You're listening to Rough Translation from NPR.

I'm Gregory Warner.

When Sam Cornelia first arrived at the United States in the mid 90s, he was surprised by

how welcoming people were.

The people were so encouraging, you know, hey, we are going to this swimming classes, do

you want to join us and things like that.

They'd ask questions by this home country, India.

But even more surprising was the questions they did not ask.

For instance, they did not try to know what his cast was, or even what cast is.

And how did that feel for you, like putting a side cast?

That is really great feeling, you know, that yes, now everything I will be judged by exactly

what I deserve.

Sam is from the Dalat cast, formerly known as Untouchables.

And you may know this already, but the cast system in South Asia goes back thousands of

years.

It's based on an ancient division of labor and also purity.

So there is a cast for priests.

That's the Brahmins.

But there's also a cast for the warriors, the cast for merchants, another cast for manual

laborers.

Dalats were the sewer cleaners, the garbage collectors.

And in India growing up, Sam was always reminded of his association with the unclean.

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