National Commission for General Castes

Yesterday, on a visit to National Comission for Scheduled Castes for some work, I couldn't help but feeling slighted because again the Reservation Quota started twirling in my brain, like a heat worm. Strangely, I was at NCSC to talk about a case where, in my personal opinion, an SC person is using this identity to take undue advantage of the situation.

The concerned officer was curt and frank enough to admit, that NCSC cannot entertain the complaints of General Category people, and that we could go to Human Rights Commission. I wondered, regardless of the need for the reservation, was the time coming soon when a National Commission for General Castes will find its flesh. The recent protests by young General Category Medicos, is a case in point too.

No matter how we define secular antecedents of India, there is no denying that the role played by the executive in creating a social environment of equal rights has failed miserably.

I cannot help but question how the Saints belonging to SC category made it to Guru Granth Sahib? Was there a National Commission in Place at that time or were the Sikh Gurus intelligent enough to implement activities like Langar or community kitchen. The very creation of Khalsa was done to blunt the caste system.Did we say, Krishna was a cow-herd God?

Infact, One of leading contemporary dancers, Uttara Asha Coorwala, while studying the "Brahminisation of dance body" says that dance follows the caste heirarchy zealously. Sample this: Vachika or Speech in dance occurs from Mouth, the face is considered the Brahminical part of the body. The hands and chest, which join the face with the body and help face express what is being spoken is Kshtreya part of the body. Chest being the skeletol part or the warrior part that protects our heart. The hips, belong to the Vaishyas or the traders, since a dancer squats, jumps and moves about thanks to their support. The half squatting and full squatting position in Bharatnatyam is essential to perform any basic adavu. The legs, finally are Shudras, since they do the dirty work or running about. While performing, we scarsely look at the feet, who do maximum work. The visibility quotient is always the face, i.e. the Brahminical part.

I find this interpretation, which has been explained at length above, for clarity, very intriguing. I cannot say if I agree, perhaps I hold the romantic vision away from the politics that consituted Bharatanatyam and resurrected it from the Devadasis, or the contemporary politics to create a divide in the world of academia, where a teacher and a student's relationship may be determined by his/her caste and perhaps the ranks in class and university.