A Bengali Hindu doctor's experience of casteism

I have stopped eating at the homes of a few select high-ranking Brahmin/Pandit!

I have been in Uttar Pradesh for six months! It is a non-Bengali place! It took me a long time to learn which title belongs to which caste.

After coming here, I often heard many people say, "We are Pandit! We don't do this thing!"

I used to stare blankly!

I could not answer!

Now I have learned to answer.

A high-ranking Pandit female doctor, my colleague! She lives near me from morning to evening. She once stayed in my flat for a night because she had to book a small car for a large sum of money to catch the night train on holiday.

Those who have come to my house know how I entertain guests!

I had arranged a vegetarian meal so that the high-ranking Brahmin doctor would not have any problems! As soon as he came to my house, he told me, "Don't eat and drink at my house!"

I said, Madam, everything is vegetarian! I cooked on induction! I don't cook non-vegetarian food on induction!

No! He won't eat it!

Anyway! Forced to be polite, I had to order vegetarian food on Swiggy!

Looking at the delivery boy, I couldn't guess. What his caste could be!

I didn't even know whether the caste of the cook from the restaurant where this parcel came from was younger or older than mine. I and a doctor from a high-ranking Brahmin family!

Without judging the caste of the cook and the delivery boy, the high-ranking doctor gulped down a bowl of paneer and naan-roti.

After the meal, he said, "When I come to your house, I will eat from this disposable box (the box in which the cheese and bread came)! Wash it! I will not touch your household utensils!

I wash the dishes in the same sink that I wash fish and meat in! This little thing did not move his high-ranking mind!

After Madam finished eating, I sat down to eat! The menu was. Vegetarian vegetables and pulses!

While sitting down to eat, I forgot to take water in my water bottle! As the rice got stuck in my throat, I told Madam, "Don't give me your water bottle! Food is stuck in my throat!"

Madam hesitated to hand over her high-ranking water bottle to a low-caste girl like me. I took food in my mouth, got up, and filled my bottle with water!

That day, for the first time in my life, I could guess how far India is going in the name of progress! What does this high-ranking doctor teach the students when he comes to the college... Hindus and Muslims, and how does he make Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras study together... who gets high marks, who gets low marks. A low-class creature like me could not guess that!

A low-class creature like me could not guess this either. These high-ranking people, fuchakwalas, chopwalas, chawalas, small and big restaurants, even go to other states and countries and eat and drink according to caste?

Then, most of the time, they have to return home on an empty stomach! They can't travel around the country! Traveling within their own family is limited. They have to keep it! And they don't have to travel around the country to keep themselves confined in the small circle of their high caste! They won't even know the world outside their high caste. So no matter how highly educated they are, their thinking will always be limited!

Coming to Uttar Pradesh, they first became Brahmin friends, but that's not it!

Sitting at the same table with high-ranking Brahmins from Maharashtra and Gujarat, I ate non-vegetarian food; they ate vegetarian food! Even when I wanted to eat vegetarian food, they forced me to eat non-vegetarian food! They had dinner in my kitchen day after day! I never thought who was a low caste and who was a high caste!

Finally, I realized that only manual education, that is, textbook education, can never fully educate a person. To be fully educated, to come out of superstition and casteism, one has to go outside the house/neighborhood/district/state and explore the country! If necessary, go outside the country and set foot on the soil of another country. You will have to read books, watch movies!

Otherwise, higher education will not give you anything special except money!

Two months ago, this madam again expressed her desire to go to my flat. I explained to her in very clear language, I love to entertain guests! I do not have the ability to entertain you! So please, do not express your desire to go to my house! She silently left my department!

The next morning, she started talking normally again! She understood that my flat is not a hotel, and I will make arrangements for sleeping in an emergency!

Anyway!

Yesterday, it was my high-ranking madam's birthday. She very fondly handed me a packet of expensive sweets! I returned the packet of sweets to her and said. "It is an insult to my fourteen men to eat these sweets from the hand of someone I could not give a glass of water to!" And I, you, and I do not know what caste the owner of this sweet shop is! Before you eat this sweet, you should know that information!"

Since then, that madam has not spoken to me! I do not know whether she will speak in the future!

I did not express my desire to know, nor will I!

Today I heard that Madam is looking for a Brahmin maid to clean the house and wash the dishes! I can't find one! 😝

I never judge based on caste!

However, if someone stands in front of me and talks about my caste, I will not allow him to judge!

Note: No one should blame the post! However, this is my mentality about caste!

Like a dog, like a pig!