RIFLE RANGE BOY

188, Hugh Low Street. The Stories of the Scissors Sharpener's Daughter. Written by Ipohgal. 2013. This is not a story of conquerors or industrialists who shattered the course of a civilisation or something like that but rather of the stuff that Malaysia is made of -  of small people who had a big strong heart to work hard to bring a better future for the family and the country. Ipohgal, an avid blogger, has earned another feather to her cap. Now, she is an author and this is her maiden publication. It traced to a time when it was peaceful and safe where children could play in the streets without a care. They did not need expensive gadgets to pass their time but rather they used their ingenuity to improvise. To give a nostalgic twang to her book, Ipohgal managed to capture a few pictures of the inside and outside the building that she knew as home. Coincidentally, the Indian eatery that she refers to 'Kedai Nasi Ganja' is the same one whose owner's son (deceased)...

The Moor's Last Sigh,  (1995) Salman Rushdie Ever since there was a bounty on his head, the desire to read his books increased. Even though I have not had the chance to lay my hands on the coveted book that attracted the world's attention to his work (Satanic Verses), I nevertheless managed to read more than 4 of his books. Just as his other books, his work is quite a hard read. The text is quite compact with loads of information that the readers have to digest. I had to take a break from reading this book to dwell into something less taxing to unwind. He, being an Indian lives up to the trademark of one, of being very verbose, expressive, long winded and not economical with his word. It is not that it is a bad thing. His indulgence in circumlocution and tangential talk illustrates his wide knowledge of things and his occasional swipe at things considered sacred to some. To drive his point into his flow of story, he brings in unrelated things like mythology, history and rel...

Sand in my face, no bed of roses, no stroll in the park, no pleasure cruise... Go fly kite? Now that the general elections are imminent, all the political parties have engaged into turbo gear to bulldoze their respective opponents. I managed to catch one such political lecture recently when organizers, in the pretext of ushering in the new Tamil year thought they should rather usher in a new dawn by inviting candidates from the formerly opposition camp to ventilate their views and promises for the upcoming elections. Even though the function was a predominantly Tamil event with Tamil issues on the limelight and Tamil language was used by the master of ceremony, the mixed crowd had no issue staying till the end. Certain leaders from a overtly religious based political party had no qualms in partaking and wishing the organizers well wishes. Are we becoming more tolerant or is it a ploy? As expected, corruption and wastage issues was the mainstay of the series of lectures. One part...

16 Vayathinilae   ( 16 வயதினிலே ,  At the Age of 16, Tamil, 1977) This movie is considered a watershed in the Tamil film industry. It marked the superstardom of its three main actors, and it also opened the floodgates for outdoor shooting and 'art' life-like stories revolving around life in the villages. Slowly, the use of makeup diminished. It was alright for the main characters to look unappealing, dark and oily faced! After establishing herself as a child star, this 14year old starlet Sri Devi, acts as a 16-year village lass. After this flick, Rajnikanth and Kamal Haasan hardly performed together in a full-length feature film anymore as they became too big a star on their accord. This village themed flick became a precursor for the innumerable Tamil films of the similar genre that followed where unrefined colloquial language was the order of the day. Many copycat movies followed some bordered on testing the intelligence of the viewers with its thinly thought plo...

Spoilt for choice But Then Again By MARY SCHNEIDER Can’t stomach it: Too much variety can result in indigestion. It’s great to have choices – in moderation. VARIETY is not always the spice of life, because too much of it can result in indigestion and regret. Choice is a good thing, but only in moderation. When I’m presented with too many choices, I usually end up in a confused state of indecision that either causes me to make all the wrong choices or renders me paralysed and incapable of making a decision. I mean to say, there’s nothing worse than paying for the latest iPhone while having the features of the latest Samsung phone dancing tantalisingly around the inside of your head. Or lying on a beach in Turkey while wondering if the ski holiday you considered might have been a better option. Or looking at facelift packages when your butt is sliding down the back of your thighs and could be made perky for the same price. And don’t get me started on food choices. I try ...

HIP, HIP, HIPetizer!  “Roti Benggali or “Benggali bread”, despite popular belief, does not get its name from the Bengali people group, but from the word “Penggali” which means shareholders. In 1928, Sheik Mohd Ismail from Madras, India, set up Roti Penggali (Bread Shareholders) a s a business with his founding friends at Transfer Road, Penang. Local residents mispronounced the word ‘Penggali’ as “Benggali” and that, along with its mis-association, got passed on until today. The bread is enjoyed in a variety of ways by the different cultural groups: the Malays, the Chinese and the Indians. It's so sedap with 'sup tulang', as 'roti bakar kahwin' and absolutely yummy dipped in 'overnight' curry! What's YOUR favourite way of eating Roti Benggali?

Our body is brilliant. After all these years, from the time we roamed about the Garden of Eden or were swept ashore as a unicellular being, one thing never changed - the life-giving proteins of DNA and RNA. The basic tenet of carbon-based life on earth as we know it becomes varied with varying infinite ways of sequences and numbers to produce so many species and variants. The central blueprint of DNA, over the years, with exposure to various offending agents, propelled the master implant to self-regulate and auto correct the sequence to ensure the continuation of species. Only the fittest survive, hence change is inevitable. When a body is deprived of food, the master-control will initiate the sequence for starvation mode. Metabolism would be reduced, and lipogenesis is commenced. And the next time we consume food, nutrients would be pushed into the body silo for a rainy day. And if you usually regularly indulge in strenuous calories losing activities, do not expect to lose much weigh...

Across the Hall (2009) Every now and then a story with dark themes, characters with dark pasts, shady morals comes along. It usually comes and goes without creating much fanfare! This is one of those. Well, that does not mean that the movie is of poor quality. On the contrary, it excels in its own way and excites its own admirers of its own specific genre. Set in a run-down hotel, Riverview Hotel, which had seen better times with its peeling wallpaper and lazy workers. The peculiar angle of cinematography, like the angle of the hotel signboard, set the tone for a good film noir. In keeping with some noirs of the 50s where loud jazz music was introduced, the filmmakers decided to infuse loud (a tad too loud) background score which I thought killed the suspense. As expected the film noir takes a twist here and there, the story moves in a non-linear fashion, going in flashbacks and flash-forwards with certain scenes recurring and the murderer goes scot-free. Julian gets a call fro...

Like my father who carries on his whole life with blinkers, minding his own work and not wanting to know other people's problems, I seem to have fallen into the same trap (or is a blessing?). Feeling that I have enough on my plate, the last thing I want to be dragged into is other people's melancholy. However, every now and then, I do get sucked into this quicksand. The best I can do is walk around the quicksand and maintaining my foot rooted on solid ground. And believe you me, it is an art.  Two individuals had things going on fine in their business venture. After umpteen years of smooth sailing, their yacht hit a rough patch. Their term of the deal appears unsavoury to both parties.  The justification in supporting their side of the bargain is the typical textbook description of mirror image conflict. I am no skilled negotiator or arbitrator. So, the most I can do is lent them my ears and utter the occasional nods, Ummm, 'oh!', 'is it so?' and the occasio...

Another pastime that I occasionally indulge in is T-shirt watching. Some of the things written on them could be quite entertaining. Of course, some of them could be construed as sexual harassment if uttered by an individual. As it only written and not uttered, nobody gives a second look. Actually it is meant to be looked again and again! T-shirts with messages like 'Wish these were brains', 'Hammer says "You can't touch these"' would fit this bill. My favorite must be 'My girlfriend went to Vegas and all she got me is this lousy T-shirt'. Not to forget the abbreviations of the word ' F ornication U nder C onsent of the K ing' purposefully spelt as the abbreviations of ' F rench C onnection U nited K ingdom' to  give a false sense of grandiosity to its wearer. Grandiose feeling by its wearer who is awed by his the fact that he is not wearing a garment but a statement. A statement that he dares to be different and fight against t...

As far as I can remember, it has been the practice of people to respect the dead. No matter how bad a person had been in his or her lifetime, they are generally forgiven. Only the nicest things are highlighted and the not so pleasant one are conveniently forgotten or omitted in the eulogy. It is accepted that the person in question would be adequately dealt with in the afterlife by the powers above and the aid of The Book. As a deviant from the norm, people of the working class of Britain, mainly miners, have been keeping their grudge of discontent all these years and have no qualms displaying it now. Even amongst the vast majority of the 'others', there are those who feel that the world now is a worse place than before she came to the picture. With the combo of Thatcherism-Reaganism, where greed is good, we are now left with a messy world of living in credit and mortgage. I suppose the changes in the world are inevitable with or without Thatcher. Desperate situations ...

Now that the news of the forthcoming 13th general elections is on every body's mind, it is only appropriate to mention something on Malaysian politics. Some people talk passionately about politics. Now, with the dissolution of the Parliament, politics is at the tip of every body's tongue. People of all ethnicity and social class, as it appears to me, seem more courteous to each other as though have teamed together to fight for the betterment of the country at large. One particularly peculiar observation that I realised is that whenever you are embroiled in heated political discussion, say in a social function - birthday, wedding reception, dinner etcetera, the person who leads the conversation with much passion, offering intricate inside information would invariably not be registered as a voter with the Election Council! Of course, you have to ask him point blank on the face to skewer this information. And you have to indulge in a lot of face reading to authenticate t...

The century of self (2002) #4. Eight people sipping wine in Kittering The final episode continues to show that businessmen / people in power continue to use the inner desires of people to sell their products / brand of democracy. People with left minded politics in the US and UK had to forgo their ideology of fighting for the working class to satisfy the increasing appetite of individualism in the society. Through the deployment of focus groups, a method employed by marketeers, the politicians (yearning to win elections), discovered the wishes of the masses. The ruling elites in the UK were more reluctant initially to conform to the whims of the public. They had always been very paternalistic in their way of ruling the public. They decided on what was good for the people. When the economy took a downturn, the brand of politics evolved to tailor for the inner desires of people. Newspapers, which was supposed to be impartial became corrupted with hints of commercialism beginning to...