Caste Differences..Are we eliminating? Or promoting?

Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaisya and Sudra –there were the four main caste subdivisions that existed in Vedic times. A division primarily based on the occupation of these men – The priests, the rulers, the businessmen and the labourers or the cleaners doing the menial jobs.


This got divided and sub divided into further sects and today we have innumerable divisions in our society termed ‘CASTE’. With time, the practices related to this classification started taking ugly forms in alarming proportions fuelled by man’s yearning for superiority.

Various reforms were brought about by some leaders and today’s India has a lot more equality to boast about than a few centuries ago.

Yet it’s a fact that there still exist insane practices followed in our nation in the name of caste, predominantly in the rural sections.


Dalits not being allowed to enjoy certain priveleges. Dalits not allowed entry in some places. Dalit people being harassed. Dalits being punished when they ventured into the avenues ‘prohibitted’ for them.

Absolutely Shameful. Many a time I have read of incidents where the ruling Panchayat engages in such atrocious actions

Whatever happened to the ‘equality irrespective of caste, creed, religion’ taught across schools to the children?

These incidents scream at us with vehemence that despite all the economic and social development we have undergone, we still have a very long way to go.

In some parts of India, especially in cities and some towns we seem to have done away with this social evil to a great extent. Atleast people mind their own businesses and live together in harmony. Intercaste marriages are becoming more common. I am positive and confident that with the passage of time the rest of the country will follow suit.

Unfortunately these differences are further magnified instead of getting eliminated by the respected governing Netas of our country. The fanatism for their caste held by various groups is exploited and directed towards achieveing political gains.

Electoral parties get formed everyday for a specific ethnic group or caste.

A ploy used by every other politician to gain votes is that he would fight for the interests of a specific group. SO what about the rest?

If one is interested only in the upliftment of a specific caste, then politics or the assembly is a wrong place to be.

Is any of this directed at doing away with the difference?

In fact in the name of upliftment of the downtrodden castes, I have come across speeches throwing insults at certain other castes in the community for no reason at all.

I was born in a Brahmin family, classified as 'Forward/Upper Caste'. This is not explicitly stated or declared but when it comes to getting a seat in an educational institute, or a job in the public sector , we would be put into the Open Category.

Today when students clear their Boards, in addition to their marks, their parentage i.e. the CASTE they belong to would decide their fate.

 Every student who passes out of school would need to get a ‘Caste Classification’ certificate in addition to his Board Exam marksheet.

30% - BC (Backward Caste), 30% MBC (Most Backward Caste) 35% OC(Open Category) and 5% SC/ST

These percentages may be inaccurate but this is to give an idea.As the name declares OC is for all irrespective of their caste. For the rest there is a quota. The BC,MBC and SC/ST students can get a seat in the Open Category when the seats in their quotas get occupied. But the reverse does not happen.
Today a student in the OC category needs 99% to get a specific seat. For the same seat it would suffice if a student in BC secures 95% and an MBC student would need only 92%. So a student aspiring for a particular institute needs to set his target depending upon the caste he belongs to. Also there is a very good chance that he gets enrolled in a lower rank institute compared to his classmates even though he scored more than them.  Where is fairness here?


Most of the people belonging to castes classified as BC or MBC today are socially well developed and are in respectable vocations some of them lawyers,doctors etc . I mean to say that these competing students are similar in terms of the socio-economic background of their families.
So Why this difference?

This discrimination in a way promotes the exodus of a lot of good talent towards greener pastures outside the country where the competition they face does not have anything to do with their caste.


I am speaking out LOUD here because I know the impact.


Every other day we have one community or the other with a demonstration raising flags demanding a quota for their wards.


If it has to be fair, do away with all these differences. Let the allotment be purely on the basis of merit.


There are specific communities like the tribal folks in some forests etc which need to be uplifted. It may be impossible for these people to compete on par with the rest. There could be a panel of selected members from the society who can allot seats for these students.

For the rest I do not see a reason why there should be a difference based on caste.

 I truly believe that irrespective of caste and creed all men and women need to be treated as humans first and all oppression in the name of caste should be wiped out from the face of the nation. At the same time let us stop glorifying the differences in the name of elimination.

Let there be EQUALITY in the true sense of the word irrespective of caste creed and religion.

Then my India will shine.


Bikramjit Mann's post based on Stayamev Jayate triggered me to write this one.

My Back's Kinda Back

It happened around 3 weeks ago.

I had just  gotten up was preparing some tea in my kitchen. My son came running and I bent down for the customary 'Good Morning darling' and 'Attack'. I got this sharp feeling in my lower back. A sort of jammed effect. I tried straightening and an electric jolt went shooting up my spine.

The doctor gave me some pain killers and I expected that I would be back to normal in a couple of days and that I would be dancing like Prabhu Deva. But after completing the entire course of medicine, there was no effect and I was still moving around in close similarity to the poor elephants in the circus when they walk on just two legs.

Sitting on the couch was impossible and the floor was not much of a help either.The worst part was, when I tried to get up after sitting for an hour at a stretch. There was no way I could stand straight leave alone walk. If I lay down flat on my back it was not so bad. Getting up from that position was again as easy as mountain climbing!

All my activities right from looking after my son, to my office work got impacted and I was feeling miserable. Blogging got affected two fold. Sitting at the computer was tough and my brain went on an indefinite strike refusing to give ideas or words.

People who saw me thought I had fractured my leg or something as I was limping. Who does not like attention? I wasted no opportunity in explaining that I had sprained my back and was having a bad time moving around.

In this information era , the internet and other modes of communication have given us a lot of exposure to all the illnesses that exist on this planet. Complete knowledge would make you a doctor. Total Ignorance gives you a sort of innocence like the poor illiterate people in some parts of our country.These folks would not try to figure out anything by themselves and would religiously follow the words of the doctor and would trust every word of his. There is one category in between these two.  People like me who harrass their drained intellects in figuring out what could possibly be wrong, with the limited knowledge it has. 'Hmm, May be the bone has degenrated or something, whats that called? Or a muscle tear? Or one of those diseases we are scared of uttering the name? Oh my God! Let me check ' and there, the usual http://www.google.com/ and some random searches trying to fathom the reason for all the discomfort.

The XRay center took three whole days to send a two word report to my doctor. Wondering how they managed to achieve that amazing speed.

I looked at the XRay under the tubelight. If I knew what it was showing, instead of sitting here and typing this at this moment, I would probably be mending the bones of some poor kid that cracked them after falling from a mango tree.

The doctor pointed to the section between two of the spinal discs and said that the cartilage has slightly thinned, what they called as mild spondylosis. 'Thats very normal. Nothing to worry. Its due to aging'

What an evil statement to tell me when I was already depressed about my thirty first birthday that was around the corner.

'Aging? I am just thirty'I groaned.

'Well, medically you start aging at 20' he declared . Blatant Flinging Of Horrible Facts! I hate doctors!

I was directed to a physiotherapist. This gentleman ended up being my guardian angel.


After more than two weeks of no change in my condition, I had no expectations. My mood was in its worst best. I was sporting the expression  of Narasimha Rao in his saddest hour. In fact, I was a teeny weeny bit scared.

After examining me, he uttered a sentence 'Nothing wrong in your XRay. It would be the same for anyone in your age.What you have is some weakness in the muscle and that can be corrected with some exercises'. To me that was SP Balasubramaniam singing to A.R.Rahman's tunes . I was almost dancing like Prabhudeva , Almost!

He did some physiotherapy twist and massage, put me on traction and taught me some exercises to be done everyday. It was magic.

Within two to three days my pain went down considerably and for the first time in three weeks I was able to stand straight and carry on with my  routine without turning to all those ointments and balms that bring instant relief ONLY in television ads.

We do not take enough care of our bodies when they continue to adjust with all the roughness and  toughness we subject them to. When the body finally cannot take it anymore, it begins to show and then only we realize how important it is to stay healthy. This is my take-back from this experience.

I had carried some really heavy weights after shopping one day which seems to have caused this.

My request to all those reading this - Please respect your physique and take very good care of it. Do not take it for granted. Have a healthy and balanced diet, exercise as much as possible , and find ways to destress. It is very very important, if not for your own selves, for your loved ones atleast.

Well, since the entire length of this post is about the back, I would like to share some tips that I was given

1. Do not lift heavy weights. If its necessary hold them close to the torso. A backpack is anytime better than a one sided bag in case you are carrying a laptop.
2. Regulary do some exercises that stretch your back muscles.
3. When you need to bend to pick something, do not do so with your legs straight. Bend at your knees to go down and then pick it up.
4. Do not remain seated for long. Take a break once in a while and walk a little bit like to the washroom or to drink some water.
5. Try to maintain good postures while sitting, sleeping etc.

I wanted to blog about something as it has been more than ten days since my last post. This bad-back episode had taken entire control  and no other ideas seem to appear in my head when I sit down to write. Words are also not flowing like usual, kind of like a clogged pipe!

Even now, when I get up, there is this slightly knotted feeling in my back. Hope to be completely okay before the next physiotherapy appointment. Take Care Folks!

TWO MINUTES

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 29; the 29th Edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. The topic for this month is 'TWO MINUTES'.

It was 1 pm.

The police vehicles hurried through the city, their sirens blaring and hastily docked at the market place. The uniformed men quickly stepped out and wasting no time proceeded to evacuate all the shoppers and shopkeepers with a lighting speed.



They used all means possible to bring the chaos under their control and within ten minutes the place was occupied by only the security forces, the common men now watching with growing curiosity at a safe distance.


Personnel with metal detectors and sniffing dogs started prowling the place, vigorously hunting.


A tip-off from one of their trustworthy informants about a possible terror attack had sprung them into the current deputation.



One of the German Shepherds ran towards a pillar at one corner, which was mainly used as a dumping point for all the garbage and started barking ferociously. The policemen hastened a metal detector to the spot and the loud beeps confirmed what had been sniffed by the dog.



They hastily rummaged through the filth and soon saw the sinister looking cardboard box beneath.


Gautam stepped forward looking like a robot in his outfit for the job.


Today was his last day in the force, end of ten years of service in the bomb squad.


He was passionate, intelligent and smart, a combination that had won him many laurels from all the superior ranks in the force.


As he cautiously moved forward, Shwetha’s tear streaked face flashed in his mind.


He took in a deep breath and furrowed his brows to erase away all thoughts and concentrate on the mission at hand.


He soon got the knowledge that he was racing with a timer attached to the explosive. He had just a little over two minutes left , ebbing away now.


Shwetha had been his childhood sweetheart and they had married less than a year ago.


Marriage had changed everything. Every day when he went back home, he would see fear embedded all over Shwetha;s face; melancholy deep in her eyes.


The last time he had gone home after an assignment , he had found Shwetha shivering and shaking, almost hysterical. She never said anything but he knew that his profession was subjecting her to a lot of torment.


He had decided to call it quits and go back to his father’s business. Ten years had given him a great deal of satisfaction and he wanted to go now. He owed Shwetha’s family a lot.


Today was his last day officially. A totally unexpected mission had come up. One last!

He was now knelt down near the cardboard box, Shekar, his compatriot, seated next to him.


The seconds were ticking. There was no time to move it to a less hazardous location.


Gautam knew that irrespective of training and experience, his success depended to an extent on his intuition and of course his destiny.


There was a fair percent chance of his attempt being unsuccessful.


He took the clipper to the blue wire. In a fraction of a second, he changed his mind and shifted it to the red.


Shekar’s expression was grim yet determined. His thumbs up was a go-ahead signal.


Flash, Shwetha;s face again.


As was his habit Gautam slowly said 'Om,One, two and three'. Gautam tightened his grasp.


***************************************************************



2 pm. Shwetha’s phone started beeping.


She had been busy packing her belongings unaware of the turn of events .


‘I love you, darling’ the message read.

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

F55 - (2 in 1)

My first attempt at F 55. Two in one.

F-55 - 1

Street lights heralded the sun’s disappearance. A reverberating noise filled the air, indicating the onslaught. The airborne troops charged ahead, their dangerous weapons ready; poised for attack. An all-female army yet ruthless! The retaliation was unexpected. Engulfed in a blast of poisonous vapor they fell, one by one to their deaths. The coil kept guarding.




F-55 -2

She was exhausted. All the screaming had dried her throat. The ill-fitting gown and hair that stuck to the perspiration resulted in a shabby and disheveled appearance.
Tears started trickling down her cheeks. She knew not why.
Yet she was in her most beautiful form. Few minutes had passed since she won the title – Mother.

My first Exam in Engineering!

Image Source: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The transition from school to college is definitely a huge leap in one’s life. In my case, when I joined my engineering course at BITS there was something else that also took a gigantic leap. The probability of getting a ‘zook’ i.e just a 100 short of a centum catapulted to very close to 1 from 0.

The marked difference in the method of teaching amongst the various boards of education in India becomes very evident when they meet at a common educational institute.


Students from my board were used to the concept of the length of the answer being directly proportional to the marks scored and had become almost like carbon papers by the time they cleared their boards. Recording and replicating as per the book. To these folks the conceptual methodologies of teaching and evaluating at the institute was totally alien. It took them nearly two to three semesters to gel with the system and get accustomed.

Added to that, there were some common courses across all disciplines in the first two years that took the forms of Draculas and Frankensteins in the nightmares of many a student - Mech Sol(Mechanics Of Solids), Thermodynamics to name a few. Additionally the professors set the question papers, when the red colored halves of their minds with two horns and a tail were fully active and the soft white dress wearing halves were in a deep slumber! Villains!

My first test was Ad Cal – Advanced Calculus. Calculus in its primitive form itself used to give me the look of a bird stuck by electric shock in cartoons – (In reality they do not survive, in cartoons they do and just get the look  ). Advanced version could be so lethal.

The eve of the exam, like a very meticulous student, I packed all the stationery I might need – Pen, Pencil, Eraser, Ruler, Pink Pen, Green Pen, Violet Pen (Seriously). Sometimes taking a lot of things including 80% unwanted things would give you a teeny weeny bit boost of confidence ha ha

Then came the next problem. What if I don’t hear the alarm and end up missing the test? What if my clock stops working in the middle of the night leave alone the alarm? I took the clock in my hand and spoke to it with as much affection as I could. ‘Please wake me up!’

The worst thing about exam mornings is that they arrive too fast. And mine too did.

I had a quick bath, got into what I believed was the least ill-luck-infested-dress, applied some sacred vermillion I had collected at the temple and left the hostel.

Piety reaches its zenith every five minutes before a human being sits for an exam.

I prayed to all the Gods I knew and asked for forgiveness for any stupid things I had done in the past few days ignoring my conscience and begged them to not let that reflect it in my test.


The invigilator entered the hall. He appeared to me with a mace and a rope seated on a black buffalo. God of Death himself! He gave us a deadly look through his reading glasses and distributed the answer sheets.

I opened my stationery purse to take my pen out. My mouth hung open by six inches in ABSOLUTE SHOCK.

There were no pens there…Not even one.

No Green, No violet , no blue!

Earrings! There were earrings instead – Long, Short, Wide, Red, Pink, Green, and Blue …Around 25 pairs.

I am crazy about earrings and I had kept my collection on top of my cupboard in a blue purse. The stationery that I had fastidiously packed, I had placed into a very similar looking purse and placed it next to it. In my hurry from the hostel, like an idiot I had picked the wrong purse.

How was I supposed to write an exam with 25 pairs or earrings, no matter how attractive they were?

My adrenalin poured like Niagara on my inside. My sweat appeared as beads and evaporated into vapor in the heat that I felt. I quickly turned to the guy behind and asked if he had an extra pen. He had brought just one. Idiot! What if it stopped writing?

I quickly called the girl in front and said ‘I don’t have a pen. Would you have an extra one?’ She looked at me like I was a close replica of the alien in Steven Spielberg’s ET.

Behind the thick glasses that covered her face, I could clearly see the astonishment.

By now Yama had started distributing the question papers as well.

The girl luckily had something that could pass for a pen. Something that I could write with. That moment, she was my Guardian Angel! My Savior! I would have happily fallen at her feet!


I somehow regained composure and started facing the actual demon, my question paper.


In BITS, what matters is where you stand on a comparative scale. You get accustomed to scoring something like 12 on 100 and finding yourself on cloud nine as the class average is 11 on 100. That test, I scored above average!! Thanks to the bespectacled angel who blessed me with writing tool the day I went pen less to an exam – My first exam in Engineering!

My Guest Post on marriage book website

There are so many things that you get reminded of when I say the word 'Wedding' - Bright Colored Clothing, Exquisite Jewellery, Shy Expressions,Colorful Decorations, mantras, rituals, Flowers, Vows, Delicious Food, Music, Dance and what not

Every wedding would leave us with some beautiful memories and your own one ....Its something that would stay etched in your mind forever....

Lot of moments - touching, emotional, sentimental and some funny or Stupid?

I have written a guest post on Pramod Lohia's website. The link is given below. Thank you Pramod for the opportunity.

http://marriagebook.in/the-moment-i-entered-matrimony/

My Story That Was Published