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I am from “upper caste”. My experience might not be commonly heard perspective. In 10th grade of schooling, my parents changed my lastname to avoid that folks

I am from “upper caste”. My experience might not be commonly heard perspective. In 10th grade of schooling, my parents changed my lastname to avoid that folks figure out the caste. Due to affirmative action (aka reservation) on steroids, upper caste were losing opportunities. My parents wanted to avoid that I lose out on selection, promotions.., where subjective discretion was involved. I do not recall ever seeing casteism at workplace. So reading these reports have been surprising to me, since these are not subtle, but rampant. I can only attribute it to my privilege driven echo chamber. Or the fact that I never worked in US. (only briefly in India). What I read in media disgusts me. I am very motivated to make sure nothing like this happens in my zone of control / influence, at work. I know casteism is deeply rooted in Indian society. I do not relate with it. Many folks I know, don’t either. On optimistic side, I hope that means with newer generations, casteism will dilute and wither away.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
baybal2 5y ago
I am a non-white citizen of Russia through a rather bizarre family history. My parents changed my, and their names, and surname to Slavic sounding for reasons you can understand. Out of many, lower risk of being drafted (being non-white, and living in far-east increases likelihood of draft 10x,) ease of getting into a good school, or university for me, and simply lower chances of getting into random troubles with officials. At the same time, knowing this, I am as much as discomforted by practice of meritless "diversity hire" just for the sake of putting people of colour to pass the diversity checkbox. Pretending to play a role of "smart south Asian" while yes-manning, and knowing you being a decoration is as bad as discrimination, if not worse.
- Mezzie 5y ago
  I'm a white American, but I'm a homosexual female with a disability and I feel the same way as you. Sometimes, it could be an advantage, but using it that way just feels wrong given I know what it's like to lose out on things due to my sex/sexuality/disability. Why would I ever want anyone to lose to me because they're male/straight/not-disabled? I do wonder if I'm hampering myself, because those aspects of myself have presented some difficulties, but who's to say a straight white man didn't have difficulties of a similar level that were ignored because they didn't tick the diversity box? (Good luck to impoverished straight white men or straight white men who are autistic or have mental health problems). And I don't know about your experience, but mine is that a lot of the diversity checkbox people are in this for their personal brand/career and they're just as slimy and backstabby as any white men have ever been. At least the straight white dudes just call me a bitch to my face. I can respect that.
  - baremetal 5y ago
    i appreciate this comment a lot. perhaps it would be best if everyone walked a mile in shoes not their own. perspective is everything.
jeffy90 5y ago
These posts consistently make it to the front page of HN. I'm not denying that casteism exists, but since the subject draws so much attention, reporters must feel incentivized to write about it.
- thowaway_2mar 5y ago
  ^ draws so much attention Outrage, I would say.
- droopyEyelids 5y ago
  It reminds me of the situation where a student returns from college and tells their parents that something is racist. The parents feel like their child has been taken over by some weird agenda to make such a big deal out of normal stuff!
- pm90 5y ago
  Or, perhaps the issue is pretty rampant and reporters are doing their job by reporting it.
asdadfaadsadf 5y ago
I grew up in urban India and my experience with caste system is the same, never really experienced discrimination personally but I know of it being widely prevalent in the country. This scene from an Indian movie I saw recently made me realize that the caste system is not just prevalent and absurd but also has a very complicated hierarchy built into it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4N98tQsp64 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4N98tQsp64 (<2 min, with subtitles)
- tomcam 5y ago
  Fantastic clip
- amznbyebyebye 5y ago
  Great suggestion
unmole 5y ago
> I am from “upper caste”. My experience might not be commonly heard perspective. In 10th grade of schooling, my parents changed my lastname to avoid that folks figure out the caste. Due to affirmative action (aka reservation) on steroids, upper caste were losing opportunities. My parents wanted to avoid that I lose out on selection, promotions.., where subjective discretion was involved. I'm sorry but this makes no sense to me whatsoever. Reservations in India follow a formal documented process and do not apply to private enterprises. Changing one's surname will make zero difference.
- russelldjimmy 5y ago
  Perhaps if something doesn’t make sense, ask for clarity instead of asserting that changing one’s surname makes zero difference. I am also familiar with many upper-caste people who have changed their surname to something generic (like Kumar) to avoid revealing their caste. This doesn’t just apply to job seeking in private enterprises. They do this to avoid any kind of attention drawn to their surname, and hence caste. This attention can then play out differently in different scenarios.
  - unmole 5y ago
    I called the stated reason i.e. fearing losing out on jobs and promotions nonsensical.
  - programmer_dude 5y ago
    They change their surname so that they can weasle into quotas reserved for the repressed class. You are not fooling anybody Mr. Kumar.
    - frontman1988 5y ago
      Changing surname doesn't change caste certificate. Otherwise millions of people would be turning into lower castes
      - programmer_dude 5y ago
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
commandlinefan 5y ago
> upper caste were losing opportunities I wondered about that right away - is any of this just sour grapes from lower caste folks taking it out on higher caste folks now that they're in an environment where the playing field is suddenly level?
- zxienin 5y ago
  I suspect so. Maybe justifiably so. <preachy> The challenge is to transition into equal rights mode, rather tribal one. Sooner the better. </preachy>

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

baybal2 5y ago

I am a non-white citizen of Russia through a rather bizarre family history. My parents changed my, and their names, and surname to Slavic sounding for reasons you can understand. Out of many, lower risk of being drafted (being non-white, and living in far-east increases likelihood of draft 10x,) ease of getting into a good school, or university for me, and simply lower chances of getting into random troubles with officials. At the same time, knowing this, I am as much as discomforted by practice of meritless "diversity hire" just for the sake of putting people of colour to pass the diversity checkbox. Pretending to play a role of "smart south Asian" while yes-manning, and knowing you being a decoration is as bad as discrimination, if not worse.

Mezzie 5y ago
I'm a white American, but I'm a homosexual female with a disability and I feel the same way as you. Sometimes, it could be an advantage, but using it that way just feels wrong given I know what it's like to lose out on things due to my sex/sexuality/disability. Why would I ever want anyone to lose to me because they're male/straight/not-disabled? I do wonder if I'm hampering myself, because those aspects of myself have presented some difficulties, but who's to say a straight white man didn't have difficulties of a similar level that were ignored because they didn't tick the diversity box? (Good luck to impoverished straight white men or straight white men who are autistic or have mental health problems). And I don't know about your experience, but mine is that a lot of the diversity checkbox people are in this for their personal brand/career and they're just as slimy and backstabby as any white men have ever been. At least the straight white dudes just call me a bitch to my face. I can respect that.
- baremetal 5y ago
  i appreciate this comment a lot. perhaps it would be best if everyone walked a mile in shoes not their own. perspective is everything.

jeffy90 5y ago

These posts consistently make it to the front page of HN. I'm not denying that casteism exists, but since the subject draws so much attention, reporters must feel incentivized to write about it.

thowaway_2mar 5y ago
^ draws so much attention Outrage, I would say.
droopyEyelids 5y ago
It reminds me of the situation where a student returns from college and tells their parents that something is racist. The parents feel like their child has been taken over by some weird agenda to make such a big deal out of normal stuff!
pm90 5y ago
Or, perhaps the issue is pretty rampant and reporters are doing their job by reporting it.

asdadfaadsadf 5y ago

I grew up in urban India and my experience with caste system is the same, never really experienced discrimination personally but I know of it being widely prevalent in the country. This scene from an Indian movie I saw recently made me realize that the caste system is not just prevalent and absurd but also has a very complicated hierarchy built into it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4N98tQsp64 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4N98tQsp64 (<2 min, with subtitles)

tomcam 5y ago
Fantastic clip
amznbyebyebye 5y ago
Great suggestion

unmole 5y ago

> I am from “upper caste”. My experience might not be commonly heard perspective. In 10th grade of schooling, my parents changed my lastname to avoid that folks figure out the caste. Due to affirmative action (aka reservation) on steroids, upper caste were losing opportunities. My parents wanted to avoid that I lose out on selection, promotions.., where subjective discretion was involved. I'm sorry but this makes no sense to me whatsoever. Reservations in India follow a formal documented process and do not apply to private enterprises. Changing one's surname will make zero difference.

russelldjimmy 5y ago
Perhaps if something doesn’t make sense, ask for clarity instead of asserting that changing one’s surname makes zero difference. I am also familiar with many upper-caste people who have changed their surname to something generic (like Kumar) to avoid revealing their caste. This doesn’t just apply to job seeking in private enterprises. They do this to avoid any kind of attention drawn to their surname, and hence caste. This attention can then play out differently in different scenarios.
- unmole 5y ago
  I called the stated reason i.e. fearing losing out on jobs and promotions nonsensical.
- programmer_dude 5y ago
  They change their surname so that they can weasle into quotas reserved for the repressed class. You are not fooling anybody Mr. Kumar.
  - frontman1988 5y ago
    Changing surname doesn't change caste certificate. Otherwise millions of people would be turning into lower castes
    - programmer_dude 5y ago

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

commandlinefan 5y ago

> upper caste were losing opportunities I wondered about that right away - is any of this just sour grapes from lower caste folks taking it out on higher caste folks now that they're in an environment where the playing field is suddenly level?

zxienin 5y ago
I suspect so. Maybe justifiably so. <preachy> The challenge is to transition into equal rights mode, rather tribal one. Sooner the better. </preachy>