We frequently see on TV screens, and in print media, videos and photos showing our leaders like Mr. Rahul Gandhi, Mr. Yeddiyurappa, Mr. Amit Shah, dining in dalit homes, all over India. The banana leaves / leaf plates on which these sumptuous succulent dishes are served, often repeatedly asked and cajoled by host gents and ladies, gives an impression that dalit homes are rich. From this blogger's real life personal experience after working as a Bank Manager, in Mahaboobnagar District of Telangana State, it is difficult to convince a dalit householder to share food with additional persons, as they do not have enough food to spare, not to speak of providing sumptuous and succulent breakfasts, lunches and dinners to visitors. Not that the dalit householders are miserly or stingy. It is the miserable state of deprivation of their homes which makes them to hesitate to offer food to outsider guests. Exceptions, we can see only in case of marriage functions, post-funeral 10th day rituals where feeding villagers/relatives become UNAVOIDABLE RITUAL for religious reasons.
RELATED LINKS
Click here to go to http://telugu.videosamachar.com/play/amit-shah-inaugurates-deendayal-statue-in-velugupalli-nalgonda-ntv-ntvteluguhd.
Click here to go to http://www.ap7am.com/lv-255394-watch-amit-shah-lunch-with-dalits-in-nalgonda.html.
Views of ybrao-a-donkey, which are not intended to be imposed on others
This type of breakfasts, lunches, teas-snacks, dinners are arranged in dalit homes by any Upper Caste or Upper SUdra landlord caste Party leaders (not only BJP, all political parties in India have this practice), at their own costs. Then also the dalits may not come forward to host breakfasts, lunches, teas, dinners at their homes, out of shyness, or out of repeated disappointments with political leaders. Then the landlord village leaders promise the dalit householders benefits such as homes under Government Schemes, buffaloes, sheep, autos, bullock carts, etc. etc. to motivate them.
The dalits may be real-life kuchElAs [kuchEla= a character in Mahabhagavata, who is a class-mate of Lord Shri Krishna. He approached his childhood friend Lord Shri Krishna, under pressure from his (Kuchela's) wife, to find a solution for his poverty], but Mr. Amit Shah is not a real life Sri Krishna. Amit Shah does not know who that dalit host is. For everything, he needs a prompting from the village landlord, Upper Caste/Upper SUdra BJP leader. The moment he gods back to Delhi or Ahmedabad, he is bound to forget everything, because this roll-play will have to be repeated thousands of times. And nobody, enters the details of the dalit homes into a mysql database for periodical reference.
yb-a-donkey's real life personal experiences
During my work as Bank Manager in an area adjoining the Nalgonda District (Western border of Nalgonda District), following are my experiences.
1. When a politician / Government Officials of State and Central Governments / Police and Forest Staff visit Telangana villages, usually advance information goes to villages through village henchmen (called in Telugu: pettandars, pairavikArs). Whether advance information is given or not, the moment somebody(bodies) breakfast-lunch-snacks-tea-dinner worthy enter(s) a village, the Village sarpanch, Village Revenue Officer, local party leader, panchayat karobar, employees of the concerned Departments, whoever considers that it is necessary for himself-herself, will arrange to cut a poultry-cock for chicken, and/or a sheep or a goat (depending on the number of persons). If necessary he will also arrange for liquor bottles, some sweets/mixture/cool drinks etc. These things are arranged in either the Sarpanch's house, or any other landlord's house. Not at dalit homes. Only in case of election jumlas (show-tricks) dalit homes are visited.
Depending on the location of the village, i.e. whether the village is on the High Way at a crucial junction, or in a remote nook and corner, the pressure and the number of visits will vary. Sarpanches in Highway villages have to host more parties. But whatever be the case, the hosts will never bear the costs from their personal pockets. They pass on the costs to the villagers in various ways. The villagers also understand that, and they share the burden.
During my 2 1/2 years stay in the Mahaboobnagar District villages, I or my four staff members (all of them belong to Scheduled Castes)-- we have never dined at sarpanch-homes, patel-patvAri homes, vro-vdo homes, landlord homes, as we knew that the burden will be passed on to the other villagers. Besides, we were afraid of becoming puppets of our lunch-givers. We had about 16 villages to serve. Whenever, we had to visit villages for recoveries, inspections, etc. we used to start very early at 6 a.m., and return by 11 a.m., so that there would be no need to eat anywhere, except take tea in wayside teastalls (if at all they existed).
I have never revealed my caste to anybody. To the extent possible, I have never asked the caste of any person, except where it was necessary to fill Govt. forms, for extending subsidy, margin benefits, as stipulated in the relative schemes. The Sarpanches, landlords, former patel-patvaris (village revenue officials) have a tendency to insist that they alone should receive courtesies such as seats, teas in Banks, while BCs, SCs, and STs stand behind them. This system we have removed, which has hurt the ego-s of the sarpanches, former patel-patvaris, landlords. Besides, after coming to know that all my four staff members belonged to SCs, the village-rulers lost interest in us.
To come back and continue adding / deleting / modifying. सशेष. ఇంకా ఉంద.
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