Desicritics Author: Jo

Music, Web 2.0, and YOU

Jo — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 08:58:29 EDT

Not so long ago, a singer or a musician had to put in a lot of efforts just to be heard by the public. Forget being the main vocalist or even a chorus singer, It was a long and tedious process to at least get his/her voice heard by a prominent music director. People still send their demo CDs to the music production companies, recording labels, music directors and other famous names in the music industry hoping that they would get a music deal out of it. But a large chunk of them goes straight to the bin before even being opened. Rumors also have that some singers offer apartments, villas or gifts as such while some others offer themselves to the music directors just to get a chance to sing and thus open up their path to fame.

Then came the Time Magazine person of the year - Web 2.0. It began a revolution through music sharing websites, music blogs etc and people from even the small cities of the world began to post their voices/music online, releasing their own albums online, communicating straight with their audience, touring the world, making fans, fame and even money.

Jonathan Coulton's is one such story. He quit his job as a computer programmer to become a full time musician. Then he written and recorded a song every week and posted it to his blog. He called the project "Thing a Week" and did this experiment for one year.

He’d always wanted to be a full-time musician, and he figured the only way to prove to himself he could do it was with a drastic challenge. “I learned that it is possible to squeeze a song out of just about anything,” he said. “But it’s not always an easy or pleasant process.” Given the self-imposed time constraints, the “Thing a Week” songs are remarkably good.
By the middle of last year, his project had attracted a sizable audience. More than 3,000 people, on average, were visiting his site every day, and his most popular songs were being downloaded as many as 500,000 times; he was making what he described as “a reasonable middle-class living” — between $3,000 and $5,000 a month — by selling CDs and digital downloads of his work on iTunes and on his own site. [NY Times - Sex, Drugs and Updating Your Blog]

He also takes time to individually respond to his fans and his fans help him with ideas for song writing, and some even made videos for his songs.

Then there is Jamison Young, an Australian musician who is giving away his music for free using Creative Commons license, but making big money and bigger album sales.

Now, this may sound contradictory but Jamison says that by giving away his music free as downloads, it vastly increases the number of people who listen to his music and they in turn refer to their friends. This spreads word about the album and quite a few of them buy the album off the store shelves. He says the money he makes this way is higher than the pittance that big record labels give him. This is actually a good technique to give a fighting chance against the more established artists. [Via]

Indian musicians/singers are also not letting these opportunities slip. When I started music blogging in 2005, there were no other music blogs that I have been aware of. Today, there are 81 music bloggers in the India music blogosphere. Most of them are amateurs, but the list also includes playback singers who have made it big or small in the mainstream industry as well. And the list is growing.

Music in the web 2.0 era has also given birth to some unique ideas and concepts. BlogSwara is one as such. While many of the music bloggers resort in doing the cover versions of popular filmy album songs, BlogSwara gets these musicians to come up with fresh and original music.

This community acts as a common platform for amateur musicians to showcase their talent before the world by producing music and share it over the internet. BlogSwaraalso has a website with the same name. It is also a free-music movement where visitors/listeners can download the mp3 files of the songs. There are 63 people involved with BlogSwara to the date and more and more musicians keep joining this venture. What is more interesting is that most of these musicians work 'together' online. They have songs in various Indian languages - Malayalam, Thamizh and Hindi. BlogSwara is going to publish their fourth album online by next month.

Regional blogging world is also coming up with their own creative, collaborative blogs of their own. Lalithagaanam is a group blog where bloggers post their poems, others compose it and sometimes orchestrate it and post the completed song in their blog.

Total Mukti is another group, started by two IIT-K students and they are now publishing their music online. They also invite other amateur or professional musicians to work with them. They say that their past experience in the team with both music and IT industry makes them believe that music and technology have lot of common passions, goals, vision and excitement to share in their own different ways.

It is time to scrap those TV shows that usually claim to pick up the best singing talent and ends up with choosing the good-looking, charming or dancing people than the best singing ones. I think the lessons on Internet, blogging, web 2.0 etc has to be taught to the less-privileged, poor but talented class - those who do not have any godfathers, or know enough people to do the SMS campaign to win. That would make Web 2.0 more meaningful when it changes the lives of ordinary people.

Sethusamudram Project - The Frauds are Revealed

Jo — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 00:08:31 EDT

It would be understandable if the opposition of saffron brigade against the Sethusamudram Ship Canal project was based on the environmental concerns. But their opposition was totally on the religious grounds. Still it would be understandable if their claim was right and the Sethu project site would need to be protected or declared as a heritage site if the bridge was actually built by men in the Ramayana era.

For the scientific reasoning, they also roped in a scientist and provided him with protection (for what, only he knows) and accommodation. The scientist said he is from ISRO and on a two year leave from the government.

Now the fun part. In an Express exclusive in the Sunday Express, they have found out that this man, Puneesh Taneja, is nothing but a fraud. He is not from ISRO and he is not even a scientist of any sorts.

“ISRO has no relation with this man. We have not heard of him at all. The Additional Secretary, Department of Space, is an IAS officer. He is S V Ranganath, he sits in Bangalore. Also, the Sethusamudram project has no connection with ISRO,” ISRO director for information S Krishnamurthy told The Sunday Express in Bangalore.

Now I remember those email forwards circulating through the Internet with the satellite pictures of the proposed project site and the claims in it which was reportedly backed up by scientists in ISRO and even, NASA. But just see what the real NASA says about the project:

Geological Survey of India study found that the Sethu isn’t manmade but a result of sedimentation of clay, sandstone and limestone. NASA calls it a tomobolo, a bar of sand connecting one island with another that usually indicates a constant sediment source.

This is yet another moment for the saffron brigade to put their foot in mouth, but to save themselves (although it doesn't help them much) from the mess, they have removed the fraud scientist from the Pracharak status.

The remaining question is, were the RSS/VHP really not aware that Mr. Taneja was a fraud? Why wouldn't they check the credentials of a person like Mr. Taneja who claimed to be an ISRO scientist and thus an authoritative voice in such a serious issue like Sethu project at first hand? Either they are claiming that they are a bunch of jokers as we thought or they are just trying to save their face in public for painting religion in the whole issue for the political benefits.

I now hope that the religious color in the issue ends up here and the discussion on environmental issues take place.

The IIFA Awards: Not in Our Name

Jo — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 00:21:51 EDT

It is that time of the year again, when the diversity in unity in India is exposed. At least in the entertainment business. I am talking about the International Bollywood Film Awards which is purposefully and wrongly named as the "International Indian Film Awards". The folks at Bollywood who desperately want to project Hindi cinema as Indian cinema before the world are at it again this year.

I am just wondering why there isn't enough protest against this? Where have the so-called anti-discrimination folks have gone? Or is the protest against discrimination limited to the Bollywood folks like Shilpa Shetty only? As long as the word "Indian" in these "Global Indian Film Awards" or "International Indian Film Awards" etc are about Indians, they have to represent Indian cinema or else they should remove the word "Indian" from the events and just put that funny word "Bollywood" instead.

And now read this intro text in their website, that says:

IIFA believes cinema is a key to open minds, building bridges across businesses, communities, nations and cinemas, creating One people. One world.

Such fun.

So far the only south Indian movie personality to question this injustice was Malayalam actor and 3 time national award winner Mammootty. He questioned this when he was there at IIFA stage in 2006 in Dubai.

During his speech at the recently concluded IIFA awards night in Dubai, Mammootty (actor from Kerala, one of several non-Hindi and therefore `South' Indian actors,) asked: "How can this be called International Indian Awards when the competition is only limited to Hindi films?"

He also pointed out: "Indian cinema is not just Bollywood, and Hindi is not the only language. Why should our films be called South Indian cinema instead of being under the banner of Indian films?"

Where are the other actors and technicians to speak up on this? I have no hatred towards any region or language, but based on these bitter experiences and insult towards the people in the south of India, let me say Hindi alone is not India. Hindi cinema alone is not Indian cinema.

I think Unity in Diversity sounds so funny these days.

Related:

Global "Indian" Film Awards???
Hindi Cinema = Indian Cinema ?

Interview: Magline, Social Activist - She Sells Peace By The Seashore

Jo — Fri, 4 May 2007 00:26:18 EDT

I hate society feminists who do not touch the basic rights of poor women or the women from the low-class of the society. This is one of the reasons for I hate urban-centered show-case feminist projects like Blank Noise. I met Magline at a time when I had no respect towards the kind of feminism that doing the rounds. Magline is a social activist from the fishing community of Trivandrum, south Kerala. And she has a thing or two to teach us about feminism and activism.

In this interview, she talks about the fishing community, her activities for the fishing community and her experiences in the Tsunami relief camps.

Magline, can you tell us how you got into the social activities?

It was after my marriage. My husband was the secretary of Matsya Thozhilaali Federation, Thiruvananthapuram district. It was in 1986. My mother is a fish vendor and father is a fisherman. I come from a fishing community.

The fish was given after an auction. So I used to go help my father with accounting. We used to get a lot of fish in our boat. In those days, people used to say it is the luck of us, girls.

I heard that there are a lot of such superstitious beliefs in the coastal area...

Yes, there are. But nobody used to say it is the luck of the girls in many fishing communities. As girls, we were not even allowed to go to the beach as per such beliefs. Particularly during the periods. Because the community considers sea as pure and we were not allowed to go near the sea and to touch the fishing equipments. Suppose if we touch the equipments and the fishermen do not get fish on that day, they would say it was because the women touched it during their periods. So to purify the equipments, the men in the community would undress themselves at night and pluck stems and leaves of some trees and would strike the nets. It is done to make the nets to smell like the leaves. There were such beliefs from a long time.

Also women cannot go to the beach with untied hair. They say Kadalamma (The sea is seen as mother) will be angry if we go there with loosen hair. The belief is that if the womenfolk sit with untied hair when the men go fishing, there will be huge waves in the sea.

So it is the women who are affected by such beliefs, isn't it?

Yes, right. Not only that. Our men have sex only on Saturday nights, because they don't go for fishing on Sunday. Suppose if a man and woman have sex on a weekday and if the man gets into a danger or die when he is out for fishing, it will be said that it happened because the women couldn't control her sexual needs and she will be blamed for her man's death. Many of these practices have changed these days.

But things were different in our family. Girls had good care from the family. We were very friendly with each other at home. My parents used to share the traditional knowledge of the fishing community about the sea and wind. There is a cycle of fishing. It is like the small fish would come first and the bigger ones would come next to eat the small ones and even bigger ones would come to eat the smaller ones etc. But these days this cycle has changed. And I think there would be only a few people who have such traditional knowledge.

We had a women's association there called Sagara Mahilaa Samaajam. Peter's (my husband) friends used to visit us before going to the meetings of the association. They also took me to their meetings. I could contribute a lot in these meetings as I used to go to the beach everyday to manage the accounting and I was aware of the changes in the sea more than the others. My mother used to share her experience in the fish market. So when the women in the association talked about their issues, I could understand and contribute a lot. Gradually they gave me the full responsibility of the Mahilaa Samaajam.

Are you the founder of Theeradesa Mahilaa Vedi (Association of coastal women)?

No. Actually I was afraid of protests and strikes. More over, I was afraid of police (smiling). At first I worked with an NGO. But I was more interested in the movements. When the issues come up, the NGOs are not interested in active movements. So I chose Theeradesa Mahilaa Vedi. It was started from 1985 itself. It is not a registered body, but we work as the women's wing of Mathsya Thozhilaali Federation.

I heard that you are involved with the protest against Coca-Cola in Plachimada. Are there any reasons for you to join in that protest? How does the Plachimada issue affect the fishing community?

Yes. Not only Plachimada, but I am involved with the movement against Endosulphan also. Talking about Plachimada, the sea and the forest have a great relationship with each other. There are 44 streams in Kerala. These streams join in the sea. So the food for our fish comes from the bio-contents of the forests that these streams carry along to the sea. So who else would protect these children of forest than us? [Note: Magline is referring to the tribals in the Plachimada area who are involved in the protests against Coca-Cola] It is us who are their brothers.

So it is not only the issues concerning coastal area, but you are actively involved in many other issues as such.

I'm not a celebrity social activist.

You had said that there are many things that concerning women in all such social issues in Kerala. (These issues affect not only women though). We have a lot of women's organizations here as part of the women's wing of political parties and otherwise. There are many well known feminists too. But they keep a distance from such issues whereas women like you who are from the lowest part of the society come up and actively get involved in the issues. How do you see the silence of that other sect?

Yes, I had discussed about this. What we have now is an overdose of professionalism in social activities. Professionalism means they want to take a doctorate in a subject and that's it. What do our writers do? I can't quote names here. We used to have many writers who educated the people through their words and brought up the issues concerning the ordinary people through the media. Where have they gone now? How many writers responded to the Plachimada issue? Let's leave the old people. Perhaps they are too old for this. But where are the young writers? They have gone to the researches. They have gone to satisfy the agencies that flows fund for them. So our problems are not their concern.

Suppose if a woman from our community is raped, I can only see it as something that happened to my mother or sister. So I will react, I might be violent. People used to ask me why I am being violent at times. The last issue happened was when an official decision made to vacate the women fish vendors from the Kumarapuram market. They came with the court order to vacate us. There is a plain land of 1.5 acres owned by the social welfare board just nearby the market. We all went to that place and began sale. We have to sell the fish somewhere.

When we had finished selling for the day, the Social Welfare Board people came with police escort and sealed the place. In the next day, we gathered together and broke the wall because we had to sell our fish somewhere. Then the police came and tried to arrest us. So we went into the street and blocked the road for 4-5 hours. At that time the police officers were keep calling me on the phone and asking "Magline, you disperse for today and we will see a solution tomorrow". I asked them "What will you give us for the fish we brought to market today? Will you pay for this?" We cannot go back home without selling the fish. If I am able to continue with my social activities, it is because of what my mother earns from the market by selling fish. Nobody pays me for my work. So when something happens to my food & living, I would react, obviously.

So after the road blocking protest, the Taluk chief came in as the delegate of district collector and talked to us and gave us a place to sell our fish. Also the district collector came on the very next day to discuss with us. Now we have a place to sell our fish.

Suppose if we had agreed to what the policemen had asked for, nothing would have happened and we would still be having on-going discussions.

Tourism development & related issues in the coastal area

What happens here is sex tourism. There are a lot of hotels and massage centers that offering local men to the foreign women and our little girls to the foreign men. We are not able to bring this issue to the forefront. The reason is the girls are not ready to talk about this in public. So we cannot carry forward without any solid proof. Many of our children are trapped in this situation. The main reason is poverty.

The government does not have any idea of an alternate solution when they vacate us from here for tourism development. They would say they would give us. What would they give? When would they give? - They are not concerned about these. So when they gave us nothing else but only a promise, we had to go to the streets. This is a major reason for our women to choose prostitution to sustain their lives.

When I asked a friend of mine who resides near Kovalam, he told me something. In the early days we had heard about Arabi Kalyanam (Arab nationals - most of the men would be very old - would come to north Kerala during their ship's halt in the port and marry young girls, make them pregnant and leave). I heard that these days American and European tourists come to the places like Kovalam beach on tour and they marry local women and go. The difference of these people from Arab men is they send a certain amount of money every month. I think there is a social or cultural issue in this and this has not yet come to the public's attention. What do you have to say about this?

Yes, it is happening and it came in the newspapers. But here it is considered as an authorized marriage. The reason is the foreign tourists from Europe or America are not like Arabs. They stay there for a year and come here for 2 months or so. They protect the women they marry and their kids here.

Why do they like our women? Do you think it's because their sympathy of the poverty over here? No, it is purely sex. For them it is the safest way to have sex without the fear of AIDS. So they would marry a girl and setup a house. So there is no issue of law or police interfering. They wouldn't have any visa issues as well. Everyone knows it is plain sexual abuse.

Are there any programs being organized to raise awareness no this issue?

This is not a wide-spread issue now. And this is not like prostitution. Like I mentioned before, the basic issue here is poverty. The marriage doesn't happen in just one day. A friend's daughter is married to a foreigner. But their family sees the foreigner in high regard, because there is no poverty in their family now and no situation of opting prostitution. Sometimes that person sends only $ 50. When it is converted to Indian rupees, it is enough for their family to live for a month.

I know it will become a big issue in the future and we need to raise awareness about this. But this issue is concerning not only the fishing community, but in many other sections of the coastal area. Even the educated people prefer to marry the foreigners.

There is another thing - if the women are graduated, their foreign husbands would take them abroad and even setup jobs for them. So our society cannot easily accept this as wrong.

The people in the fishing community are very ordinary and innocent people. At the same time I have felt that they are very sensitive also. If we take a look at the communal riots in Kerala, most of it happened in the coastal areas. We have Marad, Nadapuram, Poonthura, Vizhinjam etc as examples. Is there any activity to resist this trend like awareness, proper education etc?

Yes, there is. The reason that we brought up the concept of Violence against Women is based on this vision. But considering the current situation in Kerala, we cannot say anything against that in a sudden, because like you said our area is very sensitive. We will get angry and calm easily - Just like the sea.

We are usually very loving and caring people. We have a 'No man's land' in Vizhinjam. Do you know what that is for? When a communal riot burst out earlier between Muslims and Christians, they built a wall. Muslims reside on one side and Christians on the other. If you look at Poonthura or Marad, the conflict is between Hindus and Muslims. There are places where the tension exists between Hindus and Christians. These are not created by us. The public should understand that. Our people do not know how to make riots. We are only used to fight with the , and we do not know killing people with swords and bombs. But we are being taught about these. The reason is the governments and politicians cannot afford to see us united, because we are the vote bank here.

So we killed our own brothers in Poonthura. How many people were killed in Marad? Or in Vizhinjam? But if we stand united, no one can defeat us. So it is the political parties that using us. And they cannot come in any other name, but in the name of Gods.

I think if we make some efforts to give them some education, it might help resolving this situation a little bit. What is the educational status among the coastal people?

Many changes have happened education wise. That is why we are not hearing any problems reported from Poonthura and Vizhinjam from a long time. The reason is that the educational level has increased in these areas a little bit. So the politicians are also changing their area focus accordingly. When we raised awareness in the southern coastal areas, the politicians are now shifting their base to the northern Kerala.

The RSS has made their women's wing very strong. The division is very much visible so that we have to put the bindi on the forehead to go to Hindu women and wear Parda to go see Muslim women. Because these days a Hindu will accept only another Hindu and a Muslim would only accept another Muslim.

Let's talk about Tsunami. You were very much involved with the Tsunami relief efforts. Two years have passed after Tsunami. The most terrible effect of Tsunami in Kerala was seen in Alappad panchayath. What is the current situation there?

There are many families still living in shelters. Still there are so many issues. Nothing has been solved. They had offered many packages, but nothing has been implemented.

I guess the situation is even worse for women, right? The sanitation problem etc?

Yes, it is really a terrible situation there. Now it has been reduced a little since it is summer/dry season. When the monsoon starts, the problems would arise again. The shelter construction was not done according to our climate. Can we build a shelter in Kerala considering the climate of Indonesia? Even in Kerala, the climate is different in Aalappad. So the shelters and toilets must be made considering the nature and climate of the place. But nobody bothers about it. They just want to see how to gain benefits from a tragedy.

When it was said that the state treasury has no money, Ramesh Chennithala flew by a helicopter to Kozhikode to announce that K. Muraleedharan was taken out from the KPCC president position because of the Karunakaran-Antony rivalry in Congress. When there was no money in treasury, whose money was spent for this? It is our money.

Has Tsunami happened in K M Mani's place, Kottayam? Who distributed the funds there? Tsunami was an unexpected fortune for the political parties. What about the television channels? Do you know how much money they have made out of this? Since everyone gained financial benefits, nobody is talking about it. You will know if you check the facts. Those who didn't get anything is the Tsunami affected people. If these people distribute the money evenly to our people, we all would have become millionaires by now. Some priests have made money by saying some church in a remote area (I don't remember the name now) was affected by Tsunami.

Priests, nuns, political parties, T V channels, individuals, churches, Amrutanandamayi - All has made money out of this. Does anyone have an accounting of these?

The houses built here are without any proper ventilation. A family cannot live in it safely. Just go and check to see if there is any truth in what I say. How can a person be silent seeing all this? I have been a victim of political parties, Amrutanandamayi and RSS. It is my love for my people that helped me survive those situations. Even Dheevara Sabha came to attack me.

I reached in Alappad in the morning of 27th. The girls were served with enough food and water. Coca-Cola and Pepsi brought mineral water. Many organizations came in vehicles with huge banners and distributed food. But at that time, the women were not in a situation to eat food. They lost everything. There were mothers who lost children, husbands who lost their wives, wives who lost their husbands and children etc... So they needed some comforting words than anything else.

There were some minor issues in the camps from the beginning itself. There were complaints of food not being given properly, toilet issues etc. We highlighted these issues and prepared to cover this through a live programme in Asianet TV. There were five camps in total. One in Valiyazheekkal, Saayikkad, Amrutnandamayi's, Cheriyazheekkal, and one in Vellanapuram.

When we checked these camps, we saw that people including RSS members distributing food, cleaning the toilets etc. But nobody talked to the kids. They were totally afraid of seeing water. In my case, I love children a lot. I had worked with children for 12 years. So I gathered the children together and began telling the stories, singing songs and make them dancing. Then the teachers came to us and later their mothers also joined us. We made the camp alive. So the kids would await me everyday. Gradually they began to eat and sleep.

Later the teachers told me that we should bring children to the schools. So we slowly started bringing the kids to the school. The strength of the children in the schools has gradually increased. So we have become known faces in the camp. The mothers would tell me "Since you came here, my kids began to sleep at nights, they didn't see nightmares, they didn't cry" etc. Then we would go to the sea, wash our foot in the water and tell them stories of the fish and sea. This had given them a hope and their fear of the sea was gone.

It was told that the people will be given houses and shelters. Since they didn't provide any shelter, we decided to mark our protest by blocking the highway and roads. Also we organized camp committees related to these efforts. I was the only woman from outside the camps to be in these committees. So some people began to notice me. RSS has gained enough strength by that time. When we began these protests, somebody put up some banners in the area. The banners said something like I am a person of the church and Oomen Chandy (Then chief minister of Kerala)... something like that, I don't remember the exact words now.

Dheevara Sabha was also in the mud-slinging business. DYFI published a notice without their name. No such people have any strength in that area. Some group also released posters against Sr. Nirmala (Missionaries of Charity) when she came there. The next thing happened was they threatened that they would kill me if I was seen in the Azheekkal area. I said I am ready to face any problem.

There is a church in that area. 90% of the people are Hindus and there is one Muslim family. Rest 10% is Christians. The Hindus used to help Christians for the church festivals and Christians used to help them for temple festivals. They didn't have any religious division there. They were living in peace. The reason the people accepted RSS in the beginning was they had done good works there in the beginning. They were cleaning the roads etc. I don't deny their good deeds. In our case, we had concentrated on the areas that nobody was involved.

RSS had arranged a program on the same day when we arranged a protest. So we thought that we shouldn't make a scene and let them do their programme. But only a few people attended their programme. When we arranged a road blocking protest after 2 days, people were flocking from camps and schools. Just a few minutes before we started our protest, a phone call came from the Azheekkal office of RSS to a nearby public booth. The caller asked everyone to disperse because there would be a police lathi charge within some time. We prepared people to face any such situation that might come. We had full support of the local people. The private transportation buses were sent to us for free. Many other people contributed food and water.

The road-blocking protest lasted for 7 hours. The then chief minister Oomen Chandy called me and asked to stop the strike because the assembly meeting was going on. We demanded that we need to see and talk to a minister. Later district collector came as a representative of the government. As a result of this protest, some resolutions were made that the temporary shelters would be built, Rs. 500 would be given to each person per month, ration supply would be free, food kit would be given etc. This was the immediate result of the road-blocking strike we made on that day.

When we were returning after the protest, the RSS people attacked the car of a high-court judge and blamed it on us. 14 of our people were arrested by police on this charge. At the time when I was in the police station, RSS folks came asking for me. They were shouting full obscene. Bring her out, we will show her, she is this; she is that and many other words that cannot be said. By 12'o clock in the midnight, our people brought me back secretly.

Another issue was related to someone who had given a rosary to a little kid out there. There were many people coming to the area. When I went there, the news spread out that it was me who had given this rosary to the kid. So a person who is in charge announced that I shouldn't enter the camp thereafter. Then I told them that no outsiders should be allowed and RSS people also should be banned from the camps. After this I went back and returned the very next day but there were no issues then.

I told them that I need to ask that kid to know who gave her that rosary. They wouldn't let the kid to talk. I called all people in the camp and asked the kid. "Tell me dear, was it me who gave you this rosary?" The kid burst out to tears and said "Its not my aunty, it was an old man who came here. When I cried at night, my mother took it from him and gave me". But still people were not convinced. There was an old man named Peethambaran, aged around 70 years, admitted in the medical college hospital with his wife and some of our people were given charge to look after him. Peethambaran follows Christianity. There was a friend of Peethambaran who came to the hospital. He brought two rosaries from the Vettukad church and gave one to Peethambaran and the other was given to the kid. We didn't know any of this.

The RSS people filed complaints to Collector and Collector forwarded it to the CM and an inquiry commission was appointed for this. They also called a press meeting against me and my husband. There is a person in charge of RSS... I don't remember his name...

Kummanam Rajasekharan?

I guess so. He called a press meeting with his people. They talked about the involvement of religion in this case. Then the inquiry happened and Mathrubhumi newspaper had a detailed report on this subject. It had said that I was not involved in any of the religious activities and the people were living with peace in the camps.

All of these incidents gave me more strength. I fought all of this without any help of any agencies.

Then do you know what the people of Amruthanandamayi Mutt did? If I go to a house, they would follow me. There was a marriage happening in one of the houses. There is a group of young people called "Signal". They are very active and those children like me very much. They invited me to the marriage. When I got into the house, a swami (from Amruthanandamayi Mutt) came along. I didn't know who it was. I thought is must be one of the invited guests. I spent very little time in the house and came out. But the swami spread the news that I conducted prayers (Christian prayers) there! Even on the Easter day I was in the police station to bring out some of our kids who were charged on false reports. I don't go to church even on Sundays. So when such a person is accused of conducting prayers in that house, what can I say?

It was made as a big issue. Then the youth went to see the Swami and warned him 'do not try to divide us with these things'. There is enough experience to write a book.

Thanks a lot for sharing your experiences and for your time Magline.

Interview: Protesting Against Coca-Cola

Jo — Thu, 1 Mar 2007 04:16:12 EST

Robin is the coordinator of Keraleeyam magazine published from Thrissur. He took part in forming the Plachimada Protest Support Committee and now he is the convener of the Plachimada Study Committee. I wanted to know the truth behind the Plachimada anti-Coke protest in detail and wanted to know the motives behind the protest. This interview has cleared many of my concerns and I hope it does the same for the readers. Keraleeyam has been writing about the issue since 1998.

[Special thanks to JK for helping me to prepare the questions]

Q) Could you please explain about the anti-Coke protest in Plachimada?

A) The Coca-Cola plant in Plachimada began their operations in the year of 2000 after they got permission during 1998-99. The anti-Coke feeling arose a little while after they began their functioning in March 2000, based on the experiences of the local people. At first, the water level in the wells increased. It happened because the Coke company disposed the waste water without proper treatment. Then many people were expecting jobs in the company, but they were being disappointed. Before the issue of over-exploitation of water came up, there was another problem of polluting the water. So the natives complained to the Panchayath member, political leaders, etc and they had organized rallies to the Panchayath office and meetings in front of the company gate.

The protest officially began on April 2, 2002 inaugurated by C. K. Janu with Aadivaasi Samrakshana Samithi (Tribal Protection Committee) and Plachimada Coca-Cola Viruddha Samara Samithi (Anti-Coke Protest Committee). It was started with six organizations and later more organizations and political parties joined in this movement. Now there are around 100 different organizations involved in the protests.

Q) I am asking this because you said Mayilamma and C. K. Janu (both belong to the Adivaasi-tribal community) were amongst the first few people who were involved in the early days of the movement, who are the real victims of the Coke exploitation? Only tribal people are affected? Do all the natives belong to the tribal community?

A) Plachimada is situated in Perumaatti panchayath in the Chittoor taluk which is the most un-developed area of Palakkad district (in Kerala state). The 20-30% of their population consists of tribal communities, Dalits and other OBCs. The Coca-Cola factory is situated between two colonies that has tribal, Dalit and other communities (Vijaya Nagar colony and Plachimada colony) and where there are around 500 families living in a packed atmosphere.

It is not right to say that the movement was begun by the late Mayilamma or C. K. Janu. It was the people living in these colonies who had to undergo many difficulties because of the Coke factory in the area. There were many such people who were active in the movement and late Mayilamma was just one of them. She was very active like the others who were involved, but since she has got a lot of media attention, her name came up to the front row.

Although the movement was begun by these local people of the two colonies near the Coke factory, later it spread to the other areas and farmers. The farmers in Perumaatti panchayath are comparatively rich. They have 10 to 35 acres land each. Even they joined in the movement because the Coke factory has affected the agriculture sector.

Q) How is the Plachimada anti-Coke movement different from other movements against the exploitation of natural resources? I haven't heard about any such movements in the recent past. Plachimada movement has received a lot of publicity through media. Is it because this movement is an anti-Cola or anti-America protest?

A) Plachimada issue has been raised as a human rights issue. The Cola company was polluting the water and there was water scarcity due to the over exploitation of ground water; they also polluted the land by distributing dangerous chemical waste by saying it's fertilizer. Most importantly they ignored the natives' right to live with dignity in the name of a wrong development agenda.

Even though the beginning of the movement included issues like polluting wells, or the water they need to cook was polluted or there were skin diseases etc, but now the Plachimada issue is not a ecological issue. It is now a protest against abusing the power, freedom and dignity of comparatively backward people in the society for a destructive development strategy or to help MNCs make huge profits.

According to my limited knowledge, the Plachimada movement is of greater importance, not because of the unnecessary media attention it has got, but because it helped to make awareness among people that the citizens do not have control over the basic natural resources like water even in a literate state like Kerala.

Also it has proved that there is no use of relying on the organized or mainstream political parties for justice. This is a movement by the socially backward people who do not have power, education, or culture (culture according to the social standards of our time) to gain control over the basic natural resources. Now it has been 5 years since the movement began.

Q) What is the role of leftist or Communist parties in this movement? Considering the fact that the permission to setup the Coke factory was given during a communist government's rule in Kerala, the centrist people are deeply concerned about it. What do you have to say as a person who is actively involved in Plachimada?

A) First of all, I am not actively involved in the protest but I am working on the studies related to the movement and on the media side. What I have observed is, the interest of left parties, including CPM, in this movement is for the public attention. Of course, there might be many people from the left parties who have an honest interest in the issue, but the left parties' take towards Plachimada movement has a lot of insincerity, deception and their disintegration is shown in this issue.

The Coca-Cola company has mentioned that they were invited and given special consideration by the E. K. Nayanar ministry when Susheela Gopalan was the minister of industries to setup the factory in Plachimada. The left of then and now is guilty of allowing such a company that represents the Yankee development strategy to setup their factory in Chittoor Taluk which is a drought area for the past 30 years. And they have not been ready to admit their fault honestly.

To explain further, the LDF government of the past 8 months has done nothing against Coke compared to what UDF has done in their 2000-2005 administration. But it should be said that Plachimada movement has received a lot of help from the left parties. They have organized a huge human chain from the Pepsi factory in Puthussery panchayath and Plachimada to the Palakkad Collectorate with the initiative of DYFI. Also they have helped with the publicity work, public meetings, media publicity, rallies etc.

Q) But people are worried about their sincerity in this issue...?

A) Even though there are many party members involved in this protest with utmost sincerity, we should identify the shameful stand of the leadership. For example, they published an executive order by the V S Achuthanandan government (based on the LDF demands) to ban Coca-Cola and Pepsi products.

If we read that order we can understand that it was prepared without any common-sense or any proper knowledge of the law system in this country and it was done to indirectly help the Coca-Cola company. (This was done on the basis of 1954 Food & Adulteration Act). The order has not reached the offices of D.M.Os or food inspectors even after 2 months. This shows their level of sincerity towards this issue. As per our understanding, the health minister P. K. Sreemathy has not taken a keen interest in this issue because of the unknown reasons.

Anyways, this order has only helped the Cola company to get an order from the court to continue with their production. The whole thing could help the CPM to have an international publicity as the news came out that "Communist Kerala banned Coca-cola".

If the communists had the right intention, what they should have done is to pass a bill in the legislative assembly to protect the water resources, health and dignity and power of people and to prevent water pollution. But this was the least discussed issue in the assembly. There has not been any law passed on this direction after 2002.

Puthussery panchayath, where the Pepsi company is located, is being ruled by CPM. There was a show cause notice given to the Pepsi company and the Pepsi-co has filed a case to block show cause notice and the panchayath has not done anything to vacate it for unknown reasons.

Q) Is there any protest happening against the Pepsi company that you just mentioned? If yes, why doesn't it have the public attention that Plachimada has?

A) Pepsi factory is located in Puthussery in the Palakkad-Coimbatore route. They exploit ground water in a larger level than Coca-Cola. (Coca-Cola consumes 7 to 15 lakh litres water and Pepsi takes 15 to 25 lakh litre water). The only time that the government could temporarily stop their production was during the drought season two years ago. What I feel is the left is trying to hide behind the court by accusing all of it on the court in many such protests and strikes. They haven't been ready to alter the Panchayath Raj Act to lift the limits of the power of Panchayaths as well.

The anti-Pepsi protest is very active in the area. CPM is not much involved in there. But CPI has been there right from the beginning - be it the protest against Pepst or Coke. Pepsi company is situated in the Kanjikode industrial park. So obviously there are not many people living in the surrounding area. So there aren't any suffering victims. But it's coming up in the near future. What the left people like CPM is saying that the anti-Pepsi movement is not active because there are not people living in the surrounding area. It is an escape. It is to indirectly help such companies exist.

Q) One of the major complaints is that water taken by Coke reduces the water available for farming. Among all districts in Kerala, from long time we know that Palakkad has drought season very often and there is always a shortage of water. So was it a good idea to start this plant in Palakkad? Was it a bad idea for the Communist Govt. to approve it?

A) Of course. It's not only because of their lack of knowledge and attention in this matter. We can see an increased demand for development in Kerala after the 80s. We think we can partner with any evil company to have employment opportunities. But we do not see that we are achieving this by losing the agriculture jobs etc.

The Coca-Cola Company employed only 150 people. And they have employed 100 people on temporary jobs for Rs. 45 to 85 per day. This is the so called 'employment opportunities' they have provided. (They say they have invested Rs. 100 crore in this plant). But at the same time, the agriculture sector in the area has worsened. Their agriculture production level has decreased. Most of the people living in the area are poor Tribal and Dalits who are into the agriculture sector.

The reason that Coke chose this place to setup a plant was not only because there was a good amount of ground water, but it is also easier for them to transport their products to Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. (The factory is near the Tamil Nadu border). Also they could get cheap labor by employing the nearby Tribal and Dalits.

The main accusation against the left is they have not yet tried to correct the mistake they have done. Also the people of Kerala have not identified this. They would have approved such a protest if it happened near the Kerala secretariat in Trivandrum, or in a rich housing colony, or near an apartment complex in Ernakulam. But the present ignorance is because Plachimada issue happened in a place where poor and socially backward people are located. So everyone, particularly the left, had ignorance in this case.

Q) As per a court order, the Coke plant was shutdown for almost a year and still there was water shortage in that area. So it seems Coke Plant is not to be blamed.

A) What you raised is an important issue. The entire Palakkad district is a drought area. It has been officially declared as a drought affected district for 30 years. There are many companies in this district that use ground water, like alcoholic beverage companies, and there are factories (which have been blacklisted in Andhra, Tamil Nadu and North India) that use electricity as a raw material and employ people for cheap labour like in slavery of 18th century. They also cause the pollution of rivers and water.

The Coca-Cola company has stopped working for more than 2 years now. The main reason behind this was not only the court order, but the government's interference to temporarily stop the functioning of the company and the pollution control board's order. When the panchayath renewed the license of the company, there were 13 to 30 conditions that the company should function without affecting the lives of the people living in the area.

This is also a reason that the company has stopped working in the area. The previous court ruling was in favor of Coca-Cola. At first court ruled in support of the people, but then later declared that the company has the right to use water like any other citizen. The court has found out that there is enough ground water for the use of Coca-Cola and it won't affect the natives.

This was based on a study conducted by a committee in the leadership of Dr. James, director of Center for Water Resources Development and Management under the control of Kerala government, who has done the biggest scientific cheating for Coca Cola.

Palakkad is an agriculture area. The people in Plachimada are making a living out of this. But the CWRDM hasn't considered the water that people need for this. But CWRDM in the leadership of Dr. James has made sure that the Coca-Cola company can take water during any drought season. This is a good example to show how they can scientifically cheat a society, court and system.

Coca-Cola company had been saying that they take only 5 to 8 lakh litres of water. But on the basis of reports from Kerala State Pollution Control Board, Central Government Water Department, Industrial Department etc, what we have understood is that they used to take 15-20 lakh litres of water per day and they had the license to take 15 lakh litres of water. Also they used to discard 7 to 8 lakh litre of water without proper treatment.

But the Kerala State Pollution Control Board and Government haven't been ready to take actions on those who are guilty on this issue. We have noticed that the water pollution issue hasn't come with enough emphasis in the court proceedings.

Coca-Cola is not solely responsible for the water shortage in Plachimada area. The weather, the ways of agriculture sector etc are also a factor. Almost 98% of the water available in Chittoor Taluk in Palakkad district is used for agriculture needs. So the water used for a living should not be considered or compared to the water used to reap huge profits. So Coca-Cola is guilty in any manner. When the area has water shortage, it shouldn't be allowed for the industrial use and to the MNCs to make huge profits. Coca-Cola should get only 6th or 7th place of consideration in this matter. But the sad thing is they are getting the first consideration when it comes to water.

Q) An expert committee appointed by the high court of Kerala found that drawing 500,000 liters of groundwater (5% of the available water in the area) a day would not cause drought as claimed by protesters. Any comments?

A) The CWRDM study on the issue has not been clear on the wells. They haven't studied all wells in the area and haven't considered the quality standards. They were asked to study not only about the level of water, but about the purity of the ground water.

The main issue that Plachimada protesters had raised right from the beginning was that the company polluted their water and that company has to shut down, they should stop their activities that caused to pollute the water, there should be legal actions against the company etc. CWRDM was supposed to check the water levels as well as quality. But there has been no study about the quality of the water by the people whom you mentioned as 'experts'.

In the report by Dr. James of CWRDM says, the ground water available in the Chittoor area is 66.7 MCM and the water usage for home needs is 62.5 MCM. So they proves that there will be 4.2 MCM as balance. But the people like Dr. Satish Chandran, Dr. M. K. Prasad and even the former directors of CWRDM have un-officially mentioned that this is a false finding. People like Sunita Narain of CSE have challenged this finding. There were strange things happening like there was no representatives of Panchayath in the committee while there were Coca-Cola representatives in the committee.

Q) Is there any legal complaint against Dr. James' findings?

A) Unfortunately, the Kerala community hasn't given much importance to the issue. There were some immediate emotional responses like a march to CWRDM office, burning the court order, high-court march, press releases etc. But to resist such actions or orders, we need new laws made.

We have considered the false report made by CWRDM. We have not yet succeeded in this because of the lack of resources. But there are some studies going on that aspect. Two years passed. We have tried to include this issue in the current case which is in the supreme court now. So we are hopefully waiting.

Q) According to the High Court of Kerala, any private person or company has the right to extract groundwater within reasonable limits.Coke has used water within this limit. So what is illegal regarding water usage here?

A) Your question contains the limitations of existing laws and unawareness of the society. We can agree that the Coca-Cola company has not done anything wrong according to the ground water laws. It is because there have not been any appropriate laws in Kerala for the protection of ground water and to prevent the exploitation of ground water by industries.

When there is no law, usually the court comes to protect the rights of the commons, not the corporate. Unfortunately the high court interfered to protect the company interests. It is a failure of the law and governing system we have here that there is no law to protect the ground water. The ground water should be kept as a safe deposit.

Q) Let me come to the participation of left parties in this issue. The left is actively involved in the Plachimada protests. The very same left party (CPM) is starting a water theme park in Parassinikadavu which it is expected to guzzle millions of litres of water. Will you start protests there also? I am asking this for clarity on the issue.

A) There are around twenty protests going on in Kerala against the pollution and over exploitation of the water and to protect the water resources. The water theme park issue is also coming in these protests. There is a protest in Thumpoli in Alappuzha against the coir factory that pollutes the water, another one in Vilappil Saala in Thiruvananthapuram against dumping the waste in the residing area of poor people and pollutes their wells, another one against polluting Pampa River in Sabarimala etc.

The water theme park by the co-operative society of CPM shows the disintegration of the party and how much they have gone away from the people and how they have become the representatives of a wrong development policy.

Just because Plachimada protest was initiated by the people of the place, it is not fair to ask them to take a lead in each and every protest that's happening in the world. This is a responsibility of the entire Kerala society, not only those who are involved with Plachimada protest.

Also the initial phase of the protest had only the natives of Plachimada and it's mostly them who continue to be in the protest, there are many people and organizations from around the world involved in this now. Of course, there should be a chain that connects all such protests happening around the world. We need a globalization of protests. We should understand that water is not for gambling.

Q) The two-member Bench of the Mumbai High Court, including the Chief Justice S. J. Vazifdar himself, mentioned in its order that the test reports of seven samples met both the Indian Standards and the European Economic Community's directive. The Central Science Laboratory, the UK's biggest lab, had certified that the products met the EU standards for individual pesticides in beverages after testing samples sent to them by another news publication, Outlook.

A) I don't know about the test reports or the scientific/technical details that you mentioned. But as far as I know, the Outlook magazine itself had instructed a reporter and a lab for a test and they had found out that the water in the wells and in the area contains poisonous contents. They had published this report also. After that a spokesperson of Coca-Cola, he is a professor in Gorakhpur IIT, wrote a letter to Outlook regarding their report. As I understood, even though the reporter had given the reply to it, the Outlook magazine did not publish it. This stand of Outlook magazine is suspicious.

The protest against Coca-Cola factory is not primarily about inside-the-bottle. Of course, It is an issue that affects those who drink Coca-Cola. Kerala is a not a huge market for Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola is being widely rejected all over the world. We have no doubt that Coca-Cola is an unnecessary thing in the Kerala community, even if they produce it here according to the international standards.

Even at the time when Coke and their supporters said that their products have good quality standards, the lab reports of CSE had found out that it's wrong. The state governments of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi etc have found out the same thing. So I doubt that Coca-Cola influenced the lab reports you mentioned.

Q) Let's forget Coke for a moment. When we talk about the water pollution, our farmers use lot of pesticides now in agriculture and it is only natural that traces of it will be found in our food and water. Is it completely safe to drink water from the tap which more people drink than Coke? If not, why the social activists are being silent on such primary and important issue and concerned only about the issues involved with MNCs like Coke?

A) Its a very challenging question that you asked. As fas as I know, the Kerala community or people in the world over have not shown enough protest against Coca-Cola. So there is no 'over-concern' about the Coca-Cola issue.

The protest against Coca-Cola has many reasons. It is part of a fight against Globalization, American product, War, or the sufferings of local people (because of the Cola plants) etc. We do use a lot of fruits, vegetables and even medicines with the full awareness of its side effects. What differentiates this from Coca-Cola is, Coca-Cola is something that we don't need. We can live without drinking Coca-Cola. Those who cannot have satisfaction without it is a minority of rich. The majority of ordinary people can't live without eating food and drinking water. So it is not fair to compare the pesticides used in the agriculture sector with Coca-Cola.

The second thing is, there are many people involved in the awareness against the pesticide usage etc in the agriculture sector. As you know, "Thanal" in Trivandrum is working on this for the past 20 years. They have succeeded in the fight against Endosulfan in the last year. Also the bio-agriculture is widely happening in Kerala state.

Coca-Cola didn't come here to produce a primary need like medicine, but to gain huge profits. They are doing a corporate rape on the state. They are not giving much employment opportunities, development and not even any financial benefit to the state. Their activities are mysterious. [Here Mr. Robin also referred to the allegations of murder of employees that Coke has faced in the past.]

Q) Can you tell us about the present condition of Plachimada? About the protest, court order and future plans?

A) There was a court order in August that banned the Coca-Cola and Pepsi products in the market. In parallel, there is a case in Supreme Court about whether the Panchayath has the power to block the production of Coca-Cola and not to renew their license. The Pollution Control Board, Ground Water Department and Kerala Government is part of this. It is possible that this case will go on for 25 years. The state government's interest in this case is suspicious.

The late Mayilamma, Swaami Nathan and Maariyappan of Aadivaasi Samrakshana Samithi have withdrawn from the protest on the basis of Cola ban order of LDF government. But they had mentioned that they would join back if Coca-Cola starts production again. At the same time, at least a few people have come to know that this could only help Coca-Cola and it has affected the protest. Perhaps it is because they couldn't be part of a protest for long for other reasons. However, the others are continuing with this protest.

Thank you Robin for sparing time to talk to us about the Plachimada issue and the need of preserving ground water.

Further Reading:

Criticism of Coca-Cola (Wiki)

Sludge at Coke factory is deadly

How Coca-Cola gave to Plachimada

The people of Plachimada Vs Coca-Cola

Podcast of Interview (in Malayalam)

Indian Politics and St. Valentine

Jo — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 09:26:59 EST

One more day for Valentine's Day and the interesting thing is most of the people (or at least half) who celebrate it do not even know the story behind it. I read the story somewhere a while back, but I don't remember it as I write this and I'm not bothered about it. Well, people know at least one thing - it's a day meant for lovers.

Although many are not up to the idea of celebrating a specific day dedicated to their "valentines", their objections are based on different political views.

The communists are against Valentine's Day because 'it is part of globalization', but the local television channel of Kerala Communists, Kairali TV, has started the celebration already with a good animation on their website front-page with the poster/lover boy of Kairali channel - Santhosh Paali.

The right wing groups of Islam do not like V-Day, because it is 'imported from western culture', but their protest is based on religious grounds. Islamic organizations like SIO have already started online campaigning against V-Day.

The Hindutva right wing groups also do not like V-Day for almost the same reason - 'Intrusion of western culture into the great culture of India' - and moreover this celebration includes a Christian name, "Saint Valentine"!

The intellectual sum of the country are worried about V-Day because they think 'it is a product of consumerism' and this only helps a shopping spree.

The businesses know that they can make a heck of a profit with V-Day considering the fact that the target group is mostly youngsters who are not bothered about anything political (except a few) and the celebration doesn't have any religious shades. This can be helpful to have a vast and good market during this week, considering India has a religiously sensitive society.

As for me, I am just waiting to see the day when we celebrate Thanksgiving Day, Halloween and so on. When everyday becomes a special day, we will learn the importance of living a normal life.

Racism, Discrimination and Indian Hypocrisy

Jo — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 01:13:06 EST

I don't understand this sudden outcry about this Vulturo guy's post on South Indians vs. North Indians.

The North-Indian discrimination towards south Indians is a much visible thing in this country. If you have worked in the northern part of India, you would have faced the discrimination from North Indians. If you talked to some of the North Indians, you would have noticed it. Most of them would always speak with you in Hindi especially when they know you don't know Hindi. You would have seen the same discrimination in the showbiz (the brand Bollywood thingy and those "Indian" film awards like Global "Indian" Film Awards, International "Indian" Film Awards etc when they consider only Hindi language movies). (Read about a first-hand experience about this in this post - Saalaa Madarassi) And do I even have to mention about the attitude towards North-East Indians by rest of the country?

The discrimination between South Indians is also visible in this country. Have you ever seen how people from other states are treated in Bangalore, especially mallus? My friend, who is in the US now, was talking about an experience he had when he went to a police station in Bangalore to complain about his stolen mobile phone. He was totally insulted and been asked to give money and so and so that he had to return without filing a complaint. How does a Malayalee treat a Tamilian? Not the educated Tamilian, but the poor, un-educated Tamilian migrated to Kerala to look for daily-wage jobs? Similar to how a high-caste person would treat a low-caste person.

Also I don't understand why is the racist discrimination against north/south Indians being addressed only when it is about women? When Shilpa Shetty wet her eyes by being called Indian or Dog or whatever, the whole country made a heck of an issue about it. And here when this guy said Madrasi girls are not hot compared to their north Indian counterparts (dude, have you checked out all girls in this part of the country?) again the people got flared up. Well, for one thing, I agree that Punjabis or Kashmiris are sweet if not 'sweeter', cute if not 'cuter' but 'hotter'?? No!! At least not all of them. Also he missed to mention the women in Coorg who are also beautiful and usually compared to the Kashmiri women. (And do they belong to the "Madrasi" category because they belong to south India?)

Well, those who cried and demanded justice (or victory) for Shilpa Shetty, have you guys ever cared about the fate of Malayalees in the gulf countries? Not the Malayalees who have blue collar jobs there, but the ordinary laborers out there? Young Arabs spit at them when they pass by them on the roads, they curse them and beats them and there are companies that don't even pay them a penny as salary after 1 or 2 years of work. (I know a friend who had to gone through this). Have you ever voiced against that discrimination? Where is our so-called media on this?

So when we talk about discrimination, let's try not to be selective, okay?

I was discussing this racial thing with a colleague this afternoon and he said:

Man, the problem is not that we are racists or discriminating people over our personal preferences. The problem is we are showing it off openly and publicly. See, Americans wouldn't have totally gone out of their mindset about the african-american people, but they try not to show it in their social behavior.

I agree that we all have our own personal preferences and we show discrimination in one aspect or the other. So the first thing is not to show this discrimination in our behavior and attitude and the second thing is we should slowly try to get rid of that discrimination thing from our mind as well, right?

Yes, am not sure how much is the second thing going to be effective, but let's at least try to do the first thing.

Yes. Let's try to do at least that, guys.