Stories from A Honey-Bee Lover

A couple of months ago, I was in India, staying with my sister in Gurgaon. One day, while looking out of the window, I was amazed to see a huge beehive hanging from the bottom of a balcony in the neighbour's house. I asked my brother-in-law, he said that it is in the house of his friends, a doctor-couple - Sanjoy and Rakhi Gogoi.

I had never seen such a big beehive and was wondering if they were they not afraid of those bees? (Click on the pic for a bigger view)

A couple of days later, while going out for walk with my brother-in-law, we met Dr Gagoi. I told him about my surprise when I had seen that beehive from the window.

It turned out that Dr Gagoi is passionate about the subject of the bees and beehives. This post is about Dr Gagoi and his passion for the honey bees.

Dr Sanjoy Gagoi's Honeybees' Story

A few years ago, he saw a beehive growing in the terrace outside their kitchen. At that time, he did not know anything about the bees. He was alarmed by it and asked for someone to come and remove it.

A couple of guys turned up in his house. They used smoke to kill the honeybees and then removed the beehive and took it away for the honey. They also gave some honey to him. 

Later, when he saw hundreds of dead honeybees on his terrace, Sanjoy felt terrible, he felt that perhaps removing the beehive was not a good action. So he started to read about honeybees, their species, how they are organised, how they live. From what he had learned, he decided that he is not going to remove any beehive ever again.

Soon the honey bees were back on his terrace. This time, he started observing them and he learned many things about them. After sharing his house with them over the years, he feels that the honeybees recognise him. He has never been stung by one.

He is full of stories about the honey bees. For example, that periodically they will leave the beehive and go somewhere else, taking all the honey with them and then, after a few months, one day come back to their old home. bringing their honey.

Another story he shared was about the attacks of a group of bats on the beehives. One evening he found the bees buzzing around furiously, trying to fight the bats. He also joined them, fighting the bats with the long handle of a broom and in the end they successfully managed to send away the bats.

An average beehive can hold around 50,000 bees. They must collect nectar from about 2 million flowers to make 1 pound (450 grams) of honey. A worker bee can live from 30 to 60 days. There is usually a single queen in a hive. Worker honey bees are all female. They forage for food, build the honeycombs, and protect the hive.

Some persons from neighbouring apartments sometimes complain about the bees. However, Dr Gogoi explained that honey bees are critical to the ecosystem, and they’re protected by the Indian Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. It is a crime to destroy a beehive and the correct procedure would be to inform the forest officer and ask them to come and shift the beehive to a safe location.

I wish that I had recorded all the stories he had shared about the honey bees. I remember listening to him spellbound.

Conclusions

It seems that the bees are dying all over the world and a world without bees would face huge problems with crops because the bees are one of our foremost pollinators. 

After listening to Dr Gogoi, I had thought that I will read some natural sciences book on this theme. I am hoping to do that soon. In the meantime, if you have any stories about honeybees, please do share them in the comments below.

In 2023, I had read different fiction books about people loving or living with honeybees. One of those books, The Last Bee-Keeper by Julie Carrick Dalton, was about a dystopian world where almost all the honeybees are dead. I still remember that book. You can check my post from 2023 in which I had written about the fiction books related to honey bees. 

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Day of Remembering: Annamaria's Story

Our history books are full of stories of massacres and of persons forced to leave their homes and become refugees. Such stories have a special resonance for me because my mother's family was forced to leave their homes and lands in 1947, when that part of India became a new country called Pakistan.

Recently, I met Annamaria Marussi who told me her story of massacres and becoming a refugee from Istria, a peninsula at the north-eastern border of Italy, which is now a part of Slovenia & Croatia. Annamaria was born in a tiny town called Isola (Izola) in Istria.

This post tells her story. The image below has Annamaria with her son and grand-daughter.

Let me start by briefly explaining the location and history of Istria.

Istria - The Land and Its History

Istria (Istra in Slovenia and Croatia) is a peninsula, a thumb like stub of land jutting out into Adriatic sea close to the border between Italy, Slovenia and Croatia. This land is part of Karst region, a geographical area characterised by a plateau with steep cliffs overlooking the sea, extending from north-eastern Italy to Croatia. The area is full of caves and deep sink-holes (foibe).

This part of Europe, today marks the meeting place of 4 countries - Austria, Slovenia, Croatia and Italy and this explains its chequered history. 

By 5th century AD, it was part of the Roman empire, which gave it the name Histria. Then for around 400 years, it passed under different rulers, from Byzantines, to Longobards and Slavs. Around 900 AD, for about 800 years, till around the end of 18th century, Isria/Istra was under the Venetian republic and therefore, the winged lion symbol of Venice became a common sight in this area.

Around 1820 AD, this area came under the Austrian-Hungarian empire till the first world war, and then it became part of Italy. After the second world war, the area was occupied by the partisans of Tito and became a part of Yugoslavia. Finally, after the end of Soviet Union, Yugoslavia broke in different parts and now it is divided between Slovenia and Croatia.

The map below (from Wikipedia) shows how Istria is divided between Italy, Slovenia and Croatia today. The purple arrow near the top left part of the image shows the location of Isola (Izola) where Annamaria lived as a child.

The Foibe Massacres & The Ideologies

In 1945, as the German forces retreated, the partisans of Marshal Tito occupied Istria. As a lot of its inhabitants were Italians, the Slav origin partisans wanted to send them away and the fastest and least costly way to kill them to push them down the foibes, or the sink-holes, some of which were as deep as 300 metres. These killings were justified by the partisans as a just reprisal of the Slav deaths caused by the fascist German-Italian regimes. Many persons deny that civilians were killed and justify it as political vendetta.

Apart from the persons killed in the foibe, between 1947 and 1954, around 350,000 persons of Italian origin left their homes as Istrian refugees to escape the communist regime of Tito.

How many persons were killed in the foibe-massacres? There are contested claims from the two sides, varying from a few thousands to 10-20 thousand. Istrian refugees say that a lot of innocent persons were killed and present names and stories of some of them to prove their point. Yugoslavians downplayed the killings, saying that only the fascists and their collaborators were killed. 

Every year, 10 February is the Day of Remembrance In Italy for the Istrian refugees and the persons killed in the foibe-massacres. 

Personally, I believe that extreme left (radical communists) are the mirror images of extreme right groups like fascists. Examples from Soviet Union, China, Vietnam and Cambodia, show that communist violence was no less brutal then the fascists', though communists sometimes ignore those while fighting the different fascisms.

Story of Annamaria Marussi

Annamaria was six years old when her family was forced to leave their home in the tiny seaside town of Isola on the Istrian coast. According to her, out of the 32,000 persons living in that town, 28,000 had left as refugees. She talked about that experience with the following words:

"I come from the town of Isola in Istria but my father was from Fiume (Rijeka in Croatia). He had come to work in Isola. My mother's family, all her relatives, were from Isola.

I was born in the house of Domenico Lovisato (NdR: a well-known geologist and palaeontologist, born in 1842 in Isola in Istria) and then our family had shifted to another house. In those days, Isola had only 2 main roads and our house was on one of those. We lived on the first floor and as you came down the stairs, there was a atrium and the main door. At the top of the door was a crescent-shaped window with glass in different colours. After many years, when finally we had our house, I asked to have the crescent-shaped window over the door, with glass in different colours, to remember that house in Isola.

I remember the times when we would go for vendemiare (grape-collection for making wine). The family of my maternal grandmother had vineyards. They had some containers which were hung on the mules and donkeys and they would put small children in those containers. So I would go to the countryside sitting inside a container hanging on the side of a mule.

I also remember when it was time to collect almonds, or when I went with my father in a small boat because he loved the sea and fishing. Sometimes in the evening he took me with him for fishing. Later, after the exodus, when we were living in that rundown house in Trieste, some evenings I went with him to the Audace wharf for fishing, and I was supposed to not make noise because otherwise the fish didn't come near.

Our family, I, my parents and my brother, we all had to leave our home. My father had left earlier, while the remaining three, we left in 1947, when the Paris Peace plan offered us the possibility of leaving. We were allowed to take only our furniture, we put them in trucks which took them to store-houses as the refugees didn't have homes or spaces in refugee camps to keep them. We took the boat which was going too and fro to take the refugees to Trieste in Italy.

We were more fortunate than other refugees because my father had already found a place for us in the old town of Trieste. It was bare, small and poor but at least we had a home and we could all stay together. Trieste had an enormous refugee camp, created in the silos, an old store-house building near the railway station. It was divided into small boxes, each hosting a family. There were around 2000 persons living that building.

Over the years, the Istrian refugees have created some associations, which promote the organisation of the Day of Remembrance, so that we don't forget the Istrians. Out of the 350,000 refugees, around 70,000 left Italy to emigrate to north and south Americas, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries. They can be found in every part of Italy.

I remember when we had put our stuff in the truck and said goodbye to our relatives. My grandparents were still there when we left in 1947. One of my traumatic memory is from 1945, when the German soldiers, while retreating had blown up a dam and we heard this terrible sound of the bomb.

I went back to see my old house in Isola and it was such an alienating sensation. It has changed a lot. To see that house which was my house and to see other persons living there, to think of the memories of that place of how it was, it was traumatic.

After so many years, the impact of that exodus, of leaving that home is still strong, I have nostalgia for those days. It is a wound, because it was not just leaving our old home, but it was that life in a small town where everyone knew everyone else, all that lost. For example, the sister of my father, they emigrated to USA. My paternal grandmother used to live with their family, she could not go with them to USA because they said that she was too old, and she suffered from this separation. Other relatives were sent to Sanremo. My husband's family some were sent to Perugia, we were all thrown apart in different directions, so many lacerations in our hearts."

Conclusions

Talking to Annamaria brought back my childhood memories of talking to my maternal grandmother and her lingering sorrow about the land and persons, as well as the trauma of partition of India and Pakistan. In those days we were living in the house of a Muslim trader who had gone as a refugee to Pakistan and I remember wondering if he knew that we were living in his house.

The real issue about becoming a refugee, as in Annamaria's story, is that of facing forced eviction and violence, as well as, loss of property, dignity and family relationships. That is the pain we carry in our hearts for ever.

The image below has Annamaria Marussi and Gianni Bevilacqua, two persons who were forced to leave their homes in Istria and become refugees, at the Day of Remembering exhibition on 10th February 2025 in Schio (VI), Italy.

I also remembered an encounter with a Pakistani girl in Washington DC, after watching a play, "A Tryst with Destiny" written and directed by my sister, which was about the India-Pakistan partition. She had said, "I understand the trauma of my elders about leaving their homes and becoming refugees and having nostalgia for the past. But I was born in Pakistan and that is my homeland."

I can imagine the lives of the persons now living in the house in Isola where Annamaria lived as a child. For them also that house, the community of Isola and the Istria region, is now their homeland. If and when, they will leave that house to go and live somewhere else, they would also miss it.

I think that is the story of all refugees. The first generations miss what they have lost and carry that hurt all their lives. But the second and third generations, hopefully, they can stop being a refugee, they can make new memories about their new homelands, and the old stories lose their power of hurting us and keeping us as a prisoner of the pain. 

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Caste & Women in India

These days I am listening to an old TSATU podcast of Amit Varma (AV) with the economist, Prof. Ashwini Deshpande (AD). This podcast, raised a couple of questions in my mind. This post is to explain those points.

During my professional life, I have also worked in the areas of exclusion and discrimination in different parts of the world (ASHA workers, most of whom belonged to SC groups in the image above). However, compared to AD, I have much less experience with quantitative view of these issues based on data.

With this little introduction, let me go to the points raised by AD which raised questions in my mind.

Creamy Layer & Affirmative Action

The first question came to my mind was when she spoke about the creamy layer controversy in the SC reservations. She asked, why do we raise this question about the exclusion of creamy layer only for SC reservation and not for exclusion of creamy layers for other caste groups. I could not understand this point.

Are there reservations for general caste groups from which creamy layers should be excluded? Which reservations?

Did she mean that persons from rich or privileged backgrounds should be excluded automatically (not allowed to participate) in some competitions or jobs? Won't that be considered a reverse-discrimination, and can it be done legally?

On the other hand, I am aware that in areas like disability, no one would ever say that disabled children of a disabled person who has already benefited from an affirmative action should be excluded. But to apply that logic to caste-reservations, would mean that caste is like a disability in a way, a physical marker or a deeper social marker, that does not go away with education and material well being? 

My understanding has been that by excluding creamy layers of SC would provide more opportunities for SC persons from less privileged backgrounds and would enlarge the base of SC persons in better jobs. However, I can see that only a small percentage of SC persons are able to reach high school or university level and if we exclude creamy layer, those seats will be taken over by non-SC candidates - so, we need to understand the lack of competitiveness in the creamy layer persons.

Reasons of Lack of Competitiveness Among persons from Creamy Layer

AD said that 3-4 generations of better jobs and incomes for creamy layer families are not enough to compensate for their backwardness lasting for centuries. So I think that the issue here would be to understand the nuances of why children from well-to-do families, going to good schools but belonging to SC, continue to need affirmative action? What determines their lack of capacity to compete with others? Can there be other kinds of interventions to support them?

I am also curious to know if there is data about the children of creamy layer of SC? For example, are their studies comparing economically better-off SC families to non-SC poor families? How are the two groups different? For example, is it a question of internalised stigma due to caste which is stronger than stigma around poverty? If yes, how does stigma affect them and which additional barriers do they face?

Names and Surnames

During the podcast, there was some discussion about the way Dalit persons can be identified by their names and thus face discrimination.

Perhaps, one way to deal could be to have a law where any SC family can legally change their family names and choose any names from other castes. If people can't identify the castes from the names, perhaps the caste system will be weakened?

Women engaged in family-based economic activities

AD said that a lot of "non-earning" women are engaged in and contribute to home-based economic activities, but they are not recognised as earning members of the family. I have talked about this issue to women groups in a few states, especially in Karnataka and Maharashtra. I found that the women engaged in such activities are very much aware of their economic contribution to the families, their families recognise it and women used this recognition to negotiate roles, benefits and activities that they desire for themselves or their families. However, it is possible that this is not quantified in the data. We did not do a quantitative survey about it.

It was a similar experience while talking to ASHA workers in some states - they may not earn much money, but they gain the power to use their roles to improve their social standing and for negotiating greater powers inside their families and outside in wider communities. Again, we did not make a proper survey about their castes, but from my interactions with about 10 groups of ASHA workers in 2 districts of Maharashtra, around 60% were SC and about 15% were ST. While talking to them about the challenges of doing the ASHA work, I don't recall any of them ever raising an issue of their caste.

So, IMO, there are many aspects of this subject which need greater data and understanding. However, I think that it is time to stop talking about eliminating castes. As long as we have to ask people to get certificates of their castes so that they can access benefits, we are strengthening the caste system. A more realistic aim can be to eliminate inhuman treatments forced on specific groups of untouchable persons through precise and targeted interventions.

Conclusions

During the podcast, AD did not say anything about issues of hierarchies and discrimination among the different SC groups themselves, about which I had heard during the field work in India. What role does that play in the overall scheme of things?

In my experience about caste-related-research, another problem was that it was never clear which groups persons are talking about when they talk of caste oppressions or use terms like Dalits. Often, they put together all the persons doing manual work, and not just the untouchable castes. Their aim is to create a wide coalition of marginalised groups and not to ensure the improvement in life-conditions of specific marginalised groups such as untouchable caste groups, which I feel should be priority for all caste related work.

I loved listening to AD and to her insights and hopefully I will look for her publications and read them as well. It is a great podcast and if you are interested in development issues related to caste and to women in India, do listen to it.

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