Bela lal wrote a novel on honour killing in Gurgaon. She thinks its about purity of race and control. She spoke to SM Verghis
Were you aware that Gurgaon’s name comes from ‘Gurugram’IJApparently the five Pandavas in the Mahabharat gifted the village to their teacher, Guru Dronacharya.
It is not for nothing there is a Metro station with the latter’s name in Gurgaon.And did you know the term ‘Gujjar’, referring to the community, derives from go which is, gaay or cow, and, charana or, ‘to grazeIJ’
Information about Gurgaon’s background did not come easy to Bela lal, who recently published a book titled For Honour (Niyogi Books).It’s about honour killing in a fictional community called the Khimjas, inspired, “by incidents among Gujjars, Jhats and other tribes.”
Tribal elders in the story, prevent an outsider from marrying one of theirs.
Then a village head, Om Khimjas’ daughters, elopes with his accountant, Anant, whose past is not revealed till the end of the novel.
“People don’t always notice things about their background like us outsiders,” said lal who lives in Gurgaon. “There is a meeting here between between the village, which is close by, and the town. This results in two points of conflict. Then there are migrant labourers, who make the buildings. I also included the Gujjar agitation.”
She continued, “Honour killings are a relatively recent development. People were traditional earlier, and conformed. In the 21st century, they are not so willing to follow outdated rules. I’ve known people with rigid ideas. In my area, as elsewhere in this region, people have sold land to developers and bought other land here. like one family of four brothers who are live nearby.”
lal remarked, “you get a feel of ideas and culture. like this system of sitting outside with a hookah. If they don’t have a charpai, they will sit on the road. Never mind if they block the traffic.”
According to her, Gujjar’s came from north, fit into the caste-system and describe themselves as kshatriya. “But they don’t have a history of a fighting force. They raised goats and sheep. They stole. There were not many Brahmins, or those interested in knowledge, per se, among them. Now however, they are willing to lower their social class, for the benefits of a Scheduled Caste ranking.”
Gujjars are currently listed under OBC, and demanding same advantages as those of the Meenas in Rajasthan, where the agitation began.
She informed that when these village elders take decisions in matters of honour they don’t follow a rule book. “Its all ad hoc. A show of hands is enough. The good part about this ‘honour’ was it kept a community homogenous.”
But how is community behaviour learntIJ “We have history, but not the documents. Codes of conduct are passed down generations through observation. And I don’t think ‘honour’ was because of notions like the treatment of women as property. But the desire to maintain purity of race.” Though science proves that inter-racial marriages result in healthier genes.
Among Brahmins, those who married outside, would be dealt through bahishkar (being outcaste). With the Khimjas and recent khap panchayats, punishment has been more violent. Death.
She ended, “I believe its a control theory. That women have to be under the thumb.”