Aaspati Kumari Ram
Aaspati Kumari Ram, who is currently studying for her Bachelor’s degree, still remembers the heartrending day when she had to quit her studies because she could not afford to buy books and other school supplies. Aaspati, who lives in Sugauli Paterwa of Ward 4, Paterwa-Sugauli Rural Municipality, vividly remembers her childhood spent in a very weak economic condition. She worked in the fields of Tharu
landlords to earn the money to buy school supplies and school uniform to study up to grade 10. For Aaspati, who had to return to working as an agricultural labourer to put together the expensive school fees to attend grades 11 and 12, life is synonymous to struggle. A Madheshi Dalit, in a society where women and the poor face especial hurdles to surviving and getting an education, Aaspati has nontheless forged an identity as an athlete, and is continually racing ahead through life’s struggles,
Aaspati, who is from the Ram (Chamar) community, is still subjected to discrimination because of her caste. She has many experiences of being mistreated as a lower caste person for belonging to the Chamar community, which traditionally engaged in leatherwork and agricultural labour. When she was living in a rented room to sit for the SEE exams at the end of the 10th grade, the non-Dalits around her found out her caste and insulted her with nasty remarks and told her that she should move out of the rented room.
Aaspati Kumari Ram, who is currently studying for her Bachelor’s degree, still remembers the heartrending day when she had to quit her studies because she could not afford to buy books and other school supplies. Aaspati, who lives in Sugauli Paterwa of Ward 4, Paterwa-Sugauli Rural Municipality, vividly remembers her childhood spent in a very weak economic condition. She worked in the fields of Tharu
landlords to earn the money to buy school supplies and school uniform to study up to grade 10. For Aaspati, who had to return to working as an agricultural labourer to put together the expensive school fees to attend grades 11 and 12, life is synonymous to struggle. A Madheshi Dalit, in a society where women and the poor face especial hurdles to surviving and getting an education, Aaspati has nontheless forged an identity as an athlete, and is continually racing ahead through life’s struggles, never once abandoning courage.
Aaspati, who is from the Ram (Chamar) community, is still subjected to discrimination because of her caste. She has many experiences of being mistreated as a lower caste person for belonging to the Chamar community, which traditionally engaged in leatherwork and agricultural labour. When she was living in a rented room to sit for the SEE exams at the end of the 10th grade, the non-Dalits around her found out her caste and insulted her with nasty remarks and told her that she should move out of the rented room.
These experiences form the basis of Aaspati’s deep engagement with the intersection between the caste system and gender. She says that when she lacked knowledge about these issues, she used to quietly accept caste-based discrimination and gender inequality as the natural fate of people like her. But now she is eager to rise up against all forms of discrimination and resist them. She feels that her life is moving away from darkness and toward light.
Aaspati understands that caste and land are intertwined. She believes that the prevailing attitude of not pushing back against rich non-Dalits has developed out of seeing how Dalits who dared to speak up against injustice were tied to poles and beaten up. Although her own mother taught her that people of lower castes should not get into altercations with non-Dalits, and how such resistance would deprive Dalits of a livelihood, she doesn’t appreciate such lessons. Aaspati, who has only ever seen large tracts of land being owned by the so-called higher castes, rejects the idea that the lower castes should always willingly tolerate the oppression of the landowners.
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