/pol/ - Politics

Faced caste based discrimination for the first time today

Anonymous

loc-IN

cw5xwadyfu4.mp4

I recently shifted to a new building. The move went smoothly, and the building seemed nice enough. For the first few days, everything was normal. I'd see neighbors in the hallway, exchange polite nods, the usual stuff. But today, everything changed. I learned that the family living in the flat directly below mine is Brahmin. Apparently, they were deeply offended by the fact that a (auto-excised) person lives above them. I didn't even know this was an issue until it exploded in my face today. It started in the corridor. I was passing by when I saw their son. Being polite, I greeted him with a nod. Instead of greeting me back like a normal person, he responded with a (indian)ist slur. Just like that. No provocation, no prior argument, nothing. I was stunned, couldn't even process what had just happened. When I finally gathered myself and protested, asking him why he would say something like that and trying to reason with him, things only got worse. His mother came out and immediately joined in. She started shouting at me too, adding her own slurs to the mix. The two of them were screaming at me in the middle of the corridor, their faces twisted with hatred. The father and daughter were there as well, just standing and watching, but neither of them said a word to stop it. They just let it happen. The argument escalated quickly. People from both sides got involved, voices getting louder, the situation spiraling. Neighbors opened their doors, some stepped out to watch the spectacle, but not a single person intervened to help or calm things down. They just stood there, silent witnesses to the whole thing. The humiliation of standing there, being screamed at with those slurs, being reduced to nothing but my (indian) in front of all these people - I can't even describe how it felt. The anger, the hurt, the sheer disbelief that this was actually happening. I thought we'd moved past this kind of medieval thinking, but clearly, some people are still stuck in the past. After it was over, I knew I couldn't just let this go. I decided to take action. I went and filed a complaint against the son and mother under the SC/ST Act. I don't know what will come of it, how long the legal process will take, or what the outcome will be. But I had to do something. I had to take a stand and show them that this kind of behavior has consequences.