Weirdest logic of Indian families

These are the few topics when middle-class Indian families stop making sense. Not all of the middle-class people think and talk like this but the number of people who makes these kinds of arguments are substantial.

Inter caste marriage

I've talked to multiple people on this topic and I couldn't convince them about any aspect of it. I ask them, why do they think that same caste marriage existed in the first place? No one gave me a befitting reply to date. The reason it existed in the past was that earlier caste was defined on the basis of the type of work people did. It was necessary back then to know the custom of the family otherwise the women of the house wouldn't be able to handle things like dietary requirements of a smelter or a warrior. There were ton of things needed to be known according to the type of work people did. Back to the present day, everyone is doing similar jobs regardless of their caste. So, why are people still stuck on the same age-old custom that has no significance in today's world? The only answer I ever got was are all these people dumb who are following the same. I ask them again, why they're doing it? The answer, it is our custom and tradition. I ask them to show me where it is written in Vedas, Upanishads, or Geeta that people should be married in the same caste, no one ever quoted me a single shloka because most of them have never read it properly.

Untouchability

Go to any village or a city of north India, SC/ST's are still served in different vessels. In extreme cases, upper-class people do not even allow them to enter their premises. I ask them, why do they do it? The answer, they're not supposed to eat with us in the same vessels, this has been practiced in their families for generations. I quote a shloka from Geeta that says, 'Everyone comes from me goes into me, it is I who lives and breathes in you". I ask them again, what they'll say to this shloka? Krishna was lord so he can do it but we can't. Who will they follow and listen to? If I talk about the opinion of Swami Vivekananda on caste, they'll reply to that by saying, once you reach the same level as him you can see all the people in the same light. I try my level best to explain that their forefathers were not right every time but nothing falls on deaf ears. Just to counter them I ask, why don't you go for 'Sati' as well because our forefathers did that as well? We haven't seen this being happened in front of us, thus we don't follow this specific tradition. Finally, I give up on my quest of making them understand that caste brings all kinds of evils in today's world.

Illogical thoughts on marriage

This is again related to inter-caste marriage, a boy working as a class one officer in a PSU wants to marry a doctor. Both are together for the last 7 years, boy goes to his family and asks for permission to marry her, and the reply he gets is 'kill us both then you can marry her', just because she belonged to a different caste. I can't figure out why people want to get killed or kill over the life partner choice of their children. Parents are not gonna share the same bed, so, why it matters that much?. If both are well-settled and educated, why families can't accept this proposal of two mature people deciding how they wish to spend their married lives and with whom. If parents are countered, he/she can't understand our family traditions, what tradition are they talking about? I bet they can't name a single tradition. Generally, the next argument is, what if she runs away after marriage? Well, it can happen with any caste girl. No, it won't happen if the girl is of the same caste, parents argue. Remind them of something similar that happened in their own caste, well, their stars didn't match. If everything depends on stars, where the hell caste come from in the success of a marriage?  The argument ends with something like 'You wanted to kill us, please do it'. The killing of parents is never ever mentioned but people will come up with utter nonsensical arguments that are not based on any logical reasoning.

Illogical family demands

You start your first job, want to give some kind of a gift to your family. You ask, what about product X? It is too costly, then you ask about product Y, they don't want that either. You finally give up on the idea of gifting them anything and one day out of nowhere you'll be taunted with comments like you never gift them anything and next thing they are talking about is a random person who gifted his mother a car or something. You again ask them do they want a car? The answer is still NO, but the comparison with that random person never stops. That random person is earning money through some fraudulent activities, you say. So what, at least he is caring for his family. Does that make him/her some ideal to be followed or even compared with? Comparison keeps on happening until you get infuriated and say something like, Yes, 'I'm bad and I don't want to do anything for you, that's it'.

Choosing the career

You want to pursue an XYZ career and your parents are against it, you go and try to convince them but they are not ready to listen to you because none of their friends' children are doing the thing which you want to do. You say that you're passionate about it and they say we are your parents and we don't want anything bad for you. You say that yes I know that but still, I want this. Parents start giving their meaningful insight into that XYZ career without even knowing a thing about that. You say that you also want something good for your future and they'll counter this by saying do whatever you like. At least give some reasoning why you don't want them to follow that particular path. We Indians are very very emotional people instead of figuring out things based on logic we use emotions to convince people around us and that's where we fail miserably in some cases. 

Talk to them over phone

You'll find many people who don't talk much on the phone with their families and relatives. Youngsters don't talk to their families because there is not much to talk apart from whether they've eaten food or not? or their health is sound? They don't talk about personal problems and stuff because no one wants to put a burden of this on their family and talking about relationships and stuff makes no sense as it tends to bring your respect down in front of your family members. One day out of nowhere, they'll say, you don't talk to them. What do you want to talk about? you ask. Talk about whatever you like, and by mistake, you mention a girl's name and the next thing you are fighting on is inter-caste marriage. Another thing which is fairly common is that some random relative of yours will call your father and ask them about family and stuff and after the talk is ended your father comes to you and say that you don't talk to your relatives. Your counter, they also don't talk to you, they don't even know your real name, what you do for a living. But still, your parents want you to talk to them. Not even God knows why your parents want you to talk to some relative of theirs who is practically a stranger to you.

Destiny in Stars

You're about to be married, a suitable bride is looked for but the girl is rejected because her 'Gunas' are not matching with yours according to horoscope. You ask, why does it matter? No, you will face a lot of problems in your life if these many "Gunas' don't match. You vehemently say that you don't believe in that stuff and ask them how a star can determine your life. Never will you hear a logical justification regarding your question. You ask, why you passed a particular exam when your horoscope predicted a failure. You got only 70% and that's equivalent to fail only and you are gobsmacked by their arguments. If somehow you convince them that you passing the exam clearly disprove the authenticity of the family priest. They'll still remain totally confident when it comes to marriage. You make arguments like, how can a globe of burning gas decides what you'll do in life? And the answer you get will always be illogical. You try fighting and the argument is ended by saying that bring someone you like and once you mention a girl from different caste and fight goes to inter-caste marriage and this keeps happening again and again.

No matter how good your arguments are, you can't make emotional people understand. We all know that Indian parents are full of emotions, so it's better to not disturb your mental peace by picking up these topics.