I was 9 when our class teacher asked all students to get in writing
from their parents as to which caste they belong to as it was to be maintained
in official record books of school. There were 4 categories written on backboard.
I didn’t know what it meant. So I copied the same in my diary and asked my
mother and she said we belonged to General.
I was 12 and went to buy chart paper in a nearby stationary
shop. The guy who owned the store asked me, which caste do you belong to, I
said general because that I what I knew. He smiled and said there are subdivisions
to it, better ask your mother. I did so and I was informed that I am a
kayastha.
I was 16 and I went to my music class. My music teacher is a
Bengali lady. She asked me your sister is a Bengali. Her family speaks Bangla. How
come you speak Hindi. Moreover, my father uses a title das which is a Bengali title.
So was I a Bengali? I was puzzled again. I asked my mother again and she said
we are Bengali Kayastha.
Confusing J
. It is, for me too.
And then one fine day, years after, I googled my so called existence.
Where do we come from, who are we? And google is supposedly said to have
answers to almost all questions in this world. It has, this time also J
It says we are basically Kayastha from Uttar Pradesh who
settled down in Bengal when the rulers were trying to expand their kingdom
towards east. As we lived in Bengal for more than 250 years this state had a
deep influence in our language, style of dressing customs and cultures. We
adopted Bengali traditions to its fullest. Baktiyar Khilaji invaded Bengal and defeated
the then King Laxman Sen. In order to save life and property we started
migrating towards Bhagalpur in Bihar. Vikramshila University in Bhagalpur was
always supported by Laxman Sen and it grew with his support. So finally people
of his kingdom choose to migrate to Bhagalpur due to their long connection with
Vikramshila University. And this is how we moved to Bihar. I was born in Bihar and my prior generations are from Bihar, so let it put this way, I am a Bihari with a Bengali origin :).
I did not do this research because my existence bothers me
in any way. In fact, I have lived with people of all castes all through my
life. Right from school and here I would like to mention that I have changed
five schools in my schooling career and so I met a lot of people in my school
life. None were from “my caste” and it hardly made a difference to me. And then
came college, a bigger circle altogether. I met even more people and became
close to people who were not only from different caste but from different
religion altogether. And today the same continues in my workplace too. So as
long as there is a connection this caste factor does not bother me in any
respect.
But yes, I should have answers to questions being put up to
me. And so I choose to know my existence. It never was and it never will, matter
to me in anyway but knowing things related to me does help to increase my knowledge.
It did in this case J
