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Article: Combatting caste Mari Marcel Thekaekara reports from India on the stink of untouchability and how those most affected are trying to remove it.(KEYNOTE)
- Article from:
- New Internationalist
- Article date:
- July 1, 2005
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 New Internationalist Magazine. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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'IN the rainy season,' the woman began, 'it is really bad. Water mixes with the shit and when we carry it (on our heads) it drips from the baskets, on to our clothes, our bodies, our faces. When I return home I find it difficult to eat food sometimes. The smell never gets out of my clothes, my hair. But this is our fate. To feed my children I have no option but to do this work.'
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Narayanamma began cleaning human excrement at 13. She is now 35. The stench is nauseating, overpowering. First, she sweeps the shit into piles. Then, using two flat pieces of tin, she scoops it up and drops it into a bamboo basket which she carries to a ...