Santalam Album fini

Take a good look at the photo of this tree photo (below). This photo was taken when I was in India recently, in a heavily forested area in south India..

I took this photo because I wanted to record the sandalwood tree for posterity. Because, in the next few years, the last of the sandalwood trees will be gone. South India, home to the best quality sandalwood in the world, will have none left.

Long before Mr Moustaches aka Sandhana Kadatthal Veerappan came on the scene, the sandal snatching had been going on with great vigour and with the active connivance of many top government honchos and well-known public figures. They were the ones that benefited the most from it. We’re talking very big bucks here.

After Moustaches came on the scene and sandal smuggling came under a very bright spotlight, most of the sins were conveniently blamed on him. Not that he was any angel, he certainly did his bit to rid the earth of Indian sandalwood and other Indian fauna as well. But he came in after more than half the tree population had already met their ends. And he hastened the process with those trees that were left.

And now, even after he is gone, there are many who devoutly follow in his footsteps.

Here’s something that happened late last year, in a small hamlet in south India.

Taking centrestage is a 100-year-old sandal tree (the older the tree, the more the wood, the costlier it is etc). It is consistently and actively protected by government officials, as they know the danger it is in.

But obviously a lot of work went into the background planning for Operation Treegrab, for all this protection was for nothing. These new age Moustachios in charge of Operation Treegrab brought with them padlocks for EVERY house in that hamlet and locked all the residents in. They also brought with them a cellphone frequency jammer (yes, such things exist) which meant that NO ONE in this small village could use their phones to summon extra help or aid. And they chose a day when the officials were out on business. Before the officials could get on the scene after getting the information, the bandits had successfully brought the tree down and sawed it into manageable bits. They had even loaded the wood onto their vehicles.

They were chased by the officials with great vigour. But the officials’ old-fashioned weapons (almost antiques) were no match for the state-of-art weapons the bandits had. The bandits finally escaped by the simple expedient of throwing out blocks of sandalwood in the way of the pursuers’ vehicles and then crossed the state border triumphantly. End of chase.

The retrieved sandalwood was stored under lock and key. Questions were asked, but there were very few answers. Inside connivance (of some of the villagers) was a given but when you are dirt poor, what does the survival of a species of tree mean to you? Solid cash that will feed you for a few months means more.

Even small trees are not safe, the officials I spoke to said. People can’t be bothered to wait till a tree is mature, even if it 10 years old, they chop it down and sell it for whatever they can get. The situation is so bad that any remaining sandal tree probably needs personal and one-on one protection…..the situation is the same or even worse in all southern states that still boast a few trees.

Hence my photo here – take a good look at the tree. You won’t have any more left in a few years.

Cheating and more

Students, especially overseas students, sitting exams in some specific subjects here, have been caught cheating recently. All the students who were caught cheating were of Indian origin.

And the explanation that they and their trainers (incidentally, another Indian) could come up with was:
a) It’s part of the Indian culture
b) It’s an acceptable practice in India.

EXCUSE ME?

But then, why am I surprised? There was this wife-beater a few years ago here who tried to justify his 'habit' saying that it was a culturally acceptable practice in India.

And there was another man who tried to justify killing his wife. His reason? She was having an affair with a Pakistani man, ie, the enemy. So he was actually being patriotic by killing her.

And there was this guy in front of me in the Immigration office, asking if he could get his visa stamped in the NZ office itself instead of taking it back to India, as "India is bad, nothing works properly there and nothing gets done on time", he said in his pigdin English.

BLOODY SLIMEBALLS!

Of xenophobes and lunatics

Such xenophobic, parochially prejudiced idiots are dangerous and should be made taboo, illegal, and certified - permanently. If you listen to him talking, then you’d think that Maharashtra is a separate country, as are Delhi, UP and the South – separate from India, that is!!! And targeting famous faces only, as that is good publicity. And we all know that any publicity for such slime is good publicity.

And Hindi films are banned in the South in Tamil Nadu? Does he even know what he’s talking about? Some of the highest grossing films recently have been Hindi movies. Talk about rabble rousers and opportunistic politicians! Disgusting!

Faking it

This literally makes me see red.

I can live with (or without) the fake fireworks and the fake cleanliness. But this?

How could they do that to a child? How? Start early. Start telling them from now that they are “ugly”. No age is too early to start the stereotyping. I feel sick.

What else will they fake next?