....the word III rd Class in India is synonymous with Low Level in all spheres .....its also used in connotation with depravity ...any body having a III rd class behaviour is denounced generally .....IIIrd class Hotel , IIIrd class Transport, IIIrd class Fud,,,,,IIIrd class Film .....IIIrd class story....IIIrd class behavior .....IIIrd class Character ......III rd Class manners .....& IIIrd Class maintenance of a Coach or a bldg .....or for tht matter IIIrd Class Tkts in Cinema halls .....r to cite a few , connoting Low levels....now , the limited Pt is.... as to how the word III rd class attains its notoriety ...to my mind the IIIrd class notoriety is rooted to the British Period of Colonization , wherein Whites were segregated frm the Blacks & Colored....Segregation at public places , Transport, Clubs , Theatres.....so much so tht the III rd class compartments of British India Railways were for poor people , the IInd & Interclass for the more affluent & the Ist exclusively generally for the Europeans....the British always maintained their upperhand of White Supremacy as a tool of Governing the Natives .....in tht in South africa MK Gandhi was thrown out of the Compartment meant for the whites , despite holding a valid Tkt ....subsequently he was roughed up in a horse drawn coach whn he tried to find a seat inside with the whites .....made to sit outside with the Coachman , he was subjected to physical abuses, let alone verbal ....though MK Gandhi received a letter of apology frm the Rail Road Mgmt. who pleaded helplessness. nd in a way strengthened Gandhi's resolve to fight apartheid ....Coming back to India , Gandhiji always travelled IIIrd Class , experiencing the plight of the commoner ....his first hand experience of the dirty compartments , led to his resolve of a Cleaner India .....which is probably the early root to a "Swachch Bharat" .....Untouchables & Untouchability.......the Nightsoil carriers ....a Cornerstone of Gandhiji's fightback to Discrimination , Dirt , Filth , Squalid environs representing Lower Class & Down trodden during those period .....though , over the yrs it persisted & was well adopted by the " Desis" ....Post Independence , though not Post haste , somewhere around 1974 the IIIrd class was done away with, in Indian Railways ....the Country splitted du2 host many reasons of which "Holier than Thou attitude" of the Majority , "Cleaner thn Thou attitude" of the majority , "Touch me not" Untouchabilty , Caste distinction of superiority, to top it all European Supremacy of the British did India in ....., despite , this , post Independence , the Brown sahibs carried on with the agenda & the deep impact of segregation still well estd . in our Psyche ....Currently, Economic Inequalities in Modern India is the Ultimate hurdle to National Unity ..... Abrogation of the Class distinction , be it Societal or Economic is the Litmus Test for a truly United Civilized Society.....!!!! ....a must read....
P:S :- Third Class in Indian Railways (1917)
by Mohandas K. Gandhi
P:S :- Third Class in Indian Railways (1917)
by Mohandas K. Gandhi
No comments:
Post a Comment