When her maid asked her for a glass of water after a long, tiring day , she gave her one. It was no big deal. However, her mother made it out to be one. That night, when the maid had gone back to her quarters, her mother asked her to visit her room. She obediently did, as she always has. Her mother ‘sweetly’ scolded her for giving water to the maid in one of the glasses that were purely for the family use.

“Beta, yeh log chooray chamar hotay hain, inhain safai ka khayal nai hota,” her mother specifically told her. “Jab bhi woh pani mangay tou usse steel kay kisi glass main de dena, sheeshay ka glass ab mujhe us kay hath main nazar na aye.”

For the entire next hour that followed, she could not process what her mother had told her. The same, generous mother who had always taught her not to discriminate between people based on which caste they belonged to, was now doing the complete opposite. Her mother had always criticized India for still supporting an elaborate caste system. Oh! the irony.

She sat there on her bed, breathing heavily in silence. She was angry at her mother and confused. But the seeds were sown and little did she know that she was going to do the same once she hires a maid herself when she becomes independent.

***************

The caste system in Pakistan, or rather, the subcontinent, has a very long and tumultuous history. People used to sort themselves into distinct castes based on their professions. However, today, the caste system has become extensively convoluted.

The landowners are followed by relatively “lower” castes including lohar, tarkhan, mochi, mirasi who are then followed by chooray, chamar and masalis. 

Keeping these lower castes aside, the middle and the upper middle classes have divided themselves into some 200 plus castes including Rajput, Syed, Dhillon, Butt, Bhattis, Jutt, Janjua, Siqqiquis and a gazillion more that might take me an entire day to mention. Each of them considers itself superior to the other. Most of the rajputs refuse to marry their kids outside of their castes, so do Syeds, and everybody for that matter. Those who decide to break the norms are looked down upon by the rest of the biradri. 

The worst part is when the positive-minded actually believe that this cycle of castes and classes will end once we educate our masses who are so deeply brainwashed with the idea that mingling with the ‘others’ will dilute their gene pool somehow.

It is not so much because of the lack of education that we behave this way, it is chiefly because our parents, khalas, their husbands, chahchas, mamas and basically everyone make sure that we know how superior our caste is.

And we eventually begin to think so because it becomes a part of our psyche.

Back in my university days, a professor in a class asked everyone to introduce themselves with their castes.

A guy belonging to an apparently not-so-respectable caste introduced himself and the instructor blurted out, “Ab ap log bhi yahan parho gay?” and everybody laughed. He later clarified that it was all in good humor but the damage has been done. What is even more horrifying is that this all happened at an institute that boasts itself to be a celebrator of “diversity” and differences.

Incidents like this are routine, for many, if not all of us. Hence, the lower castes remain impoverished because the society is trained to . Whenever they try to move up the ladder, this is what happens. Some of them change their last names but the mockery continues.

For a Pakistan that you like to so proudly distinguish from Dalit-hating India, things like these don’t make you any better, do they?

Cover Image Via: Dawn.com