"That's insane," I interjected. "That should have ended long ago, but obviously it still happens to some degree and will likely continue until a real healing is taking place."

      Indira paused as if to search for words. "Can you imagine what it feels like when a father comes home after having served in the house of a Thevar for most of the night and finds his entire family shot dead, all seven of them?" she asked. "When I came home from another village I heard the man scream, violently, in a rage. I couldn't help the poor man, or his family. There was no one left alive. I was told that someone had questioned one of the Sena why they kill children and the women. Supposedly one of the Sena had answered, 'We kill children because they will grow up to become Naxalites,' and 'we kill women because they will give birth to Naxalites.'"

      Indira explained that since this happened in the village where she lived, she couldn't dare go back for another two or three months. She suggested that she might have been shot too, had she been in the village at the time of the attack. "They shoot on suspicion," she said. "But you say, there exists but one humanity, which we all share. What you recognize as the truth sets up a paradox with what is happening in the world, possibly every day, somewhere. This is a hard paradox to reconcile, isn't it, when the fundamental truth is so universally violated?"

      Indira explained that the Senas have the support of many politicians, who are often members of the Sena gangs themselves. "Consequently, the Sena violence rages on, almost unhindered. The Sena kill with impunity," she said. "It is being reported that the police too, sometimes gets involved in the raids. They are said to have stood idly by while the Sena killed villagers and burned down their homes. In the spring of last year, in the village of Ekwari, the police even pried open the people's doors for the Sena, who then entered and killed eight villagers. Is it any wonder that some Dalits have joined militant groups, like the man had who had found his entire family murdered? Also organized political protest groups have sprung up, but who listens to them? In the end, life for the Dalits is becoming ever more dangerous, while nothing gets fundamentally resolved. Maybe I can't work in the villages anymore, now that the Thevars have responded by assaulting us more and more openly, raping and murdering almost at will as a means for keeping the status quo alive that gives them power."

      "How can you work under such conditions at all, when you constantly have to fear for your life?" I asked.

      "Mostly, by trying not to think about it, Peter. But this isn't as easy as it sounds, especially during the election periods. Our people have no voting rights in real terms. By law they are allowed to vote. In reality they are even compelled to vote. Mostly they are compelled by the landowners. They are compelled to vote exactly as they are told. The Dalits are threatened to comply, even beaten by the strongmen of whatever political party is favored by the landlords or by the police officials. Villagers who do not comply usually end up being murdered or merely beaten if they are lucky. Sometimes it is the police who 'punish' the Dalit voters, and sometimes the militias are brought in that work for the political leaders or the police. Recently a Dalit village was raided by police after the people had boycotted the national parliamentary elections. The villagers' women were severely kicked and beaten. They had their clothing torn, and had sticks and iron pipes forced into their mouths. According to reports, the police poured kerosene into the villager's food grains and groceries and urinated into their cooking pots. Nevertheless, these people are said to have been lucky, because when powerful candidates want to ensure their majority vote they usually hire the Senas. The Senas threaten to kill the none-compliant, and they always carry out their threat. One of the Sena groups killed more than fifty Dalit people during the Bihar State election campaign some years ago."

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Stories about  Love from novels by Rolf A. F. Witzsche