A Criminologist’s Diary-30

Black and White

BLACK MONEY and WHITE MONEY –they are very much known to us. Black market, white collar crimes-they are very much familiar to us. What about black work-i.e., doing work and getting money by evading income tax? Black sheep and black lists are amidst us. In Bentonville, Arkansas, we have today very heavy snowing- about 18" snow on roads and the atmosphere outside the home is -17 degree Celsius. Really cold outside the apartment at the LINKS on RAINBOW CURVE. Nevertheless, standing near the glass window, one can experience the hot rays of the hot sun. Really hot and I do not know how can it be!-'HOT and COLD'! After spending some days inside the apartment, we decided now to have our lunch outside. Thus, we went to a Chinese restaurant where we saw an item of food" SWEET and SOUR". Many people taste it with pleasure. Leaving the restaurant, I do observe a number of WHITE and BLACK people.

Now I start thinking for a moment-

Why do the BLACK and WHITE, HOT and COLD, SWEET and SOUR follow me like a shadow?

Of late, I saw a news item in the T.V.that certain companies were in the black list of the Government.

YES, I can recollect the past. During 1970s, Kerala had a lot of Gulf returnees and many of them started individual BLADE business and GOLD pledging institutions [Blade here means getting deposits from the people offering extraordinarily huge interest rate-i.e., a sort of investment schemes]. They had a lot of BLACK money and they wanted to whiten it-i.e., money laundering was their aim. Some had 'pipe money' too [pipe money means money illegally brought to India without the knowledge of the Reserve Bank of India].Most of them gave loans to the needy people for exorbitant interest rates and many of them had a natural death as the loanees refused or failed to repay or return the principal and interest. They formed even associations and the loners could not realize the loaned amount through the courts of law which was highly expensive. Goondas and goondaism started to grow then and the purpose was to realize the loaned amount and interest without the intervention of the courts of law.

When individual loaners died a natural death, institutions sprung up like anything. They started to accept investments for which they offered incredibly high interest rates. Many investors deposited their money and miserably became tragic victims of investment frauds. After amassing the deposits and black money thus put in such investment schemes, most of them vanished into the thin air and oblivion. Thus the depositors were cheated.

The BLACK MONEY which the investment racketeers accumulated found expression in another investment scheme which was then notoriously called the 'TEAK-GOAT-MANGIUM' frauds or any other similar schemes. When the 'Teak-Goat-Mangium'investment schemes met with a tragic premature death, the cheats took to another direction and thus suddenly came up a new investment scheme known as TOURIST RESORTS, followed by FLATS,TOURIST BOATS and what not? The 'TOTAL FOR YOU' racketeering is the latest in that line and in all such BLADES, investment rackets and Mafia activities, massage centers, flesh trade business, boat houses, five star resorts, star brothels, sex industry, reality shows, album productions, cinema actings, modeling, sale of health nourinshners, jewelry and liquor business, hawala and real estate, terrorism, religious fests and miracle dramas etc.,etc.,one sees BLACK MONEY,MONEY LAUNDERING and WHITE MONEY… and thus the BLACK and WHITE!!!