Vote for Amma instead, if you want to vote for RJ Balaji

When electricity and internet were restored to my house after nearly a week of 'total detachment' from the world, I got the chance to open Facebook. I was surprised and gladdened by so many of my friends whose laudable efforts of volunteering shattered many of my prejudices on them. Even many women were seen active in the flood relief effort and the middle class participation in the Chennai ‘Restoration’ Movement made me revisit many of the myths that shrouded a common man's understanding of them. When one of the lady managers in my office was telling me that she got the approval of her father in-law to travel four kilometers from her house to distribute relief material to the homeless, my hands stretched forward for an involuntary handshake with her.

For how long can the rocks of education, competition, fears of survival, career threats keep the springs of human compassion concealed beneath their smothering heft? All those uneducated brats and uncultured migrant folk of our neighborhood from whom we had warned the ladies of our family to remain guarded against ‘chain-snatching’ or robbery during night time errands to nearby shops, no longer elicited any derision from us. Those many thousands whose encroachments or houses we managed to displace through our 'juggernaut'ish apartment complexes no longer remained on the peripheries of our view-finder. We saw women and children carrying torn mats and overflowing bags, moving out of their water- invaded shanties to some place where no government guided them to. In the absence of electricity and WiFi connectivity, we believed our balconies could relieve us of the bore and our own temporary suffering. But what our balconies showed were nonetheless rare sights that we had seen only in our now defunct televisions- mass human migration. For the internet generation, these unprecedented sights are something to behold and certainly not to be forgotten.

But there was some sights that embarrassed me more. These sights, if you may believe, looked like threatening the hopes that had been built during the last week. The redeeming hopes that every selfish citizen would rise to the occasion on event of an overpowering threat to humanity, began to flicker inside me. Those were nothing but posts in my Facebook Wall that listed 'ministerial' nominations for the next Tamil Nadu elections by some of my Facebook friends. When I saw the names of Sylendra Babu and Arun Krishnamurti, I didn't respond. But when I saw RJ Balaji and Raghava Lawrence and AC Muthiah, I buried my face into my hands.

There is no denying that our present government and the ruling party have been exposed thoroughly in the wake of the calamity. And we thankfully have not still forgotten the misdeeds of the past government. We need an alternative. This is one of the lessons which the floods have taught us. But it is only 'one' of the many lessons.

We must be aware by this time that the floods were not only due to unprecedented rainfall and preparatory weaknesses, but more crucially unplanned urbanisation. What lies at the root of unplanned urbanization are three factors- the advent of multinational (both Indian and foreign) businesses to the city to exploit cheap labour power, the rise of engineering colleges that serve as assembly lines to supply finished human products as raw materials to the former, the rise of big corporate businesses again to exploit the newly created consumer market. Do I sound like a reactionary when I indict these catalysts of development and progress with ‘charges of engineering a man-made disaster’? When progress is misunderstood, reaction becomes noble.

Let me clarify that I am neither a Hindutva right winger who knows nothing more than blind opposition to westernization nor a disillusioned outcast like 'Katradhu Tamil' Prabhakar who would torment a well-dressed call centre employee crossing my street. Let us not forget that these new 'agents' of development did not join Jawaharlal Nehru when he called for private sector participation in national development on the eve of Independence. These agents waited till India took nearly four decades to stand on its own tender feet, and pounced on it as soon as it started to make baby steps. These agents held the government at knife point to stall public sector recruitment, remove all restrictions to start business, choke agriculture so that they can use displaced farmers for their cheap employment from the 1990s. All these were parts of the government’s move so famously called LPG- Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalization.

All governments right from that headed by Narasimha Rao, had instructed state governments to create a business friendly climate in their own states. How friendly is a climate if it wants businesses to study and conduct environment impact assessments on its site, ensure that no part of the neighborhood and the city is affected due to the upcoming industry and proceed only after societal consensus? How friendly is a climate if the lands for the industrial acquisition are owned by traditional agricultural communities who would move only if they are purchased at market rates? How friendly is a climate if cheap lands for business are camouflaged by forests, marshes and natural catchment?

All state governments took cue from the centre, and not without kickbacks from the business, became agents for private business. They acquired agricultural land through force or money, cleared forests and lakes and threw all environmental assessments to the winds to bring about ‘development’. If you may not be aware, there are thousands of cases pending in Indian courts of law for more than a decade that speak of gross environmental neglect by the state - business conglomerate. The Amendment to Land Bill brought by Narendra Modi government was defeated in the Parliament mainly on grounds of massive environmental destruction that it sought to legalise under the name of ‘development’.

Hence, one thing becomes clear. The floods and the massive destruction to life and property due to unrestricted urbanization all seem to be part of a much bigger plan. If some of you might ask am I wholly against urban development solely on account of some unforeseen natural disaster that happens once in a decade, my answer shall be no. If you need clearer answers from me, I want you people to recall one of our university papers that we studied with a unanimous indifference- Environmental Engineering. You may remember the term –‘Sustainable Development’.

"Sustainable Development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”

This is a rough textbook definition of the term but there is more to it to be understood, if you find yourself in favour of it. First of all, sustainable development can be achieved only by means of planning. Planning will achieve its purpose only if there is an active role of the state. This in turn will entail the state relinquishing its role of serving as a ‘agent’ for the business community and assuming the role of an arbiter, one that shall try to reconcile the material needs of the society with the supply side of it, simultaneously harmonizing such development initiatives with the well-being of the environment. In simple words, the state must ensure that the society produces strictly only as much as it needs and not more than that. This kind of planning, by nature will impose barriers on unhindered industrial expansion and environmental exploitation. This was what Nehru envisioned as a ‘Planned Economy’ but it failed due to the apathy of its implementers. But here is the catch. No business community shall favour sustainable development since the concept of ‘Planned Economy’ is anathema to their motives of unrestricted profiteering. “If the state decides what and how much is needed by its people, what are we to do? How can we expand? How can we profit?”

’Development’ and ‘Sustainability’ are reconcilable. But Globalization and ‘Environment’ are not. No political party in India has steadfastly opposed globalization ever since the movement started. Some of you might say that this is why we proposed RJ Balaji and other non political luminaries to head the government. Let me tell you that the virtues of honesty and charity alone do not suffice for a political career. Politics needs knowledge. Knowledge does not mean mere expertise in a particular domain such as what Arun Krishnamurti possesses in environmental welfare. A profound knowledge of India’s history and political economy is what I mean by knowledge for a political aspirant. It was India's most qualified Prime Minister assumed to have an unquestionable personal record who headed the most corrupt government India ever had a couple of years ago. It was an ‘honest’ and harmless scientist with no political perspective who designed Gas chambers for instant extermination of millions of Jews in Hitler’s Germany. If a scientist himself needs such an informed political outlook, what about a responsible people’s representative?

To conclude, let me tell you that there are no quickfixes like RJ Balaji for the problems our society faces right now. To make good politicians, we need not only good citizens. As Silambarasan says in VTV, ‘fortune favours the intelligent’. We, as a democratic society, must exercise our one week-old ‘compassion’ glands towards caring for the society not just through making donations and offering relief material. Following politics, understanding history, making informed debate is crucial for good democratic health. If we are not willing to take all this trouble, you can serve best by abstaining from voting. Still if you want to vote, you can vote for ‘Amma’ again rather than voting for RJ Balaji. There would not be much difference in the long run.

-JEEVA P

The Curious Case of Kamal Haasan

Every time I try to promote Kamal Haasan and sell his legacy to my friends, he gets the signals from somewhere and immediately disowns his deal with me. You must be knowing how embarrassing it must be for a fan who wants to graduate into becoming his disciple forever. It is tantamount to the helpless frustration that Woody Allen faces in Crimes and Misdemeanors when his 'guru' who alone he believed knew the much guarded, occult paths to 'happiness', suddenly commits suicide on account of 'overpowering emptiness' of life.

In Anbe Sivam, Kamal derided an ad film-maker calling him nothing more than a dog that waits on its feet to catch the bone that multi national companies throw at him. Was the insult rendered hastily like a hot headed, intolerant anti-corporate activist who bashes rich people amidst huge crowds so as to win applause and support? If that was the case, we would have forgotten the film. Kamal's case against the rapacious corporate class was irrefutably solid and thoroughly inspiring. Whenever I used to debate with my friends on the evils of corporate hegemony over public resources, I could easily quote from the quintessential Anbe Sivam. Even if my foundations as a left winger were shaken by someone, I would choose to remain 'ideologically unaltered' because Kamal had vindicated my views in Anbe Sivam. Nearly twelve years after the movie's release, when I look at a Kamal cupping his palms to utter 'Abhimaanam' in the Pothys commercial, I check my admiring eyes that drool at his vintage charm, and cover my face with embarrassment at the realisation of how effortlessly he breaks my image of him. Kamal sympathizers may rush to the defence of him stating that it was Nallasivam who spoke those words and not the genius himself. Guys please be honest.Part of our fascination for Kamal comes from the fact that he loves talking himself through his characters and his movies are really 'his' movies. When Govind says 'Kadavul iruntha nalla irukum' to Asin in Dasavatharam, we whistled in theatres only because we realised that, Govind for a split second had assumed the personality of Kamal, the writer, the rebel. To put it more simply, we are all in awe of Kamal's bravura to bring forth contentious views into the conformist pop culture of Tamil cinema.

Kamal was the first one probably in Indian cinema to delve into the workings of militant Hindu organizations that are holding sway in India right now. If you want to introduce someone to Hindutva and fascism, please invite them for a screening of Hey Ram. Not even a man who was part of Nazi resistance movements of the 1940s or a communist hardliner could have depicted the diabolic logical foundations that drive the fascist mills, better than Kamal. When such a man made a statement requesting the writers and intellectuals to be more tolerant towards 'intolerant' men, it was like being slapped on the face by my own hands.

Frankly, when Hindi parallel film makers were returning their awards in protest against intolerance, I expected an immediate voice of support from Kamal. Imagine how such a gesture from a huge matinee idol would have garnered extraordinary attention and given the movement the requisite momentum. But I can forgive Kamal for it since it is unfair to expect your icon to fulfil your wishes every now and then, because he has done it a few times. As my friend Arulmozhivarman said, even if Kamal is not worried about the common man's worsening state of affairs, he could have risen to the occasion to guard his brethren when they are protesting in FTII against the government. 

I read Kamal's statement that we have always been an intolerant society and things haven't worsened during BJP's rule. I don't know whether he realises that the intolerance lurking inside the society's consciousness for quite so long is consistently being kindled by none other than the State itself and more explicitly than ever before. And anyone who raises a finger against Modi is branded by the government as being anti national or a Pakistani. I recently read reports of a documentary film maker who lives in hiding ever since BJP came to power. According to the report, the police had been fabricating false charges on him because his documentaries focus on the pathetic state of Dalit villagers and their difficulties. The funds of NGOs that support the movements of tribals and poor against corporate invasion have been frozen and one such organization has been accused on charges of sedition. If this is not intolerance, what is it?

I could have forgiven Kamal had he wished not to comment on these happenings and entangle himself in a controversy in an environment that is waiting to pounce on his failings. But he decided to take a stand and he shocked me by defending his own ideological enemies. May be he doesn't want people to rally around him. He doesn't want to have fans as he said before. He may be afraid he would be idolised someday. We make Gods out of mortals and he is probably aware of it. He doesn't believe in God and doesn't want to be one. And this is how we console ourselves by finding excuses to remain loyal to our icons. And this is how we remain fans and fools, perhaps.

-Jeeva P

The 'State' of Cinema

It was not a planned series. In The Name of The Father (1993), A Short film About Killing (1988), Court (2015). Each film belonged to three different countries that had very different political climates. The first one that belonged to Britain was a tragic tale of a family that gets falsely implicated in a terrorist conspiracy. The second one is a Polish film that merely observes (and not discusses) the ethical dimensions of two separate murders. The third one is a Marathi film (I am not calling it an Indian film) that follows the distinct lives of three different people who are forced to interact with one another dictated by the exigent political circumstances. Going by my very superficial descriptions of each film, it might be hard to discern why I am trying to group these unrelated movies together. All these films have an unmissable connection- they speak about the coercive power of the State.

‘In The Name of The Father’ is set in the 1970s where Britain is ruthlessly smothering the militant elements of a rebelling Ireland in order to retain its imperial control over it. Gerry Conlon, an innocent Irishman is arrested for being in the vicinity of an IRA bombing in London and coerced to accept responsibility for it. If anything, it was the oppressive British imperial machinery that sowed their seeds for the formation of the Irish Republican Army by exploiting the Irish people and resources for its own benefit. Conlon is threatened by the investigating officer that his father will be shot if he does not confess. He succumbs to the pressure and is incarcerated only to find that his entire family is facing similar circumstances under charges of sedition. Every scene of interrogation is compellingly staged and I could not avoid myself stepping into Conlon’s shoes and guessing how I would be responding to the tortures and intimidations by the officers-in-charge. For some moments I was confused whether Conlon is under the custody of the State or inside the walls of a terrorist organization and facing third degree treatment for spying them. 

‘A Short Film About Killing’ is a 1990 movie set in Poland and follows the life of a young aimless thief. The thief performs a cold blooded killing of an innocent taxi driver to appropriate his car and soon is arrested by the law. The film cuts to the time when he is held guilty by the court and is condemned to capital punishment. The execution of the convicted is shown in fine detail in such a way that the State sponsored murder looks no less cold blooded than the crime of the murderer.

Court is set in Maharashtra and begins tracing the life of a Dalit activist who fights for better living conditions and rights for the downtrodden. He is arrested a lot of times in the film under ludicrous charges by the State in order to muzzle his propaganda and dissent.

Going back in time, we learn that a few centuries ago, kings had lions and wolves reared inside their palaces and fed criminals to them in the name of dispensing justice. That was a time when man had not yet grown out of his barbarian instinct. Slavery was widespread and inhuman conditions of 15 hour work-day were prevalent then. Some centuries later, man grew and began to realize the importance of democratically elected governments even if voting was restricted only to a privileged few. It was some progressive step towards legitimizing the power of the ruling class. Soon, through wars and revolutions, man recognized the equality of the many human races and introduced universal adult franchise. Punishments became less barbaric and electric chairs were invented to administer death immediately to the convict without physical pain. In every stage of human development, from the time of kings to dictators to Presidents, the coercive power of the State was weakened through deliberation and consensus. This was not only due to growing belief in the self-regulating nature of a civilized human society but also due to the realization of the true character that a State needs to possess. The State or the Ruler, according to Buddhist canon is supposedly a servant of the masses whose only job is to govern, just like the job of the weaver is to weave. He does not own any special privileges or powers distinct from that of others. He cannot bend the State to his whim or fancy and derive benefit out of it. By the nature of his role being subordinate to the will of the masses, he does not have a higher or any kind of Divine status and is not entitled to commit an act that others are forbidden to do. Similarly, I believe that the contemporary State which is built by a liberal, civilized and scientific society cannot own the right to kill a human life when such an act, when performed by a powerless citizen under any pressing circumstance is deemed to be an unforgivable crime.

However my argument here is not restricted to the powers that the State must be bestowed with, in an ideal society. Barring the Polish example I have described here, the other two are cases of a State that is corrupt and morally bankrupt. In both instances, especially the first one, on detailed examination it is revealed that the colonizing State is in service of the local private enterprise without which the colonial ambitions of the government are inexplicable. With respect to the Indian example, the activist’s voice is directed against the State that feeds on the poor egged on by the local corporate elite. To make my point more explicit, what moral right does such a corrupt government have to punish its citizen even if he is guilty?

I am reminded of a terrific scene in Kurudhipunal when Kamal Haasan playing an upright cop lectures the terrorist Nasser on non-violence and legally sanctioned methods of serving the society.

Kamal : ‘Enna irunthaalum Thupaaki edukradhu thappu’

Nasser: ‘Aprom nee edhuku thupaaki vechirka?’

Guest Column- Two Minute Reviews: Kuttram Kadithal (2015)

Kuttram Kadithal is another gem added to the crown of Tamil cinema. The film explores the diverse lifestyles of people and how one incident influences their life forms the crux of the story.

What happens when a newly married teacher (Radhika Prasidhha), loses her cool on the first day of her job which subsequently sends a young student(Master Ajay) to coma? That's what Kuttram Kadithal is all about as it deals with the complications of human emotions. The plot is fairly uncomplicated, but it's the way this movie has been treated that makes for an intriguing watch.

The movie starts off with its own pace taking time with the introduction of each character and their lifestyle. When the unexpected happens, here is where the movie picks up followed by the sudden turnover of the events, the realisation and the climax. The director has neatly handled the principles of filmmaking after thorough research on how the characters need to be introduced, established and utilized. Screenplay is fairly simple and engaging. Dialogues needs a special mention. They hit you hard, makes you think about the society we live in.

Among the actors, Radhika and master Ajay take away the accolades. Radhika's anger towards the child on his actions, her realisation and repentance are portrayed beautifully. The scene where Radhika bursts out to the child’s mother tells you how the heaviness of her guilt and Radhika aces it. Master Ajay has done the role of an adolescent kid very well and makes us feel for him. Other characters those including Pavel Navageethan of ‘Madras’ fame, the school correspondent and his wife need a special mention as they travel throughout the film supporting the lead characters with their skilful acting.

The film is supported by  engaging background music. The second half could have been trimmed a little so that the movie would have been crispier by delivering the message earlier than it does. Barring this, the movie is a near perfect one with its message on sex education where still we are in learning stage, the way of children treated in school. Few nuances of the director were particularly brilliant including the cover stuck onto heroine's leg, references to communism, Koothu-p-pattarai scenes and the lorry driver conversation which show the depth of how the director has analysed each and every action of human beings.

To sum it up, Kuttram Kadithal is yet another brilliant movie that shows the talent that Tamil cinema is pregnant with. It makes you think with its subtle yet impactful message.

 - Tiruchendurai Chandrasekar 

I wanted to be a Teacher

'Jeeva what do you want to become in future?'

'I want to be a teacher da'

This was me when I was not older than 5. I studied in MCTM school, Mylapore where a child belonging to a middle class family like me would be hard to find out. My father reportedly was chastised by his colleagues for enrolling me in such a 'costly school'. I still remember the aura I enjoyed in my neighbourhood of being the only child who studied in such an English medium school and who could give out the correct spelling for any English word even longer than 7 letters. Trust me, for all the money my dad shelled out towards educating me and for compulsorily 'donating' towards school improvement, I was reared to be a bright student, a consistent first-ranker in the class and most importantly, disciplined and well-mannered according to my neighbouring aunties and uncles.

I had 'teachers' in every sense of the word, the ones whom I assumed knew 'everything', those who could never make grammatical errors while speaking and as I fancied during my childhood who could never give in to temptations of love or marriage and floated around as 'saints' in civilian outfits. I fondly remember me covering my wide-opened mouth when one of my friends revealed that our Miss had a bulged belly because she had a baby inside. On another occasion, when I asked my Maths Miss what do they call a female stallion, she replied that she does not know because she was a Maths teacher. I ran up back to my friends to reveal to them 'Dei Miss ke theriaadhaam da'(Even the Miss does not know it!!).We used to laugh out loud whenever our teachers lecturing in English suddenly break in to Tamil and make references to Rajnikant or Kushboo to lighten the grimness in the class.

Alright, let me stop and ask myself as to why I wanted to be a teacher.

Possibly because I wanted to scribble an additional star in the answer sheet of one of my eager students and send him back to his place with pride displayed through a smile of gratification. I wanted to add one mark for the 6th two mark question and 8th five mark question and cheer up a teary-eyed failed student so that he clears the paper. I wanted to be like my Poonguzhali miss who would caress my head with her left hand whenever she was in a good mood, sitting upon my writing desk and lecturing students. I wanted to enter a class in the fifth period of a day when children are bracing themselves for another grueling class of mathematics and declare it a ‘free period’ inviting them to the middle of the classroom encouraging them to narrate stories or sing carnatic songs. I wanted to emulate my perennially serious Sasikala Miss, who once furiously summoned me to the black board when I had slapped a girl on a case of a missing pen cap and who suddenly broke into laughter looking at my watered eyes that were anticipating at least an hour of kneeling down outside the class. I wanted to save my children like the same Sasikala Miss from the preying eyes of a nosy headmistress who wanted to know why were the children standing on the bench, attributing them with false, trivial charges.

As I grew up and changed school, predictably all sheen on the surface was fast getting eroded and teachers no longer captivated my imagination. In plus two, I remember reading the name 'simbu' on the board and when I asked my Miss what was Simbu doing in a trigonometry class, she replied 'Don't know maths-ah? sin bx that is'. Only one of my eight teachers could speak tolerable English and only two of them could make me understand what they were trying to say. But there were other remarkable changes and my hypothesis of ‘an empty teacher makes more noise’ held good till I completed college.

On the first day of my college, I resolved in front of my dad that I would end up being a gold medalist in Electrical Engineering. I cannot suppress a chuckle when I think about it now. But let me assure you that it was a sincere resolve as steely as my dad who saved every one of the two rupees he earned, towards my college education, without opting for a loan that would remain tied to me even after I enter employment. I was not impervious then to science and engineering as I am today, and to an extent, some subjects were really interesting. My Microprocessor Sir had a voice that could hardly leave his mouth and cross the dais where he stood; my Transmission and Distribution Sir resembled a Reverend whose head was programmed not to look beyond the book he held in his hand and who kept on reading it to us verbatim like verses from the Holy Bible; many teachers had horrible handwriting especially when they worked out derivations on the board; many teachers kept secrets of engineering to themselves except those that would feature in the exams.

This is not to say that these teachers solely wrecked my supremely built and superbly engineered ship that was cruising towards my medal winning ambitions. I was partly responsible for my apathy towards engineering and I confess I am guilty. In my third year, in Data Structures and Algorithms paper, I was thanking God for getting me through with the coveted 36. My dad on the other hand couldn't understand how I could win a gold medal with a total of 56 out of 100 in one of the papers.

'Why so low marks? I pay the highest fees than any other parent in Tamil Nadu for your education. Don't you listen properly to your classes?'

I did not have an answer. Why was I scoring low? How will I propose to my classmate in the final year if I fail one of my exams and don't get a job? Is it because I was not listening to my classes properly? In a moment of stirring epiphany, I realized suddenly that I had stopped listening to classes ever since Vajpayee was voted out of power.

I recently happened to see one of my college lecturers in the local train sitting across me, whose name and the subject he had handled I could not gather from my memory. I instinctively wanted to introduce myself and inform him that I work at a software company. But I checked myself. I no longer had respect for teachers.

I am suddenly reminded of a random incident that happened a couple of years ago. We visited one of our old neighbors’ and the mistress of the house was a teacher working at an expensive private school for more than twenty years.

My dad in the course of a conversation, I could not divine why he asked that, “How much are you paid in the school?”

The old woman twisted her lips and after a pause.

”They pay well. Not a problem for us”

My dad should have understood and dropped the subject right away.

“Why don’t you tell us? I really want to know”

She concealed her irritation and spoke out

“Three thousand rupees a month”

How India could end up being Latin America?

The Europeans were advanced than other races in terms of science and technology. They invented electricity, machinery and revolutionized the hitherto manual processes of production. The Industrial Revolution of 1848 was no less a watershed in the evolution of mankind towards progress and civilization. So all these days, I was assured that all the wealth and pomp by which Europe dazzled the rest of the world was a result of an extraordinarily ‘European’ scientific temper combined with a commitment to unrivalled hard work. But how much weight does my assumption hold now that I have been exposed to the revelatory disquisition named ‘Open Veins of Latin America’(1971) written by Eduardo Galeano.

The POTOSI model:

Galeano’s work lingers for quite a long time on a city named Potosi that belongs to Bolivia. The city reportedly had a mountain which was discovered by Spanish travelers in the 1500s to have one of the largest deposits of silver the world had ever seen. It was estimated that the city had silver reserves to last for more than five centuries. The city till then was a land of tribal inhabitants who were making livelihoods perfectly in harmony with nature and its infinite wealth. Spanish mining enterprises landed on the area and raced against time to devour what Nature had denied them in their homeland. The local population was coerced to mine the silver for them with the help of local tribal heads who had no qualms in accepting monthly pittances out of the humongous Spanish earnings. Those who opposed the sudden Spanish hegemony were fortunately shown their places in heaven and those who complied were condemned to work for more than 14 hours a day without holidays. Needless to say, they were paid below subsistence wages and the jaws of exploitation had managed to pierce into the flesh of each native so deeply that no man could cross the age of 35 in his lifetime. Meanwhile Spanish silver enchanted Europe throughout and the Spanish companies with their legislators were reveling in their intoxication of unprecedented wealth. Hotels, palaces and clubs sprang everywhere in Potosi within a decade and even they could not offer them enough chances to squander their wealth that was burgeoning in their hands to monstrous proportions.

Potosi exhausted almost 70 percent of its reserves in another century while Spain’s GDP doubled and trebled during that time. Potosi was reporting an alarming decrease in the population as, on the one hand, overworked men were working themselves to death on a slow daily basis. On the other hand, mothers were killing their infants and destroying their unborn children in their wombs with thousands of men committing suicide. As the local population dwindled, the Spanish began to exploit the Latin American slave market and transported people from nearby territories to work in the mines. Spain employed missionaries to assure and pacify the workers with stories that linked all their troubles in their present life to the sins they had committed in their previous births.

By the end of 16^th century, the Potosi party was over as the quality of available silver declined steadily and the Spanish by then had accumulated enough to party at a different location thereon.

The colonial structure of exploitation:   

I would like to add that the POTOSI chronicle was not an isolated incident without any significance in the whole history of Latin America that could be brushed under the carpet. The POTOSI model was a grand success and thankfully for the Europeans, Latin America had more to offer other than silver. Gold, copper, tin, bauxite, etc. were in abundant proportions at various places throughout the continent and a replication of the POTOSI model was no less tempting. Millions of native Americans were either exterminated on account of their defiance to their new ‘Masters’ through sophisticated methods of mass destruction. The colonial enterprises applied the same labor models and sometimes more cruel forms to achieve their ends. Galeano mentions multiple instances of the company supplying each employee with a stimulating drug to prolong his duration of effective work every day. The cost of the drug was deducted from his already meager wages, as a substantial number of years was fast being eroded from his lifespan.

Along with Spain, England, France, Portugal and Germany split the huge Latin American continent among themselves and by the end of the 17^th century no mineral was left unearthed. The minerals produced through freely acquired mines with cheap labor were processed into finished articles that were sold at extravagant prices to various markets of the world including those of Latin America. These colonial enterprises funded their national military campaigns and no war that took place during these periods was fought without the objective to multiply the earnings of these enterprises.

The exploitation did not end with the exhaustion of mineral wealth as Latin America boasted of one of the most fertile soils in the world. Millions of hectares of land were acquired by driving out or exterminating the inhabitants for planting tobacco, sugarcane, bananas, etc. Indiscriminate cultivation of cash crops for a prolonged period of time drained soil fertility and rendered the land uncultivable within a few decades. The sugarcane enterprises formed cartels to maintain worldwide sugar prices high all the time. Whenever there was an internal uprising in the plantations, the armies would be called for and local taxes would be raised to finance the concomitant military expenditure after ruthlessly smothering the uprising. Galeano narrates chilling stories of rebel leaders being tied to four horses at the same time and each one pulling the leader’s body in a different direction as one of the forms of punishment.

The colonial model was simple- cheap labor closely resembling slavery, free raw materials from the colonies to be processed at Europe, finished products sold at high prices, heavy taxation in the colonies to maintain huge, ruthless armies and pliant local governmental heads.

Galeano provides startling statistics to establish his argument that the entire Industrial Revolution that Europe is so proud of orchestrating was totally financed by its Latin American colonies.

Bye Europe, Welcome US :

After describing more than four centuries of pillage of the continent by European powers, Galeano reserves the last hundred pages to how US succeeded its Western neighbours. The United States by the middle of the nineteenth century had grown up to become an independent industrial power and could not help bowing to the demands of its rapacious business community for further market expansion. The United States allowed its concerns to expand to Latin America as Europe was slowly losing its hold on the continent.

Galeano provides accounts of how American coffee companies fixed global prices for coffee cultivated in Latin American plantations and how coffee rewrote histories of Latin American politics. Rubber, tea, oil, fruit, etc. were added to the list of commodities that Latin America could churn out from within itself for global consumption. US organized and funded military coups in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Uruguay and other countries whenever these countries tried to nationalize their natural resources. Defiant national presidents were either arrested or killed and whenever a democratically elected government threatened to dismantle the existing structures of exploitation, the US rushed with its money and arms to dismantle the government itself.

As years passed, the US sought trade agreements among Latin American countries to secure and perpetuate the balance of trade that was tilted strongly in favor of the former. The trade agreements wanted Latin American governments to remove custom duties for imported foreign goods.  Most of the governments complied with these trade agreements and opened the floodgates to allow the deluge of imported products into Latin American markets. To finance these imports, the governments needed dollars and international institutions like IMF and World Bank rushed to the aid of them. These institutions gave huge dollar loans with more instructions to the government on how to run the economy. Most of the governmental spending was channeled towards repayment of its loans and to finance its imports. The government was therefore deprived of any means of spending towards national health and education.

The FDI model:

Galeano offers valuable insights into the functioning of the Latin American neocolonial economy. The Foreign Direct Investment model that originated in Latin America gives rise to an industry that works as follows. The foreign capitalist gets loans from the local national bank to finance his machinery and equipment, gets free or cheap land from the government for setting up the factory, hires the local cheap labor and legally bars him from forming trade unions, reduces wages or fires him at his whim, obtains cheap raw material from local natural resources for processing, makes finished products and sells at extravagant costs back to the local market, repatriates his profits to his homeland with legally sanctioned tax exemption and intensifies mechanization of his industry to reduce the labor requirement.

Subsistence wages to the employed workforce nullified its purchasing power and increased mechanization led to only a miniscule percentage of the population getting jobs. This underemployment ensured that the wages were kept perpetually low due to an expanding labor market. Galeano adds that Latin America allows more than five times the sum of the incoming FDI to return to the countries of its investors. What does Foreign Direct ‘Investment’ mean when all that happens actually is a virtual drain of local available wealth? Another chilling statistic Galeano offers is that out of every 100 rupees of FDI that is claimed to have been obtained, only 12 rupees arrives from the investor country(US most of the time) and the rest is covered through local bank loans and profits derived from pre-existing local business.

Conclusion-Is India listening?

Galeano’s book was published in 1971 and many changes have happened in the continent ever since. There have been rebellions and wars and repressions whenever the continent has tried to show signs of life against the overpowering neo-colonial hegemony. Even after securing political independence from Europeans, economic independence remains elusive and hence the continent continues to remain underdeveloped solely to develop its masters.

Almost every international private enterprise you would have come across is indicted with incontrovertible evidence by Galeano to have made wealth only through either frivolous means or by pursuing even more ruthless methods of exploitation in Latin America. Standard Oil, Citibank, United Fruit Company, Shell, Siemens, German Volkswagen and the list is endless.

“We shall never be happy, never… Never” were the words of Simon Bolivar, a Venezuelan revolutionary who was poisoned by his traitors. A land that is blessed by nature shall be cursed by history. This is what happened to Latin America, Africa and needless to say, to even us.

I took two months to finish this book and by the time I did, I could no longer believe that the world is unequal only because God willed it to be so. I recently read in an essay that only the ways of application of science and technology to methods of warfare distinguishes the colonizer and colonized. Did Europe and US create wealth on their own to attain financial supremacy that the rest of the world ended up queuing behind them for alms? Certainly not. Science and technology is assumed to help man so as to create better ways of sustenance and improve his quality of life. Even now it is widely believed that science shall play an important role in the development of human civilization by bringing economic prosperity to everyone. But what did science end up doing? The scientifically sound Europeans had superior means of destruction at their disposal and to put it simply, only military superiority favored the whites to colonize the rest of the planet. As time passed, by the 20^th century, when Philosophy and new economic theories had evolved and had taken societies to a higher intellectual plane as a sign of remarkable human progress, it is fair to expect the world to have shunned at least some of its barbarous predatory instincts. But had the world become a better place to live by then? The United Fruit Company of the US organized the Great banana massacre on 2000 Colombian workers who demanded basic rights of eight hour work days and six-day work weeks in 1928. The US backed Pinochet Government of Chile organized purges to eliminate thousands of dissenters who demanded asset nationalization and worker rights. Almost every country of the continent had its share of US backed military coups and dictatorships that left thousands of people getting killed or arrested and tortured without trial, only for the crime of questioning the existing system. Science continued to serve only the evil.

When elders during conversations begin to talk about the past, I used to either frown to silence them or question the significance of listening to the past. The Latin American past narrated by Galeano is not only important but indispensably crucial if we are interested in knowing our own future. We know we are slowly embracing a highly liberalized global market economy before the embrace is returned, let us remind ourselves of the Dhritarashtra myth.

 - JEEVA P

How a Savage became a Citizen?

The below article is my attempt at understanding human history of civilization through the writings of Friedrich Engels' The Origin of Family, Private Property and the State. Engels in his theory links the creation of family to the origin of private property which ultimately birthed the state.

Engels begins his narrative from the phase of human history which he calls by the name 'Age of Savagery'. The age is characterised by the classification of human societies as 'tribes' which ultimately formed its smallest social unit. People had not yet learned to split themselves into the present day social units called 'families'.There had not yet been any kind of political divisions such as provinces or nationalities since there was no concept of even a 'governing state' as yet. This eventually meant that there was no king or an associated police force or an army and hence no need for taxation that shall support the state apparatus.

People heavily depended upon hunting for subsistence and whatever came out of it was shared equally among the tribe. People occupied their inhabiting lands as a whole tribe and since there was no further subdivision of the society there was no need to split and distribute land for individual or family possession.

The mother-right:

This kind of primitive society allowed people to mate among themselves and there had not yet been any restriction on part of the individual when it came to choosing sexual partners. People mated freely with their siblings, uncles or aunts and even with sons or daughters. As time progressed, there was need for some kind of restriction due to various reasons and tribes decided to prohibit people from engaging in what we call now as 'incest'. A tribe was eventually split into a 'gen'. This subdivision forced women to marry/mate with any men but not with those belonging to their own gens. Hence there was officially allowed polygamy in place even after restrictions had been imposed within the tribe.

At various places in the book, Engels tries to find out the point from where the tribe begins to get rid of polygamy and move towards monogamy. There is a Greek legend which speaks about the story of a son slaying his mother who killed his father since he had objected to her mating with another man. Engels posits that 'jealousy' on part of the male which ultimately led to killings and destruction would have forced the tribe to implement a new form of marriage which goes by the name 'group marriage'.

According to this custom, a group of men belonging to a gens within a tribe shall enjoy conjugal association with a specific group of women belonging to another gens. From this point onwards, the communal property which had so far been accumulated by the tribe and belonging to them as a whole, began to be split among its subdivisions- gens. In other words, with relation to property each gens had become a separate 'tribe'. This necessitated the development of new regulations with respect of dividing property among the gens. The regulations were strongly in favour of the mother lineage or mother-right which meant that on the death of the mother, the property belonging to the mother's gens will remain within the gens and will not be enjoyed by her husband since he belongs to the other gens. This phase of human development is of tremendous importance since this marks the beginning of division of property which was hitherto common to the whole tribe and hence indivisible.

During these times women were equally involved with men with respect to occupation and even after the emergence of agriculture, men could not deprive women of their position in the society.

Primitive democracy:

The tribe or the aggregation of gens had a 'council' that did not allow unrestricted power to any individual especially in times of peace. The military commander could issue orders only when they had to fight and could be deposed by the council if people unanimously voted him out. All decisions were reached democratically and no individual's opinion had a higher precedence over that of others.

It is to be noted that wars were fought only as a result of personal enmity that could have been triggered by say, an abduction of a woman from a tribe by another, etc. These wars were not fought over material possessions most of the time which is a way of saying that there was no need of plunder since most of the tribes were economically self-sufficient. They produced through agriculture or hunting whatever they needed and consumed it themselves. Since wars were far and few, there was no need for the masses to rally behind a single individual who would promise them safety to ensure their survival. When an individual was hurt, the tribe as a single unit felt that it was their duty to avenge it and this ensured wholesome participation in their assault. In other words, it was 'all for one and one for all'.

Monogamy and the rise of 'family':

As time progressed, man was becoming a 'barbarian' from being a 'savage' as Engels puts it. This phase of human development had already witnessed the splitting of tribes into numerous gens each of which had already graduated into becoming a separate tribe. As you may have already noted, this division was created owing to restrictions in marriage. By this time among various tribes in different parts of the world, there were newer rules that prohibited free marriages significant among them being 'the sibling nature of nephew/niece'. None could marry their nephew or niece or cousins which in course of time led to some inchoate set of prescriptions as to who should marry whom. Some groups of gens described themselves as a 'phratry' which means 'brother gens'. Hence marriage was not possible within the phratry even if one was to marry someone belonging to another gens of the phratry, since it was tantamount to marrying his/her own sibling. These restrictive practices slowly eliminated group marriages and with it the practice of polygamy. Please note that the concept of phratry and elimination of polygamy were not born together and that the latter was a result of passing of many generations of such restrictive practices in marriage.

It is to be noted that the emergence of phratries had brought with them newer restrictions with respect to property relations.

The elimination of polygamy slowly gave rise to monogamy which prohibited adultery on the parts of both male and female. Thus monogamy further split the hitherto smallest social division of gens into an even smaller unit- the 'family'. The man, his wife and children composed of a family and hence the property relations were radically altered during this phase. People who had hitherto accumulated property for their tribe or gens began to do the same for their families.

One remarkable event that probably coincided with the advent of 'family' was the division of labor among societies. In earlier societies there were not many occupations that a tribe had to engage themselves in, for the sake of subsistence. They hunted game, gathered fruit and sometimes involved themselves in horticulture. This did not require a diverse set of skills and each member of the tribe were able to manage all of them seamlessly. Man slowly learned to rear cattle for wool, meat and milk which was an entirely different occupation from hunting which meant immediate killing of an animal for immediate consumption. Man also learned fishing and even mining of metals to improve his agriculture and other household activities. Hence human intelligence led to development of science which expanded man's avenues to diversify his means of subsistence. A single individual obviously cannot master all these occupations since each occupation required a specific set of skills that need to be cultivated in him right from his childhood.

The atomization of society into smaller units of families came in handy at this moment as each family decided to pursue one among different occupations. Since there was no diversified occupation hitherto, men had been producing whatever they needed and consumed it themselves. But this was going to be no longer possible as each family slowly identified themselves with a specific occupation. The herder family needed cereal for their consumption and had to 'buy' it from the farmer. The miner needed milk and meat and had to purchase it from the herder. This was the beginning of the concept called 'exchange' which was hitherto immaterial and hence non-existent.

The exchange, as many of us would know was achieved through barter system. Something that needs special notice here is the fact that man till then had not produced more than what he needed. Since the emergence of diversified occupation, man began to produce more than what was needed, probably because he did not know how much was needed by the market. This led to surplus production for the first time in human history.

Since man needed someone to enable him to gauge the demand of the market, a new class of people called merchants was created. Before we go into mercantilism, we will check how the property relations had been altered ever since 'family' took the place of gens.

Private Property:

The emergence of family subsequently altered the rules of inheritance which allowed man to accumulate property and pass it on to his wife and children for the forthcoming generations. Property which was hitherto communal belonging to none but the tribe as a whole, began to be split leading to the emergence of 'Private Property'. This engendered what we call individual pursuit of prosperity. Man who was hitherto concerned about every individual in his tribe was slowly concerned only about his family. The well-being of society came secondary to him or sometimes as a superfluous concern when all that was paramount to him was his family's welfare. He no longer was worried about exploiting others to sustain himself. With such a diversified society, each family owning a means of production began to find ways to accumulate more wealth by exploiting the other families. The crudest form of such exploitation was slavery where the owners of surplus production needed slaves to accumulate more wealth. Such families had more than what they needed and were able to purchase slaves to expand their fortunes. Engels makes a point here that the word familus which gave rise to the word family, means a group of slaves whose head was their master along with his wife and children.

By this time, the class of merchants who had been created merely to bring the producer and consumer together began to assume more power over the processes of production. For the first time in human history, someone other than the producer of a commodity and the consumer of it, determined the way how the commodities must be produced. By then, the military commanders of the tribal days began to wield more power than they had hitherto since the class of merchants and producers, each class in pursuit of more markets for their products, had rallied behind him goading him to engage in war and conquer more territories. More territories meant more markets for the producers and merchants and hence more profits. The commander was well taken care of by them along with his retinue. The difficulties associated with barter were beginning to be felt which gave rise to a new concept called money. For the first time in human history, something other than a commodity that could be of some use in daily activity began to assume more value than others. A bunch of useless coins was soon bestowed with more value than a sackful of grain.

The emergence of money as a means of exchange allowed merchants to hoard commodities to generate demand thereby increasing their prices. Engels calls this phase where money was invented as the beginning of 'civilization'.

The State:

When merchants through speculative trading and landlords through surplus production by the labor of slaves, accumulated money, for the first time a highly disturbing and unprecedented 'contradiction' was beginning to be felt within the society. This was nothing but a feeling that for the first time people realized that in spite of being directly involved in production they were no longer able to access what they produced. When man was a barbarian, he labored hard and secured his means of subsistence and all the fruits of his labor was consumed by himself. But now, the more he labored the more his master accumulated while his wage or payment remained unchanged.

This realization among the masses manifested itself leading to slave conflicts and uprisings. The master did not have any forces at his disposal to suppress the uprisings and had to apply to his beneficiary, the military commander who had already become the king. The king realized that these conflicts were inevitable and systemic and his authority felt the need to create a state owned armed force to keep these elements in check. To maintain these forces the king, who had already been showered with lands and money by his merchants, needed funds. Taxes were brought into vogue which demanded a specific percentage of money from all that was produced, the majority of which had to be paid by the consumer who was part of the laboring class. The armed force will not only take care of any internal class conflict but also assist the mercantile class to expand its market by waging wars. The people were concerned about a sudden eventuality of an alien country invading them for plunder. This fear made them trust the state and its armed forces to ensure their security. In other words, the laboring class had to pay from its own pocket to support the apparatus that will keep itself in check.

This was the origin of state which was nothing but a higher power above the exploited and the exploiter to ensure that the status quo was maintained.

Aftermath and Conclusion:

As everyone would be aware, the state which was birthed by the interests of private capital needed legitimacy in the eyes of the people, which it believed could be achieved through universal suffrage. The primitive democracy of savagery which valued the interest of every individual equally, had withered with the beginning of human civilization. Men backed by private capital rose to the positions of contesting elections and people had to choose the less pernicious among them as their representative. The decimation of mother right and the emergence of father right, as a result of the monogamous family, showed women their places in their kitchen and empowered the financially independent man to subjugate his woman.

As we have seen so far, as long as man was in groups, he needed no money, no state to protect his interest since there was no need to depend upon someone else to ensure his subsistence. The origin of mercantile class with the displacement of barter by money system engendered speculative practices which took away the means of control of production from the producer and the consumer. This resulted in the consumer remaining oblivious to the dynamics of market forces which were every moment controlling the prices of commodities that he needed, ultimately holding his subsistence at its will.

As I wish to conclude, I would like to acknowledge the arbitrariness of whatever that is stated in this essay. The book by Engels, whose review is what I attempted to produce, is nothing more than Engels’ own interpretation of human history. I could find many gaps in its chronicling the history of civilization which I have to an extent filled through my own knowledge obtained from various other sources. Anyone who may wish to contest my postulates may write to me to which I would gladly revert.

 - JEEVA P

The Elixir of Life

       ‘And then it occurred! A pair of silver drops, one in each eye with a timid stealth came out as if to check whether her hands are going to decimate them by wiping it off. But this time it looked like they too are waiting to adore the beauty of their dancing. And as if those two drops had understood this and given the cue for their safety, within few moments, the other drops gushed out with glee to stage their flow and it was one colossal cascade from then on!!’

In case you are still wondering what I'm trying so desperately to describe, I guess, I've ultimately failed in trying to step into the shoes of a poet and poetize the most common phenomenon in the most uncommon way. Having said that, I do also know that this is the zenith of my ‘being poet phase’ and hence I’m going to deliberately ignore my failure and continue with the writing.

Human Tears! Arguably, one of the most distinct flavours of human emotions. And if you have already prejudiced like I'm going to give that one so called formula to live our life in eternal bliss devoid of tears like one of those mystical gurus in a prime time soap opera in our television, all I'm going to say is, please stand corrected!! (I stole the last three words from my Associate Dean, wondering how funny it was when it came out of his mouth). I’ll never stop you from crying. In fact I’m encouraging you to cry as much as you want. And this is what I'm going to ramble about in the next few stanzas.

Tears are one of the most aesthetic and sacred part of human emotions. Probably why, a wise man once said, ‘There must be something strangely sacred in salt. It is in our tears and in the sea’. It is one of those rarest assets to accompany us during the ying and yang of our human expressions - the saddest and the happiest occasions of our life. Every drop of them will have some stories to brag about, stories unheard and stories lost in time, be it the dreams aspired and achieved, the dreams shattered and lost, the people lost, the people united, the things sacrificed, the things yearned for and millions of other such unexpressed but deeply felt emotions. True tears often speak for the longed and venerated things in one’s life. Sometimes, they do speak for the compassion towards other co-existing creations of Nature. I still remember my mom crying for many things related to me. During my eleventh grade, I bunked my tuitions and went to movies. When my parents came to know about this, my father, as usual the gentleman he is, just said if you really feel like going for the movie either do it after the tuitions or better stop your tuitions totally and then watch by letting us know that you are actually going to a movie. On the other hand, my mom didn't say even one single word. Instead she started crying, crying and crying which was too hard for me to take. Finally, when she ended the ritual and the moment lightened a bit, I asked her, of course with anger, why are you crying for all the stupidest and mundane things on earth. Her face reddened and she shouted back, how dare you. You don’t have any right to stop me from crying for my son. I started laughing, probably one of the most stupid thing to do then. But thank god, it worked in my favour and she too broke into laughter. One other instance was the death of my pet dog before two years. Only the time that passed with me knows how long my eyes misted for that. It might look a bit weird for a twenty four year old to cry for his lost dog. People, including my parents, thought that I was so compassionate about the dog that I couldn't bear the loss. But when I look back at it now, more than the loss, it was my inability to do anything about it which agitated me more and maybe those inexpressible emotions vented out in the form of tears. Those were the moments, I guess, I realized that people’s tears are reserved only for their most prized possessions in life. After that, I stopped saying people not to cry. 

Our life is never going to be one ‘happily ever after’ ending fairy tale. And even if it is going to be one, we will need all those conglomeration of emotions to realize the eternal bliss which is going to be the crescendo of that story. Probably because without sadness you’ll never be able to define happiness as like without darkness there is no light. This is why, probably, Nature has conceived us as a bag of emotions. In fact, Nature herself exhibits her emotional tears as rain which gives life to every living being embracing her. Trying to suppress one of those feelings for the hegemony of other is equal to committing an ignominious act of questioning the Omnipotent, Herself. If we really weren't in need of a particular emotion, Nature would have taken it back in the course of evolution. Then we all would have been these always-smiling-idiots without nerves through all our adversities of life. I've also come across people who claim crying to be an act of cowardice. On the contrary, I feel, we don’t need courage to smile. But, to shed tears, we need immense courage, especially, a man’s tears! (Sorry, I'm still not able to divorce that male chauvinist in me). To me, a man who cries, disrobing all his pride, for the thing he loves and respects, is the rarest courage he would ever display and this courage is much nobler than what thousands of others would have displayed physically in any battle field. What about a woman then? A woman who cries is a poetry in motion! (Might look like I'm a sadist but poetry can be either euphoric or melancholic or at times both). Her beauty just gets enhanced by thousand folds with every drop that glides out of her eye. The irony is that then the (so called) powerless woman with her tears becomes the most lethal weapon a man can confront with. It’ll pulverize even the most cynic of hearts in the world.  This I had personally experienced with many right from my mother to the girl I adore.

  

Tears are the revered act of validating the things for which we have unconditional love and respect. It is also the things which we completely believe in. And if we don’t have the courage to stand up for those things, all we will end up is living a life of fallacy and hypocrisy. Tears are also the best form of emotional catharsis imbibed in the DNA codes of our cells and passed on through generations. Even the worst distress can be mollified by a few minutes of torrential outburst. That’s why I consider Tears as the elixir for all human agonies! So next time when someone says crying is an act of cowardice, better don’t listen to them. Because if we need to live our life to the fullest, it’s better to cry when we feel like doing so, even if it is going to be a stealth act inside our home or merely confined to our bathroom walls. Suppressing it is like amputating one of those important phases of your life. We live our present with our past and our future with our dreams and if our past has to be a memorable one, we should be courageous enough to at least cry for things which deserve it. Because after living our life, if we are going to turn and look at how beautiful our lives were, it is those embers of emotional tears which are going to make up the bright colours of that canvas of life. Believe me, then, our nostalgia will be more rejoicing than regretting!!

-          ARULMOZHIVARMAN T