Just read the WSJ piece on Tamilian Brahmins. Why does that piece exist in the public domain?

Note to self: Vasu you should also be able to write bad pieces and publish them confidently in the WSJ.

Right I’ll stop the one million jokes I have lined up for that piece to say something a bit more seriously.

The tam Bram “success story” in India and overseas is built on privilege that was extracted through suppression of Bahujans. Do not forget or omit that.

Without that extraction of privilege and oppression of others by religious decree, that success (assuming there is success) would not have happened.

In the US, the most casteist folks I ever met were Tam Brams. Certainly not all of them, but quite a few of them.

Further other Indian communities are very successful as well. I think it’s been hard to fail (or you’re just failing upwards) if you’ve latched on to medicine and engineering.

Next, this is also something we need to think about and I keep flagging this oh so many times.

We really need to consider how it is hard for non-white immigrants to succeed without making a bargain with white supremacy. Indians are vehemently good at this. This involves taking on political and social attitudes that reflect what the dominant white population, adheres to.

I also think it is extremely disingenuous to reduce the Indian “successful immigrant” story to one of Brahmins.

Also the thinly veiled salvo at reservations calling it “reverse discrimination”. that cheap shot failed because the reason quotas exist in India is precisely to undo generational discrimination and oppression of bahujans. And many of us who are not covered in quotas, support it.

The idea of equality can often obfuscate material and lived realities of people who have been historically at the receiving end of multiple oppressions. The Indian constitution tried to fix this through quotas by leveling the playing field.

If people thought that was unfair it is because it was a direct assault on their hereditary privilege and entitlement. But I’ve got news for you. That’s what is supposed to happen in a democracy.