“I was heckled by Ambedkarites for having Shika and firm belief in Shri Ram”, plight of student at NIT Jalandhar

I have been studying at Dr. B.R. Ambedkar National Institute of Technology Jalandhar for almost a year.
Despite my views on BRA and on other students – who are followers of various religions – I never commented or turned hostile to anyone just because of their appearance and the worldview they held and remained tolerant. However, I wasn’t reciprocated the same courtesy by a few people, which I had extended.

Last Friday, I got out of my class after the lecture had been completed to fill my water bottle. One of the two of my professors was standing in the corridor and asked me with awe, “Oye! Tune Bodi rakhi hui hai!” [In Punjab, Shikha is called Bodi] I replied positively. To which he asked, if I was a Brahman and of which Gotra. I denied that I am not a Brahman and would not like to disclose my Varna and Gotra publicly. I was asked why I had observed the Sikha, to which I replied nothing but that it’s my tradition. In the midst of this talk, all of my classmates were there in the corridor surrounding me and the professor, listening to what we were discussing.

At the night, when I was back in my hostel room. One of my classmates, who is a proud Ambedkarite, came and asked me to come into the verandah.
There was a sudden change in his tone while talking to me. He asked me “Toh konsa Brahaman hai tu.” This low language, he hadn’t used earlier. I replied I’m not a Brahman and asked why he suspected that I was one. To which he said that he had listened to the professor talking to me about my ‘Brahman Gotra’ in the corridor.
In a state of confusion, he asked me which ‘Jaati’ I belonged to. I replied I’m a Soot(Soot comes in Shudra Varna). His face was insipid.
Then he moved on to ask me how many times I open my Shikha et cetera, too which I replied completely and in entirety without any nag.

He asked about the educational qualifications of my mother as he was presuming that my mother is illiterate. However, I told him that she holds a bachelor’s degree in History. He asked why she wasn’t let to study further and be a professor or teacher, I replied that she had to get married and raise children.

He accused me of being regressive and pontificated like a typical presumptuous person, “Kya ladkiya keval Choolah-Chhokah karne ke liye hi hoti hain Shaadi mein”. I replied that the fact that he considered cooking beneath any other job is debased and disgraceful. I said I couldn’t care less about what he thought of Vivah Samskar and GrihasthAshram. I continued, that we have a strong reverence for the sanctity of Vivah Sanskaar and Grihasth, and my mother didn’t consider it of any value to her role and objective in Grihasth Life; he being unbeknownst to the fact that my mother had received a job offer with 900 Rs. of monthly salary in 1991 as a textile designer after she had completed her course in Textile Designing and my Nana Ji was so willing to get her employed that he arranged private conveyance for her to go to Lajpat Nagar, Delhi; with whatever minuscule money my Nana Ji earned.

He turned to temples and said, “Mandir mein jaa k Shaanti milti hai”. I replied positively and said it is the case because Swayam Bhagwan is throned there. He asked me how can I see Bhagwaan, I said I see Shri Ram in his court whenever I go to Mandir. He said that’s just an Idol carved out of stone. Then he started stooping low. He accused me, in a hostile tone, of being superstitious by claiming how I can believe in something [Bhagwaan], who cannot be seen with naked eyes and I should be ashamed of holding such beliefs even after being at NIT Jalandhar, studying various natural sciences. I replied ‘Can you see an electron?’ and I had got him.

He shifted the goalpost and filthily remarked that he could ‘create such a Hanuman’ by a stone and painting it with sindoor and Kumkum. I replied that won’t be Hanuman Ji. He asked why so. I said Vedokt PraanPratishta is necessary, having deployed the authorized ShilpKaar in sculpturing the Idol. He asked who would conduct Vedokt PraanPratishta. I said the authorized Vedagya Brahman. As soon as I said that, he lost his temper and disgustingly asked how ONLY a Brahman could be the sole authority and know-how ‘Hanuman’ and ‘Raam’ looked like. I said by perennial Tradition and Scriptures. Then he regarded Goswami Tulsidas Ji as ‘Tulsidas’ and his RamCharitManas ‘Upanyaas’.

I could observe him voluntarily disrespecting my Idols and the revered Brahmans and could sense the seed of anger germinating in my mind because of his disrespect for them. But I held myself back and answered critically without being involved with emotions.

Then he asked if ‘Tulsidas’ wrote RCM a few hundred years back, how can Shri Ram’s and other ‘characters’ ’s appearance be nothing but a figment of his imagination? Now, I started getting amused. I told him there are more than 200 Ramayans available today. There had been numerous Ramayans before RCM came into existence: Adhyatma Ramayana, Kamb Ramayan, Parbai Ramayan, ShriMadValMikiyaRamayana, AdbhutRamayana, et cetera, and the legend of Shri Rama has been endowed on our generation and the previous generations through perennial tradition varying minutely regionally. However, the ShriMadValMikiyaRamayana can be considered the foundational. Then he started getting frustrated and said ‘ismein to mujhe zyada nahi pata tumse, mein chalta hu apne room mein. Kal milte hain.’

There are many such people on campus, who regularly pass comments; but I ignore them.
I bow down to my parents and my Guru that their aegis gave me enough strength to evade such a situation of hostility with tranquility. I bow down to the perennial tradition to maintain the pristine purity of our knowledge systems. Had it not been there in the first place, such people would have corrupted it to satisfy the malevolence they possess in their hearts.

The author is a student of NIT Jalandhar. He wants to remain anonymous for security and personal reasons.