You may clean your own toilets but would you do it for others as a livelihood? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Dr Walter Fernandes:
Gone are those days when people or rather say Brahman's were forcing dalits to clean their toilet because the scavenging service was entrusted to 'sudras'. Those days Brahman's would never clean their toilet. Even the clothes during *menstrual cycle of women were being given to village 'Dhobi' * as a standard practice. Today, in towns no such Dhobis available and many of us clean it our self. Brahmans changed their worshiping and ritual profession because of compulsion and education. Dalits couldn't follow suit because of socio-economic reasons. But, they are not restricted to their old profession or service. They are not compelled because of social reasons but because they can't do any other thing. Today I am a software engineer and if I lose my job because of market conditions, I would return to my job as R&D engineer , where I will get a much lower salary but that is the only option. If a time will come, where manual scavanging will be the only job - I will do that because I need to earn money for my survival and I will not regret that job. That is the reason, I hate all the Dalit activists , not Dalits as they are unnecessarily polluting the mind of Dalits without offering them an alternate job. No job is bad or derogatory as today no one is forced like bonded labor. Thanks Manoj Padhi
