The Reservation Debate: Reference Groups, Casteisation, Trinity Model, Social Mobility, Pluralism, Communalism, Division of Labour and Social Solidarity

        Much has been written on reservation in post-independent India especially post Mandal era and recently post the inclusion of the EWS criteria for reservation. This column is a sociological effort to understand the plural causes of reservation, its consequences for a social system synchronizing the best of both Weberian and functionalist methodologies.

      

    There can be no doubt that Merton's theory of relative deprivation of a social group when comparing them with a 'reference group' is the root cause of demand for reservation. When community X or Y has less jobs, education, positions of power compared to community A or B, naturally there comes a demand for affirmative action to correct this system social strata that is building up.

    Now, for long this has been largely based on Caste alone and several scholars like Louis Dumont conceded caste and caste alone is the prism through which Indian society needs to be analyzed. Reservation thus came to be an Ambedkarite step whereby politico-economic empowerment of socially backward and historically discriminated came to be the main goal of affirmative action in post independent India.

Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry with PM

        

        Inadvertently and unfortunately, this led to a surge in caste consciousness in India as Ghurye contends especially post Mandal era wherein the casteisation of caste that Gandhiji pointed to as danger of reservation has seeped through the Indian society. 

    Yet, it is beyond doubt that affirmative action has been a remarkable tool of social mobility for hitherto oppressed sections whether it be education, jobs, income or political power. The scaling up along the secular hierarchy of the Sanskritization ladder as Srinivas would call it became the positive fallout of reservation for the socially backward.

        Today, reservation has gone beyond the social parameter into the economic. This may be seen as an acceptance of the Weberian trinity model of stratification that details class, status and power as the three fulcrums of stratification. An individual's position in society is thus not solely determined by one rather is a composite sum of the three, each to varying degree.

Thus, a person may be of lower class position but may be superior by his status position (which in India is caste) and vice versa. Whether these stratas are overlapping or cross cutting, it is no doubt the duty of state to devise a fair method of determining the social position of the individual and appropriately empowering him or her through affirmative action which it is attempting to do in this case.

Status and class position as Weber denotes are gateways of power and power is the Ambedkarite essence of reservation, the end goal that shatters the chains of subordination, humiliation and defilement the vices of untouchability. It is thus only natural to assume that class is also recognized and considered when devising a method of affirmative action.

        The trinity model of stratification is wide enough that we can accommodate gender, region (think of the North-East) all in the status group beyond just caste and religion as it exists currently. Ironically, reservation then comes out to be a complicated business, just like Weber defines society, multi-dimensional, complex, incomprehensible in one go, thus what is required is a piece meal analysis, isolating each facet/ strata and understanding the need.

At the heart of this exercise is undeniably politics and power and rightly so, because this is the journey of society to find the Durkhmeian balance of division of labour, not in a dysfunctional, casteist manner but in a rightful, just, fair manner. In that way, it becomes an exercise for social solidarity to prevent conflict amidst the competition, the dearth of opportunities and the large demand.

Reservation can thus be interpreted to be an evidence of the pluralist model of power that Dahl put forward. No one pressure group has the power, each raises their voice, demands and the result is a bargain and compromise detailed out by the state in the sharing of the pie.

As sensitive a topic as it is, affirmative action is bound to be devoid of value consensus and communalism naturally arises as a dysfunction in the short term. Yet, this is not a Marxian revolutionary change, this is a slow paced evolutionary Parsonian change, effected by state, with sufficient backing by society to put in place a system that by differentiation and upgrading seeks to achieve an end goal of Integration in a longer period of time.

(Discalimer: The object of author's study is not to make a value judgement on the subject of reservation but to merely understand its relevance in the current social context through famous sociological teachings. Any hurt caused to an individual or community is purely unintentional)

Media in New Age: The Rallying 4th Estate, Economic Determinism, Micro Politics of Power, Stratas of Race and Gender, Enforced Collective Conscience, Labelled Non Deviance and Affective Social Action

          For long, the Media has been the 4^th Estate that calls out all other estates, a part of civil society that Gramsci noted has the power to hold governments accountable to the people. It would thus be assumed that if Weber were to create an Ideal Type of Media in yesteryear, it would ironically represent Parsonian power system where media becomes a collective faculty of power that is productive and positive for the entire society.

          Yet, media in the post truth world is best characterised by Michael Focault’s micro politics of power. Today, everything is about narrative or discourse, creating perceptions in minds of people, truth coming a far second. Media is everything about this part, about creating a discourse at whatever end of ideological spectrum, knowledge stemming from that and of course power to follow suit.

          Media’s role in the collective conscience of society is paramount especially in today’s age of social and digital media. It is able to create new norms and values with the enormous reach that it has and thus not only sustain collective conscience at times but also transform it and create a new collective conscience through the various discourse or narratives. The former being most recently illustrated through the ground reporting of the Hathras case that had deeply wounded the collective conscience of the nation.

          Media, in such cases becomes a precipitating factor of a social movement. We have seen this in several socio-political movements like the India Against Corruption Movement and the Nirbhaya movement where Media was one crucial resource that mobilized people and created a new value consensus against corruption or crimes against women. It thus fits perfectly into resource mobilization theory as a crucial resource in a social movement.

          That being said, the underlying character of today’s media is the role of social strata- race, gender and foremost of all class in production and consumption of news. The corporate ownership of media houses, the race to TRPs for advertising revenue and full page ads in print newspapers all point to a possible tale of Marxian economic determinism taking over media.          

Naturally what follows would be the leaning over to an Ideological State Apparatus that fosters false class consciousness and perpetuates dominant class ideology and class hierarchy. Yet, several media houses have continued to dwell on the last citizen in the line and social justice, which is heartening. 

           The Class divide in consumption of news overlaps with language too as upper and middle class English speaking citizens watch English channels while working class prefer to watch in local language and given the cheap rate of data in the country, social media is itself a news machine for them. TV media in appearance and presentation also oozes elitism in the way anchors dress and present news. Race also becomes a key stratum here as the number of dark skinned anchors are far fewer compared to fair skinned ones pointing to fact that race may be an entry bottleneck for this profession.

            While media generally has large number of women as active participants, one can notice the glass ceiling that Sylvia Walby noted in her theory of patriarchy in this institution too. The most reputed, famous journalist holding important editorial and ownership positions are inevitably male despite media houses employing such a large number of women. This is one glass ceiling that would hopefully be broken through soon. 

             

            The ironical aspect of media in a polarized world is it has become less and less about rationality and more about emotions. Thus what was once a Zweckrational or Wertrational Action has now become an affective action in the Weberian Thesis as people's emotion has been the fundamental receiving point of most news much less a rational logical analysis. 

             What follows from this is that many things which would have been labelled deviant by media themselves previously whether it is media trials, shouting in newsrooms, fake news reporting have all come to be a norm in this day and age signifying it is all just a matter of labelling as Howard Becker pointed out to Merton. Given the cut throat competition, the sub culture of deviance is also all the more visible to all of us. 

 

            As crowd funded news platforms come up and digital age takes off, media can be partly free of the danger of deviance becoming a norm and economic determinism in general. The 4th estate will undergo a fundamental transformation in times to come and 'We the people' have every power to determine whether for the worse or for the good. 

 

Advertisements: Reference Groups, Charismatic Authority, Role Allocation, Social Stratification, Reformative Change, Nationalism, Super Structure

 

Advertisements whether in print, TV or social media are all about creating and sustaining Reference Groups that Robert Merton pertinently outlined for us students of sociology. When they show on screen a fair lady or man, a housewife speeding through her household chores due to a better dish wash or a man gifting his wife a diamond or gold necklace, it is all about creating that positive orientation into a Reference group of being the Ideal Type woman, housewife or husband.

               

Added to that is the Weberian Charismatic Authority in play with sports celebrities and film stars who have millions of fans and followers. If someone whom you worship drinks a particular brand, wears a particular clothing line or drives a said car then you also must have it. That’s the reference group of your mind and the tune of the Charismatic pied piper.               

               

It is thus safe to say advertisements are thus specialists in role allocation. They achieve this by reinforcing the value system of society defining the character sketch of the Ideal housewife, lover, husband, employee, women, man and the list is endless and allocating the virtues associated. In a way, they feed into the common sense and stereotypes of society that ‘white is beauty’ or ‘Gold symbolizes prosperity and social status’ or ‘a woman must be the one washing clothes’ (yet to come across an ad in which men wash clothes). Ads are thus a reflection of the culture angle pointed out by Margret Mead and Ann Oakley in the nature-culture debate on gender hierarchy where it becomes clear cultural values perpetuate male domination of women in society. This role allocation as a whole becomes status quoist encouraging system of social stratification in place.

             

This is straight of the Parsonian and Davis and Moore functional theory of stratification. Advertisements are a mere reflection of social rank and order that exist in society and the value consensus that bind this rank. Advertisements reinforce this value consensus, social order and thus ensure the sustenance of stratification. Most of them being punctuated with a feel good ending (a girl smiling after becoming fair or the housewife content at clean dress or plates) drive home their point that social stratification in effect becomes functional for unit of family and society as a whole.                 

               

That being said, advertisements are ironically change oriented also albeit a reformative rather than revolutionary change. The state itself utilizes advertisements to change social attitudes, behaviours and social stratification systems that exist. The ads advocating Sanitation facilities, its linkage with gender and the use of charismatic authorities like Vidya Balan and Akshay Kumar are a case in point. Who can forget the tag line ‘Jaago Grahak Jago’ that the Indian state has utilized to drive up consumer awareness among citizens and renewed trust in consumer-seller relations.                  .

               

The state-ad linkage goes one step further when ads also feed on the idea of a nation. Benedict Anderson gave the concept of how nations are imagined communities. Advertisements seek to establish this imagined community as those who utilize their goods or services. That is how Amul sells as the ‘Taste of India’ and Hero Honda is ‘Desh ki Dhadkan’. It is the unity and feeling of oneness among us as nation that becomes the selling point for businesses at the same time reinforcing nationalist feeling among citizens and consumers.

               

Marxian and Neo-marxian thinkers would place Ads a part of super structure to a great extent determined by the base structure- the ruling class and its ideas. The Ads on luxury cars, perfumes, champagnes that ooze elitism are a direct hit on the dominant class values that they perpetuate and the elite hierarchy that they seek to maintain. At the end of the day, it is about haves and have-nots, the haves’ social status created, maintained and reinforced through Ads and the desire for material pleasure directly correlated with social status. The haves become the Positive Reference Groups for the have-nots inducing false class consciousness suppressing revolution and serving as the Ideological State Apparatus for capitalist dominance.

Whatever said and done, Ads build and thrive on social relationships, patterns and networks. The very foundation of economics thus curiously lies in society (if one were to turn Marxian thought on its head). The Cadbury Diary Milk Ad of ‘Kiss Me’, The Hutch Ad of ‘You and I in this beautiful world’ and the Havells Ad featuring the mother and child all show that advertisements rest on the foundation of relationships- fictive, familial or conjugal. This truly must be the Comteian moment for the ‘Queen of All Sciences’.

 

(Disclaimer: The names of companies and celebrities used here are purely for educational, academic and non-commercial purposes. The author does not intend to advocate any brand or to defame or criticize any company for its advertisements. The examples used are purely for illustration purposes and no damage is intended)

Suicides of The Day: Durkhmeian Quadrant, Anomie, Need for New Value Consensus, ‘I’ and ‘Me’, Non-positivism, The Infocide, Distant Kinships and Familial Burden

                The news of a suicide no longer staggers us so much. It has become the new normal unless it happens to our near and dear, that unfortunate is our society’s take on mental health. When it does happen to our near and dear, we lament ‘Why did he/she have to do that, I was always there for him/her’. This encapsulates the distant kin that we have become, fictive or familial, only to believe they are as cheerful as their new profile picture or status update, only to think we are so close and understand them, yet miles away from their minds.

                

              If Emile Durkheim were alive, he would be ironically pained and content of his quadrant of suicides still flourishing in the 21^st century. The collectives of family, marriage and religion eroded by politics, economics and everything else ‘that matters’ throwing emotional security to the wayside heralding an era of egoistic suicides.

           The Suicide Bombers of the many terrorist organizations of the day on the other hand bring to light the altruism in suicides wedded to an extremist ideology. The many farmer suicides we keep hearing due to indebtedness or price crash are sad realities of Anomic suicides when faced with a crisis situation with the added familial burden and the social price put on breadwinner tag that crushes their self-esteem.

                 

                  

                  India’s prisons are also facing an issue of suicides with many succumbing to the control of their movement and freedom just as several kids are giving into excess pressures put on by parents. These fatalistic suicides of the day complete the Durkhemian quadrant of suicides. It is thus clear, the society and social institutions have been set into a sense of chaos or Anomie as Durkheim himself would call it, where the system behaves like it has an Auto Immune Disorder.

                At places and times, it exerts too little control, other times, too much, this balance between the individual and society and social institutions upsetting the whole apple cart, i.e. the life of the individual. A social value exists which places a premium on good mental health and seeking medical help in matters of mental health and depression continues to be a taboo. It is this discourse of the old that must be replaced for a new value consensus (knowledge) to dawn on a society yielding more power to the mentally ailing brethren borrowing from Focault’s theory on power.

             

                 A new value consensus needs to be nurtured to create a favourable environment to express depression rather than supress it. Seeking mental health should be normalized and society as a whole must grow in the mould of empathetic liason to understand the other rather than reinforce stigma. The decriminalization of suicide and Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 are some positive changes through which the state is pushing the society to break free from these negative stereotypes.

               Suicide is also a curious case of the ‘Me’ and ‘I’ killing each other. ‘Me’ is the socialized self, one who unwittingly takes in the idea that mental health issues are delinquent, vulgar and seeking help in that regard is akin to falling down from the social ladder. While the ‘Me’ prevents seeking help, it is the ‘I’ that commits the final act in a moment of impulse burying the socialized norms of sustaining life in the process. The worst of both worlds of the ‘I’ and ‘Me’ conspire and the self bleeds tragically to death; alas if only we could change the ‘Me’s in the first place.

               

            Yet it is not that easy either, surely suicide can’t be a social fact as Durkheim would have liked it to be. It is without question an object of non-positive study, such is the galaxy of thoughts that appear in the universe of the human mind.  Each case of suicide is thus different from the other and we should resist formulating laws or configurations that does grave injustice to the human mind that thinks, interprets and acts in ways it deems best. This is why Max Weber placed the individual mind at the centre of analysing Social Action radically departing from the positive thought of yesteryear sociology.      

              

                The individual mind these days is prey to the virtual realm of social media where social acceptance assumes form of likes, retweets and rejection assumes the form of vile comments or abuses. Moreover, the relentless information influx through digital media means the worst of the world often piles up in front of our eyes burdening the mind. The suicides among Covid +ve patients fearing death or misery and the Bois Locker room related suicide cases are prominent examples in this regard.

                Suicides are not just an act of the overthinking or ill thought mind of an individual alone, it is time we understood it is neither just the individual nor his/her mind alone that drove the knife in. The society and social constructs have created an Anomie in our social system that threatens its dynamic equilibrium that must be restored by nurturing a new value system that values mental health and openness. This social change though revolutionary in extent, would be evolutionary in nature knocking at the doors of Parsons Cybernetic hierarchy transforming the cultural system and restoring order through adaptive upgrading and binding value consensus in this evolutionary universe of ours.                      

Corona Virus: A ‘Virulocratic’ Society, The New Caste System in Town, The Police-Welfare State, Renewed Kinships, Crisis Nationalism, Science over Religion and Malthusian Positive Check

Ever since the COVID 19 spread its dreaded wings over the globe, it has occupied center stage in our minds, society, economy and polity. It can thus be undoubtedly said that in these times of the pandemic, we are nothing but a ‘virulocratic’ society where everything is centered around the pillar of the Corona Virus, much like religion used to be center of theocratic societies of the past. When August Comte, the father of sociology in his thesis Law of 3 stages outline the stages of theocracy, metaphysical stage and empirical society, little would he have imagined such a stage in the magic of time. But that invariably is the nature of a pandemic.

Today, our social interactions and needs are redefined by a new normal due to this deadly virus. In one way, this pandemic virus is much like the Caste system. It creates a value consensus of social distancing akin to the vibes of untouchability in caste but the cause here being the virtuous act of breaking the chain rather than sanctioning of religious scriptures. The ‘New Caste in Town’ is global, not Indian and it is not based on purity and pollution but rather on the notion of infected and non-infected.

The practice of ‘Social distancing’ as often quoted is seen to be the weapon of the state in stopping the spread of virus and bringing it down to health system capacity. The COVID episode is again a reminder of the immense power of state in bringing order and safety to its citizens as part of its social contract obligations.

What is also interesting is the state uses both of its contrasting arms, the police and the welfare wings to restore order in society. One can see this with police personnel eliminating non-essential movement in Italy, with Section 144 imposed in many parts of India and the massive lock down in multiple cities of the world. This muscle power of state is combined with the caring arm of doctors, nurses and volunteers rushing to save lives of millions. It is thus the Police-Welfare State, that as Weber points out is the only entity with power of legitimate violence that is working day and night for its citizens and public health with citizens trading their freedom of movement for the common good of public health.    
  

The State is also today a creator and propagator of new essential values that are required to stop this pandemic. Social distancing and hand washing are 2 such essential ones that have been cultured into society through state sponsored social movements with potent use of social media which the citizens have lapped up understanding the gravity of issue. The ‘Break the Chain Movement’ by Kerala government is an excellent example of such a social movement led by state and actively taken up by citizens.
   

What is thus amply clear today is the ability of this crisis to unite humanity let alone the oft bickering state and citizenry. We have seen videos of emotional Italians and Spaniards singing from their balconies and windows, their national anthems and songs of hope ringing in a kind of ‘Crisis nationalism’ in solidarity with the state, healthcare workers and ultimately the nation. India too is on the verge of such a symbolic solidarity with the Janata Curfew and salute to Corona warriors creating a new idea of nation: one of responsible citizenry and solidarity to healthcare workers and state.

COVID 19 has also some silver linings attached to it despite the humongous hardships it has brought to lives and livelihoods. With the onset of industrial revolution and occupational mobility, sociologists around the world had lamented about the death of kinship. Robin Fox went so far as to say that the modern society is a 'kinless' society.

This virus has forced us to reset our social lives as we distanced socially, bringing back family and households together recreating lost kinships in time of great danger. Social media as a platform has been potent in enhancing kinship connectedness in a time where everyone has a lot of time and everyone is worried about their dear ones. COVID has thus not only brought back households physically but also emotionally and virtual kinships are a manifestation of that.

COVID 19 has also brought back into focus the Science-Religion debate. With doctors, scientists, nurses working around the clock to diagnose, treat and create vaccines and scientific advice on hand washing and distancing provided to the populace, it seems Science has scored a significant victory over religion in such a life and death situation. Max Weber’s contention that religion would soon lose its plausibility structure in front of science driving secularization in modern society is visible in this crisis situation.

The empty streets of Vatican, the disappearance of God Men and Women, empty churches and temples tell the tale that even the religious and the messengers of God have succumbed to the reason, logic and empiricism of science. Yet the streaming of the holy masses through the internet and individual prayers within household illustrate how religion is innovating within the framework of science to maintain its reach over the human mind.

More than 13,000 have already succumbed to this virus with death toll only expected to increase further. This startling fact is a cold reminder of the famous Malthusian prophecy of nature’s positive checks in face of rising population to restore the balance of nature. The Egyptian Geese Herd walking along runway at Israel Airport and Otters having the time of their lives in the sun of Singapore is evidence of how nature is reclaiming its spaces grabbed by humankind post the ‘positive check’ of COVID 19.

These times of frequent human death are also an eye opener to the often overlooked system of stratification in society on the basis of age. The callous remarks of ‘only the aged are dying, it is not so fatal’ is evidence much of the ageism that our society reeks of and the gross lack of empathy for the elderly. This reflects the blurring boundaries between a natural inequality and how that becomes a social hierarchy with strong value consensus on the nature of age hierarchy.

These are very testing times for humanity and human civilization. For long, we the human race have felt powerful and invincible. Today, we realize our vulnerability and the power of nature. But it is indeed heartening that this virus enables us to appreciate what we thought as the most ordinary and normal- our family, our relationships, our nation, the welfare state and the power of science.

Corona virus has indeed redefined the social fabric and our social interactions in ways that we never imagined. Several new ‘Me’s are created from the impulsive ‘I’s as the Mind, Self and Society that Mead outlined is nourished by the new reservoir of knowledge that science provides- to be socialized yet to be distant, that is the new norm. It is this ensemble of changed micro interactions at ground level that is transforming our society without choice into a ‘virulocratic’ one.            

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan: Variable Sum Power, A new Reference Group, Collective Action, Civic Nationalism and Gendered Benefit

        Swachh Bharat Abhiyan as a mass movement is now ever so familiar to every one of us, its visible impacts right before our eyes in public places and village homes. Although driven by the welfare state, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is essentially a movement of the society, by the society and for the society

        

        It is thus a crystal clear elucidation of the Parsonian thesis of Variable Sum Power where power exists as a collective faculty that is beneficial for the society. Here, it is the idea of Swachhta where a value consensus was forged through the instruments of media and state- particularly the gram panchayats. A greater collective conscience thus creating more power to achieve the goal of ODF across panchayats and states.

         

        At the centre of this movement is thus a collective action driven by civil societal spirit. SBA thus slots in as a reformative movement in David Aberle’s classification of social movement where a large social base is driven by a limited reformative idea of Swachhta. 

        

        Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is also a Social Movement driven by Revitalization as propounded by Wallace where a movement urges a new value system for solving the structural strain in the social system thereby restoring its desirability for constituent individuals. The structural strain here being open defecation and issue of women’s dignity urging a new value system driven by toilet construction and use.

          

        Swachh Bharat Abhiyan can also be analysed through the prism of Merton’s Reference Group Theory. Here, the reference group refers to those who have toilets, use them and are thus non contributors to open defecation. The new value system provided them a higher social status that enabled them to be reference groups for non-membership groups who are yet to adopt sanitation in household.

Through campaigns like the ‘Darwaza Bandh Karo’ and ‘No Toilet No Bride’, the state and society sought to reinforce this reference group and develop a positive orientation among the non-membership group. This drove the rest of society to socialize accordingly and adopt sanitation techniques further strengthening the value system defined by Swachhta.

          

        The very same value of cleanliness is fast becoming attached to a civic duty linked to the idea of nation itself as a shared belief and virtue among all responsible citizens fulfilling their part of the citizen-state social contract. In this way, Swachh Bharat becomes a pillar of Civic Nationalism rooted in the very idea of New India.

          

           

        Swachh Bharat in its outcome is notable for its gendered benefit, given the vast improvement in girl students in schools besides ensuring women’s dignity and security. It thus highlights how welfare state’s programmes despite being not gendered inevitably has gendered benefits given the overlapping inequalities women and the third gender face in male dominated society.

       

        Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is thus clearly an astonishing mass social movement kick started by the state, driven by the society centred around the idea or value of Swachhta that forged collective conscience and inadvertently created a new value system that brought immense social progress.             

Navaratri and Vidyarambham: Gerontocracy, Rites de Passage and the Collective Conscience of Learning

                It is that time of the year again when books and instruments as symbols of learning are placed before the sacred in search of blessings before the devotee starts on her journey of enlightenment. The days of Navaratri, the rituals, the symbolism and marriage of divinity and music can be understood through the prism of famous sociological teachings.

                The very act of revering the books through days of worship resonates with Emile Durkheim’s famous idea of how religion becomes a tool to forge collective conscience and acts as a moral force on the individuals. Here, it is the value of learning that is created, resonated and reinforced through the practice of Vidyarambham. The days of Puja that are spent worshipping the Goddess Saraswati is thus an indirect worshipping of learning itself as Vidyalakshmi becomes personification and embodiment of the enlightened.

            The fact that it is a Goddess and not a God is a far cry from the dominant narrative that all religions of the world are patriarchal. Whether it be the enlightened, elegant Saraswati or the fierce and assertive Ma Durga, Navaratri also symbolizes the reverence of women as the powerful, enlightened and divine.

            The reverence of women as Goddesses in this day and age of brutal violence, sexual harassment of women and increasing feminization of labor signifies the two faced nature of Indian society that on one hand worships women as Devis and on the other hand treats them as Dasis aptly described by Veena Das as the Devi- Dasi dichotomy in Indian society.

            The practice of Ezhuthinirathu in the South where the elders literally and metaphorically hold hands of the young ones as they script their first letters in the rice grain reflects a Gerontocratic practice straight out of Weberian typology of Traditional Authority and Traditional Action. An action that relates to custom of the yesterday that places the elderly in society on a pedestal of enlightenment as torch bearers of learning and amassing wisdom.

            Vidyarambham is also a reminder of what Malinowski famously termed as Rites de Passage, that are rituals performed to smoothen the transition in crucial stages of life of an individual- birth, puberty, marriage, death. The beginning of the journey of learning whether it be a new instrument, art or knowledge is one such crucial juncture in the life of an individual. Vidyarambham, its associated rituals, sermons in worship of the Devi and the collective familial and kinship presence throughout the days of Navaratri and on the day of Vijayadeshami thus readies the mind of the young one with confidence, peace, inspiration and the feeling of a divine helping hand as he or she kick starts the journey of learning.

           

            Navaratri is also renowned for the multiple art forms on display in devotion to the almighty. Music and dance may be ordinarily perceived as secular activities yet here they are subsumed under the sacred, created by, of and for religion. In this way, Navaratri also signifies the blurring of lines of Durkhemian Sacred and Profane and once again brings to the fore the question of viability of secularism as an ideology in a society as religious as India where there is no crude separation between secular and sacred with most secular subsumed under latter.

            Navaratri and Vidhyarambham thus provide a paradise of interpreting Indian society, its religiosity and associated functions, emotional familial jointness, the cultural lag of Gerontocracy and paradox of patriarchy and worshipping of women.