Anjuna Honey Collector

Friday morning had Vaibhavi bawling “Honey… Honey…, striding purposefully through the office, announcing the arrival of the local honey collectors…as people argued about the scams and scallywags these guys were, a colleague declared his faith in a yogi endorsed ‘ayurvedic’ brand. I scowled in disapproval; the ‘face’ of this disputed brand is a self proclaimed yoga guru, formerly a television yogi, who built a business empire while his supporters canvassed for political campaigns.

Over the years, several cases of fraud, and land grab have been raised against his syndicate. Make no mistake, this brand has billions of sheeple swearing by it, but the Baba’s company conducts product tests on animals, immediately knocking it off my shopping list. The products have been proved below par in quality, and the company has forcefully acquired acres of land in an eco-sensitive Himalayan state, also acquiring massive tracts at a pittance in the next.

Hobnobbing with the head honchos sure has it’s benefits. The guru and his associate are both apparently billionaires, and have contributed generously towards the ruling government’s campaigns. Their ‘mega’ food park is located dangerously close to Kaziranga National Park, and has already begun causing the deaths of elephants.

What then, are the alternates? The locally acclaimed brand here in my village failed the ‘Home Honey Tests’. Almost all leading brands of honey current selling in India have been tested to contain antibiotics fed to bees. I think of Sid, and his photograph of Gorz’s writing on anarcho-communism.

“The anarcho-communist ethic…
is simultaneously an art of living, 
a practice of alternative individual and social relations, 
a pursuit of paths out of capitalism…"

Andre Gorz,

‘Ecologica’

By continuing to buy from corporations who indulge in environmental, ethical or economic violations, a consumer funds and enables Right Wing political agendas. While it's impossible to cut out all the capitalist crap from our lives, the only alternate may be to give in to the Goa Life. It might mean you're partially depended on the gift-giving theories of sharing, or spending hours on the internet poring over the ethics of brands available in my local supermarket. I also spend hours peering at labels at the supermarket, much to amusement of my friends.  

The best honey then perhaps is the one that has a story...like the one sourced from the spoi, brought by a Ukrainian returning a favor, or the one collected by a tribal girl looking for her goats in the jungles of Central India. The Anjuna honey was thick, almost orange gold, flecked with pollen and propulis, most likely infused with THC #anjunastyle, with bits of honeycomb, bee wings and slow dying ants. The Anjuna honey had us argue about ‘ant tests’ and fantasise about hot toast dripping with honey, helped us one step further to a slow, Susegad life.