Every community discriminates...

Room at the Top (1959)
Director: Jack Clayton

Watching the movie, one realises how much the world has changed. Imagine hearing a line such as this that praises the hero's masculinity: "Too many pansies about these days!" Even within society, in the so-called Imperial power, which was just ruling half the world and believed it was their god-given duty to bring modernity to the heathens and lost natives in the dark continents, it was so dysfunctional.

Condemning the people of its jewel of the Crown, that it was discriminatory against their own kind, and highlighting the ugly side of caste separation in India, Britain gave the impression that its society was free of prejudices. We know that it is not true. The British 'divide and rule' policy in India must have its roots in its own backyard. The British divided their community into two major classes. The aristocratic class would have close ties to the royal family and would also be the more educated group in society. The remainder would be the working class. There was a constant battle amongst the working class to somewhat niggle themselves to be among the affluent aristocratic ones. In essence, it is a journey to the top echelon of the food chain.

This story follows the journey of a civil servant from humble beginnings who seeks to advance socially by marrying into a wealthy family. He inadvertently falls in love with another woman, a married lady, which complicates things. His background impedes his ascent of the social ladder. His friends and relatives advise him to be among his'own kind'. He believed his time in the army would enhance his social standing. Paradoxically, the well-heeled have their own ways to use their influence to gain more benefits from the same stint. He is left in a limbo - to be with his true love or continue in his pursuit of riches.

A film that illustrates discrimination is as old as human civilisation. No society can proudly say that it is genuinely free without discrimination, patriarchy, bigotry, or chauvinism.

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To watch and forget?

Dude (Tamil, 2025)
Director: Keerthiswaran

https://watch.plex.tv/movie/dude-2025-1

This is a Gen Z movie through and through. A movie where traditional values once held in Indian films go down the drain. These values include filial piety, respect for the institution of marriage, a one-man-one-woman philosophy, and the traditional Indian belief that one is married to one's spouse not for one lifetime, but for seven. Sacred symbols are tossed out like playthings. Sex is no longer a society-sanctioned act, but a mere biological necessity. 

The movie starts with a bang. The hero, Kollywood's Gen-Z heartthrob, Pradeep Ranganthan, attends his girlfriend's wedding celebration. The girlfriend had jilted him and chose to marry an NRI to settle overseas. In the slapstick confusion of events, the hero ends up snatching the sacred thread tied around the bride's neck!

From then on, it is a comedy of errors and faux pas. Hero is heartbroken. His cousin wants to pair up, but he declines. Disappointed, she leaves town. The hero realises he loves his cousin and runs to propose.

He approaches his caste-obsessed uncle, who greenlights their wedding arrangements. Hold behold, the cousin had already fallen in love with someone else and was already pregnant. The story of the story is a whirlwind of half-truths and lies to cover the initial cover-up. The uncle @ father-in-law, is a murderer. He killed his own sister for falling in love out of caste.

Even though the whole exercise was in the name of comedy, everyone now shared the sentiment. They viewed the entire thing as mocking Indian culture and promoting a lifestyle not quite accepted by the generation before them. Changing partners is like changing diapers? Remove, clean, powder up, and discard the effluents into the bin, then move on.

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Some are like that...

Bad Girl (Tamil, 2025)

Written & Directed: Varsha Bharath 

https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/movies/vetri-maaran-anurag
-kashyap-bad-girl-teaser-mohan-g-brahmin-protagonist/article69149508.ece

The feminists often complain that they are living in a toxic world filled with archaic rules dictated by a patriarchal society. They frequently quote excerpts from ancient Indian scriptures, such as the Manu Smriti, to support their argument. Spiritual masters, on the other hand, defend the ancient text, saying it has been taken out of context. 

Nevertheless, the effort to rectify the ancestors' wrongs never ceased. The aggressive struggle by these warriors may have just shifted the balance. Instead of finding the right place within the gender dynamics, they may have gone too far. They forget that both genders are biologically designed differently to perform different roles. 

This realisation must have dawned on the protagonist by the end of the film. Ramya begins as a teenager in a strict Brahmin family, deeply immersed in traditional beliefs, such as not entering the kitchen during menstruation and adhering to the family's hierarchical order. She feels suffocated because her school is similarly rigid. The private school maintains strict discipline, and to make matters worse, her mother also teaches there. 

Unable to cope with her challenges at school, such as being caught in close proximity with a boy and failing miserably in her exams, Ramya's parents decide to send her to a boarding school. Things go awry without parental supervision. She goes rogue, befriending seniors, smoking, drinking, and engaging in casual sex. 

A quick look at her behaviour might suggest that Ramya is showing all the obvious signs of a typical Gen-Z, or it could be something more alarming, like bipolar disorder. She believes she is the centre of the universe, is hedonistic, and has tangled priorities. The recurring theme is a desire for validation and immediate gratification. Ramya also connects better with animals than with humans. A pet means more to her than her own parents. Of course, these are merely distractions from the main issue. 

The years dragged by. After many failed relationships, fleeting jobs, changing circles of friends, and a strained relationship with her family, Ramya is in her mid-thirties. She realises her peers have settled into life and have a clear path to follow, while she is still moving forward, with no permanent place to stay and no one to return to each night. 

She believes there could be value in following the path most commonly taken by those who came before us. 

P.S. Upon the release of its trailer, the producer and director received plenty of brickbats for depicting underage drinking, portraying the Brahmins negatively, and for vulgarity. Protests were taken to court, and vulgarities were bleeped. Still, this reflects reality. In every community and society, some outliers follow the least conventional path. It suits them just fine. The moral guardians prefer to whitewash society, suggesting that everyone follows a single, paved path. 

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Have pedals can travel!

In the 1960s, when the Malaysian government, under the aegis of the first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, proposed building a modern highway, the Federal Highway, to ease traffic in the Klang Valley, it drew considerable flak from the Opposition. They said it was a sheer waste of money.

The same kind of antagonism arose in the early 80s when the ruling government considered it another waste of money when a modern toll highway along the spine of the Peninsula was announced. The opposition also cited profiteering and the enrichment of cronies' coffers as the basis for their position. Still, the leaders successfully bulldozed their plan.

Undeniably, these projects have brought so much development to the country. One cannot imagine Malaysia without these highways, and life would not have been the same without the minister responsible for the roads, Samy Vellu, and his antics.

This was the first thought that came to my mind when I participated in a fellowship ride in Cyberjaya recently. It was an 88-km ride organised by the Development Board of the State of Selangor (PKNS) as a sin-washing, oops, CSR, Corporate Social Responsibility project. It was named the Selangor International Ride (SIR), but the only thing close to being international about it must surely be the expatriates who participated. I do not think anyone travelled all the way to partake in this event. It was not a race, there was no podium for medals, and there were no prizes. Just like in India, where SIR (Special Intensive Revision) of the Electoral Roll is chasing away illegal immigrants from places like West Bengal, SIR (Selangor International Ride) kept competitive cyclists away.

The ride was led by a lead police car and outriders, which created a safe gap for cyclists to speed up until they approached the water stations at the 40km and 60km marks. Here, the convoy would stop, regroup and restart after a short break. So, it was not a race, and there was no race chip to record participants' times.

The intriguing thing is the intricate lattice of well-paved dual-carriage roads that serve this whole area. From the Selangor Cyber Valley Lake Park, the convoy moved around the dull, imposing infrastructure surrounding Cyberjaya. In the 90s, Cyberjaya was earmarked to be Malaysia's answer to Silicon Valley. It promised to attract investors and market players by providing high-speed internet free from government controls, with information flowing seamlessly like rivers of glaciers. 30 years on, everyone realised it was just an afternoon post-prandial daydream that cleared when it became clear it was time to go back to work. In 2025, the police are more diligent at being a thought police than at going on their beat rounds, managing traffic, or keeping the community safe.

After completing a short loop near the starting point, the mammoth structure came into view: the Cyberjaya government hospital. Funny, less than 15 minutes' drive was another huge government hospital, the Putrajaya Hospital. In a sparsely populated area, it is mind-boggling that the powers that be deemed it necessary to have two large hospitals so close together. In contrast, other State hospitals, such as KLGH, Sg Buluh, and Selayang Hospital, were packed to the brim. Some things in life remain unanswered. This is one of them; the other may include the strange disappearance of MH370.

Technically, the bureaucrats would tell us that both hospitals are in different districts. One is in Putrajaya, whereas the other is in the Sepang district. From Cyberjaya, we slowly moved towards Sepang town and its vicinity.

The first time I saw the word 'Sepang' was when I was a teenager. It was written on a bus in thick, bold Tamil script. In fact, it was the only bus company that used Tamil lettering and operated solely on the Sepang route. During those days, rubber and oil palm estates covered these areas. To cater to its passengers, who were mainly plantation workers well-versed in Tamil, such arrangements were considered necessary. 

http://worldabh.info/evobus/benz/of1313/photo01.html

An interesting banner I saw outside a construction site while cycling read 'Keep Sepang Green and Clean'. I thought that message reeked of hypocrisy to the viewer. The whole area was green in the first place, cooling the air and reducing greenhouse gases on the planet. But no! In the name of development, to keep up with the rest of the world, we needed a brand new airport. A new town had to be started from scratch to prove our sovereignty. Industrial estates, expensive bungalows, and housing lots became essential. After clearing the trees, now we want to re-green them. That is the price of development, I suppose. What is development, purists may ask. But even the most spiritually inclined among us may feel that monetary offerings can help spread the Word more smoothly. 

Our journey took us to the outskirts of Banting and Kuala Langat, where we made our initial stop. There were hardly any challenging terrains to overcome. The temperature was mild for Malaysian standards, staying around 25 degrees Celsius throughout the ride. 

After a 15-minute break, the convoy reconvened and headed towards Sepang town proper and Dengkil town. Here, there was a slight inclination near the district office that needed to be conquered. After that, it was all flat all the way. 

A bit of forgotten history of Dengkil was not known to me when I passed through these few points, which are worth mentioning. It had long been of interest to archaeologists, who discovered ancient human activities dating back to the Neolithic period. This period in our history occurred between 10,000 BCE and 2,000 BCE, when humans evolved from hunter-gatherers to settled communities. Tin ore mining was an important industry in Dengkil from the 1920s. At the height of its prosperity, the Dengkil area boasted of having seven large modern dredges. During this period of exploration, bronze bowls, ceramic ware, stone tools, pottery, and agricultural implements from that era were found. Around that time, rubber plantations and Indian migrant workers came to occupy the region. The Chinese were brought in to work the tin mines. The pre-existing Malays in the area could not be persuaded to work for the colonial authorities, hence the need for migrant workers.

Kampong Jenderam Hilir, which we encountered on our route, is an important archaeological site located at the confluence of Sg Langat and Sg Semenyih. Bukit Piatu, which we saw signboards for, yielded a pottery shed.

The 1950s saw the creation of new villages by the Malaysian High Commissioner, Gerald Templer, and his men to combat communists. These settlements were another name for concentration camps. The British sold the idea of winning a war through a 'heart and mind' strategy to undermine communist activities.

Bukit Unggul Golf & Country Club
Courtesy Eric Lim

Paya Indah Wetlands, which is situated in the Sepang district, has seen better days. After flattening the land around Putrajaya and the KLIA (the airport in a jungle), maybe as an afterthought, after brutalising so much of Mother Nature, a disused tin mine was engineered as a wetland to showcase the tropics' fauna and flora. To enhance its allure, the Botswana government donated four hippopotamuses. Pelicans, crocodiles and porcupines were added for good measure. The Wetlands are rarely visited these days.

There is another rarely mentioned news of the oppression of the Orang Asli that has been going on here. The Temuan tribe, who had lived in Bangi, was relocated in the 1970s when their land was used to build the UKM campus. They were given a plot of land around Bukit Tunggul in Dengkil. In 1993, a private golf course was planned to be built on their land. After years of confrontation, by obstructing water and electricity supply, the Court of Appeal, in 2005, reserved that piece of land as their ancestral land. Things, however, are not all hunky dory for the Temuan people.

The ride finally ended back in Cyberjaya with much pomp and splendour. Another ride, another venture to another part of the country not often explored by the mainstream, or at least city slickers. The best way to explore any place is to take a slow voyage on foot or pedal power. Have pedal can travel!

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Your call is important to us?

“All our agents are extremely busy right now; you’ll be attended to shortly. Your call is important to us.” The robotic voice would go, trying to sound like how a hangman would place a hood over your head before pulling the lever.

https://borderlessjournal.com/2025/12/15/your-call-is-important-to-us/

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A love song from a shopping list?

https://www.newindianexpress.com/entertainment/tamil/2021/Jun/28/ms-v
iswanathan-and-kannadasan-two-geniuses-born-on-same-day-2322287.html

It is said that when MS Viswanathan and Kannadasan sat down to compose a song, MSV would usually hum a tune to Kannadasan. Just as the melody is hummed, Kanadasan would just mouth pearls of wisdom that would live to be evergreens, able to stand the test of time. All MSV had to do was murmur. Kanadasan would string his verses in his mind and roll them effortlessly, all good to go at first take.

While making the 1962 movie 'Bale Pandya' (Bravo Pandya), Kannadasan brought MSV a paper that MSV thought was a shopping list. At one look, MSV thought Kannadasan had written down the names of vegetables and fruits. Kannadasan told him to play a tune that could fit the verses. MSV asked him why he was asking for a tune for a shopping list. Kannadasan insisted it was a love song and that he could explain everything afterwards. 

https://varnam.my/98228/honoring-the-legacy-of-the-
melody-king-m-s-viswanathan-on-his-96th-birthday/

It turned out to be a love song belted out by two couples on their wedding night. Of course, it was not a shopping list for the next morning, but a manner in which they were expressing their undying love on their first night of wedded bliss. Kannadasan then explained, in detail, each word of the song to each actor so they could act their parts. When MSV suggested that the cryptic details may not be apparent to the audience, the director then butted in to say that it is his job to frame all this on film. In the song, the poet personifies the moon as a female (as opposed to the sun as a male), where the heroine bares her soul to the moon about her love to the beau and asks the moon to be her messenger to pass the love message. The word 'kaai' can be used to mean 'to dry', unripe fruit, glow as a metal would and many more. The poet cleverly conveys all these meanings to write a love song. The song remains an evergreen and is a testimony to the poet's genius and the music director's versatility.

In literary terms, the formal term for punning and deliberate wordplay in poems is paronomasia.

Athikaai kaai  kaai  aalankaai

Vennilavae ithikaai Kaayadhae ennai pol Pennallavo

Nee Ennai pol pennallavo

Athikaai kaai kaai aalankaai

Vennilavae ithikaai Kaayadhae en uyirum Neeyallavo

En Uyirum Neeyallavo athikaai

Kaai kaai aalankaai Vennilavae

Kannikaai Aasaikaai kaadhal

Konda paavaikaai Angae kaai avaraikaai

Mangai endhan kovaikaai 

Maathulankaai Aanalum en ullankaai

Aagumo ennai nee Kayadhae en uyirum neeyallavo

Ithikaai Kaayadhae ennai pol Pennallavo

Iravukaai Uravukaai yengum Indha ezhaikaai

Neeyum kaai nithamum kaai 

neril nirkum ivalai kaai

Uruvankaai Aanalum paruvankaai

Aagumo ennai nee Kaayadhae ennuyirum nee allavo

Athikaai kaai kaai aalankaai

Vennilavae ithikaai Kaayadhae en uyirum Neeyallavo

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