respect – Anand Prakash

December 7, 2019 No Comments

They say there is nothing in the name. They are telling lies. The names tell us more than we needed to know. My thesis in social science dealt with collecting the data from people of SC category. There I’ve heard the names I’ve not heard before. It could probably be because of my privileged bringing. Otherwise, how could someone self-respected have name like Khunda (Blunt), Keechada (Muddy), Kala (Dark or Black), Phool (flower), Hazari (the leader of thousand people or soldiers), Rumali (like a handkerchief), Baru (??), Sarbati (like a liquor), Janglia (Wild one), Razo (??) etc? Some of these names were derogatory, others were meaningless and a few of them were surprisingly simpler. When I compared these names with other upper caste people such Prem (Love or affection), Vishnu (Lord Vishnu), Sriram (Bhagwan Ram or King Ram), Pulkit (Glad), Shiva (Lord Shiva), Kanhaiya (one of the names of Krishna), Lakhwant (Something related to money??), Karorimal (Something related to money??), Vidya (Knowledge), Sharmili (Shy one), Kavita (Poem), Shehnai (Clarinet) etc. I felt that somehow the SC people have been told to not call themselves or their newborns with the names reserved for upper castes or worse, the decades of oppression have made them timid enough to call their new-borns with meaningful names.

Can I rename them?

No.

Could I accord some respect to people suffering with their name, without knowing?

I don’t know but when I recorded their name in my notebook, I didn’t forget to put Mr. and Mrs. in front of their names.

Of Series

June 18, 2017 1 Comment

Of Love: never talk to a man bitten by a dog (rabid or otherwise) about the dog love.
Of Suspicion: the lady checks the glass window of the car which her husband had just shut and thoroughly checked.
Of Anxiety: am I the one who listens to every damned whistle of the night watchman?
Of Caste System: don’t undermine my struggle just because of my caste. Mine and yours can’t ever me matched. And nor should they.
Of Red Tapism: a recently recruited professional is transferred overnight to his desired location for which a permanent professional has been having sleepless night for past five years. You should see his face – it’s not flustered with guilt. He’s proud of his, so called, connections.
Of Bluntness: feeding milk doesn’t make you a mother, women.
Of Long lasting Memory: to plant the statue of their parents in a courtyard, weathering the sun in summer and cold in winter. They must have also thought of birds: where would they defecate, if not on the shoulder of their parents.
Of Respect: playing national anthem before a screwball comedy.
Of Rules and Regulations: under the tree, the crushed grains of flour are sprinkled daily on ant hills. This is how people to do away with their sins. The ants emerge from the ant hills to get their breakfast, unconcerned of the moving soles. It used to be a feast for ants but now they were a feast for the soles.
Of New Beginnings: they talk about what you should do. There are two ways to read this situation: either they don’t want to do anything as they have not done anything so far in life or they want you to learn so that you will not become like them.
Of Happiness: you surprise your loved one. When they look at you with a knowing glee, you did that for me, not said but understood, that’s when a conversation starts to happen between us.
Of Negativity and Irritation: work addled brain seeks out a vent.
Of Cosmetic: the moment I smell the popular fairness cream, I know some girl is around the corner.
Of Religion: if you are able to get a group of some fifteen to twenty people with you (however you get—fool them or bribe them—it doesn’t matter), you can even walk naked on the road.

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