Has everyone heard about the Indian government’s new plan to help erase the scourge that is the ages-old caste system? If I may offer my humble opinion…I think it is sheer brilliance. Check it:
THE Indian Government is offering 50,000 rupees (£580) to higher-caste people who marry spouses from the lowest castes in its latest controversial effort to dismantle the ancient Hindu social hierarchy…The proposed bonus is a small fortune in a country where average annual income per capita is £280, and where official corruption is rampant. [Link]
This new incentive is making me consider taking a trip to India to find my bride. Let’s face reality. I have a lot of factors working against my search for a bride/girlfriend here in the U.S., and frankly, they are making my life miserable.
- I am not getting any younger
- I have a mountain of debt from my undergraduate years
- My parents insist “it is time”
- I blog
I do have one HUGE advantage working for me however. I am Brahmin. Why not use it? I am sure there are quite a few lower-caste girls with “good features” that will do just fine. If it helps pay down my college debt then I am not going to complain about it one bit. Besides, I hear that lower-caste girls aren’t nearly as uppity and are FAR more reasonable. Just listen:
Meira Kumar, the Social Justice Minister, who is from a lower caste, defended the plan yesterday before meeting officials from the 28 Indian states to persuade them to approve it.
“Yes, I know this is not the only way to end the caste discrimination, but one has to start somewhere,” she said. “All proposals have initial hiccups. That does not mean that we give them up.” Ever since independence in 1947, Indian governments have tried in vain to break down the complex caste system, which divides society into hereditary hierarchical groups. [Link]
There is one additional advantage that I possess which makes this plan especially appealing to me. I’m Guju:
But the amount differs from state to state – in Gujarat a couple gets the full $1,100 (50,000 rupees) – whereas in West Bengal state the amount is $45. [Link]
Ha Ha! Sucks to be an upper-caste West Bengali.
Abhi,
I wouldn’t speak so soon. You stil have to meet Pardesi Gori tomorrow. As matchmaker- matchmaker, I don’t forsee you being on the market much longer after tomorrow… 😉
I think she counts as upper caste. There is no incentive there. Show me the money!
As an upper-caste Bengali I have to let you know you’re a jerk! Lucky bastard.
You stil have to meet Pardesi Gori tomorrow
zing!
shit like dis makes me happy i’m an american 🙂 brown ass no bar….
WWGD?
Actually, Pardesi Gori would count as an untouchable (all non-Hindus are untouchables), presuming she actually IS white as she claims (and not some particularly clever and malicious desi troll). Doubt the deal holds for unions between brahmins and white untouchables though.
Incidentally, what’s to keep people from marrying, splitting the pot, then divorcing their spouses? Or merely dumping them and taking up with others? Won’t this sort of thing encourage rampant immorality? Seems to me the thing hasn’t been thought through.
But the best offer is the Bicycle scheme in TN and Karnataka. Schoolgirls get a bicycle free to get to school. 🙂
Abhi, it’s all upside for you — your kids will retain brahman status
Last year, the pastor of a black church in LA offered $5 to any white person who would attend service saying “Sunday morning 11am is the most segregated time in America”. Most members of the congregation were enthusiastic and offered to put up the money and when the news spread, many white people decided to join this church (for free).
50,000 rupees? pffff. Abhi, in some parts, one can collect over Rs. 10 million (1 crore) for just being in the right caste and finishing college (plus being born with the right kind of genitals). I don’t know if your Gujju status gives you this. Of course, this is “criminal” and it won’t be the government giving it to you, but you can be sure they at least won’t get in your way.
They will never learn. This chinese village has a 98% divorce rate.
as my friend iton udesenata would say: “she got a big booty?”
Yesterday my editor in chief wanted to make this very issue his top topic of discussion and frankly i was not convinced ? what is there to discuss in it.The whole idea may be absurd to us but as you said for a country whose 75 percent of population struggles to basically feed themselves two times a day the money is a fortune.Lets face the facts that marriage pre dominantly is a business transaction in most families. The caste divide is a ugly reality in india where death is the only punishment for a person who crosses it.Nothing absolutely nothing not even eductaion is going to erase this line.But maybe the aspiration of affording 3 instead of 2 meals a day,a piece of land or a bullock may be able to pull off what emotions,conditioning or the screams of a burning child could not.
Time to look for higher caste bride eh! have to practice my break-off speech “I don’t want to break our ties, but sigh! Life has to go on, and it is a matter of National Importance”
DharmaQueen: Actually, Pardesi Gori would count as an untouchable (all non-Hindus are untouchables)
As a practising “upper caste” hindu in india, i’d have to say this is news to me. So all Muslims and christians are untouchables? Wow, founding a new school of “dharma” to be queen, are we? While I have seen hindus go “all religions are the same and equal” (the other extreme), i have not come across any hindu equivalent of the islamic concept of non-believers. Can u edu(ma)cate me?
As a practising “upper caste” hindu in india, i’d have to say this is news to me. So all Muslims and christians are untouchables?
i have read DQs point in books. perhaps the practice is different. i am to understand that some brahmins treated rajputs at mlecchas because of their reputed central asian ancestry. i just checked google books and there are many references to muslims, and fewer, but still some, of british, as mlecchas. perhaps this is not accurate, but i don’t mind being educated.
p.s. of course the hindus were not always in a position to enforce the position of the muslims and british as mlecchas. the point was (in the books) that the theory entailed they were.
Abhi,
You gotta give us better blog-crack than this.
Regards,
Kiddie
well christians and muslims do not follow under the caste category they come under the marginalized section. well i guess mostly every christian and musilm has a hindu lineage (somebdy in the tree had converted) therefor that caste holds. But in india lawfully the caste for them is regarded as none.therefor i guess they wont fall under the criteria,
Sad. If that government directive is true. Won’t it encourage touts to marry, obtain the marriage certificate, get the cash reward, and share the booty? I mean.. wtf. To try to blot out something like casteism – and other social divides after 60 odd years of self-rule(which is what the Indian independence movement was supposed to empower all Indians with) with a directive like this can at best be called laughable. I so want to add an expletive to express my emotion at this, but maybe that would be inappropriate.
But what are we doing about this? What am I doing? The sad thing is, all political parties will want to rally behind stuff like this. For all the “world’s largest written constitution” and “taking the best from all constitutions of the world”, I wonder where we have really got to. And what am I doing about it?
Madhurima,
The caste divide is a ugly reality in india where death is the only punishment for a person who crosses it.
Huh?
Abhi buddy,
Restricting your options to Indian (presumably Hindu) girls may not necessarily be helping matters — especially considering the smaller numbers of desis in the US (percentage-wise, compared to the total population) and the fact that the Indian community over there isn’t as concentrated and “close-knit” as it is in Britain. Unless you genuinely do only want to marry an Indian woman, which is of course none of my business and not something you need to justify to me.
I’m just voicing some objective thoughts so please don’t interpret this as being facetious or anything; it’s just something which occurred to me a while ago, as you’ve mentioned the difficulties in finding suitable partners a few times previously.
Razib,
I have some Rajput ancestry myself (very long story) and I hadn’t heard of this kind of behaviour. As far as I know, the people who became known as the Rajputs were officially “inducted” into the warrior caste via various ceremonies by the local brahmins. At least according to various scholarly tracts on the matter; you may have also heard the myth of the Rajput clans “springing out of the fire” at a ceremony on top of Mount Abu in Rajasthan, but it stands to reason that this was probably more likely to be referring to the aforementioned induction ceremony.
This is of course further complicated by the fact that Rajputs also historically claimed descent from the warriors present during the Kuruskhetra war described in the Mahabharata, and Rajput royal families used to take it even further back with regards to Suryavanshi and Raghuvanshi clans (I believe the latter was the royal dynasty of Rama). The historical validity of this is a blurred subject, but perhaps something to consider.
Anyway, I don’t want to detract from the main topic but just thought I’d add my own 5 cents as this is part of my own heritage. Back to finding a suitable bride for Abhi 🙂
Jai, old bean, eyebrows were raised
nationwideworldwide upon reading that Abhi the Eligible will soon be a Doctor of Philosophy in Something or Other.Jai- is Rajput ancestry common among Punjabis? Does this pedigree function as a caste determinant in Punjab in any way?
I must stress that I find the caste system and any other system of human taxonomy, whether it has its basis on race, socio-economic factors, etc. to be deplorable and wholly incongruent with the humanist and democratic perspectives I espouse, but I still regard it and its machinations with the same fascination I reserve for serial killers, religious extremism, Bill O’Reilly, and other blights upon humanity.
Everyone on this blog is an upper caste Hindu yet they are magnanimous enough to step down down from their privileged pedestals to speak against casteism today.I am so affected by their noble thoughts that I vow to spawn a few more lower caste Hindu kids in your honor,so that your upper caste progeny could kiss them and hug them and yet again assert their”upper casteism” on them.
No, they’re not. As a Christian some self-conscious distant family friends changed their name from Lobo to Lobo-Prabhu to show that they weren’t from a lower caste, and some Indian Catholics retain their castes. Even though my family doesn’t recognise the caste system at all we do have an historian cousin who found out our caste and there are people who are v aware of it. After reading the God Of Small Things I thought I was lower caste and was doing v well feeling tragically sorry for my ancestors who had to brush away their own footprints etc. until someone killed it and said our original Hindu name was Brahmin. Sucks ass when you turn out to be the oppressor! 😛
Abhi,
sometimes ‘matrimonial help’ can work against your favour. I receive regular emails for my joke profile FatAndBlack from Shaadi.com…and when I was checking my email on my laptop during a law lecture guess what pops up on my gmail in full view of those around me? NOT a good look…
DJ Drrrty Poonjabi,
Less common amongst Sikhs, the greater proportion of whom are Jatts. However, the Patiala royal family are Rajputs, for example. I also believe that significant numbers of Rajputs and other members of the professional warrior caste joined the Sikh cause during the militarisation of the community in order to assist Guru Hargobind with their expertise in warfare, several generations before Guru Gobind Singh formed the Khalsa and the militarisation of Sikhs occurred en masse.
I’ll let Hindu Punjabis on SM detail how common it is amongst them, although I believe the actress Preity Zinta is a Rajput (she’s originally from Shimla in Himachal Pradesh, which used to be a part of Punjab as we all know).
As I mentioned, my own family’s link to the Rajputs is a very long story indeed. Like Ennis, I like to keep personal information divulged on SM to a minimum in order to maintain detachment and my own anonymity, unless it’s of some kind of benefit to the discussion or in order to clarify the context of any comments I make, so I don’t really want to go into any great detail here.
Unfortunately it probably does amongst those who are so inclined.
Non von Mises,
Yes yes, I know I was stating the obvious, it occurred to me even while I was writing it. I was just trying to help a brother out. I’m sure Abhi’s got everything already figured out anyway and (hopefully) knows exactly what he’s doing 😉
Ooh ooh, do we get a link to your vaguely offensive profile? How about letting us snicker at some of the emails?
Something leads me to believe you post comments from under a bridge while you wait for billy goats to cross.
Jai – thanks for the informative response, I appreciate your answer.
I’ve met Ennis and, based on his own admission, he fiercely protects his privacy out of fear that his successful moonlighting as an Elvis impersonator is discovered.
Whoops, I just let the cat out of the bag. @=)
DJ Drrrty Poonjabi
–Something leads me to believe you post comments from under a bridge while you wait for billy goats to cross.
Thats not what I wanted you to believe.Anyways failure to understand my sarcasm and then alluding to some silly fable to cover it up makes me wanna call you a Dee Dee Dee lol
Whoops, my bad. A lack on intonation inherent in text makes it difficult for me to differentiate the Moornam from the Spoorlam.
The fable was supposed to be a snide way of refering to you as a troll, but I see that you failed to understand that as well. All is good in the end. @=)
There you go again Dee Dee Dee!!! Trolls n dolls n goats. Huh You should have called me sponge bob or something,because I am not too familiar with Norwegian myths. But I digress,Mr Dee Dee Dee you still don’t get my point.Your friend Tashi did. Anyways I tried hard.
do you think ‘caste’ is a necessary evil – we seem to be gravitating to it socially anyway – and havent escaped its lure in conversation anyhow. class segregation is inevitable and we seek race, language, religion to band together for centers of power. the absence of caste is the absence of social net for a lot of people as seen in modern india – the problem with indian cities is the absence of a social net, because government does not have an alternateive – we see escalating crime, senior abuse – in spite of government rulings – the strongest/most prosperous communities are those that have banded together around caste or creed to create niche societal spaces they leverage for industry or professional services, witness the diamond marts, the weavers, the rug industry, the morgue services etc. to repudiate caste outright may nto be wise – because while its abuses are abominable, its absence would leave a vacuum that would be chaotic.
excellent post Abhi. As a fellow guju brahmin, I’m considering making a marital trek to the motherland too. I can really use that $1,100 to finally pay that loan shark who keeps breaking my limbs..
Dear DJ Drrrty 🙂
From FatAndBlack, 4 foot 11, heavy set, lower caste, non-handicapped (yep that is actually a search option on the site, handicapped or non) and NZ citizen…
More About Myself
My Personality, Long-Term Goals, Partner Expectations, etc
hi. i am (sic) young professional with moderate values looking for a like-minded person to share fun, exciting and pleasant times with. i have an unconventional appearance for a woman of my culture, but i believe that internal qualities are the most important. i am very career-focussed and have so far been successful in my chosen profession, and intend to keep climbing the corporate ladder. i am very family-oriented and would like to have more children in the future. i already have two from my previous relationship with a european man, but my rejuvenated christian belief has let me have faith that love can happen the second time around!
Sample message:
” hi. how r u gorgeous. i am from fiji having a visitors permit of two months before i am returning to suva. at present i am staying with my sister and her husband in south auckland. maybe we can meet, i like to get to know u. am looking to settle in new zealand working in autoshop in fiji. i am awaiting your reply.”
Dear Lower Caste:
Yeah, mate, you really did 🙂
No, they’re not.
But the clear majority of Christians in India are Dalit converts.
I thought I was lower caste and was doing v well feeling tragically sorry for my ancestors who had to brush away their own footprints etc. until someone killed it and said our original Hindu name was Brahmin. Sucks ass when you turn out to be the oppressor!
Like very many non-Hindus, its interesting you manage to tell us of your Brahmin lineage (albeit couched in apologies and caveats). This way you get to be a “progressive”, a Christian who has transcended it all apparently, and still of the “highest” caste.
Neat trick
!!!
Abhi: Search for bride is making your life miserable ?? I thought I have heard it all before. This is a new one! True, you are not getting any younger, but what counts is “young at heart”, age does not matter – at least that’s what they tell me – As for mountain of debt excuse, in just less than a year,starting next January your NASA hefty salary will wipe out all that. Yo Parents have been insisting “it’s time” since you started shaving, anyway – like at age 12?. The last handicap that “You Blog” – if anything, should help and not hinder your chances of getting a suitable girl. Let us forget about “cashing on” your “Gujarati Brahmin” heritage. You are just a born “Brahmin” – like I am. One is “Brahmin” by one’s “Karma” and not “Janma”. It will happen when it will happen! And when it will happen – probabbly in a split second – you won’t even know it that it happened. Trust me I have been there.. Love.. Dad Taz: I hope you are right. After meeting this “Fair Foreign Girl” – Abhishek is off the “Available” list.
I guess nothing panned out during your weekend away at that wedding. Did you not stop at a CVS, beta? Oh, no — now I’m really sounding like an Auntie, and I’m WAY too young for that. 🙂
50,000 to Brahmins?!
I would think you would have to pay the other castes to marry a Brahmin.
No, don’t get your panties/boxers in a twist. I think a life sentence of Thayir Saadam(curd rice) is worth at least a few lakhs. I’m married to one of those and its torture. I am truly deprived. I can only dream of Biryani and juicy steaks. Who will pay me?
Caste Away,
I based my statement on the mounds of stories which tell of Hindus in old times refusing to eat with the British and with Muslims because they were ‘out-castes’, refusing to invite them into their homes etc (practices which, interestingly, were thrown out the window in some quarters because of economic interest). In my family whites were regarded, a few generations back, as out-castes. I believe that just as the Japanese became ‘honorary whites’ during the era of apartheid in S.A. due to such economic interest, whites gradually became the out-castes who were somehow acceptable.
Not being a scholar in casteism, however, I welcome edu(ma)cation from someone who is.
Just back from a visit to India. I am angered by the talk of caste everywhere (North/South India). This comes up during conversations about marriage, elections, persons who clean the home, neighbours ad nauseam. I have a way to fix this caste issue once and for all time. From now on all kids shall have their father first name as their last name. In three generations when all the oldies die out caste is history.
41.
just an educated guess but perhaps the lower castes don’t need as much enticement on average to marry people of higher castes.
Abhi, TFF!
Perhaps you’ll be off the available-eligibles list after the L.A. meetup-
but in the meantime, i just wanted to chime in that you should by no means consider blogging as a detriment to finding girl-love.
I started bloging just around the time i got engaged, ‘cos once names like “snow-monkey” and “mango-monkey” come out of the woodwork, there’s very little opportunity to exercise your voice on other important schtuff–the state of the world, for instance 🙂
Guys- I am an FOB, with nary an ABCD friend, thus this curious query.
Do the ABCDs (read, cool accented, amreekan citizens) amongst you get bombarded with girls/marriage prospects by aunties/uncles on your visits to desh? If yes, over the last decade, (due to economic progress) has this changed at all ?
I love Yo Dad, can I just say? As for taking Abhi off the available list tonight, there ain’t nothing that I’m not willing to do for the sake of entertainment value for the mutinous. Call it hands on investigative blogging.
DJ DP
How can anyone not get the three billy goat gruff reference? I thought it was quite clever. I fondly remember that story as the first play i ever acted in. I was 5 and in kindergarten. I crawled in my hands and knees and played a goat.
“I don’t smoke dope, I don’t drink Bourbon, All I wanna do is shake my turban!”
I’d heard the same thing about white people being “out-castes” as well. The eating test is a good one – if somebody refuses to eat with somebody lower caste than them, will they eat with a white man? Also, as I recall, there are temples in the south where white people are not allowed, again for caste reasons.
However, it’s not clear this applies to Pardesi Gori since she seems to have been raised a hindu, so I imagine at some point she was given some caste status. I dunno – what caste are the ISKON-ites? Saheli – do you know?
please. whites are the new brahmins. just look at the grin on the faces of desi men and women with white partners. if you go white, you’ve achieved something. as much as your families might complain about a white partner, if they converted to your religion would they still complain? and would they respond the same way to a Black partner? i doubt it.
and yes, i’m exaggerating to make a point with “whites are the new brahmins”
anyway, I think this is a good incentive system; at least it cancels out some of the possible class conflict potentially caused by dowry issues. i don’t think intermarriage is a panacea for oppression – otherwise you could negatively correlate intermarriage rates with racism, which is highly questionable – but as far as the caste system, maybe it’s a good thing.
Unfortunately, these rates are way lower than the opportunity cost of foregone dowry payments. However, they may go some way to defray the other costs associated with marrying somebody lower caste, the financial costs associated with business ostracism, etc. It wont help people in small villages where people are afraid for their safety if they marry out.
please. whites are the new brahmins. just look at the grin on the faces of desi men and women with white partners.
This gives a new twist to the often used term – Boston Brahmin. 🙂