Untouchable in Cities - 5

The distribution of benefits of quota system has been uneven within the untouchable community. The untouchables themselves consist of many jatis and sub-jatis. Some have benefited more than others have. This is an issue of concern within the untouchables and especially among those who have been left behind. By and large the main beneficiaries of reservation system are those people who got the education earlier than others. There were also the people who moved earlier to cities. The higher education was generally available in the cities only. These people reside normally in lower middle class and middle middle class areas. However, many of them try to hide their caste and take up the surnames of upper castes very well knowing that their tormenting presence there is resented by the upper caste people. In beginning this creates some confusion but sooner or later the social networking reveals their true castes and everything is back to normal. This social networking spreads from village to cities and then backward and from cities to cities and even to outside the country. This social networking includes offices and educational institutes etc. Indeed there is no escape from this social network; it automatically extracts caste of everybody. It feeds on information and curiosity. Especially the curiosity whether somebody has arrived to contaminate their neighborhood or not. The moment an upper caste man comes to know that his neighbor is an untouchable he curses all his past lives, his fate and all his accumulated Karmas. After that he keeps a safe distance from him. After that he avoids any exchange of any eatables on any occasions. If it is not avoidable then he takes them and silently dumps them in dustbin afterward. In big cities generally nobody asks other’s caste directly. Here people depend on social networking and discreet inquiries. If it is asked then it is asked in an indirect manner. Normally people ask other’s caste in case of marriage. When asked about his caste an untouchable would not reveal his true caste if pushed further then he would feign to belong to a higher caste. Here the person from upper caste would nod his head in agreement very well knowing the true caste of the man in question and return the feigning.