Backward class
I had a form to fill out for school. It was the first form I had filled out. But there was one question for which I didn’t know the answer. Dad was around and I went to ask him for the answer.
“Dad, what caste are we?”
“Backward.” he replied. I diligently wrote it down, b-a-c-k-w-a-r-d feeling a lump in my stomach with disappointment as I couldn’t understand how we could be backward caste. At a time when we would boast about our dads, this came as utter punch in the stomach. Dad was afterall a scientist! How could we be backward class?! I just couldn’t understand. I stuffed the form in my school bag and sadly still in utter disbelief showed the form to some of my friends in class. Maybe they would say it was not true. They just looked at me puzzled and life went on.
I was 9 years old. And it was my first interaction with the world of class/caste system. I forgot about this incident and the next time I heard the word caste system was when we left India, 20 years ago and was asked about it by a fellow Italian American classmate. I was speechless. I didn’t know. This time I had asked my mom and she shared with me of how some people follow this system in India.
So, no we are not of backward caste. It was just my dad’s view of the whole system in place. I guess dad always thought they were asking his opinion on these forms.
I had completely forgotten this story until recently and shared it with my parents. They also don’t remember this incident. It’s funny how certain things trigger old memories. And with race and class a topic in this country, the many articles on the subject remind me of that time. In the debate at Washington Post, The ‘Two or More Races’ Dilemma, I have to agree with Shelby Steele.
“Identity politics is a cynical and dehumanizing business that, in the end, helps no one. Better to eliminate all such categories and leave race and identity in the private realm.”