RIFLE RANGE BOY

The basic rule of running is to respect the distance. Whatever it is a long track, a short trail or a marathon, the distance must be be respected. This, I learnt from the Salomon trail held on the grounds of the agricultural university at the area which houses the the dairy cows. This time around, what used the playing field of aspiring veterinary students was our running ground. Tuned to most appropriate tunes of the 'Best of Eagles' country rock tune befitting the environment, to the smell of decaying cow manure and early morning dew, running in the muddy and sometimes slippery, sometimes uneven ground of latterite soil, we struggled through the trail of country road to the amusement to the masticating bullls and cows! Probably, they must be amused at our follies at running fast but wary to the deceiving slippery wet trail. The trail initially took us through a puddle of mud as seen above. Some how, most runners managed to keep their feet dry by ...

Apur Sansar (The World of Apu, Bengali; 1959) Continuing the conclusion of Apu Trilogy, I managed to lay my hands on Apur Sansar, Satyajit Ray's 1959 film. Ray introduced Sharmila Tagore to film world via this offering. Apu completes secondary school is looking for a job, going in and out of offices unsuccessfully with no job in sight and room rent and food to pay for. His school friend, Pulu, meets up with him and invites him to his village to attend a relative's wedding. The wedding gets cancelled when the potential groom turned out to be mentally deranged. Apu is coaxed to marry the bride so as the bride would not be cursed and he is the only eligible bachelor around. As Pulu had promised to get a job, he caved in. He returned to his rented room with his bride, Aparna (a very young Sharmila Tagore). Even though she grew in relative affluence, she soon adjusts to the simple rag lifestyle. Life is happy for both. Aparna goes back to her maternal home for her delivery. ...

In the 60s, there was a song by Peter, Paul and Mary titled 'Where have all the young men gone' -an anti war song highlighting the futility of war. In the flower power war and at height of Vietnam war, many artistes did cover versions of this song condemning the US government's move to send their average 19 year old sons to die in a country unwelcoming of their presence. This tune is actually an American folk song and the lyrics were penned by Pete Seeger in 1955. "Where are the flowers, the girls have plucked them. Where are the girls, they've all taken husbands. Where are the men, they're all in the army." That is the feeling (from the song) when you look around our towns. Peter, Paul and Mary When it comes to choosing the best running shoes for yourself, the running magazines, mostly from the West and Australia, suggest that one should patronize a shop with a knowledgable salespersons or one with a podiatrist who could help you choose the best...

Even before Alleycats came to the local music scene, there was a 15-year-old girl creating waves with her song, 'Kereta Lembu' which is kind of a classic now. She started singing at the age of 13 and carved a name for herself through Juara Kugiran in 1969. After cutting a few albums in the garage music genre and living a 7-year matrimonial life with Adnan Othman (a fellow musician who sang together) which produced a daughter, she left the country. I am referring to the famous singer of Malay songs of the 70s, Helen Velu (Halina Abdul Wahid). I just happened to hear her song on the radio. It was a plagiarized version of LaBelle's Lady Marmalade called 'Senyuman dan Kerlingan". She is now residing in LA and makes periodic returns to the motherland to perform. Helen Velu 2007   Voulez-vous coucher avec moi (ce soir)? ("Do you want to sleep with me (tonight)?" )

The Latters Of Thoma | Minu Ittyipe http://www.outlookindia.com SYRIAN CHRISTIANS The Nasrani journey to prosperity has a touch of the Damascene about it Spot A Syrian Christian Spreading wings:  Can be found in every field—hospitality, plantations, jewellery, construction, media. Trustworthy and hardworking:  He fears a moral authority above. You can trust him with your soul, but don’t expect him to trust you. Tall claims:  Will claim superiority. Will ‘know’ every high connection. Confident:  With a partly non-Indian appellation, they have a robust sense of national identity. Smart:  Stylish and well turned out. She takes pride in her cooking and throws fabulous parties. *** It is said, in the grand tradition of apocrypha, that long, long before Christianity wore the vestments of Rome’s official state religion, the Gospel of Christ arrived in Kerala on a Syrian boat and seeped into its being like tea from a teabag (with due credit to Ar...

We all live in uncertainty. Nobody actually knows what is going to happen next. We are all just trailing along like a school of fish with no leader, no direction and no purpose. Any few months ago, the drinking water levels in my state became dangerously low. This is ironic as we are living in a tropical country with way too much abundance of rainfall. There is lush greenery everywhere, even in the gutter of the roof. Then there was talk of looking at alternative ways of harvesting drinking water like ground water drilling. Then the politicians moved in saying that it is not the supply but the distribution. The management unit grumbled that their earlier suggestion to build adequate infrastructure was not heeded, hence the shortage. The Meteorological Men moved in to warn that the worst of the dry weather to yet to come with the ever-changing weather patterns. Just as soon as they said that, the following day, down came the rain in vengeance like in Noah's story. B...

This 1977 Woody Allen film is the typical story in typical Woody Allen style of a typical insecure nervous guy Alvy Singer @ Max (Woody Allen), a comedian, monologuing about his frustrating life and his break-up with his girlfriend, Annie Hall. He starts talking about his childhood life living under a roller coaster and his perennially squabbling parents and his weird Jewish relatives.  Max, after 2 failed marriages, try to make it with a struggling singer, Annie (Diane Keaton). The two are equally pathologically pessimistic on everything. They find a psychoanalytical explanation to their every dissatisfaction. Even I would get irritated with his constant each others' squealing and whining if I were in their shoes. He makes everything look complicated and so does she. After living together for some time in New York, he manages to give her confidence to sing and jump start her flogging singing career. Then they got bored with each other. After some soul searching in Californ...

Where  a local bookstore thought  Charles Darwin's ' Origin of Species ' should be placed?  In the fiction section!   It sometimes becomes more and more perplexing when you start asking questions about life. One question will lead to another and pretty soon you will caught in a dreaded dead end with only more questions encircling your head.  You ask yourself, if man evolved from apes, why are there still apes around? Wouldn't the apes and other primates have an innate desire at their DNA level to climb the stairway of evolution? Is it not the basic teaching of survival to forever improve oneself? For example, when the first generation discovers or invents something after so many generations of living in the dark about the subject matter, the second and subsequent generations learnt it so easily and improve it swiftly to take to great heights. Just about 40 years ago, a hand held device to communica...

Following (1998) .  This British modern day B-noir film was made by Christopher Nolan before he build a name himself with the Batman trilogy. It was done with a shoe string budget but managed to be a blockbuster with its unique  non linear storytelling technique where the story rolls front and back confusing the audience only to understand everything at the end. It is black and white, involves crime, a beautiful blonde and a dead body, viola film noir. It is a story about a writer (no name) who has a fetish for following people (hence the title). He follows people just to get idea for his writing. And he breaks his own self made first rule, not to follow the same person twice. A guy he follows (Cobb) confronts him, thinking that he is a cop. They built a relationship and they go on pilfering expedition into people's apartment. The young man develops a liking for one of his victims. He follows her to a pub and gets close to her. She tells him a sob story ...

Arangetram (Tamil, Début;1973) This K.Balachander directed social drama was a box office hit when it was released. Of course, it hit a nerve again with the Brahmins (again). It is a tear jerking story with the usual taboos and traditions held closed to every thread wearing Brahmin. Spiced up with the demand of modern living where the needs of the children go beyond providing meals and continuing the family trade of performing religious rites for peanuts hoping that the Gods will provide just like how He takes care of the trees and the animals in the jungle, he blasted a money spinning publicity award winning winner. As if Rama Shastry's household does not have enough mouths to feed (a wife and 8 children), his widowed sister moves in with her teenage daughter. The eldest daughter, Lalitha (Pramila), is a happy go lucky gal, running around the village. The second child, a son, Thiagu (a young Kamalhasan) is a book worm who aim to be a doctor. Then there is another sister wh...

No, I am not referring to the character in Roman alphabets or in any other language. Neither am I referring to characters in a play or caricature nor to certain traits of human, physical, chemical or biological object. I am humbly referring to some characters with whom you have make small chats in a party! Lionel Hutz from 'The Simpsons' of the law firm “I Can’t Believe It’s A Law Firm!” As we get further and further away from the only day that our mothers smile to see us cry (to quote AKJ Kalam), as did as our forefathers before us, we fret about the generation which about to take over the rein of leadership of the nation and world arena. Everything they do seem to be counter productive and heading to doom. Like that, a conversation came forth... Generation Y and their antics. This guy was telling his newbies are forever trying to cut corners with their designated duties; how they are last to come and first to leave irrespective if he (the boss) is still around. ...

Hitler: The last 10 days (1973) The random distribution of proteins adenine, thymine, guanine, cytosine and uracil makes sure that in any organization, be it animal or human kingdom, 1% of the population will always conquer over the remaining 99% of the remaining subservient. There can only be 1 alpha male in the lion colony and 1% will control the economy of the world no matter how fair an economic system man proposes. This status quo is mandatory to maintain peace and order in any group. If everyone is learned, influential and possess excellent leading qualities, there is bound to be chaos, hence, nature has created this arrangement. Hence, in keeping with this background, history has shown again and again of leaders would bring a race to glory and then also to its downfall due to their greed. Hitler is such an example. It is amazing how the 99% follow blindly their leader and agree for horrendous terror against fellow kind which in retrospect would like to forget. Forgive thei...

Released Sept 2012 While shopping for my running shoes, the literary part of me drew me to take a pit stop at a posh book store. Laid down pretty to greet me was the cover of the book above, 'The Time Keeper' by Mitch Albom. For the uninitiated, Mitch Albom is famous for his non-fiction books. His 'The Five People You Meet In Heaven' that I managed to read was a real mind opener. After that thought provoking deep book which basically told that everything on Earth happens for  a reason and a good one at that. Subsequent to that I managed to grab 3 of his other books - 'Tuesdays with Morrie', 'For One More Day' and 'Have a Little Faith'. Another philosophical book (this time a fiction) from the man who writes about life and death. This time around he deals with time and how it controls life. He narrates about 3 different characters. The first character is an ancient man, Dor, who had supposedly discovered the concept of time at a time when ...

Aparajito (1956, Bengali; The Unvanquished) Director: Satyajit Ray Akira Kurosawa once said about Satyajit Ray's filmmaking like this... "The quiet but deep observation, understanding and love of the human race, which are characteristic of all his films, have impressed me greatly... I feel that he is a "giant" of the movie industry. ... Not to have seen the cinema of Ray means existing in the world without seeing the sun or the moon." This is, in essence, the continuation of the story of Pather Pancholi which Ray directed in 1955. The film is the second offering of the Apu trilogy. As we remember from the first movie, after Durga's (the elder daughter) demise, Harihar and Sarbajaya move into Benares (Varanasi) with their young son Apu for greener pastures. The beginning of the movie starts with the melodious veena music composed by the maestro himself, Pandit Ravi Shankar. He did the music score, probably when he was not at dizzy...

Monday September 17, 2012 Fashion not only the domain of the young BUT THEN AGAIN By MARY SCHNEIDER star2@thestar.com.my Who says fashion is the exclusive domain of the young? MY mum wears my T-shirts,” said a teenager during a call to a local radio station. “She’s 50. That shouldn’t be allowed.” “I recently saw another woman about the same age wearing a pair of tight shorts and high heels,” responded the deejay, who was inviting callers to talk about the issue. “That shouldn’t be allowed either.” Had I not been driving at the time, I might have phoned the radio station and asked them what all the fuss was about. Living in a world that is facing global warming, starvation, human rights violations, land degradation and racial tensions, surely there are more important things to worry about than the clothes that the over-fifties are wearing. My choice: A woman should have the freedom to wear whatever she wants, no matter what her age. As I continued to listen, I realised that ...