THE HUNT
(
A COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES on Sumangali victims by SUBRABHARATHI
MANIAN )
Published in Tamil popular
magazines Ananda Viketan,
Kumudam Theeraanathi, Dinamanikathir. Translated from Tamil by
P.RAMGOPAL
1. Foreword
Comrade Subrabharathi Manian has
been writing fiction and non-fiction for more than three decades with passion
and compassion for the workers who are destined to work under pathetic and
unpalatable conditions. His writings question the silent, stagnant and stinking
irresponsibility of the society and the establishment.
Subrabharathi Manian portrays the
eye-wetting and heart- bleeding environment of the labourers, both men and
women, almost bonded in the industries in and around Tirupur. He also focuses
on child labour, labour disputes, the heartless pollution of rivers and the
mindless destruction of forests.
Mr. Manian is a recipient of several
awards, including the katha award
from the President of India and The Best
Novelist Award from the Government of Tamilnadu.
SAVE is extremely happy to publish Mr.
Manian’s Sumangali, a short novel, and
these stories on Sumangali victims focussing on the trials and tribulations of a
teen-age girl, Muthulakshmi, caught in the mire of the ‘Sumangali’ scheme. The
novel may appear, in the first reading, as a story full of pathos, but one can
realize its undercurrent of radiant optimism, if one ponders over it leisurely,
afterwards. Ane here lies the greatness of Mr. Manian, both as a writer and as
a human being. He tells us: “Friend, life is and will always be like that only.
It is your duty to stand up and fight unto the last!”
SAVE feels very proud of its continuing
association with Mr. Manian and wishes him many more laurels!
Tirupur,
A. ALOYSIUS
DIRECTOR, SAVE
2. A WORD about THE DISEASED ‘SUMANGALIS’
“If a woman wears a T- shirt, she is a worker in a garment
factory; a shirt, a worker in a mill, a lungi, a house maid, a night gown a
wife in a house who is ‘solely’ made for cooking!” It’s quite a surprise how
such a ‘dress-code’ has become a common notion and crept into the public mind.
The dress code of the women who work in the ‘Sumangali Scheme’ is not different
from those who work in the houses. They would look as though they have come to
the cotton mills straight from the kitchen.
In many districts like Cuddalore, Perumbalur, Ariyalur,
Tanjore and Nagapattinam, young women are roped into the schemes like,
‘Sumangali Scheme’, ‘Marriage Scheme’,
‘Kanmani Plan’, ‘Gold for ‘Thali’
Scheme’ and are made to work for
more than five years. Most of the
schemes cheat the innocent. Many of them escape from these schemes with their
legs or hands or both cut. Nearly two lakh women are in this condition in
Tamilnadu knowing no way to swim across the river of life. Those who stay until the end of the contract,
face various charges. They also ‘receive’ sexual harassment. And even if they
escape from these ‘awards’ they are branded as ‘Sumangali Girls’ in the
marriage market and men hesitate to marry them.
The above schemes have
various contract periods. Some have five years, some two years and some one
year! The court and ‘The Labour Welfare Board’ have stipulated that the minimum
wages should be Rs. 692. 50. Can anyone believe this? The girls get only a
quarter of it! The schemes themselves pave way for exploitation! The
NGOs divide
the lives of mill- workers into two periods ,B.S.S
(before
‘Sumangali’ scheme) and A.S.S (after ‘Sumangali’ scheme)
Even Thiruppur which
earns a foreign exchange of Rs.30, 000 crores per year have started relishing
these schemes and are exploiting people with schemes like these. Tamilnadu has
witnessed so far 90 suicides of girls working under these schemes, the reasons
mostly being wage-exploitation, sexual harassment, depression and tension.
These include honour killings too. (The number of honour killings alone is 90
in Tamil Nadu- that’s a different story.)
Even though it is said that 10% of them are trainers, 90%the young girls
are labourers. These places know only two languages: exploitation and profit.
Most of these people who have taken refuge or asylum in Tamilnadu are from
Bihar, Odissa and Bengal. Mostly, their common language is sign language. They
take asylum even in small units. The developments in technology have made
larger units possible. Much of the ‘rule-breaking’ is done in the small units.
Capitalism and the Corporates have almost succeeded in
converting the labourers into slaves without any safety switches like permanent
job or social security ; they have converted them into contract labourers,
workers on daily wage and piece-rate workers. Most of those who are affected
are girls in their teens. Either all roads are diverted to cities where there
are big industries or the roads have
been laid anew! Those whom one can see or those who walk on them are mostly
diseased young girls. For name sake only, they are, ‘Sumangalis’. (Men have
different channels to escape- one of them is ‘drinking’. They are ready to
‘die’ after forty!)
Once, in the big cities, there were young men and women
f rom the
South in huge numbers. Now they are joined by the crowds
from North India. People from Bihar, Odissa and Bengal come in large
numbers and take asylum here. A sack of
‘atta’ and a few kilos of potatoes are enough to make them bonded labourers
easily.
Education for their
children has become a big problem in Tamilnadu. Some social organisations and
NGOs run schools for them- that’s a consolation. Otherwise, their children
would easily be converted into child labourers. If they become child labourers,
due to work pressure, they rot, become addicts to drinking etc easily and
indulge in all sorts of crimes and become culturally, members of criminal
‘clans’
The system of branding of
some sects of society as ‘criminal tribes’ by the British Government had gone.
The new insignia put on the new generation are different. The ink of the seals
of Capitalism and the Corporates are blacker. The blackness is a symbol of the
development which this century has witnessed. This blackness makes the faces of
the diseased young, ‘Sumangali’ workers still blacker.
According to law the minimum age for marriage is 18. The age
for exercising one’s franchise is 18. (Leave for two nights and no work during
the day time is a concession given during the polls.) These ‘concessions’ are
guaranteed by law; but no law prescribes the minimum age for working. People
have started murmuring! Of late, the murmurs have grown louder!
I saw recently a
notice for recruiting girls: “If you join a young woman in our mill you’ll get
2gm. gold coin; if you join five, you’ll get 12gm; for ten it is 24gm. You’ll also get Rs.1000/=
as commission!”
The
‘marketing culture’ has cut deep inroads into all aspects of our life. They are
rough. A few of the diseased sumangali*s I’ve met on these rough roads are the
heroines of these short-stories!
-Subrabharathi
Manian
*sumangali : a happy married woman
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