“What caste do you belong to?”

I have never consumed non-vegetarian food in my life. Ever. 

For the past decade, I have even quit onion and garlic. 

I cook my food at home, offer it to God, and then eat it. I have eaten home-cooked food in trains, in airplanes, and even in my car when I went for a meeting and it was lunch time already. 

Oh, btw, I practice complete Brahmacharya as a way of my life.

Why am I telling this to you?

Last week as I was being a caregiver to my mother in hospital for three days. One of those days when she was having her lunch, she asked me to fetch water for her. When I returned, her roommate also asked me to fetch a glass of water for her. She was a woman probably in her 70s, the kinda ones that have seen everything in life, yet refusing to smile.

As per her instructions, I picked up her glass, rinsed it and then refilled it from our water bottles I had just filled. 

“Which caste are you from?”

She shouted as I went to rinse her glass.

When I returned with her glass of water, she confirmed again, “I hope you are from XXX caste.” This was her method of confirming she was consuming water from a pure source. 

So I said, “We are non-vegetarians.” I also added a fictitious caste to myself that is known for consuming non-vegetarian food. And then I returned to my Mom’s side of the curtain. 

My Mom who was barely able to walk under the influence of the surgery of the previous day, she and I giggled together. 

She apparently wanted to make sure she was having water from a *pure* person. I qualify beyond what she requires, but that is usually not a beautiful metric to judge people. Especially after you have asked them for favour. Thus, this fun. 

Sources say she is still asking her family to inquire about her co-patient’s caste 🙂