[adamsmark]

How hard is it to fake being of a higher caste like Brahmin or Kshatriya?

Since it’s not skin color but your heritage, can’t you falsify this information? Especially if you claim to be from some rural or remote location?

Just how involved would someone try to investigate your background?

[bergenty]

It’s about as hard as someone from Alabama trying to pass as someone that grew up in New York. It’s not super hard but people will probably eventually find out.

[bgdam]

For the vast majority of Indians, their last name gives away their caste. If not their last name, their way of speech, their place of birth, what they eat. Caste-ism is so ingrained amongst a lot of Indians, that it is the first thing they try to figure out upon meeting another Indian. It's pretty hard to hide, unless you belong to the small minority of people whose habits and name don't give away their caste.

[kar5pt]

I'm not Indian but my understanding is that you can typically tell someone's caste by their last name. I'd also imagine there'd be a host of cultural information that would be hard to fake, like knowing certain prayers or rituals. Brahmin's are vegetarian, so you'd have to only eat vegetarian at the office to pretend to be one. I even had a friend who told me his sub-caste had their own secret language they spoke.

[woweoe]

It needs to be mentioned that casteism is less of an issue in the major urban areas and in South India. In these places it is possible to grow up and live your entire life without having to deal with caste, and Bengaluru is of the biggest urban areas in South India.