One of the lesser known facts perhaps of the 2002 Gujarat riots is that Dalits were at the fore of much of the violence against Muslims in Ahmedabad. When I asked an accused Dalit boy in the Naroda Patia area why he got involved in the rioting, his answer troubled me: “The local Bajrang Dal has promised us we will be allowed to stay in the land vacated by the Muslims who have fled”. Whether that was a riot “jumla” or not, the fact is many Dalits were the foot soldiers of the rioting mobs and were swayed by the promise of being empowered by caste Hindus.
Like millions across the world, the Wimbledon men's singles final had me transfixed with rising emotional fervour. It's been a bit of a ritual stretching back to the late 1970s: watching the finals with family and friends. Remember those glorious Borg vs McEnroe finals in black and white on Doordarshan where suddenly in the middle of a tense moment the TV signal would go on blink with a 'rukavat ke liye khed hai' plastered on your screen? We are now in the age of 60 inch mega screen TVs with HD sound and much more. They even take you into the players' locker rooms (well, almost) and the camera is able to catch every grin and grimace in close-up.