Varna And Relays
Varna and Relays publishes field notes, conceptual essays, and open-source commentary on the sociology of caste globally – from classical texts to contemporary digital publics. Grounded in Ambedkar, Dumont, Deshpande, and Dalit feminist critique, this npub asks: how does caste reproduce itself in distributed networks?
No algorithm. No deletion. Just relays.
The Bricklayer
Across India, millions of Dalit-Bahujan workers—bricklayers, manual scavengers, construction labourers, road layers, sanitation workers—build every brick of the Indian republic. They raise the high-rises of Gurugram, dig the tunnels of the Mumbai metro, sweep the floors of parliament, and maintain the sewers that keep Savarna cities livable. Yet, the republic they build does not belong to them. They are paid less, housed in labour colonies without water, denied education for their children, and beaten if they assert dignity. The brick they lay is not for their own home; it is for someone else's wall.
