Fearing Equality

I had visited Medak district last week and came across this man there. What he said was not only interesting, but thought provoking as well.
Here is the story I did on him.

Nayinijalalpur (Medak): On Mrigasira Karti, Dakkali Kotaiah enjoys a traditional lunch of fish and rice prepared by his wife and daughter-in-law and then sits lazily under a tree picking his teeth and talks about how equality among social classes and castes is not entirely a fair idea.
Kotaiah is neither regressive nor is he on top of the human created social order looking down upon the lower castes. He, in fact, stands lowest on the social scale created in the ancient times and was once treated as an untouchable and made to eat near garbage bins. But now, he says, things have changed and he is no longer treated as badly. He doesn't use the word `improved' when he talks about the change in the attitude of people towards the community he belongs to__ the Dakkalis.
His unfavourable views about the changing times, one soon realises, are due to his practical economic concerns. The Dakkali community, he says, has been dependent on Madigas for their livelihood since time immemorial. ``For them (the Madigas), it is a duty to part with a share of their earnings every year and hand it over to us. For us, getting this share is a right. It has been going on for many years. As a child, I used to accompany my father when he visited Madiga families for his share, now I am carrying forward this family tradition,'' Kotaiah says, adding that even those Dakkali families that are now well off continue to practice it.
There are five Dakkali families in this sleepy Nayinijalalpur village in Kolcharam mandal, about 90 km from Hyderabad, tucked about 10 km away from Medak highway. Kotaiah, 50, is the senior most member of the Dakkali community in this village and says that the line between castes is now getting blurred.
``Earlier, we were never allowed to cross the threshold of the Madiga homes when we went there to seek our share. We were given money and the food was served to us near garbage dumps,'' he says matter-of-factly. Now, he says, he is allowed inside the houses. ``They serve us food properly inside the house. They even ask us to dine with them,'' he says.
Strangely, Kotaiah is not happy with this invitation and is, in fact, perturbed. ``I don't want to sit with them and eat,'' he says, stubbornly. His refusal does not stem from memories of the past when he was treated poorly by them. ``If I eat with them, I will be considered their equal and not dependent on them. They could then stop giving me money,'' he says. One reason why he takes his eldest son along with him on each trip to these houses is to familiarise him with the process and so that the Madiga community members never forget to part with the Dakkali share.
``Each Dakkali would have a claim on a certain number of Madiga families,'' Kotaiah says. So, his claim is on a few Madiga families, that are at a slightly higher social level than Dakkalis, spread across 20 villages in Medak district. While some of these Madiga families earn a living by playing drums on weddings and festivals, others double up as informers announcing festival dates and events to be held in their villages.
``We visit them once a year and collect money. Some give Rs 100, some a bit more,'' he says. Ask him how much he made last year, he hesitantly gives a modest figure of over Rs 1,000.
That money, he says, is additional to what he earns from other means. Kotaiah owns six donkeys and his thatched roof house bordered by a small fence appears one of the bigger ones in the village. His father owned a piece of land that the family sold and Kotaiah and his brothers shared the money among them. He now goes for daily wage work and earns about Rs 30 a day. His eldest son, who got married recently, sells donkey's milk which they say is known to have medicinal value.
The fairly smooth life that he seems to be leading is, however, not without concerns about the changing and emerging trends. He grudges that his two younger sons resent the practice of seeking alms from Madigas. ``They are going to school and learning new things. They don't like me going to these families seeking alms. I don't think they would carry forward this practice once I am gone,'' Kotaiah says, adding that while the eldest son helped him in this, he was educating his other children, two sons and one daughter, hoping that they would find jobs under schedule caste quota.
``But, if they don't get jobs, they could have banked on this tradition for a livelihood which they dislike,'' he rues, adding that even Madigas were getting educated and may decide to discontinue this discriminatory practice. ``I am worried about such times to come,'' Kotaiah says.

(The Times of India, Hyderabad edition, June 11, 2007)