“We remain Chamar in the village all our life, outside people call us by name”

Saran district of Bihar has an international identity of its own. The reason is folk artist and painter Bhikhari Thakur. This has been the political constituency of Lalu Prasad Yadav, the famous Chief Minister of Bihar. Afaur is a village in this Saran district. There is also a sizeable population of Chamars in Bhumihar and Brahmin-dominated Afour village, 12 km from the district headquarters.

By Ashok Das

A paved road passes right in front of the Chamar settlement. But that road does not go till their doors, rather it goes straight out teasing them. When we reach here, first of all we should collide with Garju Ram. He is a resident of nearby Naini village. His daughter is married to Sanjeev Kumar Das, the eldest son of Asharfi Das of the same tola. Garju Ram is retired from the army. Had come to meet his daughter. We asked him that how much has the life of Dalits changed in this area?

Garju Ram believes that our condition has improved a lot. He says that there is a lot of difference between the situation in the last 50 years and now. It is told that earlier there were mud houses, now most of the people’s houses have become brick-roofed. The roads have also reached more or less. Electricity is also available and water is also available. That is, overall the situation is changing.

However, Garju Ram does not forget to add that apart from electricity and water, other things have been achieved by the people through their hard work.

Kishore Ram also lives in this colony. Kishore Ram, who worked in the jute mill of Calcutta for a long time, has come back to the village after retirement. Pointing his hand, he tells that when I was a child, our forefathers used to skin dead animals near here. It was a time of great poverty. Many times the same meat was prepared in every house in the colony, which used to fill our stomachs. But now things have changed a lot. Now no one does this work in our colony.

  So how to get out of this? Deputy Chief Baldev Das gives credit for this to Asharfi Das. Ashrafi Das’s father Saryu Das also worked long hours in the jute mill of Kolkata. Saryu Das had five sons and two daughters. Ashrafi Das was the fourth son among the brothers. Baldev Das says- Asharfi Das was the most educated of our tola. Was a graduate. We grew up together. He was aware. He used to go to Jagdam College in Chhapra city to study, so he knew right from wrong. He used to go from house to house and explain to everyone. Many times, the meat of dead animals was cooked, they used to throw away the utensils. He explained a lot, after that people started to understand that this is a wrong thing.

It was here that we met Asharfi Das’s brother Nageshwar Das, whom everyone called Nagesar. Nageshwar Das first gets angry while remembering his elder brother. It is said that Bhaiya is no more in this world. However, the very next moment, controlling himself, he says that Bhaiya was very intelligent. Our tola changed a lot due to his efforts. He had an influence. Everyone, big or small, used to take care of him, that’s why everyone obeyed him.

  Nageshwar Das has six daughters and one son. He himself used to work as a laborer. Now the body is weak, so it is not able to work. He has kept a cow, takes care of it and spends some time in farming. I asked him whether the elders of the village pay the full wages? Nageshwar says, “Earlier there was coercion, full money was not received, but now it is not so.”

A glimpse of why and how this change came about was understood by looking at the faces of the other people of the tola. Several youths were sitting together talking. Wear clean clothes. Bearded. Many also had watches and Android phones in their hands. It came to know that they all live outside and earn. You have come home for the festival of Chhath. One of these youths was Rajesh Kumar Das, who has been working in a company in Hyderabad for the last 15 years. I asked the reason for leaving the village.

  Rajesh said – what is there here? Had I lived here, I would have been living in poverty. He went out and became a man. Although he is also sad to leave his village. Said, the wife and children live here. Who doesn’t want to be with his family, watching his kids grow up. But if we want to live with dignity, we have no option but to leave home. Here we remain chamars for whole life, outside people call us by name.

But the lives of Kisun and Bhagesar in this hamlet have not changed even today. The condition of the family which was there three decades back is the same even today. The reason, this family could neither go out to earn, nor could it educate the children. As a result, in serving the house of some feudal families of the village, first one’s own life became home, now it is being done for the children. And this is not just an issue of these two houses, but this is the story of many houses in terms of education.

  Ashrafi Das, who is credited with removing some evils from this hamlet, had joined the government job in the Civil Court. All his children went ahead after studying. But everyone else stayed here. No child of any other family could either get higher education or get a government job. In the name of studies, the children of the rest of the families of the hamlet start gasping till the 10th standard. At the age of 15, they make their home in Delhi, Gujarat or any other city of Haryana. Then the rest of his life is spent there. The village just has to come for festivals and weddings.

But seeing the outside world, consciousness is coming in them now. He is searching his history on social media. This is the reason why instead of Saraswati Puja, Ravidas Jayanti and Ambedkar Jayanti are being celebrated in Tola. Nageshwar’s son Vicky, who is pursuing graduation, says that now we have started understanding right from wrong. Despite this, due to caste, we have to listen to taunts many times. But now when any upper caste man of the village tries to insult us in the name of caste, we give a befitting reply. We have understood that we can get out of this situation by earning good money through better education. All children of my age are studying and dream of a better future.

This talk of Vicky gives a hope that the future of the new generation will be better. But this is the reality of this group of Mazah Afour. The story of Chamars settlement is different in different parts of the country. Every village needs a hero like Asharfi Das.

Courtesy : Dalit Dastak

Note: This news piece was originally published in dalitdastak.com and used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes exclusively for Human Rights.