☕️ Sip 2 - The Raw Aftertaste: Power, Politics & Silent Humiliation
🫖 Sip 2 - The Raw Aftertaste
Power, Politics & Silent Humiliation
A Special Note to the Reader
If this reflection feels uncomfortable,
it is because it speaks of moments we usually hide behind silence.
Ask an elder how behaviour changes during elections.
Ask how respect appears temporarily and disappears quietly later.
You may discover that equality is sometimes performed, not practiced.
☕️ Sip 2
As villages develop, caste does not disappear.
It changes its expression.
Roads are built.
Schools open.
Speeches speak of equality.
Yet inside homes, cups are still watched.
Water is still offered carefully.
Questions are still asked — not aloud, but indirectly.
During elections, caste boundaries soften.
Hands shake. Smiles widen.
Voices promise unity.
After elections, old rules return silently.
This is casteism at the bottom of the stem - less visible than the root,
but equally bitter.
Humiliation here is rarely violent.
It is symbolic.
A cup washed again.
A place not offered to sit.
A tone that suddenly changes.
No one shouts.
No law is broken.
But dignity is negotiated.
Those who suffer often remain quiet —
not because they accept it,
but because they have learned
that survival sometimes demands silence.
A Historical Echo
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar warned that political equality without social equality is fragile.
In his writings, he observed that democracy cannot survive where social hierarchy remains untouched.
Political scientist Rajni Kothari also noted that caste often adapts itself to power structures,
reshaping rather than disappearing.
when caste aligns with power,
it becomes subtle — not absent.
A Quiet Pause
This sip asks us to reflect, not react.
To observe how often equality is displayed in public
and withdrawn in private.
Because caste does not always shout.
Sometimes it whispers -
and those whispers hurt the most.
Let this sip stay with you
as a question, not a conclusion.
Readers interested in detailed lived experiences may explore the archived original version of this reflection.
Link: https://mathivationhub.blogspot.com/2025/11/a-poisonous-poison-casteism-boon-or.html
— Rakesh Kushwaha
Educator | Writer | Lifelong Learner
SIPS. Simply Incredible Perspective Sirji
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading and for your kind words.
DeleteI’m grateful that the perspective resonated with you.
If these reflections encourage even a moment of thought or introspection, the purpose of this series is fulfilled.
Warm regards.
— Rakesh Kushwaha