The problem with the 'buggering off' solutions is that the people wanting to marry outside their castes generally would need to go a long, long way away.
While the caste system - and discrimination based on castes - has long been illegal in India, this is one of those laws more honoured in the breech than in the observance. Lots of employers will not hire you for a job outside your caste, and mixed-caste couples have reported finding great difficulty in obtaining housing, medical care, etc.
It isn't as if a mixed-caste couple can simply ignore their parents' wishes, get married, find a flat, get jobs, and get on with their lives. Illegal or not, the social ostracism of marrying (or even behaving) outside one's caste is still a problem in India.
As a side note, I've always found caste systems (particularly the Hindu one) to be one of the most cynical and cruel methods of using religion to keep people in their place. Fucking Hindus.
Boru
While the caste system - and discrimination based on castes - has long been illegal in India, this is one of those laws more honoured in the breech than in the observance. Lots of employers will not hire you for a job outside your caste, and mixed-caste couples have reported finding great difficulty in obtaining housing, medical care, etc.
It isn't as if a mixed-caste couple can simply ignore their parents' wishes, get married, find a flat, get jobs, and get on with their lives. Illegal or not, the social ostracism of marrying (or even behaving) outside one's caste is still a problem in India.
As a side note, I've always found caste systems (particularly the Hindu one) to be one of the most cynical and cruel methods of using religion to keep people in their place. Fucking Hindus.
Boru
‘But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no gods. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.’ - Thomas Jefferson