Who am I to write on the great man? I was fighting my insecurities.
Of course, I have read a few of his essays. I live in the country abiding by the book(constitution) he helped draft and of course, I'm a big fan of him! But does that qualify me to write on one of the greatest men this country has seen?
I mean that man was a genius! To have done his doctorates in two of the greatest universities in the world(Yes, two doctorates!); for someone who was considered to be an untouchable is mind-numbing. Here was this 14th child of the family going to school. The school does not allow him to sit along with other children owing to caste. And all the other 13 quits. Only he survives. In fact, he was the first from his community to have completed schooling. It was that tough! The first Mahar to have ever entered the prestigious Bombay university. The man was so good that he gets a scholarship to enter Columbia University and then to the hallowed lanes of the London School of Economics.
What would have I done? Had I been in his shoes! Being ill-treated at every step. Made to sit alone in a class. Poured water from above by a clerk so that my body does not touch the glass. What would have I done? Would I have survived? It was so easy for him to just quit and go back to the daily wage labourer job or join the army. No?
The man is being inherited by everyone around. His community of course; The socialist ideological left-wing since he wanted the governments to be running the industries, also the economical right-wing since he advocated for markets in a few areas. The 'liberals', think of Ambedkar as his own since he fought for the rights of the individual, while the constitutionalists want his piece too, for Ambedkar drafted the Indian constitution. Strangely even the casteist right-wing, who he so much abhorred, want their pie too! For the man could not be dispensed with.
Yet, what does he mean for me? The common man, who hardly understands ideologies?
He is the ultimate middle-class dream. If that man can challenge himself and resist the world and be the absolute best, why not me? He embodies everything which I wish have! The dog in the fight. If I can challenge myself and challenge the world and be the best I can be, Columbia University, LSE, two doctorates, scholarly knowledge in all of economics, law, constitution and political science, can never be far behind.
Ambedkar mean to show me the meaning of what it takes to be the best, come what may!
The man is being inherited by everyone around. His community of course; The socialist ideological left-wing since he wanted the governments to be running the industries, also the economical right-wing since he advocated for markets in a few areas. The 'liberals', think of Ambedkar as his own since he fought for the rights of the individual, while the constitutionalists want his piece too, for Ambedkar drafted the Indian constitution. Strangely even the casteist right-wing, who he so much abhorred, want their pie too! For the man could not be dispensed with.
Yet, what does he mean for me? The common man, who hardly understands ideologies?
He is the ultimate middle-class dream. If that man can challenge himself and resist the world and be the absolute best, why not me? He embodies everything which I wish have! The dog in the fight. If I can challenge myself and challenge the world and be the best I can be, Columbia University, LSE, two doctorates, scholarly knowledge in all of economics, law, constitution and political science, can never be far behind.
Ambedkar mean to show me the meaning of what it takes to be the best, come what may!
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