Masala in banana leaf restaurant?

Velayutham from Pudukkothai

It looks like every Malaysian leader who claims to represent the Indian community in the country also wants to bend over backwards to represent Indian migrant workers. Ever since a migrant Indian worker who escaped his abusive employer in Kuala Lumpur to showcase his sufferings on a Tamil Nadu talk show, every leader here, the ruling as well as on the opposition seems to be jumping up and down like an excited kindergarten child wanting to have the last say on the issue. To summarise the point at hand, a 40 years old carpenter from Tamil Nadu came into Malaysia, through an agent, with a tourist visa to work. His agent's arrangement was that he would be placed to commensurate his carpentering experience and that his tourist visa would be converted to a working visa in time.

Upon arrival, he found himself having his passport confiscated, sent to be enslaved in a banana-leaf restaurant from 5am to 11pm every day. His wages were withheld, exposed to verbal abuses, be witness to the immolation of a fellow worker, beatings and sexual abuses of other workers. Eventually, he made a dash out, walk almost 300km to another state, begged to survive, did odd jobs and finally made it back home with the help of a Malaysian NGO. He finally decided to give a 'no holds barred' interview about his escape from terror with a private TV in Chennai. 

Almost immediately after that interview, the Human Resources Minister, the enforcement agencies and the employers all sprang into action to determine what actually happened. Investigations are ongoing. The bottom line is that many corners have been cut in his employment. And the whole fiasco has given the nation a bad name.

The employers have come out to clear the air. They give a totally different account of what actually transpired, backed with supporting evidence. Many procedural shortcuts were done on compassionate grounds. They asserted that workers were supplied by an agent, and the employee had mishandled petty cash. They insist that any criminal act was amongst the workers and had nothing to do with them. 

We, the viewers, are clearly left baffled, confused about what actually happened. Obviously, one side is bending the truth or simply lying. 

No one believes in anything anymore. We are all desensitised with the violence. So what if the worker is torched? We have seen worse things done by housewives with children upon their helpless domestic help. And we have witnessed mafia-like employers torturing their workers. Let us not forget the shenanigans of some disgruntled employees expressing their resentment in murderous ways. Hence, anything may be possible. 

In this post-truth world where emotions and pre-conceived notions about something prevail over objective truth, media and access to expression just make the situation murkier than it already is. Even the juries assigned to give an unbiased decision on the final say will find it an uphill battle. Information seeps through the tiniest crack.

Video link-up: Host Lakshmy Ramakrishnan discusses Velayutham's complaint with Malaysia's Human Resource Minister in the talk show 'Nerkonda Paarvai'. Some netizens are up in arms with Minister's instantaneous response in this case. They allege that the Ministry had remained mum in many other issues involving its own citizens. Others suggest that the employers may have strong political links.

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Get Back!

Aruvi (Tamil அருவி; 2017)

This is a compelling sociopolitical drama which must have surely been written by a card-carrying member of the socialist/communist party. Who else would paint such a bleak picture of modern life and the self-defeating trappings that line every aspect of our lives? Human values take a back seat. A pre-set path is made for us to follow and feel contended. Any deviation from the norm is frowned upon. The whole purpose of life is to promote consumerism, be awed by materialism and to fatten the multinational conglomerates.

This is an absorbing saga of a young girl, Aruvi, who acquired HIV most unconventionally - at the roadside coconut vendor as she savoured a probably contaminated freshly cut coconut! Long story short - she falls seriously ill, is diagnosed, hurled abuses of promiscuity and is chased away by the previously loving family. She wanders around, living with friends and working menial jobs. At every corner, the men in her life misbehaved. They demand sexual favours in return for help.

Lakshmi Gopalaswamy

Aruvi befriends a fellow HIV victim, a transexual, Emily. Together they plot an act of appropriate revenge to expose the hypocrisy of the society, the wolves in sheep's clothing in community and the foolhardy of the people in the business of peddling news who are more interested in sensationalism than actually highlighting the plight of the people.

Aruvi and Emily walk into a television studio in the pretext of exposing the plight of the society's transgender population. Cleverly, they hoodwinked a self-absorbed talk show compère and took the studio staff hostage at gunpoint. 

It takes a swipe at a TV reality-justice talk show of the Tamil little screen,  'Solvathellam Sathyam'. It works along the same line as 'Jeremy Kyle Show' and 'Jerry Springer Show' where people wash dirty linen in public. The movie, even though, uncredited is supposed to be based on an Egyptian 2011 film, 'Asmaa' as alleged by some critics. It is obviously not copied as we will find out later.

A refreshing story with completely fresh faces and a debutante director. 4.5/5.

Also, see: on Asmaa https://www.riflerangeboy.com/2019/07/walk-mile-in-her-shoes.html 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.