Muzaffarpur: By day, they work together, consulting with each other to help their patients.
But at lunch, the 150 doctors at this medical college in Muzaffarpur head to seven separate rooms.
The menu in each cafeteria is the same. Daal, rice, sabzi. But "the kitchens are separate for Harijans, Thakurs and Brahmins,'' says Shatrughan Rai, who works as a cook in the Yadav kitchen, one he describes as a kitchen for a backward class.
The doctors say this is a tradition. "Our seniors followed it. Now we do," declares Dr. Aditya, who refuses to reveal his caste.
The kitchen and dining rooms were separated at the height of the caste movement in Bihar in the 60s and 70s.
The call for change is not deafening, even though the majority of the doctors today are from lower castes. They say they have to proceed with caution. ''It has been happening for a long, long time. It's not our choice, but a tradition. The government should intervene and stop it," says Dr. Raman, President, and Junior Doctors' Association.
The principal of the college insists that doctors eat together. A few hours later, we witness them filing into their separate cafeterias.
The government has not received a formal complaint, and says it therefore has never investigated the issue.
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