Life Tax

In a coal-mine town today..The population consists of mine workers, engineers, officers and a small service sector to cater to the above. The scene looped my mind right to Kala Patther, the 70's movie. Red-Black dust subdued the sun and the people themselves were right out of a anti-racist philosopher's dream ; neither black, nor white, but exact gray, coated with coal dust! wonder what Mike Jackson has to sing about ladies from this part of the world.

We were driving back from a sales trip into the (further) interiors in the stockist's car when a bunch of gray boys, in their mid teens, formed a human chain across the road to block us...It did seem a primitive toll tax booth but when we stopped, the stockist actually started negotiating the toll amount with them..they came down from 100 bucks to 70, but started getting agitated when pressed further.Suddenly the leader of the gray pack shouted angrily "Pay up 100 now nahi to bhaiya will visit you personally tomorrow."

This bhaiya ,I found later, is the local self styled naxalite who does the 'collection' to keep the wheels of agitation well oiled.