Scavengers & priests take holy dip together in Ujjain

Alwar: Once scavengers, discrimination and humiliation is not new to these women. But what gives them a new lease of life is being accepted in the mainstream of the society and to be a part of a group along with Brahmins.
For the erstwhile women scavengers of Alwar and Tonk, Thursday was something they did not expect in their lives. The group, along with Brahmin priests and Sanskrit scholars, took a holy dip in the Kshipra river at Ujjain during the ongoing Kumbh Mela.Thus, cleansing the dirt of untouchability from their minds.
“Discrimination is not uncommon to us.There was a time when people would curse us and rush for a bath to cleanse themselves if they unknowingly happened to touch us.From those social practices by upper castes to this transformed mindset when two opposite sections taking a holy dip together is beyond imagination," said an enlightened Usha Tomar, a resident of Alwar.
About 200 women who had earlier worked as manual scavengers took the holy dip along with widows from Vrindavan and the priests, amidst chanting of hymns and prayers. This was the first time that such an initiative had been pushed forward for promoting equality in society by erasing the barriers of caste and practices of untouchability.The idea was the brainchild of Dr Bindeshwar Pathak, founder of Sulabh Sanitation Movement, an NGO.