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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| Shunned, India |
| 2005-01-03 |
| They are the "untouchables"; the lowest of the low in India's ancient caste system. No job is too dirty or too nasty, and they are the ones cleaning up the rotting corpses from last week's killer tsunami. The overwhelming majority of the 1,000 or so men sweating away in the tropical heat to clear the poor south Indian fishing town of Nagapattinam, which bore the brunt of the giant wave, are lower caste dalits from neighbouring villages. Locals too afraid of disease and too sickened by the smell refuse to join the grim task of digging friends and neighbours out of the sand and debris. They just stand and watch the dalits work. Although it has been a week since the tsunami hit, and the destruction was confined to a tiny strip by the beach and port, the devastation was so fierce that several bodies -- located by the stench and the flies -- are still being discovered daily. "I am only doing what I would do for my own wife and child," says M. Mohan, a dalit municipal cleaner as he takes a break to wash off some of the grime of the day's work. "It is our duty. If a dog is dead, or a person, we have to clean it up." The smell of death still hangs heavily, mixing with the sea breeze and the almost refreshingly tart smell of the antiseptic lime powder that has turned some streets and paths white. More than 5,525 people -- close to 40 percent of India's estimated total 14,488 fatalities -- died along this small stretch of pure white beach, where the huts of poor fishermen were built down to the sand at the top of the beach itself. Caste still plays a defining role in much of Indian society. Over 16 percent of India's billion plus people are dalits. Despite laws banning caste discrimination, they are still routinely abused, mistreated and even killed. They do the jobs others won't -- they clean toilets, they collect garbage, they skin cows. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #4 The thing about Hindu reincarnation is, if the dalits (Dr. Who, anyone?) are dutiful and good, they get to come back as a higher caste next time, and watch the labours of the former upper caste people who screwed up. Of course, watching without easing their labours is a black mark, and quite possibly the last straw that sends the watchers down-caste next time. So there is some consolation, so long as one believes. What is interesting is the altruistic behaviour of the Muslims there. I wonder how many converts will result from this, especially remembering that many of the current Indian Muslims are descended from low-caste converts in the past. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-01-03 6:36:30 PM |
| #3 "It is our duty. If a dog is dead, or a person, we have to clean it up." Sometimes I want to believe in heaven. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-01-03 10:45:51 AM |
| #2 This disaster is shining a light on humanity, both its miraculous ability for altruism and its hideous brutality. The lack of any MSM interest in India's untouchable caste is more evidence of how badly served we are by our journalist jokers. |
| Posted by: lex 2005-01-03 10:40:18 AM |
| #1 A story which relates to this article "The usual tales of destruction, apathy, promises from the government not fulfilled. Then Mariamma says it first, followed by a chorus from Mohan and Pakiyam and others, then from more who join us. Write it! they order me. We want you to write this! Mariamma says, only the Muslims helped us that day. Understood? From the whole town, only the Muslims. The Muslim ex-MLA here, Nizamuddin, organized food and water for us after the wave, and has been sending more to us every day. Only those "Islam people" helped us! The Hindus did nothing for us! Write it! But aren't you Hindus? And if so, what do you mean by "the Hindus"? We are scheduled castes, Pariyars, explains Pakiyam. The Hindus don't care for us. That's why they didn't help us. This is hard for me to say. But I have never faced such an insistent demand: write it! Over and over. So I wrote it. I write it. *** Up and down the coast that was so tragically shattered, we have heard of and seen the help that Muslims provided to the victims. In Cuddalore, a mosque has provided shelter to several hundred people. In Pudukuppam, we found about a dozen Muslims, all wearing their white caps, resting in a boat after distributing cooked food to the villagers. Food for the eighth day in a row." |
| Posted by: Hupailet Grereting6218 2005-01-03 9:25:34 AM |