Article 15 still a far away thing… Two of our students of 10th grade were being taught elementary level English--reading and writing--by a volunteer of Humankind, at his place. When the volunteer offered some snacks and water to the two students, one of these children quietly refused to eat. When asked the reason, the student explained that his mother scolded him if he ate food “at any other place”. He claimed that he belonged to the depressed and ‘most backward’ (Athi Pachhath) community (usually down in the social order in India ). His family belonged to the Mehtar community –a caste that has been associated with carrying night-soil till early 20th century. This tag barred him from eating or drinking anything at the place of a higher caste family! The senior team members of Humankind met his mother who conveyed that if they ate or drank anything at the place of a higher caste, a grim tragedy such as the death of their child would strike them! Such are the belief or superstition devised to perpetuate the grossly unjust discriminatory social practices. In order to break this age-old social barrier, the Humankind team visited students place and had lunch together!