Ghosts of rapes past [244/365]

Our founding fathers wanted India to be a secular republic that would love its minorities as much as it loves its Hindu majority. While no one will deny that the partition was a wrong start, the delicate truce between the Hindus and the Muslims have stood strong. Historically though, we haven't done too well on the communal harmony scale.

Source: facenfacts.com

Two decades ago, Bombay witnessed communal carnage which should have never happened. We thought we learned our lessons. Ten years ago, Gujarat witnessed the century's worst community rioting.
Yesterday, many of the ghosts of that memory was laid to rest. With the Special court in Ahmedabad sentencing 32 of the accused, this could set an healthy precedent for future perpetrators.

While the guilty serve their massive sentences, I am alarmed at several things.
One- The extraordinary amount of time it took the Supreme Court to convict. Many of the accused were acquitted because of the really long time it took to investigate
Two- One of the main accused is a former minister and current legislative member of the ruling party in the state. The fact that she is the first woman to be convicted of a crime this heinous is terrible news.
Three- The chief minister of the state washing his hands off the carnage. He simply refuses to apologize.

While the nation watched much of the carnage live and in stereoscope, I wonder how Modi could absolve himself of the worst human rights violation in modern India.

Is anyone else worried that he could be our next Prime Minister?

Our trigger happy cousins [243/365]

Cultural references are funny and incredibly predictable.
Every time I speak to an American, one of the few things they confess is how much they loved 'Slumdog Millionaire'. They quickly followup with 'So is it like that in real-life too?'
But as cultural references go, the Americans are choc-o-bloc with some colorful past-times. If cross-continental car chases were in vogue, the past decade has been one of mass shootings. 

Igniting the debate on gun control was the midnight shooting of theater goers at the latest Batman sequel in July, the Gurudwara shooting earlier this month, the suited gunman who killed his former co-worker and now, the shoot-out at Texas A&M University.

Source: Gold is Money

Interestingly, gun control proponents like to point out that there is gun related violence even in states with tough gun control laws, I think the crisis is more endemic.

It could be a coincidence that there has been a spate of gun related massacres in the last couple of months and years, and the way I look at it, it is the result of a trigger-happy government that is unwilling to rein in their weapons manufacturers. The citizens of a nation emulate their leaders. When a country allows its guilty to amass obscene amounts of money and refuses to punish them when proved guilty, then the citizens of that nation will have no moral compulsions bribing and being bribed. When a country follows a global policy of bullying while selling arms and ammunition in the name of policing, then its citizens are brought to believe that guns are as American as apple pie.

In a twisted way, we are not very different from the Yankees. Both of our politicians are weak kneed and lily-livered puppets in the hands of powerful businesses and political handlers.
Touche`