Let the rich go to the dogs By Kancha Ilaiah

8-1-2007: The other day I was taking my regular morning walk through a lane near Osmania University in Hyderabad when I saw a small board stuck in front of an upper middle class house. It read: "To Let: Strictly for vegetarians." In front of the house a middle-aged man in shorts and T-shirt was getting his dog trained by an expert. "Sit and get up," the trainer told the dog in English and it obeyed. I wondered whether the dog, which was being taught English, was also a vegetarian. A dog can be trained to be a vegetarian. Only animal rights activists can enlighten us whether that involves cruelty of any kind.

But the real point is that the master of the house wants to speak to the dog in English. We will infer that he is either a Brahmin or a Vaishya. We can also infer that he speaks to his other family members in English. But this adoption of a foreign tongue has not changed their culture. English, needless to say, is the language of British beef-eaters. But in an Indian
Brahmin or Baniya house, it has become the language of the vegetarians. Not only that, the way of speaking and the way it is spoken, the idioms that are used have also got a Brahminical slant. Any person from England would notice that Indian English is culturally not the same as British English.

Interestingly, these are the same people who warn that Indian culture would go to the dogs if English spreads among the masses. This is part of a hypocritical game. Why do they put forth this argument even though English has become their language and even that of their dogs? The reason is simple. They do not want English to become the language of their servant who comes from the nearby slum and washes their dishes and clothes and cleans the house. Imagine a situation wherein the children of the master and also that of the servant study in the same English medium school.

It may happen that the servant's son or daughter might study well and become the boss and the master's son or daughter might become a junior official. Obviously, this is unbearable for a middle-class upper caste person. Their dogs can learn English because they need to be globalised beings, but not their servants. This hypocritical class knows for sure that English can change power relations. So they adopt all means to see to it that their servant's children can never become the boss of their children. That is why they insist that English education should be allowed only in the so-called public schools in the private sector, and education should be in regional language in the government schools.

Muslims and Christians also follow the same system of hierarchy in their religions and school education. Rich Muslims send their children to English medium schools, while poor Muslims have to depend on
Urdu-medium schools. Similarly, upper caste Christians, who have been running the best English medium schools, have played a better trick — restrict admissions to those who pay huge donations. Amen! If Jesus Christ comes back and asks for admission in a Christian missionary school in India, I am sure that they would reject him on the basis that his parents are not English educated. Jesus was the son of a carpenter and very poor too. In the name of Jesus who died for the redemption of the poor, they have served themselves well. This tendency among missionary educational institutions needs to be fought with all the strength at our command.

The result of all this is that the upper castes have English, money and nationalism as their private property. The poor and the lower castes, at least now, should get their own share in all this, or else, they need to break the walls of the "public schools" and find an entry. Let the rich go to the dogs.

Source: DECCAN CHRONICLE

Author may contacted at BODHI
Centre for Adivasi Dalit Bahujan Initiatives
# 12-13-441, 2nd Floor, Street No.1
Tarnaka, Secunderabad-500017
Tel: 040-27017205
email:bodhicentre@gmail.com