Red sanders massacre - What next?

The recent massacre of 20 persons engaged in illicit tree-felling off the famed pilgrim centre of Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh has sent shockwaves all over the country. Even the international media are playing up the horrendous story. Protest demonstrations are the order of the day.

All indications are it was a fake encounter. There is virtually no indication whatsoever that there was any clash between the woodcutters and the police.

At the moment Tamil activists are making it out to be a case of persecution of Tamils by a ruthless Telugu-speaking Andhra police. Yet others see it as merely a manifestation of state arrogance, yet another instance of gross human rights violations.

Of the 20 gunned down 12 hail from Jawadhu hills and their environs 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javadi_Hills

Thanks to the precious red sanders things have changed fast

This will give us some idea of the significance of the red sanders the victims were felling.

http://www.theglobaljournals.com/ijar/file.php?val=July_2013_1372685574_7f787_122.pdf

But what many observers seem to have failed to grasp is that much ghastlier things could be in store for the people of Jawadhu hills and adjoining areas across the border.

A crucial piece of information to get at a clearer picture of the story is this - http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/jawadhu-hills-to-killing-fields/article7080008.ece

In their enthusiasm to damn the Andhra Police and of course also to be politically correct, most reporters didn’t bother to find out how the communities dependent on red sanders were doing. But the unfazed Hindu reporter says categorically the villages are indeed flourishing.

Some of the killed were from the neighbouring Dharmapuri region where things are indeed pretty bad http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/tn-woodcutters-killed-in-andhra-pradesh-are-lone-bread-winners/article7084424.ece

But the Jawadhu hills residents, eseentially tribals are doing well for themselves. They were not impoverished communities. If anything their relative prosperity in contrast to the situation elsewhere in the region is striking – well-built houses, even SUVs, tribals entering mainstream, their children taking to education and so on.

Last year the state was agog with stories of Mohanambal, a folk dancer of adjoining Vellore and from whom  crores of rupees in currency and a huge stash of gold were recovereḍ.

http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil_nadu/Red-Sanders-Kingpin-Surrenders/2014/06/20/article2289474.ece

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/140614/nation-crime/article/red-sanders-queen-hard-nut-crack

It is not as if everyone in the region is a Mohanambal, no. Actually the entire belt has been hit by drought for four successive years now. Of course the state and central governments would not care lesṣ. The AIADMK government or the opposition shedding crocodile tears now have rarely highlighted the problems of the farmers. Living  has become so precarious. Only the Tiruvannamalai and its neighbourhood are not turning into another Vidarbha, they just get along in any which way they could – suicide as protest is still to make its appearance here.

For those reeling from drought , felling of red sanders does offer a lucrative option. The relatively flourishing communities of the Jawadhu hills are acting as a magnet for those of the nieghbourhooḍ. Never mind the risks involved, one can hope to escape dire poverty. Say a weeklong  outing in the forests could ensure one a minimum of Rṣ50,000. Depending on the circumstances and oneś own stamina the returns could be a lot more.

Indeed one of those killed in the Seshachalam forests of Andhra Pradesh a few days ago was a farmer from the foothills, hit hard by unrelenting drought and callous governments. He had started building a house when he was making a decent living out of agriculture, but was stalled midway. Even the plastering he couldn’t complete and chose to join the sanders gang, but that was to prove a tragic mistake.

Apart from the relatively prosperity of some Jawadhu settlements, what is relevant to note here is that those getting into illicit felling are becoming increasingly brutalized. Even imprisonment doesnt seem to discourage them - over a thousand are in AP jails, it is said, though no concrete data are available.

And so much is at stake they are willing to fiercely defend their territory, as it were. Repeatedly foresters have been attacked, some even killed.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Two-forest-officials-killed-by-red-sanders-smugglers/articleshow/27439217.cms

Such ferocious attacks were becoming regular in the last couple of years, apparently at the instance of the smuggling kingpins. Much fiercer retaliations were inevitable.

http://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/the-sad-business-of-smuggling-red-sanders-wood-114081400763_1.html

https://www.academia.edu/7732495/who_are_the_Red_Sander_Smugglers_

Besides as the Business Standard report notes there is this political angle in the person of Chandrababu Naidu – he holds the red sanders barons responsible for the abortive attack on him in

his last reign and has sworn revenge.

A look at this sequence will tell you why the Seshachalam forest massacre took place

Oct 1, 2003: N. Chandrababu Naidu survives claymore mine blast at Alipiri near Tirupati. 

Nov 9, 2012: Two of the accused in the case, Maoist leader Panduranga Reddy alias Sagar (alleged mastermind) and Kollam Gangi Reddy, a contractor and red sanders smuggling kingpin (for supplying arms and ammunition) acquitted. April 5, 2014: Gangi Reddy arrested in Kurnool district for red sanders smuggling
May 15: Gangi Reddy gets bail from High Court.
May 18-21: Reddy believed to have fled the country using fake passport
May 23: Chandrababu Naidu writes to AP governor ESL Narasimhan that government deliberately allowed Reddy to escape. “Despite the information that Sri Kollam Gangi Reddy is threat to me, the police have failed to keep a watch on the accused and allowed him to escape to Dubai.” 
May 27: While moving HC for cancellation of Reddy’s bail, government informs court that the smuggling kingpin escaped to Bahrain, and that he has links with international smuggler Sahu Bhai of Chennai, who is in Dubai. 
June 8: N. Chandrababu Naidu sworn in CMJanuary-February 2015: AP DGP J.V. Ramudu says police task force formed to crack down on red sanders smuggling
Feb 23: Kollam Gangi Reddy detained on Interpol notice at Port Louis, Mauritius, as he is about to board a flight to Colombo
Feb 24: DGP Ramudu says Reddy faces 27 cases, will be brought back to IndiaApril 3: DIG M. Kantha Rao, who heads Task Force (Red Sanders Operations), says representation given to State government seeking permission to open fire on red sanders smugglers; awaiting nod for order that would involve NO PROCEEDINGS, CASE OR PROSECUTION(strange plea, as five or six incidents had already taken place since 2011 of red sanders smugglers and woodcutters being gunned down, three of them in 2014 itself).
April 7: 20 gunned down near Tirupati

https://www.facebook.com/krishnamurthy.venkataramanan.9?fref=ts&ref=br_tf

Venkataramanan Krishnamurthy ( A senior editor with The Hindu)

April 9 at 8:20pm 

And here is something on Gangi Reddy himself: 

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/the-rise-and-fall-of-gangi-reddy/article6967812.ece

Now the AP government is seeking to take over the red sanders trade, finding it lucrative

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/andhra-pradeshs-u-turn-lift-ban-on-red-sander-trees-felling/articleshow/46885951.cms

Where does it leave the Jawadhu settlements or those who had found in red sanders a  way out of the poverty trap. Nowhere. Bleaker than ever. Even those few lakhs who had been able to build their lives anew would now be thrown to the wolves .

Now they can’t even dream of setting foot inside the forests, but there is alternative livelihood available either. They will die a slow, painful death.

That is a tragedy activists should be concerned with and seek to pressure the callous governments, state and central, to do whatever possible, to ensure the people of the region a decent living.  

Nuclear Deal - Mullahs more sensitive to people's needs than comrades !

Iranians are celebrating the nuclear deal.

The deal is explained here  http://www.vox.com/.../iran-nuclear-deal-plain-english

What has actually happened though is that the US has once again asserted its position as the gendarme of the worlḍ. It can lay down the rules of the game as it chooses, and others have to fall in line.

Don’t ask questions like what is your own arsenal or that of Israelś. Iran can’t have it, as simple as that as the west does not trust iṭ.

Now am not arguing that either Iran is trustworthy on the nuclear front or that international pressure is not called for against nuclear weaponization of any country. Any small progress anywhere is most certainly welcome. And it is well known the mad mullahs are among the most unpredictable. But when do we ever get to discuss the Israeli arrogance or the double standards of the West?

Having said that, am trying to drive at something else. It is a very unequal situation, and the Iranians should be feeling it a lot more acutely than anyone else. 

Robert Fisk is of course drawing  a very different picture.

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/fisk/iran-nuclear-deal-a-powerful-tehran-turned-into-americas-policeman-in-the-gulf-it-could-happen-10154920.html

How much of it is mere wishful thinking, not very clear. But I, for one, find it difficult to think Iranians are revelling in the prospect of becoming US lackeyṣ. I would rather believe the Iranian excitement stems from a very different situation, very primaḷ.

http://t.co/6SaxQwJf1i Life becoming that much more bearable, that’s what the Iranians passionately desire.

Even more striking is the fact the near-Mullah regime is allowing the media to capture it all, the longing for an agreement, the celebration, the hopes and so oṇ.  The key negotiator himself is seen sharing the the very public exultation. 

Iran Foreign Minister  Mohammad Javad Zarif, arriving in Tehran from Switzerland, to a heroś welcome

Whether it is put on or genuine, what is clear is that the Hassan Rouhani administration is endorsing the public sentimenṭ - and that is the point of this blog.

Talk religion, talk national pride, talk any kind of identity, there are limitations to the fervor you can whip up anywhere. None can live on air, and, in this globalized era, very difficult to keep out information of better life elsewhere, unless it is kind of a repressive regime like the North Koreaṇ.

The best thing for any rulers, after all, would be to govern as if people matteṛ. Accept the realities whatever your agenda or angst, that is the way forwarḍ. Those who refuse to, perish – as has happened in the case of most communist regimes.

It was not Margaret Thatcher or Ronald Reagan or the western TV channels that destroyed the Soviet Union, as many claiṃ.  No, I’d rather think it was the alienation of the so-called socialist governments from the people they were governing that sounded their death knell.

If only those ruled are convinced of the bona fides of the rulers, they can put up with anything.  Ironical  ayatollahs should be more sensitive to the aspirations of the people than communists.

Well the Chinese example goes to show they too can be, but the way they are pandering to the basest instincts of man, apart from the repression of Tibetans and Uighurs, I am loathe to own them up.

Narcissism could make even salt less tangy!

In the normal course, The Great Hedge of India should have been a blockbuster. After all it breaks the story of a horror of colossal proportions: To levy a duty on salt, the British established a Customs line across the whole of India which in 1869 extended from the Indus to the Mahanadi in Madras - a distance of 2,300 miles. Guarded by 12,000 men, it would have stretched from London to Constantinople: an immense, impenetrable... hedge.,a monstrous system, to which it would be almost impossible to find a parallel in any tolerably civilised country'...perhaps something that caused unspeakable misery to millions then.

But no, Roy Moxham, could not become another William Dalrymple, an absolutely fascinating

William Dalrymple

interpreter of the sub-continentś recent pasṭ. Moxham is too lost in himself, in his own adventures, than in telling us a long-forgotten gruesome story.

I used to count my tribe as being among the most narcissistic, perhaps next only to film personalities. They will go on and on about how they cultivate their sources, hazards they face, remaining unfazed by the powerful and so on, convinced perhaps their own selves should be equally interesting to the reader too!

There was this colleague of mine deputed to cover the first Iraq war and whose first despatch went at great length into the problems he faced in getting a visa, arranging flight tickets, going without food somewhere, everything except the war itself. He didnt' cover himself with glory with his further despatches either.

And then this young man who was so entranced by his attempts to  establish contacts, trekking through forests, sharing very simple food, living it rough and so on that the story would end with his finally meeting the Naxal group. Of course very little of what they said or what they stood foṛ. May be the journo overshot his space and he had a tough choice - either more of the subject of the story or himself - and he had made his !

I remember once Suresh Menon dismissing Karnataka player Brijesh Patelś autobiography as an exercise in onanism!!

Roy Moxham seems to be in that league, reverting back to himself all the time. The hedge, the salt and the horrid conditions of the time occupy a very small portion, the rest is all devoted to the authorś own quest and experiences.

Well nothing of the hedge remains, yes, it having been demolished back in 1879 itself. And very few who can remember what happened theṇ. Not much of an archival material either on what the hedge did to peopleś liveṣ. How do you then spin it to a moderate book length was perhaps Moxhamś probleṃ. One can appreciate that, still, pages after pages of ego trip will do nothing more than raise a few eyebrows among the westernerṣ. Widespread poverty, haggling with auto-drivers, people defecating in the open are all blase.

Swapandas Gupta I dont touch with ten barge poles, but his critique here I should agree with heartily:

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/book-review-of-the-great-hedge-of-india-by-roy-moxham/1/232950.html

Still there are delectable nuggets, worth oneś trouble. I chose to turn the pages fast, keeping close track of the hedge story itself.

HELPING HANDS REACHING OUT TO IRULAR CHILDREN

My dear nephew T.K.Narayanan first wrote to me:

Those were the days when Saturday’s and Sunday’s used to fly with movies, malls, beaches and so on. And here I was approaching 30. It struck me suddenly, “Oh man, what have you done so far..”

There were so many days when I used to think I would do this, do that, but everything was like written on water,  and I had not done anything which was in anyway beneficial to others. I kept tossing in my bed, racking my brain what I should do, could do, not with much success though.

But the gentleman who drove me and my wife late last year to the Pizza Corner, Vandalur, gave a new direction to my life, it can be said with some confidence. When I was airing my angst yet again to my wife, at least doing something different for the coming birthday,  the auto-driver gently chipped in, saying, “Sir, there’s a shelter for homeless children at Adhanur. They are doing some good work. Why don’t you visit them?”

So on Aug 17 I visited the home and found around 25 kids playing merrily. But my first day wasn’t successful, as the person whom the kids call “Mother,”  the person who runs the home, wasn’t around and I had to return empty-handed.

But I persisted. The following weekend I went back and was overwhelmed. The encounter with Ms Flora was a real slap on my face.

Here was a person who had left her job in Madras University as a lecturer and had dedicated her life to the kids. She had invested all her and her father’s savings into constructing a home for the underprivileged.

The Irular and Dalit children of Adhanur under the care of Helping Hands. Ms Flora in the back, with orange-coloured shawl

The stories of the kids were heart-rending. These were the kids who were working as child labourers, grazing cattle, their fathers abandoning them and their mothers and marrying someone else. And here was a person who could coax the kids back to the schools, or perhaps into the schools for the first time, prevailing upon their mothers to agree to the idea and promising all support. They were sheltered, given food, uniform and also coached after school hours.

I thought “We have time to chit chat, go to pubs, malls and what not, but not even few hours for the kids.” Then I decided to make sure even though financially I am not in a position to help her, I will help the kids in their education by teaching them at least on weekends and also make sure they don’t feel lonely.

Easily the most inspiring aspect of the “Mother” is that not even once she has asked me to see if there is anyone who could help her financially or make some donations. The only thing she keeps telling  me is that she could make do with some more volunteers to teach the kids or some doctors who could come and have a periodic check done regularly or a psychiatrist who could visit them to see if the kids are still traumatized…”

My nephew’s enthusiasm and concern touched me too. So I followed up, calling up the lady and had a long chat. Hailing from a village off Uthiramerur, of a very devout Catholic family, Maria Goretti alias Flora is indeed an amazing woman. She had sought to become a nun, but dissuaded by her family, she still chose to opt for “the service of humanity,” instead of contenting herself with a cosy family life.

At some stage, she throws away a well-paid job and chooses to reach out to the Irulars of Aadhanur, off Vandalur, at the very bottom of the social order and of course left to fend for themselves.

Her early days were really a heroic struggle. She would wait around with biscuits, cakes, short eats as Irular children returned from their daily grind, manage to allay the suspicions of the parents and finally making them agree to put some children in a nearby government school.

Now in the house of Helping Hands she is running, there are 23 children in all, some of them actually referred by the district educational authorities who, she says, are very helpful. Interestingly though the church is not, she says in a matter of fact voice, without any trace of bitterness. Yes, not a paise of help from the local diocese, though individual priests do chip in, now and then, with funds, rice, dresses and so on.                                                                                                

I grill her whether she is into proselytization, subtle or overt. “No sir,” even then not sounding hurt, “Mine is Christ’s calling, yes, which only means reach out to the disadvantaged. It doesn’t mean conversion.  Our prayers are all inter-religious or, shall we say, almost secular…We thank god for whatever he is doing and praying to him for his mercy…no god is mentioned by name.” T.K.Narayanan too confirms he didn’t see any picture of Christ or church or any plaque carrying Christian commandments or any other trapping associated generally with a Christian institution.

Being a non-believer I was actually irritated by her abiding faith. Perhaps am peeved that my own pet beliefs, avowedly based on rational analysis, have few takers, even among those close to me. So be it, it is admirable that faith should move mountains, almost literally.

Flora is acting all on her own, her parents were with her for a while, but father died, and mother shuttles among her various children. Barring the cook, an odd domestic help or too and the evening teacher, the Helping Hands founder is managing the establishment all by herself. And it is she who makes the rounds of various authorities.

“Don’t you feel intimidated? My nephew says it’s a very isolated place…not much of a lighting..”

“Why should I be? I ’ven’t faced any problems so far…Anyway I’m in the hands of God…Whatever happens is His will..”

“Ok, tell me, you are in your forties. Not married, no institutional support…Have you any regrets? How do you see your future?”

“I don’t regret anything..It’s all god’s will, I told you…and mind you, am not an ambitious person, so have no grand plans..If I can take care of these children under my wing now, ensure they have good education, perhaps marry off the girls too, my job is done …I know it calls for enormous efforts, persistence and of course resources..am hoping it all will happen..Let’s see…”

So those interested in financially helping or can volunteer to help out the children may contact the courageous lady on 9498062311

Bank a/c details:
Adhanur Helping Hands
Indian Overseas Bank - Oorapakkam - Tamil Nadu - India
NEFT/RTGS  IOBA0002244
Branch code 2244
A/c no 224401000003815

Orwellian, with a vengeance

Extraordinary adventures of some very ordinary lives in North Korea. If one can read through this slim volume of less than 300 pages at one go, one has to be detached to an extraordinary degree. I couldn’t.

As Barbara Demick pitilessly adds on one grim detail after another, your cringe, the book drops from your hands, and you tend to hold your head in your hands. No this can’t be happening in the 21^st century, in the age of globalization. All this could be wretched American propaganda, you might like to tell yourselves, as you resume reading.

By all accounts North Korea is easily the most repressive and secretive in the entire world. By

comparison even Saudi Arabia could be more liveable. May be the ISIS could provide some stiff competition, and that is some commentary on a self-proclaimed Marxist state.

The western media does report on the country off and on, especially when there is some great famine or some development on the nuclear front, but not very intensely.

Even the Tibetan miseries get more play. True the west seeks to puncture China for various reasons, but that is only one part of the story. The Tibetans are fairly widespread in the world, and they can be accessed for stories anytime. 

But North Korea is almost totally closed, one doesn’t get much of an opportunity to get anywhere near the suffering people of that blighted state, or their representatives elsewhere. Anyway where is the peg? So then their stories are heard much less than they actually are.

In the circumstances this work, by a correspondent of Los Angeles Times, is a welcome reminder of how grim the scene is.

No contact with the outside world. No e-mail, no internet, an indifferent but heavily censored postal service, it is very much an Orwellian world where lovers can denounce each other. And what is there to offset it all? Barring the showcase of Pyongyang, the capital, elsewhere virtually nothing, it looks like. And there is an acute power scarcity, even today. It was macabre in the nineties, it seems.

North Korea as seen through the lives of six defectors over a decade and more, in all its horror, this book shouldn’t be touched by the much too soft-hearted.

The sheer brutality of it all, especially when one sees it manifested in times like famine, can leave

you aghast for days. Whatever be the cause of the famine, to leave people to fend for themselves and worse, to seek to extract work from the hapless when they were leading near-animal-existence, when scrounging for daily food becomes one hell of a struggle, that calls for extraordinary inhumanity indeed.

“He killed rats, mice, and frogs and tadpoles. When the frogs disappeared, he went for grasshoppers and cicadas.” He also trapped sparrows and an occasional dog. But they too became scarce anyway.

And this from another account of the times: “Because of  long-lasting famine, it was very competitive to find anything edible. When you went out to the mountains, plenty of people were already competing to dig out some edible herbs. Farmland was another battlefield to dig out the rice roots remaining in the soil... People dug out the rice roots that remained after reaping, and they ground them into powder and made porridge or maybe some noodles. Though not as good as the fruits, the roots still have some useful nutrients inside. Food made from rice root tasted so awful, though, that for the first time in my life, I realised that some food is tasteless even for starving people.”

 Barbara Demick herself notes,  “An estimated 600,00 to two million North Koreans died in the famine, as much as  10 per cent of the population…exact figures would be nearly impossible to tally since hotspitals could not report starvation as a cause of death,” The regime accepted only selectively foreign aid and sought to keep out aid workers, while the military personnel could sell away aid received in the black market.  Eventually the country climbed out of it all, not through any policy measures, but simply because there were less mouths to feed."

And right through children had to repeat endlessly,

“Long live Kim Il Sung

Kim Jong Il Sun of the 21^st century

Let’s live our own way

We will do as the party tells us

We have nothing to envy in the world

Our house is within the embrace of the Workers’ Party

We are all brothers and sisters

Even if a sea of fire comes towards us, sweet children do not need to be afraid,

Our Father is here

We have nothing to envy in this world…”

Nothing to envy is the title of the book, you might have noticed, friends.

To go through a most traumatic time just to survive and still be grateful to those responsible for it all, that should have been a truly horrific experience.

It is possible that Demick exaggerates a bit, vilifies a little and can’t see beyond a western perspective, wherein being political freedom could override everything else. But most accounts agree on most essentials.

"North Korea is not irrational, and nothing shows this better than its continuing survival against all odds. A living political fossil, it clings to existence in the face of limited resources and a zombie economy, manipulating great powers despite its weakness. Its leaders are not ideological zealots or madmen, but perhaps the best practitioners of Machiavellian politics that can be found in the modern world. Even though they preside over a failed state, they have successfully used diplomacy-including nuclear threats-to extract support from other nations."

(Andrei Lankov: The Real North Korea: Life and Politics in the Failed Stalinist Utopia, published in December last.)

According to the Ploughshares Fund World Nuclear Stockpile Report, North Korea possesses less than 10 nuclear weapons of the 16,300 worldwide that are predominantly held by Russia and the United States. That might sound a bit reassuring, but remember the country invests approximately $8.7 billion -- significantly higher than the $570 million Pyongyang claims -- or one-third of its GDP in the military, perhaps the highest in the entire world.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the division of Korea by the United States and the former Soviet Union. Still both the Koreas are in a permanent state of war, the North a lot more so, the South living under the protective umbrella of Uncle Sam anyway. The latter’s progress to democracy has not been all that smooth, still life is a lot more relaxed over there, in any case they are a lot more prosperous, notwithstanding the inequalities typical of a capitalist economy.

The latest documentary on North Korea, http://www.dw.de/between-personality-cult-and-bumper-car-in-kim-jong-uns-north-korea/a-18269088, should give you some idea of life there now.

By this blog I just wanted to stress that such a virtually barbaric system has not received any strong condemnation from Marxists elsewhere, and that speaks volumes of their concerns.

Anyone looking for more information, can look up the following:

https://www.youtube.com/user/rodrigorojo1

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-15256929

http://www.nknews.org/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2705442/Australian-tourist-reveals-life-inside-North-Korea.html

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/13/arduous-march-north-korea-famine

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/02/north-korea-a-day-in-the-life-pyongyang

https://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/christine-ahn/peace-and-reunification-in-korea-in-our-life-time

A meltown like never before?

Panic seems to be spreading everywhere. Markets are plunging. Am only reminded of that sentence from Irving Wallace’s The Word – I thought I had reached the bottom of the bottomless pit. But then I realized there was a trapdoor to it! That is an imagery that has always haunted me.
I was surfing channels to find out what the experts had to say. Of course the share-brokers continued to insist, ‘Hold on to what you have. Don’t sell, it will bottom out…”
That is predictable. If everyone packs off, they too would stand to lose out.
A host of experts waffle, hum and haw, nobody knowing what exactly should be done.
One was particularly pathetic. He said, “Anything, anything can be done. Should be done. The situation is precarious. We don’t know. But we cant keep quiet. Shoring up banks, nationalizing, anything, anything?..........”

Incidentally the angst of our native wizzkid Raghuram Rajan is different. See what BusinessWeek’s European editor has to say:

A less competitive U.S., many fear, will cut pressure on foreign governments to fix their own systems. Recent European reforms have been driven largely by envy of U.S. growth. And in India, opponents of reform may be hoping America's troubles will put the brakes on change. Raghuram Rajan, ex-chief economist at the International Monetary Fund and a University of Chicago professor, led a commission studying financial reforms. When Rajan presented the group's findings in Mumbai just a day or two after the Fannie Mae-Freddie Mac bailouts, he recalls, "people were saying to me: 'Is the U.S. the kind of model we want to go with?'"

So obviously his worry is India’s reforms ‘d be torpedoed. Wonderful concerns. This very man who is advocating more regulations in the US. Apparently they need a little, but we are being smothered…

Be that as it may, about the crisis itself. Possibly it will play out. One person who has his head firmly on his shoulders says theres nothing like depression at all. Perhaps the worst times since the 30s, that’s all.

I too agree with him. Given the endless coverage on TV, one can perhaps safely presume it is going to be meltdown like never before. Some of it could be self-fulfilling prophecy.

Am not an economist, of course. Except for the mishmash I have learnt as an aspiring Marxist and from newspaper columns.

Unlike the starry-eyed Marxists tho’, I do not hope this meltdown would trigger anything like a revolution anywhere. Unlike the communists, capitalists have learnt a lot. 1917 was a revelation, a shocker, they are not going to allow it to happen again, if they cd. If China or Cuba happened, it was not for lack of effort! Anyway China they have come up trumps ultimately. It’s a wretched land now, aping the West right through, notwithstanding the fascination of our native commies.

If the New Deal and the Marshall plan of the forties were some resounding testimony to their alertness, resilience in the eyes of its admirers, the recent bailout, even if some inadequate rearguard action, could send out a message from the govt, look we are with you, don’t worry. That itself should make some difference. Don’t they talk up the markets?

So nothing much is going to change. The system will stumble forward, with some course correction, resulting in some losers, but essentially it should be business as usual in a while.

But my focus is not that. What should we wish? As concerned human beings. How should we react? Rub our hands in glee or not?

Am half rubbing at the misery of the pundits and apologists. More so of the exploiters. They richly deserve this, no doubt. The sight of the crowing, haggling, screaming brokers has always put me off.

What has it all to do with the ordinary folk? Though I don’t know what role these charctrs play, I am convinced all the same it’s a side-show, a farce, entertainment chartered by the ruling elite. Irrelevant in the larger scheme of things. Meaning stock-market gambling is not going to ensure better justice on earth – which to me is the most desirous of goals.

Most certainly I have no respect for people whose only pursuit is money. So I have no tears to shed. In fact excited as stocks plunge. Nemesis! Comeuppance!!

Having said that, I also wonder how will I react if say I lose my job or my son his or we are thrown on the streets. Am I comfortable with the prospect?

Am not too sure. The hassle of dealing with it all, making money to survive in tough times, humiliating myself, bowing and scraping, or possibly some disaster overtaking us, of course its disturbing.

But honestly am not horrified, if anyone cares to believe me, that is. For when there is so much poverty around us, shocking, abysmal, unjustified, why should we alone desire a better life?

Well, while I am not going to court poverty, I should not make a hue and cry if it overtakes me.

No one will listen. Such ranting will of course be shrugged away.

But if the meltdown is followed by a catastrophic depression, and humanity reinvents itself, its all for the good.

Ironical, you need to desire everything to be destroyed, before it is all rebuilt. Well, revolution is a vengeful god.

Pain or no pain, things have to change. That’s the bottomline.

ராஜம் கிருஷ்ணன் - இன்னுமொரு சோகம்

எழுத்தாளர் ராஜம் கிருஷ்ணனின் இன்றைய நிலையைப் பற்றி ஒரு வார இதழில் படித்தேன். விஸ்ராந்தியில் இருக்கிறாராம். அது சென்னையில் உள்ள ஒரு முதியோர் இல்லம்.

துணைக்கு யாருமே இல்லையாம். யாராவது உதவமாட்டார்களா என்று கேட்டிருக்கிறார், நப்பாசையுடன். ஆடிப்போய் விட்டேன்.

எப்போதும் சிரித்த முகத்துடன் இருப்பார். பந்தா சற்றும் இல்லாதவர். பெண்கள், அடித்தட்டு மக்கள், தலித், என்று எல்லாவித முற்போக்கு இயக்கங்களுடனும், தன்னைத் தயங்காமல் இணைத்துக் கொள்வார்.

அவரது புதினங்கள் பாவப்பட்ட, சுரண்டப்படும், ஏமாற்றப்படும், மக்களின் நிலையினை, கவர்ச்சி முலாம் எதுவும் பூசாமல், மிகைப்படுத்தாமல் படம் பிடித்துக்காட்டும். மனசாட்சியுடையோர் நெகிழ்ந்துவிடுவர்.

உற்றதுணையாக இருந்த கணவர் இறந்த பிறகு, குழந்தை எதுவும் இல்லாத நிலையில்,சுற்றத்திடம் இருந்ததையெல்லாம் இழந்துவிட்டு, நிர்க்கதியாக இருக்கிறாராம் ராஜம் கிருஷ்ணன்.

இரு நண்பர்கள் உதவியில்தான் முதியோர் இல்லத்திலேயே சேர்ந்திருக்கிறார்.

அநீதியும் அக்கிரமும் மலிந்த இவ்வுலகில், இன்னார்தான் துன்பப்படவேண்டும் என்ற நியதி ஒன்றுமில்லைதான். படித்துவிட்டால்...சிறப்பாக எழுதிவிட்டால்.... அலலுறக்கூடாதா என்ன?

ஆனாலும், கருணாநிதிகளும், ஜெயலலிதாக்களும் கொழிக்கும்போது, ராஜம் கிருஷ்ணன்கள் துன்பத்தில் நோகிறார்கள் என்றால்?....மனதைப் பிசைகிறது.

நண்பர்கள் ஒன்று சேர்ந்து அவரை சந்திக்கப் போகலாம். யாராவது ‘பெரிய’ மனிதர் ஆதரவைப்பெறலாம். ராஜம் கிருஷ்ணன் எப்படி வாழ விரும்புகிறாரோ, அப்படியே அவர் வாழ்வதற்கு உதவ, நாம் முயற்சிக்கலாம்.

இதெல்லாம் கொடுமை. என்ன செய்ய?

நம்மால் முடிந்து என்று எதையாவது செய்துதான் ஆகவேண்டும்.