‘’Oh, my God! What on earth are you doing? How dare you feed your untouchable breast to my baby? What if the neighbours had noticed? You would have gotten us banished!’’ said Sita Devi, Brahmin Ram Prasad’s wife, when she caught Kamini feeding her breast to her baby.

"Pardon me, Panditni Bajyai. The baby was continuously crying of hunger in your absence while I was breastfeeding my baby. As a mother I couldn’t bear the infant’s bitter weeping so I offered one breast to him while my baby was being fed with the other. See, he is happy now! Believe me, it doesn’t harm him,’’ said Kamini, the wife of the village blacksmith, with her head bowed and voice stammering in anxiety.

The Brahmin family, who lived next to the blacksmith’s house, was extremely hectic during farming season. The parents of the baby would go to their farm, usually leaving the baby with the blacksmith’s wife, who would stay at home taking care of her own newly born baby. The kind and always smiling Kamini was a loving mother. The baby of the Brahmin’s parents would feel more cared, satisfied and delighted to be with Kamini than with its relatives. Sita Devi too would prefer to leave her baby with Kamini while going to do farm work and used to return only in the evening after working hard the entire day.

Sita Devi’s baby, who was later named Rakesh, also felt more comfortable with the lady than others in the village. Thus Sita Devi allowed Kamini to feed her child. She allowed it also because her husband too did not hold onto such discriminatory notions and always encouraged her not to follow anything blindfoldedly.

But the news about Kamini breastfeeding the Brahmin’s son spread from woman to woman and man to man across the village like wildfire. The event was scandalous: a pandit’s son being fed the milk of a blacksmith's wife was deeply shocking to the society.

‘’How is the blacksmith’s wife, who is considered to be untouchable from time immemorial, and thus strictly denied to enter even the temples, public places and the houses of upper caste people, be allowed to breastfeed the son of our own pandit deliberately? Why has our pandit now chosen the path of ruin and degradation? We cannot allow him to perform religious functions. His very presence will now defile our pure residence,’’ angry villagers united against the Brahmin’s family. Sensing the negativity, the family worried about the mounting social stigma.

On the other hand, innocent Rakesh, who was totally unaware of what was happening around, enjoyed both feeds: the breastfeeding of his mother during morning and evening and of Kamini during daytime, both had no difference in taste. He was a sound and healthy child. As a result, the bond of the blacksmith’s family with that of Brahmin deepened stronger day by day. Even though the mad protest of the people against that incidence in the village hurt Ram Prasad deep inside, instead of running away from the crisis, he began to investigate to find out if there is a scientific reason behind the "untouchability".

Born in a family where caste system was deeply rooted and practised, the pressure either to abandon the bond with that lady or to face exile from the village continued to mount on Ram Prasad intolerably. Yet, he did not lose his faith and temper. Amid many threats, he sought to find the reasons behind caste-based discrimination in society. "The names that once used to entitle people to their assigned jobs to ensure the smooth functioning of society have now developed as castes, rooting the culture of sheer discrimination among the people unscientifically. And that groundless culture has simply been passing on from generations to generations so far. The unjust discriminations among the people based on man’s created misconceptions of touchability and untouchability for their selfish motive has been agonising a considerably big number of people in our society. This is utterly wrong practice. This leads the human being to nowhere but a path destined to a malicious life. Such a practice must immediately be rooted out,’’ said Ram Prasad, in conclusion of his research.

The struggle of Ram Prasad to overcome these deep-rooted discriminations continued. However, Rakesh grew up smart, dedicated and hard-working. His performance at school was outstanding. There was no history of Rakesh ever standing second in life. Finally, he topped all the students with his performance at his studies in Nepal Engineering College in his bachelors and went to the USSR for his further studies. He did really well even at the university in the USSR. Then, after accomplishing his studies in the USSR, he came back home and began to serve the nation as a top international engineering consultant. His success was exemplary to society.

Conversely, his son's success gave Ram Prasad the fuel to further his years' drive of eradicating conservative thought in society on barbaric discriminations and untouchability. Gradually, people began to understand that their belief in caste-based discrimination had no scientific basis. His son Rakesh stood as a strong example in his father’s drive of transforming society and taking it into a progressive path.

Frequently Rakesh visited his village to join his father’s campaign. Their family turned out to be very happy and successful. Eventually, Rakesh married Kamini’s daughter. All was well between the two families, and in their village. No one was untouchable anymore.