IMAGINE if Ambedkar could not find living quarters in Baroda, whose ruler had bankrolled his foreign education on the condition thathe returned and served the state. What are lesser mortals of any faith when a complex admixture of caste, cause, and majoritarianism comes into play? The Aam Aadmi Party has lost the Delhi elections to the BJP. The nuances of its rise and slippage is a topic for another piece, but, rest assured, communal politics and the party`s stance on it has a role to play in its recent loss at the polls.

Renowned diplomat-turned-politician Mani Shankar Aiyar was asked by the residents` association of a building in Delhi to condemn his daughter`s criticism of Ram Mandir`s consecration in Ayodhya last year. His daughter was advised to leave the building if she did not rescind her criticism. Ambedkar, who authored the Indian constitution, was thrown out of the only hostel he could find in the middle of the night because he was a Dalit.

Discrimination based on religion, caste, class, culture, colour, language, status, etc, is a universal problem. Islam isn`t supposed to have a caste system or clergy, yet its adherents espouse both. Religion may not have been the criterion for letting a house in Pakistan, but sect has crept into the list of criteria. Shops are known to have refused to serve customers belongingto particular sects.

Rental advertisements for `foreigners only` or `no singles` are not uncommon.

Talk to single men, and they would have you believe that women have it easy when it comes to renting. However, single women face a double whammy: they undergo much stricter scrutiny and are not allowed to have male visitors.

Marriage is a different story altogether; the end of endogamy is nowhere in sight.

Class, it seems, is both a divider and a unifying force. A rich bride or groom from outside the group`s identity is more likely to be accepted than someone from a humble background. In other words, where wealth and status are not in the mix, prejudice against the `other` will almost always prevail.

There, however, is a limit to what wealth and status can achieve in terms of acceptability, and layers of hostility towards the `outsider` increase. For instance, while a gori bride will most likely cause puffed chests, a white groom will only be a cause célèbre. However, compared to a `kala,` a `gora`is considered less of a scandal. A person of colour can gain bonus points if they convert to Islam.

Christian partners inch into the sphere of acceptability; this concession is, how-ever, denied to the Jewish people. The word `yehudi` is hurled as an insult, which evinces a more energetic reaction than any insinuation about the target`s lineage.

In this tug between biases, gender plays a very significant role, twisting bigotryinto astrongerchordinstead offraying it. A foreign bride is accepted into the family or community more quickly than a foreign groom. This particular strain of bias is almost universal, and the subcontinent is no different. In a society as polite as the Japanese, `gaijin`, a foreigner is somewhat tolerable, but one with a Japanese woman by his side is properly loathed. We, too, will take a Nusrat, Sonia, Jemima, or a Shaniera any day, but a George or a Graham is a different story.They can adoptthe country orconvert all they like; they cannot even dream of running for public office.

Foreign brides seem to have an edge here; even so, they can only contest an Amethi or a Larkana; they can never viefor the top office.

Too much has already been said on social media about the African American woman Onijah Robinson, who landed in Karachi in search of love. Her virtual love interest developed cold feet. Even the urban legend, where a volunteer groom would always step forward when the enlisted band,baja and barat failed to appear did not play out. Imagine the stampede of wannabe saviours had she been of a different race.

It would be a scene out of a regular if not the Maha Kumbh Mela.

In southeastern Nigeria, it is customary for the bride to search for her groom among the wedding guests with a goblet of palm wine. Knowing her groom full well, she playfully moves in various directions among the cheerful crowd. At one such event, as the bride moved toward a swarthy South Asian, the entire gathering protested aloud, `No, don`t offer it to thegora! Shades of biases may be relative, but their presence is absolute. As February happens to be the month of both his birth and death, let us end with the most famous question by Narendra Sharma; `Yeshomati maiya say bole Nandlala,`Radhakiyun gori, mein kiyun kala? (Lord Krishna asks his mother, why Radha is fair and I am dark?).

The wnter is a poet. His latest publication is a collection of satire essays titled Rindana.

shahzadsharjeel1@gmail.com