Societal Weather Report Part 2: High Caste, Low Caste – We are Over Caste… The high winds of change are upon us.

Not only is the caste debate big enough for us to ponder over all day long, it is a debate that is very much needed today. I am a modern Sikh, who lives a British lifestyle. I battle to maintain a Sikh identity and lifestyle whilst conforming to a Western way of being – the two do not have to be mutually exclusive and I combine the two as much as possible. After all, they are two facets of my identity that I am equally proud of. My identity is however further complicated by my caste. For me, just like power begets resistance, caste begets social division…

In my last post, I explored marriage and the caste system. Two complex arenas that are almost matrimonially intertwined as they can be in modern British-Asian society. But where does all of this leave us? What really is happening with the caste system in our societies today? And the biggest question of all for me - Are UK British Asians reviving their cultures in ways they don’t understand? Is the South Asian Diaspora inherently caste racist?

The caste system is deeply ingrained in the minds of some Asians (for Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims). In India, I have seen the Hindu ‘untouchable’ caste excluded from Indian society, begging and getting by in the most demeaning ways imaginable. It was heartbreaking to see since these people were trying to get by but were ignored and marginalised because of an apparent system that dictated their sub-human status. In history, Hindus brahmins would take a shower if they touched a chamar by mistake or purify their homes with water and prayers should a chamar enter their premises. Every sixth human being in the world today is an Indian, and every sixth Indian is an untouchable. It makes you think doesn’t it?

I remember being at school and first discovering that I was of a particular caste. It didn’t mean anything to me; I was a British lad living in Britain with no other comparison. For a fellow student to claim he was superior to me by his caste was farcical to me! After all, we were at school to learn and his caste didn’t mean that he was given better treatment than me… it was all a bit silly at school but there were many underlying tensions that segregated the Asian communities in this way. Looking back now, casteism was alive more than I realised and often governed relationships between people even in the younger age brackets. In the 60’s and 70’s, these prejudices were more ingrained with first generation British-Asians learning the ways of the world from migrant parents who may not have known a life without caste. I have been told that many people in the 1960’s and 70’s suffered at the hands of racist bigots. But adding to the complexity of race discrimination, many ethnic minorities suffered racism from within their own communities due to caste divides.

So when a fellow student at school was beaten up for his caste, I became sure that I didn’t want to know about the caste system again. The police called it a ‘racially aggravated assault’. And that is exactly what it was, an assault made on the grounds of race. Casteism is equivalent to racism. It has no place in a modern society where the class structure prevails.

In modern Britain, the South Asian Diaspora revive their Asian roots and cultures through various means which display an inherent racist attitude. Not only have we learned that inter-caste marriages are seen as wrong by many (I am a direct witness to this), we can also acknowledge that they are now becoming more frequent. A good sign I think. But it goes deeper than that. In Sikhism, gurdwaras are often divided according to caste. It is not uncommon to see the Ramgharia gurdwara, the predominantly Jatt gurdwara, the Satsang gurdwara (accommodating a sub-set of Sikh followers) and so on. The establishments themselves are often managed by members of particular castes and therefore maintain the caste divides. It is ironic since Sikhism promotes equality, the Sikh Gurus forbid caste and the gurdwara is open to people from all corners of the world (the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the spiritual capital of the Sikhs has four entrances on all four sides representing an open door to all faiths, races and creeds). In reality, only those from the ‘caste’ community attend their gurdwara in Britain. I don’t think it is as frank or as obvious as I describe it but it is definitely there quietly governing modern day worship.

The youth of today promote caste. The UK Bhangra Industry promotes caste and it is possibly a medium through which caste is glamourised the most. Its very common to hear caste bias lyrics re-enforcing caste stereotypes. The Asian youth latch on to half formed realities concocted by Bhangra songs and take these realities as real life. I accept that bhangra music in the UK initially helped migrants to remember their home countries and cultures whilst living in foreign lands and often in poor conditions. I also accept that bhangra music allowed Asians to reaffirm their ethnic identities in the face of a new western culture and an often racist environment. Nowadays however, caste no longer bears the same significance it used to. There is no difference between me and another young British Asian – we both receive an education, we both strive to achieve our goals, we pay our taxes and we climb the class structure in parallel to our economic and social accomplishment. Why then should the caste I seemingly belong to influence my standing in society?

Rajinder K Dudrah eloquently purports that Bhangra music allows for internal reflection – a means through which individuals can make sense of their identities. These reflections however are “unique according to individual life experiences” and “collective in that other British South Asians are able to internalise similar life experiences but not necessarily in identical ways*”. The process of making sense of oneself however, is hardly enhanced by bhangra songs that promote caste divisions and usually irresponsibly.

I was asked once in a bar by an intoxicated Indian lad – ‘Are you Jatt mate?’. No formal introduction. ‘No I’m a Sikh’ I replied and proceeded to the bar (I’ve always been a smart arse). Later we met again and he asked again. ‘So what does it mean to be Jatt?’ I asked. ‘Well we’re the highest caste in Sikhism, we don’t like chamars and we drink a lot, haha’. Somehow I knew that he was mis-informed and his knowledge probably went no deeper. In reality, I have had this conversation many times with individuals including the girl who once asked me what my caste was on our first date. I never did return her call. It made me laugh when I witnessed young Asians singing the lyrics to a popular bhangra song promoting casteism but the only words they knew were ‘Putt Jattan De’ followed by painful lip synching and mumbles. Even Britney Spears would cringe at those attempts.

Warped truths inform the realities of those who don’t seek the truth. Until I fully understand what it means to belong to a caste, I don’t belong to it.

‘I’m a privileged member of the community because my caste is higher than yours’, I was once told.
‘I’m a [caste] and that makes me a highly regarded member of the community’ said another.
‘I’m proud to be a [caste]’.

‘In the context of your current life circumstance, you own no land in the UK apart from the semi-detached house your father brought in 1985. And that he paid for with his savings accumulated by years of toil in the local steel mill. And now your father is a manual labourer (I use this example since my own grandfather laboured for over 30 years in the local manufacturing works – he was very proud of it too). You father looks forward to the end his shift, he looks forward to the weekend when he can put his feet up and relax. He pays his taxes and has the right to vote like the rest of us. He attends the same religious establishment as everyone else and associates with the same community as everyone else. Now tell me again why you claim to be a privileged member of the community when your caste has no bearing on the life you lead here in the UK?’

Wouldn’t it be great to respond like this? We all think it but don’t quite express it. Are we therefore all guilty of maintaining the system that categorises us according to age-old beliefs that no longer apply to us as Asians in the West? Are we even Asian (Asia is so huge)? I sometimes question that too. Why enforce an obsolete belief in an environment far removed from pre 20th Century India or even modern day India? I’m about as Indian as Ben Kingsley playing Gandhi.

However we choose to live our lives, we should be doing it with humility. At the most basic and fundamental level, we are all human beings. The caste system is a man made concept steeped in tradition and history that only seeks to divide individuals – it has no place here anymore. Abolishing deeply held beliefs can be difficult and I appreciate that many cannot do this or struggle to understand life without the caste structures that shape their opinions and beliefs. We must however, seek to understand one another, learn about the differences between us and embrace the diversity among us - not just between community groups and religious groups but between various castes too.

Loyalty to a caste is much more detrimental to society than merely belonging to one – it re-enforces the system and helps to shape identities. As a Sikh, I have first hand experience of the caste system forging hatred between people and do I want that for my children? It will be a sad day if my children are forced to make sense of their lives in a society still overshadowed by a caste structure.

The caste system cannot survive in Britain where education will send you up the social class system far quicker than any caste would – there is no room for a caste system here. The rays of an honest sunshine can never be overcome by a temporary rain cloud (and this stubborn cloud has been around for a long time). In the UK, or any other economically developed country, class will kill caste. This will happen more effectively if we also shift our mindsets accordingly and understand the significance of what we are faced with. Looking ahead, mild temperatures and cold winds continue, maybe the sun will come out tomorrow.

“They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself”.
Andy Warhol

* An excellent article exploring Bhangra music and ethnic identity and experiences of South Asians in the UK.

"Drum N Dhol 1: British Bhangra Music and Diasporic South Asian Identity Formation" by Rajinder K Dudrah - European Journal of Cultural Studies, Vol. 5, No. 3, 363-383 (2002).

I also recommend CasteWatch UK – a brilliant organisation promoting the removal of caste discrimination in the UK. [www.castewatchuk.org]