Contesting India's caste system
The Pochabhai Foundation hopes to bring civil rights to India's
"untouchable" class.
By Arielle Stambler
CJN Teen Reporter
Published: Friday, April 30, 2010 1:08 AM EDT
On the first day of this new decade, I met a family of seven who face
a lifetime of discrimination because of their last name – Chauhan. The
Chauhans live in Golana, a rural slum in Gujarat, India, and because
they are Dalits, or "untouchables" in India's caste system, the
majority of upper caste members will not touch, speak to, or even look
at them.
I received Hathaway Brown's Harriet Mullin Barry Fellowship to travel
to India over this past winter break with 14 classmates. We made the
journey to Golana around mid-morning on Jan. 1. The sun was out as it
almost always is in India, but we were all covered from head to foot
because women in particular are expected to dress modestly. As we
walked along the unpaved, dusty roads behind Himat, the oldest Chauhan
brother, we fought off swarms of mosquitoes and shook people's hands
to say "Happy New Year." The mother of the family, Daniben, welcomed
us to her two-room house with chai tea and platefuls of Indian snacks
and invited us to sit on the ground with her. Then Himat began to tell
us his family's story.
In 1986, Himat's father Pochabhai started working to obtain civil
rights for Dalits. However, Golana's neighbors are an upper caste
community of people called Darbars. They live on the other side of a
straw fence, which is literally four feet tall, but the Darbars feel
such fervent animosity toward the Dalits that it is more like an Iron
Curtain reaching miles into the sky. Daniben explained to us that if
she had prepared a plate of food for a group of Darbars, they would
reject it. In fact, they would not even deign to touch the plate she
had handled for fear of becoming "contaminated." However, if a Darbar
and a Dalit ran into each other in Mumbai, the Darbar would have no
way of knowing that he had just met a Dalit unless the Dalit provided
his last name.
India's caste system is not based upon skin color or religion or
economic standing. It is based entirely upon birth, and no matter how
wealthy or educated a Dalit becomes, he will always be a Dalit because
of his family name. The Darbars saw Pochabhai's work as an attempt to
breach that Iron Curtain of caste between these two groups of people,
and they murdered him in 1986 along with four other Dalits in the
village. As Himat told us this story, he looked at the wall where the
only picture he has of his father was hanging and cried.
The Chauhans now run the Pochabhai Foundation, which strives to obtain
civil rights for Dalits and to raise awareness about the injustices of
India's caste system. The Chauhans are just one family out of the
millions who face both the cruel realities of discrimination and the
knowledge that the caste system has deprived them of the opportunities
they deserve for self-improvement. Daniben started the foundation
shortly after her husband's death and has worked tirelessly ever since
to keep it running. The foundation's main focuses are human rights,
basic education, safe drinking water, and rights to land for Dalits.
The major target groups of the foundation are Dalit youth, women, and
other poor communities. One of the foundation's most important annual
events is the celebration of the Day of Dalit Freedom on January 25.
On this day, about 5,000 Dalits from all over India come to Golana to
pay tribute to Pochabhai and to recognize his sacrifice for the whole
Dalit community. Daniben's dream for the future is to build a museum
in memory of Pochabhai to educate students interested in studying the
plight of Dalits.
But the Chauhans don't stop giving there. A tribe of nomads called
Jats, originally from Afghanistan, lives 25 minutes from Golana. They
rarely ever interact with anyone from the outside world, which means
their children cannot go to school. The Chauhans set up a straw-hut
schoolhouse on their land and even hired them a teacher. The tribe is
also facing the possibility of losing their land to the Indian
government, so the Chauhans are helping the tribe with the paperwork
they need to hold onto it. I was absolutely astonished by how much
this family was willing to give, and I want the world to see that they
truly are incredible.
I could not imagine being denied a job because of my last name. I can
barely comprehend the idea that someone would refuse to take a plate
of food from me because I might have "contaminated" it. And I am
unbelievably frustrated by the fact that when most upper-caste Indians
look at the Chauhans, they only see an invisible impurity that, to
them, justifies inhumane treatment. They don't see that, despite the
social obstacles they face, every member of this family is educated,
and they all speak beautiful English as well as Gujarati and Hindi.
But most of all, the rest of India doesn't see that they are good
people.
But the Chauhans already have an unflinching conviction that they are
worthwhile people. I know they are proud of their last name because
they want to create a world in which they can say it and be respected
for the humane, caring people they truly are. It is humbling to think
that our lives intersected and that, for a few hours, I had the
privilege of living in their world.
Arielle Stambler of Shaker Heights is a senior at Hathaway Brown
School and a Fellow in the CJN's Write On for Israel program. The
daughter of Paige Pratt and Bruce Stambler plays piano and violin and
runs cross-country.
For details on the Pochabhai Foundation, contact pochabhaifoundation@gmail.com.
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