Kahaani – “ About Second Name And It's H onour ”
By Rahul K Gautam & Nilesh Kadam
28 March, 2012
Countercurrents.org
"In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinction out of their own minds & then believe them to be true". – Lord Buddha.
Indian Modern Society, Mysore , Karnataka , 14 th Mar , 2012 carried an article in all leading main steam media on “ Honour Killing ” driven by caste fanaticism wherein an upper caste assistant professor was killed by her own brother because of her relationship with a lower caste community assistant director.
“ Indian Society ” can be compared as an organization which has been following a Mechanistic Structure wherein the tasks associated with each of the four layers (CEO, Upper White Collar , Lower white Collar, and Blue Collar) under this structure have been clearly defined.
• Chief Executive Officer (CEO) – The CEO layer is considered as the Priest ' s layer ; members of this layer can marry only within their own CEO layer. If any daughter/ son, born and brought up in this layer tries to marry someone from other lower layers, that marriage is not acknowledged either by the group of CEO ' s or by the organization as a whole. According to these puritans, ‘ this will dilute the reputation and also affect the Honour of their Priest layer. '
• Upper White Collar (UWC) – The UWC layer is considered as the Protection/ Warrior layer with similar rules as that of the CEO ' s layer.
• Lower White Collar (LWC) – The LWC layer comprises what is to be the Business layer with similar rules as that of the CEO and UWC layers.
• Blue Collar (BC) – The BC layer is considered to be a part of the Servant layer . This layer doesn ' t have any other choice but to serve the above three layers. Earlier they didn ' t have the right to education, to visit temples, to read holy books, to share food and other stuffs. But gratefully, at least a few things have improved what with OCM (Organisational Change Management) and OD (Organisation Development) being introduced as compulsory subjects in the curriculum of this organization. Credit goes to the authors of such books like - the Great Visionaries, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar & Jyotiba Phule - whose remarkable influence was apparent in the field of education for women and the downtrodden, caste system, widow upliftment to a certain extent; credit is also due to Swami Agnivesh, who belongs to the CEO layer of the organisational structure but has contributed to the upliftment of the lowest layer of the organisation i.e. Blue Collar. Now, the BC ' s class has the right to education and the right to go inside temples. However even in the 21 st century, in few places they don ' t have the right (the unspoken societal right) to marry anyone from any of the above 3 layers. It doesn ' t matter if they have risen/ can rise to the layer of UWC/LWC/ CEO by their sheer hard work and good conduct but if they are born in the Blue Collar ' s class, they will be treated as a Blue Collar.
The structure of this organisation has been further divided in sub-layers. For e.g. In the CEO's layer, we have the High class CEO, Middle class CEO, Lower class CEO, Pure CEO, Veg. CEO, Non Veg. CEO, Theist CEO, Atheist CEO, and the list goes on … . And the other three layers are no different where the same division is being followed!
Fortunately, there exist various subsidiaries of this organization which usher in restructuring in its cultural processes. There are many liberal and rational employees in these subsidiaries who have attempted to define ‘ humanity ' . But unfortunately, most of these subsidiaries invariably end up following the same old culture. And to prevent this rigidity, they can stoop to the lowest possible level. Even to the extent of killing their own sons / daughters / sisters for their so-called Honour!!!
Buddhism & Sikhism are the independent organizations which may have been formed to get rid of this societal-based irrational structuring and to create a flat structure within their organization; to create a good culture without any discrimination so that people should get incentives determined by their deeds and conducts, not by their birth.
The irony - People who belong to Sikhism and Buddhism have also created the same structures in their ‘ pure ' organizations. The influence of this irrational structuring is so powerful that no other religion is being spared and this has also moved beyond the boundaries of India wherein people take this cultural baggage along with them to foreign countries as well. There is growing evidence that caste is rearing its ugly face in other countries – like U.K.
Inevitably, our organization has been splitting up like an endless Chain Reaction. Is there any end to this division and height of irrationality? Should we blame the founders of this organizational structure or should we blame those who are still following this culture in 21 century?
....How could there be any difference in the taste of garma-garam halwa at the Golden temple...... sound of 3.30 am mangal-aarti at Hare Krishna temple........serenity at a Church...... smell of flowers at a Dargah...... and a peace ful meditation at a Buddhist pagoda ......
“ No Religion … is better than Love & No Caste … is better than Peace …”
Author ~ Rahul K Gautam . (RKG), Editor ~ Nilesh Kadam (NIEL)
RKG & NIEL are IIM Kozhikode alumnus, and currently working for a consulting company in Bangalore.
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