Why I stopped using my surname
Until grade 6, I wasn’t aware that casteism was such a big issue. One afternoon, a friend of mine told me that he was from a ‘lower caste’ and I shouldn’t share food with him during lunch break. He was scared that my parents would scold me for this. I laughed hard and told him that he was crazy. I was unaware of discrimination that his family had faced for generations because of their caste.
I read a lot of books in the library on caste system, asked my elderly family members about it and figured out how stupid it was.
I decided to remove my surname as a form of protest to this injustice and system of oppression that has been going on for centuries.
The only document that mentions my last name is my passport since I got it made early. In all other places, I use the word ‘Singh’, a last name commonly used by Indian men. Singh means ‘lion’ and no one can judge your caste from it.
Recently, while cleaning my bookshelf, I found an old notebook of mine. There were some pages where I had scribbled ideas on how to end caste system in the world. One idea was building a campaign to scare my classmates. The idea pitch was this - “Humans share 98% of their DNA with chimpanzees. If you still believe in casteism and discriminate on basis of caste, your evolution process will be cancelled and you will become a chimpanzee. Thank you.” Not sure if this scare tactic will work but I will try it on school kids :)