Caste system, also amongst Hindu's in Europe??!

Radjin

If people talk about Caste System in Himduism, most of the time they refere to India....but living in Holland I have spotted a new trend...telling people that you are of the highest cast...telling your friends that you are a Brahman....I thought that people in The West were modern and brought-minded....but after having spotted at least 4 students (age 18- 25)following this trend, I feel like going back at least 50 years in time....what a shame and what a waste.....!!! Do some of you living in Europe have the same experience ???!

Indojingai

Radjin: Welcome to IM.

The information does put me to shame as an Indian.
I'd like to belive that those people (Assuming they were born in India) were nuts but the reality is that there really are such thoughts in people's minds even yet! (Though a lot diluted than what it used to be.)

{Were those guys born and raised outside India? If so, then I dont know what to say.)

I am not one of those.

But I did come across several references where, Indian (or any immigrant group for that matter) becomes a lot more 'themselves' when they move on to other lands. For instance, a Canadian once said that Sikhs (she was one) do a lot more outward show of religion in Vancouver than what the same people did before when they were in Punjab or wherever.
I guess this fact might also owe allegiance to what your experience above is.

But I agree, it all sounds soo bad in the end. :

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Yogesh Sarkar

As long as government promotes casts so actively, don’t think it will go away.

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Nick-H

Meeting an Indian friend in London: exchange namascaram, hands together....

Meeting an Indian friend in Chenni: Hi! How are you?

It is years since I heard of girls puting their best saris and flying back to meet the family, only to be met by their cousins in jeans and tee-shirts.

Many of my friends in London are Sri Lankan Tamil. Being not only an expat community but also a refugee community causes them to be,I believe, even more attached to their traditions and community than they would be had they left it of their own free will. I often have the impression that they like to out-orthodox Indians!

On caste specifically, I cannot comment. Certainly I know people in London who take being Brahmin very seriously, but as the community I move with there is the classical music community it is possible that they are more 'traditional' than Indians in other fields.

I wouldn't be surprised if an overseas Brahmin resurgance isn't a backlash to reservation in India. I have heard Brahmins say that,from being the favoured class, they suddenly found that they were the ones having difficulty finding a job.

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Vibhu Jindal

Telling a person his caste or community is no indication of a persons leaning towards Caste system...i pretty often tell ppl that i am a marwari...so does that make me a casteist bigot...

as long as those ppl aren't throwing around their caste superiority ....and mention it in due conversation ...i notice nothing wrong in it...

If we go by logic mentioned above then any hindu mentioning his community or caste would be a caste system believer

crvlvr

i have found indians raised in the west are sometimes more closed minded than indians from india (particularly those raised in cities). It think this is because the cultural exposure an indian growing up the west recieves is limited to what their parents have to say. Often, their parents are stuck in the past and stereotypes that they have been raised with in India is passed on to their kids. These kids don't know better -- unless they visit India, and see for themselves how much the country has progressed,

jaybel

yeah I know a bunch of such people out here too.. die hard caste supporters and a handful of them were born in East Africa..2nd / 3rd generation.. really a pityful thing !!

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Jaybel

Marvel

I hear you Radjin. A statistically significant number of Indians here are stuck in the past and hypocritical to the point of

Anyway let's look at it positively. It could always be worse e.g. the Surinamese Indians. They're stuck in the middle ages as far as I can tell. Even the normal Indians here are shocked at their backwardness.