Under blood red skies...

In my teens, I was enamoured by communism . The egalitarian outlook of the philosophy seemed perfect to make this planet a better place to live. Besides, the thrashing the ever-corrupt Congress government got from the communist in Kerala and West Bengal gave the party a larger than life image. Kerala was going through a revolutionary change during my father's growing years. The communist party was brought in equality and spread the concept of one's rights to every corner of state. The communist ideology made the party a cauldron of many young thinking minds. My father talked about those days and I was fascinated by the party's heroes and their heroic actions. I would have given anything to see the play "Ningel enne communist akki". All these years have not subsided that desire.

The first seeds of doubt were sown by Ayn Rand. Her essay "For the New Intellectual" attacked communism and Socialism mercilessly. Though I am not fond of her writing, this essay changed a part of my thought process. In that sense, she has had a powerful impact on my life. The tone of the essay can be understood from the following section of the essay.

The essential characteristic of socialism is the denial of individual property rights; under socialism, the right to property (which is the right of use and disposal) is vested in “society as a whole,” i.e., in the collective, with production and distribution controlled by the state, i.e., by the government.

Socialism may be established by force, as in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics—or by vote, as in Nazi (National Socialist) Germany. The degree of socialization may be total, as in Russia—or partial, as in England. Theoretically, the differences are superficial; practically, they are only a matter of time. The basic principle, in all cases, is the same.

The alleged goals of socialism were: the abolition of poverty, the achievement of general prosperity, progress, peace and human brotherhood. The results have been a terrifying failure—terrifying, that is, if one’s motive is men’s welfare.

Instead of prosperity, socialism has brought economic paralysis and/or collapse to every country that tried it. The degree of socialization has been the degree of disaster. The consequences have varied accordingly.

I really understood the issue with communism when I read the following part of the essay

the demand of one group for an unearned share of another group’s income is not socialism—that the destruction of property rights will not affect any other rights—that man’s mind, intelligence, creative ability are a “national resource” (like mines, forests, waterfalls, buffalo reserves and national parks) to be taken over, subsidized and disposed of by the government—that businessmen are selfish autocrats because they are struggling to preserve freedom, while the “liberals” are the true champions of liberty because they are fighting for more government controls

The idea of people working to support themselves and a set of lazy bums seemed shocking. Looking at my own brought up, I did not think I will end up being a lazy bum and so the ideology did not seem appealing. The sad aspect of communism and socialism is that it does not attempt to equalize the society by uplifting people. No! That would be too tough. It takes the easier route of burdening the ambitious and responsible few. It is not about "you cannot be lower than average" but "how dare you be better than average". I don't think Marx and Engels per se suggested this perverted view. The implementers of the ideology molded it to their convenience. The result is the extremely corrupt and violent forms of governance.

At most place communism has failed. People have thrown this form of governance away. But a few around the world hold on to it. This "holding on" is not a problem by itself. But arrogance of the communists and their fans annoy me to the edge of the world. They believe they are the epitome of human evolution. They act as though they are light years ahead of their times - socially, philosophically and intellectually. Their belief that this fading ideology would save the world is laughable yet one can't laugh.

Most communist governments are violent. They have absolute disdain for human life. I would not be surprised to hear that they have killed more people than even Hitler. Yet Hitler is a villain and many of the communist leaders are heroes. The ideology being strong does not mean it should be kept in a shrine. It should be placed at a safe distance away from the world at large. Let the lovers of communism discuss and debate their profound thoughts behind closed doors. We don't need another Stalin. We don't need another Mao. We definitely don't need another Pol Pot.

I came across an interesting article on three people (from the west) who went missing during the Khmer Rouge government in Cambodia. The article brought out the brutality and the paranoia of the communist government. The comrade and cadres went about killing indiscriminately. Their only excuse was that they were following orders. The article is disturbing and poignant.

From Newcastle and New Zealand to the Killing Fields of Cambodia

At one point, the author talks about human nature and that we should not blame it all on one ideology or other.

The man who ran S-21 under Khmer Rouge ordered the murder of thousands Comrade Duch subsequently lived in the jungle who. He was remembered as a journalist  as a man who “knew how to swim with the sharks, knew how to manipulate… He was a classic survivor. The survivors [of these sorts of regimes] are the thieves, crooks, the murderers… I’ve met many people like this and they’re quite ordinary. We don’t like to admit that we all have that potential within us. We are all violent.”

Humans seem to be violent by nature. We don't really require the impetus of communism. Whenever and wherever communism has bloomed it has left that period and place bloodied. All the intellectualism are limited to the talks of a few peripheral maniacs. So, I believe we should have buried this diseased ideology many year ago. Many innocents have shed their blood to redden the red of the communist flag. Its time the red feeds on itself and disappears from this planet.

Plastic living

Plastic spoons feeding

Plastic food into

Plastic bodies steered by

Plastic minds making a

Plastic planet through its

Plastic actions driven by

Plastic thoughts to satisfy

Elastic greed satisfying

Elastic needs stretching the world's

Elastic limits till no 

Elastic life remains in

Elastic planet accommodating

Elastic requirements of

Elastic living organisms

Mayhem

I love Facebook; more than ever. It throws information at me and some of them are amazing. By information, I don't mean the useful kind of information; these fall into the "I would never use this in my life" region.

Today, I learnt about a band called Mayhem and its brief and gruesome existence. Mayhem is a black metal band and have a hardcore sound. Their music can barely be called music and mostly feature unearthly and guttural shrieks. The guitars are loaded with so much distortion that the resulting sound can hardly be called music. I listened to one of their demo tapes on YouTube and though I found it interesting, I don't think I will ever listen to a Mayhem piece. As the name and genre suggest, their music is quite morbid. 

I came across an article on a recently released book on the group. Its called Mayhem: The Death Archives. The death in the title does not relates to death metal but the deaths that took place during the existence of the group. The first was the suicide of the lead singer who had appropriately nicknamed himself Dead. Dead was a maniac and took his performance to the extreme. On stage, he would often cut himself with hunting knives and broken glass. A member of the group said the following about Dead.

"He [Dead] didn't see himself as human; he saw himself as a creature from another world. He said he had many visions that his blood has frozen in his veins, that he was dead. That is the reason he took that name. He knew he would die."

In 1991, Dead committed suicide by slashing his wrist and shooting himself on his head. His suicide note was a simple. He wrote "Excuse all the blood, cheers." and it included an apology for firing the weapon indoors. The lead guitarist of the group, Euronymous, found him and behaved as he was expected to. Another member of the group recounted the actions of Euronymous on discovering Dead's body thus.

Euronymous called me up the next day ... and says, "Dead has done something really cool! He killed himself". I thought, have you lost it? What do you mean cool? He says, "Relax, I have photos of everything". I was in shock and grief. He was just thinking how to exploit it..."

Euronymous used one of these photographs as the cover of a bootleg live album. In 1993, Euronymous was murdered by the bass player of the group. The details of how and why this happened is quite gruesome. The band continued its existence in form or other since then. 

I am not sure if I will ever listen to the songs of the group but I am so tempted to read the book. 

Oppressing oppression

I did not think I would ever think the days of the past were happier than now. But I think so now. 

For the past month, since floods struck Kerala, I have been watching the various Malayalam news channels. The channels covered the sad flood related events in great detail. As depressing as the events are, my own unhappiness does not primarily arise from them. The news covered other topics too and these bring to the fore how unjust our society is. One of my friends had said that every human is a crook; some have exhibited their crookedness while the remaining are waiting for an opportunity. The events covered by the news channel proved his observation. 

A Bishop has been sexually molesting a Nun for many years. She appealed to the Church and its organizations but of no avail. She has appealed to the Police but they in collusion with the Bishop are attempting to malign her character. The Government is not helping either. A few Nuns have brought the protest to the streets. They are not sure where to go for justice and security. The police have questioned the victim more than six times but have not even managed to talk to the culprit. The Bishop sits safe in the northern part of the country surrounded by Gundas. All this done under the cover of God and celibacy.

A woman had to undergo series of sexual molestations from many priests. All this took place when one of the priest's started blackmailing her based on her confession. Not only did he molest her, he passed the information to some of his friend priests who too indulged in sexual debauchery. In one case, one of the priests flew in from Delhi, booked a room and molested her. To add insult to the injury he made her pay for the room rent with her jewelery. Come on! These are servants of God. Have we been mixing up between God and Devil? Have the roles been reversed as some point of time?

One of the ruling party's MLA in Kerala has been harassing a woman for the past few months. She being a chaste communist complained to the party but of no avail. Since the complaint was in Malayalam a lady leader in the party could not read it and it took her nearly a month to get it translated. Since then the media has been raising hue and cry about the incident but the party with all it's young and old leaders has been quiet. The party ethics is unquestionable and as in every case around the world "how important are the words of a woman in comparison to <insert you favourite idealogy here>".

In all these cases, the new channels have presented debate between people talking against and for the culprits. Actually, its worse than that. There are people talking against the culprit and other talking against the victim (to be read as "people assassinating the victim's character"). How cruel is this! Not only do the victims go through a lot of nonsense in their lives, they have to go through bullshit from some dick-head on television. In the first case, a ruling party MLA has called the Nun a prostitute. He uses the age old man's argument "if she could enjoy it 12 times, how can she object it the 13th time?" This is not said in private but during a media conference or some such event. The fellow continues to be an MLA and live among us. In the second case, a leader in the church is trying to desperately play down the confession angle. He is trying to convince the world that the only thing known is that the woman had sexual relations with a set of priests. Nothing else is obvious. In the third case, no one in the party knows anything. 

These events seem to be only known to the people of Kerala. For the remaining parts of the country, the people who speak Malayalee have ruined their lives as a consequence of eating beef. I am glad they are not aware of these events else we will be forced to go through a number of "my religion being better than yours" or "my region is better than your" or "my party is better than yours". 

Religion, at best, can only be an external influence in life. One cannot depend on God to live one's life or for that matter, ruin another's life. Most people propounding religion are trying to take advantage of you. I am sure there are exceptions but they are like a needle in a hay stack. Recently a ehhh... what do I call him? I am not sure; maybe a Sadhu. This Sadhu has become a rage in the social media for his combining humour with preachings. The man preaches about the futility of anger, jealousy and greed (among other topics) but his upcoming show in Chennai has tickets costing Rs.1250 and above. Where does all this money go? Who needs it? Not the Sadhu, I hope. 

If we are gullible enough to give, there are many greedy enough to take.

Of course, this does not mean I will let any of you mock me based on my identity. If you mock, I will mock you too for you are as screwed as I am. I am a human and so are you - nothing can be worse.

News fuse

The sad news blared out of the news channel. The news reader with sadness in his voice announced the death of an 85 year old man. For a moment, I thought what is the big deal about an 85 year old dying; his living should be the news. Just as I reached for the remote, the news caster spilled out the details of his death. I was shocked; the cause of death was not natural. The man was traveling by train. As the train neared his destination, he stood by the door of the coach looking out. Suddenly, the door closed and the old man fell out of the train and died. An 85 year old man, was standing by the door of his coach and fell out when the door closed due to the wind. It seemed terribly suspicious but everyone offered their condolence and expressed sadness with a straight but saddened face. To make matters worse, the person was the head of a religious organization going through a major controversy.

I guess the recent spate of deaths of high profile personality under suspicious circumstances tells us that no one is safe. Power, money and might are not enough to save anyone. Maybe anonymity would help.

Section 377 is abolished. Many happy faces on the television waving the multicolour flag. It is no longer a crime to go in through the out door (Yeah! That is said in bad taste but I have always wanted to use the phrase. It is the title of a Led Zeppelin album and I am fascinated by the phrase). On the television, a debate takes place among the lovers, the haters and the ones in the middle. The talk moved to the territory of marriage among the lovers when one of the haters jumped out of his seat and shouted "If God had willed marriage among these folks he would have created Adam and Steve and not Adam and Eve." 

End inches by

As we stare at the setting sun
We remember our lives of sin
Bringing the world to chaos
By taking it over by force
Our motto: to kill them all
Just don't care; let it all fall
Refusing to see anything
As the time to rest is nearing
No hope of us waking up
From the state of false nap

Hand over the world to someone else
At worst they will be as bad as us

Chayyakadakarante chaya kollilla...

For long, I liked the party - from the time I started voting. A friend of mine had convinced me that this is the only party that can administer India. I vouched for them and their sassy leader. While the world looked down at the party, its leader and anyone who uttered a good word about them, I supported the party. They seemed to have a set of administrators who were surrounded by many morons. But I only cared about the administrators and ignored the rambling idiots.

At some point of time, a suspicion sneaked in. These fellows seem to be pushing their culture and language on others across the country. We seem to be treated as second class citizens. But I ignored it. Then floods struck the southern most state in the country and the suspicion solidified. The fellows of the party did not give the required amount of funds for the state to recuperate. They did not provide subsidy on the rice and petrol they supplied. They also tried to hinder the flow of money into the state by invoking archaic rules. 

To top it, the morons who populate the northern parts of the country called the marooned people names. "Unpatriotic", "Shameless" and "Petty". As the saying goes "there are no good people, only bad people with some good exist". How true! It is time, I revoked my decades old allegiance from this chauvinistic party and their pathetic supporters. They are better than all the other politicians in the country but that is not good enough to support them. 

I can hear the people of the southern state singing

Chayakkadakkara…

Ninte Chaayelu Madhuramilla

Vellathinu Choodumilla..

Chaayapodi Theereyilla…

Panjasaara Leshamilla

Kaa Paisa Njaan Tharilla

Chayakkadakkara…

Ninte Chaayelu Madhuramilla