Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents

Let us begin our journey by stepping quietly into the old house of our society. Imagine the gentle creak of floorboards beneath your feet, the filtered sunlight through cracked windows, and the dust motes swirling in the air. This house is beautiful, storied, and full of memories, but it is also marked by invisible flaws—cracks in the foundation, bowed walls, and hidden water damage. We are all living in this house, inheriting its strengths and its weaknesses, its comforts and its dangers.

In this house, there is a structure you cannot see, but which dictates where you walk, how you interact, and even how you feel about yourself and others. This is caste: the skeleton of society, the silent framework that holds everything in place. Unlike race, which is visible and often spoken, caste is the underlying code—an invisible program that directs our movements, our opportunities, and our destinies. It is the bones, race is the skin.

Think of the old house again. When storms come, the roof leaks and the walls tremble not because of recent neglect, but because of flaws that were built into the house from the very beginning. We may not have laid these foundations, but we are responsible for their upkeep. Ignoring the cracks only allows the damage to spread, seeping into every room, every relationship, every hope for the future.

Most of us move through this house without questioning its architecture. We learn, almost by osmosis, which rooms we are allowed in, which floors we can walk on, and which doors remain closed to us. These invisible rules shape our lives more than we realize. They determine who is listened to, who is respected, who is feared, and who is forgotten. We follow these rules not because we are told, but because they are written deep within us, passed down through generations like family recipes or bedtime stories.

To help us see what is normally hidden, the author uses powerful metaphors. The old house is one, but another is the idea of living in a program, like The Matrix. Most people accept the world as it is, unaware that they are following a script written long before they were born. Only those who awaken to the program, who see the invisible code, can begin to change it. Awareness is the first step to healing.

As we move forward, remember: the journey to understanding begins by seeing what lies beneath. The cracks in our house are not our fault, but the responsibility to repair them is ours. In the next section, we will uncover the eight pillars that hold up this house, the rules that keep the structure standing—and sometimes, keep us apart. Let us step softly, with open eyes and gentle hearts, as we continue our exploration.