VULTURES

They are human vultures, if you allow me to say so. And in Tsunami-ravaged parts of India they're on the prowl for feasting on orphaned children and widowed women, according to a news report published in the STATESMAN of Kolkata.

Natural calamities always are windfall to some. The Tsunami would help many people, especially those in the administration involved in relief and rehabilation programme, to siphon off money from the somewhat unaccounted fund and make them rich. The politicians of different hues will try to get an extra mileage out of their so-called "service". These are given, and you have nothing much to say about these things.

But the middle men preying on the hapless women and children, at this time of devastation and death, are a new phenomenon. Why would the sex industry would let go of this opportunity, one may argue. How could the paedophiles resist such a bounty?

The bottomline: the civilization sinks to a new low, hang your head in shame.
MRINAL BOSE