“Mommy,I want an Iraq too!…”

I was rather surprised as well as enlightened to hear my friend’s elder sisters youngest child(its not as complicated as it seems to be) saying she wanted to buy an iraq too. It told me two things about the friggin human race-one, that even a kid knows to an extent how an advanced capitalist society works, two, that the kid along with a lot more other persons are gravely misinformed.

So on the outset itself,let me make one thing clear. Iraq is not for sale. Granted the u.s has already brought it, but it was, lets call it, ‘forced transaction’. There is a war on iraq not because of 9/11 but because it has resisted to sell its oilfields. After the war, the oil fields in iraq are under the giant conglomerate ‘shell’ along with one other corporate in the scene as well(American of course). In short no iraqi owned company or its government has control over its own natural resource-not even one percent! Talking about one percent, that’s the amount out of the profits that the oil owning companies in iraq have to pay the Iraqi government as tax, which is worse than laughable. Its lamentable.

Don’t even for one second think that this is something superficial that’s not gonna affect you, regardless of the space on earth u a located at. The Indian government along with any and other governments in need of oil(ha ha ha) should now deal with shell and other corporates instead of the Iraqi government which means a higher price(already its triple the rate it was 5 years back). So oil prices go up in india and elsewhere which inturn causes the hike in general goods. Kerala, where I come from, already holds a ‘key position’ in the case of suicide. We don’t need anymore reasons do we?

The war on iraq is just the culminative symptom of the global corporatisation. The situation is worsening elsewhere as well. 40% of chattisgarh, India is already under naxal control, along with parts of Punjab, haryana, kerala and Gujarat. Who created these so called ‘naxalites’? we did. For selling off resources to corporates, the governments evicted people from lands evicting them from their livelihoods as well. The agricultural output of kerala has come down drastically. More than 50% of agricultural farms are under corporate control now, the paradox of which is that farmers who used to work in a particular farmland get evicted and the corporate who are the new owners employ them again, only this time at lower wages often in inhuman condition, and the prices of the products are hiked up to make everyone dizzy. Its these evicted people who find themselves considered my the many as ‘naxalites’.

U must be wondering if I am not being paranoid here. After all there aint that much news goin on about such things.right?

Wrong. U don’t get to hear about such things because the corporate owned media would not let u know it. Because they fear that if u know about it, u will recognize the grave injustice that is being done to people and maybe, just maybe, u may actually do something about it. The situation is not one of empathy or sympathy anymore. This is a case of self-defence. Ignoring it is sheer suicide. U may keep ignoring it and sit on ur ass scratching ur wifes when some masked personnel crashes in and lay off some of ur hard earned wealth as well as doing some kamasutra shit on ur wife. People rarely think straight when in rage.

Lets take a break now. I will tell u a story. This really happened to me. I was having this conversation with someone who is very near and dear to me(he still is) and somehow it strayed into a news article that came up on some journal recently. It was about the sex tourism in kovalam, how little kids are getting used and all that. My near n dear person then said something that really grabbed my attention-for the wrong reasons. He said “whats wrong with these fucking journalists? They should not bring out such news. As long as we keep our images clean, we can all make money and be happy”. There must have been a time when the knowledge of someone getting hurt in vile manners would have been enough for the general population to do something about it. Not anymore. Now the only language we understand is the language of greed. And hence I will provide u with some reasons along those lines so that u can reconsider ur stand on corporate globalization. And if u happen to belong to the profile of my near n dear one I told u about, two options are there for u-‘get over it!’ or ‘get off!’. I am not george.w.bush the lesser here saying “u r either with us or against us’.thats horseshit. To this date the u.s has not produced any evidence linking saddam Hussein to 9/11 attacks. But we have plenty of proof of iraq not complying with shell or other American corporates prior to the war. All I am saying here is that there is simply no time left for grooming convertees now. Time is of essence here. Each second we are sitting idle, someone out there gets hurt or killed for it.

Land lobbying is the ‘in-thing’ in kerala now. Of course, evicting the poor for accommodating the rich is now new thing. Its practically a cliché. But not to those getting evicted, for them it’s a nightmare. In trivandrum where I am located at now, land mafias evict the poor systematically, with or without government support is ur guess, and builds up multi-apartment flats. The major portion of subscribers to such apartments are not surprisingly the employees of one or other companies in he IT booms gift to trivandrum-‘technopark’.

The land with fresher air, clearer water, better infrastructure are being reserved for these people(which could be u or me) while the people who previously lived on those lands (which,again,could be u or me) find themselves on the streets one fine day, without even an ample compensation package. Those who don’t actually own the land they are victed from are even worse off. They cant even keep a small glimmer of hope for any compensation. That’s not how a democracy is run. Just because they don’t own land does not mean they should be out on the streets. Last time I checked, u dont have to be a property owner to be an Indian citizen. And last time I double checked, all Indians have the right to their basic necessities including a place to stay in. of course I am not saying that corporate globalization is the sole reason for escalating number of internally displaced in our nation as well as elsewhere, I am saying that its rising by the minute due to corporate globalization. Can u assure me that these ‘displaced’ as we love to call them are not gonna come after the economically better off who live in houses with good air and watr? Again I am not being paranoid. It has begun already. The number of people turning to ‘anti-social behaviour’ is at an all time high. Its almost funny that this all is happening at a time of unparalleled economic boom for India as well as across the world. But this era of mammoth economy is also the era of poverty. Yes, while the average economic growth of major capitalist nation is commendable, the number of people below the poverty line is escalating( at a steady 2.5% per year in India). 4% of indias population gets work in corporate/associated fields a year, at the price of 2.5% in poverty. Is it fair enough a price? Whaddya think? Do u honestly think there is one good enough reason we can give them to urge them not to partake in the uprisal already happening across India, that too at a steadily escalating pace.

If u r concerned and not like my ‘dear n near’ one, here are certain things u can do to ensure corporate ethics. Saying everything should be under government control is foolish and impractical. Hence what we want here is for the corporates to take up responsibilities.

First of all, there are hosts of low key builders in every major cities who have apartments ready for u. they too survive by keeping the ‘goondas’ happy and paying them. But they are not paying the goondas for evicting people. They pay them just to appease them. When u have to buy an apartment, check with these builders.

If u r working for a corporate(which in this day and age just about everyone is.its all the same, so boring…), u r not doing so bad to begin with. Work for a corporate, but don’t be a fucking leech. Work for some years, make money and get out of there. Find a low key job once u r financially secure. U know u really don’t need that fourth villa facing the goddam beach.

The corporates have inadvertently put into our hands an incredible weapon-the internet. Use it to good effect. Even this blogspot, I don’t know how many corporates are supporting it and how many of them are honest and well meaning..(dream on..), but use such spaces anyway to spread awareness. And spreading awareness is never enough. That’s just the first step girlie. What u have to do then is take up action.

Partake in peaceful demonstrations that are for worthwhile causes.put pressure on the governments to ensure that no one, absolutely no one gets hurt for the sake of globalization. The ‘globalisation of tourism’ has found the kids in kovalam at the low end. Don’t allow such victims.

Word of caution:it would be wise on ur part not to partake in demonstrations organized by political parties unless u r absolutely sure of it. There are a lot of people’s resistance movements happening around mostly out of necessity and sometimes out of sheer frustration. Join up these and march with them. Collect up signatures, u r a citizen, send the signed form to the relevant minister and ensure that u have shown him/her u r displeaces with the way a situation or commodity is being ‘globalised’. The costal areas across India is the latest in the array of ‘commodities’ to be corporatized and the ordinary fisherfolk would most probably lose their livelihood with big players coming into the play. That’s a worthy cause. Join up. Or u may soon find u have to but stale fish stored- at below freezing temperatures and sold at finger burning prices. No bargains anymore. No siree…

And probably the greatest form of revolt u can perform in this day and age is the act of not buying. Small scale industries still exist, though on the verge of extinction. Buy their products. There are substitute products available for most corporate products,most of them better than the much publicized. Look for such items. If u have to buy a magazine, don’t buy it from the corporate franchise, buy it from the local street vendor. And avoid buying stuff u don’t really want. That saves money and a lot of lives. In this day of advanced capitalism, each and every act of buying ou not buying is a political act in itself.

I am very much aware that most of those who read this wouldn’t even give this a second thought. The only thought they would come up with will be something like-“whats wrong with this bloke, ant up his ass?” I respect the assessment and yes, there is an ant up our collective asses and its working its way to our brain, and unless we act it will eat up our brains and we will be dead in no time.

Then again there will be a few who will consider this extremely seriously. They will see the urgency of the situation. They will do something, anything, to counter the effect of widening the ridge between the rich and poor. There will be a few who actually cares about others without pretentions. I hope you are one of those few, for its in the hands of the few that the future of our world rests.

Peace!

Scavengers in the land of plenty

Scavengers in the land of Plenty

Last week on my way back home after class, I saw this young boy of probably 15 or 16 years lying on the pavement of a busy road. His foot had been crushed from apparently some vehicle accident. He lied there with dried blood around him. Like one among the many commuters there, I looked at him; felt some sort of pity; and then walked on. He lied there as a victim of nature’s cruel law of survival of the fittest; was he unconscious or dead, I didn’t know and didn’t care to bother. As I reached home, a sense of guilt loomed over my conscience, I could have done something to help rather than stare at his helplessness and walk off.

Kerala would be one of the few states which would have a substantial amount of highly educated, intellectual minds in India and yet the boy lie there unable to even cry for help, with nobody to care for. Our species have witnessed many greats in the thousands of years of our existence with progress in every known field. We pride ourselves of being the most intellectually superior among all other creatures. But what good is pride when many among us die of hunger, pain and misery? What good is greatness in technological advancements if we don’t realize the greatness of compassion; the greatness of a human touch? What good is belief in GOD if we don’t believe in equal rights of our brothers to live?

The truth is that even among all the greatness in the world we created, we remain till date as our “cavemen” selves. We remain scavengers in this land of plenty. I took a solemn oath to my conscience that day not to turn my back on the helpless ever again and help as much as I possibly can and I urge all my fellow citizens to do the same. GOD had created the mind, body and soul to be used in harmony. Let us not let the body and mind dominate us or we might find out one day that this little thing called soul has withered away in our fiery run for power and glory.

Sexy bitches in Kovalam

Now I aint no tourist in the classic sense of the word and when I say bitches I mean bitches. And not of the two legged kind either, though that’s convenient, but the original four legged canine breed. Pure stuff.

The best and most sexy bitches of the four legged kind are to be found in Kovalam and you guessed right, my blood group is pervert positive. I mean come to think of it, how would a cross between you and your neighbor’s dog look like. Would it bark, bite and catch flees like a puritan or would it kiss, smooch and fuck around just like us humans?

Anyway, I was observing some real beauts in kovalam when Malcolm Radney from Rhodesia was bargaining with little Kavita’s mother for a price. Kavita is 10 and Malcolm wants to fuck her. Better still, own and fuck her up. After a bit of a debate, the mother (not second or third but the real thing) settled for a black and white tele along with 50,000 bucks read rupees.

As dear mother was looking at her kid being taken away by Malcolm, I was on to the next german shepherd. Was chasing it down the beach, my cock at the ready when right beside, Aunt Margaret from U.S of fuckin’ A was playing along with the balls of dileep deep in the beach waves. Forgot to introduce you, dileep is a polio infested kid coming from a local fisherman family. But fuck that! I am after that beaut of a german shepherd, and where did it go? Shit!

I then walked down the board saying “dog’s own country” and I saw my next bitch. Make no mistake. I always make sure it’s a she before I make my move. After all what do you think I am, a no good homo? No sireee, am cent percent pure hetero. Well then, I saw my bitch and after a bit of a run was almost inside her when all of a sudden, a cop did his duty by grabbing me up my ass and pushing me inside a jail cell. All that for just trying to pass my time with some genuine bitches? Of course I tried to give the cops my mentally pre-prepared lecture on ‘whats the point in kicking me up when little kids from poor families are getting screwed in the ass each day by people of different nationality?’. But it didn’t go on for long since I was busy drinking up the variant vibrations of piss which was being graciously poured down my throat and I couldn’t speak anymore.

The only thing left to say is that I somehow made out of the cop hell an example or two under my belt of how Pasolini might have felt after shooting ‘salo’ under my belt.

And there definitely is a lesson I learned from all this. Its not worth the risk just to fuck some four legged bitch. Should have gone for the two legged kind, just like ol’ Malcolm Rodney.

Kerala the Hartal's Own Country

Kerala the Hartal's Own Country

Today December 14^th morning 11.30 in the clock, This writer is sitting before his laptop. He has nothing else to do because this day is a “Hartal” declared by the ruling communist party. Dear reader if you don’t understand what this “hartal” is there is another word “bandh” which was the original one.

When the court banned the bandh as unconstitutional, the term was changed process remaining the same! The reader who is not familiar with the conditions remaining in this country naturally doesn’t understand the word bandh either. It is difficult to find an English word that is equivalent to bandh. Hence a brief description of what is hartal or bandh is given in the following paragraph.

Generally a bandh is declared by a political party in protest of something, a government policy or an event that is objectionable to it. The percentage of paralysis the bandh has inflicted to the nation is considered directly proportional to the success of the bandh! Political parties invariably do a lot of home work to make the strike a success.

Their henchmen are engaged in laying traps all through the roads to take “revenge” on anybody engaged in traveling. Death of two wheeler riders in the early morning of a bandh day is common news. The culprits go scot-free as they are doing a great service to the government by making the strike a success!

When a day is declared as a bandh or hartal, no one except party workers are allowed to go out of their home. Traveling in vehicles is strictly prohibited! Why this sort of cruelty done to general public as they already have sufficient problem? Such a question doesn’t arise as political parties exist on muscle power and it is easy to flex muscles on weaker sections- that is general public.

It is estimated that the loss to Kerala’s economy due to today’s strike seven thousand million rupees. It is also interesting to note that the government employees who absent on such days get their pay as usual. Their absence can be adjusted as eligible leave. The real losers are the laborers who earn daily wages, without any “eligible leaves” who will compensate them? Their families starve to keep the strikes going!

Think of the poor people who are in urgent need of travel in a country where traveling is considered a crime. This “crime” during a bandh day can attract even death penalty; there are a lot of unfortunates who suffer, who are bed ridden for rest of their life as they were engaged in this serious crime of traveling. Who on earth will compensate them? The perpetrators of these crimes continue their jobs as usual.

Production loss to the nation is not counted by the ruling government as “there is no bird fly over political power” and national priority comes not even secondary. The writer of this article had a stroll outside to see how the bandh works! There were a lot pitiable scenes, the foreign tourists who were lured to this country, boasting it as “god’s own one” were wandering without food or even water as no shops were permitted to keep open. The poor people accustomed to cold climates were walking in hot sun with heavy luggage as no vehicles were permitted to ply. Wonderful form of hospitality! The government can really proud of the good things it does to promote the good “celebration” that is the bandh. Good show! Keep it up!

The article could be completed on the next day as the response of the media also had to be included, some of the papers ignored as they had other fish to fry, some of them praised it as a great and unprecedented success.

Only sane voice that could be read was in Malayala Manorama the largest selling news paper. It exhibited a scene from a Chennai street, which was beautiful and as crowded as in any other day (remember Tamilnadu is Kerala’s neighboring state). It’s heading as strike only in three states, sporadic violence in Kerala. Its editorial says “the bandh makes people of Kerala “idiots” once more and bandh violates basic human rights”. This writer thanks Mr. Mammen Varghese (printer and publisher) for his patriotism and courage.

Yes dear Mr. Mammen Kerala is a deep well and the people living here are mere tad poles ruled by grown up frogs. Mere frogs, those are ignorant what is going on outside. Who is the biggest of them all? We (the twice idiots) can only guess!

The “Business Line” highlighted the paralysis, the bandh inflicted to the economy and billions of rupees held up as the strike affected the banking operations. The claim of union leaders -as usual after every strike- “protest a success” was also given by the side. Who gain from paralyzing the economy of one’s own nation is another matter!

The left front claimed the bandh as “great success” and warned the ruling Indian Government of harsher steps if the liberalization policies are not rolled back!

If the steps of protests are to be made harsher, only way remains is to storm in the houses of ordinary people and vandalize it because all other atrocities are liberally practiced in the name of bandh!

Throwing stones at passengers, destroying vehicles and properties, setting traps on the road to kill poor two wheeler riders who travel for a living etc are passe. The “responsible” government can do one more thing. It can create a department under a secretary with some officials and scientists under some IPS officials. The department can be asked to do some serious research on the subject “how to inflict maximum damage to the public on a bandh day”. That department can be named as 'bandh department'!!!

The menace of bandh or hartal can be treated only with such radical steps, as “Ushnam ushnena shanthi” theory in Sanskrit only works. Ushnam = Heat. Ushnena = By heat

Shanthi = vanishes or get amicable. Meaning extreme steps alone settles extreme conditions! Thank You.

Musclemen of Kerala

Musclemen of Kerala

Kerala is also a land of our own our own version of mini mafia. The pocket versions of Arnold rule the roads. They are either uniformed or not. The uniformed lot sporting either Saffron, blue or red shirts wield statutory rights for extortion. The non uniformed ones do not require any license. They are either sponsored or independent. One who is not familiar with the situation of Kerala may wonder “what nonsense all these are”.

In Kerala neo socialism has reached it its feverish pitch. Governments watch the violence committed by the organized “laborers” like a mother who enjoys the mischief of her little children. “The bloody laymen who deserve a thrashing are getting thrashed!” It is none of the duty of the Government to interfere in “labor problems”, is the official stand.

Politicians look upon the organized gangs as their own creation nurture them with legal supports. Every week more and more ordinances are issued by the government to protect and legalise this sort of extortion. The most surprising thing is that most of the high officials like Labor commissioners and even judges-whom people look upon as saviors- subscribe to the rule that these gangs are licensed to torture ordinary people.

After all without these muscle men how a democratic election can be fought? They are unavoidable in leading processions and handling anti party activists. When Compared to them, the laymen are of no political use. First, they do not join the processions, sponsored violence and agitations. Second to whom they vote also is not certain. Things being so why bother about them?

Each political party has its own musclemen. And the party go to any extend to protect their men. Occasionally they get engaged in inter gang wars, when the members of the ruling die the Government machinery wakes up. In other cases it goes as usual.

The word “transfer” itself is enough to terrorize employees of Kerala. A transfer means shifting of the house hold materials to the new location. They are to be loaded in a lorry and carried to the destination and then to be unloaded to the new house.

Here is the catch! Loading of the materials cannot be done by the house owner with the help of his neighbors. This particular job is the monopoly of these musclemen. They have the statutory rights for that. The unloading of these at the destination also is another issue as it is the monopolistic right of the organized gangs prevailing there.

Why it is taken as an issue at all may be the question. The problem is that these gangs get jobs only very rarely. They sit idle in improvised sheds by the road side. They have to heavily charge the unfortunate victim who happens to fall in their net. Doing one hour job should fetch them enough to live for a week.

This peculiar situation has compelled employees to leave their homes in the midnight like thieves. The entry in to the new house also is to be done in the wee hours of the day, without attracting the attention of the gangs which rules that area. Strange after effects of socialism!

These gangs often engage night watchmen to monitor whether any body gets engaged in loading material in a lorry or unloading by themselves. If the poor soul is caught red handed in doing the job he will get beaten black and blue, A real “treat” he will never forget in his life.

While he will be recovering in a hospital, his wife would have to negotiate the hefty compensation which would have to be paid to the gang. A great “crime” he has committed in the context of Kerala.

The attention of readers is invited to the ruling of the Hon. Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Monday, December 1 2006. This news got wide coverage in all local dailies. Some extracts is given below for refernce

“Compulsory exaction of “attimari”(loading and unloading work) and “nokku kooli” (on looking charge)by unions of head load workers, without actually doing any work, has no
Sanction of Law, and it has to be stopped.

Attimari was evolved by head load worker’s unions dehors the Kerala Head Load Woriers’ act. Rules, and the Kerala Head Load Workers (Regulation of Emplyment and Welfare) Scheme by use of their muscle power.”It is high time that the authorities put an end to such practice which is beyond the scope of the Act, Rules and the Scheme.”

The Hon. Court set aside the concurrent orders passed by the District Labor Officer and the Joint Labor Commissioner, Kollam, upholding the right of headload workers represented by CITU and INTUC unions to carry out the loading and unloading work at the District Depot of Kerala Civil Supplies Corporation.

The Hon. Court also stated that the unions have no right to demand that they are exclusively entitled to do the so called “attimari” work and claim wages for it. Attimari work is an artificial creation of certain unions having muscle power to extract money from hapless employers who are unable to resist the might of unions with political clout.

The Judgment also rules out the right of extracting “nokku kooli”, which means that job has to be done by workers engaged by the employers but under the “on looking” of the gang. To this strenuous job of “onlooking” the gangs can demand any sum as per their whims! In short the employers are forced to engage two sets of employees. One for doing work and the other for just a show! Complaining with the police is futile as police is strictly instructed not to interfere, as these are mere labor problems.

The strange thing is that the people of Kerala always react to injustice in every field and social activists with extra ordinary power to get provoked at the slightest signal are mute spectators to such extortions. The so called activists and the general public are all tied in an invisible chain, the iron chain of fear.

Those who strongly react to the American aggression in Iraq, turn a blind eye to the aggression on human rights taking place under their very own nose! Reason is that they are not afraid of the America, but that is not the case with the local politicians and their goons!

Response from readers are welcome.