Class as Caste turns sociology upside down

Aug 15, 2010

A request by one of the followers of my blog, a young journalist, has evoked the sociologist in me to rethink the way we interpret caste and class. Even though my journalistic and migrant background has always goaded me to activism on issues ranging from caste, class, diaspora and regionalism, my understanding of Indian society and culture made me believe that caste is more often than not class in this part of the world. And hence the rebellious writer in me has always been up against challenging the class conscious society which has by and large stood shamelessly by its commitment to status quo.
The query that whether class has turned out to be caste now in the modern India actually led me to introspect as to whether the class & caste conundrum needs a fresh perspective. Has the conventional wisdom of sociology that caste is class not been relevant in today’s market driven elitist society? Certainly if the young generation like Abhishek Kumar of Political & Business Daily feels offended when asked as to how much he earns as his first class identity, I feel it is time for a serious discussion on the subject. A young man’s offence to his class in question also gives a ray of hope that the market driven society has not completely captured the class the way they would like to.
After all, the class conscious society in Delhi would have easily cornered a young migrant from non-descript city like Raxaul in Bihar. But my objection to the class as caste runs much deeper. Of course, I come across almost on a routine basis with such class conscious elitists for whom one’s address and swanky cars are the only introduction to the individual’s class. The more shameless breed doesn’t even mind getting into the economics of whether the flat that you live in is a rented accommodation or you own it.  The car you drive is on loan or purchased with down payments….the list can be filthy disgusting.
However, the above examples are just tip of the iceberg and this shift from traditional school of sociology is merely the symptom, not the disease. If free market economy believes in currency as the new class, the social divide on grounds of rural-urban, native-migrant, English-vernacular and many such chauvinistic parameters make the notion of class even more profound. It seems the larger section of the society that has been at the receiving end of class ostracism will continue to suffer. It is just the fact of academic interest that while earlier their respective caste had been relegating them to that class, now the class (socio-economic) is relegating them to caste, or better to call them outcastes.  
There are certain other parallels to be drawn out of this class and caste conundrum. While the social barrier still remains the same, the prerequisites to switch to the other side of the fence have not changed either. Of course, it has to meet the acid taste of not rubbing the sensibilities of the so-called upper class. Earlier it was the elevation of the lower caste in economic stream (read elite government jobs) that was qualifying them to rub shoulders with the upper castes, now it is the same professional ladder that provides them acceptability and turns their caste as per the elitists.
We as migrant professionals in Delhi and other metro cities witness this class turning out to be our caste day in and day out. The very same class which pretends as upper caste and disapproves our presence in the city wants to rub shoulders with us once we rise up the professional ladder. This may not be an acceptance of our migrant identity or our regional identity, but the acceptance is for our elite class, that suddenly turns out to be our new caste. 
I know the truth is a bit bitter but there are a number of friends in Delhi who are neither comfortable with a migrant in me who has proven intellectual and professional sharpness over them, nor have they accepted a resident of Bihar. But then a communication professional in me is welcome to the very same people whose profile of CEO, TRACK2MEDIA Consulting defines his elite class to them, which in their perception is also his new caste. Call it fair or foul, but class has become the new caste today and it is definitely turning the conventional sociology upside down.

Grooming and nurturing at Tagore International school

August 01, 2010

After spending more than a decade into audio-visual medium of communication it is hard to impress me with the kind of patchy work that is being taught in various media institutes nowadays. It seems mass communication schools that have mushroomed across the country are only mass production factory of low quality jack-of-all-trade stuff. And thanks to the television revolution in this part of the world, where the journey from one Doordarshan to 400 odd TV channels has not taken more than a decade, creativity and out-of-the-box thinking has been relegated to the dustbin.
Over the last few years of my professional life in various capacity, the first thing that I have always told to these young mass media pass outs is to unlearn on the job what all has been taught to them in their respective institutes. And hence when a friend of mine asked me to be one of the judges on the panel to evaluate the work of school children, I had a mixed feeling. Even though I have a natural love for children, I was not sure as to what sort of animation and television production the young kids could have done. Worst even, I had this apprehension that it will be more of schools competing against each other in the name of their students’ work.
However, the obligation to the friend drove me to the Tagore International School in the early morning of a working day on Thursday, July 29th. The cultured grooming and discipline of the children here is something that reflects in the overall ambience of the school. In an age when many of the schools, especially in the NCR region are in the news for all the wrong reasons, this school stands out in terms of class and quality of its students. The general feeling that I have carried home is that the children here are not taught but nurtured.
It was an inter-school competition with students of around 20 schools from India and abroad being invited to showcase their talent in the respective categories. Though the first impression in the school had already made me all the more curious to see whether their works also has the substance to stand out, I kept my expectation level way below with these kids. But the screening of the inaugural film that was supposed to be “of the children, by the children, for the children” was an eye opener. At least I have not seen any amateur group coming out with such creative work with perfect finesse in the last few years.
This is no mean achievement by a bunch of school going children who have no formal education in film making at any professional level. I wish the young professionals who come out of various media institutes and are desperate to make a career in the profession, show the same kind of creativity, passion and zeal. But then the differentiator here will always be the quest to make a career by every possible short cut routes and innocent passion by the kids.
The Ordinatrix Event has been one of the most fascinating experiences in recent times. The feeling is not just because the event was very neatly organized, but in a much larger context it also reflects the fact that the mass media revolution in this part of the world has not completely gone haywire. At least the animation and television production of school going children suggest the same. Some of the concepts, ideas and interwoven social responsibility in it were indeed an eye opening for me.
Even though these children completely stand out with their class act, their feet has been firmly rooted and they don’t seem to mature and overgrow their age and experience. No wonder, the journalist and sociologist in me was equally eager to figure out whether the overt courtesy and politeness was an inherent part of their grooming or it was all plastic emotions meant for the day.
The post event interaction with the core students’ team that organized the event along with the Principal Tagore International, Madhulika Sen, dispelled even this doubt. The innocent children admitted that many of them may have to leave the creative hobby as parents want them to become successful with Engineering and likewise socially accepted degrees. Probably they don’t value even the fact that along with their routine academic curriculum they have taken the best advantage of the computer lab set up by the school and honed their creative skills. Given more opportunity they can work wonders.
I just wish these children are allowed to do whatever they enjoy doing in their lives. I wish somebody would suggest the parents of these children to watch the movie 3 IDIOTS and take a leaf out of the experience. I wish Principal Madhulika Sen replicates the same role with these children as Aamir Khan did with his other two idiot friends. My wish list is a bit too long, may be, but my expectation level has been exceeded by the experience with Tagore International school.