Slavery never disappeared?

Aadujeevitham (Goat Days / Goat Life, Malayalam,2024)
Director: Jessy

By the end of the 20th Century, many of Kerala's male population worked in the Gulf Countries. Poverty and unemployment were the push factors for the 'Gulf Boom' in the 1970s and 1980s. Business was booming on the other side of the Arabian Sea, and petroleum was hitting record levels. Soon, sob stories started appearing about the abuse and pathetic living conditions amongst the Kerala Gulf diaspora. 

In 2008, a Malayali writer, Benyamin, narrated the trials and tribulations of Najeeb Muhammad, a Malayali guest worker stranded in Riyadh airport. Not knowing Arab, Najeeb innocently followed an Arab man he assumed was his employer. His initial contract was for him to work as a cashier in a supermarket. Instead, he ended up herding hundreds of goats in the middle of the desert. He had no living quarters, time off, food, or pay. For more than two years, he had not seen any living soul except for his 'owner' and the owner's brother. He was scrutinised and beaten up every time they did something they did not like or tried to escape. In simple terms, he was a bonded slave. He had no dignity and lived with the goats. He was denied water to wash himself and even a change of clothes.

Before and after pictures.

The Malayalam true story became a bestseller and was translated into eight languages. It is currently in its 130th edition. Of course, it was banned in the Gulf States as it depicted Arabs as barbaric. Of course, an Arab also helped him to safety when Najeeb finally found the courage (and a friend) to escape.

Now, before jumping the gun and condemning Islamic clerics for never openly condemning slavery, one should remember that all Muslim countries, in accordance with the UN Charter, ban slavery in any form. All ancient belief systems have accepted the presence of slaves in their societies. It is common knowledge that slaves were given free status when they converted to the religion of the ruler or invading army. People are people everywhere; they want to dominate others. 

Author Benyamin and Najeeb

When the British banned the transatlantic slave trade, it was done under a different name. As the French benefitted immensely from the slave-intensive sugarcane plantations in the Caribbean, Napoleon even legalised slavery there. It ended with the Haitian slave revolt and their declaration of Independence in 1804. In the USA, the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution effectively ended slavery in 1865.

Even in this age and time, we hear of maids enduring slave-like living conditions in both first-world and third-world nations. A sliver of hope suddenly convinces us that humanity has not died. We pacify ourselves; we all love our fellow humans, only to be slapped with gruesome stories of abused maids. Surprisingly, we treat our pets with more dignity. 

(P.S. I think the filmmakers were trying to make Prithviraj, the main actor, do a Tom Hank role—as in 'Cast Away'—to emphasise the desolation and hopelessness of being stuck in the vast desert. Unfortunately, it did not turn out as such. The director thought it was necessary to include song numbers to drive home the point of what a good time he had back home with his wife. I do not think it worked here. By the way, Najeeb would not have left if it was all hunky dory back home.)

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

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.

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

Man proposes, but God disposes.

Of Mice and Men (novella, film, play)

Author: John Steinbeck (1937)

Films: 1939,1992

This John Steinback's post-depression novel is still being used in schools on both sides of the Atlantic. Why use an old book when there are so many new ones with less objectionable dialogues and situations? I think that is precisely why such a book with depressing, flawed characters and bullying as themes be used for students. As days go on, society wants to sanitise everything for our growing minds. Everything needs to be politically correct, and social justice must be seen to be done at all levels. Imagine one school in the UK collectively agreed that opening a door for a handicapped person is actually toxic behaviour. By doing so, we are emphasising to the handicapped person that he is needy. Furthermore, with critical race theory permeating every level of our interaction with a fellow human being, we need to drill upon our young minds that it is perfectly alright for others to be different from us. And that they should be accepted as a fellow inhabitant of this vast planet.

The real world is ugly and is not fair to everyone. Bad things happen to good people, and sometimes bad people get good stuff at the expense of the good. Just deal with it. Like John Steinbeck's other story, which found movie release, this story is also set in the post-depression era where migrants from other states go to another searching for a job. These interstate immigrants are scorned upon and treated less of human.

It starts with two men taking a breather at a creek after a long walk, after alighting from their bus some 10 miles earlier. These men are to begin as helping hand in a barn, harvesting and loading barley onto carriages. There is George, the street-smart one and his mentally challenged but physically endowed friend, Lennie. George is Lennie's guardian after his aunt died.

Lennie's behaviour is unpredictable. He has a fascination for things that are cute, small and smooth. The trouble is that Lennie cannot control his hands. He had once killed a mouse as he is too harsh with it. At their last sojourn, George and Lennie were almost lynched when Lennie caressed a lady's exquisite red dress so passionately that the lady thought he was going to rape her.

Lennie is repeatedly reminded to behave and not get into trouble again, but it is easier said than done as he is forgetful and relatively slow in comprehending things. Finally, George promises him that they would one day buy a farm and rear chickens and rabbits with enough money.

1992 version
Gary Senise and John Malkovish

The new working place is a farm where workers harvest barley. Curley is the owner's son, a pint-sized boxer with a Napoleonic complex who tries to throw his weight around. Lennie is his easy target. Then, there is Curley's wife, a flirtatious lady with showbiz ambitions. All the farmworkers try to keep away from her. Finally, Candy is an elderly worker with one hand who offers to contribute to join George and Lennie to buy their dream farm.

The climax of the story is when Curley's wife flirts with Lennie. Earlier, Lennie had accidentally killed a pup that was gifted to him. In their conversation, Lennie, being the clumsy person he is, accidentally breaks her neck. Curley, upon discovering his dead wife, puts up a search party to hunt Lennie down.

George finds Lennie in their secret hiding place and guns him down himself. End.

The little novel is a treasure trove for students of literature in discussing various characters, the qualities, their social standings or lack of, their mental state and injustices in the society. This is how life is. There are people at the top of the food chain who pounce on those below to keep themselves in charge. There is a schism within the community based upon a person's external attributes. There is a constant struggle for each other to get better than the other. Life on Earth is no utopia. It is the survival of the fittest.

Another angle often not discussed is about living with a person whose mental faculty is challenged. It is not easy. Mental illness comes in various forms, either acquired congenitally or with the stresses of life. Either way, the caretakers go through a lot to deal with the recurring unending demands of the afflicted party. The caretakers go through a myriad of emotions themselves, trying to put things for the person with mental illness to fit into society. But, the community does not make integration easy either. They are quick to judge, heckle and provoke the weak. It masks their own inadequacies. The mental challenged will only be left with their primal defences to protect themselves. This form of defence, unfortunately, is not acceptable to society. This further spins the caretaker into turmoil, sometimes resorting to uncivil actions, putting an end to the victim's miseries.

The title 'Of Mice and Men' is an extraction from Robert Burns' 1785 poem, which was written in Scot-language. He wrote,

The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men

Gang aft agley,

An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,

For promis'd joy!

(The best-laid schemes of mice and men

Go oft awry,

And leave us nothing but grief and pain,

For promised joy!)

Man proposes, but God disposes.

(Thanks to MEV for recommending)

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