The Hundred Year Old India

While parties win and Prime Ministers return, a small part of UP stays unruffled, a small village, my paternal village I am afraid, lives as it has been living for ages. Tal Dholi, the strangely named village, declared an Ambedkar Gram by the State Government, entitling it to special development schemes. A yagya at our family temple, forced me to pay the village a visit, a visit that lasted four and a half hours precisely, and I got a look at the development in that region, supposedly the real India.

The first things that a city dweller notices in a village are the cows and the farms, a husky atmosphere, creating a strangely beautiful scene. The second thing I noticed were the wells, all of them closed. My father told me that in earlier days, wells used to be the place where people used to mingle socially, but now the need for wells does not exist, for there are hand pumps now, easier to use, and definitely more accessible. That is the first sign of fragmentation. But still, its development, development at a cost.

Next came my turn to take blessings. I was ordered by my father to touch the feet of every elder in sight, and I did that. I touched the feet of those villagers, with torn shoes and covered in mud, but the one person whom I thought was spotlessly clean, didn’t allow me to touch his feet, saying ‘Hamaar naahi’. I still did what I had to do, touched his feet, but was left confused. I later realized that it was a case of caste distinctions, untouchability basically. I came to know that the village was divided into factions, areas called ‘toliyas’  based on castes, the taboo region being the ‘chamar toliya’ or the area of untouchables. No one dares wander into that region. A ‘purohit’ will not perform rituals in their homes, and eating there is most definitely out of question. When the wells were in use, they were not allowed to use it, are still not allowed to enter the temple, and the most painful part is that they have accepted it. I was told that once a ‘chamar’ was elected the sarpanch. He was still not allowed to eat with the community. But that was not an issue with anyone.  And we talk about the abolition of caste distinctions.

The other image that stayed with me as I left was that of young girls that I saw. The daughter of the ‘naoon’, a caste and a profession, has taken up her mother’s job quite willingly. Today she applies colour on the feet of the members of the ‘higher’ class, is an expert in massaging, and has no qualms about what she does. Another girl, aged around twenty, member of a well respected family, came into the temple with four kids, all of them being her offsprings. She looked quite comfortable in her role as a mother. While the urban society goes on harping about women’s emancipation, these girls have no idea of this concept, they are quite certain that they are supposed to stay in their homes, perform their duties towards the males as efficiently as they can. And we thought the woman of today is stronger than men.

It was believed that polio has been eradicated from Uttar Pradesh, until a single case was reported in Barabanki. Must be about some other state, for I am sure I saw at least four children below the age of four suffering from polio, and the people are supposedly cool about it, for they are not even taken to the hospital, because children are still considered tools for income; one inefficient tool hardly makes a difference. And we talk about improved health facilities in villages.

The one thing that made me really happy was when I met the second oldest woman of the village, more than hundred year old, yet full of life. While walking, the bend in her back makes an acute angle, yet she stood up, went inside to bring two hand fans for us. She kind of symbolizes what the village should ideally be, weak in infrastructure, yet strong in spirit. That brought me to the end of the trip.

What I saw in that small village was painful. It was not a picnic spot as the city dwellers usually believe. Problems that we thought were over are strong as ever. Caste, land, religion still are the major factors. What makes it worse is that even the victims have stopped caring. What is rather alarming is that today, development itself is based on fragmentation of society. One section will be uplifted by a certain party, and the rest are left for the others. This can bring in development, but not social reform, which I believe is more important. The problems are numerous, and I can’t think of solutions. But I can suggest the primary step- to open our eyes. The urban population will have to stop living in a dream, stop believing that things are improving, because things are not, and unless this realization dawns upon us, things won’t. These are social problems, and the society will have to solve it.