A Bridge to Nowhere

 

Colonel Kochu Koshy Panicker, my colleague in the army, hero of many an action, and rightfully a gallantry award winner, organised the day-long contributory cruise in the Ashtamudi Lake.  ‘KK’ is an excellent organiser. Once he takes on something, expect nothing less than the perfect. As his boss, I fearlessly delegated tasks to him and sat back without worries. I attribute my rise in ranks to teammates like him.  KK is special. He smiles even when under severe work pressure. Dr Santy, his wife, an academic, is his strength. With them around, possibilities are endless.  

On the 4th of May, I drove 95 KM one way from my home with my wife and two of my grandchildren and stayed the night with the Panickers. The next morning, my wife, grandchildren, and Dr Santy travelled with me another 21 KM to join the cruise, KK and his team had organised. KK had left early to tie up things. There are a lot of houseboats in Kumarakom, that offer similar daylong cruises. This cruise, I knew would be special. 

I wanted my grandchildren to see, feel and learn first-hand, the camaraderie and oneness amongst us, the veterans. KK, Colonel CRM Nair, Colonel Madhu, and Major Rajendran did a great job organising it. Some people who promised to be on the boat did not join. It put a bit of additional monetary pressure on those who landed up but nobody complained. The juniors enjoyed every bit of the day and have not stopped talking about it ever since. They learned to conduct themselves, offer a helping hand to the elders, and be good community members. I came back with more than a cruise. 

“Look at that bridge,” someone called out aloud. There was a bridge, jutting out a long way from the land into the water but it had no signs of landing anywhere. “Must be under construction,” I said. “No,” someone replied. “It is the “bridge to nowhere.” Some of my fellow veterans, chipped in. Most of them settled in and around knew better. “A bridge that led nobody nowhere,” I thought. I took a close look and even clicked some photographs. “Appacha[1], why doesn't that bridge go anywhere?” asked my grandson. I told him that there must have been some constraints. 

I was curious to find out. I scoured the web for other brave engineers and authorities who made similar bridges to nowhere. I came across an Arch Bridge built in 1936. It spans the East Fork of the Gabriel River and was meant to be part of the road connecting the San Gabriel Valley with Wrightwood, California. The project was abandoned due to a flood.  Trekkers enjoy using the bridge even now. There was also the mention of an old Bridge in Kentucky. When the bridge was made, it connected two pieces of land and people used it. It is now in disuse.  There was yet another Bridge. It was proposed to connect the town of Ketchikan in Alaska with Gravina Island which had an International Airport and housed 50 residents. The proposal was also called the ‘bridge to nowhere. Initially expected to cost the exchequer $398 million, it was finally cancelled in 2015 on allegations of ‘pork barrelling[2]. Not even one brick was laid for this bridge. I also came across a movie with the same name. The 1986 New Zealand horror thriller is about a group of teenagers who fight for survival after encountering a mysterious hermit.  

The ‘Bridge to Nowhere’, near Thevally, Kollam is class apart and without parallel. I am not competent to discuss how this engineering marvel came into existence, the political reasons behind its creation, and the allegations surrounding its existence. What saddens me to no end, is that despite my search, I could not come across any proposal to mitigate this problem or to bring it into use at least for tourism purposes. Three things are clear. Firstly, it is a colossal, thoughtless, and criminal waste of public money. Secondly, it showcases the impotence and inability of the public to hold their representatives to account. Thirdly, it shows the rot and deterioration that has infected contemporary society with the “Why should I? Let someone else do it” attitude[3].  Till they demolish it or find ways to use it, ‘The Thevally Bridge to Nowhere’ shall remain a monument to the unquestioned lack of accountability authorities enjoy due to the public’s attitude to gross irresponsibility. 

It is just one of the very few visible ‘bridges to nowhere’, while we live amidst countless invisible bridges to nowhere. ‘Bridges to Nowhere’ amongst us? 

We would have come across people, who despite our best efforts and intentions neither connect nor reciprocate. Intentionally or unintentionally, even we might have refused to connect. Denial would be our first response. Just try and recall instances when someone waved at you or greeted you and you knowingly did not respond! You did not allow their bridge to land on your shores! It could have been driven by some compulsions or ego. That cannot be called afflictions. Such acts seldom go unrewarded. 

The afflicted are those who closet themselves and do not allow any bridge to reach them however hard others may try. Incidentally, it could be an early sign of depression. On the other hand, there are many bridging experts around us. They thrive on retractable bridges.  They put out a bridge when they need something from others or allow other bridges to land only when they see some use of the other bank in the near future. They are crafty, manipulative, selfish, and mean. They will somehow find ways to land their bridge whenever they want. We would be familiar with at least a few in our neighbourhood. 

Bridges connect two distant banks of a gap that otherwise would have remained separated and isolated. Multi-span bridges stand testimony to the difficulty and complexity of connecting distant banks; the further the banks, the more challenging the efforts. Even in life, it is the same; the more emotionally distant someone is, the more difficult to connect with them. One may need a few steps forward, to connect, the first few could elicit no response. 

The importance of the banks on both sides of the gap that will take the landings cannot be left unsaid. If the banks are not strong enough to take the landing, the entry and exit load, especially that of heavy vehicles, will soon render the bridge unusable. In life also, it is like that.  Individuals, the banks, need to be strong enough to take on the demands of the other end of interpersonal relationships. Expectations can ruin the bridge. Keeping account of give and take is akin to injecting toxins. Many a marriage flounder because the landings on either side are not strong enough to take the expectation loads. 

The day before I had an incidental discussion on the subject with a quick-witted former colleague of mine, now commanding a unit. “Sir, technically isn't, nowhere also somewhere?” she asked. It made me think. Yes. Nowhere is also somewhere. When ‘nowhere’ becomes the ‘somewhere to be’ for someone everywhere and always, that person might already be a recluse or one fast in the making. It is a deliberate choice of cutting oneself off from others. Do not mistake it for ‘personal space’. Yes, ‘nowhere’ can be a chosen destination for solitude. Most people mistake loneliness for solitude. When nowhere becomes the destination, people deliberately retract all the bridges and destroy the home-bank landing. On the other hand, there are people, who long for bridges to land on their shores but do not know how to initiate the works. Their hand wave may not look enthusiastic, their smile may be incomplete, or their body language may not be welcoming enough. It is there we must put our spans forward manifold and reach out. Who knows, there may be a gold mine, a heart of gold, waiting to be won. 

Modern means of communication have shrunk the world, into, what people call, a global village. But sadly, while geographical distances are being bridged either physically or remotely, more and more people are retracting their bridges and withdrawing deep into their own shores in the guise of finding personal spaces. Our efforts to span relational gaps can prevent bridgeable gaps from turning into chasms. 

Beyond the memories of chilled beer, good food and great company the “Thevally Bridge to Nowhere” gave me a few lessons for life.  I shall wave and smile as always but my eyes will be quicker to spot the bridge looking to land.

Even you can…

 

PS. 

1.       Over the last two days, I have been going to the local swimming pool with my grandchildren for their swimming classes. I know smiles are the first step to launching the bridge of friendship. I have already made  new friends. Among them, a doctor, an IT engineer and a business man, all there to teach their children swimming.

2. If you like the article, do subscribe to it. It costs you nothing but means a lot to me. You could reciprocate my attempts to bridge with you through my written works. 

3. Consider expressing your views in the comments section. I assure you of a response. if you have personal queries please address it to my mailbox jacobtharakanchacko@gmail.com

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[1] Appacha’ - That is how my grandchildren address me.

[2] ‘Pork barreling’. It refers to the act of a legislator taking away a lot of money to service just his constituency. It also denotes spending too much for too little in return.

[3] I will be flagging this to the local authorities and also asking people whom I know in the locality about my idea of finding alternative uses if it can’t proceed further.

Kahi Pe Nigahen Kahi Pe Nishana

 Opportunity or Crisis?

"In the midst of every crisis lies great opportunity" is a quote often attributed  to Albert Einstein. In the age of social media where  fake news descends on us by the minute like hurricanes, truth is the casualty. Anybody can fearlessly write anything and attribute it to anyone famous or remotely famous. It is immaterial whether Einstein actually said so or not, but I have been given this alluring piece of advice in countless motivational sermons I have listened to. It is only fair that I in turn give this powerful and motivating piece of advice to my children. I have used it in the many training sessions I took up. I have done it without attribution. Well; it's a great piece of advice to receive in a situation of crisis. I am having a rethink.

Recently, I was driving from Kottayam, my home town, to Cochin. At every prominent junction, over the 60 kilometre route, I saw hoardings and advertisements of agencies inviting prospective candidates to go abroad for studies. Each board screamed "opportunity to study abroad". Ironically few boards were even nailed upside down. Was this shower of opportunities an ominous sign of a crisis? 

Figures

Kerala, ‘God’s own Country’, boasts of almost 100% literacy. A survey on the state of higher education in Kerala was conducted in 2020 under the aegis of the Kerala State Higher Education Council. its findings were made public in June 2021. Table No 2 of the survey report reveals that Kerala has 18 Universities and 1504 colleges. It included 701 Arts and Science Colleges, 167 Engineering Colleges, 102 Medical Colleges that include Allopathy, Ayurveda, Dental, Homeo and Allied Health Science colleges, 5 Agricultural colleges, 4 Fine Arts Colleges and 177 Paramedical Colleges, which include Nursing, Paramedical sciences, Pharmacy, Optometry, Medical Laboratory Technology and Pharmaceutical Science institutes. Nearly 13 lakh students were reported to study in these institutions. 

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Many who do not take admission to colleges within Kerala go their way to other Indian states to study. A significant number also goes abroad to study. According to people involved in the ‘study abroad’ business, approximately 30,000 children from Kerala have gone abroad to study recently. In the absence of authentic data in the public domain, the numbers might not be ‘the truth, nothing but the truth.’ The cumulative numbers might anyway be much larger. Reports suggest that students from Kerala can be found in 54 countries, their migration facilitated by student recruitment agencies or educational consultants, most of them without any government accreditation or approval. Even Curacao, a small Dutch Caribbean country, that is a landmass of just 444 square kilometers with a population of 1.5 Lakh people, hosts Malayali students.  War in Ukraine and COVID breakout in Wuhan troubled Kerala because there was a sizable Malayalee population studying there. Why is the Malayalee youth running out? Are Malayalees looking for better things to study?

Pursuit

Is the exodus because of inadequate seats for studies? A prominent online news portal reported in Dec 2022 that more than 23,000 seats for B Tech were lying vacant in various engineering colleges under the Kerala Technological University. It also reported large vacancies, unfilled seats, in the arts and science colleges also. It was also reported that many self-financing colleges were willing to reduce the fees just to fill vacant seats. Certainly, the rush out of Kerala is not because of unavailability of avenues for studies.

Is the outbound flight driven by pursuit of knowledge and skills? If Malayalee youth felt that the courses available in Kerala were not good enough they could easily enrol themselves for better courses outside the state, within India, maybe at slightly higher costs but far lesser than what they spend abroad. Many do that. The best colleges under Delhi University are getting more Malayalees every year. The truth is that most of the students going abroad to study are taking up nondescript courses and subjects. Such subjects and courses are available in Kerala at a fraction of the cost incurred by parents of the child going abroad for studies. Then there is something else. 

Erosion

Some people say that students take admission outside Kerala because the examination system is more lenient and offers convenience for those not academically brilliant. The rising number of students from Kerala securing seats in Delhi University undergraduate programs and that too in prestigious colleges that demand very high and stiff cutoffs weaken this argument. Moreover this argument holds water if everyone is rushing to a particular university, considered to have porous systems of examination and evaluation. It is not the case. The rush is mostly to many different self-financing institutions in Tamil nadu and Karnataka, which accept low scorers from Kerala at higher financial contributions. Though some of these colleges are reputed, most are not. Many children taking up technical courses in these colleges never end up completing or passing the course. They at best waste their parents money and get something worthless in the competitive job market.  

Those in power in Kerala certainly are aware of the poor quality of research and institutional inability and hesitation to upgrade  academic infrastructure. To them it doesn't matter that the majority of educational institutions in Kerala are not accredited by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC). Militant student unions have played their part in eroding academics and the education system beyond immediate redemption. What happens to the others doesn't seem to bother them  because their future seems assured and taken care of. String of exposes where student union leaders and party members have been caught  manipulating the system to get certificates have come to light. Erosion of the system from within is complete. 

Those championing the local mother tongue and localised syllabus to be mandated in the education system anyway send their children abroad. They do not want their children to be limited by local education. It is practical wisdom and not double speak. Deliberately turning blind eye to systemic flaws, pretending that nothing is wrong and turning against those pointing out deficiencies, letting loose the weight of the government machinery with all its vicious might is an effective and powerful political weapon. It envelops the society with fear and helps cover up. However, Kerala is not the only state suffering in this regard. But why is the youth running away to study abroad?

Is it a case of “Kahi Pe Nigahen Kahi Pe Nishana?*

Nigahen aur Nishane

A close look at where they go to study may reveal something! Canada, The UK, Australia and New zealand are their most favourite destinations. Some are heading for Europe too. This segment is now understood to be growing fast.  According to people in the know of things,  youth is not headed out in pursuit of academic qualifications but in search of ways to migrate. Incidentally, these countries allow Indian students to stay back as full time workers for two to three years once they qualify from institutions there.  Industrious nature of the people involved normally culminates in them obtaining ‘permanent resident’ status in the host country, a migration of sorts, a shortcut. 

In essence everybody going abroad wants to get out of Kerala and India. Hardly anybody comes back to Kerala for a job with a foreign degree. Those who come back are normally only those who had gone to study medicine, because they have to pass an examination in India to be part of the medical system in India. The others coming back to Kerala after studies are the ones who have failed to secure a ‘permanent resident’ permit.

More out of despair and less out of desire, children going to study abroad find ways and means legal or illegal to hang on somehow. It is because there are inadequate jobs and shrinking avenues for job creation within Kerala. Despite all the claims that the government makes, people habituated to fruits of militant trade unionism continue to bleed industrial establishments. Once known for quality, the state’s education system has suffered a serious blow to its credibility, due to  misdeeds of  political cadres. Those who can afford to therefore find escape routes to get out and never come back if they can manage to. The exodus of qualified nurses from Kerala to all over the world and the ease with which they secure permanent resident status there, strengthens this argument. Many nurses working in the gulf are slowly moving out to Europe, America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.  It is only a matter of time before the entire family of the nurse migrates to the new country. ‘Study abroad’ is just another way to gain a foothold in a distant land.

Costs

Nothing comes free, not even spirituality. There is a financial and social cost to the phenomenon of children going abroad to study.  Parents work abroad or within India to raise the money required.  According to data available Indian students spent over 30 billion dollars in 2019 for education abroad. This is expected to rise to 80 billion by 2024. Many parents feel that the risk and effort is worth it. Such migration commences with heavy financial cost. Students, actually parents, most of them pledging all their immovable assets, end up taking large sums, reportedly starting from Rs 8 lakh to 45 lakhs per person for meeting the expenses. Statistics released by the State Level Bankers Conference (SLBC) reveal that the total outstanding education loans in banks in Kerala  have gone up from Rs 9841 Crores in Mar 20119 to Rs 11,061 in Mar 2022. Interestingly barring a few stray cases everyone repays. Unpayable debt culminates in human tragedy called suicides.

In Kerala the social cost is visible and exasperatingly aggravating. Many houses built with hard earned money are lying locked because the owners have now become permanent residents abroad. Clusters of such houses in some areas, some housing old, ailing and hopelessly lonely  parents hoping to die sooner than later, have started haunting those with conscience. The current rulers in the state have found an opportunity in this crisis, otherwise a situation that is emerging as a human tragedy. They decided to levy additional tax on locked houses. Someone seems to have infused some sense of sanity and they have retracted their steps.

Kerala Story 

This is not just a phenomenon confined to Kerala. Punjab is already  struggling with the social cost of mass scale migration. Andhra and Telangana are also in hot pursuit. Tamil Nadu will catch up very soon. According to data available, US border patrol authorities are said to have intercepted more than 4,297 Indians crossing the Mexican border in two months in 2022.  There are more than 34,230 Asylum cases pending in the American immigration courts in October- November. According to statements made by the Minister concerned to the parliament, a large number of people are giving up Indian citizenship in favour of other countries, the figures clearly showing an increasing trend. Thus, the student exodus may not be a purely a ‘Kerala Story’. Kerala could be a small part of the great Indian story, a story that many who know may not want to tell,  and the masses who should know, remain  ignorant lost happily in the Euphoria of excavation of the past.

Individuals might succeed in their pursuit of their Nishane with Nigahen elsewhere. But, if rulers have their Nigahen elsewhere the society may miss the Nishane.

* ‘Nigahen’ in Hindi  means vision or sight and ‘Nishane’ in Hindi means aim or  target. The reference is to a famous Hindi song by Shamshad Begum for from the movie CID released in 1956

Killing the Goose For The Golden Eggs - Where is the Goose?

 Stories for Life

We all love stories and we all grew up hearing stories, countless and each with a message. Each one of us certainly remembers at least a few stories. Few would recall the embedded message. How many amongst us would have internalised those lessons for life?

Two stories that I heard as a child and never forgot growing up were that of the Goose that laid the golden egg and of the greedy dog. The owner of the goose, overcome with greed, tried to rip off everything at one go. Rip off he did, unfortunately of himself. He lost the very source that could easily have been his means of livelihood, sustenance and growth to being rich, surely but slowly. The dog already had something in his secure possession but tried grabbing, a reflection, something well beyond his reach and anyway not his by any claim. In the process he lost forever even what he had. 

While scanning today's newspaper I came across a piece of news that reminded me of both the stories together. Reading through the newspaper, I realised that these stories were timeless. It happens everyday, all around us and in different forms.  We only have to look around. 

Destination Kerala

Kerala has long been marketed as the ultimate tourist destination with the tagline “God’s Own Country”. Blessed with a climate that remains conducive for tourism throughout the year, domestic and foreign tourism can easily fuel a large part of the state's economy. With one of the highest density of allopathy hospitals in the world and as home to countless outlets of traditional Ayurvedic and naturopathy treatment, medical tourism is another area that the government can easily promote to run the local economy. Kerala, if well managed, can give Thailand, Bali and Sri Lanka and other southeast asian tourist destinations a run for their money. Tourism has been a money earner for the state but if indications are to be believed, it is declining.

Mega conferences and melas where ‘Who is Who' of glitterati as brand ambassadors showcase ‘Brand Kerala’ as a sought after tourist destination are not rare. Government proclamations and initiatives are regularly declared to promote each region and locality in the state as a tourist hub. The reality, if the news item is to be believed, seems headed in the opposite direction. It points to a fundamental fault line that has been the bane of Kerala's growth prospects.

 

Whom Should the Tourist Go With?

"Whom should the tourist go with? Apprehension that Cruise liners may give Cochin the go by'', read the caption of an article in the 31st March edition of a widely read Malayalam daily. The details indicated that the taxi unions operating at the port have made it clear that they won't allow coaches of the tour operators to ferry tourists from cruise liners to various local destinations of tourist interest. The tourists, they insist, must use those vehicles affiliated to their union. According to the article, about 52 Cruise Liners come to Kochi and about 200 to 800 tourists come out from each of the liners for sightseeing in and around Kochi. This is the pie being contested for. The news also expressed the apprehension of Cruise Liners avoiding Cochin if the tour operators are not allowed to operate their AC coaches.

Economics

It is common knowledge that each tourist wants to spend the least and have the most. Coaches maintain the integrity of the tourist group,  take on guides, some of them have inbuilt toilets, provide better sightseeing facilities and are far more cheaper than taxis. World across, tour operators rely on coaches to ferry tourists. Bigger coach translates to more tourists, easier to manage, fewer guides and  better economy of volumes. It keeps prices down for the tourist and ensures better margins for the tour operator.

But  taxi operators seem to have nothing to do with the choice of the tourist, his concern for costs or the tour operators' bottom lines. They want coaches to stay away. In the reconciliation meeting, the news item said, they seem to have agreed to split the pie half-half. If their demand is acceded to, tourists will have to forgo the far better and cheaper option. To the tourists it is clearly a rip off. To the practical and cost conscious tourist, it will appear that the union is asking more for the right to rip off than the right to livelihood. Expecting foreign arrivals to abide by the diktats of the local taxi unions is asking too much, especially when equal or better options are not far away.

Economic transactions integral to  tourist activity provide impetus to the local economy. Tourism does not limit itself to being money for drivers. It actually energises a lot of small associated businesses. Keeping it cheap ensures high volume turnovers. If the options are available and costs are right, tentacles of economics spinoff spread to other areas, even remotely linked. Thailand, Sri Lanka and Bali are classic examples. If Cruise Liners sail past Cochin, then not just the taxi drivers but the entire ecosystem related to tourism stands to lose. 

The stand of the union prima facie seems to be “If for anyone, why not for us?”, apparently harmless. But their demand drives up costs and that is detrimental to business interests and therefore the entire community. It is not the first time that Kerala has lost opportunities because of  unreasonable demands by unions.  Claims of a friendly industrial climate in the state notwithstanding, many industrialists and entrepreneurs have flagged bitter experiences as truth. But we are either drowned in delusions of denial or we have started believing in the reflections of the narrative we created for ourselves. A third possibility is that the majority has resigned to afflictions as inevitable. Whichever is the truth, it is counterproductive.

 

Killing the Geese! But Who is the Goose?

Kerala and Kerallites must ask themselves as to why services like Ola and Uber are shunning the state. If it is the opportunity to work and earn that people are looking for, then services like ola and uber that effectively operate world over and take first time visitors without problems should have thrived here too. The domestic requirements especially, that of the ever increasing share of  geriatric population in the state, itself should have fuelled growth of such services. It could also have achieved large volumes across the state and provided employment to many locals. The hesitation of most taxi and auto drivers in Kerala to go metered is a well known fact. 

Many aspects of the Malayali society's daily life have an abundance of “paise wise and rupee foolish” (replacing the “penny wise - pound foolish”) acts. The abrupt end of the metro at Alwaye rather than finishing it at the airport, is a classic example of foresight akin to institutional blindness. The taxi unions movement to stop or make it difficult for call-taxi operators to operate at the airport is another example. Even the call-taxi operators have joined hands and have found ways and means to rip off subverting the call taxi app. It will provide short term success and gains but in the long run it deals a very bad hand for the local economy. The rip off attitude is not confined to the tourism sector alone. The malice has spread across every segment of the service industry. People, sooner than later, will adopt means to escape being milked. 

Whether it is the greed to lay hands on all the golden eggs now and all at once or the greed to grab the bone even if it is only a reflection, the end result is the same; loss. Unfortunately malayalees, much touted as the most educated in India, have neither adopted productive ways nor stood up against such counterproductive steps by unions. Has collective bargaining, once a tool for survival, become a means of coercion?

The question remains

Are we killing the Goose that lays the Golden egg? 

And by the way are we not the Geese ourselves ?

“One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest” - Well Almost!

 

Produced and released in 1975, based on the book by the same name, ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest’ is considered one amongst the Greatest films ever made. It finds a place in the American film Institute’s ‘100 years… 100 movies’ list. Call it tragedy, comedy, drama or anything that you may please, it is a thriller that one must find time to watch.

I watched it many years ago. But one question haunts me still. Who was the cuckoo?

Was it the lively Randle McMurphy, a convict and pretender who encouraged other inmates to discover their strength within and turned tables on Milldred Ratched, the head nurse or was it the Native American “Chief” Bromden, the pretender deaf-mute, who smothered a lobotomized McMurphy to death, before escape?

Though there is nothing even remotely linked, I was reminded of the  movie when I read the recent news of a person who went missing from the government nominated 'team of farmers’ from Kerala who went to Israel on a, government sponsored trip to study modern farming trends. Reason for farming declining as an occupation in Kerala, is not a secret that requires visits to Israel, Europe or the USA to discover. Everyone knows it but chooses to pretend otherwise. Kerala is  neither a mental asylum nor are those who go on government sponsored foreign trips, pretenders. Absolutely NOT! Though the individual has returned and sought pardon from the Government of Kerala, a seemingly unfazed government is said to have been left red faced. Going by precedents, the farmer, real, nominated as one or pretending to be one, will have reasons to repent even more, as the might of the party, government or both will lean on him, sooner or later and certainly once the media glares elsewhere.

Pretentious pretenders plenty notwithstanding, do citizens actually leave India for good?

My search on the web didn't yield much either as research articles or as statistics. Either much is NOT available in the open domain or I failed to find the right source. However according to what I stumbled upon, Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai is said to have stated in the Lok Sabha during the winter session of the Indian Parliament, that a total of 6,08,162 Indians gave up their citizenship, starting 2017 and ending 10th September 2021. {2017 - 1,33,049, 2018 - 1,34,561, 2019 - 1,44,017, 2020 - 85,248 2021 (Up till Sept 10) -1,11,287}. These are  official figures and do not take into account those taking the illegal route out. Considering the fact that Kerala has a huge share of expatriates, many if not most opting out should logically be Keralites. Figures are NOT readily available.

But, why should anyone leave Kerala?

‘God’s Own country’, after all, has social indices at par or better than many advanced countries in the world! Do government policies, back breaking tax regime, depleting job opportunities, rising number of unemployables, mafia-like trade unionism, rising number of mob-justice cases, a state of denial perpetuated by those in power and a creeping sense of insecurity have anything to do with it? This and many other such questions, our beloved ‘rulers’ must ask themselves. 

If what is seen around me is to be believed, many have already left for good. More are leaving and very many more are in the process of finding ways and means to do it. What was once a trickle is slowly turning into a torrent. Initially those working in the Gulf took off from there and found ways to permanently migrate to the USA, Canada, Australia, UK, New Zealand  and many other countries. Now those residing here too are queuing up for the escape door. Post COVID demand for nurses has helped accelerate the process.

Interestingly, though more people are getting out, flow of foreign remittances seems to slowly thin out. The most visible sign is that many palatial houses that once were owners’ pride are turning into ghost houses. The economy is feeling the pinch forcing rulers to find ways to extract more. These are tough times and tough times need tough measures! Ironically, a current budget proposal that could soon be approved aims at levying taxes on empty houses. When implemented it will be akin to levying an ‘escape tax’. Having taxed just about everything and splurged most of the earnings on themselves and run out of money, our rulers seem to have come up with this cruel yet innovative option to raise money. 

They have a valid reason. Empty houses, according to  them, are burdens on the environment and therefore must bear a cost. They seem to forget the huge number of jobs it generated when constructed and still continues to generate, the money they paid to unions for doing nothing but gawking, the money they now continue to pay the state as charges for electricity and water without using, the property and land tax without occupying these; all for the terrible sin for wanting to come back once a year to connect to their roots. Killing the Golden Goose  in another form? A down-run in construction activity is on the cards and if one NRI decides to demolish his house, a flurry of demolitions is likely to follow.

Given the current scenario, only Gods can save Kerala’s economy.  But there's a problem. These are times when Gods need goons for protection. in that case, is salvation even remotely possible? With leaders being deified and ascribed with divinity, maybe our refuge might rest there! 

Doubts linger!

Who is the cuckoo here?  Those who fly away to distant shores or the ones left behind, lobotomized into silence?

Who are the pretenders here? Our rulers who declare everything is fine and their devout followers who chant amen or the subjects who willingly or out of fear comply in silence? 

Beware! You Could be Cordyceped

 Mystery Of The Long Horned Ants

The forest hides a lot even from the most prying eyes. Most of what we get to see in it is fleeting; what is not fleeting may just be a snapshot and not the full picture. The truth of the forest, a mystery! Today, let us unravel one; the Mystery of the Long Horned Ants!

Each plant species has perfected the art of propagation. When it is season, flowering plants bloom and the forest becomes awash with pollen clouds, each grain in the cloud hoping to find a suitable recipient. Most, not reaching intended locations dry up and die.

A fungus called Ophiocordyceps also sends out spores. Ants are no strangers to the forest. They come out from their colonies to forage. In millions, they crawl all over. Spores of Ophiocordyceps fall on plants, animals and the forest floor. It could also land on ants or they while crawling around could come in contact with it.  

Harmless incident? No; because they are the intended recipient!

If a carpenter ant (camponotus) and a spore gets together, the game changes. As soon as contact is made, the spores drive roots into the hapless host and takes control over its behaviour. Enslaved by the fungus, the afflicted ant has to find a place that offers the right amount of sunlight, temperature and humidity to help the fungus grow; and then in a bizarre final act, gets into a death bite at that precise location ensuring life for its guest. The spore grows into a fungi from the dead ant’s body to spew out spores, infecting another set of ants. The cycle continues. Colonies of ants could get wiped out like this in one season.

Genus Specific

There are more than 400 different species of Cordyceps, each targeting specific species of ants, dragonflies, cockroach, aphids and beetles etc. The story is all similar; the guest enslaves the host and controls its behaviour and eventually kills it.

The process is characterized by the presence of a parasite or parasitoid, a host willingly or unwillingly promoting its growth and at its cost and peril. Often the infection is genus specific.

If you think that this macabre story is confined only to forests or to species other than human beings, you can’t be more wrong. It is played out in and around us, our homes, places of work and in societies we live in. There are many an agent, targeting individuals, groups, sects and other such identities. Don't believe it?

Afflicted Individuals

When it comes to Homo sapiens, individuals are prone to being afflicted by one or multiple agents. Such afflictions are not race or gender specific. Some could be severely debilitating, adversely affecting our personal behaviour and social skills. Few could be even life threatening.

Many amongst us are corrupt. Degree and type notwithstanding, corruption inflicts personal and social costs. Though corruption has almost become a norm, many remorselessly indulge in it. Yet, there still remains an innate fear of being caught. For a few, ‘fear of being caught’ drives its roots and modifies their behaviour. Like the dictated move and death bite of the carpenter ant, the individual is consumed by suspicion. They see shadows even in bright light. Many of them withdraw into shells to shield themselves from prying eyes and leading questions for fear of being exposed. Some become introverted and become conspicuous by their acts, others compulsive liars and few both.

Behaviour and response to situations of many amongst us are driven by mistrust or distrust[1]. Caution is an existential virtue, but when that is fuelled by distrust it can spiral out badly. Such people over time become social misfits, subjects of scorn and eventually force themselves into their own shells and turn recluses.

It is just not only about the corrupt, timid or compulsive liars. There are many others who are similarly afflicted. Fear, guilt, apprehension, anxiety, insecurity, suspicion, greed, melancholy and so many such others; are just names of different genus that have the potential of commanding our minds and modifying our behaviour once they find space with us to rest and root. The most dangerous of all is being infected with a corrosive ideology.

 

Parasitoid

Unlike the empire of the sub-sapiens, we actually could make our infection look wanted. It could even get us inducted into groups we want. Once infected these people actually go around actively seeking to infect others. They are even willing to consume themselves in the process. Anyone opposed to that ideology is considered a threat and is treated appropriately.   That is when it becomes dangerous to societies. Fanaticism emerge like wise. 

 

Infected groups

The holocaust was the culmination of such a spore, rooting in one individual, spreading into others and then infecting the group prompting them to collectively prey on another group. It was not an isolated incident and not one of the past. Every day, across the world there are clouds of such spores of exclusionism infecting localities and regions.

Like Cordyceps, they need hosts and find ingenious ways to create divisions within a population that was otherwise living peacefully. As intensity of affliction increases, lies and falsehood spread at astronomical speeds. Having reached threshold levels, law of the jungle prevails over civility.  Everything that happens, however detached, gets connected and viewed through the spore’s perspective. A narrative is born! Then it is propagated and allowed to gain momentum. Once it attains the momentum threshold, it then catapults on its own with authenticity that truth commands. Social media plays catalyst. Disaster unfolds, slowly first, surely later.

 

Escape?

Insects, cursed merely by coincidence of presence in the area, have no way of shaking the spore away. It is doomed as soon as it comes in contact with the spore! They just can’t reason it out. What about us?

We are not as helpless. We can prevent the spore form driving in roots. It all depends on how well and how ready we are, as individuals or groups to reason it out.

What happens when a people lose sense of rationality?

 

[1] Mistrust and distrust are often considered synonyms but mistrust is a general sense of unease toward someone or something while distrust is usually based on experiences or information. Unfortunately like egg and chicken which manifests first in an individual is hard to decide. Often a learnt behavior both compulsively add to each other

AFGHAN REGIME CHANGE AND US: THE SWORD OF DAMOCLES WE DON'T SEE

 

Men From Skies

The whole world watched in horror, live on TV, the crowd either ignorant of the consequences or hopelessly desperate to find space inside or outside, running along the huge military aircraft taxiing out for takeoff.

Few smuggled themselves into the undercarriage space that offered safety till the retracting landing gear claimed its space and spill out human remains before landing. Many clambered onto the wings and held on to each other and whatever else they could hold. Hopes seldom secure one against airstream of a plane in flight. Sooner than they thought, they gained height, only to fall from the sky. Men rained down from the skies above! Those who managed space within the aircraft escaped, at least for now.

The human tragedy that unfolded itself in Afghanistan in the month of Aug 2021 will haunt humanity for long. The photograph of Major General Chris Donahue, Commander U.S. Army 82^nd Airborne Division, walking back, consumed in the ‘night vision device green’, will remind US lawmakers for long, of another regime change gone wrong.

Regime Change

Successful or not, Americans have either carried out or attempted to carry out ‘regime changes’ across the world. But, the Afghan story remains unparalleled.

It all started on 7 October 2001 with a night bombing to decimate enemies of the US. It ended up as chaos on 30 August 2021. USA suffered more than 2,400 combatants and 1,800 civilian dead and more than 20,700 combatants wounded. It created 26 Lakh Afghan refugees and displaced 35 Lakhs internally. It took USA 20 years and $ 3 trillion to remove Taliban from power and reinstall Taliban!

The mighty US, turned hapless and negotiated with those, they once declared terrorists. The regime change presented the world with the Hobson’s choice of accepting or recognizing Taliban regime at the helm in Afghanistan. What an irony, those at the high table of geopolitics are already racing against each other to negotiate their terms of business with the same very people they called primitive, barbaric and fanatic. While governments the world over are trying to find reasons and excuses to reach common grounds with Taliban, they blissfully turn blind eye to something sinister, the ‘Sword of Damocles, emanating from the graveyard of empires.

What could it be ?

The Sword of Damocles

Damocles the obsequious courtier of Dionysius I, the 4th-century BC ruler of Syracuse, Sicily at least realised in time, the perils of the razor-sharp sword hanging over his head on a slender single strand of horse tail hair. We as individuals or as societies don’t realise there is one over each one of us! 

What is it that we must look out for?

Geopolitically it's a mess out there. No one knows who is in control. Anyone worth anything is trying to find ways and means to connect with those once considered pariahs. There are groups within trying to upstage each other for control of the landlocked country, forever in turmoil. Where it will lead to and when; nobody is sure. 

Under conditions of geopolitical uncertainty, countries often review bilateral relations, trade and business.  Everyone still there is either trying to hold on to a turf, a bargaining chip or create a new one.

As far as India-Afghanistan is concerned, bilateral trade is truly insignificant both in volume and importance. Geopolitically we seem to have been edged out as of now and our projects worth $ 3 billion, as of today, is a candle in the wind. However, it could become the seed, if it ever happens, for rekindling the much talked about ‘people to people’ relationship. Irrespective of what ‘people to people’ relationship means or ever meant, it is the very same people who chose to sideline and ignore India.

As regards domestic politics, reassuring for the ruling dispensation, the opposition seems to have switched on the ‘silence mode’ on the Afghanistan. There seems to be convergence on what various political parties think about the crisis and how it should be handled. 

Unfortunately, nobody seems to notice the sword of Damocles! It is present everywhere across the world, in every nook and corner of our neighbourhood and they have their origins in Afghanistan! It’s about opium and its drug derivatives.

Menace is Around the Corner

Talk of anything out of Afghanistan, one is tempted to first consider the spread of fundamentalism and Terror. But it is opium and its derivatives from Afghanistan that is now consuming the world. Though news emerging out of Afghanistan tend to indicate that Taliban is cracking down on drug trade in the country, it is believed that drugs had a significant role in financing Taliban’s come back.

The surge in supply of Heroin the world is witnessing is being attributed to crackdown by Taliban, forcing drug traders to ship out huge quantities of drugs in various forms into safe havens. But it is also common knowledge that they are in dire need of hard cash! If reports are to be believed, Taliban could be earning sixty percent of their annual revenue from illicit narcotics.

Whatever be the role of Taliban in drug trade or their intent to curtail it, the fact remains that there is a huge pile of drugs already out in the streets around us. More is likely to arrive. It has to be sold and it will find clients. They will create clients somehow. Some of us or our acquaintances may already be under its capitulating influence. Each gram of the substance found, captured and destroyed, represents a mountain of it already in the streets on sale. 

Anyone could be prey!

Drugs and drug trafficking brings along its wake a series law and order issues. It impairs societal peace and wreaks havoc wherever it reaches. it finally kills the society itself.  With such large quantities up for sale, law enforcing agencies must be up on the lookout. 

Politics and ideologies apart, if we all as responsible citizens do not come together, we may end up paying a deadly price.