The Untouchable Girls

India is the country of ''Unity in Diversity'', the chosen land of wisdom and spirituality which receives over eight million enlightenment seekers a year. However, away from the eyes of the guru's followers hides a crude reality that is far from the principles of all new age ideals.

More than 160 million people in India (nearly 16% of the population) are Dalits or "untouchables" - people considered since their births as less than human, not allowed to drink from the same wells, attend the same temples, wear shoes in the presence of an upper caste, or drink from the same cups in tea stalls.

Nearly 90% of all the poor Indians and 95% of all the illiterate Indians are Dalits, living in constant fear for their lives, sleeping on the streets and eating from the trash. This in a country in which a normal headline of a mainstream newspaper will show daily stories of untouchables being publicly humiliated, paraded naked, tortured, beaten and raped for merely walking through an upper-caste neighborhood.  

Six days ago Netflix productions released a documentary series titled Daughters of Destiny, which chronicles the lives of five Dalit girls, showing them grow up (ranging in age from 7 to 23 over the course of the four episodes) while they are raised at  Shanti Bhavan, a school that provides untouchable children with shelter, food, education, clothing and medical care, helping them to reach their goals, finish their studies, find dignified jobs and exit their state of marginalization. The expectation for these girls, and all the children who attend Shanti Bhavan, is that they grow up to support themselves, lift their families and communities out of poverty and contribute to the larger world.

If the trailer is enough to leave you inspired and heart warmed, now imagine the series.