MEDICINES HAVE NO CAST

MEDICINES HAVE NO CAST
This story dates back to the days not many decades ago. It was a period when my 6 or 7 years young mind was trying to comprehend things around me. Some of the traditions were complicated and harsh enough to leave an imprint for life. This one is one of such traditions.
I was one of the many who belonged to an upper cast. There were some who belonged to lower cast. What that actually meant was beyond the understanding of kids of my age. To us all it meant was that one, the lower cast people are those who are born in lower cast and upper cast people are those who are born in upper cast. Secondly, since they were born in lower cast they were not allowed to mix up with upper cast people. Thirdly, they were not allowed to visit our temple, draw water from our wells, touch us when we were having our food and play with us.
Lower cast people lived in their huts a little away from the pucca houses of the upper cast people. Lower cast people were required to serve the upper cast people as blacksmiths, weavers, cobblers, drum beaters, barbers and so on. In return they were doled out some food grains after every crop, used clothes and left over food. They were called to drag the dead domestic animal out of the village limits as upper cast people were not supposed to touch a dead cow or bull. Surprisingly, a goat or a sheep was mercilessly killed by upper cast people and eaten with relish. But why this and why not that was alien for our young minds. We were supposed to obey as our elders told us.
Badru was the head of the lower cast community and a cobbler by profession. He also doubled as a healer. He was called to cure the ailing animals and at times humans of any injury turning into egzima. His home made lotion was highly effective. In such cases, the tag of lower cast did not hold any weight. This also was beyond my comprehension.
I was probably some 10 years old. For months some hoofing cough was troubling the young ones in the village. Children in the age group of one and four were badly affected. These kids could not sleep the whole night. All sorts of drugs given by the village doctor (Ayurvedic Vaid) had little or no effect. The disease was contagious and almost all kids in the village in that age group were suffering.
The disease spread in the lower cast hutment also but was soon controlled and cured, thanks to the water used for the treatment of leather by Badru. Badru had a large container in which he used to keep the raw animal hide to soak for a month or so before he used it for shoe making. It was difficult to reason out but one spoon full of that water was good enough to cure the nagging cough. Upper cast people were reluctant to try it because firstly it was contaminated by raw animal hide and secondly touched by Badru, the low cast.
Unable to find a better solution upper cast people were obliged to let their children suffer as the tradition demanded. Moreover who could make the first move? It so happened that in the darkness of the night some beleaguered upper cast people went to Badru’s hut with the sick children and asked him to oblige which he readily did. And why not? Above all, it was after centuries that upper cast children were drinking water at his place and that too contaminated with animal hide! He must have felt highly elated.
There were some mumbling sounds of dissent in the upper cast community but it soon died down when Badru’s miracle started working. Upper cast people openly started to go to Badru’s and get their children a spoonful of heavenly water. The logic extended was medicines have no cast.
Gandhiji’s Quit India movement had come to a fruitful end and India had gained Independence in 1947. His mission of equality for every person irrespective of cast and creed had just touched our village and the lower cast started had calling themselves Harijan (God’s own people), the word coined by Gandhiji for all lower cast people. This was a bitter pill for the upper cast people which they were not ready to stomach.
TOTAL TRANSFORMATION IS STILL MILES AWAY FROM MY VILLAGE.

H. P. LAKHERA , SEPTEMBER , 2010.