| As a child, Siddhant lived in a slum in Nagpur, India. He was born a Dalit, a member of South Asia's most oppressed caste, but even among Dalits he grew up especially poor. His family lived next to a liquor store, and in the evenings people often got into knife fights. Before dawn, Siddhant would climb out of bed to accompany his mother to the public water tap, where they'd fetch the day's supply. Siddhant's father believed they could escape poverty, and that education was the golden ticket. He made sure his son took school extremely seriously. Siddhant worked hard, studied computer engineering in college, and started landing jobs at tech companies. When he got a chance to relocate to the Bay Area, he leapt at the opportunity. A few years in, he got an offer for a plum position at Facebook, with a starting salary of almost $450,000. For the boy from the slum, Siddhant's new gig far exceeded his wildest childhood dreams. The name 'Siddhant,' however, is a pseudonym. As Sonia Paul writes this week for WIRED, Siddhant has contended with bias and caste anxiety his entire life. He is terrified of what he might lose if others—especially more privileged Indians—discover his background. Plenty of evidence suggests that discrimination based on caste is rampant in Silicon Valley, where a quarter of the technical workforce is from India. "It is very, very dangerous, revealing the identity even to any person," he told Paul. Even so, some Dalits are finding ways to speak out. Siddhant agreed to share his story as a way to give voice to his people's plight—even as he dreams of finally, one day, feeling secure enough to be his whole self. Sandra Upson | Features Editor |
.jpg "Collage of yellow DSM cover mock-up; close-up of a person's hands who is picking at their fingers; circle of adults participating in group therapy")
.jpg "DNA cotton swab")
.jpg "Collage of images of crowd or people being tracked, Parliament seats, code")
