BHUBANESWAR: Education doesn't seem to be serving any purpose in raising the caste bar. A retired high school headmaster in Sambalpur district tonsured his head and organized a community feast to prevent being an outcaste after his techie daughter married an MBA degree holder colleague from another caste.
Nrupalal Choudhury, a resident of Bandhkani village under Kuchinda police station limits, around 300 km from here, said on Tuesday he organized the feast a week ago on February 7.
"I organized the lunch and got my head shaved as suggested by my community following my daughter's marriage in a different caste," he said. "I had to toe the community line as I have to stay with them though I was not opposed to my daughter's marriage," he added. The community feast menu included rice, dal, vegetables, and 60 kg mutton.
The ritual also included a puja conducted by Brahmins in which Choudhury begged forgiveness for his daughter's conduct and professed to abide by the community rules henceforth, following which he was inducted back into the fold of his caste.
Choudhury's 27-year-old daughter, an information technology diploma holder, works in a power construction service provider in Jharsuguda. She fell in love with a colleague of six years, who is in a managerial position in the same company, and married him on January 19.
Sources said the girl's community members had started avoiding her maternal family following the marriage. While Choudhury belongs to 'aghiria' caste, the groom's family of Pradhans are 'kulitas'. Both castes are in the other backward castes (OBC) category.
"We were not against the marriage but we also have to adhere to community traditions," said Choudhury's wife Aswini. Choudhury has three daughters and a son, who are all married within the community. "She is my third daughter. My eldest daughter is a housewife while the second daughter and son are government servants. All are educated," Choudhury said.
From the bride's family, only Choudhury and his wife attended the temple marriage. The groom's family had no problems with the inter-caste marriage, Choudhury said.
Community leaders justified the 'traditional' ritual of bringing Choudhury family back into the community fold. "We never opposed his daughter's marriage in any way. But anyone who has to remain within the community must abide its rules," said Bhagabana Choudhury, an 'aghiria' community leader.
Bhagabana, also a retired teacher, said the family themselves approached the community in writing about their wish to go through the 'jet kara' (rituals to come back to community fold) tradition.
Sociologists were not surprised to find educated people indulging in such practices. "Village folk still adhere to the tradition they inherited. Nobody wants to challenge them because it is difficult to survive in a village if one is ostracized," said Sukadeba Naik, a professor of sociology in Sambalpur University.
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