Telangana District Collector Attends Gardener’s Wedding, Takes Part In Tribal Dance Winning Hearts

adilabad collector

The general standard of officials in positions of power, being put on a pedestal is pretty much a modern version of the caste system. And as much as we take pride in our medley of countless cultures and rituals, at some point they also become the root cause of our segregation. Luckily, times are changing and so are the ones in power. The young and educated representatives are letting go of rigid protocols and taking a more humane approach with respect to their employees.

After the Tamil Nadu district collector who drove his driver home on his last day of work, the collector of Adilabad, set a similar example.

Adilabad district collector, Divya Devarajan, in Telangana, was formally invited by a gardener at her camp office to his wedding. The collector surprised everyone gathered but not just attending the wedding, but also actively participating in it.

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According to Mumbai Mirror, the gardener, Saitak Sudhakar’s wedding ceremony took place in the Gopalpur village of Gudihatnur block on Friday last week. The collector won hearts of all those gathered by actively interacting with the adivasi (tribal) women at the wedding to get to know their culture.

When the family presented her with a special seat in honour of her stature, she refused to sit on it and in turn chose to sit with the other women on the floor.

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The collector won hearts when she took part in the popular Dhimsa dance with the other tribal women, matching step for step with them.

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Divya, who is a 2009 batch IAS officer, recently also started learning the Gondi language, to better interact with Adilabad district’s Gond tribals. Watch the video of her dance here:

I wouldn’t go as far as to say that our nation is saved, but it does look like we have some hope left after all. With more officials like this, who are willing to look over their social and professional statures, we may just be able to envision a brighter future without casteism being a plague.

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