Although India as a nation may have distanced itself from the law of caste, the tradition is alive and well in rural India. That system that defines hope in terms of one’s social birthmark and extent of English education is still keeping 29 million Indian untouchables firmly downtrodden, just because they do not even have a caste to call their own.
This national ulcer means that many Dalits as they call themselves continue to perform menial work that others will not touch because it is regarded as unclean. They may not enter temples, they have separate burial grounds and their children are restricted even to which classroom they may use at school. Inevitably, the standard of education they receive in isolated villages is inferior, and so the 
self-fulfilling prophecy of a low sense of self-worth lives on.
Those of us born with a silver spoon, an English education, and three wholesome meals on the table every day may find it strange that Dalits in the Bihar District close to the Indo-Chinese border and still subject to the law of caste find it necessary to erect a statue to an English Goddess they just invented, even though they may be aware of the abject poverty that is those peoples lot.
Praying for education is perfectly acceptable in the Hindu culture of monotheistic polytheism though. Multiple gods representing aspects of the supreme Brahman have been worshipped far back through the mists of time. Thus, if a Hindu 
wishes to pray for something in particular they pray to the god that represents that aspect according to their faith, and, if one does not exist they create one in its stead.
Everybody from the Indian Prime Minister down to the least loved untouchables knows that education opens the door that leads to wealth. Dalits also know that English is the key to a skilled job and that English education is where all hope of this wonderful possibility begins.
Small wonder then that the untouchables of Bihar District have begun praying to a new hope that they call Goddess English. At first glance she could be mistaken for a representation of America’s Statue of Liberty, except this one is 
standing atop a computer monitor, grasps India’s Constitution in her hand and holds aloft a pen.
A wise man once remarked that believing that a journey is possible is halfway towards getting there. Let’s hope that a poor boy from a Dalit village who watches his parents praying to the golden deity in her new black granite temple will one day be able to complete his English education, break the law of casts and get a decent skilled job too.
That would be a great day for India, and a stake right through the heart of education by caste.
