When Money Wears the Crown

When Money Wears the

Crown

Imagine an idyllic holiday by the beach with crashing waves breaking into foamy suds that crawl up in measured paces on the packed sand.  A joy to behold, indeed!  Then, along comes Money, the corrupter of souls, the temptress of conscience and the bane of the common folks.  Recently, I found myself in such a setting, in a village called Puthenthope in Trivandrum, Kerala, India. 

All was good until the construction works on the land adjoining my temporary residence started.  A logical consequence of that would be the noise and dust pollution, but an additional gift I received was a lesson on what happens when money wears the crown.  When the mighty Mammon rears its head, there is a blatant disregard for laws, because there is a perception that nobody and nothing can touch those in the big league; the workers' welfare becomes inconsequential as they are made to work long hours and housed in one long makeshift tent with a metallic roof, gauze-like green `walls' on three sides and a sheet for flooring; and residents in nearby houses are merely viewed, at best, as irritants that deserve little or no consideration.

As mentioned earlier, it is normal for one to expect some noise and dust pollution from the ongoing construction works.  I am a Singaporean, and so, know full well what that would mean since the ever-changing landscape of Singapore stands testimony to the constant and never-ceasing building, rebuilding and renovation works.  However, in Singapore, the contractors abide by the laws and the authorities make sure these laws are followed to the letter.  To my dismay, I found that here in this beguiling part of India, things are not so cut and dry.

Matters got to a head on Christmas Day which, I am told, is a holiday in India.  My parents and I had gone for the customary midnight mass in the local church in this mainly Catholic community and retired to bed only after 2 in the wee hours of the morning.  My father, having to follow a strict regime regulated by the Ayurvedic treatment protocols that were prescribed to him, took to bed soon after his breakfast at 7.  Unfortunately, sleep eluded him as the grunt and whirring of the cement-mixer, positioned parallel to his bedroom, chose to go into action just at that time.  He appealed to the foreman, to no avail, and then, as a last resort, with patience reaching its breaking point, he contacted the police.  The police came alright, albeit after a few hours, and promptly made their first visit to the foreman in the adjoining land before sauntering over to brief my father.  Yes, it was a briefing because they merely stated that the cement-mixer will be moved to a position farther away in a couple of days.  Hmmm, one wonders if this is a natural outcome in a world where money wears the crown!

As an aside, I must include that for a few days prior to Christmas Day, I had been reading of two main controversies in The Hindu, related to:

(1)   the so-called `reconversion' of Muslims and Christians to Hinduism; and

(2)   government officials and schools being instructed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Indian Government, to hold activities to commemorate Good Governance Day on Christmas Day.

Technically, December 25 is a holiday but, well, this must be what one might call, a BJP Christmas Day!  Unfortunately, this concept seemed to have filtered to those overseeing the construction of a holiday home for a bigwig from Infosys, one of the top IT companies in India.  It is an interesting lesson, as late in my life I am being schooled on the advantages of having big bucks; it is a pretty rosy world for the moneyed folks because you have the capacity to make existing laws bow to you and if you so choose, you can live the life of the proverbial frog in the pond. 

All this is happening in a State (Kerala) that used to pride itself as a champion of workers' rights and socialist ideals that placed the common man first.  As George Orwell has so aptly described in Animal Farm, human nature will rear its ugly, selfish head once the fervour to bring about humanitarian reforms for the common good dies down.  Indeed, in a world where Money wears the crown, the poor migrant workers from rural parts of North India can be made to slog mercilessly for long hours much beyond the permitted hours, the local Catholic security guard can be prodded to work instead of celebrating Christmas with his family and the neighbouring residents can be ignored as they are rendered powerless to exercise their rights.

The above is an example of an opinion piece based on a real-life event.  There are references here that require relevant prior knowledge, understanding of idioms and/or proverbs and use of literary devices to get across the author's points.  If you are interested in learning how to read for understanding or in writing expository and persuasive pieces, try the courses offered by The Pear Tree Centre for Education