Brahmins and Jews

Before going into the topic, I want to mention that I am the firm believer of ‘Jaadhigal Illaipadi paappa’. I would be among the happiest in the world if everyone gets up one fine day and the disease called ‘caste’ had gone from their minds and from all records. Most of my closest friends have been non-brahmins; my best friend from KG to class 7 was a Muslim; our family doctor for almost 25 years belonged to a ‘SC’ and I don’t have a caste surname. I hate to tell all these things, but I don’t want to be painted as a casteist. I am a big fan of K. Raghavan, who writes for Kumudam reporter the ‘Nilamellam Ratham’, where he discusses all things about the middle east conflict, starting pre-christian ages.

I found several similarities between Brahmins and Jews. IMHO, both the communities are proud of what they are; Plenty of great, world-famous intellectuals can be found among them; they are ambitious; they are also mostly highly religious and god-fearing; they are still criticized for some of the things that their ancestors had done ages ago. I was watching Anniyan for the fourth time last weekend and it made me think on ‘Brahmins’. I remembered an article I read in cinesouth on how much pro-Brahmin Anniyan is and some stupid arguments on capitalism and Brahminism.

It is a fashion for some self-proclaimed ‘Dravidian’ leaders to use the word ‘paarppaneeyam’ and take a swipe at Brahmins, and sometimes, on Hindus in general. If he is an atheist, he should keep it to himself.. why issue public statements? I remember the post ‘Aham Brahmaasmi’ by Kasthuri. Very nice one, which says who is a Brahmin and who isn’t. Those who attack Brahminism, take a break.. For quite long time, there is no caste issue due to them. All the flares that have taken place in the past few decades have been due to some other aggressive castes who are against Dalits.

Whenever I think about the caste issue in Tamilnadu, I feel angry and it is depressing too. When Suhasini made ‘Indira’ 10 years ago, everyone said “nay, that kind of casteism doesn’t any longer exist in Tamilnadu”, and “what does a Brahmin Suhasini know about the peaceful and reformed villages comprising Dalits and other communities?”. Within a few months, there were caste clashes in southern TN, which was really shameful. Brahmins are a subdued community, minding their own business and however orthodox they are, it is like “we wont mind your business, you wont mind ours”. Fair.

When Mel Gibson made “The Passion of Christ”, the Jews feared that it could lead to some hate-attacks on them.. For what they did 2000 years ago, they still have to pay the price!! 50 years ago, there was Hitler, 100 years ago, Russia, and before that, the entire Europe. People tend to get scared of them because they work hard, thrive for excellence and succeed.. Those who feel insecure about it make noises all the time.

In TN, except Brahmins, everyone else is in ‘backward class’ or lower, am I right? How can that be? How can business class be backward? How can the past rulers be backward? It is funny that people think themselves of a top section of the society but don’t want to come out of ‘backward’ stamp. It is high time the 69% quota gets abolished. Those who are economically well-off should all be erased of their caste details in all the records once for all, and, as the plate keeps moving down, there will be a good percent of people with ‘no caste’. Unless the government does something like that, we will always have caste and reservation. While I am glad that most in TN don’t carry a caste-based surname, it is high time they take it off their mind too.