Govardhan Wankhede wrote his
autobiography titled, My Life : The Journey of a Dalit Sociologist which
was published in 2020. In this work he writes about his childhood, difficult
schooldays , discrimination he faced as
a student and in jobs and how he emerged as a respectable academician . the
book is written in seven chapters. He writes that the book is “a life story of
a sociologist by a sociologist .(15) The
examines the interconnectedness of society and an individual. In his own
words” it is the life and direct experiences of an individual coming from the
lowest rank of society. The victim of all the social practices with immensely
poor conditions and his struggle for education and search for a new social identity ‘ and is one of three generations of his
family , he being the first generation learner.” ( 14)
He points out how Hinduism has injected
people with notions of karma and rebirth , varna system ad untouchability. The
book was written by the author at the
age of sixty five after working for
decades as ana academician still grappling with the issue of self-respect. The
book is written as an insider and also
aa an objective sociologist. He mentions
that the book is meant for fellow fighters for humanity and equality and also
for the disbelievers in those values. His concern has been the continuous sufferings of the majority from “social,
religious, economic and ethnic slavery.”(20)
In the first part , “Where Do I Come
From?” he explains his roots and school days. As a school boy he worked as an
agrarian labourer with half wages for a woman, walked four miles to school during 5-7 standard and after coming home
helped his mother in household chores and in the process hurting his left foot
while cutting a thick and long branch of a tree for firewood. He suffered from
fever the same night . is mother applied
a turmeric solution to the toe and he
was lucky not to get affected by
tetanus . He also mentions that he received little help from the neo-liberals and the upper castes in the academia. He adopts an ethnographic
approach and showcases “twining of the individual’s story- my story, with that
of society.” (21)
The author describes how the village is
structured depending on the caste hierarchy . of his family he writes that he
was born into a poor untouchable Mahar
parents who were landless and uneducated. He was the sixth child and
middle one among the three male children
who survived out of 10 children originally born, five boys and five girls. His
date of birth was registered as March 1,
1950 which was doubtful and caused a lot of difficulties later on in hi
education and job. The Maharwada was
located on the eastern side of the village to avoid ‘pollution’ to the
upper-castes form the wind which usually blow from west to east in India. The
upper-castes enjoyed privileges , the washerman would not serve the
untouchables and the tailor, carpenter and the goldsmith offer services but
maintain physical distance. Towards the
north lived a Mang family, still further outside the village a Chambhar family,
and 3or four houses of Kolhati community specialised in prostitution sanctioned
traditionally. Goddesses such as Mari Maay and Mesu Maay were propitiated to
save villagers from epidemics such as Cholera and smallpox. Black magic was in
practice. Mahar case ws known for loyalty and bravery and a regiment was formed
by the British. The Maharwada had a
common well, the Panchayat was dictatorial
and there were no toilets lading to open defecation in the East to save the upper castes form the stench but the Mahars had no such
respite. The author’s family worshipped a god known as Bahiram whose open
temple is situated on the top of Satpura hills which are some seventy to eight
kilometres away . Annual jaatras ,
animal sacrifices which were stopped later on , possession of people by
the deities was common. The author himself used to experience such possession
drawing criticism from the outsiders and his own father and brother. But he grew
out of this nervous disorder later on an also mentions the gap between the two
sections - original inhabitants and the immigrants within Maharwada.
The author’s father worked as Kamdari who used to visit government officials, reporting
any death , crime , murder, theft etc. Since the family had no land or means to
support and defend themselves father used to do those things for which the
family suffered isolation and barred from even fetching water from the
community well. Even the graveyards were different for the upper castes and the untouchables.
Mahars used to take up jobs such as cleaning the streets, carrying the
messages to other villages and the police, assisting the Kulkarni or revenue
clerk in measuring the lands , guarding the village at night , disposing of the
dead animals and decorating the houses of
upper castes during the marriages
and assisting the govt. officials during their visits. They also used to collect the left over food
of the upper castes during the feasts. They also used to work as agrarian
labour, receiving the gifts of the used clothes, and indulging in physical clashes and verbal abuse against each other .
The author also refers to hierarchy in
untouchables- Chambars, Dhors, Mahars and Mangs.
The author also refers to the practice of
eating the flesh of dead animals by the untouchables and wonders how this
practice might have originated. He questions, how can we analyze this fact
inexplicable by sociology or anthropology or psychology or economics. he also mentions an Incident in which his
grandfather made him carry the flesh of a dead calf home .While he was going home people shunned him and his
starving mother who had given birth to a
baby two-three days before ate it and the next day the baby died. He also refer to the plays such as Gammat
performed by Mahar artists and Gandhar
performed by the upper castes during Dasara festival. Gadge baba, influenced by
Ambedkar preached against animal sacrifice. After the conversion of Ambedkar
and his followers to Buddhism 1956 , the
themes and songs of gammat changed from the Ramayana or Hinduism to the themes of the life of Buddha and
Ambedkar. At times The criticism of Hinduism led to social boycott of the
artists . He also refers to the beatings received from his elder brother, love
of his aunt and how her family has been boycotted for converting to
Christianity.
He
tells how his family suffered from starvation,
helped his mother and the entire
family worked hard . his father used to work as a coolie carrying the luggage
of passengers in the bus stop which used to embarrass the boy while going to
school. He relates an incident which impacted him deeply. Under the influence
of Samata Sainik Dal , Mahars stopped doing demeaning tasks and took to
education leading to their boycott. At the time A Muslem Zamindar nearby came
to their rescue . Gawai, the famous republican leader and his team came and
reconciled both communities . the upper cases accepted water and tea served by
the Mahars. He also explains the corporal punishment meted out to him by teacher and discrimination in making
the lower caste boys sit separately. When
he worked as an agrarian labourer , an upper caste lady abused him for touching
her earthen pot containing water. Once he also had gone hungry as grapes he bought fell on the ground and he
had to walk miles before he could reach home on the day of an exam in third
standard. He also mentions his high school education and how his parents were
bent on educating the children . He stayed with his brother and studied staying away from his relatives to
avoid burden for them in Akot. He refers to manual, scavenging and the
untouchability practised between Mahars
and Bhangis who used to avoid eating beef. The author worked as a labourer
during the period to support himself and passed 10th class very narrowly missing the first class. Though
studious , he suffered from anxiety , family and financial issues and social inferiority
complex.
In the of autobiography, “Where Did My voyage Take Me?” we find how
Govardhan Wankhede completed his
education. He narrates how he joined
degree course in Milind College established by Dr. Ambedkar in
Aurangabad. stayed in a hostel on scholarship but lost one year . he had to undergo
treatment by an exorcist for getting
cured of ‘possession.’ He narrates how
students in Milind college and later at Commerce college were aggressive to teachers form the upper
castes, militant agitators inviting criticism from the city people and
community leading to fall in standards and the
establishment of different colleges based on castes. He thinks that loss of
enthusiasm and infightings among the leaders caused the downfall of the
political, social and educational movements of the community . After joining
in BA in sociology , Govardhan , his
elder brother joined in LLB and the latter’s wife also joined college
and all of them survived on scholarship
without any help from parents. He writes
that Maratha and brahmin students and teacher used to behave discriminatingly
towards dalit students. He also appreciates the
teachers Bapu Kaldate and Sudha Kaldate who married inter caste and
Socialists. After his PG, he worked as enumerator and as a teacher for brief
periods and joined JNU for his research degree. His brother getting a job as a
clerk in PWD and later as a store keeper on promotion helped the family . the free and
open academic atmosphere involving
debates, discussions and lectures on
the JNU campus encouraged Govardhan Wankhed “ added to my rich experience,
knowledge and confidence : academically,
socially ad intellectually” (95) he points out that despite the domination of the Left students,
the issues such as caste, untouchability, atrocities and oppression by the
upper castes were not given any importance in favour of revolution which is
seen as panacea for all issues. He thinks
that the situation remains the same evn now. The leaders belonging to the
privileged background did get political training which helped them to become
national leaders Govardhan was “inclined
more towards the socialist group as they addressed the social
issues of caste and untouchability, but I never subscribed to communist ideas.”
(96) he mentions the problems such as
cultural shock ,lack of adequate academic training and conceptual knowledge , English language as the main issues. He
expresses his gratitude to Prof. Tapas Majumdar and Dr. Karuna Chanana, Shanta
Krishan (and her bureaucrat husband Krishnan ) gratitude for their encouragement and teaching
skills.
Later
He stayed TISS to collect data
and came back to the JNU for his PhD. During the period he also worked at TISS to support himself as business
manager for Indian Sociological society on honorary basis. This further delayed
his work. He relates how his love failed at TISS at TISS due to caste issue .
Later although he wanted to marry a girl from Matang community it didn’t
materialise due to caste hierarchy in Maharashtra among Mahar, Matang, Chambar,
Dhor, Holer. The Congress party consciously tried to keep Matangs, Chambhars and Dhors away from solidarity envisaged by Ambedkar. He also writes about his marriage to Vijaya
(renamed as Radha as per custom) the
couple had two children Swetha and Vikrant who studied in freedom and chose
sociology and later studied and worked
in Delhi.
Govardhan also mentions his artistic
inclinations to dance and music and how he had to repress them out of fear of
ridicule in his childhood and at
college. He attributes it rigid mindset
of an average Indian given to caste and gender inequality. Later he developed
confidence and gave performances at JNU and TISS during annual functions. He
had to discontinue his performances due
to a major jerk received in his waist
while performing at TISS. But his passion and interest in dance and
music remained lasting into his old age. The author is a frank and sensitive soul and
has expressed his innate feelings, humiliations, conflicts and struggles to
raise himself academically and socially. In data collection he refers how some
SCs used to hide their identity out of shyness, maintained by dalit employees and the
conflict they experienced between the stigma of caste and modern secular
existence. After his PhD , he has cleared Civil services but could not
appear for Mains due to ill health. He also refers to caste bias of his
friends Brahmin and a Sindhi weakened
their relation.
In the part titled “What Do Testing Times
prove to Us?,” the author reveals the caste discrimination institutionalized in
academic institutions. He faces this
through out his education and later as a faculty in the department of the Unit for Research in Sociology
of Education (URSE) at TISS and even in the JNU as a research scholar. . He has
not been allotted proper faculty room
for near a decade, some colleagues tried to guess his caste and not knowing it commented adversely on
reservations and even they were not implemented until 1984. Later he and other colleagues formed an association,
registered it and appealed to the High court
for the implementation of
reservations in TISS. He ruminates on caste bias of his colleagues, “ This can be
attributed to their gross lack of awareness and lack of orientation and
sensitization . This was certainly the moral and social responsibility of the
premier Social Work Institute that offers degrees in Social Work with the basic
principles of equality and justice.” (134) he writes how the Indian mind kept
on “digging to find out based on one’s name, surname, locality one lives in ,
language one speaks, body language, appearance, and some times the dress
style.” And how the reserved category students are “labelled as low backward
and inferior with poor abilities.” (133)
while trying to find out who
is accountable for degradation od human life due to
traditional hegemony, he attributes it to “the complete social disorder of the
Indian culture with several symptoms of ill health.” (129) He sees Ambedkar as
the saviour and a superlative leader and says “such a suppressive, complex, diverse, and hierarchical society with such inhuman
practices like compelling humans to eat dead animals and carry human excreta on
their heads” (130) was not found anywhere in the world.
Govardhan also writes of his trip to
Germany on DAAD fellowship under faculty exchange programme. He relates his
experiences there , how he found the free ambience in behaviour of women, his
landlady’s racism, his friends’ help to him to mitigate his alienation in a
distant land, problems due to lack of knowledge in German, discrimination
towards migrant workers who were mainly Turkish Muslims, his visit to many
museums and other places of art, the avoiding
of questions regarding Hitler by many,
his later visit to Paris and his return
to India after his successful visit.
Narrating his culture shock he writes how he was surprised when Hildegard , the
lady who came receive him gave him a hug
and kissed on his cheeks. He felt the embarrassment whenever her remembered it
for next three or four days. He also observed the less difference between men
and women in their dress and in
Frankfurt he noted the contrast between
it and India in terms of environment, loneliness and public discipline . In
political elections there was less hullaballoo. He also appreciates the
openness in society and refers to Bernd
who introduced the boy friend of his mother and the girl friend of his
father in the birthday party celebrated without usual cheers, songs and
birthday cake. On another occasion he
found a lady drinking and eating while
carrying her child of fifteen days .He
also observed how the east European migrant youth in Berlin and Frankfurt used
to curiously visit shopping malls and caught stealing goods and visiting sex
shops. He also found friendly nature of migrants from Indian
Subcontinent .
As a teacher Govardhan Wankhede related
himself well with students and acted as friend, philosopher and guide to
students, particularly from the rural areas. The urban and well-to-do students
used to maintain some distance due to their bias. He has experienced satisfaction in teaching as
many of his students followed his teaching, implemented many things and became
successful in personal and professional life. He states that caste system has been
ubiquitous directly or in subtle way but
has not acknowledged by many, particularly forward caste people as in existence . He became a professor in
the Unit for Child and Youth Research . He mentions an incident in which he was
asked to entertain Daya Pawar, a famous Dalit writer although he was
denied any responsibility in organising
a diamond Jubilee week of the institute. He remembers how comments were made
regarding his social identity, lack of
fluency in English speaking and refined
western manners. He says that those are
the colleagues and students who
inherited social and cultural capital. He also mentions an incident in which a
brahmin professor chided in terms of
caste a co-investigating lecturer belonging to SC for not doing data
manipulation in favour of an Oil company. When a complaint was made, the
professor who absconded to evade arrest came back after the complainant
lecturer died due to brain haemorrhage. Thus Govardhan Wankhede brings out
casteism inherent in society and adamic institutions. Later he also became a
member of governing body and came to know many incidents of discrimination
faced by the marginalised sections. He
became a renowned scholar with many publications in national and international
journals and visited many countries except the USA. He praise Professor Walter Allen of UCLA and
unbiased nature of western academic circle sin contrast with Indian academic
ambience. He regrets his lack of command over English language due to his
vernacular background, importance of English for academic success and frankly
states how his children helped him in linguistically in terms of publications
due to their convent education. This shows that Govardhan Wankhede’s
autobiography is written in a sincere manner without hiding complexes and
trials and tribulations he faced . he also successful acted as Dean of the
School of education and as Chairman of the centre for Higher education. In his administrative capacity , he worked to
eliminate caste discrimination in
admissions, research and in providing
academic ambience.
In the last chapter, ‘‘What Next?” the author takes up the issue of the
gap between the first generation Dalits who rose against heavy odds .Their anxiety, identity crisis and isolation
fostered by education system causes this gap. He also traces the weakening of the social movement in mixture of political and social issues, confining
of the activism to Buddhists( ex-Mahars)
, alienation from progressive parties , communication gap between the
leaders and the masses, isolation of the educated Dalits from the movement by other Dalit leaders, the divide and rule
policy by the ruling parties. The caste bias of the policy makers and
deprivation of private English-language
education to the marginalised, commodification of education and casual approach
of the Dalit students all these have hampered the progress of Dalits.
As a sociologist he points out the
affirmative action prevalent in other countries such as the USA, Germany, Japan,
former USSR, Pak, Australia and New Zealand and defends Caste based
reservations and questions the argument of merit and traditional privileges
enjoyed by the upper castes in terms of material wealth and cultural capital. The
problem is more acute in the higher education and is compounded by IT and
Privatization. He also criticizes the political gimmickry over the issue of
reservations and the casual approach of the government, politicians and
intellectuals. Reservation policy in the Private sector Bill was opposed in the
parliament due to the strong corpora lobby and right-wing politics. Ambedkar’s limitation
of ten-year period was related to politics only. Adverse criticism is made against reservations
as affecting quality without recognising the qualities of physical , mental and
intellectual strength and hard work of Dalits and lack of seriousness in imparting practical
training, orientation and skill development initiatives. No research study has
proved that the reservations lowered the quality or work performance.
Govardhan Wankhede expresses his abiding gratitude
to Ambedkar and both his paternal and maternal families. He also notices the unceasing
conflict between the traditional and modern styles of life and attitudes. He also
says that he belonged to the first generation of the movement and still the
majority are outside the discourse. He recognises the identity crisis of Dalit youth and caste pride
and wonders if we need to learn sociology again and ends the work paying homage
to Ambedkar, he great saviour!
The author has given a rare glimpse into
the trails and tribulations of a sensitive soul that grew weathering the storms
and strains of life. It is a work every one needs to read carefully to understand
our society and the rise of a Dalit academician
who has made his mark fighting against adverse social and intellectual structure of India .
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