On the flipside..

“…all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” I can’t scan through these words enough number of times, each time I seem to find a new dimension to it. At times it just feels that the answers to the problems of the entire humankind are contained in these words. Relate it to the debate regarding caste census in India or the daunting khap panchayats, you might just find an answer here. These words seem to have been written with the loftiest of intentions but is equality really as easy and achievable as it appears in black and white? Well, this is an excerpt from The Declaration of Independence penned by Thomas Jefferson who went on to become the third president of the United States of America.

A few days back, I visited Monticello, an Italian word which means ‘little mountain’. Monticello is a beautiful little place on a hill top which was home to Jefferson (1743-1826) and his family. One is taken on a guided tour of a palatial mansion of 21 rooms where Jefferson once lived. This mansion, that he considered as his ‘essay in architecture’ took him 40 years to build. A blend of European and American architecture, this mansion is a sight to savor. Jefferson was a voracious reader who could read in 7 languages and owned a voluminous library. Owing to his meticulous record keeping, most of his belongings can be found in original or reproduced forms at his dwelling.



Now comes the most interesting part of Monticello- the mansion is surrounded by 5, 000 acres of plantation where lived and worked 140 men and women enslaved by Jefferson’s family for generations. Well, yes there is a striking contradiction and the Americans make no bones about it. Jefferson acknowledged slavery as one of the severe challenges of that time but he placed the onus of eradicating it on the generations to come. He didn’t know how his economy could function without those enslaved workers. They were the very foundation of Monticello. He couldn’t have built his house without their support. A matter of convenience, some would say. But only if these things were so simple…



I visited James Madison’s house in Montpelier as well. Madison was the fourth president of the United States. Well, just for the sake of information-Virginia, the state which I’m currently in has produced quite a few American Presidents. Madison and Jefferson were close friends and their friendship reflects in the architecture of their homes too.

Again, a remarkable feature of Montpelier was a one- room house of a slave in the vicinity of Madison’s mansion. As a matter of fact, Madison is the father of the American Constitution-one of its kind at that time which later the constitutions of many countries including India would draw upon. He knew that it was indispensable for a democracy to do away with slavery but how? He tried to release some of his slaves which gave rise to another grave practical problem. These slaves had been living in America for generations then. They had lost touch with their home country and spoke English. They had no skills other than the manual labour that they were used to. They couldn’t be sent home, nor could they be employed elsewhere. As a result, Madison too confined himself to acknowledging their plight and doing nothing about it. And slavery continued…



Virginia being one of the oldest states of America, one here comes across the traces of racism that once was or still exists at every other corner. Neither the Whites nor the Blacks vouch by the fact that America is a racism free nation. Once while walking down a street at a Black locality with a Black student at the University of Virginia, I discovered that it was a locality built down the slopes of the hilly town of Charlottesville so that the Blacks remain away from the sight and scrutiny of tourists. As I delve deeper into the layers of the American society, I see how the world has been grappling with different kinds of inequalities at various points in time. Now I understand fully why the world reveled at the victory of Barack Obama! He might just be an exceptional case in history but he sure represents the hopes and aspirations of countless others.