RIFLE RANGE BOY

The word 'consent' is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, there are 'implied consent' and 'silence is consent', then on the other spectrum, are the murky waters of 'informed consent', as if consents are sometimes uninformed or imposed. We have also heard of 'consent under duress' which is by no means consent. In surgical practice, failure to divulge certain rare but real complications of an operation denotes carelessness and possibly negligence of the attending surgeon. As if the patient was not informed that surgery was a risky business. Recently I heard a podcast of consent of a different kind. In fact, this edition came around way before cry babies started screaming #MeToo! The latest version of approval is 'I agreed to this but not to that..."  A few years previously, in fact, a good full decade after a young lady (A) went separate ways with her best male friend (B), she decided to revisit the event that made them part ways....

The Discovery of India  Jawaharlal Nehru  (3rd Edition; 1947) © FG In school, we as students of history were given the impression that going to prison in the name of nation and justice is noble. Amma told us of the numerous times that Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru and the majority of the freedom fighters of India were imprisoned. The gaols got so packed that inmates had to be freed due to space constraints. There must be some messages lost in translation today as we see leaders entangled in the 1MDB fiasco also try to appear heady and statesman-like under the scrutiny of the press and the glaring flash of the journalist-photographers. We also were told that Nehru wrote his book whilst in prison. Amma was so fascinated with Gandhi and Nehru that she displayed a clay figurine of them in our living room so as to as remind her children to be useful citizens.  Then we grew up... Mixing with people who grew up in India and now with the access to informatio...

Sardar (1994) I was curious to find out the statue of the 600-feet Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel created such a buzz when it was unveiled to the world recently. From accusations of wasting taxpayers money to trying to erase the memory of Nehru's contribution to Independence, the structure, which is four times taller than the Statue of Liberty, attracted the attention for all the wrong reasons. Many feel that its cost of USD 400million, albeit being contributed by the private sector, could be used for more pressing basic needs. The monument is said to be able to withstand a wind velocity of 220 km/h and seismic movements of up to Richter scale 6.5. Then, there were allegations of misuse of land rights, environmental degradation and religious insensitivities.  Sardar was somewhat a reluctant politician who rose, from being a cynic of Gandhism to being an active member of the Congress Party to being the Deputy Prime Minister of newly independent India...

Sacred Games (Season 1; 2018) Life is like being at the beach. Sometimes the water is cloudy or appears unsightly with floating particles. The waves may be high and dangerous to be around. It may be too windy. The beach may be too crowded for comfort. At other times, it may just be perfect. We are only supposed to enjoy the moment whatever the circumstance. Forget the flare of the sun, the heat, the sunburn, the sticky bodies, the sand and the mess the wind and sea-water do to your hair. That is life for you and me. You are supposed to get the best out of it - the ups, downs, warts and all.   This Netflix flick has an entirely Indian plot, setting, cast with a story written by an Indian author. With a background of gangsterism and communal violence, it traces through the story of a Brahmin boy who went through a tumultuous childhood to end up as a Don in Mumbai. It unravels the saga of crooked politicians, corrupted policemen, a web of dishonest businessmen, a trail of c...

Mohammed & Charlemagne Revisited, The History of A Controversy (2012) Author: Emmet Scott. Warning: For mature readers only.  Discretion advised. The conventional wisdom about the antiquity and the medieval eras of Europe is the Roman empire collapsed upon his own weight, Europe went into the Dark Ages only to be shown the light by the Muslim liberators. When culture and science were being developed in the Muslim land, Europeans were barbaric and were in the dark about philosophy and technology. Emmet Scott (see here ), the controversial writer who argued against such a straightforward timeline to the evolution of civilisation in Europe, here uses the findings of Belgian Historian Henri Pirenne together with the results of archaeological discoveries to argue a different narration of European history and the terrible course that it took because of ruthless riders from Arab land. During the 1920s Belgian historian Henri Pirenne came to an astonishing conclusion: t...

Wild Wild Country (Documentary; 2018) It is easy to classify everything as either good or bad. There are, however, two sides of the story. At a cursory look, both sides seem justified with their assertions. In the old uncivilised world, might prove to be right. Violence and killing settle everything. In the civilised society, the fight through rhetorics and mind wars can be equally brutal. At the end of the day, both parties would realise that there are no winners in wars, only losers. Hence is the story a sleepy hollow of retirees with a population of 40 in the middle of nowhere in Oregon, USA; in a town called Antelope. Nothing was happening till a band of members of an international New Age Awakening group bought a large piece of barren land there. At first, they were undisturbed by their activities minus the curiosity. Soon, the original town dwellers realised that they were unnumbered and the newcomers' practices were different to what they had held dearly. That is ...

Carvings on the wall of the Amaravati stupa  ©FG One lifetime is just not enough to complete perusing all the artefacts at the British Museum. This, I realised during my second trip to this place in September 2018. Just like in the first trip, three years ago, I managed to browse through part of the museum -the Indian, Chinese and part of the European sections in this six-hour walk.  Sure, critics would gripe saying that the British squandered all the valuables from their colonies and shamelessly exhibit their spoils under a roof calling them monumental gifts of mankind! We all know many of them were substantial gifts but obtained through suspicious and sometimes clandestine ways. A case in point is glaring on the headpiece of the monarch for all to see. For their credit, the Westerners did discover things that their subjects had long lost, abandoned or had no clue. India, with all its wisdom, propagated through the ages of intellectual discourses, had all but forg...