WAITING FOR A VISA

not being next door to it, so to say, they are unable to realise how

oppressive it is in its actuality. It is difficult for them to understand how

it is possible for a few untouchables to live on the edge of a village

consisting of a large number of Hindus, go through the village daily to

free it from the most disagreeable of its filth and to carry the errands of

all the sundry, collect food at the doors of the Hindus, buy spices and

oil at the shops of the Hindu Bania from a distance, regard the village in

every way as their home, and yet never touch nor be touched by any one

belonging to the village. The problem is how best to give an idea of the

way the untouchables are treated by the caste Hindus. A general

description or a record of cases of the treatment accorded to them are

the two methods by which this purpose could be achieved. I have felt

that the latter would be more effective than the former. In choosing

these illustrations I have drawn partly upon my experience and partly

upon the experience of others. I begin with events that have happened

to me in my own life.