A Lesson from History

I consider myself fortunate in that I still have some link with the village in which my ancestors lived. My grandfather built his house there, and my grandma and uncle's family still stay in the same place.

It's a beautiful place that still retains it's historical charm. Now this is more like personal history. Stuff like- where my grand-father used to sit after his walk- or where my grandmother's family lived- the small rivulet which, back in the old days, they had to cross by swimming (back then there was no bridge as there is now). There is a statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the village school which was donated by my great-grandfather. Small stuff which make me feel very connected to this little village, though I've hardly spent any time at all there.

Like all good villages my village too has it's own history and folklore. The Shivan Temple in the village is supposed to be over 800 years old! But the most eventful and interesting bit of common history(as different from personal!) for all you folks out there will be this: Tipu Sultan had come to my village!

Yes, the story goes that the great- 'Tiger Tipu' had set foot in my little village all those many centuries back. Now Tipu Sultan, for those of you who don't know, is one of the most famous Kings from Indian History. He ruled over the state of Mysore in the late 18th century, and for long was the British's most feared enemy in India. He fought many battles with the Brits, but he lost the war and had to surrender his kingdom. And with that, the last whiff of resistance to British rule was put out.

For this reason many consider Tipu to be a great hero. There was even a television series on him that used to play on National TV. He's part of Indian Legend. But the story coming out of my village was very different.

According to folks in the village, Tipu was a ruthless plunderer who cut down/grabbed anything that came his way. He was responsible for some savage acts of brutality and one of these has actually to do with my village.

One peculiar thing about my village is that there are no Brahmins. For those of you wondering what's so peculiar about that- let me explain.  Most villages in India are organized along caste. Each caste will be represented in each village. You don't have a village of only high-caste or only low-caste people. Each caste fulfilled a particular role or duty to fit in the larger scheme of things. That's why in most villages you find that each caste will be represented.

But there are no Brahmins in my village(which hopefully now, after my explanation, you will find peculiar!). The story was that Tipu came to the village and ordered the Brahmins to convert. The Brahmins refused and, in an act of most savage brutality, he killed the whole lot of them and destroyed the main temple.

Proof that this temple existed has been found. It's on top of a hill right next to my village. It is said that in the olden days it was as famous and sacred as Sabarimala. Sabarimala has only 18 steps to climb. But this hill has 200 steps. The villagers have got together recently(recently in my village is 50 years back) and re-built the temple.

So reading the above story you will understand why I didn't admire Tipu like most others did. To me- he fit the perfect stereotype of Muslim ruler and I hated him for that. Stories and legends like that make you believe in what many of our Hindutva brigade are saying. They make your blood boil.

But this last time when I went to my village I decided to do a bit of research on the topic. I found an old book that was titled -" The History of Kakkayur". Kakkayur is incidentally my village's name. The book was in Malayalam(which I can't read) and was supposed to be very well researched. I got my 2 younger cousins to sit with me and we went through  the whole thing.

Finally we reached the legend of Tipu in Kakkayur. According to the book- Tipu never asked the Brahmins to convert. It was a devious scheme of the erstwhile Nair community(which I belong to!) to use Tipu's services and drive out the Brahmins from the village and become the most important caste. The book doesn't go in to the details of what exactly happened but just gives the brief. Oh... and the Brahmins... they didn't die... they just shifted base to a nearby place and started a village out there all on their own. This village still exists!

Oh... and the temple... it wasn't destoyed by Tipu. It was destroyed in a great fire.

So you see... everyone has their own little version of history. People bend history to suit their needs. My ancestors must have known that they were complicit in driving the Brahmins out of Kakkayur and thus decided to villify Tipu Sultan to save themselves. And that legend just passed on and on and on.


What did I learn from the whole thing? Don't jump to conclusions on history. Do your own research. Usually people are hiding something somewhere. It's for you to dig and find out.

And I'm not singling out my ancestors here, or my caste. Everyone's guilty of the same thing. At a personal/ group level we all make up stories along the way- and finally we end up believing those stories. And that's an important lesson for us to learn from history!

Was I any Good?

"Was I any Good?"- I asked her.
She looked at me and smiled- "Your first time eh?".
I nodded.
"Hmmmm... well I usually don't reveal such stuff to my clients"
"Please... please tell me... I have to know."
"No kiddo... I can't... sorry".
"Please..."
She started toward the door. I got up, ran and blocked the way.
"What's this shit? You want me to call my guy?"
"Just tell me if I was good or not."
"You're wasting my time boy... in my profession, more than any, time is money and I'm not paid to give my judgement".
I took out a 100 and gave it to her. She took it and smiled.
She ruffled my hair and said- "you were absolutely fantastic boy!". Then she laughed and walked out.
Somehow I got the feeling that I'd been taken.

Counting Caste

Over the past few days parliament has been busy debating whether caste should be counted in the on-going census(they've finally decided to go ahead and do so). There seem to be deep divisions within the national parties over the issue. Quite predictably the regional caste based partied have all embraced the idea. Most of the educated middle-class will see the exercise as further vindication of their long-held belief that the political class is out to make maximum mileage of the caste issue.

Caste is a burning issue in India. The uproar and violence over the Mandal commission and the more recent OBC reservation issue only assuages that fact. As a nation we have never been comfortable with caste. It's a scar on our national psyche- one that most of us want to be rid off. But it's here and present and has manifested itself in different ways in Indian society(think matrimonial ads in newspapers!). For long our country was held back because of the deeply oppressive caste system. It was the dream of our founding fathers to get rid of it as soon as possible and with this in mind a slew of measures were introduced. We have many many schemes targeted at people from the economically and socially backward castes. But all these measures seem to have failed at creating a modern- free- casteless society.

One could argue about the merits in pursuing something that doesn't seem to have worked. But the truth is that some of these schemes have done some good work at the ground level. They've made a change in the public perception and that's a good thing. I might be unpopular for saying this- but some schemes based on caste are needed in India(presently). Sometimes social stigma can be removed only when those who govern aggressively intervene to make society more fair and inclusive.(This is especially true in a society that doesn't do enough by itself to help the down-trodden/excluded)

So when you see caste based schemes as necessary then it becomes imperative that there be data on which to base these schemes and study their effectiveness. So counting caste might be good for the planners, and if the wise voters of the land decide to do so, the success of these plans can also be measured by this. 

However, the truth is counting caste is in ways further perpetuating it. In some ways it is giving official sanctum to the centuries old social caste structures as in registering it and keeping records of it gives it more of a legality. This is something that the government should be wary of.

While counting caste itself might not be a wrong thing and might even be needed in today's India, our leaders should not forget the vision of our forefathers. If counting caste and having caste based schemes is a necessary evil of today's society then it is important to also balance policy by making effective schemes that target eradicating caste. This is the need of modern India and one hopes that our leaders will have the intelligence and heart to do the same.