3 ms·

I'm Indian, I'm ashamed at this, but can confirm that people give way too much importance to caste in India. Things are changing, but mostly in cities, and at

by vijayr 17y ago

I'm Indian, I'm ashamed at this, but can confirm that people give way too much importance to caste in India. Things are changing, but mostly in cities, and at "not enough" pace. Politics is rife with religion/caste/racism etc, because that is the easiest/fastest way for any politician to get votes. The saddest part is, many highly educated/intelligent (I am talking about Masters/PHds/Ivy league educated) people get hung up on religion/caste.

SapphireSun 17y ago
I have some Indian friends and they have said much the same thing. I can't say I'm surprised this happened, the markets are not an engine of morality - they just give the people what they want for better or worse.
- vijayr 17y ago
  That is the sad part. In politics at least, the end always justifies the means, however horrible/unethical/unlawful it is.
ajju 17y ago
The sadder/funnier part is, most highly educated Phds etc get hung up on caste mostly because (a) They would rather not argue with their parents about these things (b) Arranged marriage is the easiest way for them to find a partner The silver lining in this cloud is that, in my observation, most of them don't consider other castes to be inferior in any way. They just don't want to deal with the inconvenience of arguing with their parents, especially when they are dependent on parents for finding them a bride. It's a pretty faint silver lining though :)
sandGorgon 17y ago
confirmed - and nowhere is this more apparent than when dating/getting married. I have seen veritable geeks give in to the (strongly family enforced) sentiment of rejecting partners from different castes - it's not so much as marrying into a lower caste, as it is about marrying into a different caste. I am seeing lesser and lesser people even knowing about the relative positioning of castes - however their cognizance of being a different caste still holds.

by vijayr 17y ago

SapphireSun 17y ago

I have some Indian friends and they have said much the same thing. I can't say I'm surprised this happened, the markets are not an engine of morality - they just give the people what they want for better or worse.

vijayr 17y ago
That is the sad part. In politics at least, the end always justifies the means, however horrible/unethical/unlawful it is.

ajju 17y ago

The sadder/funnier part is, most highly educated Phds etc get hung up on caste mostly because (a) They would rather not argue with their parents about these things (b) Arranged marriage is the easiest way for them to find a partner The silver lining in this cloud is that, in my observation, most of them don't consider other castes to be inferior in any way. They just don't want to deal with the inconvenience of arguing with their parents, especially when they are dependent on parents for finding them a bride. It's a pretty faint silver lining though :)

sandGorgon 17y ago

confirmed - and nowhere is this more apparent than when dating/getting married. I have seen veritable geeks give in to the (strongly family enforced) sentiment of rejecting partners from different castes - it's not so much as marrying into a lower caste, as it is about marrying into a different caste. I am seeing lesser and lesser people even knowing about the relative positioning of castes - however their cognizance of being a different caste still holds.