And so it has been legalised. Coming right on the heels of the Thought Police deeming live dances vulgar, maybe we should have seen it coming. Did I put Thought, Police AND Vulgar all in the same line? The hapless victim at Marine Drive probably never suspected the purveyors of virtue to be so heartless.
As some worthy put it, it's the dress sense.
Let's only discuss legally sound issues then. The first "it" in all this.
The right to live, breed and raise a Ghetto. It used to be called an enclave, with a well rounded 'e'.
Well, that's what it used to be. Until they decided to extern any undesirables from the vicinity. And beyond. And the highest court in the land deems it legal.
So much for Equality & Fraternity.
Do we really live in a free country? Is freedom the right to choose one's neighbor? As happens in Mumbai, the ones with the same culinary tastes. Or religious denomination?
Are we a nation of racists? (A reality check would be to have a chat with any foreigner, preferably an African national, out here on scholarship. They'd tell you what they put up with. Everyday.) Does fraternity mean comparable color, creed or denomination ?
The most disturbing trend is the increasing acceptance of such exclusivism. From the endorsers of vegan to the disciples of the jet-set healer. From the opinionated regulars on the news, to the silent majority going about the daily drudge. Once the breeding ground for the naive, misty-eyed socialist, the upper-class nowadays finds instant gratification and solace in social herding. Their herd only reviled the social climber and the sans culotte, but these days it has plumbed to the level of ethnic and religious profiling.
It's as if we have resigned to the fact that there exists untouchability. And our lives and that of those around us would be better off so. It is as if our lifestyles, our faith, our gods have preordained our lives to such an extent that the rich should look further than pelf to prejudge his fellow schmoozer; no honor among thieves one might say. While the poor is accursed to his ghetto as long as he is poor, and the millions in between have no voice to anguish.
Is this the Shanghai we are aiming to be, or the West Bank that's there for all to see.
