RIFLE RANGE BOY

Bumped into an old acquaintance recently. As there was too much time to kill, rather than looking at each other, we decided to talk about stuff. One thing led to another till finally he spoke about a book that he was writing. Having too much time in his hands with tip-top condition of his mental capabilities as evidenced by his previous gargantuan presence in the university and the number of journal research papers to support, just rotting away into retirement just because the state uses other people's yardstick to assess seem just too wasteful. Rather than let the Devil set up workshop in his mind, he had embarked on a journey to honour the person he held close to his dear heart - his dear mother. His mother's single-handed attempt to uplift her family from clutches of poverty, she, with her wisdom, albeit her handicap in the education department but not the desire to learn, managed to struggle through the tumultous times of pre-independent Malaya to provide for her offsprin...

Year in year out it is the same story. December would come and like an uninvited guest would gate crash your Christmas party. The intruder would be party, a wet wild kind, to be a ruin to many, leaving its hosts wet and grounded. It had wrecked property, upset school examination schedules and took lives from time immemorial. It must have happened all over the ages that the house designs in this part of the world involved stilts. The annual floods this time seem to have hit us a carnage of Titanic proportions. Even medical personnel who normally be at limelight for victims to seek help now find themselves trapped in hospitals. And on top of it all, hospitals traditionally had been built on higher ground! Rather than finding the root of the problem and thinking of ways to mete the problem with our God given minds, what do we do? Say it is all 'act of God'. Lest we forget, God helps those who help themselves. We cut, we pilfer, we rape, we mutilate and we flatten Nature and ...

Entering a new phase of his life, RRB found himself in the company of solitary confinement dearth of intelligent life form. Solitude trickled his grey cells to trigger some questions about life and its intricacies. Hence began the outpouring of his thoughts into cyberspace for nobody to hear. This is a compilation of some of his thought provoking posts from his blog, Rifle Range Boy (asokan63.blogspot.com). His tangential flight of ideas may not be politically correct or be universally acceptable but what the heck, it is his party and he could cry if he wants to! FG

Attended 2 wedding dinners over the weekend. 2 of my friends 'lost' their daughters and found 'new' sons. There were similarities in both weddings. Both girls were sent out to Australia to get a wholesome education as the land they grew up failed to provide them with what was available to their parents just a generation ago and of standards were comparable to those of the first world. The new agenda with new priorities only spiralled down something right down the ladder of mediocrity. Private schools and international syllabi drove both girls to bring home foreign degrees as well as new surnames. Having established themselves in land Down Under, in the prime of their youth, it was only natural that they should find jobs and life partners.  Now, Malaysia has become a place where they may perform duties of filial piety or to unwind after a challenging year of vocational responsibilities. Maybe, they would escape the depressing cold winters to the chirpy eternal sum...

Christmas is said to be a time of love, cheer and human compassion. These photos may be decades-old, but the stories they tell are not much different than the stories of today. British and German troops sharing the unofficial ceasefire during WWI in No Man's Land (1914) The first Norwegian Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square, donated to London by the city of Oslo as thanks for England's help during WWII (18 Dec. 1947) Using old WWII flamethrowers to clear up snow (December, 1947) A poor woman taking a donated Christmas dinner from the Salvation Army (1910) A young girl leaving a message for Santa Claus in the Brecknock School for Blind Children (1925) Rehearsals for the first ever New Year's Eve Time ball drop (1907) A young German couple welcoming the new year on top of the Berlin Wall with a kiss (1989) Santa riding an elephant (1925) John Lennon, Yoko Ono and Mary Hopkins at a Christmas party (1968) Bostonians out for Christmas shopping (1930) Unemployed New Yorkers...

I think it is more relevant now than ever, the platform to intellectually tease out and argue a certain event as it is unfolds. The human race has evolved and has weathered the atrocities of Mother Nature simply by being able to critically evaluate their shortcomings and dare to make changes.This is the thought that went through my mind as I completed listening to the 12th episode of the season 1 of 'Serial', the podcast that is taking the podphiles the world over by storm. A 17year old second generation American boy of Pakistan origin, Adnan Syed, is convicted of murder of his schoolmate cum ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, is incarcerated for life in 1999. Almost 20 years later, the producer decide to re-look into the case files and critically analyse whether justice was carried out correctly. Over a year, the files are scrutinised. The background of the accused is dissected critically. His background, family, recreational activities are all bare open. The idea whether his rac...

PK (Tipsy, Hindi; 2014) So it looks sightings of UFOs and visitations from alien civilisations corresponds to the affluence of a country. In the 50s, it occurred exclusively in the US. Then it was China and now, India. Put an alien in God's favourite land with the most number of God-men per square feet and a good screenwriter and what do you get? 2 and a half of laughter from a philosophical  comedy of divine proportions. Followers of this blog would notice that some of the ideas from this movie had come up in our previous posts ( here ,  here  and  here ). But hey, with a ready market worth multi-millions sprawling with talents waiting to hit the jackpot in a world of survival of the fittest, ideas just ooze. This movie pokes fun at segregation of people according to religious beliefs and the things people do in the name in the name of God. An alien lands in the deserts of Rajasthan dressed only with a transmitter medallion. His mission is to survey Earth and r...

So there was this guy who appeared in a similar attire as mine on my 4th birthday bash back in 1967. His grandmother was my parents' landlady when they moved into their first matrimonial place of stay. Their relationship with this matriarchal figure persisted even when they moved into their own home. Hence, the invitation and the photograph.... After the meeting in the late 60s, our lives (both guys in striped shirts) intertwined again in secondary school, though in different classes and off we went again different ways after the 80s. As luck had it, with the help of social media, some old buddies met up at one friend's daughter's wedding. Midst of it all, a burly chap approached the table we were at, with the most boisterous of laughter. Quickly, he introduced himself. Everyone at the people was looking at each other, hoping that someone could correctly identify him. You see, he had now embraced a new name and new appearance after his wedding. Yes, not only ladies los...

Lingaa ( லிங்கா  Tamil; 2014) Lingaa The wait was finally over for Tamil movie enthusiasts the world over, including the band of ever faithful Japanese fans. Right smack on his 64th birthday, his latest outing was released. And in style, this sexagenarian walks out from a Hummer, which in turn is followed by a fleet of similarly spanking shiny Hummers to be showered by petals of flowers, as if ushering a demigod, by a bevy of beaus who look and dress anything but reflective of demure Tamil culture. To the catcalls and whistling of the cinema audiences, our hero shows his greatest presence - a turn to face the audience swinging the tail of his coat flashing his trademark smile and mustache still donning his thick crown of glory- his mane! That is Rajnikanth for you, still stirring the crowd after all these years! Not bad for a man of his age to be able to single-handedly maintain the interest of the story. The other actors there are just side shows. He dons two roles, as a do...

Transparent (TV miniseries, Season 1; 2014) Living is easy with eyes closed. When you start analysing your existence in life, the purpose of life and start questioning every shred of existentialism, life becomes too complicated. It make living impossible for you and those around you. When you feel discontented and yearn for the perpetual unattainable pleasures in life without appreciating the joy and magic that is around you, life can be a living hell. This, in essence, is the bane of modern living. We are unsure what we actually want in life. We are forever lamenting that life sucks and things could be better. We reach out beyond borders that are accepted as norm only to realise that that is not we were looking in the first place. This new TV show just completed its first season, released for binge consumption by Amazon. The ten 30-minutes episodes narrate the saga of a dysfunctional family. The father, Mort/Maura, is a respected professor, who decide to come out in the open abo...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2833736/Shotguns-sundaes-segregation-Gordon-Parks-stunning-photos-families-1950s-Alabama-provide-poignant-unique-look-life-civil-rights-era.html?ito=social-facebook Shotguns, sundaes and segregation: Stunning photos of families in 1950s Alabama provide a poignant and unique look at life during the civil-rights era African-American  photographer  Gordon Parks captured the lives of three families living in Mobile, Alabama in 1956 The collection, called The Restraints: Open and Hidden, follows the lives of three families A total of 40 prints will now go on display at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia Parks worked for Life Magazine for 20 years, shooting the likes of Muhammad Ali and Malcom X   By  CHRIS SPARGO FOR MAILONLINE A stunning set of photographs taken by famed African-American photographer Gordon Parks during segregation in the 1950s are set to go on display later this month. The coll...