Contemporary Voice of Dalit, Ahead of Print.
This study attempts to understand the relatively new phenomenon of the rise of Dalit middle class by examining Ajay Navaria’s short story titled Yes Sir. The continued survival of caste in modern India compels one to ask if it is possible to enter modernity and achieve class mobility without shedding one’s caste identity as a Dalit. This study shall focus on how Narottam, a Dalit officer’s character, as a representative of the modern Dalit male, manages to renegotiate the very margins he comes from, as he is vested with the ultimate power of promoting Tiwari, his Brahmin clerk. To understand the contradictions inherent in the term ‘Dalit middle class’, the study traces the workings of caste and class since the British rule, to the contemporary notions of modern society driven by individuality and social mobility. It traces the emergence of the middle class, along with the transforming ideas of race and purity as they outlive the traditional understanding of caste as division of labour.