North Indians and their obsession with castes

Once, I was using an app that connects random strangers over voice calls, and I got connected with a girl from Uttar Pradesh, India. And after the typical hi-hello, she asked where I am from and then second question was, "what caste do I belong to?".

Whattt!!! I was furious; like, how can a girl ask this question about my caste in the first 30 seconds of the conversation?! Yes, it's totally possible in most parts of the north India (actually, I don't know about other parts of India, so it might be true for other regions as well).

From the childhood, whenever a friend visited visited our home, my grandpa will ask me what caste does my friend belong to as soon as he went back. Back then, it was so deeply rooted that people won't know how to treat you without knowing your caste. Yes, their behavior towards you will change after learning about your caste – they might treat you better than earlier or even worse than earlier depending on your caste.

And I hate to say that this practice is still very much alive. Even today's youngsters are sticking to these kinda things and I think only the "politics" in the name of caste is to blame here. Nothing else creates so much division among people than bad and dirty politics.

Without a doubt, we have learnt all this from the Britishers, and it shows. – me

But has this issue reduced over the years?

Reduced? Yes, a bit.

Resolved? No, not at all.

The more rural areas you visit, the more people you will meet still being victims of this practice. I hate to say this, but a lot of lower castes are still not allowed to go to the temples or even ride a horse during their weddings.

Surprised? See this news of only one year back where a lower caste groom was attacked for riding a horse during the marriage procession.

Re-thinking? Yes, you should be thinking all this through.

How can this be completely resolved?

If you think, it's not impossible. If the government takes proper action and actually tries to fix the issues, I think, it will be a gone thing in the next 1-2 decades.

But they don't want to!!! Because it's beneficial for them.

That's it.