2 tales from India and how everything is probably about caste.

Visited India recently and during my trip, I was invited by a close friend of mine to his housewarming ceremony. On the day, I volunteered to go pick up the pujari. They have 2 cars, a Volkswagen Virtus and a Mercedes C class. I picked up the keys to the Virtus but the family insisted that I take the better car for the pujari. When he came, everything was arranged for him. Fruits, puja items, flowers etc all set for him to grab within a second. Once done, he was given a big envelope with a load of cash and lots of other things to take home. Someone else dropped him and this time again it was the Mercedes.
Next day morning, the corporation waste collection came. This family had everything in one big cardboard box. It had plastics, fabrics, old shoes, metal, used diapers and everything else. To my surprise, the guy just took it and loaded into his truck. He had clearly marked bins on the truck for dry waste, wet waste, paper, vegetable etc. But people didn't bother to segregate. ( In the UK, if I dont segregate into the correct bins, the binmen will put a non-compliance sticker on it and refuse to collect it). When I went for a walk later, I saw the rubbish truck parked at the end of the road and the 2 guys on it segregating all the rubbish they collected from the houses on that street. They had a worn-out gloves which they were probably using for months. They had to do it by hand. going through the rubbish from each house. It was a sad sight.

Why is it that the people can do everything for the cross threaded brahman pujari but refuse to show even the most basic decency towards binmen, who most likely is of lower caste. Pujari was always addressed with respect whereas the binmen must call the people as Sir/Madam.