When we step out into the world,
there are various parameters on which we are judged by the society. It was not
until I reached college that I came across the most “significant” criteria of evaluating
a person’s worthiness – the caste to which he or she belongs to.
Contrary to the prevailing social
practice, my childhood remained oblivious of this essential feature of a
person’s worth. But once I ventured out of the sheltered environment of home, I
was bombarded with frequent and often annoying questions and remarks like, “Your
surname sounds a little unfamiliar”, “Which state do you belong to?”, “Are you
a Christian?”, “Your mother’s accent sounds different?” or sometimes a straight
enquiry, “Which caste do you belong to?”
I was then forced to reason out why we
in general try to assess people’s abilities, their affability and their
goodness based on the irrelevant and extraneous gauges of caste. I don’t want
to go into the origin and evolution of the caste systems, but I am sure no
system ever established could be a good one if it disregards the inherent
virtues of a human being, and tries to go against the very tenet of equality of
men.
Does just belonging to some definite
caste make you more equal than others? I don’t think so.
When God created this beautiful world
he made all men alike, then why do we wish to divide it into segments and
sectors based on some irrational and inconsequential parameters. Leaving aside
the more brutal and inhuman deeds that are committed in the name of caste, the
least we can do is to give respect to each other and stop judging a person based
on some pre-conceived and often spoon-fed notion.
