Rambabu is our man Friday at New Academic
Building. Short but stout, he looks older for his age and sports a confused but
smiling face almost always. He is more diligent than efficient but the job
more often than not gets done. The other day I asked him if he could find
me a calendar. The need for a calendar arose not so much for
dates but in order to cover a strip of transparent glass on the office
door which made my siesta often times somewhat embarrassing. The next day
Rambabu arrived with one longish, single sheet calendar. The sheet had 12
months boldly printed at the bottom and "Scholars World", the book
shop sponsor, at the top. In the middle sat two white doves, gently nuzzling
each other with a red rose that each of their beaks clasped. Written in bold
was "Peace, like charity, begins at home."
Eta cholbe na, I muttered. This wont work.
It had struck me that someone, perhaps "Scholars World" or Rambabu
himself, had peeped into our home. Rambabu was listless, keno
sir? Why sir? I don't think I need one immediately. He sniffed that I
might have found the picture obscene. You are young, so I thought you might
like this ! Clearly he had spent some time thinking about what I might like.
Thank you but I think I won't need a calendar now. He took the calendar from
me, rolled it out and took a hard look at it, perhaps trying to figure out why
the innocuous white doves had offended my sensibilities. Unable to find
anything, he enquired if he should bring one of another variety. I declined. As
he proceeded to leave, he turned back one last time, finally there was a glint
in his eyes - sir, thakur debta r chhobi deoa
aanbo? sir, do you want one with gods
and goddesses on it?
***
In Interrogating Caste, Dipankar Gupta
delves into the deeper trenches of the theory of stratification to examine when
differences become hierarchy. As I was wading my way through, I was reminded of
what Ashokda said the other day, "Gupta might very well be
the first (and only?) sociologist in India to own a BMW". And here is my twist. "The only sheep
among the lions. Or whichever way you prefer."
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