bakarmax

I have a confession to make. I grew up in the parts of India where everyone not only knows all of their neighbours’ caste but also their subcaste. Growing up, caste dynamics was just an accepted truth with little to debate about. Caste-based phrases are still just common “muhavaras” thrown around without much thought and while I have heard some of them all my life, I did not understand the full meaning of those phrases until one day one such phrase slipped out of my mouth (not pointed towards anyone else but myself). It was then that I fully realized what the words really meant and how demeaning they were to my fellow human beings. Till date, I feel ashamed for speaking those words. I am sorry. I promise to be more mindful going forward.

This comic is my attempt to address this hypocrisy. We continue to enjoy the fruits of our caste discrimination, we still marry in caste, we use casteist slur without realizing what they really mean and then at the mention of any affirmative action or any social justice action we shrug our shoulders in unison – “Par Caste to hum dekhte hi nahi..”