Comments for TheSouthAsianIdea Weblog

Comment on Reflections: South Asian Pecking Order by kabir

kabir — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:42:05 +0000

Interesting quote South Asian. It got me thinking that the pecking order in 18th century French salons was not that different from that in the Mughal courts. Ghalib, Zauq, Momin etc all had court patronage as did Tansen, Sadarang, etc. Perhaps our society has just become much more materialistic and since artists and writers don’t make that much money, people don’t take them as seriously. Just a hypothesis.

Comment on Ten Unacceptable Things by Vikram

Vikram — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:35:48 +0000

Semu, here is a comment on my blog that will help us understand the mindset of the ’successful’ Dalits, it is definitely not Sanskritization,

“The problem with the BSP is that it has a mainly lower middle class urban base in terms of membership and leadership while the voters are actually the rural poor. This means that there is an economic contradiction between their interests and so the BSP tends to follow policies which don’t necessarily benefit most of their supporters. There are large class divides within the Dalit community – which are ironically partially the result of reservation policy; leading to a class of middle class intellectuals and govt employees who are frequently alienated from both their own community and the so-called ‘mainstream’.

The BSP for a number of reasons is also very hostile to any pure economic development programme – partly because they are aware that economic issues can potentially divide their Dalit base, partly because they are wary of losing ground to the Left parties and partly because they don’t have the means to carry out st(r)uctural transformations on the ground.

There is also the issue of time horizons; economic development strategies take years if not decades to push through and in the countryside you will need the kind of cadre and organisation that the Commnist parties had to make sure reforms are effective. The BSP cadre ideologically and organisationally are unsuited to this task. In all my interviews with their members and leaders; it is clear that economic transformation is not a primary part of their programme – they aren’t opposed to it, they just aren’t going to devote much of their time and energ(y) to it.”

Comment on Ask a Question by Vinod

Vinod — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:06:18 +0000

That is one thought provoking article, Vikram.

Comment on Ten Unacceptable Things by Vinod

Vinod — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:47:32 +0000

‘Sanskritization’ is the name of that phenomenon, I believe.

Comment on Ask a Question by Vikram

Vikram — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:37:18 +0000

I thought I would share this with you, it is quite brilliant,
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/columnists/18-jawed-naqvi-rulers-the-only-minority-am-05

Comment on Ten Unacceptable Things by Semu Bhatt

Semu Bhatt — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:40:10 +0000

Aakar,
Forget about the hierarchy amongst communities, those who climb the steps of success from the Dalit communities, want no business with their own community. They get their surnames changed, so that nobody would know of their roots, and mingle only with the so called “upper classes” whom they had despised all their lives.

Comment on Ten Unacceptable Things by Vinod

Vinod — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:29:06 +0000

Aakar, great article. As they say…let the facts do the talking….your article does just that. Great one!

Comment on Ten Unacceptable Things by Aakar Patel

Aakar Patel — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:47:21 +0000

South Asian
I think the Indian situation is different than France’s.
Did the Cagots kick the people below them? My guess is that they did not (you could argue that perhaps it was because they had nobody below them).
But here, our behaviour is telescoped up and down and sideways. There is evidence to show that within the Dalits, the Mahar will turn his nose up at the Chamar and the Vankar.
It’s not the principle of hierarchy that we appear to have a problem with; merely where we stand as communities in that hierarchy.
If that is the case, then the situation would place us differently than the French peasants and intellectuals. And so my question.

Hi Vikram, This piece might interest you:
http://www.livemint.com/2009/08/27220957/When-will-the-BrahminBania-he.html

Comment on Education: Humanities and Science by kabir

kabir — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 07:32:58 +0000

I think the main difference between science and the humanities is that in science, there is one right answer, while in the humanities multiple answers may be correct, depending on the perspective and the argument. In South Asia, one comes across a lot of extremely talented technical people who, when it comes to social issues, are unwilling to look beyond their biases. Even if one presents new information, they don’t want to consider it. I feel that if more people were exposed to and trained in the humanites, they would realize how complex most social issues are–they cannot be considered in a black and white fashion.

Also, a society without art, music, and literature– a society without a culture– would be a miserable place to live in, sort of like Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World”. Ironically, this vision was also presented through a work of art and literature.

Comment on Education: Humanities and Science by SouthAsian

SouthAsian — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:01:13 +0000

Ismat: The suggestion implicit in your comment is right on the mark. Unless the teachers get involved in this discussion it would have very little impact. Is there a network of teachers in Pakistan (and in the other countries in South Asia) that can be induced to become part of the debate? It need only begin with a handful.