#brahminicalhegemony

Before I start, let me say that this post is meant for my friends outside Kerala. So if you are a Malayalee, and are familiar with the Pazhayidom issue, you need not read any further.

There's one name doing the rounds in Kerala social media circles during the last few days - Arun Kumar (the man in this image)

For the uninitiated, Arun Kumar is a popular news anchor and also a professor at Kerala university. During the last week, the Kerala State Schools Youth Festival which has the distinction of being the largest arts and fine arts festival in the whole of Asia was conducted in Kozhikkode, Kerala. The festival is organized by the state govt and it's normal for the organizers to serve meals for participating kids during the festival. Usually, the contract to serve meals is given to an external catering company through a tendering process.

Brahminical hegemony/patriarchy starts here. Two points to note here:

1) As in previous years, the food served during this year's festival was vegetarian.

2) The caterer was a popular chef Pazhayidom Mohanan Namboothiri Please note that Namboothiris are Kerala Brahmins.

Arun Kumar made a post on his Facebook page accusing Pazhayidom of imposing vegetarianism on others by serving only vegetarian meals (His post in Malayalam is attached here)

He commented that in a school festival like this where the majority of the kids eat nonveg food, serving only vegetarian food is a reflection of "vegetarian fundamentalism" adding that "casteism" usually functions like this, through the imposition of beliefs of purity and impurity. He added - "This is a school festival food pavilion and not a place to serve vegetarian prasad. There is a true renaissance in a place like this NOT WHEN A BRAHMIN REACHES THE KITCHEN but when a variety of food gets served, when there is no imposition of beliefs of purity". One thing to remember here is that the food menu was decided by the state govt and not by the caterer. This matter has been raging in Kerala SM circles ever since. As a fallout of all this, the state govt has promised that they will seriously consider introducing nonvegetarian food for the next year's event. The state education minister made an announcement in this regard.

While talking to the media, Pazhayidom mentioned that he was afraid to manage the kitchen and feared some kind of sabotage ever since this became a controversy. He, therefore, had to ensure that enough people were guarding the food preparation area, during the last 3 days. A bigger fallout was Pazhayidom announcing that he won't be participating in the tender process for the next year's event. He said that he won't be able to continue this activity in such an environment.

What exactly was the fault they found with Pazhayidom? It's not that the food prepared by Pazhayidom wasn't good or that he refused to cook nonveg. His fault is that he was born as an upper-class Brahmin. And what vile poisonous minds like Arun Kumar are clearly doing here is depriving him of his livelihood citing his caste!

Arun Kumar and others who are behind this unnecessary controversy got what they wanted. In Kerala, Brahminical hegemony is a euphemism that is used to sideline and isolate an entire community. And I am afraid, they are succeeding!!