Their journey from catching mice to 'mouse'

Their fathers may still be catching mice but these children are all set to transform their lives and though they too would hold the “mouse”, it would be different from the live one and would do what they would like it to do.

The children belonging to the Musahar caste (an untouchable caste living in eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and its members were once known for eating rats) in the Kushinagar district of Uttar Pradesh are now dreaming big.

The children, all residents of the Musahar Basti (the slum where the Musahar community members live) in Belwa in the district, are now getting computer education.

“Though there is a small school in the basti for the children to receive education, there was no arrangement for teaching computers as we did not have resources to procure them,” said Dr C B Singh, who runs the school for the Musahar children. 

Singh said that the school is in the midst of the basti. “Around 100 families live in the basti. No other community is there,” Singh told Deccan Herald from Kushinagar over phone.  He said that one Ashish Mishra, a resident of Kushinagar, who now has a highly-paying job in Singapore, had recently visited the school and seen the abject poverty in which people were living in the basti.

Mishra had also seen the video uploaded on a social networking site showing the Musahar community people catching rats and eating them. “It was the video that brought Mishra to the Musahar Basti,” he pointed out.

Mishra has also been associated with a social organisation, Singh said. “Mishra was very much moved by their plight and expressed his desire to provide computers for the school so that the Musahar children could learn computers and compete with other children and make progress,” he added.

Singh, who is a teacher by profession, said that the school provided education till fifth standard. “We are trying to get recognition till class eight,” he added. He said that he and his team found it very difficult to bring the Musahar children to school initially. “Their parents are landless labourers. They were reluctant to send their children to school and instead wanted them to help in the fields,” he said. “We had to work very hard to convince them to send their children to school. We succeeded at last and today there are 250 children in the school,” Singh said.

He said that the attendance was 70 to 75 per cent. “We do not get any help from the government. We also provide mid-day meal to the children in the school. It also works as a big motivation for them,” Singh pointed out.

“There are eight teachers in the school. They are not able to pay much to them because of funds crunch. We pay them a few hundred rupees as salary. Fortunately, they are continuing for now,” he said.

Singh's wife is also a teacher in the school. “She also lends a helping hand in running the school and teaches the children,” he said. Singh said that the life of the children has undergone a change after they started attending the school. The concept of hygiene was literally unknown to them as for generations they had lived like that.

“Earlier, they would not take bath for days together. They never bothered about cleanliness but now they regularly take bath,” he claimed.

He said that the school is also extending scholarships to bright and meritorious children. “Computer education will go a long way in preparing these deprived children to compete in the world. Their lives will change completely,” he hoped.     Singh felt that there was a need to be sensitive toward the Musahar children. “We all need to come forward and lend a helping hand. Unfortunately, not many people bother about their plight,” he lamented.

The Musahars are traditionally rat catchers though the practice is not very common now. There is still uncertainty as to their exact origin.

According to the Hindu mythology, God created a man and gave him a horse to ride. The first Musahar decided to dig holes in the belly of the horse to fix his feet as he rode. This offended God, who punished them by making them rat catchers.

The Musahar community is found in eastern UP, Bihar and north Madhya Pradesh. The very word Musahar is said to be derived from ‘moos’ (a Bhojpuri term for mouse) on account of their
traditional occupation as rat catchers.
Though the practice of rat catching was uncommon these days, some still do it. They are mostly landless agricultural labourers and one of the most marginalised groups in the country.