In India, a surname is not a name. It is a verdict.

Before you speak, your surname has already spoken for you. It decides which bench you sit on, which résumé gets a call back, which flat is suddenly "already rented", and which love may become a marriage. Three-quarters of a century after the Constitution abolished untouchability, caste has not disappeared. It has learned to whisper.

The Surname Trap follows that whisper from the colonial census to the AI algorithm, and shows how ordinary citizens can challenge it with the Constitution, the RTI Act and the courage to ask questions.

Inside this book:
- How a surname became a caste certificate
- What the data shows: jobs, housing, courts, campuses
- Your legal toolkit, with a step-by-step RTI guide
- The voices that refused the verdict: Phule, Ambedkar, Periyar
- Shri Mataji's vision of a religion without caste

For students, parents, professionals, and anyone who has ever been asked, "What is your surname?"