May 19, 2006

About attitudes

In the end, there's a sense in which reservations are really about attitudes. Here are just three quick examples to give you an idea of what I mean when I say "attitudes."

  • Mail sent to us over at How the Other Half Lives a few days ago reads thus:
      You Lowly BASTARDS!!! You ought to still work as manual scavengers. It will happen. Either you let yourselves grow with sheer determination or fall back on scavenging. Dont beg for reservations!!!

  • Young man I know has written a piece protesting reservations which he titles Dalits Are Like Pakistanis.

    Don't miss the assumption that the word "Pakistani" is a grave insult.


  • Medical students are protesting loudly against proposed reservations, and have been treated brutally by the police in Bombay and New Delhi. I understand their anguish. But if it matters, some of them lost me when they decided to sweep the roads in Delhi. (Also see here).

    What were they thinking?
  • 13 comments:

    Anonymous said...

    Yup! I was wondering what they meant when they swept the roads. If they're trying to show people that this is what they- that is, the medical students- might have to do if the reservations are implemented, and shame on the government for implementing this when it means they will have to do something as "lowly" as sweeping, then they're pathetic.

    Unfortunately, I have a suspicion that is what they meant. Either that or mugging for medical entrance exams has scarred them forever.

    And Vulturo? Vulturo's a dolt of the highest order. If we ever had a Institute of Doltgiri, he would get in even with 99% reservations.

    Anonymous said...

    By the way, if you haven't, read this.
    http://www.vulturo.com/2006/05/why-it-was-okay-to-rape-indira-ishwarlal-thakur/#comments

    Anonymous said...

    Google for Dalitstan website and you'll see that Pakistan is indeed land of pure

    Dilip D'Souza said...

    Wait a minute. I'm being directed to find hatred and stupidity on the Web, and via Google? Am I on Candid Camera? Does the sun rise in the east?

    Thank you, but even in my spare time, I have things I'd rather do.

    Anonymous said...

    Amar Akbar Anthony

    That one cracked me up!

    barbarindian said...

    No, you are merely a candid lier. Or rather you are wearing a special pair of glasses which lets you see only the stuff you want to see.

    Expect a post soon on our blog.

    barbarindian said...

    @Neela:
    You would think future doctors would be a bit more sensitive in how they protest something.

    Here is a video of how sensitive the pro-reservation camps were:
    Pro and Anti Reservation groups clash

    i really appreciated Prof. Abi's sane and balanced take on the costs and benefits of reservations on the Other India Blog.

    Abi's sane and balanced take? Posts like this? Quota Math

    @Dilip:
    Here is a revealing article by India's "Best" columnist:
    Are Brahmins still our shatrus?

    Anonymous said...

    Dalits Are Like Pakistanis.

    Don't miss the assumption that the word "Pakistani" is a grave insult.

    Do you know that among Pakistanis calling somebody a Hindu or a woman are insults.
    What about London where the word Paki is used as an insulting term

    Dilip D'Souza said...

    Neela, you said it: some of the comments are comment enough.

    Anonymous said...

    >>Thank you, but even in my spare time, I have things I'd rather do.


    Sigh..so many signs to jot down and menus to zerox. Give Dilip a break bhai.

    Anonymous said...

    Am I on Candid Camera?

    That gave a nice kick :D

    In The Shadows said...

    How illogical can you be, Dilip. You just dont understand things, dont you ??

    Doctor Bruno said...

    ///Sweeping streets is just another job and while it may not pay much as jobs go, its not better or worse than medicine in any moral sense. Its an honest living and future medicos should be a bit more sensitive than demeaning someone else's job. i can understand if they said, we'll be forced to become thieves or some such - but sweepers???///

    Well. they could have also performed professions like chanting mantras, writing articles, arguing in court etc...... but they did not do

    But this incident brings the inner mind set of these doctors to the entire world....

    SO they think that sweeping is a job below dignity, but not arguing in court or writing articles or chanting mantras..... And after doing this they say that there is not caste in India and caste is a word of past (and their fore fathers')