RIFLE RANGE BOY

Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India (2009) Author: William Dalrymple This is a true travelogue—one in which the writer has all the time in the world to identify what he wants to write about and knows the best places to source his writing materials. Of course, being a historian, a prolific award-winning author, and a podcaster on the side helps. This book is a nice, readable one that looks at some of the sacred practices in India. The writer's job is just to tell things as he sees fit. He respects the local culture and does not insert his elitist twang to belittle the traditions that have gone on for generations. That is the trouble with most anglophile travelogues. They give their condescendingly haughty views on the happenings on the ground. Foreigners and sometimes the English-speaking Western-educated local punks are guilty of this. For the record, Darylmpol was born in Scotland and now resides in Delhi. I guess he is one of the many Caucasians, like François Gau...

Zulfarhan Osman A news report piqued my interest recently. The parents of a murdered college student prostrated in prayer right after the verdict was announced by the court of appeal that six accused would be hanged. Later, they told reporters they were showing their appreciation to the Almighty as justice was done.  These types of news often leave me more perplexed than I already am. An overseeing Almighty who was cognisant of all the things going on with their loved one but procrastinated would typically get a cold shoulder. If He were a mere mortal, He would get a notice of professional negligence for napping on the job. His nemesis, the horned and tailed one, through His proxies in robes, would have a field day trying to act smart and reenact all the fraction of seconds when danger could have been averted. But deep inside, these Satan's representatives on Earth thrive on maladies like these.  On one hand, we are products of the Original Sin, imperfect in every way and pron...

Freud's Last Session (2023) Director: Mathew Brown The day was September 3rd, 1939. Sigmund Freud was homebound in his house in London. He had fled Vienna to London and was nursing the constant nagging pain caused by his oral cancer and an ill-fitting oral prosthesis. Neville Chamberlain had declared war on Germany after Hitler failed to withdraw from Poland. Londoners stayed glued to their radios, bemoaning that the war had started again and were waiting for their leaders' latest instructions and progress. Anxiety was high, and people were wondering how the next few days would be. Against this background, Sigmund Freud was spending the last few months of his life. He was in constant pain, needing morphine, but lucid enough to remember the life he had and to debate his favourite topic, the existence of God.  It is said that on that fateful, it is believed that he had a visitor by a Professor from Oxford University. The visitor's identity was not found, but the screenwriter ...

Reader discretion is advised. Thanks to JM for starting this conversation. They tell you that you are worthless, that you are flawed, and that you are the product of the original sin. You are a disgrace and living off God's Grace. God's Grace is the only one which is going to save us at the end of days. You are worthless, a sinner, a good for nothing. You who have nothing do not even have possession over your life. This soiled life is a total ownership of God. He has exclusive rights over you. You have no right to take it away. Even when one's dignity is lost, his existence may burden himself and those around him; nobody has the right to take it away. It is better that he suffers and makes others' lives a living hell. Life has to go on. God has plans for him, and these hiccups are part of his grander scheme of things. Our role is to be herded through and let Him do His mysterious work. We must be herded by the shepherd. It is not our position to ask whether the shepherd...

Kahlil Gibran's Little Book of Secrets, 2019 Kahlil Gibran, Neil Douglas-Klotz (Editor) (first published 1932) That is it. There is no secret. Like every seed we sprout, each extracting our own energies, in different shapes, forms and sizes, build our leaves and flowers, but have to face the sun to get our nourishments. We may take different routes like that, but lest we forget, all roads lead to Rome. Secrets? There are none. The answers are all within us. The problem is that the more answers we seek, the more questions pop up. Khalil Gibran, a Lebanese Christian from the Eastern Christian Church, landed in the USA after spending a fair amount of formative years in Lebanon. Exposed to either side of the hemisphere, his outlook on life is quite profound. Here is an example of his thoughts and invitation to think. A clergyman who preaches the dangers of sin and the need to follow the spiritual path meets a dying man during his travels. He was about to help him but was warned by the ...

Godland ( Vanskabte Land,   Volaða land,   Icelandic, Danish; 2022) Written & Directed: Hlynur Pálmason The colonial masters must have thought they were doing the natives a favour by coming to their country and 'civilising' them. The religious people of the colonising race thought bringing religion to their shores would 'save' the natives from the eternal damnation of hellfire as well as earn them a few brownie points in the eyes of God. Actually, the primary aim of the invaders was to get manpower. Europe had awoken from a great slumber. They had improved their weapons and were on a rampage. They had devised a way to mass-produce agricultural produce. For that, they needed manpower, and slavery was found to be a convenient way. After all, the African leaders would bend over backwards to capture their kind and enemies from opposing villages for this trade. When people from the West heard of the abysmal conditions in which slaves lived and worked, a boycott of slave-...