Debarth's Den

December is a month Indians will begin to dread every year from now on, and not without reason. Last year in December the nation was put through the agony, the travails of the aftermath, and eventual death of a girl who was the victim of the most inhuman form of rape the county has ever known. This December, something of a similar nature has happened to yet another Indian lady, this time an Indian diplomat on foreign shores, at the hands of the Administration of supposedly the “the most civilized nation on earth”, the US of A. Last year’s gruesome crime in Delhi took months of civilian protest and uncountable debates in and off the courtroom to finally come to a decisive climax in the form of death sentences to the accused (barring one who escaped punishment due to his “tender age”). This year’s equally appalling crime by a bunch of thoughtless, racist individuals in the US State Department and the US Police has evoked similar scenes of protest and animated debate across the countr...

Close to two decades have elapsed since Apartheid was officially pronounced dead in South Africa. People of the planet rejoiced at the advent into this world of secularity and equality in the fullest sense. However, many wondered whether a political resolution and a declaration on paper would have sufficed to cleanse the evil of racial prejudice from the hearts and minds of countless people who believed themselves to be “better” creations of God thus far. As is evident from incidents reported with increasing frequency from various corners of the “white” world, racism is far from dead. It continues to thrive and prosper in the minds of fair-skinned egotists who still believe that the color of the skin supersedes every other quality in a human being. Even the most powerful of people are not secure from this deep-rooted evil. The case of US president Barack Obama is worthy of note in this regard. Obama minced no words in his criticism of a certain police officer who humiliated a well know...