Babel Of Discontent

Not surprisingly, this is the ideal petridish for the pseudo-nationalists and the pseudo-secularists to stir and serve their deadly brew. A nice little riot before an assembly by-election in nearby Ullal set the stage for a nice little seminar on the communalism that now gets served up daily through the morning papers. Brand-name authors and columnists flew down to discuss the whys and wherefores. But it was only when a former high court chief justice stood up to reassure the assembled that the truth hit home: that a balance of terror has been achieved by both sides in keeping the cauldron simmering.

A wizened old man sitting alongside yours truly watched the rabble being roused but even he could take it no longer. "Heaven have mercy on the report the gentleman has written," he muttered and left before the star speaker of the day, Arundhati Roy, could take the mike.