Several documentaries, including those made by the State and Central governments, have 'captured' the lives of those who toil in sweat shops at a young age. It's no secret that child labour and bondage are rampant in India. So you would think that it's not hard for someone from there to believe that forced labour is very common. But Vishnu, who's supposed to be from Kanchipuram, was angry that I said there are slave labourers in Kancipuram, in my last podcast. He wanted me to "stop making stuff up just to increase (my) hits." He also had more to say about my "rants" against Hinduism. I cannot paste his entire mail here, but you can visit any rediff message board and find a close match. I haven't spoken to Vishnu before, but I'm sure he is a you-know-who.
I shouldn't be surprised, though. The district collector himself did not know that it was happening in his town; either that or it's the usual denial we are so used to hearing from our babus. ("150 cases in all of India," adi seruppala.) I was glad to find the BBC report I had mentioned in the podcast -- I had recorded it a long time ago. It's different from the rest in that we almost feel sorry for the government officials. You are touched by how they are cornered, and feel helpless in the face of what they see as futile. You might even want to cry: "Leave them alone, didn't you hear it? The boy cannot study. Stop wasting their valuable their time already. They will definitely take action."
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I shouldn't be surprised, though. The district collector himself did not know that it was happening in his town; either that or it's the usual denial we are so used to hearing from our babus. ("150 cases in all of India," adi seruppala.) I was glad to find the BBC report I had mentioned in the podcast -- I had recorded it a long time ago. It's different from the rest in that we almost feel sorry for the government officials. You are touched by how they are cornered, and feel helpless in the face of what they see as futile. You might even want to cry: "Leave them alone, didn't you hear it? The boy cannot study. Stop wasting their valuable their time already. They will definitely take action."
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
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10 comments:
wat iz this Suresh. y r u spreading these lies of that white men r creating. there is no slavery in india, there is no racism, there is no domestic abuse, there is no rape, no sex before marriage, there is no incest, there is none of those things white people tell u we have, we indians are far superior than these white infidels. we have morals, values and the oldest religion. and the story about Lord Muruga having 2 wives is also a blatant lie!!! how can u an indian spread these craps.
jai hind! down on suresh!
Mrs.ILoveIndia: wow.... does your idiocy have no bounds? Before you accuse somebody of parroting the White man's propaganda, you should take a hard look at yourself and ask whose propaganda you are parroting!
On an another note, while the situation might be exaggerated, I definitely agree that the problem is very real and unfortunate.
Anon,
IloveIndia is just being sarcastic (and I should say he/she has gone to a great length to make it obvious).
Going purely by the news report, there's no exaggeration. If anything, a lot of this is normalized into our psyche. There's quite a bit of unlearning to do do, that's all.
Aside: why is 'getting' sarcasm so difficult, really?
Suresh: LOL... got sucked in. It was hard to get because I have had the unfortunate experience of mingling with people who actually do believe that kind of sh*t.
//We are trying to come out of it// Ironic when the authority to enforce law is running away. It takes a white man to pull the collector by his collar and ask tough questions.
First the blood diamond and now bonded silk.
Vinoth: I'm sorry, your comment is too clever for me. It makes this blog look like a stupid place. So to preserve its facade of intellectual grandeur and honesty, I'm going to have to remove your comment.
24 hours and your comment will be gone. Thanks.
Truer words were never spoken.
If that's what you say, Suresh, that's the way it's got to be.
Gee, I realize I am beginning to idolize you now.
Vinoth,
Just so you know: Your previous comment had nothing to do with this post. If you wanted to talk about atheists or Periyar, there are other posts. So you can post your comment there (if you didn't save your comment, I'll retrieve it for you).
Having clarified that, I hope no one has any objection if I removed the last four comments a little later.
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