As a proponent of this discussion of Caste, I am glad that we have had this discussion and given everyone on this forum an opportunity to air their views, deny their personal prejudices etc. etc. It would appear from the discussions that there are no casteeists among us, or if there are any, they are afraid to tell us why they consider themselves superior, if that is what casteeism is all about.
We Goans are a prejudiced lot. But who isn't ? If there is any human being anywhere without some sort of prejudice, he must be a saint. Goans in East Africa established clubs, where some Goans were denied membership. I dont know if this was caste related or whether certain socio-economic classes were considered to be inferior. If I recall correctly, Goans of the tailor profession were looked down upon. I am not sure if they were denied membership in Goan clubs or whether they simply chose to associate only with others of their own profession, and formed Goan Tailoring societies, with their own social activities. Mangloreans were also considered non-Goans and were denied membership in Goan clubs. In keeping with the colonial attitude at that time, Goans looked down on Africans as merely servants. In the "old" days, most of the Africans had not received a western education and had not achieved economic parity. So in part this may have been one of social status. The pecking order, as I recall was, the Europeans, then Goans (with their own internal pecking order), then other Indians/Asians and then Africans. While we indulge in self-flagellation about our prejudices, we must acknowledge that wherever there are humans, one finds prejudices. As humans, we want our progeny to resemble us and therefore are afraid to allow our sons and daughters to marry into another race. Now that most of us have had an opportunity to express our views on caste, perhaps it is time to move on to other topics as the discussion of caste is becoming nauseating. Let us become more Goa-centric in our discussions. We all profess our love for Goa, and other than coming down to Goa from foreign lands, eating Xitt-codi, Chorisao and imbibing caju feni, what are we doing for Goa and Goans ? Let the brick bats fly on this thread....... Vivian