Gonna do some reading and research into the history of Singapore(an) Indians, aka "my people". Mainstream oral/colloquial knowledge of this history is sparse, and I suspect that it's by design, because of a bunch of uncomfortable details. Let's see what we find out. 
Singapore began receiving Indian convicts from British India from 1825–1873. These convlcts literally built 1800s SG – roads, bridges and monumental buildings that still exist today. They were housed in a prison where SMU now stands – of which there is no trace, no memorial
Trying to figure out what was going on re: caste is very difficult – it seems to me that many migrants to Singapore (including untouchable convicts who were shipped over) deliberately chose to leave those details blank. John Solomon describes it as "conscious acts of forgetting"
Solomon: "The Singapore Story" is the narrative of the achievements of specific elites of society – little emphasis was given to how common people psychologically transitioned from being domiciled migrant residents in a colony, to becoming citizens of a nation-state."
Was just telling a friend this: while I was raised semi-'caste-blind' by a family + community that's trying to be more polite, globalization + technology means I'm rubbing up against others from around the world who ARE caste-conscious. Discovering one's ignorance is unsettling
It's an interesting + highly personal dilemma. Diaspora Indian communities are internally conflicted about this: do you tell your children the truth about how some of them are descended from castes that were considered inferior? Should you burn history books that were racist? 🤔
(I find myself thinking here about Albion's Seed, and how the Scots-Irish borderers who migrated to America were quicker than the others to shed their former identities and call themselves Americans) slatestarcodex.com/2016/04/27/boo…
Why so many untouchable Tamils in Singapore? Colonialism! It was colonial policy to recruit South Indians for menial work– it was cheaper to recruit labor near the eastern port cities such as Negapattinam (pics). They wanted to avoid spending money on train tickets and lodging.
TIL: The Hindu deity Muneeswaran was particularly associated with the Tamil untouchable community. That makes sense. I don't think I've ever actually heard any mention of him outside of Singapore. But I never thought to question this, either. Huh. Hm. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muneeswar…
As a child raised on books and the Internet, I've always been generally disinterested in Hindu temples and the Tamil newspaper – but this is making me realize what is obvious on hindsight – that was their Twitter and FB! It was how they constructed meaning and collective identity
[bedtime, tbc]
