I AND MY WORDS

Sagacity is a precious commodity in the markets of collective wisdom. However for this gold, there is always a platinum, which needs to be identified by the term common sense. This commodity called common sense is indeed rare. For every thousand people, barely half a person will  display it. Such is its importance in the public discourse and governance that no less than a great thinker like Thomas Paine had to write a book to extol its virtues. Sadly, however, the people who control public discourse in India stake claim to this commodity, even though despite their perceived first right to use is contradicted by the sheer inability of their wit and wisdom to reach out to this, thus making it a much sought after valuable. One may wonder why I am out to praise common sense today, especially given the circumstances. I lay heed to one woman's doorsteps who with her sheer brilliance has often left us poor minions gobsmacked, struggling to search for answers in the radiant light of he...

"Why am I asked about my caste when I go to the police? Am I not a citizen?"   The recent horrific case coming out of Badayun has many layers to the problem. Caste oppression has been one aspect of it. Members of the Yadav community have been found guilty of misusing their status in society to commit such dastardly acts including murder and sexual assault on Dalit girls. Another has been the appalling state of sanitation in India and the subsequent harassment women face, which has implications on public health and, as the case shows, law and order as well. While the latter is no less troublesome for a nation that aspires to be a global superpower of this century, a major worry for me personally has been the perpetuity of the ills that the decaying caste system carries with them in the form that it is seen across many parts of the country even today. Caste system existed in India in a certain time and context. It is not a racial profile as is often misconstrued by lazy a...