where children learn very young how to treat people like us and people like them does not augur well. But, through a recent incident on the campus, I also learnt that I am in the minority. The majority is comfortable with it, creating cocoons for themselves and their children.
Oh well!
I live in a apartment complex, within the campus. The hierarchy is well-defined. At the top are the faculty, then come the administrative staff (or clerks as a colleague refers), and then sundry other staff. The domestic help and the security guards are at the bottom of the heap. The children very soon learn the distinction and learn to live with that as they emulate their elders. Harsh Mandar in his new book "Looking Away" points out that in the thick of the Devyani Khobragade- Sangeeta Richards case, it was quickly assumed that Devyani (People like us) was right and that Sangeeta Richards (People like them) deserve no hearing. The whole issue was heard from one angle and decided from that angle only.
It bothers me because I then start asking myself what sort of society are we creating for ourselves? A society based on inequality and deepening inequality, where children learn very young how to treat people like us and people like them does not augur well. But, through a recent incident on the campus, I also learnt that I am in the minority. The majority is comfortable with it, creating cocoons for themselves and their children.
Oh well!
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