Skip to main content

Bastille Day

14th July 2010

Bastille Day – the day the French peasants ambushed the Versailles prison after tolerating years of tyranny under the Louis XIV and his predecessors.  While the peasants’ kids were wailing in hunger, the French aristocrats were basking in wine and caviar in their summer garden party! Enough is enough, they said. And the rest they say is history which changed Governments forever. Legend has it that King Louis the XIV’s consort, Marie Antoinette, was captured at the Austrian border whilst escaping from the mob. When she was hurled back to Paris, all her hair turned white overnight! That was the act teaching that Mr Lee Kok Keng taught back in the History class of Form 3B in 1978 and I still remember it like it was yesterday. And his visionary statements about Onn Bin Jaafar being a forward thinking leader who quit from UMNO when his idea to open the party to all Malayans was shot down. That was the type of teacher we had back in our schooldays. We respected them and words that came out from their mouths were pearls of wisdom. It is time to remember my secondary school teachers… next few blogs, perhaps...

"Let them eat cake" is the traditional translation of the French phrase "Qu'ils mangent de labrioche", supposedly said by a French princess upon learning that the peasants had no bread. Asbrioche is a luxury bread enriched with eggs and butter, it would reflect the princess's obliviousness to the nature of a famine.

Labels:

Comments

  1. sheila18 July 2010 at 16:18

    Anneh,
    yes, teachers those days has great knowledge because they read a lot and has passion for reading.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gory historic details or gore fest?

Razakar:  The Silent Genocide Of Hyderabad  (Telegu, 2024) Director:  Yata Satyanarayana In her last major speech before her disposition, Sheikh Hasina accused those who opposed her rule in Bangladesh of being Razakars. The opposition took offence to this term and soon widespread mob throughout the land. Of course, it is not that that single incident brought down an elected government but a culmination of joblessness and unjust reservations for a select population group. In the Bengali psyche, Razakar is a pejorative term meaning traitor or Judas. It was first used during the 1971 Pakistan Civil War. The paramilitary group who were against the then-East Pakistani leader, Majibur Rehman, were pro-West Pakistan. After establishing independence in Bangladesh, Razakars were disbanded, and many ran off to Pakistan. Around the time of Indian independence, turmoil brewed in the princely state of Hyderabad, which had been a province deputed by the Mughals from 1794. The rule of N...
Post a Comment
Read more

The products of a romantic star of the yesteryear!

Now you see all the children of Gemini Ganesan (of four wives, at least) posing gleefully for the camera after coming from different corners of the world to see the ailing father on his deathbed. They seem to found peace with the contributor of their half of their 46 chromosomes. Sure, growing up must have been hell seeing their respective mothers shedding tears, indulgence in unhealthy activities with one of them falling prey to the curse of the black dog, hating the sight of each step sibling, their respective heartaches all because of the evil done by one man who could not put his raging testesterones under check! Perhaps,the flashing lights and his dizzying heights that his career took clouded his judgement. After all, he was only human... Gems of Gemini Ganesan L-R: Dr Revathi Swaminathan, Narayani Ganesan, Dr Kamala Selvaraj, Rekha, Vijaya Chamundeswari   and Dr Jaya Shreedhar.  ( Abs:  Radha Usman Syed, Sathish Kumaar Ganesan) Seeing six of Ge...
Post a Comment
Read more

Chicken's Invite? (Ajak-ajak ayam)

In the Malay lingo, the phrase 'ajak-ajak ayam' refers to an insincere invitation. Of course, many of us invite for courtesy's sake, but then the invitee may think that the invitation is for real! How does anyone know? Inviters and invitees must be smart enough to take the cue that one party may have gatecrashed with ulterior motives, or the other may not want him to join in the first place! Easily twenty years ago, my family was invited to a toddler's birthday party. As my children were toddlers, too, we were requested to come early so that my kids could run around and play in their big compound. And that the host said she would arrange a series of games for them to enjoy. So there we were in the early evening at a house that resembled very little of one immersed in joy and celebration. Instead, we were greeted by a house devoid of activities and no guests. The host was still out shopping her last-minute list, and her helper was knee-deep in her preparations to ...
2 comments
Read more