THE REGIME OF SLIGHTS

Caste is a regime of slights and pride

Distributed unevenly over the whole terrain

One is slighted for being what she is

And what she does

And what she speaks

And what she eats

And what she wears

And how she looks

The colour of her skin

Not feminine enough

Masculine enough

Aggressive/docile

Where she lives

The part of the city that she comes from

With whom she associates

For the pitch of her dialect

For her 'ignorance'

For being not upto the mark

For not being politically correct

For being insensitive

For speaking to other insignificant beings

For having not read the classics

For having not seen the masters

For not listening to the morning raga

For being tainted by birth

For not enjoying the brahmin’s jokes

Or the madam’s vitriol

For listening to fools, frogs and donkeys

For not being ‘progressive’ enough

For not being sufficiently ‘nationalist’

For her moral laxity

For crowing like a crow

For having been born to her not so ‘respectable’ parents

And for being/ not being offended if she is slighted.

And caste is about pride

For having known all through the ages

That some people are shit

And disposable

And should carry your shit

Because you are knowledgeable

And your knowledge is in your shit

And your ‘merit’ in as to whom you shit on

And your vegetarianism

And your Smritis

And your profound belief in inequality

And hate and fear for the other

That you hide well

Behind universalist jargon.