It is about 3.5 months since I reached Kollam - the land of cashew and fish. The once world-famous ancient port of Tharsis/Nalcynda about which Greek and Roman historians wrote, the part of India richest in thorium, the headquarters of SNDP and the only corporation in Kerala under the Leftists - that is one hell of an introduction!
Famous for Kundara proclamation, it is also home to the Thangassery port. It used to be an important trade centre - especially during the time when western India traded with China. It finds a mention in the Bible. Kollam actually is the Sanskrit word for pepper. Shows how really important this city was in the trade of spices.
Whatever it was, you get the feeling that this place has lost its glory now. It lost its importance as a port gradually. Still, at the time of independence, it was an important industrial centre of Kerala - ceramic factories, mills, other industries - most were closed down due to labour unrest. The only industries that remain are the cashew processing factories and a few public sector industries mainly related with titanium and rare earth mining.
Of course, the place is rich in fish. The very idea of getting fresh fish from Neendakara is very enticing and relieves the pain of having to shift from the comparatively noisy city of Thiruvananthapuram to the almost dead quiet here.
There are more places to visit - Ashtamudi and Shastamkotta lakes are said to be breathtakingly beautiful. I have only seen the Paravur lake while travelling to and from Trivandrum and that is a small one compared to the other two. Still, the sight was something I still relish.
Kollam beach is said to be a dangerous place. I still do not know why. Visited it but found no danger. Not quite as beautiful as Shanghumukham or Veli but you still find it a pleasant place to spend your time.
Lack of good libraries and book stores is something that this city definitely suffers from. Surprising too, considering that this city is home to quite a few famous colleges of the state. Maybe, the college libraries and the internet are sufficient for the students. Or may be I am living in the wrong place.
The worst thing about Kollam is the absolute recklessness of some of the private bus operators and crew. Accidents are almost a regular occurrence here and people were enraged enough to set fire to a private bus involved in such an accident. It is safer if you travel in the KSRTC buses but sometimes, you don't have a choice.
The dominant communities here are the Ezhavas (this city is home to the SNDP headquarters), Muslims and Latin Christians. Like in most other parts of the state, community loyalty cuts across parties and party loyalty cuts across communities. Kollam is home to the progressive and conservative elements of all of them. (I don't think I need to elaborate on this. ) The most important peculiarity of this place is that while it appears to be an active volcano at times, it is actually as cold as the Antarctic. The people of Kollam actually are no extremists, just average citizens who go about their lives. Like the rest of the humanity.
Friday 21 January 2011
Wednesday 12 January 2011
Democracy: A Lie, A Religion Or The Science Of Vote Banks
Is democracy actually government 'of the people, by the people, for the people' as Abraham Lincoln had described it once?
A Lie: Democracy literally means rule by the people. Since taking the opinion of the entire population on every issue is cumbersome, people elect their representatives to govern them. This is done through periodic elections.
Unfortunately, the voter turnout in elections is 50-60% in most countries. Again, first-past-the-post system in which the person who gathers the highest number of votes is declared the winner effectively ensures that even a person with the support of only a minority of the population, say 20-25%, can win the election if s/he can get all of them to vote.
The party system makes it more complicated. The political parties may field candidates who are disliked by the electorate based merely on their proximity to the decision-making centres (read: high command) rather than on the basis of popularity or competence. Again, all or some policies of a political party may be against the general opinion of the public. In such cases, people vote not to select the most desirable candidate as it should be, but to eliminate the least desirable ones. The public has no option other than doing this as it costs money to contest in elections and hence, an uncorrupt political party is an oxymoron.
Even if all the voters vote and the desirable candidate wins, a majority of the decisions a representative takes will be against the wishes of his supporters. Also, only a minority of these representatives actually take decisions. Others remain puppets. If they choose to disobey, there are the party whips to show them their place. Hence, the decision-making power remains concentrated in the hands of a select few as it has been for the past two millenia. Why do we then call it democracy?
A Religion: Any mass movement assumes a quasi-religious appearance at some point of time. You can say that it is in its dark ages when people are persecuted for saying anything aginst its high priests - in this case, against politicians. Journalists and activists who try to bring out the deficiencies in the system (read corruption, lack of transparency, illegalities, etc.) are routinely victimised in any democracy. Elections are mere mass rituals. You can sense it by the euphoria before and on the election day, the promises of creating heaven on earth and the near-angelic candidates. Any action against this sham is blasphemy - sedition. Any word against a high priest (read: a powerful politician) will result in ignominy. Any person who refuses to donate to the ruling political party when asked to do so becomes an outcaste - he will have to forever revolve around government offices to get his work done, will be treated shabbily and tortured emotionally. Do you need any more proof of the fact that we are living in the dark ages of democracy?
The Science of Vote Banks: Power is captured nowadays more through whipping up of fear rather than promises of manna from heaven.The political parties divide the electorates into vote banks based on imaginary or real fears. Bush's re-election based on anti-terrorism plank, Conservatives' election based on the anti-deficit plank and so on are examples. Citizens are thus being forced to live in a state of perpetual fear and never-ending state surveillance of their lives. What are we so afraid of? Do our fears have any solid basis? Did Iraq actually have chemical or nuclear weapons? Did the attack on Afghanistan actually make the world a safer place to live in? Will the Conservative government in Britain manage to arrest the slide of Britain?
It is logical to be afraid when important decisions are made in the name of the people when they actually derive no benefit from those decisions.
So with the public divided on inconsequential matters, the winning an election becomes a matter of merely sounding and appearing more righteous than your opponent on those. Or making your opponent appear dirty. Chances of winning increase when you 'belong' to the 'majority' or the 'significant minority.' It is the game of numbers - divisions based on race, caste, class and even the schools the candidates attended and the nationality of their spouses. Which century are we living in?
Why should the electorate be bothered about the details of the private lives of candidates if they have good track records? Why should we be made to listen to name-callings, accusations, retractions, etc on irrelevant matters? 'Divide and conquer' has conquered politics. With ugly consequences.
A Lie: Democracy literally means rule by the people. Since taking the opinion of the entire population on every issue is cumbersome, people elect their representatives to govern them. This is done through periodic elections.
Unfortunately, the voter turnout in elections is 50-60% in most countries. Again, first-past-the-post system in which the person who gathers the highest number of votes is declared the winner effectively ensures that even a person with the support of only a minority of the population, say 20-25%, can win the election if s/he can get all of them to vote.
The party system makes it more complicated. The political parties may field candidates who are disliked by the electorate based merely on their proximity to the decision-making centres (read: high command) rather than on the basis of popularity or competence. Again, all or some policies of a political party may be against the general opinion of the public. In such cases, people vote not to select the most desirable candidate as it should be, but to eliminate the least desirable ones. The public has no option other than doing this as it costs money to contest in elections and hence, an uncorrupt political party is an oxymoron.
Even if all the voters vote and the desirable candidate wins, a majority of the decisions a representative takes will be against the wishes of his supporters. Also, only a minority of these representatives actually take decisions. Others remain puppets. If they choose to disobey, there are the party whips to show them their place. Hence, the decision-making power remains concentrated in the hands of a select few as it has been for the past two millenia. Why do we then call it democracy?
A Religion: Any mass movement assumes a quasi-religious appearance at some point of time. You can say that it is in its dark ages when people are persecuted for saying anything aginst its high priests - in this case, against politicians. Journalists and activists who try to bring out the deficiencies in the system (read corruption, lack of transparency, illegalities, etc.) are routinely victimised in any democracy. Elections are mere mass rituals. You can sense it by the euphoria before and on the election day, the promises of creating heaven on earth and the near-angelic candidates. Any action against this sham is blasphemy - sedition. Any word against a high priest (read: a powerful politician) will result in ignominy. Any person who refuses to donate to the ruling political party when asked to do so becomes an outcaste - he will have to forever revolve around government offices to get his work done, will be treated shabbily and tortured emotionally. Do you need any more proof of the fact that we are living in the dark ages of democracy?
The Science of Vote Banks: Power is captured nowadays more through whipping up of fear rather than promises of manna from heaven.The political parties divide the electorates into vote banks based on imaginary or real fears. Bush's re-election based on anti-terrorism plank, Conservatives' election based on the anti-deficit plank and so on are examples. Citizens are thus being forced to live in a state of perpetual fear and never-ending state surveillance of their lives. What are we so afraid of? Do our fears have any solid basis? Did Iraq actually have chemical or nuclear weapons? Did the attack on Afghanistan actually make the world a safer place to live in? Will the Conservative government in Britain manage to arrest the slide of Britain?
It is logical to be afraid when important decisions are made in the name of the people when they actually derive no benefit from those decisions.
So with the public divided on inconsequential matters, the winning an election becomes a matter of merely sounding and appearing more righteous than your opponent on those. Or making your opponent appear dirty. Chances of winning increase when you 'belong' to the 'majority' or the 'significant minority.' It is the game of numbers - divisions based on race, caste, class and even the schools the candidates attended and the nationality of their spouses. Which century are we living in?
Why should the electorate be bothered about the details of the private lives of candidates if they have good track records? Why should we be made to listen to name-callings, accusations, retractions, etc on irrelevant matters? 'Divide and conquer' has conquered politics. With ugly consequences.
Tuesday 11 January 2011
Karl Marx, Class Conflict and Our Future
I am no expert on Marx and I just have a very peripheral idea about what his work was all about. I know that is bad, especially coming from a state where his name divides the people into two opposing camps. Maybe, some day.
The point I found interesting is that Marx defined his 'exploiter-exploited' relationship under various means of production. In feudalism, there was the landlord-serf relationship, during slavery there was master-slave relationship and so on. In the present capitalism, of course, there is the capitalist-labourer relationship. Now, while looking at feudalism and slavery, these systems were not destroyed by the 'exploited sections'. Slavery ended mainly due to the efforts of free men and not slaves themselves and feudalism ended due to the efforts of the newly born capitalist and merchant classes. So we find that it is an emerging 'middle class' that effectively put an end to the previous form of exploitation. Only those classes had the means to achieve their ends. Again, these efforts were aimed at strengthening these emerging classes and curtailing the power of the ruling classes of those times. The lower classes, though they participated, were more like lambs being herded by leaders from the 'middle' classes.
Now, if that is the case, capitalism, going by the history of its precedent 'forms of exploitation', will not be taken down by the proletariat which according to Marx, will become a 'class-for-itself', but by the class that will capture power from the capitalist class. Moreover, this emerging ruling class will have, among its members, a significant number of people who belong to the existing ruling class too. That is, there will be a group which will be constituted by an overlap of the existing and the future ruling classes. For example, a significant number of early capitalists were also aristocrats and landlords. They paved the way for the emergence of capitalism. Again, the emergence of any new 'means of production' has been a gradual, comparatively peaceful process encompassing within itself fleeting but bloody political revolutions as well as enduring movements for social change. These movements as well as revolutions are generally led by members of the emerging ruling class, with a majority of these leaders coming from the transitional class. The transitional class appears to make the inevitable process of change less painful to the class that is losing its power. Nevertheless, it is painful.
Looking at the current scenario, it appears that the technocrat-professional manager class is gradually displacing the capitalist class from the positions of power. Governments are getting increasingly bureaucratised, family-run businesses are making way from professionally run ones, politics is being controlled by lobbyists who in turn obey the professional managers. There is a significant overlap of the two classes - capitalist as well as managerial now but we do not know if this will continue in the future. With services gaining an upper hand on manufacturing, knowledge-technology combine may soon displace capital-labour combine as the predominant means to create wealth. Or may be it already has.
The emergence of each new 'means of production' has enhanced the probability of increaed socio-economic mobility of individuals. If you were born a slave, most probably you died a slave unless your master took pity on you. In capitalism, a person born in the working class has a greater probability of making it to the higher strata. This mobility is bound to increase with the rise to the pre-eminence of the managerial class. The world will require good managers, no matter what their background is. Governments will universalize education not out of compassion but because they need good managers to stay put in the race.
We may also witness an era of cold-blooded rationality soon. In feudalism, the landlords could afford to take decisions about production based on emotion alone. Capitalists rely more on rationalism, but occasional emotional decisions do occur. However, managers, with their first and usually their sole responsibility to their firms may find it hard to factor in emotions - even if they would like to.
Of course, greedy managers are going to mark the initial phase of the rise of the managerial class. That should come as no surprise. From our experience in India, we know that the first few generations of landlords were bloodsuckers. And nobody needs to be reminded of the working conditions in the factories across the world during the initial days of capitalism to prove how greedy early capitalists were. If we link the salary of the managers purely to the profits generated or the revenue generated, we cannot remain blameless when managers act ruthlessly without regard for others.
Increase in 'alienation' remains a strong possibility. According to Marx, production was more fulfilling in the days of primitive communism i.e., ancient, primitive societies, when men produced as well as identified themselves with the goods they produced. Their thoughts were parts of their selves, as were the things they produced. In feudalism, they became alienated. The landlords took many of the decisions regarding production. Capitalism resulted in the almost complete transfer of decisions regarding production to the capitalists but at least the thoughts of the labourers were their own. In managerialism, as knowledge becomes the source of wealth creation, thoughts and ideas woukd become properties of firms and man will have nothing to call his own. The social networking sites are only a beginning. The future is as scary as it is exciting and we do not know we are headed. Happy journey, mankind!
The point I found interesting is that Marx defined his 'exploiter-exploited' relationship under various means of production. In feudalism, there was the landlord-serf relationship, during slavery there was master-slave relationship and so on. In the present capitalism, of course, there is the capitalist-labourer relationship. Now, while looking at feudalism and slavery, these systems were not destroyed by the 'exploited sections'. Slavery ended mainly due to the efforts of free men and not slaves themselves and feudalism ended due to the efforts of the newly born capitalist and merchant classes. So we find that it is an emerging 'middle class' that effectively put an end to the previous form of exploitation. Only those classes had the means to achieve their ends. Again, these efforts were aimed at strengthening these emerging classes and curtailing the power of the ruling classes of those times. The lower classes, though they participated, were more like lambs being herded by leaders from the 'middle' classes.
Now, if that is the case, capitalism, going by the history of its precedent 'forms of exploitation', will not be taken down by the proletariat which according to Marx, will become a 'class-for-itself', but by the class that will capture power from the capitalist class. Moreover, this emerging ruling class will have, among its members, a significant number of people who belong to the existing ruling class too. That is, there will be a group which will be constituted by an overlap of the existing and the future ruling classes. For example, a significant number of early capitalists were also aristocrats and landlords. They paved the way for the emergence of capitalism. Again, the emergence of any new 'means of production' has been a gradual, comparatively peaceful process encompassing within itself fleeting but bloody political revolutions as well as enduring movements for social change. These movements as well as revolutions are generally led by members of the emerging ruling class, with a majority of these leaders coming from the transitional class. The transitional class appears to make the inevitable process of change less painful to the class that is losing its power. Nevertheless, it is painful.
Looking at the current scenario, it appears that the technocrat-professional manager class is gradually displacing the capitalist class from the positions of power. Governments are getting increasingly bureaucratised, family-run businesses are making way from professionally run ones, politics is being controlled by lobbyists who in turn obey the professional managers. There is a significant overlap of the two classes - capitalist as well as managerial now but we do not know if this will continue in the future. With services gaining an upper hand on manufacturing, knowledge-technology combine may soon displace capital-labour combine as the predominant means to create wealth. Or may be it already has.
The emergence of each new 'means of production' has enhanced the probability of increaed socio-economic mobility of individuals. If you were born a slave, most probably you died a slave unless your master took pity on you. In capitalism, a person born in the working class has a greater probability of making it to the higher strata. This mobility is bound to increase with the rise to the pre-eminence of the managerial class. The world will require good managers, no matter what their background is. Governments will universalize education not out of compassion but because they need good managers to stay put in the race.
We may also witness an era of cold-blooded rationality soon. In feudalism, the landlords could afford to take decisions about production based on emotion alone. Capitalists rely more on rationalism, but occasional emotional decisions do occur. However, managers, with their first and usually their sole responsibility to their firms may find it hard to factor in emotions - even if they would like to.
Of course, greedy managers are going to mark the initial phase of the rise of the managerial class. That should come as no surprise. From our experience in India, we know that the first few generations of landlords were bloodsuckers. And nobody needs to be reminded of the working conditions in the factories across the world during the initial days of capitalism to prove how greedy early capitalists were. If we link the salary of the managers purely to the profits generated or the revenue generated, we cannot remain blameless when managers act ruthlessly without regard for others.
Increase in 'alienation' remains a strong possibility. According to Marx, production was more fulfilling in the days of primitive communism i.e., ancient, primitive societies, when men produced as well as identified themselves with the goods they produced. Their thoughts were parts of their selves, as were the things they produced. In feudalism, they became alienated. The landlords took many of the decisions regarding production. Capitalism resulted in the almost complete transfer of decisions regarding production to the capitalists but at least the thoughts of the labourers were their own. In managerialism, as knowledge becomes the source of wealth creation, thoughts and ideas woukd become properties of firms and man will have nothing to call his own. The social networking sites are only a beginning. The future is as scary as it is exciting and we do not know we are headed. Happy journey, mankind!
Monday 10 January 2011
Pearls of Wisdom
"We cannot give out the foodgrains in the FCI godowns for free even if they rot because that would cause a fall in the foodgrain prices. Farmers would cultivate something else then. We will have to import more food. International prices will go up on our demand alone and we will have Balance of Payment difficulties again, as we used to have. That's why the PM was opposed to the Supreme Court direction. Though people die."
-An economist friend.
"So during an oil spill, oil forms a layer over the ocean, which effectively cuts off the oxygen supply to the water beneath the layer as atmospheric air now finds no avenue to dissolve in it. The oxygen content in those parts of the ocean now falls, sea animals have no oxygen to breathe and hence they undergo the process of dying"
-Chemistry teacher from school.
"Madam, how can I know if the train will come on time? I am not an astrologer"
-Railway helpline in one of its initial days.
"Why do they say 'Praise the Lord' when the priest declares that the service is over?"
-Me, at the age of five.
"But sir, amoeba is shapeless!"
-A student protesting her low marks in the science test due to lack of resemblance between the picture she drew and the one in the science textbook.
-An economist friend.
"So during an oil spill, oil forms a layer over the ocean, which effectively cuts off the oxygen supply to the water beneath the layer as atmospheric air now finds no avenue to dissolve in it. The oxygen content in those parts of the ocean now falls, sea animals have no oxygen to breathe and hence they undergo the process of dying"
-Chemistry teacher from school.
"Madam, how can I know if the train will come on time? I am not an astrologer"
-Railway helpline in one of its initial days.
"Why do they say 'Praise the Lord' when the priest declares that the service is over?"
-Me, at the age of five.
"But sir, amoeba is shapeless!"
-A student protesting her low marks in the science test due to lack of resemblance between the picture she drew and the one in the science textbook.
Sunday 9 January 2011
Poem without title
I walk with no end in sight.
I walk alone in the night.
Tears of grief not met by words of love.
Fears of doom not met by words of hope.
False hopes had I many.
The light I saw was a mirage.
Death now doesn't scare me any.
Waiting for my turn to turn into ash.
Alone I've been, through my life
In solitude and in company
As well in joy as in strife
Only me and me in harmony.
Sounds of joy, though brilliant, are hollow
Much like the seven colours of the rainbow.
Colourful, they mask more than they show.
Grief is the light and the path for man to follow.
I walk alone in the night.
Tears of grief not met by words of love.
Fears of doom not met by words of hope.
False hopes had I many.
The light I saw was a mirage.
Death now doesn't scare me any.
Waiting for my turn to turn into ash.
Alone I've been, through my life
In solitude and in company
As well in joy as in strife
Only me and me in harmony.
Sounds of joy, though brilliant, are hollow
Much like the seven colours of the rainbow.
Colourful, they mask more than they show.
Grief is the light and the path for man to follow.
Thursday 6 January 2011
Stupid Dreams
In school, we had to learn about the history of India. It was a huge headache for me to mug up all the dates and names of all parties, political parties and so on. Needless to say, Jinnah was a villain whereas Nehru, Gandhi, Patel and Bose were heroes. To be honest, I had to write the mains exam to finally have a little more balanced view about the incidents that were taking place at that time.
I had a dream once - that India, Pakistan and Bangladesh would reunite to form a strong country that would be a marvel in the history. Even the Kargil conflict couldn't kill my hopes. I thought that peace was possible, after all. Only the political parties on both sides and the Pakistani military establishment were responsible for the bloodshed that was and is going on. There was scope for cooperation and people would see reason in the end.
No more. The praises showered by even the general public on Mumtaz Qadri, the assassin of the Punjab governor Salman Taseer makes me thank Jinnah for dividing India. I mean, how can you live with guys as block-headed as that? The blasphemy law in Pakistan, interestingly, was the creation of the British rulers to maintain peace between the two communities in the British India. During the time of Gen. Zia ul-Haq, the provisions were made more stringent. The punishment now varies from a fine to death sentence. Though no one has actually been executed, many of the alleged blasphemers have been killed by mobs. And the mob doesn't follow the due process of law, of course. Someone just has to report that the person he intends to destroy has committed blasphemy. The next thing you know is that s/he may be cut into pieces, bullet-sprayed or set to fire. There are, of course, enough financial and other rewards to anyone who helps in the execution of these 'blasphemers'.
I just can't imagine that a section of Kashmiris wants to join a country as hopeless as that. Earlier, while reading about the lawyers' and people's campaign to restore democracy in Pakistan, I thought it still had a chance to redeem itself. However, looking at even the lawyers supporting Qadri and hailing him as a hero, I really doubt if Pakistan can ever become a genuine democracy. After all, if even the governor of one of the richest states of Pakistan had to part with his life for defending what he thought was right, what can anyone else do?
I had a dream once - that India, Pakistan and Bangladesh would reunite to form a strong country that would be a marvel in the history. Even the Kargil conflict couldn't kill my hopes. I thought that peace was possible, after all. Only the political parties on both sides and the Pakistani military establishment were responsible for the bloodshed that was and is going on. There was scope for cooperation and people would see reason in the end.
No more. The praises showered by even the general public on Mumtaz Qadri, the assassin of the Punjab governor Salman Taseer makes me thank Jinnah for dividing India. I mean, how can you live with guys as block-headed as that? The blasphemy law in Pakistan, interestingly, was the creation of the British rulers to maintain peace between the two communities in the British India. During the time of Gen. Zia ul-Haq, the provisions were made more stringent. The punishment now varies from a fine to death sentence. Though no one has actually been executed, many of the alleged blasphemers have been killed by mobs. And the mob doesn't follow the due process of law, of course. Someone just has to report that the person he intends to destroy has committed blasphemy. The next thing you know is that s/he may be cut into pieces, bullet-sprayed or set to fire. There are, of course, enough financial and other rewards to anyone who helps in the execution of these 'blasphemers'.
I just can't imagine that a section of Kashmiris wants to join a country as hopeless as that. Earlier, while reading about the lawyers' and people's campaign to restore democracy in Pakistan, I thought it still had a chance to redeem itself. However, looking at even the lawyers supporting Qadri and hailing him as a hero, I really doubt if Pakistan can ever become a genuine democracy. After all, if even the governor of one of the richest states of Pakistan had to part with his life for defending what he thought was right, what can anyone else do?
Monday 3 January 2011
The end of the world
A news report that some people believe that world would end on May 21, 2011 was the most emailed one on Yahoo! I am reminded of an article about 'boring days' that I had read a few days ago. On 18 April 1930, the BBC news bulletin had said: 'There is no news'. Something similar seems to be the case now. There is only gloom and doom everywhere and people are tired of the news about scams, unemployment, inflation and Chinese aggressiveness. So end of the world seems to provide a bit of comic relief to the readers. It felt good to read it. I mean, it really can't get any worse than this, right?
It has been quite a long time since I watched news on TV. I do not find it worthwhile to spend 30 precious, unrecoverable minutes of my life on some dumb programme which shows the 'twists' in some godforsaken reality show as the breaking news, makes 'expert panels' (yawn!) analyse the issue in between long durations of mindless, gutless and heartless ads. I have more to say, but I fear the censor board. Not the official one, but the all-pervading 'conservers' of Indian culture who think that the utterance of even a word against the established interests amounts to sedition, war against state, etc., etc. Is this what you call a democracy? You will find mass murderers roaming free in this land while the innocent languish behind the bars for crimes that they have never even dreamt of committing.
We have a new controversy in the state: should genetically modified crops be cultivated in Kerala? Now you must understand that Kerala does not really cultivate much of anything that can be used as staple food and that its economy sustains itself through export of rubber, spices and people and sales of services, beverages and lottery tickets. We import everything else - fruits, vegetables, poultry and dairy products and even food grains. If the rice cultivation in Andhra Pradesh is affected due to drought or flood, Malayalis are the ones who are going to go hungry. So we are having heated discussions about imaginary threats. This is not a recent phenomenon. We were worried about the CIA overthrowing our state governments, ETs poisoning our water sources, river water losing its 'life-force' as electricity is generated by extracting the essence from the river waters in hydroelectric power plants, computers making all of us unemployed, Thakazhi indulging in plagiarism, etc., etc. This state is a 'conspiracy theory cluster'.
I too have one, if you want it: The guy who begs in front of the L____ church in Trivandrum is a spy. I have no idea for which country he works, but the fact that he dines in the decent hotels in the city when no one is watching him and the fact that many of the senior officials of the state attend the Sunday Mass in this church corroborates my theory.
Glad to add my bit to this huge prison of phobias and fears we build for ourselves. Really, the end of the world story will appear amateurish to the people of Kerala.
It has been quite a long time since I watched news on TV. I do not find it worthwhile to spend 30 precious, unrecoverable minutes of my life on some dumb programme which shows the 'twists' in some godforsaken reality show as the breaking news, makes 'expert panels' (yawn!) analyse the issue in between long durations of mindless, gutless and heartless ads. I have more to say, but I fear the censor board. Not the official one, but the all-pervading 'conservers' of Indian culture who think that the utterance of even a word against the established interests amounts to sedition, war against state, etc., etc. Is this what you call a democracy? You will find mass murderers roaming free in this land while the innocent languish behind the bars for crimes that they have never even dreamt of committing.
We have a new controversy in the state: should genetically modified crops be cultivated in Kerala? Now you must understand that Kerala does not really cultivate much of anything that can be used as staple food and that its economy sustains itself through export of rubber, spices and people and sales of services, beverages and lottery tickets. We import everything else - fruits, vegetables, poultry and dairy products and even food grains. If the rice cultivation in Andhra Pradesh is affected due to drought or flood, Malayalis are the ones who are going to go hungry. So we are having heated discussions about imaginary threats. This is not a recent phenomenon. We were worried about the CIA overthrowing our state governments, ETs poisoning our water sources, river water losing its 'life-force' as electricity is generated by extracting the essence from the river waters in hydroelectric power plants, computers making all of us unemployed, Thakazhi indulging in plagiarism, etc., etc. This state is a 'conspiracy theory cluster'.
I too have one, if you want it: The guy who begs in front of the L____ church in Trivandrum is a spy. I have no idea for which country he works, but the fact that he dines in the decent hotels in the city when no one is watching him and the fact that many of the senior officials of the state attend the Sunday Mass in this church corroborates my theory.
Glad to add my bit to this huge prison of phobias and fears we build for ourselves. Really, the end of the world story will appear amateurish to the people of Kerala.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)