Seeing me silent, my friend laughs. He quotes BR Ambedkar, who once observed that the meritorious upper castes could not even manage to write the two Hindu epics: Ramayana and Mahabharat. They were written by Valmiki and Vyasa- two Dalits.


Again, if we really are so fanatical about merit, why is it that we upper caste Hindus visit temples where the priests are not chosen on merit? In every other religion - Christianity, Islam, Buddhism - anybody can become a priest, provided they fulfill certain requirements. Not so in Hinduism. Will the upper caste advocates of merit please care to explain why a Dalit should be barred - on non-meritorious grounds - from what is by all accounts a lucrative profession? And it is these same panjandrums who peddle nightmares of how the Indian bureaucracy and our healthcare system will collapse if they are ‘overrun’ by Dalit civil servants and Dalit doctors who might come in through a quota.


My own view of reservation is that it is an extremely flawed system. Something in me rebels against the idea that my destiny should be determined by my caste. But I also believe that as a privileged upper caste, it is simply not tenable for me to oppose the one powerful tool the Dalits happen to possess at the moment, to fight their battle.
Yes, let us think of a better route to social equity by all means. But till we find it, let us not block whatever path exists. It is true that in many villages in India, it is the Brahmins who are the most deprived, not the OBCs. The quota system will finish these impoverished Brahmins, for no fault of theirs. It is unfair, it is cruel. But so is our social reality.


It is equally unfair and cruel that not one of our multitude of corporate houses is headed by a tribal or a Dalit. It is unfair and cruel that Sonia Gandhi will not pick someone from outside her family and ‘caste’ to lead the party that once led the country’s freedom movement. It is unfair and cruel that white skin and good looks is more likely get you a job as a TV anchor or an air hostess, not ‘merit’.