Fiction: Bhausaheb Kinikar is rejected by his own community of Mahars for becoming ‘brahminised’
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Bhausaheb Kinikar sat on the sofa staring intently at the lighted candles on a birthday cake with icing, placed on the teapoy nearby. His children, Savita and Siddharth were busy preparing for the celebration. Although Bhausaheb’s eyes were focused on the lighted candles, his mind was lost somewhere in the past, wandering in the dark like a fugitive bat. Though his face looked as if it was carved out of the broken stones of an ancient cave, it was rather attractive.
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Kinikar’s original surname was “Kamble” but he had changed it to Kinikar. The name Kamble bore the indelible stamp of his lower caste. It was a name associated with the Mahar community, and anyone with the surname Kamble was invariably identified and looked down upon as a Mahar, an untouchable. Kinikar had not wanted to carry the burden of this painfully unbearable caste identity, so he had taken the name of his village Kini and added “kar” to it, to signify that he was from Kini. Everybody knew him as Kinikar. He felt proud when he was addressed as Kinikar. It was as if some extra muscle had been added to his physique. But people were smart. No matter how...