4 ms·

I am an Indian and I genuinely don't know exactly where I stand in the cast hierarchy. In India it was pretty common for people to ask me my caste. However, wha

I am an Indian and I genuinely don't know exactly where I stand in the cast hierarchy. In India it was pretty common for people to ask me my caste. However, what struck me the most was, that during my Master's in the US, other Indians who I was attending university with, would ask me the same question. When I would tell them that I genuinely don't know the answer, they would mock and imperceptibly laugh at me. I felt like an outcast because this seemed to be a common question shared by all the regional Indian groups(yes, mostly people from the same region will hang out with each other and refrain from hanging out with people from other regions). I was raised in a metropolitan Indian city where this isn't an issue and I had not met many Indians from other parts of India. So this was a shocker to me. Having not faced discrimination in India, I faced discrimination in an entirely different country, just because I was unaware of my "social status". Wow!

saagarjha 6y ago
Perhaps you should mock them for asking about such a thing.
- 082349872349872 6y ago
  When filling out forms in the US that asked for race, I entered "mutt" but admittedly I could afford to mock.
  - Gibbon1 6y ago
    My dad always jokes about being... Irish and possibly Catholic.
    - 082349872349872 6y ago
      An advantage of being catholic is that one is able to give up religion for Lent. Bonus clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTx-sdR6Yzk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTx-sdR6Yzk (unfortunately not Kneecap, because if they have anything to say about religion, I wouldn't have noticed, having no gaelic myself.)
    - m463 6y ago
      I've been told one of the largest religions in the world is the lapsed catholic.
puranjay 6y ago
If you don't know your caste, you're most likely upper caste.
- known 6y ago
  In America there is no system in place today that forces people to remain separate or keeps one CLASS subservient to another. If you were born the son of a street sweeper, but excelled, you would be fully accepted by your peers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_mobility https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_mobility Not so in India. The Caste system freezes everyone in place for their life time. For someone to move from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lower_caste https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lower_caste to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forward_caste https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forward_caste is denied. http://chng.it/kJphRWWBRr http://chng.it/kJphRWWBRr
  - jfengel 6y ago
    There is a similar system in the US, based on skin color. The article's title references the book How To Be An Antiracist. It's very much on people's minds today, and the article was written to see what lessons the US can learn from the situation in India (including Indians in the US, where caste-ism remains a problem). https://www.amazon.com/How-Be-Antiracist-Ibram-Kendi/dp/0525509283 https://www.amazon.com/How-Be-Antiracist-Ibram-Kendi/dp/0525...
    - dorkinspace 6y ago
      >There is a similar system in the US, based on skin color. Is there? It is very easy to find instances of poor black kids that are now multi-millionaires due to sports. Lebron James, for example, grew up without a father figure and in a poor household. He is now a billionaire.
      - Bang2Bay 6y ago
        India's constitution was written by Ambedkar. Kocheril Raman Narayanan was president of Independent india; elected within 50 years of its independence. I think US is independent way longer than 50 years.
raxxorrax 6y ago
It seems to be a common occurrence in cultures everywhere that a diaspora emphasizes cultural values of the country of origin. I think there are different motivations behind it, but from experience it seems to be a fact. Only happens if there is a critical amount of people that share these roots though, otherwise they seem to drop their culture almost completely. In my country it is pretty common for Turks and Russians to live in separate communities if they are concentrated in an area, especially if that isn't urban, but it can happen there too. I believe the motivation can range from pride to a bad conscience of having better living conditions or a feeling of having left their former countrymen behind. And probably a lot of other reasons.
- colanderman 6y ago
  I suspect that individuals with strong cultural values self-select to create and lead such communities. Others who maybe do not identify so strongly with the same values, but who are in need of community, crystallize around these leaders and adapt/reflect their cultural conviction in order to reinforce a sense of belonging. At least, this is my experience with non-cultural interest groups.

saagarjha 6y ago

Perhaps you should mock them for asking about such a thing.

082349872349872 6y ago
When filling out forms in the US that asked for race, I entered "mutt" but admittedly I could afford to mock.
- Gibbon1 6y ago
  My dad always jokes about being... Irish and possibly Catholic.
  - 082349872349872 6y ago
    An advantage of being catholic is that one is able to give up religion for Lent. Bonus clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTx-sdR6Yzk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTx-sdR6Yzk (unfortunately not Kneecap, because if they have anything to say about religion, I wouldn't have noticed, having no gaelic myself.)
  - m463 6y ago
    I've been told one of the largest religions in the world is the lapsed catholic.

puranjay 6y ago

If you don't know your caste, you're most likely upper caste.

known 6y ago
In America there is no system in place today that forces people to remain separate or keeps one CLASS subservient to another. If you were born the son of a street sweeper, but excelled, you would be fully accepted by your peers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_mobility https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_mobility Not so in India. The Caste system freezes everyone in place for their life time. For someone to move from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lower_caste https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lower_caste to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forward_caste https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forward_caste is denied. http://chng.it/kJphRWWBRr http://chng.it/kJphRWWBRr
- jfengel 6y ago
  There is a similar system in the US, based on skin color. The article's title references the book How To Be An Antiracist. It's very much on people's minds today, and the article was written to see what lessons the US can learn from the situation in India (including Indians in the US, where caste-ism remains a problem). https://www.amazon.com/How-Be-Antiracist-Ibram-Kendi/dp/0525509283 https://www.amazon.com/How-Be-Antiracist-Ibram-Kendi/dp/0525...
  - dorkinspace 6y ago
    >There is a similar system in the US, based on skin color. Is there? It is very easy to find instances of poor black kids that are now multi-millionaires due to sports. Lebron James, for example, grew up without a father figure and in a poor household. He is now a billionaire.
    - Bang2Bay 6y ago
      India's constitution was written by Ambedkar. Kocheril Raman Narayanan was president of Independent india; elected within 50 years of its independence. I think US is independent way longer than 50 years.

raxxorrax 6y ago

It seems to be a common occurrence in cultures everywhere that a diaspora emphasizes cultural values of the country of origin. I think there are different motivations behind it, but from experience it seems to be a fact. Only happens if there is a critical amount of people that share these roots though, otherwise they seem to drop their culture almost completely. In my country it is pretty common for Turks and Russians to live in separate communities if they are concentrated in an area, especially if that isn't urban, but it can happen there too. I believe the motivation can range from pride to a bad conscience of having better living conditions or a feeling of having left their former countrymen behind. And probably a lot of other reasons.

colanderman 6y ago
I suspect that individuals with strong cultural values self-select to create and lead such communities. Others who maybe do not identify so strongly with the same values, but who are in need of community, crystallize around these leaders and adapt/reflect their cultural conviction in order to reinforce a sense of belonging. At least, this is my experience with non-cultural interest groups.