RIFLE RANGE BOY

Being the spoil sport and wet blanket that I am, my daughter must have hated watching the Royal Wedding on TV with me breathing down her neck with some witty uncalled remarks (I think) on the side. I was not there by choice. I was quietly running on the treadmill when she barged in and conquered the remote control. I just could not understand why a girl who is preparing for her exams could not resist the temptation to waste 3 hours of  her precious time watching something which makes little sense. At least 5 channels on the cable were dedicated to bring live coverage of the event (BBC,CNN, E!,Granada TV(iTV) and NTV7.) Hey, you cannot blame her, can you? Exactly 30 years ago, the world (especially young, single and teenage girls) went agape over the Lady D-Prince Charles wedding which was shown in full regatta. To them it is Mills and Boons in real life - Prince Charming sweeping you off your feet and taking you to Never Never Land far far away. Looking at the eventual ...

Today, two articles from the mainstream newspapers fascinated my simple mind. In the earlier pages of the Star, flashed in his saffron coloured robe and trade mark Afro hair was Sai Baba, the God-reincarnate and the story of his demise at the age of 86 (there is confusion,some say 84). And on his weekly column, a guest writer was writing about the octopus-like tentacles of corruption permeating into every strata of society of India and its prevalence of mammoth proportions there. I think that this two stories coming from the same land is a contradiction of sorts.  On one hand, we have the land with the most number of holy sages in the world and on the other end we have corruption, the main reason of collapse of most Empires and civilizations! At one time (1950 to 1980), all UFO sightings were exclusively in USA. Just like all, most holy men come from India; it is also seem to be a fertile ground for proliferation of religions - Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Jainism, Bahai, Ju...

The Star Monday April 25, 2011 Corruption has become a way of life INDIA DIARY By COOMI KAPOOR Between birth and death and at every stage of life corruption stares you in the eye. And experience shows that while corrupt politicians who make millions invariably go scot-free, a petty bus conductor or a lowly constable caught taking bribes is dragged to court. FROM womb to tomb, corruption has become a part of everyday life. It’s so widespread that only few Indians – rich or poor, illiterate or highly-educated – have not experienced it first-hand. All politicians promise to stem it but when in power, they invariably end up being stained by it. An expectant mother has to grease the palm of officials in a government hospital for admission while it is routine for her to pay “speed money” to lowly municipal officials to secure a birth certificate for her new-born. As for the tomb, well ... unless you bribe the guy in charge of the crematorium, you are not certain o...

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. We are all gathered here today to commemorate the union of 2 love-birds of the 70s , of my uncle and auntie, Dato and Datin M S Murthi. What better way to re-live the past then to go through some old photos. Memories and experiences stay longer in our memory bank than our material gains in life. Let us all go back in time now and later come back to the future! The ballad of Dato and Datin starts with the story of a young girl who grew up in Bukit Mertajam. This is probably one of the earliest images of Datin. Unless of course, the organizers decide to conveniently sneak out the photo which was mandatory those days, a photo of a half naked 6month- old lying on the belly! This is a family shot of in Penang Hills. The next picture carries a story. Out of the blue, when they were staying in Kulim, apparently when Amachee was away with some work, Tata (Datin’s father) decided to get her dressed, comb her hair, placing a ribbon on her hair and decided ...

"Damn, these car batteries do not last!" I cursed as my car refused to start as the battery went kaput. Just one and half years and it had reached the end of its life span! Being a Sunday afternoon, as all the mechanics in the vicinity were closed, I had to send an SOS message to my good old mechanic, Ah Kwan. He obliged and asked me to pick up one of his workers for rescue. So, I picked this late 40s worker of Ah Kwan. While driving him to my car, I engaged in a tête-à-tête with him, tea followed after his job was done. Incidentally, I had just finished reading a small book on the Malaysian Chinese educationist, Mr Lim Lian Geok, who lost his teaching license and citizenship in1961. It was changing times for Malayan education. After the Barnes' report (to abolish vernacular schools) and later the Rahman and Razak reports (which demanded Malay language as the premier language), there was increased pressure to change the curriculum of Malaysian Chinese education. His ove...

Chuck Engle—a.k.a. "Marathon Junkie"—ran 2:46:42 only one day after running 2:47:23 at the London Marathon and hopping on a trans-Atlantic flight. Engle wore his London Marathon race number on his back during his Boston run.

Monday April 18, 2011 PETALING JAYA: Participants of a night marathon held at the Sepang International Circuit are dissatisfied over what they claim was poor organisation. Andreas West, a participant of the Energizer Night Race 2011, claimed that thousands were cramped in an underground tunnel that connected the SIC pit area to the mall area because race organiser Expose Media had set up counters for participants to collect their headlamps there. The German expatriate, who started a Facebook page on the incident, said there were “serious health and security risks” unattended to throughout the event. “While I am thankful that nothing tragic had happened, I share the sentiments of many participants of the marathon who have said that this was a very badly organised event,” said West, who is also Celcom Bhd 's customer management senior vice-president, yesterday. The event had taken place on Saturday night. Many race finishers said they did not receive their finisher m...

Looks like the runs are taking me places. Never in my wildest dream had I had the inkling that I would step into a F1 circuit! Only a mad person would pay a fortune to see cars speeding past him at 200km/h in a jiffy with an eardrum shattering screech in the heat of the agonizing scorching tropical sun in a bare open surrounding. Sure, for the dwellers of temperate-climate countries this is paradise. For us, our alternative is the comfort of our arm chair, cable TV and the cool ambience of our homes. It brings lots of foreign exchange, right? Wrong! The last time I heard the F1 venture was a money losing one even after 10 years of inception. Sepang International Circuit (aptly abbreviated SIC), is the pinnacle of verbosity of capitalism. Here you have an expensive sport only dared to be ventured by the super duper rich, burning rubber, petrol to spoil the environment while the poor make do with their 10 years odd bone shaker running on RON95 and rethreaded tyres and third party insu...

Just the other day, a psychologist was interviewed on air about national integration from a family point of view. I do not know how it started as I only began listening midway through the interview. He pointed out that national integration and unity commences at home with the parents starting the ball rolling. from there the discussion went on to schools (national, national-type and international schools), national syllabus and finally to whether religion is a hindrance to national unity! To my surprise, for the first time on national (maybe regional as this station only excites a niche population of the Klang Valley and whereabouts) radio, the speaker said "Yes!" He argued that in spite of the good common positive values of love, respect and fear of God in all religions, there is always the grandiosity of 'My religion' and ' My God' is better than yours attitudes which may hamper or create suspicion in our quest for national integration [Not his exact words]...