Pratik

Nerve Endings Firing Away

Book Presentation Talk at the Blank Center

Today, I will talk 1about a couple of books I have read recently based on a common theme that has profoundly influenced me. We have all been made aware of the social and racial inequities in our world these past few months, but we haven’t truly understood why it is so. The books I mentioned earlier are Annihilation of Caste by BR Ambedkar and Caste: The Origins of our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson.

The first one is written by one of India’s founding fathers, whose other notable works include the Indian Constitution. India is primarily a Hindu country, and Hinduism is touted mainly as a tolerant religion. However, the underbelly of Hinduism has been its caste system. There are four primary castes - Brahmins - the priests, Kshatriyas - the warriors, Vaishyas - the merchants, and Shudras - the labor. Another lower level is literally called the Untouchables (Dalits in India). Dr. Ambedkar was one of the untouchables who revolted against Hinduism and called for a major reformation. To be honest, it hasn’t happened yet.

The other book by Dr. Wilkerson is a searing indictment of the three prominent such systems in the world - the treatment of black people in the U.S., the condition and the Holocaust of the Jewish people in Nazi Germany, and as I mentioned before, the caste system in India. She draws a common thread between these three societal systems and how the oppressed were considered less than human to justify their exploitation. More than just casual racism among individuals, Dr. Wilkerson shares plenty of horrific examples of how the state was weaponized to oppress black, Asian, and Native Americans, Jews, and lower castes. Nazis in Germany studied the American exploitation of black people to put their system of oppression that ended in the systemic killing of 6 million Jews. Dr. Wilkerson shows how a powerful caste system even in America goes beyond race, class, or other factors. It’s how a white person without a high school degree has a better chance of succeeding in life than a black college graduate.

I will end with a personal anecdote on how caste has affected my life. Nearly 20 years ago, when I was with my ex-girlfriend, I remember her mom saying to my face that she would never accept me as I belonged to a lower caste 2 than their family. Mind you, I’m part of the “second-highest” caste among Hindus in India, so I can’t even imagine how bad it must be for the castes that are below mine. The poor ‘ol naive me had never faced such blatant caste discrimination. It happened in plenty of other instances, even when I moved to the U.S. Anyway, it worked out just fine in the end. She was a vegetarian and, as a devout Hindu, literally worships cows. Me on the other hand, I love a nice steak!


  1. This was a short “informative presentation” for my group session at the Blank Center for Stuttering Education and Research. ↩︎

  2. In academic discourse now, these divisions are referred to as the dominant caste and the oppressed class so as to eliminate the language of hierarchy that’s imposed by the system. ↩︎


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