Posted on

People’s Front of Judea

Talking about Naxals – if you thought the famous scene on politics in “Life of Brian” was just a joke, check out the following (from Wikipedia):

“A Naxal or Naxalite is a member of any of the Communist guerrilla groups in India, mostly associated with the Communist Party of India (Maoist) … Their origin can be traced to the split in 1967 of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), leading to the formation of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist).”

As opposed to what people in the West think the Communist movement is by far not dead. In some places it is rather deadly.

Posted on

Karukku

“We who are asleep must open our eyes and look about us. We must not accept the injustice of our enslavement by telling ourselves it is our fate, as if we have no true feelings; we must dare to stand up for change. We must crush all these institutions that use caste to bully us into submission, and demonstrate that among human beings there are none who are high or low. Those who have found their happiness by exploiting us are not going to go easily. It is we who have to place them where they belong and bring about a changed and just society where all are equal.”
— Bama, in her autobiographical novel “Karukku“

Agreed with regard to all civilization, everywhere in the world

Posted on

Farmers’ suicides in India

Politics, to me, are irrelevant. There is no solution in it, only contribution to the problem. Also, as a guest to this country, I won’t take sides with anybody, as I have a Western bias and I will never fully understand the intricacies of native matters.

Yet, as a farmer, I have to say: Read the newspapers, look at the figures, and give yourself a minute of wondering what’s the matter with civilzation when its origin, its very basis, the foundation of life in the cities, feels like killing itself off. 

Save the whales, save the kingfishers, save the tuna, save the aquifer, save the atmosphere, save the indigenous peoples’ knowledge, save the topsoil, save the ozone layer, save the rainforest, save the farmers, save… our breath and take a step back. What is it, that needs saving, and from what? Why should the force that is killing everything else on the planet spare the human race? Can we consider this phenomenon as a natural and healthy reaction to a condition that is inherently unsustainable? Root causes, anyone?

Posted on

Keat capsules

This kind of building is usually described as environmentally friendly because it is mostly made of biodegradable stuff, but one has to see that seven billion people living like this would require unimaginable amounts of raw materials:
Monocropping of timber and of leafy plants would eat further into the already distressed environment, requiring also huge amounts of water. Stone quarries cut ugly wounds into the landscape as well. The overall environmental footprint of mankind probably would become worse than it is already.

The problem lies with the amount of land, power and resources needed to sustain a population this size, even if we all agreed to eat less, consume less, move less, and use less electricity.
One way or another this dilemma has to be resolved — and it will. Whether we will like the solution is another thing.
But let’s spare ourselves the discussion. Words rarely make a difference before experience verifies them.
Posted on

Notes on love in a Tamil family

Accidentally came across this great read of a while ago (written by Margaret Trawick) that helped me make sense of some of my own observations. It deepened the understanding that every culture exists of its own right, functions differently, has its own concepts, its own morality, and cannot be judged according to foreign standards, no matter how enchanted or upset one might feel about individual notions and events.
image_pdfimage_print