I read with interest Thenmozhi Soundararajan’s piece on “The Black Indians”
(Dalits in the US) at Outlook.
Yes, the past should be
remembered, but there is no reason for one to celebrate their history of misery
imposed by others. The caste system had
its "merits", in antiquity. The caste
system made a society functional by designating specific professions to groups
of people. In societies where day to day
survival was the ultimate goal, social mobility made little difference, and the
majority of people acquiesced to class distinctions decided by those who chose
the best for themselves. But times have
changed. Human conscious has evolved to
a point where social justice matters, civil liberties matter, the freedom to
choose a profession matters. This
conscious in itself precludes the existence of a caste system that would lock
people in their places through generations.
When social structures in a place are too rigid to change in response to
the changing times, people indicate their disapproval of them by moving
out. Immigration to a new land is a way
to start anew, to completely reject the old social structures that one was
forced to accept. To escape to a new
place but still gloat over the old miserable life is nothing but masochism.
[Photo, courtesy of
Outlookindia.com]
