Jai Bheem- the history denied (often)

Reading about Ambedkar-  (for children and adults alike)

Bhimayana and The Boy who asked Why...

Quoting Paulo Friere-“… Without a sense of identity, there can be no real struggle…”. Looking at the case of HCU often I question that how can a sense of identity  be crated if there is a systemic approach of denying history. How much do we know of the Caste Struggle and the man who brought the same to the fore-front.

Few years back, a young girl, interning with me had visited one of the Mumbai slums and had come back dazed at the resilience of the people staying there battling deprivation. I was angry indeed. I could not understand what surprised her and pleased her so much, deprivation or the battle to constantly decry the same and got engaged into a discussion with her. At one point she was vociferous of the talent and turn-around of few children she met there through education and found that heartening and that enraged me more,  and I started questioning her about meritocracy. What did she mean, when she said that everyone can make it big, given the right opportunities? Where does opportunity begin? And this immediately brought the question of caste and affirmative action. And of course the man behind it. Of course she was young with tinted glass to look at the world, however to my dismay I found had no sense of identity and backgrounds of community and hence a limited view of their struggle. And above all, an absolute absence of historical concept. She actually didn’t know much about Ambedkar.

This made me look back into the history syllabus in school till 10^th across all boards. And to my dismay I found that there is an emphasis of India’s freedom struggle, Medieval as well as Ancient India, but hardly any mention of the Caste struggle, the India against Indians and of course only a fleeting mention of Dr. Ambedkar as the man who wrote the constitution.

At that time, started looking at books for children which speak about Babasaheb. And found only an ill-represented Amar Chitra Katha version- an absolute water-shed on the political understanding of the man.

Its only recently a couple of years back that I discovered Bhimayana- by Navayana. A beautiful graphic biography helmed as one of the top 5 political comic books (the genre is a bit problematic though)

The graphic visuals has been done by Durgabai and Subhash Vyam and depicts the Gind art form of tribal Madhya Pradesh. The uniqueness of the book is its political frankness and the debate presented be it against the Manusmriti or the Mahad Satyagraha- all in form of Gond art form- its truly remarkable. Kudos goes to the team to create tension through art form throughout, poignantly representing the caste struggle.

This book is indeed a must read- to know the history creatively and in an engaging way. Interestingly it has been translated into Several Indian languages and international languages- French and Korean.

However, For young children, how does one introduce Ambedkar and his political discourse and stand- against discrepancy and call for equality and dignity for all- the fundamental of all human rights.  Thanks to Tulika for coming up with The Boy who Asked Why.

For young children, I cannot think of any other interesting method to introduce a political understanding of caste. The illustrations by Satwik Gade is engaging and that’s what makes the book enticing for young audience. What comes across in the book is the inherent curiosity of any child to question WHY?  This is the root of all learning and struggle. WHY propels us to know more, to explore and that’s what Bheem did.. ask the right questions  about the inherent right to human dignity. How can amongst same human beings, one can be more equal than other to the extent of being oppressive. The courage, the sharpness of this character gets captured beautifully in the illustrations.

The lawmaker believed in law, to be the chance to give everyone an equal chance in life.  The current situation of the country however can challenge that shining hope.  However for the young citizen of the country curiosity and hope and a vision to look around and still trace inequality (to later have a voice to challenge that) is much needed. These two books can at least be the beginning of their political understanding. And if parents are concerned about the words politics- then they must not, “ There is politics is everything… even personal is political”