Yesterday:
The “others” thought that we Dalits cannot think. Our past has been unkind to us, the present lukewarm and the future? The creamy part of the society eluded our presence to that extent that even the ugliest faces turned their back towards us. Much worse, the rewards we got from the past is remarkable, the self-incurred inferiority complex. We were like the early Christian Catechumens, hidden underground yet zealous to be Christians. The human dignity meant Greek to us. Our faces tasted the mud of the society.
Can Dalits think? Most of our forefathers failed to even ask this question. They were not to blame. The bitter past accounts for the failure. Many of us did “think”, rather this way, “maybe it is a social crime to be Dalits”, that was yesterday
Today?
Down fell the Brahman’s statue. The manuscript of Manu flew to ‘the world of fantasy. We can think now. “To hell with misery when we are miserable together”, we repeat the old Indian saying and say to our co-Dalits, ‘come on, let us come up in life”. However, besides economic facilities that we look for, social recognition and ultimately self-acceptance that we strive for, there is one more thing lacking in us, the aspect of thinking. Thinking to challenge those who thought that we thought not.
What do I mean by “Think”?
Why? Has been the mental inquiry of those whom we label as great leaders of Dalits today. They are illumining our: status thorough their magnum opus because they began to think the what’s and whys of our status. Thinking illumines our mind, which ultimately holds our hands and leads us ahead.
I Why suffering? Was the beginning of Budha’s thinking. Why sin and salvation? Was the beginning of Jesus. Why? Again, remained the question of Dr. Ambedkar. The sole purpose of the magazines and write-ups and the books by our people like Dalit Voice etc. is nothing but a key to open our think home. Yes. We can think. Think far better than those who thought %hat we think not.
Thinking is the mother of opportunities, fiancée of dreams, lap of tomorrow’s child, etc. Therefore, it must be the target for the mental darts of Dalits.
