India, Sept. 7 -- They write of democracy from rooms where democracy has never had to enter the kitchen, where equality is discussed beneath lights that never reveal the darkness outside.

They write of equity with carefully chosen vocabulary, of diversity with polished sentences, of inclusion with conference banners stretching across walls where the excluded are still absent.

They write of human rights and peace, of justice and fraternity, of participation and dignity words beautiful enough to make oppression sound as though it has already ended.

But where do these words live when the seminar is over?

Where does democracy live when the scholar returns home?

Where does equality live when the Dalit neighbour still occupies a different...