Journalist and
author, Godfrey Pereira, is coming out with his novel on slavery of a very
different kind. Speaking about the human rights angle of bonded labour,
immigrant lives and torture, Godfrey shares some thoughts about an issue that
threatens many people world over.
Bloodline Bandra
started off with me trying to put down on paper, the way The East Indians in
Bombay spoke. I wanted to capture the salt and spice of their lifestyle. I
don't know if you know this but the East Indians {The Kolis} are the original
inhabitants of Bombay or Mumbai. I am an East Indian by birth. I had
experienced this life style as a child and it fascinated me. The Novel is
divided into two parts with an epilogue. The first part is located in Pali
Village, Bandra, Bombay and details the lives of the East Indians in Pali
Village. The second part is the central character David Cabral, leaving and
going to America. Once he gets there, he is enslaved by other Indians in what I
call "Legal Slavery." What is 'Legal Slavery?' When a worker comes to
the United States {and many other countries} he or she is issued a work visa.
Now this Visa forbids him or her from working with anyone but the company that
has sponsored him or her. And often, these employers give you the minimum wage,
treat you like an animal, and there have been many instances where the poor
immigrant is physically tortured. The desperate immigrant has nowhere to turn
to. They are scared, have no money and they do not want to be fired because if
this happens, he or she becomes an illegal alien. Very, very scary. And they do
not have the guts to go to the authorities. And so they carry on, like a
bullock with a yoke around its neck. This is happening as we speak, in The
United States and all over the world. There are statistics that prove this and
unfortunately there are many Indians who are the culprits here. Again, there
are many Indians who do not do this. They are successful and follow the laws of
the land but there is a flip side to this and that is what is detailed in Bloodline
Bandra If you go to bloodlinebandra.com
you will begin to understand.
You speak of a very ghastly human rights
violation in your work - what inspired your choice of
story?
 |
| Godfrey Pereira |
Well, I am a journalist. I have been a War
Correspondent, I have seen human rights violations written in blood flowing
from open wounds. It is ugly and devoid of anything human. When I first came to
America, I was enslaved in the same trap of 'Legal Slavery.' Sure I was a legal
resident in America but I was worked to the bone, underpaid, sometimes even
that little money would not materialize. It was horrible. I was threatened,
pushed around and abused. I was homeless, begging to sleep on people's couches.
Finally, I snapped in the middle of a nervous breakdown one dark evening
and tried to commit suicide. I then began talking to the lowly paid
waiters, cooks, cleaners of restaurants, gas station attendants, motel workers
and small businesses owned by Indians all over New York State, from Manhattan
to Woodstock. And the story was always the same. It was then that I began
researching, and good God, story after story emerged. It shocked me. The website
bloodlinebandra.com details
this. The rights of Indians were being violated by their Indian bosses all over
the world. It made me feel sad and ashamed. The human rights injustices that is
what I wanted to portray in Bloodline Bandra. The Novel started off as
just one book so to speak; just the East Indians and their lives; but somehow
in the Novel, David Cabral the central character winds his way to New York
city, and his life turns into a living burning hell.
What, as a researcher and writer on the
issue, do you see as a feasible solution to the issue?
I don't know, I really don't know. I am a
pessimist at the best of times. I mean it has got to begin with change deep in
the human heart. I have heard the defense a thousand times. 'Well, why are you
picking on the Indians. The Chinese do it, the Russians do it.... everybody
does it!' Well, first, my bloodline is Indian. Second I was a 'Legal Slave'.
Third, as someone born in India, I am not qualified to point a dirty finger at
someone else when my own backside is not clean. Indians find it easier to
exploit other Indians because it is easy. In the beginning there is the trust
factor between both parties that bhai bhai back home made in India glue.
They both speak the same language, eat the same food, follow the same religion,
ect. ect. and then BOOM, the shackles are on the new immigrant's feet. I have
no answers to what you call a 'feasible solution'.
Why does slavery and bondage still subsist?
What are we not doing?
Very
good question! That's a difficult and tough one. Slavery and human bondage,
well that's a financial enterprise aided and often abetted by dirty underground
political and strong social strings. It's as old as prostitution, which is
often considered the oldest profession. But people tend to overlook the fact
that behind most prostitutes there is that shadowy figure called 'The Pimp'.
The same analogy applies here. It brings in money and the third party always
triumphs. Cheap labor and able man and woman power that is eventually
manipulated into bondage. That ultimate power over the life of another
human being. The slave and the master. It also stems from racism, religions,
philosophies, traditions, the whole spectrum of the dark side of humanity. It
is hard to get a bulls eye on it. The pessimist in me will say that as long as
men and women exist there will be human bondage of some sort. What we are not
doing, is trying to stop it, with will and passion. You hear of a case of
modern slavery on television and everyone is up in arms about it, and then it
fades into obscurity the next day. No one is concerned, how or why it happened
or is happening. I know there are laws against slavery all over the world but
it still goes on and on and on. I mean, it happens in America, "Land Of
The Free", it is happening all over the world. What we are not doing
is enacting tougher laws, and I say this both of America where I live, and
India where I was born. I am so glad that Kailash Satyarthi was bestowed with
the Noble Prize for Peace. He has been fighting against the
human bondage of children for years. Malala Yousafzai,
that incredible young girl who shared the prize with Satyarthi has been fighting
another kind of legal slavery; the slavery imposed by fanatical religious
zealots who believe it is moral and legal in the eyes of God and society
to murder somebody if they do not confirm to their doctrine. And think about
it! An Indian and a Pakistani sharing the Noble Peace Prize! How great is that!
Power. Absolute power over everything. And,
of course, the money and connections that this power brings play a big role.
Take your average dictator. That's what it is all about. The ass kissing, the
groveling, the boot licking; it powers the dictator. It helps the "I am
the good God" factor, "I am the almighty Lord of all I survey"
feeling. First they break you down, then re- construct you psychologically and
then physically abuse you. In India whole families, for generations are
enslaved, father to child, mother to daughter. They are trapped in the vicious
cycle of the loan system. It is terrifying. Human beings are basically
flawed, at least that is what I believe. If we are all made in the image and
likeness of God like I was taught at school, there is something really wrong
here. Realistically nobody is entitled to anything. Not the rich land owners or
the spiritual Brahmins, or the poor man, beggar or the thief.
What do you hope for your book to do, for the
cause?
I hope Bloodline Bandra is read by
people in places like Southall, in West London, who are enslaving their fellow
Indians. I hope that Bloodline Bandra is at some point is translated
into other languages so that some of those rich fat bastard landowners in the
heart of India, living off the flesh, skin and bone of indentured farmers
and their children read it. I hope that a few people change their minds and do
the right thing. I hope that those slimy Indian agents who herd poor south
Indian men to the Gulf read it and try walking in the shoes of those they sell
like cattle. I hope the Arabs, who treat Indian laborers like chattel read it
and realize that their brutality goes against their religious principals and
violates basic human rights. I hope that all those young men and women
who look to the West or the Gulf regions as a gateway to the promised land
tread carefully, very, very carefully before they take that next step. The
luxurious green grass on the other side is sometimes tipped with flesh
shredding razor wire. I hope that people read Bloodline Bandra and
realize that the author is not trying to slander Indians, but simply telling it
like it is... hoping that something will change....I hope...
