Click to play videoNew Delhi: "I Orkut, therefore I am"...
Well, that is just not enough anymore.
You thought there would be no ghettos on the Net, no divisions around caste or religion. Social networking sites transcended these barriers. But soon the lines appeared — lines that cannot be crossed.
Yes, borders in cyberspace. The virtual world reflected the real, took on the limitations of the real. And as it exploded, it imploded.
Popular networking site for the global netizen like the Orkut fractured for castes, and sub-castes. So you have the Bramhin group, and among the Bramhins, the Iyers, the Iyengars, the Puri Bramhins and many others.
Kartik Kumar, an equity shares trader, is on the Orkut Iyer community. He says, he likes bonding with people of his own community. It is less a matter of pride and more a matter of need. And the man who started it all, Pradeep Raghunathan says, he was inspired by the Iyengar community and it all began with his simple desire of sharing Iyer recipes.
But the urge to bond among your own is not restricted to Bramhins alone. Exclusive groups among dalits are also budding on Orkut. On these sites, it is not unique recipes, but Dalit angst that finds expression. Dalits feel they share a collective history of exploitation that, they believe, non-Dalits cannot understand.
Ujjwal Ravidas, a member of the Dalit community on Orkut says that the purpose it is to integrate all Dalits, because Dalits are not a homogenous group. So while all Dalits may share something, they are also very different.Their exclusive community helps them build solidarity both local and global levels. And the spinoffs of networking are positive — people get jobs, scholarships and sometimes partners.
The burst of caste consciousness in the Netspace is unprecedented, even unforeseen, considering that there are perhaps as many anonymous people out here concealing each atom of their identity.
So, Bramhin with Bramhin, Dalit with Dalit, same with same, these groups mirror the concerns of matrimonial advertisement. In the Netspace caste assertion and anonymity go hand in hand.
Sociologist Ashish Nandy says that these concerns are indicative of rootlessness and a search for identity. People are falling back on the lowest common denominator. They are embracing their caste identities desperately almost defensively.
Paradoxically, this quest for identity and meaning for a life beyond the self has triggered off a war of castes in the Net.
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