Erode, as we all know is the land of the greatest philosopher the Tamil land has ever seen. Eulogized as the ‘Socrates of south east Asia’ by UNESCO, ‘Thanthai Periyar’ stands tall in the minds of every Tamil for his stupendous efforts to reform the society. He spent all his life to create ‘self respect’ in the minds of every human being and taught the people that it is not superstitions, but reason and rationality should guide their action. Being a staunch enemy against the practice of Untouchability, Periyar has staged numerous meeting to propagate his ideas. It was shocking for us to see Untouchability still being practised in the land of such a great man. I was stunned, went speechless when I heared a person say he is not allowed inside the houses of upper caste people. Infact 2/3rd of the total people we spoke with has experienced the sin at least once in their life in some form. Few people recollected the extreme form of Untouchability being practised some 40-50 years back and said it has been reduced remarkably in last few decades. But still many people say in few teashops, till date 2 tumbler system is followed. They say, dalits would be given tea in striped glass and others would be served in the plane glasses. But one good thing here is among the dalits there is no hierarchy. The Adidravidars and the chakaliyars neither fight among themselves nor place themselves in a hierarchy and derive pride out of it.
