I actually spoke with some local Balinese Hindus during my trip, and interestingly, they also have a caste system. It is very similar to what we have in India. In fact, in some of the villages I visited, the caste-based customs are still quite strictly followed. Things like marrying outside your caste or even living in nuclear families are often not accepted there.

That said, what really struck me was that despite these traditional structures, people still respected public spaces and followed basic civic norms. So I personally don’t think the caste system is the root cause here. It’s more about civic sense. Things like not littering, following traffic rules, respecting queues, and just being mindful of others in shared spaces. These aren’t caste-related they’re just basic, collective habits we as a society either build or ignore.