RIFLE RANGE BOY

And Then There Were None (1945) After watching S. Balachander's Nadavu Iravil , the 1965 Tamil movie based on Agatha Christie's story (And Then There Were None, Ten Little Niggers, Ten Little Indians), I decided to go for the Real McCoy. For a movie made in older times, it was quite well paced. Even though they were many characters, all ten of them, all appeared different - all with different traits and idiosyncrasies. They could hold the suspense despite the dearth of colour, gore and loud, frightening musical score. The story starts with eight visitors reaching a secluded island bungalow for the weekend in the middle of nowhere at the invitation of a certain Mr and Mrs U N Owen. The peculiar thing is that the hosts do not show up. Two temporary servants serve them. These ten people are left with the company of each other and communication to the mainland was cut off. All ten visitors, at one time of their lives, were privy or responsible for somebody's death. A jud...

Kakkoos (கக்கூஸ், Toilet; Tamil, 2015 Documentary) Director: Divya Bharathi It is a difficult film to watch. In fact, I had to skip watching many scenes of this documentary as it proved too graphic for me to stomach. But that is the very reason, the director, Divya Bharathi made this documentary. Divya, a member of the Leninist-Marxist party and a social worker, got the idea to put it in film after reading about a spate of deaths of sanitation workers in after toxic fumes inhalation. We, of the middle and upper-middle class members of the society often forget the people in the fringe whose hard work assures us of having cushy and healthy lives. Without their deeds, the aesthetically pleasing white wash appearances of our cities would not stay that way. Viewing this movie reminded me of my Professor in Parasitology told the class when some of us squirmed while preparing a slide from a stool specimen. He told us to respect the sample as it was essentially his ...

http://says.com/my/lifestyle/old-photos-of-kl Published by   Nandini Balakrishnan  — 26 Oct 2016, 05:23 PM Kuala Lumpur, before the emergence of fancy skyscrapers and high-traffic streets! #lifestyle   #rsmurthi   #oldphotos   #kualalumpur Cover image via  R.S Murth i Have you ever wondered how Kuala Lumpur used to look like about half a century ago? These ancient photos compiled by one R.S Murthi will take you back in time to the glorious past of Kuala Lumpur: Image via  Flickr/ Peter Nguyen A couple of weeks ago, we featured a set of old photos of Penang and old buses in Penang, found from one R.S Murthi's site. Knowing that we Malaysians love stepping back in time to talk about the "good old days", we decided to feature these photos of Kuala Lumpur dating back to the early and mid 20th century. Murthi found the photos from various sources online and mentioned that most of the images are scans of old postcards ...

Image Credit: superhv.com Bruce Lee is famous not only for his martial art skill. He is also renowned for his ability to infuse traditional Confucius wisdom into contemporary modern living. One of his quotations goes as follows ‘A learned man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer’! Shakespeare too mentioned something to that effect. ‘A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool!’   We are always under the impression that wisdom can learn from the books and scriptures and that one can wise just by sitting down and burying himself in the company of books. I disagree. First, let us define ‘wisdom’. Wisdom can be described as the soundness of one’s action based on his application of experience, knowledge and good judgement. Somewhere along the way, there would also be empathy.   True, academic knowledge is necessary for one to gain wisdom. From the books, we can acquire a wealth of knowledge...

Gyanvapi Mosque at Varanasi was originally Kasi Viswanath Temple Gyanvapi mosque is located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was constructed by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb after he demolished the original Kashi Vishwanath temple at the site. One can clearly notice the old Hindu temple wall mixed into the mosque. There is a small well in the temple called the Jnana Vapi also spelt as Gyaan vapi (the wisdom well). The Jnana Vapi well sites to the north of the main temple and it is believed that the Jyotirlinga was hidden in the well to protect it at the time of the invasion. It is said that the main priest of the temple jumped into the well with the Siva Linga in order to protect it from invaders. This mosque was built by Aurangzeb in 1669 CE, after destroying the Kasi Viswanath temple located on the site. The mosque is named after Gyanvapi (“the well of knowledge“), which is situated between the temple and the mosque. Kasi Viswanath temple existed since many thou...

Wonder Woman (2017) With dialogues like 'everyone has to fight his own wars', one can be forgiven to think that it is a feminist movie, highlighting the female species' struggle and the minorities. Furthermore, the male characters are most laughable and imperfect in every conceivable way. Men are needed only for procreation, not for emotional support, says one of the dialogues. Hey, were not women the objects of reproduction only in archaic societies? Maybe the storyteller is trying to tell us in her own way (the director is a lady) how much the world has changed since the first World War. And a real paradise appears in the form of an all-Women mythical land of Amazon where women are sorceresses and men are non-existent. Wonder Women's story starts with Princess Diana growing up in a guarded environment, forbidden to indulge with physical fighting. The society, the Land of Amazon, is reeling to build its defences after a war with the God of War himself, Ares. Are...

What I believe Tariq Ramadan (2010) In the 1990s, Ramadan was hailed as the Renaissance Man of Islam. He had made multiple trips to Malaysia to promote his brand of liberal Islam. He was trying to rebrand the religion to give it a good name. On the years, however, his good name has taken a beating of late. He has been accused of 'double speak', quoting many of his speeches that do not reflect his very nature of his rhetorics. On the one hand, he talks about a benign European form of Islam to the West. While, when he is with another crowd, he is agreeable to archaic practices of the religion like stoning. At one time, his visa to the US was revoked after allegedly found to be funding Hamas, the terrorist wing of Muslim Brotherhood. It must be hard for him to tear himself of the shadow of his grandfather, Hassan Al-Banna, who was hailed as the founder of Muslim Brotherhood, the pivotal organisation in the history of Islamic fundamentalism. The media has not been kind to hi...

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Amdavadis4Ever/info Gaze in Wonder at These Amazing Photos of North America! Thanks chiefly to the USA, it seems that every day the world's eyes are fixed on North America more than any other continent. Yet relatively little is said about the stunning natural beauty of the region, instead we focus on its economics, politics, and culture. Therefore, it is high time we celebrated the outstanding physical glories of North America, which we can do with these wonderful photos captured by Guido Diana during a recent photographic tour. Here are 35 of Guido's favourite pictures taken during a three-month trip that covered everywhere from the Canadian Rockies and the Golden Gate Bridge to the Grand Canyon and Statue of Liberty. 1. Cypress Tree Tunnel, California This famous spot is found a mere hour away from San Francisco. The sunrise on a clear day will take your breath away. 2. Athabasca Falls, Canada This locati...