RE:

Very interesting to understand this. Castes/to belong to a kind and feeling proud about it is prevalent not just up north its worldwide…

but understanding the nuances is what I am interested in.. like understanding music :>

I guess it would make an interesting discussion albeit very lengthy

I guess I will look up more detailed info from the internet if available…

Mentioning Kamayani to firangs sounds rather humorous in a sense…

From: Aparajita Tripathi
Sent: Tuesday, May 19, 2009 18:31
To: Shrikant Sundaram
Subject: RE:

Well, thats fine!

He is training for IAS, his preference is UP where he intends to work and make some difference. : )

The North Indian community is very particular about castes and well, we somehow end up talking about it if we meet someone.

We identify a Brahmin by his surname. There are two kinds of Brahmins and the story behind the bifurication is pretty interesting.

Tripathi, Shukla, Misra are brahmins and well, the 'highest' ranked in the caste list. Also, its kind of elementary or taken for granted that a Brahmin by birth (unadulterated as he himself describes) is bound to be bright, fair looking and of some worth. There is nothing to refute. Its only a matter of pride which is practised and given. Other communities feel honoured if Brahmins take part of their ceremonies. Its a social status like money is here,

I shouldnt have mentioned it but it kind of occurs to us and we make a note of it.

Also this guy is very proud of it, his lineage and the fact that he is from UP. When the whole world keeps lambasting UP/Bihar, it is nice to see someone who not only gives up well paying jobs and is keen to work in the rural heartlands and also is proud of the fct that he is from UP. : )

He mentioned Jai shankar Prasad as his fav poet in Goldman Sachs interview and because those firangs hadnt heard of it, he recited verses from Kamayini. Not to say, they were very impressed.

Aparajita Tripathi
AVALON Dev BT-01 Developer
Phone: 022-66882000- Extn- 7774 Mumbai

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From: Shrikant Sundaram
Sent: Tuesday, May 19, 2009 6:21 PM
To: Aparajita Tripathi
Subject: RE:

Yeah sorry

I sent the response late so even I forgot what the topic was about when I looked at the mail leaving my outbox… then I just let it go… :>

surely this guy you mention seems to be worth a huge follow up to get a good exchange of ideas and beliefs given a common set of interests.

So with AIR 40 what is his desitnation?

And on that Brahmin note – how does one even figure without asking if one is a Brahmin or not.. I guess I never gave a thought to understand the Brahmin thing esp. in the North Indian communities

From: Aparajita Tripathi
Sent: Tuesday, May 19, 2009 18:10
To: Shrikant Sundaram
Subject: RE:

Are you talking about this?--When you remove the content and the subject line is blank, I dont understand whihc one were you talking about.

But your appreciation is misplaced.

This was written by a person called Karthikey Misra--an awesome specie I met this sunday. His blog where I picked this one from is http://antardhvani.blogspot.com/

Arks-the Director of TIME had brought him to meet me for two reasons. 1. To convince me to give up my job and join him to study and teach 2. Both of us had "Karwan guzar gaya" as one of our fav poems.

This guy-alumni IIT/IIMA, is 26 years old, is Brahmin, hails from Lucknow, and appeared for IAS this year fresh out of IIM. He got an AIR of 40 having studied for only 6 months. I was bowled over by his recitation of Karwan guzar gaya. Today he sent me some mail and we chanced upon the blogging part.

He writes extremely well.

Mumbai @ Apollo Bunder

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