Outside Amazon HQ in Seattle, a hunger strike begins with an Indian twist

“I will be there outside Jeff’s building in Seattle every day including holidays until Amazon addresses the issues fully,” Varghese told The Indian Express, adding, “Rallies and picketing are just ignored … a hunger strike hasn’t yet been attempted.”

A hunger strike? “Yes — a hunger strike because it shows how much I care deeply about the issues I’ve raised … I’m also inspired by stories of how powerful hunger strikes can be in driving change,” he said.

Varghese, the former CEO of an online ad start-up, was recruited by Amazon in March 2012 to work on the launch of an online ad platform for its Kindle Fire tablets. But things went wrong within the team and Varghese’s services were terminated seven months later.

He then filed a lawsuit over the termination and a dispute over the rights to a “web and mobile video advertising application”. Amazon has since “unilaterally abandoned its ownership claims to the disputed patent application and invention and stipulated that it was never the rightful owner,” his lawyers, Advocates Law Group, said in a statement.

But Varghese has since escalated the conflict, which Amazon has strongly objected to. In a statement to media outlets, Amazon said, “While we do not comment on active litigation and won’t do so here, this case has never been about treatment of other employees, customers or the environment… This case is about Mr Varghese’s own termination and Amazon’s refusal to pay his monetary demands. Trial is set for March 23, 2015.”

Varghese, meanwhile, is hoping to survive on “water and a multi-vitamin”. “At some point doctors say I will need to start taking salt and I may do that if that time comes,” he said.

But the Minnesota-born, Connecticut-raised Varghese admitted that his family — a wife and two children — are worried “over my health”.

For inspiration, this techie is drawing from the memories of his grandparents who, he said, underwent a harrowing experience many years ago during a tussle with another Amazon — the rainforest.

“My grandfather was a PhD in Geology and served as head of the Geological Society of India. My grandmother was a PhD in Paleobotany, they met in graduate school. Ironically, my grandparents led a geological expedition into the Amazon in the 1950s. Though stories of their several-month expedition are harrowing, it seems my experience with Bezos’ Amazon has been just as difficult,” he said.

Jokes apart, Varghese has already been involved a run-in of sorts with the company when he was removed last Friday from outside Bezos’ building where he had been staging a protest vigil for the last two weeks. So, for how long does he plan to continue this new form of protest? “As long as I can.”