September 2018

www.theasianindependent.co.uk
What the Celebration of
Asian Games Medalists Tells
Us About Indian Society
In the just concluded Asian
Games at Jakarta-Palembang,
India finished eighth with their
best ever medals tally. This
should be lauded. What is worrying,
however, is the focus on
some athletes who come from
humble backgrounds and
achieved what was considered
impossible for their social
class, because of the absence of
training, equipment and other
requirements necessary for
achieving excellence in sports.
The internet has been alight
with stories of athletes like
By
Shah Alam Khan
Swapna Barman, Dharun
Ayyasamy, Hima Das, Vismaya
Velluva Koroth and Dutee
Chand, enumerating the hardships
they faced, the poverty
they fought and yet pursued
their dream of making it big on
the international sports scene.
These star performers overcoming
social stockades is
nothing less than a miracle,
more so in a country which
thrives on inequality and biases
of caste and class. We should
all put our hands together and
give them a standing ovation.
Having said this, appreciation
of overcoming social misfortune
by some athletes – as is
visible in conventional and
social media – needs deeper
evaluation. As a member of
civil society, this applause for
the disadvantaged makes me
worried, if not derisive. In his
book, Racism and White
Denial in the Age of Obama,
American thinker Tim Wise
coined a term, “enlightened
exceptionalism”. The book,
written soon after Obama had
just been elected as the first
black president of the US, Wise
says this ‘enlightened exceptionalism’
is in itself a kind of
racism (Racism 2.0). This type
of racism allows for and even
celebrates individual persons of
color, but only because those
individuals generally are seen
as different from a less appealing,
or even pathological black
or brown rule. He feels that
“enlightened exceptionalism
manages to accommodate individual
people of color, even as
it continues to look down upon
the larger mass of black and
brown America with suspicion,
fear, and contempt, suggests
the fluid and shape-shifting
nature of racism.”
Applying the same logic of
enlightened exceptionalism and
of shape-shifting racism to the
Indian society, we can explain
the appreciation of many
stereotypes which are thrown
upon us year after year. Every
year, we are made to feel awed
at stories of people from humble
and disadvantaged backgrounds
making it big on the
national or the international
Dharun Ayyasamy
Swapna Barman
scene. Remember the Dalit girl
who topped the civil services
exams? Or the daughter of that
ragpicker who made it to IIM?
The young Kashmiri girl who
made it big in kickboxing? That
blind boy who made it to the
medical entrance exams? In the
same vein, underprivileged athletes
who made the country
proud at the Asian Games 2018!
The enlightened ‘exceptionalists’
of Wise are plenty in
India, probably because the
fault lines of the Indian society
are far larger and deeper than in
America. Our social chasms
intersect at multiple points and
each point needs a new icon
from the amongst the poor,
minorities, schedule tribes,
Dalits and women to lessen our
guilt of having failed them
through the years.
The privileges of caste, capital
and religion in India outweigh
an individual’s efforts and
hence, when somebody can
overcome these to shine, be it
sports, education, profession, or
politics, we are quick to applaud.
This applause is not for the
group to which the person
belongs. That group still remains
an unworthy entity. It is only for
the individual who could fight
his/her way up from the depths
in which that group survives.
Those appreciating the
‘exceptionalists’ are indifferent
towards the fate of Dalits,
Hima Das
minorities or disabled. So while
appreciating the Dalit civil
services topper, the privileged
do not feel the need to contribute
towards providing equal
opportunities for Dalits. On the
contrary, there is a constant bid
to thwart efforts towards inclusiveness
(remember that antireservation
rhetoric we constantly
hear?). Similarly, while
appreciating the kickboxing
champion from Kashmir, houses
are denied to Kashmiris in
Delhi. The fear and contempt
for Kashmiri Muslims thrives
unabated. Such is the case with
all those bright stars of a dark
sky, who are picked up from
among the ruble of the
wretched and are put in a glass
showcase as a measure of civility.
There can’t be a more hypocritical
position than this.
Appreciation of well-performing
individuals, whichever
strata of society they come
from, is not unwarranted.
Appreciation of those who have
defeated biases of the society is
also justified, but it fails us
when we look down upon the
very group this individual hails
from. So should we stop
applauding those who have
overcome the hardships of their
fate and excelled? Not at all.
What is required is not picking
up individuals as stars from a
deprived group. The solution
lies in ending the exception.
ASIA
September 2018
7
Isuzu rolls out 2 mini-trucks for south
Indian market story for biz news
Bengaluru : Leading transport
solutions provider SML-
Isuzu on Friday rolled out two
models of mini-trucks for the
south Indian market.
“Our new twin light commercial
vehicles (LCVs) offer
fuel efficiency, more driver
comfort, higher uptime, minimum
maintenance cost and
optimum loading capacity,”
Isuzu Vice-President (marketing)
Junji Tonoshima told
reporters here. The Chandigarhbased
35-year-old joint venture
between Swaraj Vehicles Ltd
and Mazda Motor Corporation
of Japan makes a range of LCV
and ICV (intermediate commercial
vehicle) trucks and buses
and special application vehicles
for meeting the growing needs
of the growing transportation
sector across the country. “We
have introduced the 7-tonne
mini-trucks to meet the changing
customer needs, with upgradation
and automation,” said
Tonoshima at a preview of the
twin models. The super heavy
duty trucks aSamrat-17 and
aSamrat-19' are priced at Rs 14
lakh and Rs 17 lakh respectively,
with additional features and
accessories.
The company also unveiled
advanced telematics solution to
revolutionise transportation
management and 24×7 on road
service support to its customers
in southern India. The cabins
have USB port for mobile
charging, more leg room for the
drivers, lighter clutch for
smooth gearshift and real-time
tracking device for the owners.
Mazda’s associate trading
house Sumitomo Corporation
joined the company subsequently,
buying an unspecified
equity into the joint
venture./Eom/215 words.