India is today a society in turmoil. Most of the attacks on people with excuses of religion, culture and whatnots are actually about control. About an erstwhile dominant section losing control.
The pub bashing incident of Mangalore for example. Take it in perspective of the social change. My niece’s engineering class in Bangalore had more girls than boys in the IT, IS and CSE branches. Each of this girl is likely to find a life partner who matches this qualification or the benefits of such a qualification (read makes as much money). Confidence that these girls have leads them to reject/delay marriage rather than marry below themselves (based on whatever parameters they set). In Tamilnadu Brahmin families today, it is common for the “girl’s family” to not respond to overtures from “boys” families – a distinct change from as little as 20 years ago when I saw my sisters marry. A “boy” in the Middle East has no hope of finding an educated ambitious partner. They have had to move to the US or to India to get one. To give them due respect, a lot of these boys want to marry ambitious girls to whom they can “talk” rather than PYTs whom they need to keep happy. But it is a challenge for all these families. They just are not sure how to cope with it.
So when boys who are not doing too well in their careers (academic and later) see more and more girls becoming independent, they know they are in for trouble when they are out in the marriage market. These girls will never look at them seriously. They would rather marry a Christian or Muslim or a boy from another caste, who has a bright future ahead of him than a dud from their community. Going to the pub for the girls is just an expression of their lives. For these boys it is an alarming loss of control. The girls are moving on. The boys are not. So the easier way according to them…drag the girls to their own level. A few years ago girls of Indian Origin in UK faced exact same problem where if they had a “white” boyfriend, they would get beaten up. The Indian boys actually went on air saying – since white girls don’t go out with us, our catchment area gets reduced if Indian girls go out with others.
The Orissa issues are also similar. About career advancement, reservation benefits and general monetary positions. Those who went to missionary schools, became more educated than the others and hence got better jobs. Had better houses. Had a better life. Lets bring them down to our level. Two incidents – one in Tamilnadu and one in Haryana were attacks on lower caste households. In each case houses of the lower castes were vandalized over a frivolous excuse – to teach them a lesson. Between the pontification on the cause, the mob mentioned, how can they have a nice permanent house full of gadgets when we, the higher caste in the village, don’t. Clearly destroying their property was an attempt to level the differences.
Years ago when the thakur or talaivar’s son walked down the village main street, people looked up and said salaam. It was expected and it happened. Today it only happens if command respect or demand respect (by having succeeded in your career or by threatening dire consequences). Otherwise you are irrelevant. As your family sells more and more property to keep up appearances of success, the lower caste guy’s kid became a engineer and turned out to be a genius at running a business. Unlike a movie, he may not be plotting revenge for an old slight. He is successful enough to not care what you think. That I think hurts the thakur’s son more. Pre-petrodollar days, the Christians and Muslims were converts whom you never let forget their origins. Then they went to make money on foreign shores and came back to build nice houses for their family. They stopped caring what you thought. That hurt.
Have you checked how brazen these thugs are on videotape? They want it seen by maximum people. They want the girls and the dalits and the muslims to see it all over the state and country. That is what makes me sure it is less about principles or culture and more about controls. In a land where the Pandavas are said to have numerous kids with numerous women during their sojourn in the forest, can we actually defend gender segregation in public spaces? In the land where women make liquor – grape and rice wines have traditionally been made at home by women in parts of the country where it is – you think they never drank it? In a land where a Rani in Jhansi (with the surrounding unverified gossip of a British Lover), and an Indira Gandhi ruled, more and more women are taking to independent thought is not new. It is just getting more and more common.
The erstwhile dominating powers had better learn good and fast. In this flat world, your abilities and skills are going to decide your place in the world. Not your great grandfathers or your chromosomes.
