A PASSAGE TO INDIA

'A TRAVELER IS BUT A PILGRIM ON A QUEST'

Thursday, December 22, 2005

36. THE NEW COLONIALISTS



M
any white Europeans and Americans have colonised choice areas of Asia. They came, they saw, they stayed. Despite the inconvenience of crossing borders every 1-3 months to get a fresh extension, there are those who have stayed years.

Those with means operate restaurants, pubs, travel agencies, 'consultancies,' guest houses, orphanages or just about anything to keep themselves in the country. Others, not trained as teachers, teach in language and international schools.

You'll encounter them in Thailand....Bali's a big favourite. Others are in India, Nepal, Vietnam, to a lesser extent, Sri Lanka. They've formed enclaves, where they stick with their own kind, forming private communities.

I met an American transsexual with a nice big house in Koh Samui but who moves around the country as a hooker, going to where there are festivals which draw white tourists. Every month, she crosses the border to get her stay extended, something she's been doing for 4 years. She swears she'll never return to America - she hates the people, the politicians, the hypocrisy and phony lifestyle. She was having a difficult time keeping afloat when I met her. My friend and I dropped by one night at the bar where she worked, bought 3 of us beer so she could earn some commission. She was a good soul with a kind heart but was a misfit back home.


There are others who are there for cheap sex, cheap booze and low cost of living. Others have stayed because they have met the gay companion of their dreams.

Auroville in Pondicherry is a European commune, a large village of sorts. Local Indians and other foreigners are allowed into certain areas escorted by a white resident, while others stand around like sentries watching like hawks, making sure these Asians don't walk on the grass, don't talk too loudly (it's not cultured you see) that you don't linger too long, and that the local Indians don't pee on the flowers.

The same exists in Osho's Center in Pune. Courses and accommodations are in US$ and targeted at the international community, effectively cutting out the local Indians. At both these centers, the only Asian faces are those who have lived a long time or were born in a white society. They speak German, French, American or crisp English.

 
A white resident will show visitors around the Pune Center. Dressed in their maroon cassocks, these residents look awfully pretentious - masters and mistresses of all they survey. A conversation with them will reveal a holier-than-thou demeanor - these folks carry with them their previous religious conditioning which is basically Christian/Catholic and bring this baggage into the centers. To cater to local Indian devotees of Osho, the Indians have set up centers in several cities in India, so there we have the divisions - it's organised religion all over again.


This is less pronounced in Baba's ashram, perhaps it's because he's still in his physical body, lives there and walks among the devotees. However, as a volunteer in the kitchen and dining rooms, I note that this command and control exists among the white female volunteers who live in the ashram, some for years. They are involved in the day to day running of the kitchen and cooking work.

The helpers on a daily basis are chiefly Asian volunteers and their duties are given out by these white 'supervisors' who more often than not, want to show whose 'boss'. When these folks return to their home countries, they crawl back into the holes they came out from. 

These people, chiefly Europeans, are such control freaks. They are happy as long as they are in charge giving out orders and others remain below them. The colonising mentality is so deeply ingrained into their psyche.

You can export wholesale, moronic surfies, loud-mouthed louts, football hooligans and drunken thugs to other countries, their spots don't change. They will remain insidious, the collusion will continue between individuals, companies, the private and public sectors. The glass ceiling will remain firmly in place.

While it's now politically incorrect to colonise lands, they colonise minds, through the chiefly Anglo-Saxon international media...and those charismatic, evangelising American Christianity...



'No tribe howsoever insignificant and no nation, howsoever mighty, occupies a foot of land that was not stolen' - Mark Twain

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