Birth is a beginning…not an end, unlike how the Caste System in Nepal treats it.
This is another #LifeEh observation but about other people's lives, not mine. The observation comes from the lives of two gay men from my old school of St. Xavier's Jawalakhel in Kathmandu and their very divergent fates.
As a child, growing up in Nepal, my ethnicity was a source of shame. Now, as a middle-aged man, I am embarrassed and ashamed by the way us, Nepali men, view and treat our women.
Some of the standard reactions White people have to statements about or discussions on their racists ancestors and conversations about present-day racism, the hill so-called called high caste Hindus in Nepal also have when it comes to their ancestors and casteism. Here are the most common ones and their alternative!
Dr. Ambedkar argues that reason and religion (Hinduism) will not help break down the caste system. Furthermore, that the Untouchables cannot hope for the high castes and the privileged classes to fight alongside them to help break down the system, forget about going on a crusade themselves to break it down. Dr. Ambedkar argues that the Untouchables, instead, should strive for education and spread of knowledge, and for power to break the hold the system has on them and holding them back from realizing their true human potential.
Casual sexism in Nepal is flagrant, rampant, and accepted because it's the norm. Sexist promotional materials -- which reinforces and promotes casual sexism, for example -- appear in all sorts of media and in all sorts of places in Nepal, including bathrooms in Kathmandu. But one bar has done the right thing and removed one such material from their bathroom!
An argument that most likely patriots or (ultra)nationalists have made, calling for all Nepalis to rally around "unity in diversity" for "national unity" and "harmony," (unwittingly?) supports the maintenance of the caste system. Turns out, the source of those concepts is our very own constitutions!