STORM IN A COFFEE CUP

STORM IN A COFFEE CUP

Driving down the rugged terrain for 90 minutes, Ram could reach a motel located on the foothills of a gorgeous mountain. Getting off his 4W Drive, he walked past a chain of mega stores and cafeterias, besides a cluster of industrial structures, to have a first-hand account of how the rural settings were transformed over the last 4 years. In his inner mind, he harbored a doubt as to whether such orchestrated change in the eco-system would benefit the villages in the long run. Lush green paddy fields were replaced by a range of high-rise concrete structures, spread over the entire expanse of the Kodaiyur village.

Sprawling Concrete structures

Deeply moved by the prolific change, Ram thought that while the villagers, predominantly the farmers, should have benefited immensely from the high prices for the landed properties in and around the area, he was curious to know how the landless but cash-rich villagers would adapt themselves to engaging in alternate vocations like self-employment, small businesses.. Transformation from farm to non-farm activities cannot be an easy and non-challenging task, he thought. It is more a question of change of mindset and re-alignment of the way of living, with a different set of daily chores, than a shift in the set of mundane routine. He was in no mood to reconcile to this structural shift, and he was recalling the names of his closer friends, whom he came across, right from his student days. Number one was his classmate Sundar, who lived in the village for a major part of his younger days, and whose father was owning a sizable acreage of agricultural land. He was not sure about Sundar’s whereabouts now. However, he thought it wise to enquire with someone around.

Having walked for over 300 meters, he paused for a while and looked at a sprawling farm house opposite to the branch of a Co-operative Bank, which displayed a signboard ‘Instant loans extended against Gold jewelry”. There was a passerby, who inquisitively asked Ram whom he was looking for. When Ram was about to respond, there was a beep in his mobile, and it was Rahim, a close friend, who worked for a leading construction company on the outskirts of the City of Chennai. Quite enthused over the telephonic conversation, Ram decided to move swiftly to meet Rahim and get briefed on how the rural infrastructure has changed over the recent years. For Ram, it was undoubtedly an excellent opportunity to understand the nitty-gritty of the visible change that has taken over the Kodaiyur village.

Scoop on the Kodaiyur village

Rahim started recounting event by event in sequence. He cited how a team of 3 property brokers representing some middle order industrialists scooped on the ‘Who is Who’ of the Kodaiyur village on the dawn of one Sunday morning in winter 2008 with a bout of proposals to make them all highly rich in a matter of couple of months. When the proposals relating to sale of their landholdings were explained, there was a mixed reaction amongst the villagers, who thought it prudent to have a threadbare discussion as it concerned their livelihood and vocation, which has been carried on from generation to generation uninterruptedly. The quantum of money they would get per acre of land in case of sale was so tempting that no one would dare say ‘no’ outright.

The brokers gave a week’s time for a decision from the village Headman, Venu. Meantime, there was a great deal of interaction amongst the key personalities in the village, and at their behest, Venu called for a closed-door meeting at the Community Union Office. A dozen people assembled at the meeting venue. Venu started the session stating a spate of good things to happen to the villagers in case their cultivable lands are sold for a gain as envisaged in the proposal, which he described as ‘god-send’, and a life-time opportunity. Hot brewed coffee was served to the participants in a new set of splashy, white ceramic cups, and the aroma, similar to that of Starbucks, permeated the entire area for about 25 minutes. This coffee was understood to have been specially ordered from ‘Murugan Tea Stall’, a Cafeteria with a roaring daily sale in the locality. Ram was wondering how the shop could serve an excellent coffee of international standards, when the sign-board was displaying ‘Murugan Tea Stall’. Instantly, Rahim clarified, “the wording“Tea Stall’ is home-grown, and the people identify the eatery without any difficulty, when they find the sign-board displays ‘Tea stall’.”

Questions on the land sale deal

For three hours, there were heated exchanges and some of the questions raised by the participants who have a vital stake in the village development were:

Ø When we sell these lands earlier belonging to our families for generations, what should we do to keep ourselves engaged on a daily basis; we do not know any thing other than tilling the land and hoping for a bountiful harvest of paddy grains?

Ø What would happen to our children who are trained in agriculture only?

Ø Are we not subjugating ourselves for the sake of money and trying to sell out our cherished possession of high-yielding lands?

Ø Will it not be an injustice to our ancestors who handed to us this vast range of landed properties?

Ø What do we do with the sale proceeds of the land, when it is not put to effective and constructive use?

Ø Once the relatives in and around the village come to know about our inflated cash holdings, will they not prowl upon us for a getting a chunk of money as loan, where it would be quite uneasy for us to turn down their requests, given the level of bondage developed amongst families over the years?

Ø Are our children prepared to take upon or engage in non-farm activities, and would they be successful in their new ventures?

Ø No doubt, we will remain cash-rich post-sale, but whether our peace of mind and quality of life, which we currently enjoy, will be compromised?

Ø Will our posterity blame us for the unusual act of sale of wet lands only to lead a pompous material life?

Ø Where do we relocate our dwelling after we sell our lands?

Venu heard the barrage of questions with his customary calm in the first place. He called for silence and was trying to lay emphasis on the need to weigh the advantages in case the sale deal is through. From his perspective, the deal, if accepted, would bring forth the following:

i) each acre of land sold shall fetch Rs.10,00,000 as cash

ii) in each of the families, two adults would get jobs in the emerging industries in the area at a salary to be based upon their age and educational background.

iii) Necessary on-the-job training would be imparted to the job-holders without any cost to them.

When the proceedings were going on smoothly, suddenly one of the participants – Mustafa turned emotional and shouted “Venu should stop advising further on sale of land. Venu was playing into the hands of a few indiscriminate industrialists to see the deal through. Who knows, you may get a share of commission for doing this ridiculous disservice to our village community” Three other participants also started looking at the deal with a shade of suspicion and hurled a series of shouts at Venu, including that how much extra money he would get for consummating this deal. Venu turned quite furious and howled back with filthy words. The scene was quite charged with anger and acrimony. At this stage, Venu took his turkey towel off the back of his chair and flipped it onto his shoulders; he started walking out of the meeting, giving a final warning;

“Now at least you get a good chunk of money through this private deal. If you are not agreeable for this, and tomorrow if the Government notifies taking over your land, you guys will have no choice but to accept a lesser sum without even any word of protest. You deserve only such a treatment. Stop attributing motive for my action; I am not a Commission agent for any one”.

Before he could reach the exit door, Venu was man-handled and in the scuffling, his spotlessly white cotton shirt was ripped off 2 of the 5 buttons. The meeting venue looked deserted when all the participants dispersed and went back home.

Advantage to land-owners

Three days passed off without any developments. On the 4th day evening, Mustafa was going towards the school to bring his children back home. While he was nearing the school building, he could see Venu talking to someone on the pavement. He recollected what had happened during the meeting in the Community Hall last week and paused for a while. Mustering courage, he crossed the road, approached Venu and said ‘Vanakkam’ (Hi). Venu reciprocated Mustafa’s greetings non-chalantly. Mustafa on his own started talking about the deal issue, and added that he thought over it thoroughly after the meeting. He said he was convinced on the advantages that would accrue, and he would be delighted to meet Venu at his convenience.

Venu at once recalled the indecent manner he was treated in the last meeting and did not want to respond favorably. The dirty words used by the irate mob against him reverberated in his ears all through the last few days, and he felt quite insulted. Though he thought he should not budge from his position, his inner mind prompted that he would also slip the splendid opportunity in case he would not bring them to an amicable agreement on the issue. Making up his mind to arrange for a brief huddle, Venu drove home in his Hero Honda Motor Cycle. Giving a few loving pats to the cow tethered to an uneven granite slab in the porch of his tile-roofed house, he entered the main hall, hung his tiny towel onto the rope used for drying up clothes, and sat on the swing. As was customary, he was widely swinging for about 10 minutes when his wife shouted from the kitchen that his dinner was ready. In the village, normally people take their early dinner and close out the day for an early sleep to ensure they get up in the morning well before the sun-rise.

Quickly finishing his dinner – a set of well-baked pan-cakes, made of rice-flour and lentil paste, served with a spicy curry made of egg-plants and full-grown tomatoes – he was about to hit his bed when his mobile started ringing. While he could hear the ringing sound feebly, he could not quickly locate the handset. With a little fret on his face, he could reach out to his chest- of- drawers where, by mistake, he left the mobile along with his bulging wallet inside.

Venu – the Good Samaritan

It was one of the brokers, who were interested to know about the developments in the proposed sale deal. Venu responded that he was quite hopeful of convincing the majority of villagers in the course of next 2 to 3 days. When the call was closed, Venu again sat at the centre of the swing and gave a big push on his toes for gaining momentous speed. He called his wife in a caring tone, who sounded she would be with him in about a few minutes. Impatient to bear with even a small amount of delay, he came to a screeching halt on his swing, ran towards the kitchen and gave a warm but close hug to his loving wife as part of communicating his happy state of mind. She was unable to make out what had befallen him. She asked “what is that, that makes you jump over the roof? Venu assured to take her to the 70mm theatre, newly constructed on the link road to national high-way, where a new English movie titled ‘Love on the Meadows’ was up for screening.

Next morning, as soon as his break-fast was over, he sent his watch-ward with an invite to the top few, who attended the earlier stormy session, for an urgent huddle. Readily everyone agreed, and as scheduled, they met at the same place – Community Union Office. Even before Venu could open his mouth, 7 of the 10 assembled gave their thumbs up to the deal and urged Venu to initiate further steps for an early conclusion of the deal. Also, Justin, one of the attendees, mentioned that he could realize the significance of the deal very late, and started thanking, besides profusely branding Venu as a good-Samaritan. Venu contacted the brokers, and conveyed that majority of villagers were agreeable for the sale deal but at an enhanced price of Rs.15,00,000 per acre. This was also agreed to, and the whole deal including the job offers to the displaced villagers after a year of conclusion of deal went through smoothly. Entire Kodaiyur praised the services of Venu and arranged a mega felicitation function.

Industrial profiling

Neo-industrialists swarmed the erstwhile paddy fields and started setting up medium industries in the manufacturing sector like:

i) Mineral water bottling

ii) Detergents and Shampoos

iii) Dairy products

iv) Confectionery

v) Paper products

Since Kodaiyur is contiguous to the city of Chennai, two of the leading BPO (Business Processes outsourcing) firms also shifted to this place where space could be a luxury at a considerable cheaper cost.

Former occupants of the land, where sprawling concrete structures are seen now, could find their alternate place of dwelling, besides being left with a fat bank balance, and some of their children being gainfully employed in the industrial establishments. Standards of living have significant gone up for the inhabitants of the village. While a part of the paddy fields- a marvelous rural heritage – could still adorn the beauty of the area, one has to walk or drive at least three fourth of a kilometer to reach out to the boundaries to relish the gentle breeze gracing the crops.

Gateway to fresh investments

Rahim further explained to Ram how once an acrimonious exchange of discussions in the coffee session could turn into a win-win equation for the earlier and current occupants of the land, how the name of Kodaiyur has got the title “Chennai’s best industrial suburb”. When Rahim hastened to add that due to the metamorphous change, recently the State Government has recommended to the Centre for bringing this area into the Corporation limit, Ram was totally taken aback and exclaimed ‘then there could be a possibility of Kodaiyur becoming one of the leading free-zones in the south of India, in a matter of next 5 to 10 years. Ram, an NRI (non-resident Indian), and an Industrial Engineer by profession has started kicking with the idea of adding further sinews to the growing infrastructure of Kodaiyur with a stream of investments from friends in his closer NRI circles.