[Reader-list] fifth posting

Wed Aug 25 23:10:12 IST 2004

>From Countryside to Metropolis : Caste in Motion

One of the things that I wanted to explore during the course of this study
was to identify the continuities and discontinuities with respect to the
manifestations of the notions of purity and pollution, the essential
elements of the caste society of India, in the arena of water. All the
people I talked to were first generation middle-aged migrants from the
states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar who are presently staying in various
resettlement colonies and slums of Delhi. Most of these were
associational migrants, i.e. women who migrated with men. More
importantly, all the people I talked to belonged either to the upper
castes or the OBCs or were Muslims. I was also very much interested in
listening to a Dalit version of the same but couldnt quite get it. So
what I am going to present is pretty much a one-sided picture.
It is a common knowledge, which got reaffirmed in the interviews I had
with people, that rural UP and Bihar are badly fragmented on caste lines
(that is not to say that the rest of India is not or the urban UP and
Bihar are not) and that water is one of the major arenas where this
fragmentation and segmentation plays itself out. Most of the people I
talked to left their villages between 15-25 years back and by that time
the transition from wells and ponds based water system to the handpump
based system had already started taking place. So their memories of wells
and ponds based water system was based mainly on childhood and adolescent
experiences as well as visits to their native villages that they undertake
quite regularly. 
What I gathered from the interviews I did is that all the castes either
had their separate wells, access to which was restricted to the members of
that particular caste only or there were common wells for caste Hindus and
separate ones for Dalits and, in some cases, Muslims. Most of the domestic
needs were fulfilled by water drawn from these wells. But what is
interesting is the fact that there was no caste-based restriction on using
ponds (pokhar, talaab), which were supposed to be common for all.
Shakuntala, in her late 30s, came to Delhi about two decades back with her
husband who is a carpenter. She is from Kangrala village in Badayun
district in the UP. She said that all the castes in her village-
Mussalman, Jatav, Koiri, Teli, Kumhaar, Bahman- had their separate wells
and nobody used to try accessing the wells of other castes. The village
pond, on the other hand, was truly a village pond. Children, men and
buffaloes of all the castes used to bathe in it. People used to take out
mud from it to construct their houses. So the pond seems to be, what is
called in the contemporary environmental parlance, a common property
resource. Kamla from Faizabad district asserts quite vociferously that as
far as water is concerned baki sab jaat mein chal jayega; ek mussalman
aur bhangi mein nahin chalega. She also maintains that pokhar, talaab
sabke liye hota hai; barma, kooan sabka alag, alag hota hai. Mahipal, in
his early 50s, says that his village in Etta district of Uttar Pradesh,
had two wells- one for Jatavs and one common for all other castes.  
Thus the bottom line seems to be that there has been in existence a deep
running cleavage between Dalits and non-dalits as far as the issue of
accessing water is concerned. All this is quite predictable and well
researched but what puzzles me is the absence of caste-based restrictions
on accessing ponds. Anupam Mishra of Gandhi Peace Foundation tries to
explain this by drawing an analogy with the urban transport system. Wells,
he says, are like private cars, meant for private, exclusive use while
ponds are like buses, meant to be used by everybody. So it is essentially
a matter of people articulating their identity at two different levels.
Another commentator said that as no society can survive by completely
alienating a section of its people it has to dole out something to keep
them within its folds. So the absence of caste-based restrictions on ponds
could be something designed to give Dalits a sense of being part of
society at large. The people I talked to seemed to treat this phenomenon
as an article of faith, as something, which is just there, needing no
explanation. 
What happens to the notions of purity and pollution, the paradigms of
exclusion and inclusion when people migrate to a city like Delhi where the
very structure and network, which mediates their access to water, is
essentially secular by nature? My work suggests that the notions of
purity and pollution still survive though it becomes increasingly
difficult to practice them. Almost all the people I interviewed consider
Dalits as gande log whose very presence in their midst vitiates the
atmosphere. Sharing water sources like taps and tankers is considered a
Majboori for which nothing can be done. Still, the upper castes try to
maintain their purity by washing water taps and utensils if a harijan
fills water before them. But that also becomes difficult, as the
availability of water is so inadequate that those standing behind in the
queue start making noises. Hum thoda saf-safai se bharna chahte hain to
vo (Harijan) jhagda karte hain. Neechi jaat kharaab hai, inse kaun moonh
lagta hai, beizzati hoti hai. Aurat aadmi sab ladne lagte hain, moans
Renu of Gautam Puri. Given choice what will she do, I ask. Paani khula ho
to (Harijan ke bharne ke baad) dhoo ke bharenge, she replies.  
Does this segmentation based on caste amongst the poor in Delhi inform the
formation of the collectivities of the poor? I think, it does. I also
think that it is a major impediment in the articulation of an inclusive
identity, which is so essential for waging collective struggles. 

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