Khan Saheb Kamal Haasan's Jamaat/Jeba Koottam/Devasthaanam - Part 8

[P_R]

What does caste mean *now*, having the baggage it has and causing the effects it has caused?

Now it has much reduced social relevance. X 'lives' the same way as Y. The differentiators are vastly reduced (again for only a smaller section of the population than we are willing to acknowledge). It has little meaning beyond that.

Where the differentiators seem exclusively alive is in the domestic sphere - the language registers, the rituals, modes of worship, cuisine and so on. These do not rankle me. In fact there is - probably irresponsible - kururuppu in trying to keeping alive these. Particularly because they seem fairly innoccuous, there is no ill-treatment of fellow humans etc.

indha sadangu seyyuradhai nippAttaNum- 'nRa mAdhiri ellAm sollavE mAttEn.
I am becoming more and more of a sucker for rituals, surprising what's left of my former teenage self. That is for another day.
I am also vehemently opposed to the argument that 'religion ellAm veettula vachchukkunga' (Kamal's stand is kinda on these lines). Religious experience is very much social and out in the open.

thiruvizhA, kumbAbishEgam, oorvalam (of course, one has to be aware of the newfounded vinayagar oorvalam - which is intentionally political in nature), thEr - all of this I would certainly like to continue.

In Kandadevi, thEvars take exception to Dalits participating in the thEr izhuththal. Periodic vettukuththu, police protection etc. In such circumstances, people tend to say: "ippadi oru thEr thEvaiyA...*#%# religionum vENdAm oNNum vENdAm...veetula saami kumbittukkunga".

I couldn't disagree more with that approach. This is what life is. These moments of joy, the moments when one can try and momentarily aspire for something larger. And if we are not civilized enough and need police protection to conduct ourselves here, I don't think that is a waste at all.

By clinging on to that identity, what are we saying overtly/implicitly?

One thing for sure that is not being implied (but is always alleged that this is implied) that one is trying to attest the hierarchy.
Do you think so?

S.Anand ellAm super comedy. idhu engappan moonji, en moonji mEla ottai vachuttu pOyittAn..asingam asingam range-ku guilt.
To the extent that he will feel at ease only if he decimates every bit of his identity. oru mAdhiri vambadiyA senjA mAdhiri irukkum.
Not even judging him for that - actually I am, just that I find his 'ippadi ellAm senjA dhaan enakku nimmadhi' kinda funny.

Get your point but i don't think it's a fair comparison at all (judging on education/exposure/employment being a replacement of juding by caste). It is a lesser evil way to judge. Class discrimination ellaam prachanai dhaan but adhukku apparam varuvom.

I said that to show the decoupling over time. I wanted to point out the class-caste overlap.

I do think people feel an affinity even now. This generation. Which is why the identity itself must go, discrimination laam eppadiyo ooduruvidum nu thonudhu. I don't share your optimism when you say we have seen a great deal of decoupling. I get how different things are from the past but it is not good enough.

Affinity-nA...eppadiyA irundhaalum ivan namma paya - ivanai podhuvula vittu kudukka koodaadhu..appadi ellAmA? Quite rare I say. Nearly noone would think like that.

Of course the infamous FB comments after Paramakudi shootout, the Law College padichcha pasanga mOdhal etc. exceptions are there. But that is hardly typical, is it?

OTOH I should acknowledge a sense of, what do I say...enga veetulayum ippadi seyvAnga, same-pinch range-ku sillythanamAna bonding. But I consider that fairly innocuous.