A philosopher's stone?

The Vaccine War (Hindi, 2023)

Written, Directed by Vivek Agnihotri

This is a sort of victory lap, a valedictorian dance to celebrate their success, a pat on the back for a job well done. It is also a proud moment to have stayed resilient when no one had any confidence that India would survive the COVID-19 pandemic. It gives them the bragging rights to flaunt their success story in thumping the virus that took the world by storm. They persevered when the rest of the world shook their heads, disapproving and sneering at their moves. When everyone, including their own people, mocked their actions and shamed them via media and toolkits, they stood their ground. 

Even though India had an excellent track record in the pharmaceutical industry, its experience in making vaccines was in its infancy at best. With the pressures of impending doom and possible annihilation of mankind, Big Pharma had all to lose by not selling its vaccines to the most populous country on the planet. 

Maybe it was politics or national pride, but the powers that be decided to put their trust in science and local scientists. India became one track in wanting to roll out its own home-researched vaccine. 

This film narrates the trials and tribulations that the Government of India, the researchers and the scientists of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) endured from the time they worked on the virus and finally rolled out to vaccinate the entire nation in record times. Along the way, they had to fight the lobbyists calling for the entry of foreign vaccines, primarily from Pfizer and the paid local babus; they spoke people. Pressures from the Fourth and even Fifth Estates, who merely fulfilled their roles in check and balance, appear unpatriotic during this exercise. 

Finally, after a few ups and downs, the ICMR managed to churn out their indigenous vaccine with inactivated whole-virion, which elicits a neutralising antibody response. They upheld their stance that it is superior to the mRNA vaccine. History has proven them right in retrospect, as India was the first country to put the ghost of the Wuhan virus behind them and move forward economy-wise. The whole pandemic had improved their standing in the eyes of the world as they went to donate their Covaxin to the world like a big brother would. 

Despite WHO's initial hesitation to allow India's COVID-19 vaccines to be approved for mass utilisation, it later relented. Unlike Pfizer, which only provided its vaccines to the highest bidders, India decided to portray itself as a saviour to mankind by sending its vaccines to the remotest and poorest regions of the world.

It is a feel-good film for the right-wing-leaning supporters of the current government. The left-leaning liberals label it as a self-aggrandisement exercise and are quick to point out everything that is imprecise in this presentation. The proof of the pudding is that India swiftly recovered from the COVID lockdown and has gone on to 'business-as-usual' mode in record time.

P.S. A philosopher's stone is actually a metaphor for the enlightenment experience. When we obtain the Philosophers' Stone, we achieve what the Buddha achieved. We find what was lost when we fell. We recover who and what we truly are.

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The unseen non-medical effects of lockdown?

Unpaused (Anthology of 5 episodes, Hindi; 2020)
Unpaused: Naya Safar (5 episodes; 2021)

As the numbers of Omicron variant cases continue to rise, allegedly after a large congregation of unvaccinated pilgrims made it all the way to the Holy Land, now is an opportune time to reminisce the good old days when a virus from Wuhan labs jumped ship and affected humans. It is mind-boggling to fathom how much this pandemic had jolted the core of our existence.

It goes without saying that the pandemic has affected everyone in so many ways. Economically, it affected all, predominantly those on the lower rung of the food chain. Interestingly, the ten of the richest globally has doubled their wealth at the end of the second wave.

Inconspicuously, Covid infection started as a concern only for the affluent and frequent flyers as they picked the bug after globetrotting. The poor were not so concerned then. Soon, the tables turned. Living in a restricted living space and close proximity between family members made the poor more vulnerable and even outcasts when society started combating the disease.

What is often forgotten in the equation is the psychological component of this whole calamity. In years to come, the full extent of the post-traumatic stress of being cooped indoors, studying online for two years, non-attendance of familial functions and spending hours gazing at a blue screen will come to the fore.

These two anthology types of miniseries explore many of the stresses people endured in the past two waves of the pandemic. Many of the stories are so surreal and plucks the strings of the viewers' hearts. We stop complaining about our shoes when we see someone with no legs.

In the first season of Unpaused, the episode that piqued my interest was the one called 'Glitch'. In a futuristic universe, Covid has mutated so many times. The world is divided into two types of people - the 'hypos', short for hypochondriacs who simply live an isolated life with a morbid phobia of coming in contact with humans and the 'warriors', who are scientists and frontliners who fight hard to annihilate the virus. It is no more Covid-19; it is Covid-30 in the year 2030. Years of isolation have drained people of interactive social skills, and they have to depend on computer programmes to hook people up. A glitch in the systems meets two people' virtually' in a chat room. The problem is that one is a hypo and the other a warrior. The warrior in real life is a mute scientist. After an initial stormy hook-up, love transcended all differences. The hypo learns sign language and overcomes his germophobia tendencies.

In the second season, two of its episodes were, I thought they were very well made. In 'War Room', a quiet school teacher was assigned to help out at a hotline centre to arrange ICU beds for Covid patients. She carries the burden of the death of her teenage son on her sleeve. He had apparently committed suicide. Legal proceedings were ongoing as she tried to sue his college principal for negligence as the school did not arrange for medical assistance in time to save him. Despite the overhanging sorrow over her head, the teacher hoped to serve society to pay her dues. Fate plays its twisted humour when she gets into a position to deny a bed for the said principal when his son called in requesting an ICU bed. The rest of the story is about she deals with this moral dilemma.

'Vaikunth' (Heaven) is another exciting episode with a compelling storyline. A crematorium worker has his hands full as the number of Covid deaths increases during the second wave. He is a single parent, and his father is admitted for Covid. He also has a young son whom he is trying desperately to educate. He thinks he is doing excellent service to mankind by diligently handling the extra bodies to cremate. Unfortunately, his landlord and his neighbours believe otherwise. They are not comfortable with his close link to Covid, attending to Covid death and his father being Covid+. Nobody is willing to care for his son temporarily; hence, both stay on the crematorium premises. Meanwhile, there is no avenue available to find out whatever happened to his father. He is a 'frontliner', braving himself against the unseen enemy, but nobody actually gives him a second look. 

There are more things to appreciate than the story itself in these two and other episodes. The subtle inclusion of motifs (like the fire in Vaikunth - fire to cremate at the end of life, fire to light the stove for sustenance, and fire to light a cigarette to enjoy life) and the excellent cinematography. The episode ends with a poetic message about how the ashes from the burnt bodies are used to fertilise the rice fields to germinate new seeds, completing the circle of life from ashes to ashes. 

Hope is the thing with feathers/ That perches in the soul…." Emily Dickinson

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Beware what you catch!

I can hear her words still reverberating in my ears like she said it yesterday. To catch a  big fish, always put a small fry on the hook. All through my childhood, this is the mantra that Amma preached upon us. She was unapologetic about her views about the nuns in the convent school that my sisters went to. Even though she was the one who insisted that my sisters should go to a missionary school, she was always sceptical about their true intentions. She told my sisters to learn what the teachers taught but not what the nuns preached. She was clear about that. In her mind, the school gave good education, for the other stuff, thank you very much.

Whenever someone offers you a handout, be wary. Amma would always remind us that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Everything carries a piece of baggage. In simple terms, we grew up distrusting altruistic intention, minding only for ourselves. Maybe, these teachings helped us to pull ourselves by our bootstraps to greater heights.

As we matured and our inner eyes opened, we thought maybe the human race survive all this while because of our altruistic acts, not just each individual's zest to survive. The strong had to hold out a helping hand to guide the weak. For that, we have charity bodies, NGOs and religious institutions.  

All that Amma had said came echoing back to me after so many decades when Bill Gates, the once-richest man in the world, announced that he was donating half of his property to charity and was sacrificing his life and soul in solving Africa's food and health problems once and all.  

Soon enough, the truth was revealed. At the heights of the Wuhan virus pandemic and the desperate dearth of vaccines in everybody mind, someone suggested that the patency for vaccines should be lifted. It was thought more vaccine makers can increase production to make it available to the masses, the rich and poor alike. But, much to everybody's surprise, Mr Gates opposed the idea citing fear of a drop in the quality of vaccines produced. In my eyes, it sounds like a drop in income rather than quality control.

Even closer to home, our leaders are not at all interested in getting all its citizens vaccinated. The tussle is not in procuring vaccines, but which brand to use, whose proxy companies would get the lion's share of the bargain and what is it for them. Nobody is bothered about the lay people's welfare. Even individual states which procure vaccines via donations are restricted from using, citing licencing and legal mumbo jumbo as the issue. Again, the bottom line is ringgits and sens. If their intentions are so clear, are they worried? No, they are so thick-skinned that nothing can hurt them. Come next election, they would create another ruckus to garner sympathy votes.

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We, the people?

Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Director: John Ford
A novel by John Steinbeck

A typical scene in a big establishment when a crisis looms. When a patient is discharged from a hospital and has to speak to somebody who has the authority to give a discount, he will be given a runaround. Nobody has the power to approve that slash in the bill. It is always about the system, or the management has to decide. Who is managing, they may ask? Nobody can give a straight answer as a management team is not one person, and his job his not permanent. Even the CEO has to safeguard his career - too much of a discount-and may lose his job. Same with a big establishment like a bank. Even the bank manager emphasises with his loyal customers, his hands are tight. He has to toe the line of stock-owners and continue squeezing the debtor for dues. 

All the big establishments invoke the fear of the weight of powers that be upon the weak. The elites and powerful side of the society are constantly rubbing shoulder with the authority and the corporations. This unholy alliance creates a deep fissure in the community, as the haves and have-nots fleet further and further away from each other. In times of calamities, this becomes apparent; the effective use of all the resources upon their disposal to pounce upon the poor ensures that the rich continue enjoying their living style. 

If history has taught us anything, we realise that the widening of economic prowess is a perfect recipe for a revolution. When they feel powerless against a perceived autocratic system, people will raise their working tools in solidarity to fight back. We saw it in the French and Bolshevik revolutions. Hunger is a potent trigger to change the course of history.

Logically, we should soon be seeing the effects of a year of Covid-induced lockdown. Civil servants continued receiving whilst the self-employed had to tighten their belts with loss of income and the inconveniences of multiple Government restrictive policies.

After the initial euphoria of the end of WW1, the world plunged into an economic depression in 1929. The weather was also against their side for the Joad family in Oklahoma. The family has to leave their farmland as the bank pressures them for outstanding payments. The family with other Okies (Oklahomans) leave their Dust Bowl State for California in their rickety truck, together with Tom, who had just been out of prison. After enduring a treacherous journey, they soon discover that California is no promised land. There is starvation, oppression by the authorities, bullying by employers and police's unholy union, and restrictions on personal liberties. 

John Steinbeck's 1939 novel is a Pulitzer-winning classic with much Reds undertone and is used as reading in many American schools. He went on to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962 for that work. The book is a stark reminder that the subject matter discussed can be topical at any period. The poor will always remain impoverished despite advances in science, technology, and economic leaps and bounds. The rich and those in power will always devise ways to keep them under their thumbs. New laws will be instituted, taxes will be adjusted to accommodate the rich and novel ideas will prop up to entice the downtrodden to dance to the big conglomerates' tune.

The title 'The Grapes of Wrath' may have a Biblical reference. In the Book of Revelation, an angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the world, and threw them into the great winepress of the wrath of God [14:19-20]. Grapes, when pressed, will morph into a divine and spirited drink. Hence, when the workers are oppressed for too long, they would rise to wreak justice upon greedy and self-serving landowners and bankers. The filmmakers had to modify the storyline to not arouse legislators' curiosity when Hollywood was mainly targeted for subtly spreading communist's sentiments.

The phrase 'grapes of wrath' also appears in Julia Ward's composition of 1861 'The Battle Hymn of the Republic', a famous American patriotic song.

Roman Charity: Pero secretly breastfeeds her father,
Cimon who is sentenced to death by starvation
Peter Paul Rubens

The word 'Okies' in the 1930s was a derogatory word of sorts. It denoted westward-bound white migrant agricultural workers from cotton-growing states from the east. In 1937, California brought in the 'Anti Okie Law' to make it illegal to bring in any destitute person. It was later revoked as unconstitutional.

Not everyone in the USA, especially the Californians, took in kindly to Steinbeck's book. The idea of Americans treating their own kind with so much scorn and cruelty was too repulsive. The idea of our cooperative type of setup like the one in a communist/socialist nation instead of American democracy in solving the poors' misery was offensive. To top it all, the book presents a character who performs an act of Roman Charity. She nurses a sick and starving man.

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It is an algorithm?

Nostradamus, a French physician who lived in the mid 16th century, was actively involved in treating plague victims when he was summoned back home when his wife and two sons were also down with the plague. His creditability as a doctor was shaken when they died of their affliction. 

Nostradamus never completed his medical studies as he was penalised for having embroiled in making herbal potions (apothecary); a trade deemed unprofessional.

After the death of his family, he delved deep into astrology and study of the occult. In 1555, he published an almanac which is said to predict events 2000 years into the future. So as not to create problems with the Roman Catholic Church, as it would be viewed as heresy, he allegedly wrote his prophecies in cryptic quatrains using a combination of various languages.

He gained a following amongst the royalty as he foresaw many future events. Even in modern times, his enthusiasts claim that he had successfully predicted the emergence of a leader like Hitler, the American civil war, the assassination of JFK, the 9/11 attack and even the Wuhan virus.

Two steel birds will fall from the sky on the Metropolis.
The sky will burn at forty-five degrees latitude.
Fire approaches the great new city.
Immediately a huge, scattered flame leaps up.
Within months, rivers will flow with blood.
The undead will roam the earth for little time.

The thing about history is that it tends to repeat itself. The predictions that Nostradamus describe events in relation to position and alignments of celestial bodies. Added with the cryptic messages, these can be interpreted in whatever we seem fit - earthquakes, floods, invasions, murders, drought, wars, plagues.

Looking at the message 'predicting' the spread of the Wuhan virus, the quatrain can refer to many episodes of plagues that originated from China all through the centuries via the Silk Road.

The verse linked to the 9/11 Twin Tower attack could also be in reference to the numerous volcanic eruptions recorded in history, like the devasting eruption of Mount Tempura in 1815 which left ashes in the atmosphere for months. Rains were crimson-hued staining river red. It caused 1816 to have no summer and the genesis of a new genre - 'horror fiction'. Mary Shelley wrote 'Frankenstein' and the story of the undead still roam our silver screens.

Is it not funny that all the predictions are kind of afterthoughts? Where were these people when everyone was having a good time living like there was no tomorrow and partying like it is 1999 planning their next holiday destination before the emergence of this pandemic? Only the wise know that happy hours do not last forever.

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Time for re-assessment?

 Putham Pudhu Kaalai (புத்தம் புதிய காலை, A brand new dawn, Tamil; 2020)

The recent Covid pandemic and the uncertainties related to it made many to question the real meaning of life. Is all rat race really worth it? What are we actually chasing? What is the endpoint - is it that we would one day stop waking up but the whole world continuing despite our absence? The generation next is too embroiled in their own quagmire to give two hoots to your geriatric problems. Then what? Just wither away to the dark forces of Nature?

Given the restrictions that COVID imposed on the film industry, five screenwriters came up with five different tales that used the Indian national 21-day lockdown as the backdrop of stories. Somehow the isolation helped the characters to reassess the life await of them, embrace the changes and make amends of their past. And not to miss the twist at the end of the last snippet titled 'Miracles'. Indeed miracles work in mysterious ways.

In the first story ('llamai Etho Etho', 'here here youth'), an older couple, both widowed, try to hook up on the sly without the knowledge of their respective adult children. The exciting thing is that the moment they meet they are transformed into their younger selves (literally on the screen; their role assumed by younger actors). Soon lockdown is announced, and it becomes an opportune time to discover each other's highs and lows, warts and all. Society limits the expression of passion to the youth as if the aged are not capable or need for passionate love. Without longevity and improvement in health, is there a place for companion of the opposite gender? Or old age is merely a time to improve one's intellect or perform tapas to enhance one's standing in the karmic cycle?

The second offering ('Avarum Naanum, Avalum Naanum' - 'He and Me - She and Me') illustrates the many ill feelings that people carry on in their lives. Many of these can be just sorted out by straight face-to-face civil interaction to hear out each other's point of view. This, a granddaughter found out when she reluctantly agreed to babysit her grandfather and lockdown was instituted. She learnt that oldies are not mere dinosaurs who are stuck in the glue of the past. They also try to keep in sync with the winds of change.

Maybe the next one ('Coffee anyone') is kind of over the top. A comatose 75-year-old lady with pontine haemorrhage is discharged home after spending two months in ICU. Her two daughters, from the US and UK, drop in to spend time and celebrate her birthday. The third daughter who had left home over differences in career choices is not in good terms with her parents. This story questions the merits of strict parenting, the outsourcing of parenting duties as practised by modern parents and the traditional Indian type of parents hawking of children's every academic performance. 

The fourth story ('Reunion') highlights how the hard knocks of life sometimes leave considerable dents in people's lives. Not everyone has the wisdom from their experiences but instead, fall prey to the dark forces. In the episode, an old school mate turns up at an old friend's house. She is placed under house arrest during the lockdown. Her cocaine sniffing habit comes to light, and the lockdown becomes the best time to detox.

Unlike the previous stories which are set in more aesthetic homes, the final presentation takes place in the less glamourous of sites. It involves lowly petty thieves and a financially depleted movie maker. Convinced that motivational guru is referring to them when he keeps on saying on TV that he foresees a miracle coming their way. The thugs get the news that a business has hidden his ill-gotten gains in an abandoned car. They decide to look for it.

Everything is a miracle if we appreciate their existence. The fact we can breathe and enjoy things around us with our fully intact senses itself is the biggest miracle. Why look for another?

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Nothing is what it seems!

C U Soon (Malayalam; 2020)


The human imagination has no boundaries. Even at a time when all of the movie-making industry has come to a grinding halt, storytellers still managed to squeeze out a full-length feature film.

Who cares if there is a lockdown or a need for social distancing? There are smartphones and all the drama online in social media. Why look far? Necessity is the mother of all inventions and desperate times spur innovations.

This Malayalam offering was made utilising the i-phone and screens of the computer. The whole film was shot in two rooms and with minimal human contact. The storytelling involves a lot of reading off WhatsApp messages, Facebook posts and emails as well as eavesdropping on video calls.

Kudos to the director who managed to keep the attention of the audience. At the same time, they maintained the suspense of the story.

Jimmy, a bank executive in Dubai, hooks with Anu on Tinder. They get along quite well and even contemplate marriage in such a short time. Jimmy gets his cousin, Kevin, to do a background on her. Everything is okay, and so is Jimmy's mother. Just then, Anu makes a frantic call for help after being beaten up. Slowly things become bizarre as she is given asylum with the Emirates police hot on Jimmy's trail. Like an onion peel, the story slowly unveils, showing us the vulnerability of our identities in cyberspace and the complicated web of deceit that humans are masterminds. Even though a lot of the story is told in texts and acting merely involves facial expressions, not once does the audience feel bored.

A few learning points from the movie. It is no secret anymore that many educated Indian girls are duped into working as maids in the Arab countries but end up as call girls. These type of shenanigans not only in Godless nations but even in states that proclaim to upholds God's law on Earth.

Proponents of Islamic Law insist that Islamic brand of justice and jurisprudence will not affect the Non-Believer way of life. Apparently not as seen in this film of the legal system in the Emirates. Co-habitation of an unwed couple, even of non-Muslims, it seems is a serious crime. The enforcers of the law would say this is the law of our land, the others have to just oblige. On the other hand, it does not work the other way around. Immigrants and refugees to Non-Muslim lands (Dar al Harb) are hellbent on implementing sharia law in the newfound land that gave them a helping hand out of their self-created pit of hopelessness.  

Maybe it is just this particular movie, but I get the vibe that the police in Dubai creates the element of fear in the eyes of the public, particularly the foreigners/expatriates. Perhaps, the director is generalising policemen as the Indian population's perception of the police. If indeed, justice is carried out to the true calling of the religion, should the citizens be empowered, not being fearful of getting embroiled with police?

The final take-home message is that despite all the adversities that the human race may be exposed to, we will rise to the occasion to stamp our dominance. No matter what the nihilistic naysayers may say about the dystopian future that they paint, we will never perish. We will always find a way to stay relevant.

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