Ladybug's field notes

I am a staunch believer of everything that is humane. I trust human emotions. I believe, it is because we get moved, we get going.  It gives me immense pleasure to see a smiling baby in her mother's lap in the corner of a street. I smile all the way back from work. A face battling pain/tears never fails to bring tears in my eyes. I battle to send the tears back and walk on and murmur, "It will soon be better for you". When a thousand hands go up to the sky and say, "We would struggle/no matter what!" it still gives me goosebumps. A wonder thinking I have been part of rallies as long as I remember!  A lone voice of protest never fails to inspire me. It is the human spirit that keeps me going...always..everywhere..all the time! On my way to office, on the bridge over Yamuna, I see a kid quite often. All dusty and full of mud.  "Can I give him a bath?" I think, almost instantly. He evokes a strange urge in me. I want to give him a good scrub. Then ...

"Untouchability is almost not there in the village now a days. It has really changed! They even let us use the grinding machine at the village to grind our grains too!" Nalita said. I was a bit surprised to hear this from a member of a Hadi* Community in a coastal district of Odisha! Can this be true? Can it be that all the Dalit rights organisations of this state are basically 'focusing only on celebrating victim-hood  and over-emphasizing the “they all oppress us and no one follows the law” psyche', as some colleague mentioned the other day? I decided to probe further. "You are saying that they let you grind your cereals whenever you go?" Binod was almost irritated at this silly question. He said, "No! How can they? We go on Monday before 12 pm. Then they get some time to wash the machine and dry it, so that the others can grind their grains." Who are they? What if it's not a Monday? What if it's beyond 12 PM? I don't have to conv...