{"id":1493,"date":"2026-05-09T12:35:38","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T12:35:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/?p=1493"},"modified":"2026-05-13T12:49:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T12:49:35","slug":"india-what-is-dalit-joy-its-a-threat-to-savarnasdebi-chatterjee-on-caste-dalit-literature-and-rights-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/india-what-is-dalit-joy-its-a-threat-to-savarnasdebi-chatterjee-on-caste-dalit-literature-and-rights-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"INDIA: What is Dalit joy? It\u2019s a threat to savarnas…"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Caste minds have constructed worlds and cultivated cultures that are inherently anti-joy and actively anti-Dalit. This is our crooked room. And this is precisely why even the most mellowed expressions of joy from Dalits are threatening to those around us. Like in 2018, Mahesh Rathod, a 13-year-old Dalit boy from Vithalapur 8 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, was beaten up for having a Darbar-like etiquette. Meaning, Mahesh was wearing jeans, a shirt, a thick gold chain around his neck, and Rajwadi Mojaris. In 2015, Sagar Shejwal, a twenty-three-year-old Dalit man from Shirdi in Maharashtra, was beaten to death by seven men belonging to the Maratha and OBC communities for having an Ambedkar song as a ringtone on his phone. In 2019, Jitendra in Kot, Uttarakhand was beaten up and killed for sitting on a chair and eating at a wedding in the presence of upper castes. The same year, four wedding processions of Dalits were attacked in a single week in Gujarat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A moustache. A dance. Riding a horse. An unbuttoned shirt. Leather shoes. Simple things and small joys that lead to thrashing, beating, stabbing, humiliation and death. This is what caste is. It emboldens joy-killing monsters that sit at the top of the pyramid, obese from eating the joys of Dalits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Urban savarnas are no different. They may not kill you, but they too cause damage. When I noticed that my hair was so thick, my friend piped, \u2018That\u2019s \u2019cause you\u2019re nicely eating mutton and chicken.\u2019 When I texted another about a new gadget I had bought, he replied, \u2018All you rich, privileged people.\u2019 When I announced that I had got a new job, a colleague said, \u2018That\u2019s because I didn\u2019t apply for it.\u2019 Prick that bubble. Dull that shine. Kill that moment. Savarnas believe in the impossibility of Dalit joy\u2014and if and when it happens, they are convinced of their right to rob it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To discover joy as Dalit thus means that we first deconstruct this ridiculous inadequacy we have been rationed. We have to take apart their lies not just with rage, but with jeer. Call it silly. Call it absurd. See how foolish it is to treat joy as an individualistic pursuit that is sheathed, hidden within the self, from the self. See how wearisome it is to restrict something so available. See how fabricated it all sounds. Mediocre, even.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t want this warped notion of joy. I want no part in this laboriousness. I\u2019d rather relish fruits like Vijeta Kumar\u2019s father. I could go on morning walks with my mother, listening to little birds heralding the dawn. I could eat mutton curry andgar\u00e9 at my mother-in-law\u2019s. I could sit on a rocky beach and let the thick, salty air wash over me. Joy should be free to take.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, I suspect that learning new ways of pursuing, sustaining, and savouring joy takes practice. Every time something beautiful happens, however small or big, my mind has no idea what to do with it. Instead of revelling in it, it searches for something that could go wrong. My mind believes it\u2019s protecting me from unnecessary hurt, but in so doing, it has (almost) rid me of the ability to be in the moment. To relish, to enjoy, to experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Bren\u00e9 Brown calls it foreboding joy\u2014an experience of joy immediately followed by worry or dread. It\u2019s a form of self-protection against vulnerability, she says. I used to admire Brown\u2019s work, but I now find her a tad too simplistic in the way white American worldviews generally are. Indeed, while\u2018foreboding joy\u2019 as a term makes sense, its explanation does not. It is not without reason that Dalits fear joy. For Mahesh, Suman, and Delta, appearing joyful can literally get them killed. And it exposes the rest of us to ridicule, hurt and \u2018lessons\u2019. In this sense, joy is not an easy thing to embrace. Joy seems lethal. Joy seems unnecessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what does Brown even mean when she says, \u2018In moments of joyfulness, we try to beat vulnerability to the punch\u2019? That, \u2018when we lose our tolerance to be vulnerable, joy becomes foreboding\u2019? Disappointingly enough\u2014but not surprisingly\u2014a number of South Asian influencers and brown therapists also resonate with Brown\u2019s dare-to-be-vulnerable rhetoric. Perhaps they would advise Dalits to embrace vulnerability in order to realise joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s the thing though: Dalits\u2019 foreboding isn\u2019t because they are scared of vulnerability. They are already systemically vulnerable and have even been told that they have a victim mindset if and when they speak of it. So, how is a performance of vulnerability, in the way Brown is advocating for\u2014which is to \u2018daringly\u2019 show the world how soft and gooey we all are\u2014going to work? How will it lead to joy? If anything, the opposite happens. Caste minds respond with disgust, name-calling and more exploitation. A Dalit\u2019s vulnerability is a reminder of their evil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vulnerability is not our magic potion. Recognition is. Reconstruction is. Our foreboding joy is our minds grappling with the real cost of what joy demands of us\u2014the history and the reality of our joy being robbed and the usual trauma that follows it. It is a warning, a writing on the wall that has been passed down through generations. Perhaps we must ignore the likes of Brown and stop calling our minds and bodies chicken-hearted. Perhaps we must see them as intelligent beings that are understandably tempered in their enthusiasm. Perhaps we must empathize with the fear that bubbles from within. Perhaps only by validating it can we and our communities truly pursue joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is why resilience and resistance feel more authentic than vulnerability. Indeed, a foreshadowing of what could happen and the fear that it will all fall apart is entirely reasonable, but it is also true that we are our ancestors\u2019 wildest dreams. Our fore-parents fought hard for our joy. Not in one grand sweep but painstakingly, through everyday struggles and small victories, through acts of relentless determination, and through a perseverance that would put Brown\u2019s \u2018courage culture\u2019 to shame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We must position this inherited strength, this generational legacy, right next to the foreboding\u2014like two handrails of a staircase\u2014knowing that both are there to help us. And slowly, but eventually, we might learn to lean more on one than the other. We may realize that we too are resilient, and no matter what life throws at us, we will find a way out and a way up. We may reconstruct joy in the manner that works for us. We may soothe the inner child and let her daydream again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: The Print<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Caste minds have constructed worlds and cultivated cultures that are inherently anti-joy and actively anti-Dalit. This is our crooked room. 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