What is your caste?

Easily the worst question I get to hear from somebody. My reply is one of these depending on my mood and my relation with the person asking.
* How does it matter to you?
* Don't you have anything else to ask?
* I'm a human being.
* How is it relevant?
* I'm an Indian.
* Don't irritate me.
And I really mean every reply I give. How does it matter to someone to which group I belong to, if at all? I feel if there is nothing else to ask it's better to give some rest to the mouth. And I can understand if somebody above 60 years of age or having a couple of grandchildren asks this, then it can be called the generation gap. But what's disgusting is when people from the so-called young India put up this question!
Worse is when the so-called educated even start orkut communities on caste lines, probably they took the word "community" too seriously. And what to say about the souls who become the members of such online caste groups. Hopeless. Apparently these communities are dedicated to - "...enlightening people about (community name here, deleted) values, traditions, beliefs, culture and also as a platform for entertainment." Quite euphemistic, these guys are. Naturally, they are all well-educated isn't it!

Either, these people have a serious sense of insecurity or not able to control their urge to assert their illusory dominance. In either case, it's highly regressive. These netizens are no better than the local goon who plays with people's sentiments to meet selfish needs.

There is also an argument that caste prejudices will not be removed unless there is an active discussion on it. Let me think more on this. I 'm very happy that most of us in Tamil Nadu do not have surnames.

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