The Silent Sprint: Women, Class, and the Uneven Track of Indian Sports

 

-Ramphal Kataria

 

Breaking the Script: When Women Play, Society Shakes

Abstract

The triumph of the Indian women’s cricket team at the ICC World Cup marks not just a sporting milestone but a profound socio-cultural moment. It symbolizes the long, painful, and often lonely journey of Indian women in sports—most of whom come from economically and socially disadvantaged sections. This essay traces that journey: from the early struggles of athletes like P.T. Usha and Karnam Malleswari to the modern-day assertion of stars like Mary Kom, P.V. Sindhu, and Shafali Verma. Yet beneath these victories lies a structural neglect—poor institutional support, financial fragility, social conservatism, and persistent gendered violence. Through a critical synthesis of history, class, and gender, this piece argues that India’s sporting success rests not on state systems but on the private grit of its poorest daughters.

“The medals that hang around their necks are not made of gold but of sweat, humiliation, and defiance.”

I. Beginnings: Running Against the Wind

1. The Early Shadows

The story of Indian women in sports began in anonymity. In the decades after Independence, sports was largely a masculine domain, associated with power and public visibility. Women’s physical participation in athletics was often perceived as unbecoming, immodest, or irrelevant to their familial roles. The first generation of women athletes, emerging from the 1950s to the 1970s, had little institutional support, no media coverage, and minimal access to professional training.

It was only in the 1980s that names like P.T. Usha, Shiny Abraham, and M.D. Valsamma began to surface on the national radar.¹ Their emergence was revolutionary—not because the state nurtured them, but because they sprinted through a system that had never expected them to exist. P.T. Usha, the “Payyoli Express,” rose from a modest background in Kerala, trained on bare grounds, and narrowly missed an Olympic medal in 1984. Yet her performance at Los Angeles redefined the idea of an Indian woman athlete.

2. The Social Geography of Struggle

A curious pattern defines India’s sportswomen: most hail from rural or semi-rural, lower-middle-class, or farming families. From Haryana’s akharas to Manipur’s boxing rings, the map of women’s sports success in India coincides with zones of poverty and patriarchal rigidity.

This paradox reveals a deeper truth. Sports, for these families, is not initially a pursuit of passion—it is a pathway out of poverty. A medal might mean a government job, a stable income, or even a degree of social respectability. Yet for every Mary Kom who fought her way from a tin-roofed house in Manipur to an Olympic podium, there are hundreds whose dreams collapsed under financial and social constraints.

“They do not run toward glory; they run away from poverty.”

II. From the Margins to the Medals

1. The 1990s: The Awakening

The 1990s witnessed the slow institutionalization of women’s sports in India. The establishment of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and the National Institute of Sports (NIS), Patiala, created a semblance of a system.² However, women remained peripheral to its priorities. Most training centers lacked proper accommodation or security for girls, and financial stipends were meager.

Still, this era saw the rise of Karnam Malleswari, India’s first female Olympic medallist (Sydney 2000, bronze in weightlifting). Malleswari’s success symbolized both the promise and the paradox of Indian women’s sports—she came from a working-class Telugu family, trained under precarious conditions, and often competed without adequate nutrition or coaching facilities.³

2. Boxing, Wrestling, and the Rural Renaissance

The early 2000s marked a decisive shift. Sports once dismissed as “unfeminine”—boxing, wrestling, and weightlifting—began producing India’s strongest women. Mary Kom from Manipur, Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat from Haryana, Mirabai Chanu from Manipur, and Lovlina Borgohain from Assam—all emerged from economically modest, socially conservative environments.

The wrestling belts of Haryana, in particular, witnessed a cultural rebellion. Despite facing social rebuke, young women trained in the same akharas as men, often defying village elders who questioned their attire or morality. The Phogat sisters, popularized later by the film Dangal (2016), are emblematic of this rebellion. Their father, Mahavir Singh Phogat, a former wrestler, faced ostracization for allowing his daughters to compete.

“In Haryana’s mud pits, patriarchy met its fiercest challengers—daughters who refused to kneel.”

3. The Expanding Horizon: Tennis, Badminton, and Shooting

By the 2010s, Indian women athletes began diversifying across global sports. Sania Mirza in tennis, Saina Nehwal and P.V. Sindhu in badminton, and Manu Bhaker in shooting brought unprecedented visibility. Yet the glamour associated with these sports concealed the deep structural inequalities that persisted elsewhere.

Even today, the pipeline of talent remains uneven. While metropolitan athletes access private academies with sponsorships, rural girls depend on overstretched state facilities. The absence of early-age scouting, professional coaching, and psychological support continues to limit their potential.

III. The Institutional Vacuum

1. A State Without a System

Despite high-profile victories, India lacks a coherent, gender-sensitive sports policy. The National Sports Policy (2001) and the Khelo India Mission emphasize infrastructure and mass participation, but neither identifies girls at an early age nor addresses the unique social constraints they face.

There are no systematic pathways connecting school-level games with national academies. Most girls lose access to sports after adolescence—either due to lack of facilities, parental pressure, or safety concerns. Financial incentives are uneven and bureaucratic, with delays in disbursing scholarships or prize money.

2. Exploitation and Gendered Violence

The darker underside of Indian sports is sexual harassment and institutional silence. The Wrestling Federation of India scandal (2023)—where top wrestlers accused senior officials of sexual exploitation—exposed the vulnerability of even world champions. Their months-long protest at Jantar Mantar, followed by the system’s indifference, revealed how patriarchy and politics collude to suppress women’s voices in sports.

“When champions must sit on pavements to seek justice, the medal shines too bright for the nation’s conscience.”

The absence of independent grievance mechanisms, lack of gender-sensitized coaches, and fear of retaliation keep most cases buried. Sports federations are often run by politicians with little accountability, reducing athletes to pawns in power games.⁴

IV. Class, Gender, and the Body Politic

1. The Body as a Battleground

For Indian women, especially from lower classes, the body is both a site of resistance and regulation. Engaging in sports challenges entrenched social norms that confine women to domestic spaces. Yet the same act of participation exposes them to scrutiny and moral policing.

Sociologist Boria Majumdar notes that women athletes face a “double gaze”—first as competitors in a patriarchal structure, and second as subjects of objectification and suspicion.⁵ In rural belts, wearing sports gear or training with men is still stigmatized. Many parents withdraw daughters after puberty due to fear of gossip or harassment.

2. Why Do the Poor Dominate?

Ironically, India’s richest sporting talent pool lies among its poorest. Middle- and upper-class families rarely push their daughters into sports, perceiving it as an uncertain career. Conversely, working-class families see sports as a gateway to government jobs under sports quotas. This utilitarian motivation, though pragmatic, underscores the absence of a cultural valorization of sports in Indian education.

Thus, while Western or Chinese athletes are groomed through scientific programs, Indian athletes are self-made survivors—reliant on parental sacrifice rather than public policy.

“India’s champions are not products of the system—they are protests against its failure.”

V. The Unfinished Agenda

1. Building a People-Oriented Sports Policy

If India aims to be a global sporting power, it must move beyond tokenism. A people-oriented sports policy should include:

Early-age talent identification at school level through community scouting.

District-level sports academies with gender-sensitive infrastructure.

Financial and psychological support for athletes from low-income families.

Mandatory gender-sensitization and harassment redressal cells in all federations.

Integration of sports education into mainstream schooling.

Such reforms require collaboration between the Ministry of Sports, state governments, and civil society organizations.

2. Beyond the Field: Redefining Empowerment

The victory of India’s women cricketers is not just about cricket—it is a metaphor for what women from the margins can achieve when given a chance. Their triumph resonates beyond stadiums, challenging patriarchal notions of what women can or should do.

Sports, therefore, becomes an instrument of social justice—a stage where caste, gender, and class hierarchies are momentarily suspended. Each run, punch, or lift by these women asserts a new grammar of citizenship—one where equality is not granted but earned through sweat.

“They were never trained to win medals; they were trained to survive. The medal was incidental.”

VI. Conclusion: From Her Story to History

The journey of Indian women in sports mirrors the nation’s own contradictions—spectacular individual success amid systemic neglect. The victory of the women’s cricket team is both an arrival and a reminder: an arrival at global recognition, and a reminder of the millions still excluded from the game.

Until sports becomes an inclusive ecosystem rather than an accidental opportunity, India’s medals will continue to reflect individual brilliance over collective vision. The path from her story to history demands not just applause, but accountability.

Selected References

1. Majumdar, Boria. Sporting Femininities: Indian Women in Sport. London: Routledge, 2018.

2. Shekar, Nirmal. Women in Indian Sports: A Historical Perspective. New Delhi: Orient Blackswan, 2009.

3. Rajagopalan, Rajesh. “Gender, Class, and the Unequal Field: A Study of Indian Sports Infrastructure.” Economic and Political Weekly 57, no. 31 (2022): 42–49.

4. Tandon, Saumya. “The Silence of the Stadium: Gender Violence in Indian Sports.” Indian Journal of Gender Studies 30, no. 2 (2024): 211–233.

5. Government of India. National Sports Policy, 2001. New Delhi: Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.

6. Planning Commission of India. Working Group on Sports and Physical Education, 12th Five-Year Plan Report (2012–17).

7. Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. Report on Women and Sports in India. Government of India, 1997.

 

 

From the Margins to the Medal Podium: Women from Disadvantaged Backgrounds in Indian Sport

-Ramphal Kataria

A Critical Analysis

When the Indian women’s cricket team lifted the world-cup trophy, the moment glowed with hope, pride, and symbolic significance. But for every glittering victory, there lie countless stories of girls who could never make it to the field, not because they lacked talent but because they lacked support, safe space, funds and dignity. This essay explores how Indian women from socio-economically and socially disadvantaged backgrounds (rural, lower‐income, historically marginalised caste or region) have navigated a gruelling terrain: poverty, patriarchy, institutional neglect, and sexual harassment. It argues that success remains too often the product of parental sacrifice rather than systemic investment — and that to truly unlock India’s potential in women’s sport, we must shift from hero narratives to structural reform.

1. Poverty and Precarity: The First Unseen Opponent

For many Indian families from farming, daily-wage or lower‐middle‐income backgrounds, sport is not pursued for fun or personal growth — it is a bet on social mobility. Investing in a daughter’s sporting future means diverting scarce time and resources, often with no guaranteed returns. Several interconnected factors compound the challenge:

1.1 Time, labour and opportunity cost

Girls from disadvantaged households typically shoulder significant domestic duties: caring for siblings, fetching water, doing field or household work. This reduces the time available for training or travelling to practice. The “opportunity cost” of sport (time not used in earning or household labour) becomes a heavy burden.

1.2 Cost of participation

Training, coaching, kits, travel, nutrition, physiotherapy — all have real costs. If a family has one bread-winner, the risk of committing scarce money to sport is high. Research in India shows that children from low socio‐economic status (SES) face greater barriers to organised sport because of cost and access. ignited.in+2journals.sagepub.com+2

1.3 Talent lost before it is visible

Because of these constraints, many talented girls never show up in talent-scouting camps or school competitions. The pipeline filters at the earliest stage. Even studies of sports participation show that the intersection of gender and low SES creates a “double disadvantage.” ignited.in+2Lippincott Journals+2

Thus, from the very beginning, the playing field is far from level. While some girls succeed, too many drop off silently.

2. Social Norms and Moral Policing: Playing in a Hostile Arena

Beyond material constraints lie deeply entrenched social and cultural barriers. For girls from disadvantaged backgrounds, the social cost of entering sport can be steep.

2.1 Respectability and gendered expectations

In many rural or semi-urban contexts, sport (especially outdoor, competitive sport) is seen as contrary to the “respectable” feminine ideal. Girls who roam fields, travel for matches, wear sports kit attract suspicion or criticism. Families often condition their support on assurances: that sport will not hinder marriage prospects, or they may impose strict behavioural norms. Research shows that for Indian women and girls, “social stereotyping, transport and safety” are significant participation barriers. Women's Sports Foundation+1

2.2 Intersectional disadvantage

Girls from marginalised castes or tribal communities often face layered disadvantages: less access to facilities, fewer role models, less local investment, and higher burdens of household norms. The class/ caste structure means that the “advantaged” girls (urban, higher SES) often receive the visible opportunities, leaving many rural girls invisible.

2.3 Addressing “suitable” careers

In many disadvantaged households, parents may grudgingly support sport as long as it remains a pathway to a secure job (e.g., government cadre via sports quota) rather than as a full-time vocation. But that framing itself limits the scope: when sport is viewed only instrumentally, the risk appetite is low and the duration of commitment short.

3. Exploitation, Harassment and Institutional Blind Spots

If poverty and patriarchy are the first two hurdles, the third is perhaps the least discussed: the vulnerability of women athletes from disadvantaged backgrounds to exploitation — sexual harassment, power abuse, and bureaucratic neglect.

3.1 Power asymmetries in sport

Coaches, administrators and gatekeepers often wield disproportionate influence over young athletes’ careers — especially those relying on scholarships, selections, and travel for training. For girls from poor families, the dependence is acute: the promise of progress depends on cooperation with those in authority. This creates a risk environment where corruption, favouritism, and sexual harassment can thrive unchecked.

3.2 Weak safeguarding and accountability

India lacks a fully independent, robust safeguarding infrastructure for sport. While recent investigations and exposés have brought harassment in sport into the light, many cases never reach resolution, or the complainant is victimised further. For disadvantaged girls, the stakes are higher: reporting may mean family honour is questioned, and sporting careers may be cut off. The wider environment is captured in commentary on misogyny in Indian sport which found “21 % of women athletes have faced sexual harassment.” IMPRI

3.3 The cost of attrition

When girls from low-income families face harassment or discrimination, the consequences are often severe: they leave sport entirely (to protect reputation or for lack of resources), and their families’ earlier sacrifices are lost. Yet institutional failure receives little mention in victorious narratives: production of heroes obscures production failures.

4. Parental Sacrifice as Default System

In this context, it becomes clear why the role of families — especially parents — is so consequential. For girls who succeed, the common pattern is one of exceptional parental sacrifice and support.

4.1 Families stepping in

In absence of reliable institutional provision, families often provide: the money for kits/coaching; logistic support (transporting girls to distant facilities); psychological backing (keeping daughters in sport despite social pressure). These “home systems” plug the gaps of the formal ecosystem. They are heroic, but not scalable.

4.2 The inequity of reliance on family

When elite sports achievement depends on families who can sacrifice — financially, socially, emotionally — then the system privileges those few whose families have both the will and relative means. For the large number of potential talents in extremely low-income households, this sets up unfair competition: not only against other athletes, but against their own socio‐economic reality.

4.3 Hero-narratives obscure system failure

Media and public narrative celebrate “against all odds” athletes, which is uplifting. But this heroisation can mask the fact that the “odds” should not have been so stacked. When success depends on individuals compensating for systemic failure, we build glittering stories but not structural equity.

5. Supply-side Failures in Infrastructure, Scouting and Training

Even when talent emerges, the supply chain required to nurture it remains weak — disproportionately so for disadvantaged girls.

5.1 Infrastructure deserts

Training centers, quality coaches, physiotherapy, nutritional support are scarce outside major cities. A recent report found nearly 48 % of women athletes in states like Rajasthan, Haryana, Manipur and Bihar had to travel over 10 kilometres just to reach a training facility — often via unsafe or unreliable transport. hercircle.in The lack of safe, local facilities disproportionately affects girls from disadvantaged backgrounds who cannot relocate or commute far.

5.2 Scouting and talent identification gaps

Talent-identification programmes in India are episodic rather than continuous, and largely urban-centric. Girls from rural regions or disadvantaged households may never get visible to selectors. Research emphasises that elite female participation lags because early-stage spotting and nurturing remains weak. Lippincott Journals+1

5.3 Coaching, science and retention

Modern athlete development requires more than raw talent: access to nutrition, sports science, injury management, mental health, education. But these are costly and often unavailable outside privileged settings. Girls from low-income backgrounds may train, but without this support their upward journey often halts. Studies list “funding and budget” as a major barrier for women’s sport in India. multieducationjournal.com+1

5.4 Retention vs. recruitment

Even when recruited, retention of female athletes from disadvantaged backgrounds is harder: pressures from family (increase in household duties), early marriage, pregnancy, economic necessity, social mobility trade-offs all push drop-outs. Institutional systems to track, support and prevent attrition are underdeveloped.

6. Cultural Paradox: Success Amid Systemic Inertia

India celebrates its women champions: the medallists, the record-breakers, the trophy-winners. But that celebration often glosses over the “systemic debt” owed to those who could not succeed because of constrained opportunities.

6.1 Visibility vs groundwork

High-profile successes create media buzz, sponsorships, and role models. Yet the under-belly of sport — grassroots development, school level participation, local coaches — receives far less sustained attention. This imbalance reinforces a culture of “make it happen anyway” rather than “make it possible for everyone.”

6.2 The risk of tokenism

When a few women from disadvantaged backgrounds succeed, there is risk of interpreting that success as evidence that the system “works.” But this must not obscure that their success was often despite the system, not because of it. Without addressing underlying inequities, success remains an exception rather than the rule.

6.3 Sport as mobility vs sport as vocation

For many disadvantaged girls, sport is still seen primarily as a route to government employment or social recognition, rather than a professional vocation. This shaped motivation and risk acceptance. Institutional support rarely treats sport as a full career path for women, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

7. Policy Failures and Needed Reform

India has launched several initiatives: Khelo India, Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS), revised National Sports Policy. These are positive but insufficient, especially from the perspective of disadvantaged girls.

7.1 Generic policies, gender-blind implementation

Many sport-policy documents still fail to incorporate gendered or class-equity lenses. Barriers unique to girls from low SES (transport safety, discrimination, harassment, family labour burden) are under-addressed. One study of Indian sports policy found unequal funding for women and lack of gender-sensitive infrastructure. IJPREMS+1

7.2 Targeted identification and decentralised infrastructure

What is needed is a system that identifies talent at the local level (including villages), especially girls from disadvantaged backgrounds, and provides nearby training hubs with safe transport, female coaches, and gender-sensitive facilities. Without such decentralisation, rural/poor girls will continue to be excluded.

7.3 Financial and employment security

Sports careers are risky. For girls from poor families, the risk of failure is too high. Assurance of scholarships, travel allowances, injury insurance, and credible career prospects (including jobs with sports quota, education plus sports) is critical. Parental fear of “what if nothing comes of it” often kills early commitment.

7.4 Safeguarding and accountability

A robust, independent mechanism for reporting and investigating sexual harassment, power abuse and discrimination in sport is vital. The system must not rely solely on federations which hold the power proxy over athletes. Especially for disadvantaged girls, this is a non‐negotiable prerequisite.

7.5 Monitoring, data-driven evaluation and equity metrics

Sport policy must collect disaggregated data (by gender, caste, region, SES) on participation, dropout, access to facilities, funding. Without data, it is impossible to measure whether disadvantaged girls are catching up. Studies show female participation in India remains far below what population parity would suggest. sportanddev+1

7.6 Cultural change and visibility

Parallel to policy, culture must shift. Families, communities and schools must learn to value girls’ sporting participation. The narrative must move from “hero story” to “system allows all girls to participate, some will become champions.” Media representation, local role models, community champions matter.

8. Synthesis: Justice, National Interest and Scale

The argument for investing in disadvantaged girls’ sport is not merely one of fairness, but also of national potential. India has one of the world’s largest youth populations; failing to convert this into sporting talent (especially among half the population, women) is a national inefficiency.

8.1 Social justice lens

Girls from disadvantaged backgrounds are denied participation partly because of structural constraints. Enabling them to play sport, train, compete and succeed is a matter of gender justice, class justice and regional equity. Sport offers agency, mobility, education, self-confidence and health benefits. Without targeted reform, participation remains a privilege, not a right.

8.2 Competitive advantage lens

If India treats sport as a serious national endeavour, then missing out on half the talent pool is simply self-limiting. Countries that have built strong systems (for both sexes) and invested early show better outcomes. India cannot rely on “one brilliant athlete” at a time. It needs depth. And depth begins with broad access.

8.3 From parental reliance to institutional backing

The message is clear: until success depends less on individual family sacrifice and more on dependable institutional scaffolding, the system remains inequitable. Parental grit should be complemented by state, district and local systems so that talent is nurtured, not rescued.

9. Conclusion: From Individual Heroism to Systemic Dignity

When a girl from a struggling family in rural India picks up a bat, a javelin, or lace-up her shoes, she confronts invisible oppositions: poverty, scepticism, inadequate infrastructure, latent harassment. That she may still succeed is a testament to her resilience and the support of those parents who silently endure. But it is also a testament to systemic failure—the system should not make her fight alone.

As India celebrates its women champions, winning medals and trophies, we must ask whether the pipeline from village to podium has widened, not just produced one more hero. Because if it hasn’t, then we are applauding resilience but not changing reality.

To realise the promise of women’s sport in India — especially for girls from disadvantaged backgrounds — we must invest in infrastructure, data-driven equity, decentralised scouting, safe training environments, financial security and robust safeguarding. When we do, sport ceases to be a gamble for a few, and becomes a realistic possibility for many. Then the trophy lifts not only one but a generation.

References

1. “Examining the Barriers to Women’s Participation in Sports in India,” SAGE Journals, 2022. journals.sagepub.com

2. “Women in Sports – An Analytical Study of Multi-Dimensional Challenges Faced by Women Athletes in India.” ResearchGate. ResearchGate

3. “Understanding Gender Gaps in Sports and Physical Activity in India,” Sport & Dev, 2023. sportanddev

4. “Misogyny in Indian Sports,” IMPRI Impact & Policy Research, 2024. IMPRI

5. “Challenges and Strategies for Women Sports in India,” Multi Education Journal, 2024. multieducationjournal.com

6. “Gender Disparities in Sports Participation in India,” Knowledgeable Research, 2024. knowledgeableresearch.com

7. “Increasing Women Sports in India: Origin, Status and Challenges,” EurasiaReview, 2024. Eurasia Review

8. “The Impact of Gender and Socioeconomic Status on Youth Sport in India,” JASRAE, 2024. ignited.in

 

Where the Touch Is Forbidden but the Body Isn’t

 -Ramphal Kataria

“Lust has no caste”

Epigraph

“Caste is not a physical object like a wall of bricks. It is a notion, a state of mind.” — B.R. Ambedkar

I. The Veins of Caste

Sahab, let’s not pretend. We live in a land where paak and najaiz are not just words — they are verdicts. A drop of water can be polluted by a touch, a kitchen can be defiled by a shadow, and yet a body — the same body that bears the stamp of “low caste” — becomes acceptable when the lights are off and the doors are closed. We wash our hands after shaking hands with a Dalit, but not after using the bodies of Dalit women. We speak of maryada and sanskriti, while every field, every basti, every haveli knows the truth: the lines of caste disappear only on the beds of power. Caste runs in our veins like blood. It pulses even in our silences — in who we marry, who we eat with, who we bury beside. But there is one place where caste trembles and collapses — the najaiz relationship. That forbidden space where the priest, the landlord, the reformer, all become one. Desire becomes democracy, but a cruel one, because even there, it is not equality — it is exploitation.

II. The Politics of Purity

Caste purity, Sahab, was never about holiness. It was about hierarchy. The Brahmin’s paak food, the Dalit’s najais shadow, the untouchable woman’s body — all were inventions to keep the edifice standing. History hides a thousand such stories — of women from so-called “low” castes offered to priests and patrons, of kings who claimed to be protectors of dharma but treated shudra women as expendable. Manusmriti wrote it into law: the woman, the servant, and the Shudra — all to be controlled. It is no surprise, then, that even today, when a Dalit woman is violated, the village says, “She crossed her line.” The upper-caste man’s morality ends where his power begins.

III. Women as the Bridge of Power

Let’s walk, Sahab, through the corridors of history — polished with stories of honour and empire. Look closely, and you will see that women were often the bridges between enemies, the currency of peace. Take the Mughals and the Rajputs. Akbar, the emperor who unified Hindustan, married Harkha Bai of Amer — remembered as Jodha Bai — not out of love alone, but out of politics. Through her, he won the loyalty of Rajputana, sealed with a nikaah, sanctified by both sharia and shastra. Jahangir followed the same path — he took Jagat Gosain of Jodhpur as his consort, and she bore Khurram, later Shah Jahan. These marriages were not harmony but hegemony. The Rajput kings offered their daughters not because they believed in equality, but because they knew survival meant surrender. And the Mughal emperors accepted them not because they saw them as equals, but because a woman’s body was the most peaceful battlefield.

IV. The New Moral Police

Fast forward to the present, Sahab. The thrones have changed, the swords replaced by microphones, but the game remains the same. The rulers now wear khadi instead of silk, and their wars are fought in television studios. They speak of love jihad, of purity of blood, of protecting daughters — but quietly attend interfaith weddings in five-star hotels. Those who shout “Muslim ladke Hindu ladkiyon ko bhaga le ja rahe hain” are the same ones whose own children marry across faiths and oceans. In villages, the khap panchayat kills couples for marrying outside caste. In cities, the elite call it “intercultural love” and post pictures with hashtags. The poor pay with their blood for what the rich call freedom. Caste and religion, Sahab, are not walls — they are curtains. They part easily for those in power and close harshly for those below.

V. The Naked Truth

Let’s be honest, Sahab — untouchability never left. It just changed clothes. You might not refuse water today, but you still refuse marriage. You might invite your Dalit colleague for tea, but not for your daughter’s wedding. We may chant “Bharat Mata ki Jai,” but in our hearts, Bharat Mata still has a caste. Every era finds its scapegoat — the Dalit woman, the Muslim girl, the tribal child — all standing at the intersection of lust and loathing. They are desired and despised, elevated and erased. The real impurity, Sahab, was never in anyone’s blood. It was in our gaze.

VI. Conclusion: Breaking the Vein

So what now, Sahab? Shall we keep pretending that purity is our pride? We have worshipped goddesses and violated women. We have abolished untouchability in law but not in love. We call inter-caste marriage “modern,” but still ask the surname before the bride’s name. To break caste is not to break tradition — it is to break deceit. The deceit that tells a man he is holy because of birth, that tells a woman her body is a burden of honour. Every time a politician cries “Bharatiya sanskriti” while his own family breaks its boundaries — the old ghosts of caste laugh. The only relationship, Sahab, where caste and creed do not matter, is still called najaiz. And that is our tragedy — that equality exists only in sin, not in sanctity. One day, perhaps, we will learn to love openly what we now do secretly. Till then, caste will keep running in our veins, and hypocrisy will keep pumping the heart of our society. Sahab, let’s not pretend.

Bibliography

1. Ambedkar, B.R. Annihilation of Caste. 1936.

2. Roy, Arundhati. The Doctor and the Saint. Haymarket Books, 2017.

3. Anand, Mulk Raj. Untouchable. Penguin India, 2001.

4. Chandra, Satish. Medieval India: From Sultanate to the Mughals. Har-Anand, 2005.

5. Lal, Ruby. Domesticity and Power in the Early Mughal World. Cambridge University Press, 2005.

6. Omvedt, Gail. Dalits and the Democratic Revolution. Sage Publications, 1994.

7. Roy, Arundhati. The Algebra of Infinite Justice. Penguin, 2002.

8. Jodhka, Surinder S. Caste: Oxford India Short Introductions. Oxford University Press,