Thanks for the response. Please see my response to Jana below.
Thanks for the graceful response, Jana.
It's interesting how our different cultures make us perceive words so differently. From your explanation you did not mean anything by it, from my perspective it meant a lot!
As you guessed, I think I reacted because the word really is the result of the worst possible casteism in Hindu society. While I am proud of my Hindu heritage, that word is reflective of one of the most deplorable practices among Hindus. It's the equivalent of calling a black person a N****r, perhaps worse.
FYI, in India, it is used in a cruel and hostile way to describe the lowest of the low in Indian caste system, the people who for centuries have suffered the brunt of higher caste economic, social and sexual exploitation.