CASTE IS ACTING HUMAN
By Tamirisa Janaki
Translated by Nidadavolu Malathi
“Gopi, come here,” Suseelamma shouted angrily.
“What’s it, amma?” Gopi came into the kitchen.
“Why’re you taking him into every room? Let him sit outside. Why’d you make friends with him, anyways?
Walk around with arms around each other’s shoulders, what’s it with you?”
“Amma, Ramu is my classmate.”
“So what? You may not know about his caste but I do. Don’t you ever bring each and every boy into this
house, like that.”
“Why not?” Gopi asked, watching his mother and a little scared.
“We must not touch them. We belong to higher caste and he is low caste,” his mother replied all wound up
and sat down in front of her gods for her daily worship. She spent one half hour chanting the stotras and
finished with her last chant, mitrasya maa cakshusha sarvaani bhoothaani sameekshe, mitrasya
cakshushaa sameeksha mahe [May all living beings view me with compassion; may we humans view each
other with compassion].
Gopi was scared of his mother. He took Ramu to the front porch. Amma always talks about caste but his
little brain could not comprehend what it meant. Poor Ramu. Gopi has been asking him to come to his
place for a long time and finally now he is here. Gopi was so zealous to show his entire house to Ramu—
the room upstairs where he sleeps, and overlooking the river Godavari, and the Goddess temple, and all
that. But amma is saying he should not bring Ramu into the house. They both are of the same age and
they’re in the same class. Ramu excels in all subjects. He has been always ranking first. Gopi likes Ramu a
lot. So does Ramu. I bring him here since he is a nice boy and I like him. Why is amma upset? Gopi
couldn't understand that part.
He couldn’t hold back anymore. That night, Gopi raised the question with his mother, “Amma, what do you
mean when you say caste?”
“Caste means, well, caste means …” Suseelamma could not find the right words to explain it. “There are
several castes like brahmin, kshatriya, vaisya and so on,” she said, although she was well aware that that
was not the correct answer to his question.
“So who decides who belongs to what caste?”
She thought she could answer her son’s question this time.
²²²
The small company where Gopi’s father, Seshagiri, was working went out of business and Seshagiri lost
his job. After that he couldn’t find another job. So, he took out a loan and opened a small department
store. They were managing somehow to make ends meet.
One day he received a letter from his younger brother who was living in Hyderabad.
“What did he write in the letter?” Suseelamma asked her husband.
“Nothing special. Finally he has come around, it seems. He is beginning to understand his responsibilities.
He has been fooling around for so long. Now he has learned to hold a job I suppose.”
“What has happened, exactly?”
“He said he has opened a drycleaning shop in partnership with a friend.”
“What? Laundry shop?” Suseelamma said, disparagingly.
“Why are you dismissing it like that? Drycleaning shop brings good money in cities. You should be proud
of him. After so many years, he came around finally and is making a better life for himself.”
“What else did you expect me to say?”
“He did not do well in school; barely made it through tenth class. I tried to pursuade him to go for higher
study but he was not interested. Let’s be realistic. Nowadays not all the educated are landing good jobs
either. Look what’s happening. People obtain degrees, grow beards, stand in line and threaten to starve
until the government showed them jobs, to what point? All they’ve got is the label unemployed. If you ask
me, each person should find a way on his own and learn to make a living for himself.”
Gopi was also in the room. Their conversation pierced through his ears. He understood parts of it and
some parts he didn’t.
“Amma, can I go to Ravi’s home to play? Just for a little while,” Gopi asked his mother.
Ravi has a puppy in his home. They got her recently. Ravi told Gopi several times that the puppy was very
cute and that he should come to see her. Gopi was dying to see the puppy.
“What? Ravi’s house? Have you lost your mind?” Suseelamma yelled crushing his Gopi’s enthusiasm.
“He said he’d go to Ravi’s house. Why are you asking if he lost his mind?” Seshagiri asked, surprised.
“Yes, that’s what I’m saying. How can he go to their house? I am sure you knew it too. Ravi’s mother
belongs to one caste and his father to another. How can we send our boy to the house of a mixed couple?”
“Abbha! You’re giving me a headache with your caste, race dilemma; blabbering about it all the time.”
“You get on my case every time you’ve got a chance. You are so tired of my words. Why did you marry me
in the first place?”
“That’s enough. One more song you’ve been singing forever.”
“you can say whatever you please. You think that I am not going anywhere no matter what, no matter
however much you insult me.”
“What did I say wrong, now?”
“Hum, You say whatever comes to your mind and turn around and ask me what did I say? You’ll never
change.”
“Whatever you mean? What part of me I should change?” It started out as a little disagreement and soon
turned into a storm. Gopi shut his ears and sat on the front porch for a while. His parents argue for
something or other almost everyday. A huge doubt popped up in his head—Do all parents bicker all the
time like his?
Ravi kept insisting and Gopi decided to visit his puppy, on his way home from school one day. The puppy
was cute, really. She came to Gopi quite friendly. Both, Ravi and Gopi played with the puppy for a while.
Ravi’s mother told them to wash their hands and come in; she made snacks for them.
“I’ve to go home,” Gopi mumbled vaguely.
“You can go after eating something along with Ravi,” Ravi’s mother was very kind and he couldn’t refuse.
Ravi’s father also walked in. He hugged Ravi and asked gently, “Is he a friend of yours? What’s his name?”
Ravi told him his friend’s name. His father said, “Good. Did you show our house to your friend? Did you
show him our puppy? Also, the figurines your mother has made?”
“Stop it, you are talking like my figurines are masterpieces,” Ravi’s mother laughed shyly.
”I don’t know. I like your figurines a lot better than all those great masterpieces. They are special for us.
So, what’d make for tiffin today?”
“Didn’t tell me to make pakodi earlier this morning.” Her gentle voice was pleasurable for Gopi and he
wanted to stay there and listen to that voice over and again.
“Ha, so you made pakodi. Good. Children, come on, let’s eat hot, hot pakodi.”
Both Ravi and Gopi went in, washed their hands with soap and returned to the kitchen. Hot pakodi were
set on the dining table, causing his mouth to water. Ravi’s mother sat next to Gopi. Ravi’s father was
telling amusing stories and his mother kept serving more and more pakodi in their plates. The entire
atmosphere was very pleasant; pakodi tasted doubly delicious.
After they returned to living room, Gopi asked Ravi, almost in a whisper, “How come your mother let me go
into the kitchen without asking what caste I belonged to?”
“Caste? What’s it?”
“Don’t know what caste is?”
“No, I don’t know.”
“Your mother never mentioned it? You really don’t know?”
“No, really, I don’t know.”
For Gopi, that sounded very strange. Ravi spread a mat on the floor and asked Gopi, “Shall we play
carroms?”
“Yes, let’s play,” uncle, Ravi’s father, said and sat down with them. That was again one more surprise for
Gopi.
“Gopi, you and I can be one team,” aunty sat down across from Gopi. He was delighted. He was not good
at carroms but played enthusiastically. He didn’t realize how much time passed by unnoticed.
Gopi returned home and the atmosphere here was the same as always. Mother and father were fighting
like crazy about something.
Suseelamma saw Gopi walk in and screamed, “Where did you go?”
“I went to Ravi’s house,” he replied. He was not in the habit of lying. His teacher at school told him several
times that lying was bad.
“How dare you? How many times have I told you that you should not go to their house? Why did you go
there?”
“You keep saying such people, such people. In fact, they are very nice,” he said, looking into her face
straight, although a little frightened at the same time.
“Ha! ha! Here is a big boy born to certify their good nature. Whatever goodness you’ve seen in them. She
belonged to one caste and he to another,” said Suseelamma, making face, as if belonging to different
castes was a huge sin.
“I don’t know what castes they belonged to but they are nice people. They talked with me with the same
kind voice they’d talk to their son, Ravi. They never fight like you and dad do, Ravi told me.”
Seshagiri was shocked as he heard his son’s words. He began to understand the thoughts that lay
dormant in that little heart. Now he realized what a turmoil their daily arguments must have created in his
tiny heart. Both he and his wife are always tense. They snap quickly without thinking twice.
Gopi continued, “Ravi’s mother and father play carroms with him; ring tennis with him. Whenever he brings
his friends home, they invite them and speak with them kindly. They don’t drag Ravi into the back room
and inquire about his friends’ caste. They don’t tell him not to bring friends in, or make them sit on the
front porch.”
“That’s enough.Don’t you lecture me.”
“Amma, you said that castes are based on people’s calling. Chinnanna has a drycleaning shop and nanna
has a department store. So, what is our caste?”
Suseelamma couldn’t listen to him anymore. She started staring at both of them as if she’s lost her mind.
Seshagiri walked up to her and put his arm around her shoulders. She twitched and stared back at him.
Their eyes met. Numerous thoughts pervaded the two pairs of eyes.
“Will you take me to your friend, Ravi’s home tomorrow and introduce me to his mother, Gopi?” she asked
him.
Gopi’s eyes glowed delightfully. He looked at her as if he couldn’t believe his ears. “Woud you go to their
house? You told me I couldn’t go there!”
“I will never speak like that again.”
Gopi, in raptures, embraced her. “My amma is so sweet,” he said.
²²²
(The Telugu original, “maanavate minishi kulam” [Compassion Is Person’s Caste] was published in the
anthology manasidi neekosam [this heart is for you], published by spandana sahiti samakhya, 1989.
Author’s permission is gratefully acknowledged.)