Children of Varanasi Ghats

Whenever I attended a seminar or a conference, all I get to hear is about the ‘young and shining India’. The words are not merely themselves; they carry a unique contribution in the development of the nation and individual in it. But it has been a striking conflict within the neurotransmitters of my brain, which disturb the chemical balance whenever I hear these lines; the fortunate or the entire young crowd of the country is within the frames of these lines? I wonder!

This article deals with the inequality been observed upon a visit to the banks of Ganges river in Banaras. It was sunny bright morning, but it different for us as a part of educational trip visiting the place. But for the young group of 5-7 children been there from their birth was not new. This group is of children selling baskets of flowers and has been doing so from their birth. Many of them, who could not afford to purchase their flowers and baskets, were either begging or silently observing the huge crowd of we people present there. There was no hatred in their hearts but there were dreams within their eyes. These are the dreams which encounter many of them but are just ignored, maybe because they do not form the part of the ‘young India’ which is often described by elitism and fortune of birth. I introspected myself to get out with the facts of why they are not part of the young India? Or why are they not considered relevant for the development?

To get the answers to poking instincts, I stopped introspecting and started interrogating the young visionaries present there. To lay down a conclusion for their dreams is impossible, for as there are such dreams which maybe are just demands of we people and often are fulfilled by parents. Parents? Are the parents’ only sources to lay the future of the child or is it even the shared responsibility of society to prove egalitarianism in distribution of resources?

While writing this article the hurdle faced was to define this group of children and to overcome this hurdle, I decided to name them as ‘young visionaries’. Upon questioning their lifestyle and family setup I get to know the brute realities of the society or won’t be wrong in saying the brute luck of these young visionaries. All of the 5 children I had a talk with did not go to school ever, rather they were nurtured in such a way that their brains was now not in favor of attending school. They were rather focused upon earning a few bucks to manage a meal for themselves. This part was not astonishing, but was assumed. Still the emphasis upon education of these children lay within the policies of government, but will and desire to counsel them to enshrine the importance into their minds and into the minds of their parents, is/was never seen, rather never felt important.

Raising the question of family statuses and lifestyle was astonishing to some extent. The siblings sharing the part of resources were to the count of more than 10 in number. The entire family setup was so designed that, each of the born child was considered as an extra income part of the family. Each child means that there is an increase in the sum of family income, irrespective of the expenditure increase. The factor of family growth in terms of membership could also be analyzed in terms of the lack of sexual knowledge and family planning within the minds of parents. The daily resource distribution takes place in order of providing the highest of meal quantity to the Father and/or to the member who earns more. The women of the house are only limited to the chores of personal arena. But on the contrary few women are also working and managing the family works. During the time female of the family are on work, the childcare of infants is of no question, rather a meal is the priority.

Further answers made more awestruck situation, as in many of the female young minds complaint of being beaten up by their father after being drunk. It was made a point if they know that drinking alcohol was a bad habit? But, the reply was just silent and the eyes of the visionaries got deepened and wandered towards the Sun, as they were searching enlightenment.

I do not want to be judgmental or sympathetic at all, as a learner it comes to my duty to understand the situation/s and work upon my professional ethics. Moreover to be so I would rather be empathetic upon being human. I cannot change the definition of what young India is for the people or how young visionary can be part of young India? Just amused by the efforts of government and even on the part of society in which we form the basis for the growth and development, but ignore the basic crux of the society.

Government should accordingly frame policies upon considering every part of the society and even the needs of the desired. The dreams of these ‘young visionary’s’ are equal responsibility of we people as it belongs to government and their parents. The basic reason for this lies in the resource sharing principle; what already we exists with us, should be passed upon to the needy and so should be in continuation till the equality is achieved.

The Plight of India Women

Those flurry lights of Delhi metro as usual reflected the search for a seat. I didn’t manage a seat, but a woman dressed up in sari, with mustard shawl wrapped around her shoulders entered with her son. She would have been into her mid 30’s and her son would have been 8-10 years of age.

She was silent and her eyes didn’t blink. She was continuously looking at the side of the tunnel, which was dark. Her eyes and even her vision were constant. The silent women, I felt was mourning upon her experiences of life time. Experiences, which might have been as dark as the tunnel…

The beginning of would have been her escape from womb; when she would have first cursed for gender. The smile on her parents face would have vanished on looking at her genital. Later the progress of her experiences would have been by restrictions on her growth. The cries would have been bifurcated by considering hunger as the least. All these thoughts pondered my minds and spoke the worst through her silent cries. There was rage in her eyes. Stations were passing, and I just hoped to read more out of her eyes.

She was holding her son close to her, as if she was wondering of herself being caged within the premises of her parental reputation. Reputation: that had forbidden her from wandering freely in the society, considering her liberty to be a sin for her parents to stand with heads-up. The process of home-cage must have begun with limiting her education over her male siblings, and considering a veil important after her puberty. The shawl wrapped around her shoulders was displaying her fragileness, and the delicate and bowed down shoulders portrayed her sensitivity of born as a female. All after and during her puberty she would have gained conscious of being a delicate, sensitive and not so wanted personality, with few human and forced biological actions upon her body. Criticism for her menstrual cycles during which, she would not have allowed to be touch and being touched.

 I was just trying to somehow go deep into her eyes to get a look in the shallow rivers of being born a female in the scrutinized ‘Manu’ scripted society. With the suddenness one day she would have been informed of her marriage with a ‘Male’. A human with a different genitals, and superior to her was now to decide, and rule her next to her parents. She would have been forced to follow the rule of ‘father prestige upon daughter’s shoulders’. She now would have to follow every action of keeping her father’s prestige upright, by obeying her husband and his family. Now she was the ‘property’ of her husband.

Following her marriage she would have entered the process of ‘reproduction’ and not ‘love making’, she would have been sent to trauma of not giving birth to an image of her’s. Fortunately she gave birth to her husband’s image. After the process of birth, everyone would have engaged in loving the adorable. None considered the birth-cramps she suffered and none even thanked her, but she must have thanked to that creator of not giving her another image of herself. The infant then would have considered alike his father. His nose, ears and lips would have forcibly matched to his father’s. The only left duty of her would be to feed the baby.

PLIGHT;

The junction approached and she stood up. It was her station to de-board. And I was just left wondering of how calmly she is now adapted to society, which consider her as apart from itself? How now she even got engaged in loving a son as a mother, and living with the blessing of not having a daughter. Slowly within the time travels her pains would have vanished, and later she would have just realized her position: she was a birth giver to a Male Child. She had attained the prestige for herself; but somewhere down there in her eyes is still the reflection of her pains, her desires which were ending, her dreams which were restricted, her wants which were limited and her individuality which has been moderated. 

Romanticism and She...

"As she let break her stiffness; I held her waist with firmness I saw through her eyes........."

               

Romance: As I try to define I become unable to let put my mind and soul together and allow my hands to pen down the only feeling of Romance. The initial stage of liking which later transforms into ‘Love’ and turns up as a practice of ‘Love Making’. For me to be specific the practice of Making Love is ‘Romance’ and the thought provoking to achieve this end is the idea of ‘Love’.

My Love for Lady:

All the years wandering around in the rains, under the sun and returning in the moonlight, I use to plot that image of Lady. Lady to whom I wished to call 'My Lady' was, now with the passage of time even escaping into exile from my wishes and dreams. Then, the moonlight suddenly allowed me to breathe the sweet fragrance of 'her' presence in my hollow lifestyle, to which the day was 'My Lady' entered.

The Love; now got a name, my plotted figures has a face and a name. I relished, as I have 'My Lady'.

The idea of Romance: To the idea of Romance is Love and the love making is the face of "Practice of Romance". My love for her is the sensitive aspect of union; My Love for her is the worship; My Love for her is spiritual; My Love is the stage of ecstasy; It is beyond rituals and customs of society; It is burdened with expectations of being together; It is free from time trail; It never counts distance(s); My Love is emancipation; My love is OUR union; It is the love far away from genitals.

Concluding all, it was actually, not simply Love.

It won't be appropriate to quote ever that, it was just a feeling. It was the feeling of being loved by My Lady. To mention, I never realized in near time the intensity, passion and that zeal to feel pain in love. 

It was all when 'her' touch across my body left shivers in me to let me feel her, feel the pleasure of pain of love.

Practice(s) of Romance (Love making):

The memory of the day hasn't vanished till today and will never in near future. It was the day, when all of the mentioned feelings and ideas of love, made a move to no more be ideas, rather be those abstract feelings. Feelings which ran across my veins entered my body through 'her' touch. The day was when the union was made. She just let the firmness of her body go free, and I held that loosening into the stiffness of my hand on her waist.

She accepted me 'her' 'Man' in honor and pride of 'her' love, ‘We’ moved towards the exchange of our breaths.

Her fingers made a delicate move to hold my hair and making me realize the presence of a woman in my life.

The feelings were now no more an idea of love, they were turning into the realization through the practice of making love.

It was then the fragrant dark, it was the darkness of her flicks, and she hid me under them, and made me swayed through time and space. The no more moments were left beside to let 'us' realize the oneness of our togetherness.

Breathing now was just a dream, and sharing breaths was a realization. Her fingers were the traces of life; the moment was of emancipation and rejuvenation. There were no left over distances, our souls were one.

The move she made by putting my hand on her upper body and moved it near her heart. The words from her mouth echoed my ears and the silence of room broke-down. She exclaimed 'THIS IS REAL'.

That Day To-Day:

In the entire essay I tried to plot down my version of Romance. I mentioned the idea of 'Romance' as 'Love' and 'Love Making' as practice of 'Romance'. The entire essay is based upon my thoughts and real encounter with my thoughts. I tried to lay down a very idealistic portrait of what romance is for me as an idea and in practice.

Caste and Gender: Scrutiny to Society

Caste and Gender are inextricably related to each other. Both play a parallel part in scrutinizing the society. Although as an impact caste has wider impact on gender. Where on one hand we have Shri Rama Chandra as the one of the most prayed personality of Hindu’s, we on the other hand are denying the role of a patriarch he played in scrutinizing his wife’s life, by the exclamation of a washer man(lower caste) on her character. Despite of getting through with the ‘Agni Pariksha’, Sita was forced to go to exiles.

The role of caste in the above mentioned example is a type of direct impact on caste, where a King like Rama was forced to question her wife’s character just because a lower caste (washer man) had raised a question on Rama’s justice of accepting an abandoned once wife.

Although caste according to Dr. B.R Ambedkar is, “graded inequality arranged n order of decreasing contempt and increasing reverence”. The main issue in dealing with caste related issue is that, people who own the means of production, also own the ‘symbolic means of production’. This statement herein brings the picture of class in comparison to gender and caste.

Another feature of caste based discrimination is one that, those who suffer from caste based discrimination have not accepted their identities and have rather shifted from one of the identity, probably, to Buddhism.

Now the question claiming the Caste and Gender relationship deepens as the debate progresses. I would here like to state forward the discriminations, not from the caste point of view rather, from the caste upon gender (women) point of view. Any and every caste has some features to portray its dominance, in India, we have multiplicity of caste based dominations, somewhere it is Brahmins and somewhere it is the Maulvi’s ruling over the minds of people. But the impact these people make over gender is reflect of much dominant domination. Since the women are not the bread-owners in most of the Indian families, they suffer with the economic dependency upon their mates. This economic dependency indeed makes them the prey male dominated world, patriarchy.

Putting forward the discriminations, the inclination was firstly from the past old aged India, in which Patriarchal domination was carried on by the famous and most prayed, like Rama. Late in the contemporary India, the figures speak in favor of ‘Shahbano Case’. A case with implications of history and future both was said to be of a Muslim woman who demanded ‘alimony’ from her husband after divorce, but unfortunately her caste (being Muslim), debarred her from getting any financial help from her ex-husband, and according to Muslim code law, husband after giving ‘Talaq’ to her wife owes no responsibility of hers.

Secondly, the most wondered example of contemporary India is based on an effort of Kirori Mal College Lady professor, who claimed to have Mother’s name in the secondary school examination certificate, and she won the fight when CBSE in late 90’s issued a referendum stating that, there will be Mother’s name written in the secondary school examination certificate.

Relationship between ideology and production relations are also a reflection of caste and gender based relations. The monopoly of knowledge over the hands of Brahmanas and concomitant barring of knowledge to the lowest caste. Here the synchronization of gender and caste is that, women belonging to lower caste were not capable of gaining education but, even the women of upper caste were denied the right of knowledge. The role of women was made limited as home maker(S), and in case of lower caste women’s role was considered materially important as the source of labor. One of such reflection is of ‘Gargi’s question to Yagnavalkya’ in which Gargi being women intellectual was denied the right to speak and question from within the powers of her brain. Though she had gained education, but she being women cannot a great mind like Yagnavalkya.

Conclusion:

Women’s role in economy, which appears to have been highly valued, was enhanced by the importance attached to the reproductive role of women. The economic power to women can only seem to be the right pathway for recognition.