Reality and Reason

I come from a peasant family of six of rather modest means and have just finished school. Being a girl, I have also had to withstand several social pressures. But on the other hand, I have received ample love and support from my parents and an excellent education in the humanities and social sciences at a local school. In 2019, an NGO called the Pokhrama Foundation established the Pokhrama Foundation Academy in my village. Led by outstanding educationists and teachers, I feel this school has been the vehicle of my transformation.

Caste is a closed system of stratification where social groups are divided on the basis of birth and their occupation. Social groups follow the code of behaviour prescribed by tradition regarding marriage and kinship alliances. Caste groups (varnas and jatis) are unequal, ranked on a scale of hierarchy based on their ritual status, from ‘pure’ to ‘impure’. Their status determines with whom they can interact and with whom they cannot. The idea and practice of untouchability is an integral part of the caste system. Untouchability now stands banned in India.

Dadabhai Naoroji, who belonged to the Parsi community of Gujarat was a great Indian civic nationalist. For some time, he also served as a member of the British House of Commons, on the ticket of the Liberal Party.

I was unable to accompany my classmates to Kolkata in January this year on what seems to have been an exceedingly enjoyable excursion. But the several conversations before and after the trip got me interested in the urban history of Kolkata and this is what I have attempted to pen here.

Families are a source of love, solace and comfort. They are also a source of drudgery, exploitation and inequality.