Belacan

Migrant stories of yore from Malaysia by Farouk Gulsara

Ah Soh with Nand Lal, Saraswati’s son.
(Photo taken circa the early 2000s).
Courtesy: Farouk Gulsara

https://borderlessjournal.com/2023/08/14/belacan/

“There she goes again,” thought Saraswati as she cut vegetables she had never seen in her native country. “Here goes Ah Soh cooking her stinky dish again.”

Saraswati, Ah Soh and the rest of the pack are people commonly called fresh off the boat. They hail from various parts of China and India.

The loud beating of a metal ladle against a frying pan, accompanied by the shrilling Chinese opera over the radio and her shrieking at her children, need no guessing whose kitchen ‘aroma’ is coming from. Everyone knows Ah Soh is frying belacan, a fermented Malay shrimp paste.

https://borderlessjournal.com/2023/08/14/belacan/?

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Samar on Men Matters Online Journal

Samar 

Farouk Gulsara 

"Is it just me, or are the days getting hotter by the day?" I ask myself as I get into the shower for the third time today. The temperature outside must be ball-parking at 40 degrees Celsius, surely. I am living up to the title my ex-wife used to call me: a cold-blooded sadist. Cold-blooded, yes, as my core body temperature is less than the outside temperature. Sadist, just say I do not turn the other cheek. I live by the mandate that everyone is given one chance in life. 

All these people who condemn others who splurge on themselves with niceties in life can go to hell. They talk about lowering greenhouse gases and lowering carbon footprints. All these are to prevent an uncertain catastrophe that may not happen to a future generation that gives rat's ass to their ancestors, i.e., besides remembering them on Cheng Beng or offering prayers on Deepavali morning. I have one life. I want air conditioning. I cannot live without the room temperature set way down low. ....

https://menmattersonlinejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Issue-5-16F-Farouk-Gulsara.pdf

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Life can be overwhelming!

All the troubles of the world 
Short Story: Issac Asimov (1958)

Thanks, MS, for the introduction to this prolific writer. All this while I have been watching many films based on the writings, sadly without my knowledge. The movies 'I-Robot' and 'Bicentennial Man' are two such examples.

'All the troubles of the world' first appeared as a short story in a 1958 pulp magazine named 'Super Science Fiction'. Since then, it has come out in a Children's Book and even a 20-minute short film. 

Within a span of 18 pages, Asimov brought us into a dystopian future where the desire of Man to keep the running of the world squeaky clean crime-wise has brought them a supercomputer that can prevent crimes before it is done. In this world, all kinds of information and thinking processes are recorded by Multivac. Multivac, in essence, is a God-like giant computer that helps in Earth's economy, sciences and most of all, security. By constantly updating Earthlings' train of thought data, the machine can predict Man's every following thought process.

After 50 years of serving mankind, dealing with much of their problems, Multivac finally decides to call it quits. In an elaborately penned plan, Multivac devises a scheme to self-destruct itself. It wants to die.

This is a conundrum that constantly plagues mankind. By developing more and more complex programmes like artificial intelligence (AI) learn and design algorithms, is it not just a matter of time that they build emotions and consciousness? Unlike automatons that are pure work-horses designed to serve, AI of the future may dictate terms with us. 

Just look at the transformation of Man. How a simpleton is satisfied with life when his primal needs, i.e. food, sleep and mate, are met. Slowly as his situation improves, as affluence and comfortable seeps in, his wants become progressively become insatiable. Despite having all the comforts at his feet, he is still a hollow man.

If Vishnu's avatars can be looked upon as the evolution of life on Earth, one can notice that the avatars have to deal with increasingly more complicated issues. That is the curse of intelligence. We become increasingly aware of possible risks in executing every task that living becomes progressively more complex and challenging. We are simply bogged with too many 'what if's and 'why not's. Sometimes it is just too overwhelming that we want to end it all.

Life is easy for the simpleton.

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Modern love

Kutty ♥️ Story ( Short ♥️ Story, Tamil; 2021)

Maybe because our attention spans get shorter, we seem to be content with short stories rather than full-length feature films these days. With the democratisation of viewing platforms, we, the viewers, never had it so good. Not only we get new faces to act, but we also have storylines that break the traditional, predictable plot of boy meets girl, meets opposition, but love conquers all. 

Securing finance for new ventures had always been difficult for moviemakers. Banks and other financial institutions were not forthcoming with loans. Hence, the association of producers and the Mumbai mafia and their associates. The Mafia dictated who could act and even approved storylines. Their network ensured only certain Moghuls could rule the silver screen. All that came to nought when OTTs paid their clients upfront and were liberal with their storylines. Herein also lie the problem, some say. They allege that breaking India forces try to portray only negative images of India (ala Slumdog Millionaire).

This collection of four short stories looks at love, what else, and its problems in four different scenarios. 

In the first story, எதிர் பார முத்தம் (Unexpected kiss), the age-old topic of platonic love is discussed. Is it possible for a male to build a friendship with another person of the fairer sex without having romance interfering in the bond? In their forties, a group of old friends reminisce about the protagonist's fling in college over a round of drinks. Now, married to a different girl, he denies any romantic link then or ever. The girl, after migrating, now returns and sets a meeting with the protagonist.

The next one, அவனும் நானும் (He and Me), talks about unplanned pregnancy in a college girl and the mountain of decisions she has to make to deal with it, whether to terminate, to give for adoption or modify her life ambitions. This, she has to decide amidst the fear of disappointing the parents and the society's hawkeyed look.

லோகம் (Universe) is a slightly different presentation. Two gamers, both with different avatars and anonymous identities, meet in a game. The male gamer falls in love with the girl in cyberspace but loses her contact when her avatar dies during a crucial moment. The lovestruck gamer reveals his feelings during a radio interview, and they are reunited. Most of the story is told in animation. The take message is that the world can be pretty depressing for some people, and they have to create false personas to find happiness. We hide our cracked interior by applying a thick mask of makeup to put up a happy front.

ஆடல்-பாடல் (Dance-Songs) explores the lopsided societal viewing of infidelity. A man's occasional fling is forgiven but not a woman's. A husband and wife, with a young child, have to deal with this problem. The wife lures her husband to respond to a flirtatious phone call and catches him read redhanded. He apologises, only to tell the wife that she had a short fling with her ex-boyfriend after her marriage. This riles up the husband. He uses his resources to uncover the identity of her boyfriend. After sleepless nights of research, he realises his double standard. They were no such person. Why does society expect the female community members to portray a perfect picture of chastity, but the bar is significantly lowered for the patriarchy?

It is an excellent and refreshing set of short stories, even for the not so lovey-dovey type. 

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