A Tale Gently Told
Malati Mukherjee
SAMBOLI! BEWARE! by Susheela Punitha Niyogi Books, 2018, 200 pp., 295
June 2019, volume 43, No 6

Samboli! This expression is not from yesterday or the day before; it is centuries old. Manu, the ancient law-giver, decreed that people belonging to any of the untouchable castes of this country had to hold a pole with jingling bells tied to one end and pound it on the ground at every step to make a sound jal-jal. They had to call out ‘Samboli! Samboli!’ This is the Samboli pole warning others of their presence. They were to walk only on conservancy lanes and not on the main streets and only around noon when their shadows were tucked under their feet and would not pollute people of the upper castes by falling on them.

 

This excerpt from writer, poet and activist Lakshman’s autobiographical book Samboli! sends shivers of horror down the spine of a socially and financially privileged person like me. Like millions of middle class children, I never had any exposure growing up, to the terrible atrocities that were being carried out in the name of caste against those we call ‘Dalit’ or oppressed.

But today these brutalities are well known, recorded and publicized. Today we cannot hope to escape the knowledge of what is happening to the countless people of this country; nor can we look away and pretend that we are unaware of the outrage that continues to happen because we—the privileged—allow it. It is time for all of us to raise our voices against the carnage and slaughter—because if we do not, we become the oppressors. As we already have!

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