Bala's Shtick

Trying to feel safe and enjoy the basic freedom that we are accustomed to expect in a western country has become everyday more difficult. Bala is increasingly more hostile and violent at times: threats, shouts and taunting are only the public tactics that Bala is employing. As he reminds me every time I go to Asthamay, he is working on my deportation; he tells me that I am finished. Hence, he is doing what people do here: paying off the police to target their enemies for harassment. 

To put Bala is a true perspective; I need to mention a few other things about him.

Bala’s shtick.

Bala is a performer. He has been around foreign tourists long enough to have a well planned a routine that he uses to convince them, to dispel their mistrust and win them over.

He is very convincing and he has prepared answers for many of the possible questions; in other words, he is very resourceful. Bala has the gift of gab; he can talk people to death. I remember his mother telling me that Bala talked even to the cows while cleaning the shed in the back of his house in Fort Cochin.

Bala likes to fascinate foreigners, especially women, by making elaborate references to the Hindu classics, he tells stories from the Mahabharata. To his credit, he practiced telling these stories to foreigners enough times that he has knows how to adapt them, for those of short attention spans. As he spins his web, he is fully aware of how exotic it sounds to westerners to have these stories told by an Indian. By the time he explains to them he is a Brahmin (“I am a born priest”, he says), a pujari - someone that performs pujas in the temple - most listeners think of him as a holy person, on higher ground than most. They are especially impressed by the priest part of the story. In India the pujaris can be as bad as anyone else (like the Catholic priests). For many of them to be a pujari is a job, a profession handed down by birth. The family gets food and other benefits from the temple, the pujari gets a salary, and there are special pujas, donations, many opportunities. Pujaris have to marry and have children, they can drink, smoke, lend money for high interest, prey on foreigners, have sex with prostitutes, lie to the court, in other words just be themselves (like the Catholic priests, but here it is not a scandal).

When Bala is ready to go for the kill, he tells them that, thanks to his trips to Europe, he appreciates and cherishes cleanliness, good roads, people that do their job, lack of chaos, order, and opportunities. At this point the foreigners are ready to trust him. I have not seen the same result with local people or other Indians, they are harder to swoon, they have seen it all before, and do not take his bullshit.

More Real Estate Opportunities

In 2006 Bala asked me to purchase with him a property near Asthamay. He said it was a great deal, but it was already clear to me that I did not want to be involved with him in any more deals. But, unfortunately, I found a buyer for him: a friend, a person of Indian origin who was interested in investing some money in the booming tourist area near Varkala. Bala and my friend talked and agreed on a partnership. My friend paid the money Bala asked, and then Bala registered the property in his own name only. He did it again.  This makes him a repeated offender.

Bala never worked hard for the money. He prefers using other people’s money to build his own little empire. 

In this last year many people told me their bad stories about Bala. Sure, he is an outsider in Odayam, a predominantly Muslim community; but with his arrogance and all the money to spend, he has not been able to make one true friendship. For the same reasons he and his family are not popular in their own neighborhood in Fort Cochin either.

How does that say go?  In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king