It all went down at a bustling Indian restaurant in Texas, the kind of place where families come together and the soft strains of Bollywood music fill the air. While I was waiting for a friend to come back with our order, an unfamiliar man strolled over, plopped himself down at our table without so much as a by-your-leave, and pulled up a chair right next to the occupied seat.
When I politely mentioned that someone would be joining us soon, he shot back with a mocking “pooo-raaa,” dragging out the syllables in a way that felt downright disrespectful. What happened next was completely unexpected—he unleashed a torrent of loud verbal abuse, peppered with slang and a tone that made everyone around us squirm.
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There was no argument, no eye contact before that moment. Just a stranger exuding a bizarre kind of confidence, as if he had every right to treat others poorly.
Later, I heard that he probably belonged to the Kamma caste—a group that, according to some, carries a sense of caste pride that crosses borders. Apparently, this wasn’t an isolated incident. There are stories of similar behavior cropping up in Indian communities here.
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This raises a tough reality: caste-based thinking didn’t just vanish with immigration. It traveled across oceans, tucked away in suitcases, and manifests in ways that create division—through language, attitudes, and misplaced pride.
That sense of superiority rooted in caste is really just a mask for insecurity. It doesn’t elevate anyone; it isolates. It says more about the person displaying it than the one it’s directed at.
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Respect isn’t determined by where someone hails from or what caste they identify with. It’s all about how they conduct themselves in shared spaces—with strangers, with equals, with everyone. Some lessons need to be unlearned, especially when they no longer fit in the world we’re trying to build today.
