Is Hemp the Answer for a Better India?

India is a land of tradition and culture that dates back to over 5000 years before the aspect of civilization actually began in the Western world. A culture so entwined in its dwellers, it is seen as a lifestyle among many across the world. Picking out the facts that matter, we have every reason to be proud to belong to the ancestry of legends who invented the numerical system, yoga, surgery, the Vedas, to name a few.

The Puranas, or the ancient religious texts, give us a wider picture of our ritualistic customs even before our history text books were written. A notable episode among those is the ocean churning incident, in which the Devas (Gods) and the Asuras (Demons) embark on a mission to extract Amrita, a drink believed to bestow immortality on its drinkers, using the aid of Kalinga the serpent. During the process, Halahala (poison) is extracted and Lord Shiva takes it upon himself to store it inside his throat, as a result of which he is also known by the name Vishakantha, meaning 'He who holds poison within His throat'. Then was the turn of Amrita to come out of the ocean.

The ocean milk churning inscription. Image courtesy: Wikipedia

Chris Bennett, the author of Cannabis and the Soma Solution, reinstates this in his book. He says that the Gods who were wary of the strength of the Demons, hatched a plan to safely hide Amrita and assigned this responsibility to Garuda, who flew with the pot. On the way, a few drops were supposed to spill out in certain locations on the Earth, and thus was born the divine plant of Vijaya, as it is called in Sanskrit. Today, it is referred by various names, some derogatory, such as Cannabis, Marijuana, Mary Jane, Ganja, Bhang, and more. You can find Chris's excerpt here.

The two most common varieties of the Cannabis plant include Cannabis sativa and Cannabis indica. What used to be a commonly used substance in religious sacraments and pleasurable sessions throughout history suddenly had changed its identity to a taboo filled criminal under the label of a narcotic drug, after the 1985 National Drugs & Psychotropic Substances Act was formulated. People were no longer allowed the recreational, sacramental, or medicinal use of Ganja in whatever form according to the law. The violators were booked and prosecuted. With the marginalization of Ganja, its cousin, another variety of Cannabis sativa, called the Indian Hemp, was too slammed shut tagging it as a dangerous drug.

After this landmark legislation, India took on the path of modernization and economic globalization under the mentorship of then Finance Minister, Shri Manmohan Singh, and in a span of a few years, the heritage related to cannabis usage in India was almost hidden away or lost from the new generation. Alcohol and tobacco industries boomed with their new found opportunities and a wretched consumer base willing to pay up anything to drink to their escapades. The situation is no different today, or probably even worse, with shocking stories of deaths and destroyed lives and families, a result of the Devil's Nectar that is freely available in wine stores and legitimately taxed for the benefit of one and all!

Image credits: The Independent, UK

I shall tackle the narcotic aspect of this plant in a later blog, but for now, it is important for us to know and understand that there is something called Industrial Hemp that silently waits to be uncovered. I personally came across this wonder plant an year ago and was too fascinated to learn about it. Industrial hemp, or Indian hemp, as it is called, is the non-narcotic variety of cannabis, which DOES NOT give you a "high" when consumed. Yet, it bears the brunt of the law and is quarantined from the existing agricultural practices.

Industrial hemp was cultivated in India until the 1950s-60s on an industrial scale to supplement the nation's fibre needs, along with the seeds for oil extraction. Today, the hemp crop is believed to support over 25,000 known uses. This is an incredible figure compared to any product that exists on the planet, natural or man made. India was once the largest exporter of hemp until the curtains shut down our progress, which slipped into the hands of China making full use of it.

Image credits: Huffington Post

 The uses of hemp range from the classical fibre making to various advanced products such as biofuel, paper, vegetable oil, dietary supplementation, bioplastics, Hempcrete, to even automobiles. The first car by Ford was made of hemp and ran on hemp oil. Here is a video of this car and its durability. The various uses of this wonder crop are also broadly classified in this image for further reference.

Thus, it falls upon us to know its wonderful benefits for an Indian scenario, while the world is already updating itself in the search of more sustainable, viable and eco friendly options for their industries.

An agricultural country by nature, it is disheartening to see the decline of agricultural production by 13.7% in India. More and more people are migrating to the urban sectors in search of better opportunities and living conditions. Farmer suicides have become a common phenomena in our country. Unemployment is on the rise and the population has not stopped its Big Bang mode of expansion. To address such needs for a wide host of environmental and geographical conditions under common policies is inefficient, as we have been seeing. To quote an example, an acre of hemp can give us paper worth four acres of trees in a span of only 3-4 months, while it requires over 20 years to grow trees. I shall leave you to do the math by giving this a closer thought.

Recently, I happened to attend the International Agricultural Fair (Krishi Mela) organized in the Gandhi Krishi Vignan Kendra of Bangalore. We were surprised to know that a majority of qualified staff were mostly unaware of hemp and its benefits except that it was a fibre based crop. After thorough discussions, we happened to show them various fliers and presentations, which really made them reconsider the research on hemp on a positive note. The reason behind this is that we do not learn about such 'revolutionary' stuff in our daily newspapers or TV channels or school books or even casual discussions. I remember studying about cannabis in my highschool as a 'dangerous, addictive' narcotic. As if tobacco and alcohol are doing a great job by filling people with enlightened consciousness! That apart, thanks to the information insemination and the internet revolution that boomed with access to any part of the globe for essential data about anything that exists. I shall include a few reference links for your further interest below.

Speaking about hemp is not fulfilled in one blog post like this, but requires combined efforts of aware individuals and farmers. It is the right of mankind to have access to a crop whose sole purpose is to the betterment of a nation and humanity. Closing it as classified information, denying proper citations of its ill effects (which officially do not exist after extensive worldwide researches), is, in fact, illegal. Farmers in India need to be educated about this wonder crop and they must demand for a proper justification as to why it cannot be granted a permission for cultivation. Clubbing it with marijuana is a futile excuse, as botanists have certified that marijuana cannot be grown alongside hemp, owing to its high cross pollinating nature due to which it will soon be converted into hemp.

Hemp seeds are rich sources of essential proteins and fatty acids that we seldom consume in our daily diet. This is the answer to the problems boggling modern India - be it unemployment, farmer suicides, wasteland management, water inadequacy, weeding issues, malnutrition, fuel efficiency, and many many more.

Hemp oil is essentially used to extract biofuel. At the Fair, Dr Balakrishna Gowda, a professor at GKVK and Project Co-ordinator at the Biofuel Park in Hassan, Karnataka, beautifully quoted saying, "If we add even 1% of biofuel to our existing petroleum products, it could save up to Rs 5000 crores a year of the total import costs." How cool is that!

Image credits: True Democracy Party

Notable in India in recent times are the commendable efforts of a group of young entrepreneurs from Mumbai who have taken up the cause for a noble reason, under the name Bombay Hemp Company. They have been focused on their research and efforts in this regard and working continuously towards its realization for the past one-and-a-half years. You can also follow them on facebook and learn more. Also mentionable are Hemp India on the same path. Our country needs more such participation on corporate levels for a well informed society.

Route map for Cannabliss!

I know it is rather a long post about a simple crop, but mind you, the situation we are facing today is much more complex. It is not easy for a layman to freely grow hemp without undergoing painstaking tussles with obtaining the licenses and permissions that lies in vested hands of the Govt. The Government must step up its initiative to research about this by taking the example of various developed nations who are already headed towards a prosperous future like Canada, Australia, Netherlands, United Kingdom, and China. India is no less in terms of agriculture to these countries, save our limiting agricultural policies.

To conclude, here is a small documentary produced by the United States Government during the World War II period that encouraged farmers to take up the growing of hemp for commercial purposes. Do watch!

Jatta Movie Review

The past two months have been great for the kannada film industry, with the release of two intellectual movies - Lucia, about which I had written previously, and now, Jatta, by Giriraj BM. Speaking about Jatta is a debate that touches upon feminism, culturalism, socialism, all wrapped around the central male chauvinistic character of Jatta, played by Kishor Kumar.

Set in the beautiful locales of Sagara in Karnataka, the movie opens with a speech that introduces us to a backdrop that explains the current situation of western influence on our native culture and its ill effects. Torn between a lonely life and an eloped wife, it is up to Jatta to take upon himself the moral responsibility of the betterment of the society. For this, he believes women play a pivotal role, for which their suppression is justified, as he is advised by his mentor, played by BM Suresh. Jatta also believes the forest as his Mother, and strives to protect Her from illegal poachers and sandalwood thieves.

I shall not reveal the plot, but I shall give you a glimpse of what to expect. The film changes course once Jatta happens to rescue Sagarika (Sukrutha Wagle) from a car crash. This is where it starts to get interesting as the director excels in bringing out the contrasts between the two extreme ideologies of a hardcore feminist who religiously follows Dr Ambedkar and a hellbent male counterpart who believes women as increasingly taking the path of infidelity. Backed by other characters like the forest officer (Prem Kumar) and Jatta's wife, Belli (Pavana), the story takes on turns that, for a moment, might make you think twice.

This movie is not for the conventional thinker or cinegoer who goes to the theatre to merely feast on entertainment. Like Lucia, this movie not just makes you think, but will shatter your own ideologies and expectations, for reality is stranger than fiction. Giriraj has bravely depicted this with necessary rationalizations when required, and leaves us to make our own judgements as he leaves us in his premise of unusualness. It could come as a culture shock to some, blasphemous to others, and wondrous to many, as the mythology of an idol of a Goddess in the forest is narrated.

The film, though done on a lower budget, is intelligently done by keeping it up to the subject and not deviating out of it. Soundtrack by Ashley and Abhilash are appropriately scored situationally. Camera work by Kiran is good. Coming to the performances, Kishor is brilliant in his portrayal of the protagonist, be it his emotional state or body language throughout the film. Pavana, as Jatta's wife, has done a fine job. What requires special mention is newcomer Sukratha Wagle's performance as Sagarika. Her resilient, rebellious attitude portrays a mockery of a male dominated society, and she excels at it top notch. Prem Kumar as the forest officer is decent. Also, one would feel a few actors like the ones portraying the investigating police officer, Belli's lover, and the industrialist could have been much better. Even though their roles are shortlived, their presence adds weightage to the story and could have been performed by better actors.

Revolving around divine consideration of nature as Mother and an equally divine representation of a woman as Mother, the film deals with extramarital affairs and gender independence, trying to achieve a balance between all of it. Whether it succeeds or not shall be judged by you, after watching the film. Jatta is brave, fearless, and bold. It succeeds to create a dogmatic dilemma within you when you come out. Give this a watch if you want something out of the ordinary. And yes, do not watch it with any of your preconceived ideologies or notions in mind. Throw them all out before you take your seat and enjoy the film with an open mind. The movie deserves at least 3.5 stars for the content and its depiction. Happy watching!

Lucia - A Trip to Surreality

There's already enough said about this out-of-nowhere Kannada film that suddenly appeared on the screens after two years of its making and successfully crossing the hurdles that awaited its release. I felt to contribute my share of a review too, as a mark of appreciation and a tribute to the Director, Pawan Kumar.

The reason I called it out-of-nowhere is justifiable. Especially in times when the movie screens are smeared and splattered with blood and the speakers loudly and proudly emitting a cacophony of 'double meaning' dialogues, Lucia disappoints you if you came in expecting just another product out of the Kannada film framework of 6 songs, 4 fights, 5 comedy tracks and a climax that would take the toll of a few vehicles and people, gradually and predictably. A Kannadiga would be able to relate with me better with this analogy: 'It's more like having lemon rice everyday - morning, noon, and night - only in a different plate, different rice, different spice or whatever you add to it, but mind you, it's still the same Lemon Rice.'

The Kannada industry, no offence, had at a point reached a state where they would no longer be able to cater anything else from their creative cuisine, except that everybody is trying to cook the same dish in their own ways. Competition, you see, we need high octane stunts, powerful dialogues, mass songs, duet songs, item songs, comedy tracks - all of it in a single course. Bring in the actresses from the non-Kannada industry, even if it means Pakistan or Europe. No offence, that's wonderful experimentation, tastes definitely good! But the problem is, my friends, it's the same dish and we're all tired of it. We've lost sense of our 'tastes', just gobbling up whatever that you've been serving us like there was no other delicacy that could exist in this industry that once nourished and cherished giants who carried upon their shoulders the responsibility and meaning of entertainment.

Lucia doesn't have any of it, for it's a wholly different film in itself. It feels more like watching a foreign film for its offbeat storyline and style of narration. The actors have performed naturally, without much of dramatic overtures. Overall, the execution is neat and crisp, though some sequences may appear to bore you. But pay attention, for everything is connected.

From the reviews I read about Lucia, I came across people commending it and others dissatisfied. I overheard someone in the interval at the loo saying that he understood nothing and had come in thinking it could have been a comedy. Maybe because Satish Neenasam played the lead, who usually would appear in comic roles. There were also words that said it was not for everybody or for the mass audience. I would not agree with this point because in an era of making 'commercial' movies solely in the pretext of 'entertaining' people, coming out with a subject that would make you pay attention, think and scrutinize the story as you watch it, and finally, let you judge the end for yourself, is where Pawan Kumar excels at. And that's making you taste something different. You know you starved for it, your taste buds craved for it, and you longed for quality entertainment in your mother tongue, while straying around watching the movies of other languages that you thought were more entertaining.

Pawan Kumar has done a fine job at it. He has retained his creative freedom and put across his point the way he wanted to. True, this film is not meant for everyone, especially if you came in expecting the same old 'Chitranna', I bet you'd be disappointed. Rather, he takes you on a ride of alternate realities, keeping you hooked all the way, grabbing your interest and 'surprising' you in the end. Be gone with the spoon feeding and let it take your course. Delve into it and experience it. Do not expect anything out of it, but just let Lucia consume you! Thank you, Pawan Kumar, for respecting our time and valuing entertainment.

If you haven't watched Lucia, this could be the right time, for it may not stay in theatres for long, owing to the queue of bigger banners lined up. If you miss it, good luck to you with more 'Chitranna'!

The Potion of Happiness

Two men met across a table at a bar. One was an old man, with clothes tattered, and the other was a young man, well dressed and groomed. They both ordered drinks and waited. While they waited, the the young one sighed out of despair and noticed the old man whistling and singing to how happy he seemed. The young one couldn't stop but ask him, "What are you so happy about when there's so much suffering and drudgery in the world?"

The happy man turned towards him, looked at him for a moment, and said, "Why d'you look so worried?".

The sad one replied, "Where do I start? I've lost it all! All the good times are over. There's distrust, dismay and destruction everywhere. I lost in my business, failed to keep my promises, my wife left me, my friends betrayed me, and I've ended up suffering every time! I've had enough of it already for a lifetime."

The happy one just smiled and filled his glass again. The sad one looked up at him and asked, "Aren't you sad about anything at all?", for which he asked back, "Why be sad about anything?".

The sad one was not convinced with the answer. He further probed, "You must be crazy! How can you never feel unhappy about anything at least once?". The happy one says, "Who said I don't feel unhappy? I meant, why be unhappy when you needn't be!"

"I don't understand", said the sad man. "You wouldn't be so sad if you did", said the happy man and smiled.

The sad one leaned forward, and asked, "How come?". The happy man took another sip and said, "You could change it anytime, if you want to."

"But how?"
"Simple. Just do anything that could make someone happy, however small or big it could be."

"I see your point, but how would making someone else happy make me happy?"
The old man kept his glass down and looked straight in the eye of the man across, and said, "The reason you are not happy is because you try to own happiness by looking at it like a commodity. It cannot be bought for money, nor sold or exchanged for anything. It can only be bartered with happiness. Now all of you can be happy! If you ask me, I neither own happiness nor sadness. I only choose which one to pay more attention."

The young man's face lit up for the first time like an idea flashed in his mind, but soon grimaced with skepticism. "Do you really think that's what all of us need to be happy and make someone happy? How does that work?"

To this, the happy man said, "If you think you could buy happiness anywhere, go ahead and own all of it. Soon you'd be robbed of it and left wanting for more until you stop looking at it like some object to possess. What you fail to see is that it is a part of you and you have been suppressing it for too long from within by looking for it elsewhere. You have so much of it inside you, a whole lifetime of unending happiness. Why waste it on worrying and sorrow otherwise? Dig deep and share it with the world. You could either spend all of it on making someone happy and being yourself joyful, or keep worrying like before and curse the world for the bad state it is in. Don't you feel all of us do the same too many a times? Well, I did, too, before I finally stopped worrying. It's pointless, after all, as you'll see."

"What if I couldn't really do anything though I wanted to?", the sad one, well, nearly happy now, asked out another doubt.
"When you can't give them anything at all, at least give them hope!" said Mr Happy, lighting a cigarette, and rose up as he finished his drink.

The no-more-sad-man was amazed at how simple the solution was and yet how complex it had appeared earlier. The more he thought about it, the better he felt about it.

Although the drink was starting to take its toll on him slowly, he knew it wasn't the reason for the sudden gush of hope and delight he was experiencing. Because there was actually a solution that he had failed to see and assess the greatness it hid within. He suddenly got up and rushed towards the old man as if remembering to ask something and stopped him saying, "Um... Excuse me, Sir! I have to tell you, that I'd never felt so lighter before! I don't know how to express how grateful I am to you," with a big grin beaming on his face. "By the way, what do you do to make people happy, like you said?"

The old man puffed on his cigarette, blew out the smoke as he smiled, tapped on the man's shoulder and said, "I just did!", and walked away.

What's Inside?

Have you ever reached a point where you no more recognize your life to have been the same to what it previously was? All of your experiences would seem unreal and alien, disconnecting you from all that you thought you belonged to. Alienated from the world around you, from thoughts and talks that no more matter, you arrive at crossroads knowing what path not to take, and at the same time, not realizing where to head further. This stage of half baked clarity is the most elusive to the human mind, manipulating it to take a dangerous route if not aware, or motivating it to tread a journey of fulfillment and joy, when chosen rightly.

Millions of us today are standing here at these crossroads, waiting to walk along the road ahead, or maybe hitch a ride! Some are gifted enough to drive, but that's not to be judged for it could be a wholly different journey. If you have dared to step out of the program and see to yourself what's happening in the big picture around you, things may not have to appear so complicated and undecipherable. True, we cannot get all the answers to all our questions, but the reason for concern is the many clues and, sometimes, straightforwardly directed answers that often go unnoticed. This is the time when our previous understanding of the setup starts to fail under a newly formed ideology within us, strong enough to shatter the old beliefs and their influences. But the mind...! Our mind is NOT yet ready for it. It tricks us to believe otherwise, putting us in a jeopardy to not accept either belief, for it has a strongly secured protocol of doing things.

That's right! Our parenting, schooling, socializing, and other interactions from our early childhood shapes us to who we become today. Alas! Many of us might have just outgrown those bodies, but have eventually lost ourselves in the process. We fail to recognize our true essence inside. Every individual is unique just like every leaf on a tree is different. We have designed a super-industry called Society which cuts and shapes all that comes under its purview into a uniformly designed, socially acceptable standard that forms the benchmark to earn something that can be termed as social status. On average, two decades of our lifetime is involved in shaping us, pruning the unwanted(?) attributes, and finally setting us up for the showdown.

Just like every log that goes into a woodcutter machine comes back as a rectangular block of timber, we fail to recognize, sadly and repeatedly, that human beings are not like these logs of wood unable to resist. We are twisted out of our original physiological shapes to become something else that is not encoded in our genes. In simple terms, we are all reduced to an all-conforming sheeple society that looks down upon one of its own with red eyes when an attempt is made to wander off to explore what's on the other side, to be abandoned in the end. Do you see my point?

Abandon all that you thought previously was right for a moment. Deny all of those dogmas and beliefs and rules and laws for only a moment and imagine yourself untied off a hundred such strings that kept you down to the ground all these days. Only for a moment! Now. In this moment, you will feel a lightness and freedom you never would have felt before. At this moment, you are not your parents' ambition or your teacher's pet or your lover's favorite or your organization's top employee or the head of your community or who ever that you thought you were. Absorb this none-ness completely into you. Feel the freedom within! Feel the infinite possibilities for your evolution and a boggling number of self imposed roadblocks that we assume to really exist hindering our progress in the longer run. See yourself devoid of all that for that moment and become it.

Now you may come back to reality. You may resume your normal life, listen to your guardians or elders or the authority, go back to the same routine, and just be 'yourself' again. But I promise you, this second instance of assuming your defined role is not gonna be the same as the first! The brief moment of separating you from the everyday routine sparks up the dilemma we earlier discussed about, leaving you perplexed each time you bask in this mindset. And believe me, this new mindset is powerful enough to sweep you off your old ideologies and make you start to question the happenings around you - be it personal, professional, political, religious, and even spiritual.

I'm no spiritual leader to preach anyone to do anything, but as a fellow human being who is on a road that seemed equally appalling to me when I first set my foot on it, I would recommend this perspective could change your way of seeing things, or, for the worse, not. Open yourself to an experience you've never had before, for you'll never know what lies within its interiors. Be ready for a shock that could disillusion you for life if you persist, and yes, it is a risk worth taken. Good luck!

A Wake Up Call!

Step aside from the common folk
To see no mortals but sheeple flock.
They're all headed in the same way,
Knowing not where, but ready to play.

Oh yes, it's all a game
Of name and fame,
Of selfishness and no shame,
Where everybody else wants the same!

It all starts when you're a child,
When you're all carefree and wild,
They pull you aside and tie up
Your mind, and scream, "Shut Up!"

Hence it follows that we're bound
To discipline and conformity abound.
It seems so normal, all around,
Yet we assume we're safe and sound.

Wake up! And get a hold
Of the truth so strong and bold;
See those lies, in glittery gold?
Enough of 'em, they're stale and old!

Open up your mind and unwind
All those that have made you blind
In the quest for an answer you must find,
And start now, your purpose is defined!