Mushrooming Saviors of Chettiar's Burma (Part - 5)

"100 years ago, the land that you own and live today, belonged to my grandfather."An English man comes and claims your home in India. Would you take this as an obligation and handover? Or compensate the Englishman for his initial investment on your property?

In an era of FRDI & PNB scams, where even the kith and kin of the borrower are not obliged to pay off the debts, is it fair to expect 3rd generation of Burmese to compensate or hand over lands for the debt incurred 100+ years ago?

On the other hand, if the debtor or his blood relations cannot pay it back, is it fair to expect the Government of Myanmar to provide monetary compensation? That is what I hear from "Burma mudhaleetalargal kuzhu. However serious this article is, it ends up tickling my funny bones.

http://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/to-burma-for-our-properties-114010301169_1.html

Understanding the history, Burmese threw our ancestors out because we took away their lands. Today, Myanmar has opted in for a democratic leadership. On ground, the reality is - it is not 100% truly democratic. There is substantial military dominance in the way the country is being run, even today. Our people also need to understand that Democracy doesnt mean that the country will give away its own land to foreigners. Besides forming associations and fighting for such 'noble' causes, there are also individual crusaders who rush to Burma with the mission of winning their money/land back.

Ramanathan Aiya quoted "There are a very few who come here with the intention of appreciating the history, heritage and preserving them for future.

I am not sure if the intention of these associations is land grabbing or winning monetary compensation or just sourcing funds in the name of an association and enjoying personal holidays on account of attempting to achieve the mission? A thought to ponder upon.

While there are thousands of Chettiars who are floaking to win their ancestral properties, there are a few honourable Chettiars with stardom who did try their hands at preserving the heritage & culture. I do appreciate the vision that this group of people had - but the ideal way of achieving that would have been partnerships with the locals and not legal arm-twistings, according to Ramanathan Aiya. I completely agree with Ramanathan Aiya. Applying "myself in the shoes"theory, practically, if my friends and I were running something for 60 years, why should I give up all my rights, duties and privileges because somebody claims ancestral rights to what I am doing today.

My 2-cents to conserving our rich heritage

Although I am not sure how feasible each of these are, I did manage to think of a few alternatives:

1. Partner with the locals

Locals are quite good and trustworthy. Our ancestors did believe in them. We could partner with them, work closely with them to atleast get a small mention of our community's name on the inscriptions. Over a period of time, if we gain the trust of the locals, we might be able to run a better show. We should also remember that locals have sufficient funds to renovate temples and run them, as of today. Monetary over-powering will not help. Treating them as equals might be one option to explore.

2. Get these temple structures declared as Heritage Sites by UNESCO

Though this is a long shot, this is one of the ways in which I believe the heritage can be preserved.

3. Document the history & fund research

"Its written, then its forever!"While a few researchers have done the study on ground at Burma, very little conservation and research efforts have been invested on understanding our heritage and practices to the fullest. Nagarathars worldwide should fund researches on our heritage and ensure that our culture and heritage is published frequently on International journals.

If any of my readers have any thoughts on how this could be done better, feel free to reach out to me. I would love to discuss this with you. Signing off for now..

Here ends my blog on Nagarathars in Burma.!

PS: Sorry for the delay in posting Part - V, I had to relocate to the most remote part of India to take up an assignment with Govt of Chattisgarh. I am currently working with the Govt of Chhattisgarh as a Consultant/Fellow with Dept of Rural Industries, Tourism and Culture.