RIFLE RANGE BOY

Encountering Kali  (In the margins, at the centre, in the west) Edited by Rachel F McDermott, & Jeffrey J. Kirpal To the uninitiated, like the Europeans who arrived on the Indian shores to encounter its natives paying homage to a gory angry looking dark imaged Goddess with weapons of destruction hanging from her multiple arms, wearing a necklace of human scalps, skirt of human limbs and protruding tongue, it must be the image of Devil itself. For the non-believers, it must have appeared like devil worship and a warped sense of divinity of the tribal people. To the natives, however, it is their expression of the embodiment of how the world is to them. The world is a cruel place. Man's survival is paved with the daily struggle against the elements of Nature and is a constant combat against various atrocities. It is not easy, but life has to go on. Civilised people in India had apparently realised these long ago, even before the spread of Brahmanic and Vedic teachings. The ...

Rasputin- A short life (2014) Frances Welch After reading this book, all I thought of was my history teacher, Mr LKK. Even today, I can still remember his theatrical antics and his story-telling techniques as how he tried to impress upon us the events that happened in the annals of history. Why I am saying this? Whatever Mr LKK taught us when he was covering Russian Revolution and Rasputin is clearly illustrated in the small book, the twisted preacher that he was; the mysticism that surrounded his prophecies; the devious ways that were employed to assassinate him as he was almost invincible and his scandalous affairs including the one involving the Tsarina. Grigory Rasputin must surely mark the beginning of the end of the Imperial family in Russia. The mysterious peasant man from Siberia who proclaimed to be a Man-of-God but with questionable personal hygiene, moral conduct and penchant for all the very activities that were frowned upon by the Good Book, must have not down well...

Wind telephone in Otsuchi, Japan Photo credit: atlasobscura.com We, the rational ones, the ones relatively free of turmoil, of sound minds and souls, and of satisfied mouth and bodies, just would not take things at face value. We want proof. We want a rational and scientific explanation for everything before we commit to anything. But, life is not so simple. There are some things beyond our comprehension. Sometimes it is better to be thick, to be nimble-minded and to be ignorant as ignorance is bliss. The eyes do not seek what the mind does not know. After Itaru Sasaki lost his cousin in 2010, he decided to build a glass-panelled phone booth in his hilltop garden with a disconnected rotary phone inside for communicating with his lost relative, to help him deal with his grief. The phone line was not connected to anywhere. The view outside was of the widespread of the Pacific Ocean. A year later when Japanese were grieving the loss of their loved ones in the tsunami and F...

Thani Oruvan (Lone Man, தணி ஒருவன்,  Tamil; 2015) This movie was highly recommended by a friend, a connoisseur of Tamil films of sorts, for its atypical storyline. So, I gave it a go. Sadly, it was nothing like how he described. I fail to understand why some films keep on using the oft-tested formula of a lone man fighting and eventually defeating a corrupt society controlled by an evil conglomerate. How many times we have seen perfectly executed outlandish plans going on with Swiss-like precision. And how many police jeeps-flying stunts, dodging the bullets scenes and pyrotechnic display can one stomach? Too many stories of shady politicians working in cahoots with corrupt law enforcement officers and unscrupulous people in business come to mind when we view this movie. The only different thing here is Arvind Swamy, the favourite moustachioed droopy-eyed heart-throb of the 90s. He is back. Instead of playing his usual lover boy role, he plays the role of a ruthless badass ...

Diari untuk Prasana (2017) Director: Norhayati Kaprawi What does an average person want in life? He wants his place under the sun to do what he pleases, to continue his biological demands of life and to see the products of his efforts blossom to fruit as he himself withers into the sunset. Life does not always provide level playing field for all to compete. The weak, the handicapped, the fragile minded and the economically challenged are always disadvantaged. Hence, to give hope to the downtrodden, Man created a way of life which provided social justice for all, religion. Everyone found a purpose in life doing justice for the fellow humankind with the hope that they would be rewarded handsomely in another place, space and time. Somewhere along the way, things got confused; living became for the uncertain after-life, not the present. Dichotomy formed. The believers thought of themselves as superior beings hand-picked to enforce Divine Law on Earth and to usurp as many fol...

Puthiya Niyamam (New Justice, Malayalam; 2016) This crime thriller is a refreshing format that deviates from the standard Indian movie making. It is a family drama infused with elements of noir. Nayanthara plays the leading role, and the story screams of woman empowerment. Rapes victims in most societies are looked upon condescendingly, and judgments are passed upon their behaviours with the simplest of generalisation. Even family members are no support. Most cases remain unreported for fear of bringing shame to the household, apprehension about reliving the whole event during investigation and litigation and the seemingly lenient punishments to the perpetrators. Then there is honour killing in some regions! When Vasuki (Nayanthara), a Kathakali dancer, a homemaker and a mother of a young child who is married to a TV commentator, lawyer and artist, Louis Puthan (Mammootty), is raped, the same fears went through her mind. With the 'help' from a newly appointed crime bust...

I have a confession. When I was young, at an impression age, when my guards were down, naive and the eyes of knowledge were still in slumber, I was ashamed whenever I attended religious functions. The theatrics showed by the professors of religions were, in my nimble mind, laughable. During Thaipusam and fire-walking ceremonies, the high decibels, high energies and activities that they emanated just took away any semblance of divinity from it. Now, I know better, I think, I hope. Like the Oracles of Delphi, messages are transmitted in coded languages and double speaks. They are all symbolic notes to the secret of life. We have to understand that the religious leaders were spreading the good word to mostly illiterate simpletons and agrarians with primal needs. The power, force, fire, sounds, noise, water and light are not as they are. The evil or dark forces are not from without but within; our naivety, ignorance and our inertia to progress. The sceptic in me, however, asks myself ...

An Insignificant Man (2017) Director: Khushboo Ranka & Vinay Shukla Another highlight of the Malaysian Freedom Film Festival is the screening of the biopic of a taxman who decided to change the landscape of politics after a bitter event in the course of his work. Arvind Kejriwal, at a time when Anna Hazare started fasting to make people realise the widespread of corruption in Indian politics, started a new political party by the name of Aap Aadmi Party (AAP). Using the logo of a broom as its party symbol, he had hoped to clean Indian politics. Much to everybody's astonishment, this newbie did manage to oust the long-standing Chief Minister of Delhi, Sheila Dixit of the Congress Party. This documentary tells in a much convincing manner, the trials and tribulations of an everyday man who is a greenhorn to the mind-boggling world of politics in his single-minded zest to fight cancer the society. He comes to realise that it is not easy to change the society. The communi...

http://www.thestar.com.my/opinion/letters/2017/09/12/in-defence-of-irate-people/ In defence of irate people LETTERS Tuesday, 12 Sep 2017 I DON’T personally know the woman who has been made an Internet sensation by someone posting an unflattering video of her berating a city council officer who clamped her car that was parked in an OKU parking lot but I sure know how it feels to be “irate”. While the cyber world watches that video and condemns her, no one really knows the war she’s been through or constantly goes through as a caregiver for an OKU (assuming it’s true). By the way, I’ve been there. As the father of a 23-year-old special needs person, or OKU as they are unceremoniously called here, I know for a fact that the daily stress level of a caregiver is beyond most people’s comprehension. Hence, a video footage shows only the consequence of her meltdown and not the reason. While I’m not making excuses for her behaviour at the time, I can t...