01. The immediate local area and its educational content

02. So-called Independence (formation of India) and its real affects

03. A code to stamp out corruption

04. An observation on bureaucracy

05. Sexual inclinations versus perfunctory refinement

06. What Macaulay strived for, and what modern Indian education can’t do

The immediate local area and its educational content

It is here that I need to speak of the intellectual quality of the local area. The place is in Malabar, in a village area. Even though a village, it is not sparsely populated. The majority of the affluent class persons have worked or are working in the Middle East, most of them in low level menial jobs. Others are there who can claim to be on the higher echelon of the social order. They are generally the teaching class including a few college lectures. Due to the extreme admiration for such jobs by the majority lower employed classes, these teacher classes of people do feel a more mental elevation than what they jobs really signify.

During the British rule, Malabar was part of the British Empire, as a remote district of the Madras Presidency. During that time, the concept of education was of a very high standard in English, with the educated class more or less at home in British classics. However, only a very minute percentage of the population received this education. This was possibly due to the fact that the British rulers were too preoccupied with the two world wars. And due to the hugeness of British-India.

QUOTE from WIKIPEDIA:

In 1944, the Government of British India presented a plan, called the Sergeant Scheme for the educational reconstruction of India, with a goal of producing 100% literacy in the country within 40 years, i.e. by 1984. Although the 40 year time-frame was derided at the time by leaders of the Indian independence movement as being too long a period to achieve universal literacy, India had only just crossed the 74% level by the 2011 census.

MY COMMENT: This ‘Indian education’ of independent India, devoid of English, is not education, per se, but sly and treacherous cheating of the majority people and their children. Simply wastage of around 20 years under teachers of dubious intellectual quality. [READ: COMPULSORY FORMAL EDUCATION: A travesty!]

It may be mentioned in between that

When I was around my childhood age and beyond, I found a huge population of local natives here who couldn’t read Malayalam (illiterate). As to English, it was absolute zero knowledge. Among these people, like a creamy layer was the fantastically educated-in-English class. Now, as far as that level was concerned, education meant a good knowledge in English, not just spoken English, but a very near-to-England sort of association with British literature and social mood. The people spoke Malayalam in the local area. However, that Malayalam was around 70% of words and usages different from the Southern Kerala version of current-day official Malayalam.

The people who were quite well-educated did want to see that local people improve in education. However what that meant was an education that was based in good quality English. However that was not to be. For, the native Kingdoms of Travancore and Cochin had been amalgamated to the Indian nation under duress of threat of Military occupation by the Indian army (The British-created army handed over to the Indian officialdom and politicians by super nut Clement Atlee).

The lower castes of Travancore and Cochin, namely the Ezhavas and the Nairs (Nairs were superior to the Ezhavas, but on an eye-ball-to-eye-ball level of belligerent connection) went on an educational-institutions setting-up spree everywhere in Kerala, mainly in the southern districts. Their idea of education was a utility mode of education wherein the youngsters gather up a paper called a degree certificate. It was an utter nonsensical education devoid of any quality that the British-Malabar education had brought in. Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics, and many arts subjects were taught, wherein majority of the degree holders had only working knowledge of English and had no mental links to the refinement that the British education had brought into the creamy class of Malabar. This paper called ‘degree’ was given an artificial value by making it the minimum qualification for getting government jobs.

Now, the public service was open to all persons. {Earlier the lower castes (Ezhavas and below) in Travancore were not allowed to join to the public service other than at the lower menial levels}. These degree holders simply swarmed the vacancies and their mental attributes became the standards in the social order. Soon this education system diffused into Malabar also. Within a matter of a few decades, the original idea of education as envisaged by the British administrators as a method of enhancing personal refinement was erased from the public mind.

So-called Independence (formation of India) and its real affects

First Travancore bureaucracy was filled with corruption and bribery. It was simply not a crime to harass the public in order to gather bribes. It took a few decades for this culture to diffuse into Malabar officialdom.

I must now control my desire to write more about this theme. For, it is connected to another writing I have planned in my mind, that of the Real History of Kerala and also of India. Check my Commentary on MALABAR MANUAL.

A code to stamp out corruption

However, since I have spoken about corruption, I think I will input a few points just to clear my mind of the pulsating tides of thoughts in this regard.

In recent times, there have been concerted efforts by many persons to come out with a campaign to stamp out corruption. {I believe that at least some of them were marketed by spending huge sums of money. For, without this spending no Indian media will report these things. Otherwise a small public meeting in Delhi would remain a small event and no one would hear about it}.

However these slender efforts will not stamp out corruption. At best it may be able to put a case against a few persons. And to write more laws on the already existing laws against corruption. And make them totally unreadable and useless.

Actually there is no need for such terrible laws or the need to stamp out corruption with an iron hand. All that is required is a social ambience that doesn’t need corruption.

This I understood from my early observations on the Malabar officials who came from the British systems of recruitment. All of them were quite elegant in English and more or less maintained an English social environment amongst themselves. There was no spur in them to take bribes, even though the salaries were quite meagre by current-day standards. From my much focused observations on them, it was seen that they were not bothered by the indicant words of feudal respect for the rich versus the pejorative words for the poor. They had their own social relationships amongst the officer class wherein an English ambience was maintained.

However, the next generation of officials were from the Malayalam communication systems. In that system, all social and official powers were connected to Malayalam higher indicant words. And the best route to be on the higher indicant words was to have money.

Now that is only a part of the story. The second part is that money is required to keep oneself above and away from the common ‘Indians’ who the vernacular mentality official class see with disdain.

Actually this is the major spur for garnering money through bribes. Now, look at England. The citizens are not viewed with disdain by any section of the society. In fact, the very definition of being an Englishman is a welcome feeling. However as immigrant populations from feudal language nations start filling in, there will be an issue of native citizens moving off. For, they do not feel comfortable with the feudal-language-speaking immigrants. Even though this ‘White flight’ may be described as a racial issue, the real reason is that the same repulsiveness that the official classes had for the common man in the feudal language nations would just be replicating itself in England. The exact negativity that stimulates repulsion is actually in the feudal language speakers, and not in the native English folks.

Now look at South Africa. The Blacks have the political and bureaucratic power. Here itself there is something to be explained. When the Whites had bureaucracy in their hands, it is not power that would exude from that system, but efficiency. However the moment the feudal-language-speaking Blacks takeover the officialdom, then it becomes a powerhouse. In spite of sitting inside a powerhouse, the black officialdom is not happy. They would want to be more distant from the other blacks, who they would view with disdain. They would opt for bribes to get a footing out of their social contact. And to possibly send their children to the US or UK.

The White officials also would be forced to take bribes in the new social scenario. For, they would also need money to move away from the feudal-language-speaking Blacks.

I speak from my mental conjectures. I have never visited South Africa. However, this is what my knowledge on language codes tells me. I had made some predications about South Africa, way back in 1989. See these links: One, two

There is a very definite way and manner to root out corruption. Just introduce pristine English as the social communication standard. Then the citizens will not be divided into: the despicable and the golden. There will be no need to garner money to move away. There will be honour in standards and in rectitude.

What I am trying to input here is that the modern educated persons in our village were not in the least bit connected to the older educated version of people. When I was a youngster, the youngsters that I considered as educated were good in English, had a very good reading knowledge of Enid Blyton, and knew at least a bit of information about English classics. Moreover, they had a slight concern about the stark feudal pejorative words and usages of Malayalam and were not very comfortable with stinking-dirtifying other human beings with such words.

The elders, who were then the educated class, spoke of educating the local people to bring in a quality change in the social order. That is, if English is known to the local people, the snubbing, uncouth, barbarian quality of the communication system would change. It was a change that would serve the local society and people good and make their own social environment highly dynamic and healthy. However, this dream was not to be. For, suddenly on the horizon came this new group of persons who had adopted the concept of something they called education that only served to prop up a minor number of persons as a sort of crude superiors called government officials.

The uneducated people of the earlier times did not know English, had not heard of Enid Blyton, had no inkling of what British Classic was, had no concept of forming a queue, and were quite feudal and snubbing to the lower class people. Now the modern educated people of Malabar are also ditto. There is no change in that sense from the uneducated class of that time. However, it would be wrong to say that the people have not changed.

Technology has brought in so many information, gadgets, appliances, vehicles, and much more. This is the change that can come to any place in the world where technology companies can market their products. For instance, toothpaste was a thing that majority of the people around our household did not use when I was a child. Now, almost everyone uses it. Mobile phones are available like matchboxes. When I was a child, matchboxes were not a trifle item.

An observation on bureaucracy

I think it would be correct to insert this observation that I had of bureaucracy when I was a youngster. The Malabar English speaking officers were elegant. The clerks were crude in Travancore. I think that the clerks in Malabar were not so crude to the higher members of the public. May be that is just a childhood observation of mine which may not be tenable. Yet, it must be borne in mind that Malabar Malayalam was cruder to the young and socially weak than Travancore Malayalam.

However, there is this observation which I would vouch for. The English speaking and at-home-in-English officer class that moved to the Travancore areas after Malabar was amalgamated with Travancore and Cochin to form Kerala was a class apart from the crude featured clerks and peons, of both places. It is not that the clerks and peons were not good or that the officer class were morally good. It was just a matter of social structure.

The officer class generally resorted to English in a most natural manner. They could and did switch to English to tide over the cumbersome barriers to dignified communication between themselves. However, the clerks were totally of a Malayalam-speaking group. There were clerks who were good in English. But then, they functioned in a social environment in which English couldn’t be used in common communication.

Since Malayalam was their language of communication, their stances were also Malayalam. They used the word ‘Saar’ as a serviceable substitute for YOU for addressing superiors, and as He and She and as His and Her/Hers for the same group. Moreover, they used these words and at rare occasions the word ‘Maadam’ also as an suffix to the ‘respected’ female senior’s name.

Even though this communication system would seem quite simple, the fact was that it was encumbered with heavy chains of hierarchy and requirements of obsequiousness versus respect codes. Persons who went to government offices would have to face the stony faces and stiff facial features of the clerks who had to subordinate the members of the public to extract the ‘Saar’ and ‘Maadam’ from them. However, the at-home-in-English officer class generally did not require such things and were quite fast in their actions. This was true about the Malabar class of officers. However the Travancore version of officers was not of this kind.

The English speaking officer class had totally different facial features from that of the clerks. This was true even in the case of School AEOs (Assistant Educational Officers) etc. However the clerks had a feeling that it was just a matter of position that seemed to give a different aura to the officer class who spoke English.

Malabar based English-speaking officer class was a vanishing breed of officers. With the demise of the British rule, the direct recruitment to the officer levels, based on an English-based selection system went into disuse. The clerks in many departments heavily lobbied to stop this direct recruitment that they claimed was blocking their avenues for promotion. When this came about, there was a total change of demeanour of the officer class in all aspects. Persons who had the mental as well as physical demeanour of the peons and clerks soon started appearing as the officers. They were quite poor in English. I do not mean here Spoken-English version, but the profound version of English.

Soon the whole quality of the government departments went through a total change. There was no more feeling that the public service was to serve the public. There was an adamant stance that the public was the servants of the government employees. This was openly mentioned and these officers and clerks became a powerful group that wanted to suppress the common man. Words such as Avan, Aval, Avattakal etc. were openly mentioned among themselves, about the public who had to deal with the ‘officers’. However, it must be admitted that even during the earlier years, the powerful local Malayalam speaking petty officials like the village ‘officer*’ etc. used to use such terrible lower indicant words like Nee (Inhi), Avan (Oan), Aval (Oal), Chekkan, Pennu etc. right in front of the common person who was thus being despoiled.

There was not much the British officials could do about this, as they were sort of cut off from many crude realities of the ‘Indian’ social scene by the impermeable nature of the social system. This impermeable nature of the ‘Indian’ social system was actually mentioned by such pioneering British Colonial officers as Henry Sleeman, who was the person who dared to tackle the Thuggee menace on the North ‘Indian’ Highways in those earlier centuries of East India Company rule. RECOMMENDED READ: 1. Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official 2. A Journey through the Kingdom of Oude in 1849-1850. Both by William Henry Sleeman

NOTE:* Village ‘officer’ is not an ‘officer’ but really a low level official in charge of the village office in various panchayats.

I had a very curious experience once when I was in Delhi, sitting in the Kerala Government House there.

I was sitting in a cabin of junior ‘officer’ with a formidable designation, in Kerala House in Delhi. The year was 1999. The ‘officer’ was not in his seat. However, near me was seated another man, who had the demeanour and stature of a peon or clerk of my own childhood days. Not of the officer class of those times. He mentioned something to me, and I replied. However, when my words included the word Ningal (polite You), he immediately seemed to go into a mental fortress.

He simply said ‘I am the MD of _ _ _ _’. MD of a particular marketing department of the Kerala government. The sense he conveyed was just this: ‘I am an MD. You need to address me as Saar. The word Ningal should not be used towards me’. Well, I can’t find fault with him. For, he was just like the security female who occupied the Front Office counter in the BPO Call Centre*. [This illustration is given in Chapter No:] He was using the word Ningal to me. I shouldn’t use it back to him. Now, it is not his fault. The fault lies with the language software. And in the loinclothism!

There is also the question of how come such persons of low quality demeanour should not be allowed to become officers in the government. For, he has a right to be an ‘officer’, just as anyone else. The answer to this is like this: He has a right to be anything he likes and can be. Like a soldier in the Indian army has every right to aspire to become an officer. At the same time, the others in the society (as in the army) also have a right to have quality persons as officers. For, if low quality, people-snubbing persons gets into positions of power, it is they, the people, who would have to bear their suppression. This was what the British governing class actually saved the common man from. However, they did not give an opportunity to this same common man to become an officer also unless he or she was of agreeable refinement.

Sexual inclinations versus perfunctory refinement

Now, when speaking about refinement, this should not be connected to moral integrity with regard to sexual inclinations. If this is what one is seeking in refinement, then most British officials also would fail in this regard. However, there was this difference. They did not statutorily kidnap women and boys, as the erstwhile rulers of the geographical area currently known as Pakistan, India and Bangladesh did.

As did so many other rulers in many other nations also. The English sexual transgressions were of a markedly lesser quality. For example, see James Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak. He was the person who brought in stability and peace to the Sarawak area of Borneo.

There is this entry in the web attributed to Wikipedia with regard to him: ‘Throughout his life, Brooke’s principal emotional bonds were with adolescent boys, while he exhibited a total lack of interest in women. Among his more notable relationships with boys was the one with Badruddin, a Sarawak prince, of whom he wrote, “my love for him was deeper than anyone I knew.” Later, in 1848, Brooke fell in love with 16 year old Charles T. C. Grant, grandson of the seventh Earl of Elgin, who reciprocated his love’.

It is a piece of writing that points to a criminal sexual activity as per current day penal codes. If this can be taken as an example, then it would be quite easy to suspect that an immensity of Englishmen who setup the British colonial empire in far-flung areas were also involved in such sexual activities.

The present day government officers (of present day India) do have a general demeanour of the peons and clerks of the old times. It may be true that there are many persons who are exceptions to this. However, their finer qualities have no place for being activated as the general communication system between the government officials as well as between them and the common man is confined to the crudities of the a brutal feudal language system.

Even many of the AEOs of the education department do have the peon and clerk looks of the earlier times. However, this statement does not mean that they are devoid of personal capacities, leadership qualities, or are without information and intelligence. All these are there, but then they are all from another platform, which was once seen as of lower quality in British India.

What Macaulay strived for, and what modern Indian education can’t do

I do think it might be good to speak about the earlier aim of educating the ‘Indians’. However since I have written two specific books on themes connected to this, I should not go deep into that.. So, I will confine myself to stating that Macaulay and others of the erstwhile East India Company wanted to remove the suppressed state of the majority ‘Indians’ here from the age-old oppression that they suffered with affectionate servitude for centuries. There was no means to remove them from this other than by making their personal qualities to improve and place them above the suppression of the lower indicant words of their social and familial superiors.

This is what modern Indian education is not able to do. Moreover, the modern Indian education has forced the huge number of students to be placed under the servitude of the low-class teacher-class. This teacher-class uses lower indicant words to place the students in the level of a sort of lower caste. A negligible section of the students escape this placement by getting higher indicant word professions like doctors, engineers, teachers, government employees etc. But the vast majority go into a lower caste mental demeanour.

Actually no person should be forcefully placed in subordination to the Indian teaching class. For, they stinking-dirtify them by addressing them with lower indicant words and refer to them also in the same manner. Parents who are from the lower financial class also get stinking-dirtified by them. The persons who drafted the Right to Compulsory Education Act in India as well as the persons who voted it to statutory status are downright Satans in human attire.

Now, I need to speak about what is the real creepy aim of teaching that stands apart from the noble aims. Teaching knowledge to another person is a great thing. However, the fact is that no ‘Indian’ really give useful knowledge to other ‘Indians’ without some ulterior aim. Actually they do not give the full knowledge and try hard to misguide the student from arriving at the correct knowledge.

I was once witness to this scene. In one computer institute in a small town, I saw a student being taught Adobe PageMaker. I have a reasonably good expertise in this software. However, the way the student was being taught was in a manner that he was being made to go through so many unnecessary hurdles to grasp very easy skills. Since the teacher was a person who was known to me, I called him aside and asked him, why he was misguiding him, instead of guiding him on the easier routes.

This was what he told, ‘Saare (Sir), Saar does not understand. If I teach any of these guys (evaneyokke Lowest indicant Him) the software application so easily, they will not have much respect for me. Moreover, within days, they will also become a Mash (teacher) and their next endeavour would be to stab me in the back (paara)’.

Actually there is much more to be mentioned about the computer geniuses of India. However, that has to be deferred for the time being.

The point at issue in the above-mentioned scene goes beyond to the idea that most Indian schools are teaching students information that are not seen as a competition by either the teacher or by any business organisation. Modern education is actually a mean means of seeing that potential competitors are fooled into wasting their time on information that is simply a waste for them. However, this theme has to be discussed further and I will do it at another location.

Now let us see about the endeavours of Lord Macaulay and of the East India Company to teach English to the ‘Indians’. It is generally told to the poor students coming from the lower financial sections of the Indian society that British were aiming to enslave the ‘Indians’ by teaching them English. This, the poor students believe. They are then made to make protest demonstrations by the various political leaderships, shouting such slogans as ‘English is a foreign language. We do not want to study it’. The poor children are thus fooled. For, as it is no one is giving them an opportunity to study English. Moreover they themselves are made to protest against teaching them English. This is the cunningness of the ‘Indian’ higher classes.

For, they send their own children to study English and then try to make them migrate to English nations. They have no qualm about their children living in nations ruled by the British. However they do not want their own servant class people to live in a nation ruled by the British. This statement may more or less sum up the total inspiration of the minute movement called the Indian Independence Movement, which moved in whimpers till 1947.

See Image below:

This is the fee structure of the British school in New Delhi (c. 2011). English East India Company strived to bring in British quality education to the lower castes and lower classes of British-India. (In neighbouring independent kingdoms also, they did they best to improve the quality of the social systems). Now, this type of education is the exclusive privilege of the rich and powerful.