A review of NL Hafta by Prakash, Arun and Kapil

Hi NL team,

I’ve been a subscriber for 4+ years. Love your work.

In Hafta 219, what Sudipto had to say about Dalits was a mixed experience as a listener. The story of ASA founder Rajshekhar was fascinating. But the stereotypes mentioned—violent, brutish, given to criminal actions, sexual deviants, leading thug life—I had never heard that about Dalits. I lived the first 29 years of my life in Delhi. I did hear chooda/chamar being used as slurs. I asked around my upper-caste crowd if they had heard such branding, not a single person had heard such remarks. At least, the India I grew up in, sex ki to baat hi nahi hoti thi, and “sexual deviant” as a term, I probably first learned while reading up on American news stories on homophobia. Abhinandan also agreed to those stereotypes. Can rest of the panel, which is also upper caste, confirm if they grew up hearing that? My mom used such slurs towards me, whenever my closet was messy she would say: “Tum ekdum choodon/chamaron jaise rehte ho!”

The stereotypes I heard were mostly aesthetic ones: they look ugly, have a poor sense of personal/kitchen hygiene, lack good taste in clothes/jewellery. Though I hated it every time my mom said that, I was totally shocked when I did see such families. I agreed with her at least on clothes/jewellery bit. I could have said that about anyone with those choices who wasn’t Dalit. In fact, I do recall people saying that about baniyas too(who are upper caste). “Paisa hai par taste nahi, kuch bhi pehen lete hain, ek baar sheeshe mein dekh to lo!“

Also, comparing African-Americans and Dalits is a lazy equivalence. To paraphrase Abhinandan, this sounds a bit “main bhi nigga”. When it comes to Dalits, 9 out of 10 stories are about inter-caste romance problems (and that’s how the movies Fandry/Sairat were too), which is not the case with blacks. Inter-racial marriage is least of their concerns. Blacks have a cool image even among bigots, and as harsh as it sounds, never heard Dalits and “cool” in the same sentence.

I am genuinely curious about the everyday experience of Dalits in urban and rural space. It is not just about inter-caste marriage but in everything. Growing up in Delhi, the number of instances of casteist talks about Dalits were less than 5 in total, I think. In high school, caste identity was first mentioned when applying for competitive exams. Same was in college, only when people were into serious dating that I heard about caste issues. The only major related topic was reservations, and yes, most upper caste would whine about it.

Please recommend some reading/podcast/documentaries on caste issues. Maybe I do need to educate myself because the gap between experiences and what people like Sudipto mention is huge. I don’t get it how people like me could be so ignorant from these mentioned realities of hundreds of millions of Dalits in India.

Prakash Iyer

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Dear Abhinandan,

I have had the pleasure of being an NL Subscriber for over a year. Hafta introduced me to the world of podcasts. I am forever grateful for that.

An oft-repeated but a tired critique in Hafta by now is an imaginary conflict between Left-liberals and Right-conservative ideology. Somehow, in the din of the heated debate, liberals, including self-proclaimed ones like Abhinandan, have become an epitome of illiberal-ism.  The conservatives are clueless about the causes that define them. It is because the Hafta panel assumes that they have to fight the liberal cause that they often overlook fleshing out various aspects of an issue. This used to be the USP of Hafta. If you had a panel with a wider outlook, issues like Sabarimala or Balakot would have made for riveting debates. Unfortunately, for the listeners that is not to be.

I believe majority of the Indians are actually “centrists” who don’t carry the baggage of the either of the above. Centrism is not moderate but rather supports strength, open-mindedness and policy based on evidence, not ideology. Centrism is not constrained by liberal or conservative camps.  Some notable examples are Arnab Ray (@greatbong), Anand Ranganathan, Shiv Aroor, Pranab Roy and Rahul Kanwal. I would like to hear from the panel about their views on centrism. Can they name some centrist commentators in the media space?

Abhinandan, liberalism lost its essence long while ago. Dump it and embrace centrism. In the end, Hafta will be the real winner.

Arun Ram
Hyderabad

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Hi Newslaundry,
You people are doing a great job.

I would like to make a suggestion. You should add a page on your website detailing pieces of equipment you guys need for production purposes, sort of a campaign. Surely many of the people would contribute.

Keep up the good work

Kapil Mahawar