Caste: This one or that one - Whats the difference?

Me and mom had no work one morning and were discussing our family ongoings. We arrived at the discussion of one of my paternal cousin's marriage.

My cousin is working presently and is of marriageable age. She fell in love with one of the guys at work and they decided to marry. The problem is that they are not of the same caste. My cousin is a Brahmin and her boyfriend is not (i dont know which caste he belongs to). Her father is still a little orthodox and opposed to "marriage outside the caste" (intercaste marriage - as they put it).

So, i innocently commented about this to mom ,"Why do they care about casteism in the 21st century?" To this, my mom replied ,"When me and your dad did not care in the 20th century, i dont know why people nowadays care." I was so shocked, surprised, flabbergasted and dumbfounded then.

All along my life, i thought my mother was a Brahmin and here she reveals to me in the most impossible way that she is not. Nothing had ever been taught to me about casteism (the various castes, differences etc.) at home, even though all Brahmin rituals were followed and all poojas conducted.

So, i realised that, eventually its the upbringing that matters not which caste or religion you are from. This is my sincere request to all my fellow human beings - please stop discrimanting people into castes and religions. Look into their heart and judge them by their personality, not by their religion or caste. Ciao!

Spirit of Mumbai

One rainy afternoon in June, on my way to Baroda, i was waiting at the Borivali station for my train to arrive. One old lady with a basket full of mangoes came upto me and asked whether trains to Virar stop at that platform. I answered 'Yes' and she started to wait for the local train to arrive. In the meanwhile, a Railway Police Hawaldar (Pandu as we call him) came strolling down the platform with a lathi in his hand and a paan in his mouth. Silently, he went upto the old lady for checking her basket and in extremely hushed tones started asking for a bribe. I assumed that must be for threatening her to take her to the police station if she does not comply with her demand. The poor lady consulted and borrowed money from her partners to pay him the amount of Rs. 50. Meanwhile, Pandu's partner-in-crime repeated the process with several such people who got down at the station from long distance trains. The targets were mainly poor people whose daily earnings might just be able to feed their families. During all this time, i started to wonder what the Media and the politicians meant by the Spirit of Mumbai. If such an important part of a megacity's bloodline (the Police, not the Pandu) involves itself in corruption, don't you think the city is going to the dumps?

A few days later, after returning back my mom recited an incident taken place during the rain floods on 26th July 2005. I had just left Mumbai, a week before the devastating floods, to embark on my 2nd year of studies at NIT Rourkela. The suburb of Goregaon is not among one of the low lying areas of Mumbai. So, the flooding was not a serious problem here. Yet, like quite a few other places, people were stranded here and there, not able to move, far away from their homes. My mom was one of them. She had somehow managed to reach one of the general stationery stores which was at a higher altitude than other buildings. My perception of the owner of that particular shop was that of a greedy man, always trying to charge more than the cost of any item. But, on that day, this gentleman kept his phone line open to allow everyone stranded to make phone calls free of cost. And to imagine 40 - 50 people in a small shop all trying to contact their loved ones with most of the mobile networks down due to the heavy downpour. How a single incident (or a person) can change the idea of the Spirit of Mumbai!

It's only perception that matters in forming an opinion. If the order of these examples in time had been exchanged, who knows, maybe my perception of Spirit of Mumbai would have changed. But for know, the positive perception is here to stay! Ciao.