Caste Archives

The Case for Arranged Marriage

An arranged marriage is thoughtful curation more than a blind choice. People with similar customs, tradition, and upbringing are likely to make fewer compromises, fight lesser, and be happier. Truth is, marriages are not made in heaven, they are made in convenience.

Ramjaane July 17, 2016

Modern Family

Shaadi Ke Side Effects: When a Maharashtrian Marries a Marwari

Maharashtrians are frugal, Marwaris are shaukeen. A Maharashtrian’s wedding budget is a Marwari’s lehenga budget. I married a Marwari and though our cultures take us in two different directions, we’ve found a place to make things work. It’s called midway.

Ramjaane May 28, 2016

Pop Culture

What Prayaag Akbar’s Leila Says About the Caste-Illiterate Upper Class

In Prayaag Akbar’s Leila, now adapted into a Netflix series, the journey of its protagonist Shalini, echoes the social deafness of most privileged men and women in India. People who over-elaborate their progressiveness but remain blind to the segmentations that widen due to their choices.

Manik Sharma May 22, 2016

Gender

What Legacy Does an Ordinary Housewife Leave Behind?

The way we have come to view history, tends to paint men as architects and actors. But where are the women in our history books?

Sneha Khaund May 18, 2016

POV

From 1947 to 2089: What Will India Look Like in Another 71 Years?

In the India of the distant future, will caste still matter? Will democracy as we know it persist, or be replaced by a newer form of government? Predicting the future is hard, even more so for a country like India.

Sajith Pai May 11, 2016

People

What Will It Take for India to Stop Honour Killings?

Inter-caste marriages in India are fraught with danger, as the high-profile honour killing of Premulla Pranay by his father-in-law in Telangana proves. Monika and Vikramjeet knew their inter-caste marriage would anger people, but they had no idea that they would have to be on the run for 12 years, escaping their murderous family.

Sat Singh May 11, 2016

Culture

How RK Narayan’s Malgudi Days Helped Me Understand My Grandfather

Malgudi might have been a made-up Tamil town of the 1940s, supposedly located near colonial Madras. But its realism came from slice-of-life tales about a community that, however far removed from me in space and time, felt like home.

Kahini Iyer April 7, 2016

Bollywood

Sairat Lovers, All Your Nightmares About Dhadak are True

Spoiler alert: Dhadak is as terrible as anyone who has watched Sairat expected it to be. If there’s anyone who can take the ignored issue of caste and ignore it even further, it’s a Karan Johar production. The result is a risible, candyfloss film that embodies everything Sairat mocked.

Poulomi Das March 13, 2016