[pd46]

Hi All,
I need some advise and also opinions on intercaste marriages. Let me start by telling you my story, I met a Punjabi girl on match.com . I am marathi brahmin.We spoke on the phone for a month, as she live in Ohio and I live in NYC. After a month, actually on 11/11/2011 we met each other. I flew to Ohio and we instantly liked each other and fell in love. We had dates in a zoo, went out to different restaurants, spent time cooking and dancing in her kitchen, it was just so perfect and romantic. We spend the next few months talking on the phone with each other, meeting up half way in Pennsylvania and seeing each other every other weekend. Everything was just perfect. She was exactly the girl of my dreams and had exactly what I wanted in a girl. So I decided it was time for her to meet my parents. End of December , my family met her, my parents and grandparents loved her. My parents are brahmins which is higher caste from my girlfriend. But they well educated and pretty advanced so they don't really care about race, religion , let alone the caste system. They only care about how the girl is and if she will make their son happy.
In January, my girlfriend flew over to California to speak to her parents about us. And instantly her parents disapproved of our relationship without even talking or meeting me because I am not punjabi and from a higher caste. Everything she said was back fired because her parents didn't even try to understand her. She had told me once that her parents may not like me, but I never thought they would disapprove of us instantly without even meeting me. I don't mean to be cocky in any sense, but I come from a good family, I am educated , I have a good job at a international bank and I think I am good guy. I am not saying that her parents are bad people but they are following something that is few hundred years old and is illegal to be followed in india since caste system was banned in India.
We decided to tell her parents that we are no longer seeing each other to decrease their level of stress. But in April (a week ago) , my gf's sister (who I met once in California) and approves of me, told their mom about our relationship once again. Her mom freaked out and decided to come to Ohio to my gf's apt. At first, we were thinking that she was coming over here to meet me and maybe my family, but her intentions were to forbid her daughter from marrying /dating me. My girlfriend didn't agree and further tried to convince her mother about us. Her mother talk to my mother and things went from bad to worse. Her father flew to Ohio, which initially was to meet my parents, but his intentions were to meet my parents just to say no. There are other events that happened afterwards that led my girlfriend to the hospital. I truly just care about my gf's happiness and at this point her safety. I know I am the guy that can truly make her happy as she makes me really happy but I don't want her to be unhappy in a few years if her parents stopped talking to her . This is the decision that she has to take on her own and I know it's a incredibly hard decision . I guess I have vented rather than asked a question. But my question is why is caste system still followed in this day and age? I thought we were over that whole thing , My grandpa was born in 1920s and he doesn't believe in the caste system. As Indians, we need to unite and oppose caste system . I hope things truly workout between my girlfriend and I, but more than that I want her to be happy, even if I have to walk away from it.
But I hope this forum helps whoever were to read this in the future. We are humans, need to get rid of hate in this world. The only way to cure hate, discrimination and racism in this world is by injecting love and peace into people's lives. There is so much ignorance in this world, as humans its our responsibility to make other knowledgeable .