CHAMRASUR (standard:romance, 26078 words)
Author: Shamoil Ahmad	Added: Jan 12 2021	Views/Reads: 1263/902	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Chamrasur is chamar by cast. It is the story of a Dalit. He holds upper caste Hindu responsible for that is wrong with them. He fights them with the support of Muslims, for he believes both have suffered at the hands of upper caste Hindus. The story me

Chamarasur 

A Novel 

by 

Shamoil Ahmad 

Even grass would not stand the sight of a chamar... 

Chamarasur would sizzle at the mere sight of lion-- If he could lay his
hands on lion toys, he would wrench their neck... and then the images 
begin to float in the mist ... of the spear piercing through the bosom 
of Mahishasur and that of lion-riding Durga. Last Dussera he had 
chopped off the necks of over two dozen lions. 

During Dussera festival he would keep loafing around from pandal to
pandal, scouting for lion toys; and wherever he espied them, he would 
grab them and wrench their neck. . 

One of the puja mandaps at Boring Road, last year, had erected
Akshardham as its pandal. It was massive, sixty-five feet long and 
fifty-five feet wide. The main deity that of Mother Goddess was twelve 
feet long. There were several other idols of lesser deities. The pandal 
reverberated with the sounds of hymns and slogans hailing the deities 
with the beating of drums and cymbals. Chamarasur had broken the necks 
of close to ten lions that very day... 

There was more rush at Dak Bangla Chowk than at Boring Road. The veil
that covered deities was removed at 10 in the morning to enable the 
devotees to pay their obeisance. The unending stream of worshippers 
came flowing in till late in the evening without any drop in the number 
of devotees thronging in. A veritable fair right from Kotwali to the 
Dak Bangla Chowk had engulfed the whole arena. Snake charmers added 
special flavour with the game of snakes to entertain the jostling 
crowd. Mother goddess seemed to bless the crowd with her beatific 
smile. LED bulbs were extensively used for decorating the pandal. 
Decorated with glossy bangles, colourful lights and glazing glasses, 
pandal was attracting and drawing crowds in large numbers. Streets were 
bathed in colourful lights. Festoons were adorned over gateways erected 
right from the Dak Bangla Chowk to Kotwali, and an image of Buddha was 
created on these gateways with the help of glowing bulbs. Rajput ladies 
were dancing garba in gay abundance flaunting and brandishing 
ornamentally decorated swords....with gold jhoomers weighing a kilo or 
more dangling across their necks...and dalits looking at them with 
their dazed and unbelieving eyes... 

And Charmasur was writhing in rage... 

"...do you know they killed your brave kings by deceit, and you are here
participating in their celebrations...the murderers of your...." 

Charmasur now set out for Rajpath. The adjoining lanes and by-lanes were
lit up with rolex and colourful bulbs. Boards were covered with glazed 
small images of various kinds. But the centre of attraction was the 
pandal made up of bamboo twigs at Chiraiyatand. There was a massive 
poster of Bharat Mata at the end of Hiranand Lane. It was colourfully 
and gorgeously decorated and people were heading towards it in hordes, 
jostling with one another to get a closer look. On this very pandal 
there was another poster where chief minister was portrayed as Ravan 
and the leader of the opposition as Lord Ram aiming his arrow at Ravan. 
There was another poster of the chief minister where he was shown 
having been garlanded with shoes. 

Chamarasur did not approve of this poster. But he knew it was an
expression of people's anger against the chief minister. As a matter of 
fact, a private army of upper caste goons had butchered fifty-nine low 
caste dalits in the village Laxmipur Bathe the other day. This was 
their retributory action against dalits, and it was inflicted on them 
because they had dared to raise their voice against the tyranny of 
their oppressors, the politicians and the members of the higher caste. 
There was a massive outrage against this oppressive regime. Amirdas 
Commission of Inquiry was set up to go into the incidents of carnage 
against dalits. The political class belonging to the upper castes was 
apprehensive of the adverse report of this Commission. They demanded 


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