Comedian Rohan Joshi’s blast-from-the-past tweets on Thursday aren’t going to get any exclamations of ‘awwww’. But they sure packed one hell of a punch.
Man. It suddenly occurs to me how much of the slang we threw at each other in school was just casteist bullshit.
— Rohan (@mojorojo) August 4, 2016
Never thought of it that way did you?
And he doesn’t stop there. In a series of tweets on Thursday, Rohan goes on to describe how routine these slurs were, and even teachers would use them.
It also occurs to me that a state-appointed external examiner graded my entire XIIth Biology lab score based on a casteist question :-/
— Rohan (@mojorojo) August 4, 2016
His only question to me in the viva was (and I quote) "I have a supermodified question for you; which organ is your body's bhangi?"
— Rohan (@mojorojo) August 4, 2016
I had nooooo idea what the word meant, until he explained to me that bhangi was the "nickname" (his word) of people who wash clothes
— Rohan (@mojorojo) August 4, 2016
He adds that growing up not knowing caste, and thinking about the slur’s subtext intellectually now, is also a privilege. This makes him the rare celebrity who talks about privilege.
Then again, I had the luxury of growing up privileged. I had the luxury of learning that term in passing, and not as a slur applied to me.
— Rohan (@mojorojo) August 4, 2016
Most people don't have that luxury, & have to live the slur. I get to deal with it on an intellectual level. IF I want to. That's privilege.
— Rohan (@mojorojo) August 4, 2016
People informing me now that the slur refers to waste-pickers. Wow my examiner was a casteist AND factually wrong. Asshole.
— Rohan (@mojorojo) August 4, 2016
I'm Brahmin. But I used to say "Oh we were raised never to know caste!" But I recognise now that even that is caste privilege
— Rohan (@mojorojo) August 4, 2016
I'm not required to "see caste" because my caste buys me so much free privilege that I don't even need to know it exists to enjoy it.
— Rohan (@mojorojo) August 4, 2016
That is not a privilege, right or luxury afforded to other castes. The "lower" (ugh) you go, the more aware you're made of how it limits you
— Rohan (@mojorojo) August 4, 2016
Apologies for interminable ramble. I have no point. Only sadness. Which weirdly enough, also feels like a dirty privilege.
— Rohan (@mojorojo) August 4, 2016
Many people responded to Rohan, saying that words like ‘chamaar’ and ‘bhangi’ are used quite commonly in their circles as well.
@mojorojo oh very colorful indeed. bhangi,chamar,desi,habshi,ghaati,kaancha and then some
— Anomalisa (@tweetria) August 4, 2016
@mojorojo @kunalsahay chamar is used in Mumbai, though not so liberally. We are mostly happy with slurs demeaning our women.
— Charmi Dedhia (@charmipdedhia) August 4, 2016
@mojorojo #casteist #racist #colorist. You name it, we kids said it
— Tushar M (@QueeredOut) August 4, 2016
@mojorojo I used the word 'habshi' for a long time without knowing it's a racist slur for blacks.
— NumbYaar (@NumbYaar) August 4, 2016
@ShoaibDaniyal @mojorojo not sure if its used in Bombay, but "Chamar" was one which I used to hear liberally in schools. Just sad.
— Kunal (@kunalsahay) August 4, 2016
@mojorojo Apart from it being amazingly bigoted, also a good example of how tight caste is. We'd never ever hang out with a bhangi ever.
— Shoaib Daniyal (@ShoaibDaniyal) August 4, 2016