My dad built a cool thing but never boasted about it
robotsinplainenglish.com
robotsinplainenglish.com
Overnight production for this huge custom design sounds pretty intense to say the least. Wow.
My condolences by the way.
I was doing some digging in my own family lines in recent years, since I had previously mainly been taught to focus on and respect those ancestors who had been part of the religion into which I was born. When I decided not to practice it anymore, it was like I had to rediscover my own heritage.
I was pretty happy to find a bridge-engineer in the family who didn't fit the same mold. It's fascinating to me that not too long ago, you could build a 600-foot rail bridge responsible for so many millions of tons of freight, without even getting a university degree beforehand.
I do see that a short obituary like this needs some context. To address some of the comments:
* Why choose to disclose that my father was a Maharashtrian Brahmin: being brought up in such a household in the early twentieth century implies a lot of things. For example, rigid rules about non-violence and purity; not being exposed to other people's food and customs; avoiding leaving your country and going far away from home. These are huge barriers for a twenty-something signing up for a commission in the military. It's very relevant to reveal who he was and what choices he made. I should note that historically, certain groups sign up in the Indian army, and many groups don't. [1]
Regarding objections to the word Brahmin being mentioned, I should clarify: the caste system was evil, particularly in the nineteenth century, and the government of India made it illegal as soon as it became independent. Despite that, discrimination continues in many places today. But to understand people, you need to know something about them. The word Brahmin by itself is not a precise enough descriptor. Indian castes are much more local than that. "Maharashtrian Brahmin", in particular "Chitpawan Konkanastha Brahmin", is much more precise, and these gruops have their own history. In Maharashtra during this period, these groups gave up their land under the land reform movement [2]. Brahmins no longer owned property or exercised much real power, especially not over other groups. They tended to be well educated but middle-class. It would be quite different from being an upper-caste landowner in (say) Bihar during this period.
* Why say that the Bangladesh war was justified: again, looking at it from my father's point of view, I think it would be an important consideration for him. Not that he would have a choice in the matter---once you sign up, you have to fight. But he would need to justify it to himself.
[1] The Indian Army: its contribution to the development of a nation, Stephen P. Cohen. https://www.amazon.com/Indian-Army-Contributions-Development...
[2] The "Bhoodan movement", (donate-your-land movement) by Vinobha Bhave in the 1950s: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhoodan_movement
I've heard this before, but can't find evidence of it. Does the caste system not live on to this day? I thought caste is a protected class in terms of legally discrimination, and not a thing that's been banned.
Any present-day Indians able to clarify? My dad left India when he was three, so my knowledge is not current :-)
Part III Section 15 of the Indian Constitution:
15. Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.—
https://cdnbbsr.s3waas.gov.in/s380537a945c7aaa788ccfcdf1b99b...
That said, there are a lot of ways to guess at caste if one is so inclined[1], and some people choose to use these guesses to discriminate. That's why it's a protected class --- it's not permissable to discriminate based on caste. There's also affirmative action for historically repressed castes, with all that comes with affitrmative action, for better or worse.
[1] caste related surnames and diet are the most easily understood by an outsider like me, but I think there may be caste related firstnames and other cultural indicators that I'm not aware of.
That being said, there is no enforcement of the "no-caste" policy so in many smaller towns/villages the caste system is still widely practiced and lower caste folks discriminated/beaten/killed/etc.
Not sure it was any worse than what I’ve seen in the UK though
Does that help? It's not exactly the same obviously, and I don't mean to imply that, caste system has (or retains) much stronger cultural roots.
I do think the idea, Indophile though I am, that India was itching to get away from it, as though it was entirely imposed upon it, is a bit rich. As I understand, it was somewhat formalised by Britishers, for censa and whatever else, but the foundations are ancient.
The closest thing we had was that tennis player who broke rackets.
I should drop names, as they are still running around, but I would rather talk about the best of them. Nice V.P of engineering at E. He had an office so I was a bit more polite. Turns out he was more nice than brilliant, and he was really brilliant so things went very well.
I would guess that adherence to the system is a maturity
AFAICT OP’s father was on the side of the rebels, not the Pakistani troops you’re talking about right?
I wish the author could explain why he chooses to disclose that he is a _Bramhin_.
The author seems to have emigrated to a different part of the world but still mentions labels used for the longest running discrimination of humans in history.
I suspect that was what he meant, but sometimes terms don't age so well. There's a whole bunch of terms that were commonly used throughout our South, that would be considered insults or racist dog-whistles, these days.
My guess is that it tied to the “don’t harm anything” story? I was curious to see how people with these different extremely rigid belief systems adjust in the military.
I’m also “Brahmin” by birth but a beef eating atheist so don’t give a crap about it. But grew up around enough relatives that cared and never understood how they reconciled trying to be strict in some areas but being lax in others.
That’s why I was curious about how they adjust in the military.
IMHO you’re describing all humans ever. We all live with constant choices between conforming and rebelling - religious, societal, etc. It’s not that surprising?
But yes there is always plenty of inconsistency.
That sentance adds background about the father's upbringing. It's no different from saying someone grew up in a secular Jewish household or that their parents were born again Christians.
The first three sentences paints a picture of a man of unusual ethics. The tidbit about his Bramhin background explains why he is that way.
An Indian might be able to infer the Brahmin tidbit from the first part. But as an European reader like myself, it is relevant to know that the ethics is rooted in religious upbringing and not just eccentricity (which would be the typical explanation for why a person would behave like that in Europe).
By "he" do you mean the author or the author's father?
This smearing of Hindus and Indians with accusations about caste are ridiculous and par for the course on HN where Indo-phobia is pretty commonplace (see any discussion of US work visas, for example).