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Inside the world's largest opium factory
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Inside the world's largest opium factory

By Amarnath Tewary
Ghazipur

It remains the world's biggest legal opium factory, dating back nearly two centuries.

And the factory located in Ghazipur in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh is back in the limelight because of a recently published internationally acclaimed historical novel.

Amitav Ghosh's Sea of Poppies is set during a time when opium trade out of India was flourishing under British rule - and much of the opium was flowing out of this factory.

Ghosh says that opium was essentially the commodity which financed the British Raj in India

But at the 188-year-old Ghazipur factory, nobody appears to be aware of its controversial history or to have read Ghosh's novel.

Brisk business

Instead, it is business as usual: the 52-acre colonial red-brick factory employs 900 workers and has an annual turnover of $45m, with 90% of the opium exported to such countries as the US, Japan, France, and Sri Lanka for pharmaceutical uses.

USA and Japan alone import 200 to 250 metric tonnes of opium from the factory every year.

Photography inside the factory is prohibited and security is tight.

Factory official Manik Mukherjee says that Indian opium is "pure" and has immense pharmaceutical value.

The factory was located in an idyllic environment - a far cry from the bustling border town that Ghazipur is today.

In 1888, Rudyard Kipling, on a reporting trip to the area for the Pioneer newspaper, described it in vivid detail.

"On the banks of the Ganges, 40 miles below Benares as the crow flies, stands the Ghazipur factory, an opium mint as it were, whence issue the precious cakes that are to replenish the coffers of the Indian government," he wrote.

"The opium arrives by challans, regiments of one hundred jars".

Amitav Ghosh has this description in the Sea of Poppies. "The factory was immense: its premises covered forty-five acres and sprawled over two adjoining compounds, each with numerous courtyards, water tanks and iron-roofed sheds.

"Like the great medieval forts that overlooked the Ganga (Ganges river), the factory was so situated as to have easy access to the river while being high enough to escape seasonal floods".

Ghosh studied etchings and lithographs of the factory made by British artists.

Colonial vestiges

"It's quite an imposing sight, you know, if you look at those rooms and the balls of opium in them - it must have been millions and millions of rupees' worth".

The cavernous factory still carries its colonial vestiges - the red brick buildings, a canopy-like water tank and a sun clock donated a British opium agent. The agents auctioned off the opium to traders.

The old processing unit was modernised only two years ago with opium cakes laden on moving trays drying under the sun.

The factory diversified during the Second World War, opening an alkaloid extraction unit for life-saving drugs and became one of the largest exporters of legal opium in the world.

Poppy cultivation declined in the neighbourhood and in the rest of Uttar Pradesh state declined towards the end of the 20th century. A lot of the poppy now comes from the states of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

But some things, like the grand colonial building, haven't changed.

Ghosh wrote about "a miasma of lethargy" that seemed to be always hanging over the factory's surroundings - one example was the opium addled monkeys who would lap the open sewers carrying the factory's waste.

Monkeys still have the run of the factory, eating opium waste and dozing all day.

"They have become addicted to opium. Most of the time we have to drag dozing monkeys away from this place," a worker says.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/7509059.stm

Published: 2008/07/21 12:15:10 GMT

© BBC MMVIII

July 23, 2008 | 6:14 AM Comments  0 comments

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dream
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Dream...
And as you dream,
Remember...
That only you can make
Your dreams come true.

Reach...
And as you reach,
Remember that...
Success takes time,
Devotion,
And sometimes a little
Disappointment.

Believe...
And as you believe,
You will find
Reaching gets easier,
Setbacks get
More manageable,
Life becomes
More meaningful.

There's a wonderful dream
Waiting just for you...
I know you can make it come true.
Have a Great Day Ahead

July 17, 2008 | 6:38 AM Comments  0 comments

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Some Afghans have named their daughters Tulsi
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Three weeks before the Taliban attacked the Indian embassy in Kabul in the worst terrorist attack in Afghanistan since 2001, dancer Astad Deboo performed in the Afghan capital.
The first artiste to perform in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban, Deboo, who was honoured with the Padma Shri last year, relives the memorable week he spent in Afghainstan. A first person account, exclusive to rediff.com
A trip to Afghanistan was always on my agenda. I wanted to visit Afghanistan because there was this invitation from my friend Sandeep Kumar, who is the deputy chief of mission at the Indian embassy. Moreover, I had been following the political situation of the country right from the time of the Russian occuaption and their withdrawal; then the takeover by the Taliban and their subsequent ouster.
I also wanted to compare notes with the trip I made to Vietnam during the war in 1971, and my trip to Cambodia in 1971, travelling from Thailand to Phnom Penh. The experiences were very different -- in Vietnam and Cambodia, I saw the actual fighting take place whereas here in Aghanistan I had only stories to listen to from people who had been a witness to the situation or were covering it.

When I knew that I was finally going to Aghanistan, I suggested a dance performance because I knew that by offering to perform I would get to meet not only artists but a whole range of people. I finally did meet a lot of interesting people -- from the Afghan man on the street, to students, local hotel owners, the boys who worked there, chauffeurs who drove me around, security men who were assigned to me, journalists, NGOs, diplomats, ministers, musicians, college professors and filmmakers. I also met the Afghan online producer of The Kite Runner and listed to the interesting stories he told me.

Sandeep had mentioned that there would be no money and I told to him it did not matter. I wanted to share my work with the people of Afghanistan. I would be the first contemporary dancer to perform in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban.

I left Mumbai for Kabul on June 14. I flew from Mumbai to Delhi, Delhi to Kabul. Indian Airlines is the only Indian airline which flies to Afghanistan. There were a lot of expatriates, diplomats and businessmen on board the flight.

I left my passport at the hotel reception -- the receptionist said he had never seen such a thick passport -- dumped my bags and quickly left to take a look at Kabul.

I was surprised to see such a well structured city. The roads in Kabul are terrific. My driver was in his mid thirties and he had seen it all -- the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the fall of the Taliban, and the war with the United States. People were very curious that I was Indian. Bollywood and its happenings are the rage in Afghanistan. To my surprise, the soap Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi is the most popular serial there. Women look up to Tulsi, the main protagonist. She is so well-liked that some people have even named their daughters after her.

After I returned to the hotel, I went to its coffee shop. It was buzzing; people kept going in and out. Men and women sat at separate tables. I noticed that none of the women wore burqas. Even on Kabul's streets, some of the older women wore burqas, but none of the young girls did.


July 13, 2008 | 3:26 AM Comments  0 comments

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The world's richest tax cheats
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish |