Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents – Isabel Wilkerson - In India, do we keep a separate plate, glass, spoon for our domestic-aid? If we still do, then YES, caste is deep-rooted in us. - Do we ask our domestic-aids to clean the ceiling- fans, the window-sills, the balcony-grills, the bathroom tiles, polish the brass & more to the long list of other regular chores? If we still do, then YES, the so-called Diwali “Bonus” we so flauntingly give, is then nothing but her rightful due for all that EXTRA work we make her do. - Do we still ask if that marriage of so & so was “INTER-CASTE”? “INTER-FAITH”? “INTER-CULTURAL”? & so on? Then YES, the caste is deep-rooted in us. - Do we talk about MERITOCRACY & fail to be cognizant of the damning SOCIAL REALITY in most parts of India, then YES, we are deeply IGNORANT of the systemic oppression that CASTE entails. - Do we (my south-Indian Tam-Bram friends) still make statements that the Dalit oppression is only in some “northern” little towns & not a REAL THING in the so-called progressive/cosmopolitan cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru & more? – If YES, then again, we are rationalizing our already prejudiced thinking. - Do we still think that we are “pavam thayyar-sadam sappadraaa poor brahmins” who have nothing to do with perpetuating the hierarchy? – then YES, we are deeply IGNORANT of our deep-rooted casteism that still structures our thought process. We continue to internalize it unconsciously, for the assumptions of caste have been relatively & arbitrarily constant, invisible & nearly impossible to dislodge. To all the nay-sayers out there who are/were “deeply offended” by the “UNFAIR” comparison by Isabel Wilkerson’s book - Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, I strongly urge you as a THOUGHT EXPERIMENT to read this book in its ENTIRETY to then discuss & think on the issues raised by this book. For me personally, the unsettling interconnections/comparisons between India’s caste system, the Nazi’s systematic persecution of Jews, the America’s treatment of African-Americans (slavery to abolition of slavery to civil-wars to current continued structural systemic oppression) have been an eye-opener. Wilkerson asks simple but very pertinent questions like: 1) How Hierarchy reproduces itself? (natural/divinely ordained? Heritability of status? Controls on marriage & sexuality across caste lines? Caste-based occupational hierarchy? Terror & violence as a means of its enforcement?) 2) What are its origins? How are they sustained? What are the far-reaching effects of its “tentacles”? 3) Ultimately, what’s the role of personal responsibility? Our personal accountability? Do we perpetuate it? Do we eradicate it? The most important take-away from this book is that of RECOGNITION. The RECOGNITION that this system has & continues to create human divisions. This RECOGNITION is absolutely important, if we have to TRULY move towards making a change & in moving towards a hopeful COMMON HUMANITY.