I heard a shocking piece of news today; a woman had her throat slit in Gadag, Karnataka; just because she converted from Hinduism to Islam. Hence, I decided to write this poem; because, I feel I am responsible in some way – being born in a privileged upper middle class Tamil Brahmin family. Some of the content is not completely original and I draw my knowledge largely from “Hatred In the Belly”; an eye-opener of a book by “Ambedkar Age Collective”, on the politics behind the appropriation of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s writings. Anyway, here goes the poem:

It seems like ages ago

When I was proud of being an Indian

Going to the extent of breaking things

Whenever India lost a cricket match

Now, I can only look back in horror

And of course, shame

That too, only with the benefit of hindsight

But anyway, as we all know

There’s no point in crying over spilt milk

What’s done is done

So, let me cut to the chase

Blood is in our hands

And has been, since the beginning of time

We Brahmins and Savarnas

Have been guilty of a gazillion wrongs

Which have adversely impacted the marginalised communities

And I am not simply talking about crimes

Like murder, rape, fraud, theft etc.

We are an elite minority

That has abused its immense privilege

In terms of caste, class, wealth and power

And accumulated a vast amount of resources

Land, food, water, houses

Transport, education, healthcare

And so on and on

Thus depriving the majority of the country

Of what is rightly due to them

And on top of that

We have been dictating terms

On what to wear or not to wear

What to speak or not to speak

What to eat or not to eat

The list is endless

In fact, we are much worse than the British

At least they left us after about two centuries

And gifted us a lot of things

Such as Railways, English education, telegraphs, cricket etc.

Not to mention, abolishing certain regressive Hindu practices

We, on the other hand

Have been treating the Dalits and Bahujans as slaves

For well over three thousand years

And at the same time

Projecting a progressive and secular image

To the rest of the world

And the worst part is

We have been appropriating their culture and history

And presenting it as our own

But it doesn’t end here

We have even started appropriating the anti-caste struggle

And portraying ourselves as the saviours

Seriously, are there no depths

To which we Brahmins and Savarnas can’t sink?