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Ahmedabad Dalit comedian uses razor-sharp humour to fight caste barrier

Her fight did not involve any dramatics, dharna or threats. Instead, she used her razor-sharp humour to chop the demon called caste discrimination.

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Manisha Varan is a post-graduate student, studying in Rajkot
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Manisha Varan, a native of Khengarka village in Jamnagar district, is a confident post-graduate student, studying Arts, from Rajkot. However, education did not leverage her to overcome any caste hierarchy. Varan ignored it for a long time until she decided to do wipe it out. Her fight did not involve any dramatics, dharna or threats. Instead, she used her razor-sharp humour to chop the demon called caste discrimination.

Varan, an expert mehendi artist, also earned some money while studying. "During the peak marriage season, I would get a lot of request from my village for mehendi. It earned me Rs 1,500 a day during the marriage season," said Varan. However, when she visited the bride's house for Mehendi, she was often asked to wait outside. "They would give us a plastic sheet to sit so that they could throw it away later. When we asked for water, they'd serve us in plastic cups and dispose of it. We'd be served food in use-and-throw plates. It was all because I belonged to a low caste," said Varan.

Weaving the tale, she elaborated, "Initially, I ignored it because they were my clients. Later, I realised that if I didn't raise my voice now, my clients would take it as a norm." She said one fine day she decided to confront one of her clients. "When they made me sit outside the house and threw away the glass I used, I told the bride's maid If I could pollute a glass so much, imagine how much I could pollute the bride by touching her hand by putting the mehendi," said Varan.

She said the family felt sheepish but did not say much. "So I told them jokingly that they should also cut off the bride's hand and throw it away since I had touched it," said Varan. She said her statement immediately set off a debate and the bride's family admitted that their untouchability rules were at their own convenience.

"I also had several of my friends there who told the family that we all lived in a hostel and we did not know who cooked our food and if others ate in the plate that we ate in. They told them that we did not follow caste in the hostel and it made no sense to treat us differently in the village," said Varan.

Since then whenever Varan goes to an upper caste house she always demands the bride's hand to be thrown away if they discriminate against her. "It has worked. But that has only ended the discrimination that I face. People from my caste continue to be treated differently even now in my village," said Varan. Incidentally, when she challenged casteism, her dad chided her for raking up a non-issue. "He told me that is how those from lower caste were treated. It might have been fine with him, but it was not fine with me. They sought me out for my expertise and so I won't tolerate discrimination," said Varan matter of fact.

Casting Off Casteism

  • Manisha Varan is a native of Khengarka village in Jamnagar. 
  • Her fight did not involve any dramatics, dharna or threats. Instead, she used her razor-sharp humour to cut out caste discrimination 
  • I realised that if I didn’t raise my voice now, my clients would take it as a norm, she said. 
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