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Caste Away ::

WE MATCH BETTER screams the JEEVAN SATHI.COM websites punchline.. But WE MATCH BETTER on basis of what?

This question has provided a reality check? WE MATCH BETTER on basis of religion, caste, mother tongue etc. Match making has always been a big business idea in our country which is so PRE OCCUPIED with marriage.  With over 5 million Indians finding their prospective partners through this medium, matrimonial websites are doing brisk business in their own right.

A preliminary visit to this website confirms this reality. Anybody looking for information on castes, sub castes, gothram, nakshatra etc are just a mouse click away. If caste is becoming so irrelevant, as some metropolitan urbanites want us to believe, then why don’t these sites reflect this trend? Why don’t these sites completely give away with the caste and religion column and give more impetus on Ideology, education, attitude and overall personality.

This unquestioning acceptance of the traditions, which painfully are passed on from generations to generations, worries me. Why can’t our elders, for a change, look beyond caste and religion and move on and in the process set an example for the coming generations to come.

It’s so surprising that in most European and American societies there is a complete breaking down of these silly practices with a more liberal and modern view on the institution of marriage. But in our own backyard we, as Indians, are going deeper and stronger in to these age old traditions.

Why is there so little light on such a sensitive topic? Why doesn’t the media play its role in awakening the masses? Why there is so little research in this subject?

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, the Nobel Prize winner for Chemistry and an Indian by birth commented about nationality being an accident of birth. I just want to go ahead and add that nationality, caste and religion are an accident by birth and play a very trivial role in shaping up a human being.

I just ponder at times that amidst this entire ritual where does LOVE has its rightful standing or even LOVE has become a manufactured myth in the same way as the new ‘India’s  great myth of the sexy sensex and 7 percent growth rate’

But the most unsettling of all this is that I am afraid  whether the next generation will inherit all these naïve practices and traditions or we, as the current generation take matters in to our own hands and rewrite the rules once and for all.

There are so many questions that needs to be answered and the silence is indeed deafening. Will the heavens open up and answer me?

p.s. Why can't the ministry of LAW under the present government pass a BILL under which whoever is practising this bullshit ritual by force, should attract a hefty fine or a jail sentence or both. I would prefer BOTH !

Comments

vedicanbest said…
i totally agree with u buddy...this caste, religion bias is still a cause of concern for our developing country....

but i dont think law ministry can do much in this regard...as these are customs which we have been following since past thousands of years.....

i think these customs and ideologies needs to be changed....a law in this respect won't be of much help....its the people mindset that needsto be changed here.
shashank said…
very true shrinivas...
Marraige is just one the occasions when caste and religion raise their ugly head in the current society..
They say religion has got out of society but society is yet to come out of religion...
which is true today more than ever
Sandeep said…
Its definitely true. But dear we ourselves have to blame for this ritual. We make friends whom we feel are adjustable with our life stlyes and who are nearly of our calibre in terms of wealth and education back ground. Don't you think its not right? We must try to make a group not withsatnding which strata of life they belong to. Hence when we get married we blindly follow what we have been doing from our early years. Rather than settling with somebody from an unknown territory (in pure terms society status) we prefer to settle with our own caste persons. I too am completely against this caste system but my friend this is the black reality in India.
santty said…
yea i agree with your point of view, but then i dont think there needs to be fine or punishment for ppl believing it. With changing times, things change and mayb few yrs or decades down the line, things wud b muc better than wht i seems nw.
Unknown said…
I agree with you completely. It is not important which caste or religion your spouse is from, but what is more imporatant is the compatibility you two have, the wavelength you reach with each other and the understanding towards each others' needs... Our generation however may not be successful in changing the mindset our parents have, but we can definitely break these barriers for our children.... Lets start with us...
shali said…
I do agree with caste,subcaste and educational qualification being a basis for finding a life partner,but everyone are not lucky enough to find true love,so the matriomonial sites and magazines are the basis for searching prospective grooms and brides.Definitely, caste is taken as the stepping stone for going ahead with the proposal but as far as i know of ideologies,level of understanding is also been taken into consideration before the girl and boy agree to get married,though love comes later in arranged marriage.It all starts with life long commitment unlike love marriages which start with love .If these matrimonial sites would not have been there many people would have had to remain single all their lives,in the hope that they would find someone someday.....
Jinnesh said…
this is a very sensitive topic i would agree onto it up to a certain extent but after that i feel marriages in our Indian society has lot or moral & ethical values than in any other western country.

Yes Caste system needs to be uprooted from society but not this way it needs to be uprooted from hearts and minds in such a way that could be accepted at will rather than forcefully....
VeeKay said…
see brother..Caste system is only a classification..Comparing our traditions with foreign countries is not fair..Our caste system is synonymous to the clans that exists in other nations also..

Say in japan: few clans are
koko genji, neimmo heishi, imube clan etc...

even in the west u have many splits among people based on religion n stuff..like jews,catholics, protestants etc..

Even the western people show love to their own clan..Yar, I guess u might know the attrocities done on Indians based on discrimination these days..

well, I love India too much man..Thats y..Anyways ur flow of thought and expression was good..keep blogging brother..:)
Unknown said…
pradeep
@srinivas
went thru ur blog.....agree too wid ur views.... but no judiciary in this nation shall ever make such laws what u have proposed.....its not a matter of law...rather it is related with mental state and traditional thinking of the mass....when mass will change,society will change n then only law has to change.... for an example,there are 11,027 members presently in this community.... how much percentage of them can implement such ideals in their own lives ....even i feel very out of place within my family n relatives for similar thoughts like u .... it needs a revolution man,mass revolution... and that needs awareness...full awareness beyond doubts.... and bringing that awareness is the utmost duty of people like us... u have surely been walking towards that path to an extent... and kudos to u 4 that... but the point is..we have to make it reachable to that mentally exploited mass who hv become easy prey for thugs like jeevansaathi etc. n why blame them...the GURUS are our religious pundits ,the so called legal contractors of religion.... task ahead is really very hard ... may get urself from bad to worse shape...... but assure u ... some ppl are born to swim against stream... n u r going to get along with them when u start swimming.... GOOD LUCK.
Unknown said…
Hmmm.. I do agree with you for the fact that LOVE and compatibility are not given any importance in our country when marriage is considered.. Marriage has become a family affair.. Even I have elders who would prefer a guy for me who's from the same caste as me, looks good, and is compatible with me astrologically.. But no one would ever bother to ask me as to, how good our understanding level is.. In fact, if we shun all caste differences in all aspects, not just marriage, our country would be a better place to live in.. :-)
awesome buddy... rightly written... first of all u have taken up a very sensitive topic... But i totally agree with u..as said my Vedicanbest above our people mindset should be changed first before anything... seriously loved ur style of writing... kool...-
+
ram said…
partially i agree with u but not fully.we can inter caste marriage....but big no to inter religious marriage.it will create lot of problems.caste and religion are of personal interests anybody can follow it.don't compare with western in this aspect.we are very much cultured than those people on this aspect.
sweety said…
hey its true yaar...parents force us to have arrange marriege that too in caste.....how mean na?if the guys are not good looking or good earning still we have to marry them just our parents want us to get married in the caste....
Nethra said…
Why are you blaming religions? Its us, people who spoil everything not the religion.
Anyways, nice thought flow.
Unknown said…
yes,we could do away with the caste and the religion on some things,i agree.

but i dont agree with ' nationality, caste and religion are an accident by birth and play a very trivial role in shaping up a human being'

infact,i think the opposite.nationality and religion play a very important role in shaping up a person.

if they wouldnt have ,we might have have missed out on the many diversities..and many more beautiful customs..

i do believe that religion has a dark side,but so does everything else.

and bout comparing ourselves.i say,even thoughts undergo evolution.so all we need is a little time ,i guess.

just my thoughts...nice post..:)
Anonymous said…
Castism has its own place in our Indian tradition , We can't come out of it....


Even these days our young generation which don't believe in this hypocrisy is trying to brack the shackles and make a new country which is free of these things...


But It will take time to remove all these things from our society..




And jahan tak aapke punishment ki baatein hain I don't agree with you...


Bye the way nice post...

keep writing

:)


http://scribedbyme.blogspot.com/
Vikas said…
caste system broke many marriages. it should be optional. in many case parents make pressure on their son/daugher to marriage in same cast.
Sujoy said…
Nice posts... though not much regular. Carry the good work on
Tapan said…
I don't completely agree with you.

We live in a democratic country, here an individual has all rights to follow any religion/caste/language of his own choice. So, It is totally sense to expect ministry of law to bring upon such an act...

Secondly, I have the same mentality, I don't follow any religion, & fells the same, that it is worthless to do so, But at the same time, i respect one who follow religion/caste/language of his own choice without interrupting others... If people like u n me, wish to bring upon the culture of open mindedness, it is worthless to expect it from our parents or people of society. We have to do this by not following any religion, & giving preaching to our kids/following generations of awareness.
Good post but only changing the way we think will master this change.The new and upcoming generations are gradualy breaking free from all these idelogies but it will take along time to break free from them totally.

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