Just now, I saw that a facebook friend had posted about one of her forefathers who was a very high-profile judge in British India. Apparently, he was knighted and such was his influence that trains he was travelling on would leave on his say-so. It got me thinking about when I shared a picture of my grandfather and his family when he was a young boy on a whatsapp group of friends. My great-grandfather had done extremely well in British Indian too. Obviously I take some pride in my illustrious heritage. The question is whether doing so is a manifestation of upper-caste pride. The question is somewhat important because if this is not categorized as a upper-caste pride, it becomes innocuous. My mother, to her credit, doesn't take pride in her gradfathers' exalted status. Her beef with them (I am reasonably sure) is that they collaborated with the British rule. But, did they collaborate simply for material gain or did the caste system also pay a role there. Certain castes were favoured by the British, and did quite well for themselves under British rule. If one's primary affinity was to one's caste, and if said caste was doing well under British rule, what was the problem with British rule?
It is not my place to judge other people's motives for taking pride in their family history. But, at least, in my own case, I have come around to the opinion that my pride in my family heritage is, in fact, upper caste pride.
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