Men, Women & The Politics of Reservations!



Thankfully, there are only two variations of human beings in this world, Men and Women. Keep wondering what would happen if there were more of our kind, like maybe, Apes with brains or Aliens from outer space who want to have a piece of the same pie. Wouldn’t it be so much fun, having some company and competition from the millions of other species on earth and elsewhere, all creations of god. Wouldn’t that take competition and survival to a totally new level?
Origin of the C’s

Luckily he decided to make his reservations clear at the outset and chose to give each species what it deserved. Hence he chose to give the Human Species something called a brain. Thanks to that, few centuries back man started thinking he is superior to god and further classified this world into far more interesting species or what we call as Castes (C’s). Today there are as many C’s in this world as there are people in a Mumbai local train at peak hour. 

The earlier man made these C’s not out of any fancy whim but had a good reason to do so. If the animals and birds had their own set of functions to do, so did the humans. We had farmers, potters, cobblers, goldsmiths, priests, merchants etc all doing what they were best at. So the simple thing was to classify them into certain C’s. An easy name to call a fraternity of people, all doing the same work. Something akin to us calling the American film Industry Hollywood and the Hindi film industry Bollywood and likewise. The advantage of doing this? By containing the craft into one segment of people the skill could be passed on to the next generation easily. Education as we know it today did not exist then. It was more of a vocational training, father teaches son and so on, passed on through generations like an inheritance. Very simple logic and made a lot of sense. Then what happened?

Evolving world                    
     
As the famous saying goes, the only thing constant in this world is change. So the world changed and people changed too. We had the Renaissance, Industrial Revolution, World Wars, Communication and Internet revolution and many other big events that changed the face of this earth as well as man’s role in it. This change is so rapid and never ending that even today we have new types of jobs being created that did not exist few years back. What about all those new jobs? Don’t we need to create more C’s to continue the practice of inheritance?

Well, the situation now is no more a vocational thing. Any job can be done by anyone; Education and merit being the only criteria. That’s how the entire world has moved on. Yet we have this beautiful country, India. That takes pride in its ancient culture and still swears by the C’s that have been created by its great fore fore fore fathers and beyond. Little did they know then that the world would change so much. Let’s talk a little more about India of the 20th century.

Indian Perspective

To put things in perspective, let’s start at the time of Independence, 1947. India was still a dependant nation; poverty and illiteracy were the two banes that held us back. Our administrators then had a plan and introduced something called as Reservations for people belonging to particular castes. The idea was to encourage and give equal opportunity to people from the downtrodden C's, so that they can take part in this changing world and move with the times. And it did make a difference, now we hardly know anyone who is from the same profession as their fathers. More so in the 21st century, almost 60 years after the concept was first introduced. It’s been a successful formula, one must accept. But wait, do we still need them?

Even railway and movie ticket reservation systems have changed now; we can book tickets through our phones as opposed to standing in queues. So what’s with the Indian Caste based reservation system? Isn’t it time someone decided to call the bluff and restore order. The onus lies with our dear Politicians to make this change. Yet, what do they decide to do? Think of ingenious ways to create more C’s and milk maximum mileage out of the existing C’s. And now they do the unthinkable, manage to create an entirely new C based purely on the gender of the person, the ultimate form of reservation. Just by belonging to a gender one is entitled to more privileges than the other. It might sound empowering to women in a society like ours. But is that the truth? 

There is a powerful secret which no one wishes to acknowledge yet. In the next few paragraphs I will talk about the equation between Men and Women and in the process unlock the secret. Many might like to disagree with me but I wish to present my case. Feel free to voice your opinion on this.

Men vs Women

Let’s pick a fight. Who do you think is more powerful, Men or Women? Think deeply. 

On first impression it looks like it is the men who are ruling this world. What with a majority of state heads worldwide being men. History has also shown us that it is always men who ruled this world. I doubt if that is the truth. As the famous saying goes “Behind every Successful Man, stands a Woman” I have also heard this “Behind every successful man, stands a Woman who keeps telling him that he is Wrong”. I couldn’t agree less with the latter. 

Men by nature are either lazy or aggressive. Its only when a woman is part of his life that he is able to strike a balance. A balance without which he wouldn’t be as successful as he is today. The process starts in childhood with the mother who is the biggest influence till he grows up to fall to the charms of a younger woman and later enters the institution called marriage and in case of outgrowing the marriage only manages to fall into the arms of another woman. Study the history of the most powerful men in this world and most have either loyal long term partners or have messy divorces leading to another partner. There is no escape for men from women. They are too powerful. Women on the other hand traditionally needed men to Provide for and to facilitate the process of Procreation. Both of which they are capable of doing so now without a man. You will realize that there is some truth to what I am saying if you do a little check yourself.

Women and History

One might say, in rural India that isn’t the case, what with dowry deaths, female foeticide and such bizarre stuff still commonplace. I beg to differ. Don’t forget that there is always another woman involved in such issues, be it the mother, sister, mother in law, sister in law, daughter in law, etc. Its women against women. Men are mostly mute spectators. The politics that women play here are far more dangerous and deadly than those know to men. 

Take the epic story Ramayana or the Mahabharata and try to single out who was responsible for the stories to take place in the first place. It might be tempting to say Ravana is the primary villain in Ramayana, but the ones who are directly responsible for all the misery on Rama are Kaikeyi and Surpanakha. And talking of Mahabharata one knows what Draupadi did to the entire clan of Pandavas and Kauravas. One woman could change the course of history. These are not isolated cases, take the Trojan War for instance, it was Helen of Troy who was the main cause. Cleopatra was the undisputed women and is said to be singularly responsible for changing the face of the world during her time. There are many more examples right upto contemporary times with names such as Margaret Thatcher who was called the only man in her cabinet and Indira Gandhi the iron woman of India. Also more recently take the cases of Amma Jayalalitha, Behan Mayawati, Didi Mamata or Madam Sonia Ji. Show me one man who can stand to the power of these women. The men again are just puppets in their hands.

33% power?

With regards to the above context I find it amusing that 33% of seats in the parliament are now going to be reserved for women. Do we even realize what it means? 

Naturally gifted Politicians who were content behind closed doors till now will be pushed to the forefront. Assuming that the remaining 67% are men in the parliament, my guess is almost 100% of them are already ruled by women in their lives. So this dominance is going to be total and final. The Pandora’s Box has opened. Men beware, your days are numbered! 

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Comments

  1. Is this supposed to be funny? Are you seriously suggesting the women wield more power than men? Look around again.

    Pallavi

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  2. Interesting reading..but mostly biased - either towards man or woman!!!!! That is the real paradox.

    The first notable point is you even now write this as a man's world...why isnt gender neutral yet? We might say..just world, or human's world.. humankind etc, isnt it? There goes the point - besides thinking woman controls man, the world still belongs to men.

    Second one, why is it 33%? Shldnt it be 50% instead? We should make 50% reserved for Men, 50% reserved for Women in real sense!!!!

    Men are obviously happy with the saying "Behind every successful man, there is a woman".. because she is behind and not ahead of him. So it is HIGH TIME the saying is reversed or vanished.

    Reading this, dont think I am a woman and additionally feminist.. hehe.. I am man :-) and happy about the reservation, ofcourse disappointed with the imbalance in the percentage.

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  3. Wonderful article! It may sound funny to many people, but the real danger is ahead as mentioned in it!Never men and women are equal and will never be. It's God wish they are not the same. At one stage of life women will produce babies and they can't work like a normal person. They got their duties to be done. Think it's the nature that created like this people. Women, nobody is behind or ahead of anybody as it looks like from the top view!

    In the case with rural women it is true, they are humiliated/Dominated by men.But reservation in the parliament is not the right solution. This is not gonna do much good for the country except there will be more women sitting in the parliament. Explain how this is gonna help the country move forward( which is the top priority) better than now?

    -Ravichandra

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  4. Ravi, why are you scared about the future of country? India has moved a lot forward when Parliament was full of men, and now with women..May be Rather Faster these days.. So What is the basis for your assumption that men alone take it forward and women will actually stop the development?

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  5. Ravichandra,

    I am surprised at your assumption that "only" rural women are dominated by men. There are other forms of domination that's prevalent in the urban areas. I personally feel that this whole resentment towards the reservation bill is the fear that women might actually do a better job. And that you, the men will lose the power you've held for so long!

    Pallavi

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  6. There is a famous quote by Abraham Lincoln 'Nearly all men can stand adversity,but to test a mans'character give him power'.so does apply to a woman too!Be it 33% reserved for women,rest men or vice-versa,its the politicians's (or so-called "Desh Sevaks in White")first n foremost responsibilty to make feel their people to the core of their hearts that the country is in safe hands.They should live up to what they swear to be .Be it the politics or a simple household ,man or the woman whosoever is in power,power shouldnt be misused!As far as this article is concerned , you approached diplomatically until last para.But somewhere deep down inside you are biased.c'mmon be honest!

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  7. SS Sri,

    Yes, i am scared of future/ Scared of reservations like anyone. I never said that women (for whom i have great respect than men) can't rule this country, but not with this reservation. Its all about opportunity and zeal that makes anybody a good politician and nothing else.I say its tough for women as they got other responsibilities(which men can't do), but never said they can not. I want my India to be a developed, Intelligent and hard working nation. This step doesn't meet my requirement, incase any kind of reservation.

    Pallavi,

    I am really happy if anybody (men/women) does a good job. It's nothing like men should only be in power, it's all about common sense. If you are interested in politics, Come and join. Why do you need reservation? If you got your hurdles, I got my hurdles too! If you are very much aware of the constitutional rights, nothing will stop you.

    -Ravichandra.

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  8. Just imagine if God too had reservations while creating us? What if had Indra precisely said that as many as 33% beautiful Apsaras & devis shall only be there in the Devlok & rest Devtas from so-n-so galaxies?I dont even think in my wildest imagination!Then why do we humans try to exceed even God?Reservations,castes,sub-castes, states further getting divided bla.bla..bla. Where do all this end???

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  9. Reservation is like giving somebody a way out from the main stream compatition. This is not good to maintain healthy competition. I totally agree with the author of this blog on this part. To the part of woman's reservation, believe me its the women more than 60% percent of the time who are taking decisions. The best practical example is the Television adds. More than 70% of the adds are meant to attract the women. More than 60% of the serials or daily soaps are meant for women. Men are told that its a Male dominated society. But actually its the females behind those males who control remotely.

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  10. I suggest an implementation of the one-third rule...seat a female between two males in sets of three... :))

    ReplyDelete
  11. Aditya,

    I am saying reservation for both MEN and WOMEN.. 50 and 50..!!! Is that not good enough??? Dont that give 50% reservation to MEN too...with a detour from the main stream? Come on now,,, this should be accepted tho!

    ReplyDelete
  12. 33% reservation for women and the rest 67% of the men are controlled by women. It really does not matter. It shall not be long before we get to hear .... Behind every successful woman there is a man

    ReplyDelete
  13. it's a known fact that no Pole is big enough for a standoff with the Hole, And Now with its 33% growth they will forever be submerged and Drowned into a blinding Oblivion.And from there will emerge the mighty ones again with their innovative ways like the Great Banian.

    LS

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  14. I don't 've any comments if the intention of this post is 'fun.' But, by any chance if you r serious about what u've written, please continue reading. Firstly, i presume the ‘C’s in the post stands not for 'cinema,' but for 'caste' which demands exposure and understanding of the subject as an 'unbiased' human being to be able to comment on it.

    Somewhere in the initial parts of the blog, u’ve mentioned that nobody cares about one’s caste. U also said about 60 years of independence and stuff like that to counter the existence of reservations. Well, caste system is in practise for thousands of years. It sounds to me like an unrealistical optimism to ‘assume’ that caste system is completely eradicated. 60 years is nothing when compared with 1000s of years. However, somewhere in your other posts u banged indians stating that they’re behind in adoptation refering to all those malls, multiplexes etc. But, when it comes to the ‘C’ factor, u concluded that no body remembers it. Didn’t it sound a bit contradictory? So, I have a simple question. Can u explain why congress party (in AP) is predominantly populated by Reddy community and Telugu Desam Party is occupied with Kamma community if people don’t really worry about the’C?’ Can you tell how many reddys are doing well in telugu film industry and compare with the ones from kamma community? Shall we conclude that all this is pure coincidence?

    Let me tell you something unpleasant. 90% of the guys who clean ur sewer lines (in India) belong to a very specific ‘C.’ Do u think these guys r swimming in sewage coz’ they lack brains and fall behind in competition? For instance, certain ‘C’ is known for stitching foot wear for 1000s of years. They had all technical know-how to work with animal skins. Today we hardly find an entreprenuer belonging this specific ‘C’ owning a leather factory or a footwear show room in a central part of any indian city. We occassionally find them on foot paths. Is it because they lack competitiveness?

    I sincerely request u to either stop writing on something as sensitive as reservations (which is a bye-product of selective discrimination) or read the works done by people like some Roland Fryer or some Kancha Ilaiah or some sociologist to understand the perspective of the ‘C’s who r previliged to enjoy reservations. If u don’t find time for such extensive reading, please do watch ‘a time to kill’, and more specifically the climax to check out whether ur biased or not.

    Warm Regards!
    Srinivas

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hi,

    i completely agree that empowering down trodden is essential. I feel 'reservations' is one important tool to reach that objective. Basic education can do wonders, but only in ideal conditions. While the society at grass root levels is interwoven with caste based hierarchy, it can't empower the population belonging to the disadvantaged communities.

    I can't imagine a school going kid to build up aspirations and dreams to work towards them unless there is some one to encourage n nutrure those dreams. In reality most of do not know what they want to do in life at an age when we are legally eligible to decide about who can rule us. That is reality. For instance, let's take the case of Karthik (the author of this blog). He did graduation in Architecture, yet switched his career to Animation. I agree that it is his personal decision to be an animator/ graphic designer. But, the point is he didn't knew it when he joined architecture. He could have been barely one year younger to get right to vote at that time. So, how can providing basic education ensure somebodies development for a life time?

    The link you have sent about 'Naga Naresh Karutur,' is really inspiring. A big up to this guy. But, there are two things i want to tell you. Firstly, as per the article on rediff, the guy has got admission into IIT through reservations under PH quota. It shows the positive side of reservations. Secondly, why did people around him help him? It seems to me that most of those people are sympathetic towrads the boy. How many of the same set of people will be sympathtic to a student from underpriviliged castes? People don't even feel like throwing a coin towards a beggar without checking how many limbs are missing.

    I cannot comment on the 'dravidian policy based reservation system,' as i didn't come across it. Please, do share any information u've about it.

    Now, coming to Ambedkar, I feel asking every guy from the underpriviliged groups to adopt the life of Ambedkar to make it big in life is not different from asking every indian to read ' The Story of My Experiments With Truth' and expecting all of them to become Gandhis. Buddy! Let's be realistic!!!

    Murthy

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  16. Srini, It is not about Merit or Ranking that Karthik is talking about, But It is about Empowering the Down Trodden & their Children with Basic Education and a Livelihood at the Seed level. That alone will help them make better choices with right Aspirations, These Aspirations in themselves will propel them to reach for their Dreams and make them less dependent on Reservations. Just Hit a Search on these three classic cases below:
    1)."Naga Naresh Karutura".
    2). Apart from that You can also check out the status of the so called upper classes in TamilNadu after the coming of the "Dravidian policy based reservation system", and How even the well deserving were snubbed and snuffed off into non existence till Privatisation and Globalisation came to their rescue.
    3).And you can also check out the biography of Ambedkar, and see How someone with the right aspiration and resolve can accomplish even when the whole world seems to be working against them.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hey Murthy, i asked you to talk about Taj Mahal and you spoke about the gardens and the grass surrounding it and the cow eating the grass and the mosquito sitting on the cows tail and so on. You didn't speak a word about Taj Mahal. I hope you understand what i am talking about. I wish you had a word with me while you were in college, i would have helped clear a lot of your doubts. No offense meant. Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hello Srinivas,

    I am wondering if you know me in person by any way. First of all thanks a lot for your honest comments. Really appreciate that. There have been comments on the post earlier but everyone focused on the men women relation but none spoke about the C's that i mentioned. By the way, i meant every word that i wrote about the C's and let me assure you its not for fun. I can see your point of view, and also you are right when you mention politics and films as the two areas where the inheritance system is still prevalent. Dynasty politics is a term we keep hearing quite often. However what i wrote is purely from my personal experiences of seeing worthy candidates being denied a chance in the name of reservations.

    With regards to the issues that you raised, i would like to ask you. Do you really think reservations is the solution for the problems of downtrodden. The people who clean the sewers do they really need reservations at college level education and jobs. It would be rather better to provide free education at the primary level and regulate child labour and implement such reforms that would truly benefit the society rather than having a certain quota system which is mostly misused. Am sure that you have heard this before "You feed a man and you keep feeding him forever, but teach a man to fish and you will never have to help him again". I am really curious to know what is the solution that you suggest to the malaise that is afflicting this society?

    With regards to the books that you mentioned, am sure they must be great books, but i chose to speak my mind based on my perception of this world and not influenced by any writings. All one needs to comprehend what happens in society is to look around and be sensitive to others needs. An authors opinion is finally an authors opinion, that's his individual choice, whether he is right or wrong. Hence i have it as a policy that i don't delete or regulate any comments on my blog. Just as i chose to voice my opinion i wish more people like you chose to make their stand clear on the issue. Its for people to take what they like and not go just by my words.

    Thanks and am really happy you chose to speak your Mind!

    Cheers!!!
    Kartik

    ReplyDelete
  19. hi karthik

    I accept your point that men crave for women and women learned to live without depending on man.I have a doubt regarding your lines " Also more recently take the cases of Amma Jayalalitha, Behan Mayawati, Didi Mamata or Madam Sonia Ji. Show me one man who can stand to the power of these women. The men again are just puppets in their hands." How was narendra modi able to became more powerful than all of them without a woman behind his success? Instead a man(amit shah) was behind his success!!

    ReplyDelete

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