Why caste continues to matter a great deal in India

But there is another side to caste that appears in a lower case version, and resides in a certain way of life.For most people of Sardesai’s generation and mine, caste did play an important role, particularly in the formative years of life. Whether overtly or otherwise, it was part of what was seen as everyday family life, it influenced the food cooked at home and the rituals, religious or otherwise that were practised. The sense of community that one belonged to, the feeling of a shared way of life and an overall sense of where one came from was shaped by caste. At a time when most people tended to live in their home towns, within their communities, caste was the most natural source of identity . The absence of economic and social mobility meant that in most cases, competing sources of identity were absent. For this generation, caste continues to be an idea that evokes a sense of belongingness, for it was a real part of their lives.

But when it comes to the next generation of the urban middle class, the role of caste is receding. Opportunities are taking people outside their closed communities, and new avenues for personal growth have multiplied the sources of identity that were available today . Traditional customs are becoming truncated and homogenized as part of an evolving pan-Indian form of tradition — for instance, the baraat is now a caste-neutral phenomenon. A large part of middle class India is gradually relocating its source of identity from a collective past to a personal present. Education, occupation, the area of residence, even the kind of car that one drives -these would in all probability be more expressive markers of identity than one’s roots. It is increasingly more important where one is going to rather than where one came from. In this new scheme of things, identity is a more fluid idea that draws from many sources and morphs frequently in response to rapidly changing contexts.

In this construct, caste is one among many factors that shape identity. So far, the dominant liberal reaction to the idea of caste has been to combat its apparently insidious influence by denying it a place in our public utterances.This denial of reality has created a schism between the public and the private, the professed and the practiced, and alienated a large part of India who have felt detached from their past. Rather than shut out the past, and make caste a towering absence in our lives, it is time to put it in its place. As one of the many sources of identity and influence that shapes us.