I am a Brahmin. I wish it did not matter any more.

'''Another one which I'd written earlier.'''

As a kid ‘reservation’ meant something which let me travel by train. As a youth the same word means something which does not let me get into a college.

To be honest I had no idea and never even cared as to what my caste and sub-caste were till the time I had given my engineering entrance exams. Studying in Army Public Schools under CBSE, one was always guided by the principles of those 19^th century reform movements which made one believe that caste system was something which took us back to the middle ages and was non-progressive and ‘evil’. In fact I seriously do not remember any one mentioning what his/her caste was and neither ever asking me what my caste was during ‘those days’.”Konsi jaat ke ho tum? (Which caste do you belong to?)” would have been a very offensive questions if anyone did ever want to enquire about it. Today this question no more seems offensive to anyone.

India is not a conventional country. I say this because of us being a diverse and rich and ‘blah-blah-blah’ country. We are not bound by one single identity. No common language or religion or any other belief so to say. But this is what our skin signifies. Try getting inside us Indians slightly and one realizes that we are all the same. Indians are all carbon copies of each other. Each one of us rejoices on another one of Sachin’s century. Every household was hooked on to ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ . Each one of us was angry on the 11 July Mumbai train bombings. But the problem is that because there are so many of us and all being the same, there is a slight discontent amongst all due to which each one wants individuality. Each one wants to be different than the rest. Our craving for being different is what has made us what we are today- “Always-fighting-oldest-civilization-of-the-world”. We feel proud to call ourselves the oldest civilization but we still are not civilized enough. We still are a third world country even if we have the nuclear arms and a space program and the blah-blah. Staying together for so many centuries and one still does not find common goals.

And it is this simple fact that has always led to the straight formula used again and again of ‘divide and rule’ which we read in our history books long forgotten. What can be more stupid a fact than being able to get into the college of your choice just because you have a particular surname. “All Mishras-college XYZ and all Kushwahas - college BCD”. It is apartheid in a different form, slavery in a different form. Why should one get penalized for being born to a particular set of parents? Reservation on the basis of economic background can be justified but on the basis of lineage is too medieval.

But I always try and look for positives in everything that happens around me. Mr. Arjun Singh inspires me. At an age when one usually is not able to walk without using a walking stick, when one cannot digest all kinds of food Mr. Arjun Singh can still fight for a cause which would make him a messiah for the people who do somehow benefit from this bill. Even at this age we see the hunger in him, as well as the enthusiasm to get into power again with whatever means he can.

And it is this inspiration which should make us fight till the end.