What seems ironic to Bakha when he thinks about the reason that schools will not admit outcaste students?

He knows that the schools are catering to higher-caste parents, who do not want their children to risk ritual contamination by going to a school that admits outcastes. But he grew up playing hockey with these same children, and they have had accidental physical contact with him while playing the game, many times--and this does not seem to present a problem, somehow.