Kolar Gold Field without Gold

We went to the Kolar Gold Field(KGF) district and town. The story is that there was gold found deep in the earth back when the British were still occupying and in control of India. The British came in and built a gold mine and the associated sifting and processing shafts, employing, unregulated, mostly Dalit people and creating the booming town known as KGF. The men employed were so greatly exploited and poorly paid that the men would not have enough money to pay for their daughters to get married and would literally cut off one of their fingers on their left hand in exchange for promised compensation(which they often didn't actually receive). Despite the poverty that existed there were still many people who were employed and could still support their families in a meager way. Mining work is very dangerous because of all the silt and sand that gets into the lungs of the workers, creating holes in this vital organ, and then the doctors prescribed that they drink this fruit drink that quickly ferments and only eases their pain so they could drunkenly continue their labor. If a miner didn't die of holes in their lungs or alchohalism they would die in the explosions that would blast the rock to discover the gold. Another byproduct of the mining was the waste that was discarded: cyanide is used to separate the gold from the rock and then the is pumped back into the water supply as the rock was spread over the previously arable land and leaving it useless.

When the gold became scarce the British left these people with health issues, empty promises of compensation, unemployed men, and villages of poor widows with little to no power or livelihood.

We went to a village where there were many widows who say a song and told us of their attempts to bring about political change and their struggles to earn money to support their families in a once boom town that is now nearly a ghost town. Many of the widows in KGF were partitioned to a village that was marked as "unfit" for those men(and their families) who were no longer able to work because of the damage mining had done to their bodies. These people were seen as unfit among the untouchables, the lowest among the low of the people in this region. One woman had the audacity to ask us if we would help them to start a small industry in their town. It seems to me that these women knew what they needed but simply lacked the influence and financial resources to actually reach their goals and help themselves.

Without industries, or even ration cards and water sources for the "unfit" people, it looks as if the British came in, conquered, exploited, weakened, then left these people destitute. This is a prime visual example of what unregulated exploitation looks like and it makes me want to look further into exploitations of the oil, coal, and diamond industries and their effects on people now and futuristically. Also, I question how much longer these industries will be around until they meet a hideous end and what other types of current boom towns will be looked back at in the next 50-100 years. How much longer will mining be feasible and/or possible in the future and how many years have these industries last? Is there a way for these industries to invest in futuristic planning for future generations who will not be employed by the mine because the mine will have dried up?

After talking with the destitute widows we went to a community college of young women who were training and studying 1 year to become nurse assistants, teachers, sociologists, and many other respected professions. These women described to me their stories about how the mine closing had greatly affected their families and their previously discouraged lives. However, after having come to the community college the women told me of the great difference in their lives as learned in the classroom and by performing on stage. Now they could get up in front of people and be confident in their skills and all they have to offer the world. Such hope really helped to inspire me that there is hope for even communities such as KGF and made the whole day come together. I am further questioning the theory that education the answer to problems of this world. Perhaps it is not the guru style of teaching, which encourages simply one person lecturing and others being told what is truth, but experiential learning is the answer to at least quite a few seemingly hopeless problems like the situation in KGF.