The best time is the present!

Last Night in Soho (2021)

Director: Edgar Wright

We always like to think of the 'good old days' and how life was simpler then and people were honest. Were they really so? Artefacts from our pasts stir so much serotonin that nostalgia sells. Like Pavlov's dog, we drool at sephia photos of yesteryear. Would we really give up everything we have right now and recoil into the past and do it all again if those days were indeed so simple?

If we were to delve into our lives, we should consider ourselves lucky to have survived the negativities that could have brought us down at every single turn of our lives. We should thank our lucky stars that the turns we took at the crossroads of our decision-making moments turned out to be a-OK. Not perfect, could have been better than could have been worse off. What made us take the right turn? Is it some kind of guardian angel, guiding light, our sheer intellect or the deeds of our past karma? I guess it is a topic for the sophists to argue and convince, not the simpletons.

Nobody is saying that life is so easy that we should just accept life as it unfolds upon us without giving a good fight. We should not be fatalistic and just surrender to fate as fate is what we make of it. Akin to the conundrum of whether God had decided that war should commence would also depend on us sending the battleship. Even if God had decided that a battle should occur, it would not happen unless and until we send our armada! Future depends on us and our actions or inactions.

This film tries to us that any time can be a good or bad time. The present can be as challenging as the past and the future. There were injustices before, just as it is now and will be in time to come.  Bigotry, bullying and wanting to domineer is engrained in our DNA. 

Eloise, an aspiring fashion designer from the countryside, gets her break when accepted into the London College of Design. She grew up with her grandmother as her mother, a fashion design aspirant, killed herself when Eloise was young. Eloise sometimes sees visions of her mother. Longing to be with her mother, Eloise, showed a keen interest in things of the swinging 60s. In keeping with this motif, we are sprinkled with many of the British invasion songs of the 60s, e.g. Petula Clark (Downtown) and Cilla Black. A pleasant surprise inclusion is Dusty Springfield's 'Wishing and Hoping', James Ray's 'Got my mind set on you' (Cover by George Harrison in 1980s), Sandie Shaw's 'Always something there to remind me' (Cover by Naked Eyes in 1983) and many more.

Eloise found her batchmates quite repulsive of her background, and hence, she found her own accommodation. It appeared ideal for her as it appeared that time had stood still in that room. The settings were like the 60s. It was fine until she started having recurrent vivid nightmares in which she also became a participant and witnessed a murder. 

After a heady rollercoaster ride into the past and future, Eloise finally resolves her issues and pursue her aspirations as how a good movie should end!

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Not in a lifetime!

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 forgotten about a soul called Siddharta Gautama and all his not-so-humble beginnings. They had to wait for the white men archaeologists to cut through the overgrowths and undergrowths of Nepal to show the natives where the teachings of Buddhism actually started. Kapilavastu and Lumbini were lost from the memories of Indians till someone came to show them.

The special exhibition which took place during my visit there was the display of slabs from the 2nd - 3rd century BCE Amaravati stupa in Andhra Pradesh, Southern India. Buddhism was supposed to have prospered here and was imported to other regions of Asia. But did the local populace no any better? Imagine such a vital landmark forgotten in the annals of time. The local municipality was alerted when a local zamindar was seen building his exotic abode sourcing his building materials and stone pillars from an ancient ruin. 

https://www.britishmuseum.org/pdf/207_Amaravati.pdf

Colonel Colin Mackenzie, a military engineer who was given the task to investigate the monument in the 19th century, managed to source part of the building and took the liberty to send it back home to London for scrutiny and display.

In this exhibition, the curator tries to recreate the layout of the stupa complete with its splendour through diagrams, computer imaging and the physical feel of the walls.

Seen at one the pillars @ Amaravati stupa ©FG

British Museum, London. ©FG

Sandstone depicting Matsya, the fish, the first incarnation of Vishnu. Matsya is supposed to have warned Manu, the first man of impending floods. It advised a boat to be built. The theory of evolution and Noah's Ark fused into one? Matsya is seen supporting the Vedas and mankind from floods. ©FG

The Union - Man-Woman, Positive-Negative, Ying-Yang, Matter-Anti-Matter? ©FG

All of the places, the sculpture of Karthikeyan, complete with his peacock seen in Western China. ©FG

White Man's 19th-century understanding of Hinduism. ©FG

No mere dance but of symbolisms, geometry and mysticism. ©FG

A time when people were more tolerant, were they? ©FG

Konarak representation of Surya, the prime mover of the Universe. Odisha ©FG

R-L: Jagannatha, Subhadra, Balabhadra. (Puri Gods) Odisha ©FG.

The 2,200-year-old Rosetta Stone- a royal decree written in three scripts; hieroglyphics, Demotics and Ancient Greek. Found in Egypt. Monumental in deciphering hieroglyphics. 

Now Egypt wants it back! ©FG

The extremely delicate handiwork of boxwood microsculpture. Must have been quite a fad amongst the European aristocrats in the 16th century Europe. ©FG

We know who did what in the 1930s around Persia; who was digging around for black gold? And tear up the country like a pack of wolves fighting over their kill! And what they must have found? Loot from the Nebuchadnezzar's hanging garden? Even the word 'loot' is a word plundered from the Indian language! ©FG

https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson 

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Filling up the bottomless pit!

The Spider's Web: Britain's Second Empire (Documentary; 2017)

Director, Producer: Michael Oswald

I always wondered how Britain, after 200 years of ruling over almost half of the globe, survived after losing everything after the Second World War. It is a mystery how they continued their role in being one of the economic powerhouses of the world.

It is no secret that WW2 marked the beginning of setting of the sun over the British Empire. Slowly, one by one, its colonies demanded to be cut off their attachments to the Crown. The coup de grâce must have come after their disastrous 1956 campaign over the nationalisation of the Suez Canal by President Nasser.

The value of the pound-sterling plummeted. Foreign investors withdrew their investments. A special market was created to circumvent the control of the monetary bodies of the UK. Hence was born the London Euro-Dollar market to keep investors' interest in Britain. This was the precursor to the setting up of the spider's web of secrecy jurisdiction in the remote off-shore tax havens. 

These tax havens were mostly British territories like Cayman Island, Virgin Islands, Bermuda and Jersey in the UK. Soon Americans set up their own concerns in the Caribbean with the same midis operandi - funnelling global funds which were obtained clandestinely and laundered into London and other Western markets. The web attracted bankers, lawyers, accountants and the elite of the society. It formed like a secret society that drew in ill-gotten spoils from drugs and corruption the world over to syphon it to finance more than 90% of international loans.

Bankers are a protected species. No law so far has significantly brought down big banks. Bank of England and its affiliates carry out their tasks with impunity. The City of London, it seems, because of 1066 William the Conqueror's failure to capture this town, has its own council and elected its own Lord Mayor. (Cf. Mayor is a political post elected four years once; Lord Mayor of London is an annual apolitical appointment by the Sovereign.) The council is made up of a guild of businessmen, retired high-ranking civil servants and aristocrats who have no qualms using public funds for personal gains. They are also seen making use of public monies for dubious business ventures. They are experts in creating shell companies and concocting creative accounts to cover their trails. Just in case their endeavours go south, the general public can always be used to bail them out. They are, after all, protected by the law. 

Losers of the deal are also the citizens of Africa and other third world countries who are regularly looted by their elites with the help of these financial wizards. CIA is known to finance covert operations via this channel. 

One of the purposes of this offering is to make its viewers aware of the dealings of these big conglomerate. The general public, in turn, must demand greater transparency in their leaders' dealings. The national agreements should not be official secrets but must be assessed by concerned citizens.

https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson 

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Don't mix facts with truth!

Their Finest (2016)

Unlike movies like 'Dunkirk' and 'Darkest Hour' that looks at a macro level, at the decisions and moves made at a higher level, this British film looks at it from a somewhat different angle. It reveals two things, as I see it; how the war affects the little man in the streets of London and how the spin doctors bend the truth to give a more grandiose picture to suit their agendas. Somehow, in the name of nationalism and duality of nature of things, we always see ourselves as the aggrieved but the righteous one.

Is it just me or do I see more and more flicks where the female, in many recently released movies, play a more dominant and composed role? Their male counterparts are made to appear weak and fickle. 

Catherine Cole, a Welsh lady, starts work with Ministry of Information to make documentaries to boost the morale of the public during the trying times of World War 2 as the UK is under attack by the German forces. She hears about a pair of twins allegedly sailing to Dunkirk. The story goes on to show the falsity of the story and how the whole team turned into a movie, inserting elements to satisfy various quarters and sentiments. The people struggle through the inconveniences of sudden disruptions of daily lives and inability to enjoy their sumptuous meals. The lives of the members of the fairer sex were destined to change forever by the war. As their males counterparts had marched to war, the ladies had to fill the vacuum left by their exodus. The War must have ejected the dames from their comfort zones behind their apron to flood the job market and demand for women empowerment. 

This flick also drove home the point that when a story is based on a true story, it just means that it is loosely associated with it. Along the screenplay, the directing, satisfying the producers and the distributors, many things must have changed and edited a million times to make the whole presentation appear appealing, larger than life, sexy, sellable, screen-worthy and politically correct.

 https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson 

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London Underground Pix

Alan White

BuzzFeed News Reporter, UK


Circa 1950: London Underground rat-catchers with their net and ferrets.

Topical Press Agency / Getty Images


1952: A group of women cleaning one of London’s underground tunnels.

Hulton Archive / Getty
Known as ‘flutters’, they would clean the tunnels at night, after the last train had gone and the current had been switched off.


1952: Advertisements being pasted up.

Topical Press Agency / Getty


1952: Tube cleaner.

Hulton Archive / Getty
Harry Weatheley, surfacing from a vent under Piccadilly Circus underground station.


1952: Tube train at Piccadilly Circus.

Hulton Archive / Getty


1952: Liverpool Street.

Harry Todd / Hulton Archive / Getty


 1952: Kingsway Tram

Monty Fresco / Hulton Archive / Getty


1954: Underground fluffers.

Chris Ware / Hulton Archive / Getty


1955: Underground life.

Topical Press Agency / Hulton Archive / Getty


1955: All-night dancing.

Via Hulton Archive / Getty
After leaving the ‘Club Americana’, a Saturday night jazz club open from midnight until 7 a.m., American troops and their girlfriends wait at Piccadilly Circus Station for the first train home, London, 25th November 1955.


1956: Downtown Soho.

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1956: Piccadilly Circus.

Hulton Archive / Getty


1956: Rush hour.

Werner Rings / Hulton Archive / Getty


1956: Rush hour, London Bridge.

Hulton Archive / Getty


1957: Tube music.

Hulton Archive / Getty


1957: Silver trains.

Hulton Archive / Getty
Sir John Elliott, Chairman of the LTE shaking hands with the driver of the new prototype ‘silver’ tube train at Northfields station on the Piccadilly line.


1958: Bus strike.

Hulton Archive / Getty


1958: Oxford Circus.

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1958: Oxford Circus.

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1958: London Bridge

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1960: Publishing liberalised.

Via Hulton Archive / Getty


1963: Frenchman in London.

Georges Bidault (1899 - 1983) wanders through London’s Piccadilly Circus during his period of exile from France.


1963: Oxford Circus.

Hulton Archive / Getty


1964: Mystery package.

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West Ham manager Ron Greenwood holds the F.A Cup, won by his team against Preston North End the previous Saturday, as he waits for a train on the London Underground, 5th May 1964.


1964: Sikh underground.

Hulton Archive / Getty
3rd September 1964: Amar Singh, a sikh who works for London Underground, has been allowed to pin his badge to a turban after a protest against having to wear the standard uniform hat.


1966: Piccadilly Circus.

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1966: Matching fur.

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26th August 1966: Actress Louise Thompson crossing the road outside Earls Court underground station, London, with a portable radio covered in ponyskin to match her fur coat.


1968: Tea on the Tube.

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A London Undergroung official drinking a cup of coffee during trials of new automatic trains on a section of the Central Line. The trains are intended for use on the newly opened Victoria underground line.


1968: Station telephones.

Hulton Archive / Getty


1969: Foot sore.

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3rd July 1969: Footsore office girls rest their weary feet in Bow, East London, as they make their way to work during a one-day strike by Underground signalmen.


1969: Bus queue.

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A large queue of commuters wait for a bus during a one-day strike by London Underground.

Circa 1863: The first Metropolitan train on the underground line passing through Praed Street, London.

Hulton Archive / Getty


Chancellor William Ewart Gladstone on an inspection tour of the world’s first underground line, 24th May 1862.

Hulton Archive / Getty


Liverpool Street station, circa 1890.

London Stereoscopic Company / Hulton Archive / Getty


Map and illustrations showing the new Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton underground tube route, linking London stations from Hammersmith to Finsbury Park, 1906.

Hulton Archive / Getty.


Hammersmith Broadway, 1910.

Hulton Archive / Getty


The interior of a District Line Underground carriage, 1911.

Hulton Archive / Getty


The ticket hall of Liverpool Street Station, 1912.

Hulton Archive / Getty


The platform of the Central London Railway extension at Liverpool Street Station, 1912.

Hulton Archive / Getty

Interior of an all-steel London underground train, circa 1920.

Hulton Archive / Getty


A man writing on a complaints poster, 1922.

Hulton Archive / Getty


Farringdon Street (Farringdon) Station in March 1924.

Hulton Archive / Getty


The entrance to Blackfriars Underground station, 1924.

Hulton Archive / Getty


Clapham South, 1926.

Hulton Archive / Getty


London tram workers queue up for their pay at the tram subway in Kingsway, High Holborn, 1926.

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An underground train being transported on wheels through the streets of London, 1926.

Hulton Archive / Getty


The Mayor of Westminster turns on the escalators at Piccadilly Circus in 1928.

British director Anthony Asquith (1902-1968), right, directing his new film ‘Underground’ from an escalator on the London underground, May 1928.

Hulton Archive / Getty


Construction work at the ticketing area of the new Piccadilly tube station, 1928.

Hulton Archive / Getty


The Hon Anthony Asquith filming commuters for his film of the underground, 1928.

Hulton Archive / Getty


Platforms are lengthened at Euston Square underground station, 1930.

Hulton Archive / Getty


A passenger takes a ticket from the machine at Piccadilly Circus, 1930.

Hulton Archive / Getty


A traveller buys a London Underground season ticket from a vending machine at Highgate Station, 1932.

Hulton Archive / Getty


Passengers on an escalator, September 1932. The posts were erected to avoided a crush during rush hours.

Hulton Archive / Getty


Leicester Square, 1933.

Hulton Archive / Getty


A group of Sikh men outside the entrance to Hyde Park Corner, circa 1935.

Hulton Archive / Getty


New interiors in 1936: more seating, better lighting and ventilation and a more streamlined shape.

Hulton Archive / Getty


A passenger opening one of the doors on the Hammersmith and City Underground Line, which have been fitted with new buttons for opening and closing doors, 1936.

Hulton Archive / Getty


London’s Charing Cross Road with the Hippodrome and Leicester Square station on the left, 1938.

Hulton Archive / Getty


The entrance to Embankment, 1938.

Hulton Archive / Getty


A strike causes huge queues to build up at the bus stops outside Liverpool Street, 1939.

Hulton Archive / Getty


Stockwell station, 1939.

Hulton Archive / Getty


City gents, 1939.

Hulton Archive / Getty


A guard outside a station which has been closed to the public two days after Britain’s declaration of war on Germany, 5th September 1939.

Hulton Archive / Getty


People asleep on the platform of Holborn underground station during an air raid, 1940.

Hulton Archive / Getty


People asleep on the platform at Piccadilly Tube Station, London during an air raid, 1940.

Hulton Archive / Getty


People asleep on the escalators at Piccadilly Tube Station, London, during an air raid, 1940.

Hulton Archive / Getty


Piccadilly, 1940.

Hulton Archive / Getty


Piccadilly, 1940.

Hulton Archive / Getty

Underground film