No Passage to India

       In June 2019, Chennai, India's fourth largest city, was running out of water as India suffers its hottest condition ever. It's the same southwest area near Joyal and Vinay, my two friends from Titans Cricket in Hsinchu. They are not my friends anymore. It is the two's nationalist Hindu's home, near India's Silicon Valley, probably how they ended up working in one of Taiwan's silicon valleys. I watched an interview with Siddhartha Deb, the author of The Beautiful and The Damned; Life in the New India, , on Democracy Now. The book updates me on India since  The Concise History of India  was published in 2001. Deb talked about how Modi had ruined chances for all Indians to have equality and higher living standards; how six men own as much wealth as six hundred million of its people.  I sent my last Indian Facebook friend living in Taiwan that interview and said it was the last time I would contacted her before unfriending her, too, if she didn’t like it. The Indians I've met working in Taiwan are Hindu capitalist, not worth talking with. 

    Before the Western New Year, I contacted my Indian friends from Hsinchu to invite them to my New Years's Eve party. Vinay had come to my birthday party the previous summer and had a good time. It was the start of a friendship that introduced me to the world of cricket, so I thought they would like to come if they had time. 
 (see  Hsinchu Titans Cricket Wins in Taiwan ).

     Joyal was returning home to southwest India from Jan. 19 to Feb. 20. I had met him when I attended the championship cricket match in Hsinchu. I saw an opportunity to visit India for the first time and flippantly asked him if he would mind showing me around for three or four days. He said I was welcome and I thought of when I could go; I thought Feb. 15-19 I would be free; we could come back on the same flight.

        I asked if he knew a few cities I had been reading about on India's southwest coast, starting points for sailors from the Roman Empire that went to trade for goods on the Silk Road, but he reminded me that India was a big place; 29 states.

     “Are you near Barbaricum? Mouth of Indus River,” I asked, “or Barygaza, mouth of Narmada?”

        “Oh. I think it's far from my place,” he replied.

   “Are you in the southeast or southwest?” I asked. “Maybe further south. Anyway, let me find out if I can go. You wouldn't have to pay a penny for me.”

      “I'm in south west,” Joyal responded. “Sure; come on. Let's have a plan.” That was when he sent me a Google map. “I'm living in red portion... bottom of India; Vinay’s (the first cricketer I had met) place is nearby my place. It's just a nearest state.”He sent me a Google.

        That’s when I thought I’d let Vinay in on my idea and ask for advice. “He's from a beautiful city in south India,” he texted.

“Prettier than your hometown?” I chided.

“Yes, of course. LOL Mine is just a small town. Bengaluru is the nearest big city, which is both good and bad.” 

       I mentioned the “charitable rural woman welfare organization and school for orphaned girls since 1946”, Kasthurba Gandhi Kanya Gurukalam in Vedaraniam Tk, Nagapatinam Dt, Tamilnadu, and Gurukulam,  writing I'd like to visit him but was not sure if it was near his town; I had met him in Cambodia a few years ago.

Joyal replied that the place is just 5 to 6 hrs. from his place...”Near that place famous church is there. The name is Velankanni.” I was pleasantly surprised. I envisioned myself contracting Gulam and arranging a visit, even donating. 

“Anyway, hope it works out for me. Show me where you learned to play cricket LOL”. He said he would invite me to the next tournament and changed the topic.

The Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health 

“Are you interested this event? This Saturday! (National Chiao Tung University Pongal 2019 5-Year Celebration).

“I am interested. Maybe I’ll go.”

“Sure, he replied. “You’re welcome and you're the Guest!! I have already sent invitation. It shows details about location and events. And join delicious Indian cuisine dinner!”

“Hi Joyal. It doesn't look like I can go to India with you. My wife's brother needs us around to help while he's in the hospital and my wife gets her check-up Feb. 15. My life is too complicated.”

“It's no problem! Carry on. We’ll do next time.. Are you interested tomorrow's event?”

“For sure. I would love to see India. About tomorrow, you enjoy yourselves. I will feel awkward. Thank you for understanding. As a tourist on your homeland I will be fine. But tomorrow's party is for your homies, and you would feel like you had to entertain me and couldn't enjoy yourselves.”

My friendship with Vinay started unraveling Just before that New Year 2019. The week before I had invited him and Joyal to our New Year’s Eve party. I had never discussed labor issues or politics with him but was interested to have his take on a strike called by 180 million trade unionists against the Narendra Modi government called for January 8-9^th to protest against a 30% unemployment rate and other issues. What side was Vinay on? This staunch union supporter was opening a can of Indian worms; politics. Vinay didn’t comment on it and he wasn’t coming to my party.

On January 6^th I saw another post from a Facebook news feed about a protest by Hindu women that didn’t want the government to let women access to a temple. I didn’t understand and wanted to know more. I opened the second can of Indian worms; religion.

  “The video is about a national issue related to Indian majority Hindus' temple,” he texted. “The Christian propagandists want to take over the Hindu temples solely because they want the temple earnings. Temple earnings are basically offerings given by devotees visiting to temple. This temple prohibits entry to females bet 10 and 50 yrs. and now the left wing want to allow women of all ages to temple. So the women made a human chain for over 665 km stating that we don't want entry to the temple. We are devotees and we respect temple rules and if we want to worship, we don't need to visit temple. So, basically it's a politically influenced left wing, communists’ propaganda to suppress Hindus in a Hindu majority country.”

I wished him Happy Pongal and asked, by the way, why Christian propagandists were in solidarity with communists against the wishes of the temple rules.

“The Congress Party is Communist and they are working on converting Hindus to Christianity. Most of these conversions are influenced by money in the sense, a family of 4 gets 200-300 thousand for converting into Christianity. The money for such activities used to come from foreign funds thru fake NGOs. The present government is strict these n have banned over 500,000 such fake NGOs.”

“I thought Communists were opposed to religion practice, Christian or others?” I replied. “They don't sound communist to me.”

He finally commented on the strike. “As the elections are 3 months away, these are again plans of the opposition and media to defame PM Modi. No matter what, he's gonna win easily. He's the most honest prime minister India has ever had and most of the Indians who have accustomed to under the table/backdoor ways of getting things done can't digest the fact that he's going as per rules and following law and making everyone follow.”

I told him I read prices of commodities have been going up and even the essential goods are not available in fair price shops and the government doesn’t seem to be doing anything about it.

“Completely false.”

I read another reason for the protest is the fact that India is not creating enough jobs. Ahead of the last general elections, Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had promised to create nearly 10 million jobs every year but they haven’t. The strike was because he wanted to reduce union protection. Vinay thinks that's good because he thinks unions are corrupt. 

When I realized Vinay was an anti-union Hindu nationalist, I took my gloves off. He stood against everything I stood for; a secular unionized work force. I was starting to regret ever asking him about anything but cricket and curry. 

Joyal got cold feet and broke off a relationship with me as did other Indian expats I'd met in Taiwan. Perhaps they gagged themselves rather than risk the wrath of Hindu nationalists they worked with. 

The Indians I've met in Taiwan support the annexation of Kashmir and would gladly exile anyone who isn't Hindu from India. Still, they are not bad people per se; only deluded. I am glad for what we had last summer and my introduction to cricket. 
 That was the end of my plan.There is no chance for me to go to India now. Living in Taiwan, I am close to many exotic and intriguing places in Asia, just a few hours away by direct flight. Perhaps a new passage to India will open one day.