Aham Brahma Asmi

I am a brahmin

I am a male brahmin

In the game called Birth Lottery

This is as high as you can get.

(All right, a male brahmin born into a Sanskrit speaking family could have ranked higher, but they are extinct now)

 

Childhood:

I could go to any temple

No priest would stop me

Of mosques and churches

They were nil

Unless I was ill.

If I was ill, then the gods had all merged into one

Any place of worship

With a claim to a cure

Was a winner for sure!

The confusion was a constant

As some friends had to remain at a distance

I could visit any place, but

Not all could enter mine.

Three days a month I could not touch my mother

Throughout the year the same applied to many other

I was not wise enough to ask why

And why would anyone even ask why

A why is raised only when you are at an inconvenience, Right?

Middle Years

This was a stage of tug of war.

The moral sense of rights clashed with

Inherent behavior and practices

That were a part of you, without conscious volition.

Confusion soon crept in

If the practices were wrong

Were the people who inculcated them in me, evil?

Not possible.

They are usually a nice set of people

It just must have been lack of knowledge

So, you set about discussing the anomaly

And go nowhere

They are just too proud to concede

(A brahmin after all)

That they could be wrong

(Blasphemous!)

Why take the trouble to see what is correct

When being superior is your birthright

Status quo is what must be maintained

Rocking the boat is not to be entertained

If God had it so ordained

How can it be rearranged?

Or why?

On and on the arguments shall flow forever

Just to cover the fact that we did not know any better

 

Fully grown

(not just in age)

Like a snake that had shed its skin

You have outgrown all that was stuffed in

Religion as the evil that made

A good man to do something bad!

Caste as a measure to

Differentiate and subjugate!

Women seen as just another

Piece of furniture at home!

Rarely consulted

Seldom acknowledged!

Social inequality that was the norm

You were you just because you hit the

Winning combinations of the birth lottery!

Economic inequality that was a vicious cycle

Never allowing the oppressed to ever

Have a real chance!

The twisted reverse reservation lament

That goes “the forward caste is the new scheduled caste”

You have outgrown them all.

Gen-next is poised for a better world

With no such prejudices/practices entering their sphere

They start on a clean slate.

Can a microcosm alter the earth?

I am still shocked at these prejudices

That are still practiced.

Bigotry, caste, suppression on race and gender

How can these exist in the new millennium?

Why is it even necessary to point to them and

Say, these are wrong!

What does one do when the privileged, arrogant

Brahmin justifies the practice of untouchability

By equating it to the social distancing

Recommended as a COVID measure?

And smirk, “the world follows today

What we have been practicing for centuries”

Why is it that a Brahmin feels that

He is the custodian of the universe?

At which part in history

Was it decided that

He could enact the rules?

 

And please do not reply to me

“Not all Brahmins…”

Or counter-question

“Is it only a Brahmin…”

 

I am a brahmin

I am a male brahmin

In the order of life forms

This is as low as you can get.

 

 

 

 Meme Credit : @ChaithanyaAbhis