Katie Taylor
Period 6, World History
November 21, 2013
Preface: History is a way learning of and from our predecessors. Learning of their mistakes and successes gives us a better understanding of what put man kind where we are today. It is widely known that history tends to repeat itself, unfortunately in India the caste system has been a major part of the spiritual and social beliefs of Indian society for centuries. This writing is a work of historical fiction told from the eyes of one of the untouchables meant to display why it is time to move forward in India by dissolving the caste system.
Introduction: The caste system has been a deeply integrated part of Indian society and its most practiced religion, Hinduism, for over 3,000 years. Its a part of Indian and spiritual beliefs based on karma and reincarnation. The caste system is basically a ladder where each rung is a different caste and you move up or down in your next life based on your works in your present life. It is meant to punish people for past life's wrong deeds and rewards you if you lived your previous life well. In someways the caste system unifies India because they each have a close nit community within their own caste as a sort of "safety net" to rely on, but in many more ways than not the caste system tears India apart.
Dear Editor, I am Daya Patel and I am a member of the untouchable sewer cleaning caste in the poorest state in India, Bihar. The caste system is a respected part of the Hindu religion and unites the people of India under our religion and provides us with a closenit community within our caste to rely on. Some people say this system is only fair and people deserve to be punished or rewarded for past works. Maybe those who think that are right, but I would like to think it is time for change in India. It is time to get rid of the caste system. At one point the castes were based on character and it was not impossible to move up to a better caste in one life time, but now the caste system is determined by birth and it is not possible to move up in the world.
The current treatment of us untouchables is not right and the treatment of sewer cleaners like me is even worse. We are the worst of the worst in everyone's eyes. We looked down on and hated by even leather worker, who are considered lowly untouchables. Every day I wake up and put on my work clothes, caked in sweat and human waste. Then I travel through the passage made especially for untouchable to the first blockage because we are not permitted enter their houses or stores through the main door. I plunge my bare hand into the blockage to move the flow of human waste. Some people have government jobs and are provided work gloves, but I am not so lucky. I am employed by the people of my village who require my services. I keep my nails short to keep human waste from becoming stuck under them. Everyday I am exposed to large amounts of methane and hydrogen sulphide, both considered potentially fatal substances. The members of my caste including myself often suffer from conic health problems, such as eye infections, serious respiratory problems, and skin disorders due to our work conditions. There is actually a law India against human sewer workers. The law states that humans can not go into the sewer unless it is an emergancy, the problem is the sewers are so bad and the cities so crowed that there are emergencies every day. Because of my caste I am not given a fair chance in life. I will never have the opertunaties to have an education, earn better job, or get out of poverty. The caste system causes segregation and discrimination throughout India. I as an untouchable can only so olive and marry within my caste. I have never even spoken to a Brahman. Some Brahmans refuse to eat food cooked where an untouchable has eaten or brush up against an untouchable on the street, or else they have to undergo a cleansing ritual. The limitations and restrictions for the lower castes segregate the castes and makes it impossible for the India to ever be completely unified and that is why the caste system should be dissolved.
Works Cited
Jha, Rupa. "'My Life Cleaning Delhi's Sewers'" BBC News. BBC, 02 July 2009. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.
Blank, Jonas. "Caste." pag. Print.
No comments:
Post a Comment