Soumya, director of the documentary "Twinkle twinkle little caste" receiving the Dr. Ambedkar foundation award in Mancheri, Kerala.“Caste has been annihilated in Kerala” is the biggest lie that heard from different social, cultural and political spheres of Kerala. Those who preach ‘caste has been annihilated’ can’t understand what really caste is. It is the psychological suppression of dalits in various instances, stages and spheres of life and expelling from power, money and knowledge in the present world. The people who enjoy all the benefits of caste system avoid the debates against caste in kerala and are in the classical idea that “Untouchables are now no longer untouchables”. But it was proved to be wrong in a Nursery school in Malappuram.
Some upper caste parents withdrew their kids from the nursery school of Oothalakandy village in Mancheri taluk of Malappuram district. They told a strange reason ; “our children will lose their culture by interacting with the sc/st students”. They sent their kids to other nursery schools were elite castes study. And one upper caste parent who is an school teacher said “his kid is really getting bored while studying there”. What may be the culture of a home that ‘produces’ a kid who is bored while playing with other kids?
The teacher of the nursery, Rejitha, strongly reacted against this nasty custom of thrashing caste system on the kids . She presented this issue in different venues and added that the kids from the dalit colonies need more attentions for their education and other needs. But her voices were ignored by the political leaders, local government bodies and other authorities. At last, she told the issue to her neighbor Soumya, who was a Mass Communication student of mine. We decided to do the documentary about this and went to the village for the shoot. We took the interview of two Panchayat members who were leaders from Communist and Congress parties. They opined; there is no caste discrimination, but students were moving from this nursery school to English medium nurseries. Mr. Narendran of Oothalakandy colony cried in front of the camera and said, the people of the dalit colony in Oothalakandy are being ill treated by the external society.
But Rejitha teacher clearly attacked the caste system prevailing in that area and added the political leaders also support this. She said; as a Nursery school teacher she is having contact with almost everybody in the village and she knows what is happening there. There are all sorts of psychological and social suppression against the people of the Colony. Elite castes used to remark against the colony by saying “they will never develop....we have done so many things to them....” She asks “Who are these people to define the people of colonies....? Are these people developed...? I know what is happening in the backdrop of every elite caste house in the area....” She says English medium is not the reason for upper castes to withdrew from the nursery, but it is caste for she is a degree holder and knows very well to teach English. And one parent who is a school teacher who had withdrawn his kid from the nursery school ‘suggested’ some development schemes for the upbringing of the people of the colony. He told us to build some “cultural centers or libraries”. Teacher reacted ; " people who have culture may talk about the cultural centers".
The documentary was screened before the Media in Malappuram in a press conference. The situation there was unimaginable. Soumya, the director of the documentary and Rejitha teacher were expecting some positive reactions for they were presenting a serious issue. But some of them taught Soumya how to make a documentary. But the documentary which was 'standard less' according to some of them grabbed four awards in from different realms of society including film festivals. Soumya got the fellowship for the best upcoming director in the VIBGYOR short international film festival of Thrissur.
The documentary made so many controversies in Malappuram. Rejitha teacher got so many threats from different corners of the society. And there was an allegation from the political spheres that it was a planned effort by Rejitha teacher to demoralize the people of Mancheri. On the other hand, people of the colonies started questioning political leaders for their grants and rights in the meetings of local governing bodies. This documentary broke a great myth established by the Communist party that caste has been eradicated in Kerala. The issue was discussed in the international level by the blog.insighty.com. The link of the discussion is http://blog.insightyv.com/?p=595. You can watch the documentary in the following link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiEPG1t2aF8
