Blood Island: A Review

Blood Island by Journalist Deep Halder is a breach on the canon of contemporary South Asian History which is dominated by a particular kind of scholar. The book is personal and speaks to the lived experience of the tragedy conveniently erased from the discourse. Unearthing the tragedy, breathes new life in to future work which can hopefully shape and shed life into events that were brushed under the carpet of progressive politics.

Oral History helps to preserve memories of the lived. Excellent approach which others should utilise as well.

History Conversations in a Cab

Some people just amaze you. A cab driver who is a trained archeologist from Sana’a in Dubai gave me a 30 minute crash course on Arab History including dynamics in Yemen to Iran via Oman. He recognised my roots in Oman when I started speaking Arabic with him and he said are you from Oman?

He gave me the genealogy of people in the Arab world and explained the very complex terrain of contemporary Yemeni politics and who supports whom from Al Mahra to Jizan, in present day Saudi Arabia.

As a person trained in History from Yemen and Germany, he was perceptive and downright smart. He said ‘the purpose of history is to discover our shared heritage’ which speaks to the crisis prone region he comes from.

He plans to do his PhD and discussed his research theme as well. I wish him well.

Dubai Cabbies are a class of their own; Knowledgeable and thorough.

#mydubai

The Un Future of Work

The future of work will be a horrible one, accentuating inequality- no insurance, everyone expected to relearn, no family time, all the power concentrated in a few people. The employee is a replaceable cog. The future of work works for the bosses. Life is at best a lottery for resources. Upward mobility is rare.

The Purchase of Populism

The entire discourse about populism from Putin to Trump to Modi to Bolsanaro to Boris is about the purchase of ideas and services to a population feeling left out.

Politics and the provision of resources are intrinsic concepts. A narrative of othering and resource capture through primal and primitive identity politics has fuelled populism. All these right wing leaders are elected, and are rightly popular.

The left has lost ground, as it has lost touch with the access to resources narrative. The idea of the electoral left has shrunk.

Pravasi Lives Matter.

South Asian Migration to the GCC since the 1940’s and even earlier have provided livelihoods for millions of people who did not have an opportunity of a college education, starting with Bahrain and Kuwait with the oil boom. I am not including the centuries of trade from the Banias.

The educated lot migrated to the West, but these men and women who helped/help grow the Gulf also helped their families and communities grow. There are counter narratives of social issues in Kerala due to migration, but Kerala always traded with the outside world, unlike the North, wrapped in a history of strife and partition.

I have met hundreds of men and women over the years who have built lives back home out of nothing. A friend of mine from who is illiterate started supporting his family at age 9 in Lucknow, came to Muscat as a cook in a coffee shop at Darsait, retrained himself as a driver who runs his independent gig. Stuff of a movie script.

Technicians, Laundry walas, Barbers, small coffee shop cooks and servers who fill lives of other migrants of the more affluent varieties, support families with their meagre remittance.

These lives matter. Pravasi Samman, worthy of every award.