RIFLE RANGE BOY

During Trump's second inauguration as US President, a bishop made a direct appeal to the President to have mercy on the LGBTQ+ community and undocumented migrant workers. Trump, in his campaign speeches, promised to go hard on illegal immigration once he took office. Previously, the Biden administration had a lax stance on immigration. Trump also declared that there are only two genders in the USA: male and female, unlike the spectrum of over 68 gender expressions advocated by liberal thinkers.  The decree would automatically make millions of immigrants to the US illegal, and the woke generation is fearful that there would be a witch hunt against the LGBTQ+ community. This issue regarding immigrants coming to America is not new, as far as the world's biggest economy is concerned. It has been ongoing since the Cold War. America has itself to blame for its predicament. America, being the self-proclaimed leader of the free world, took it upon itself to curb the spread of communism...

Liar's Dice (Hindi; 2013) Netflix A good 10 years ago, as the mass rail transit tracts were being constructed, amidst all the chaos of redirection of traffic, a restless driver overtook me as I was carefully manoeuvring my vehicle through the diversions. He barged into a blockade and collided head-on with a general worker who happened to just minding his own business, clearing some debris. I saw him being flung into mid-air, landing on his back after doing a full-body somersault. From my rear mirror, I could see the victim lie motionless as the driver alight his car to attend to the victim. That incident left an uneasy feeling within me the next few days that followed. I often wondered what thoughts went through his mind just before he was hit. Was he thinking of his young daughter, whom he had not seen or wondered how she would react to the present that he had bought? Maybe he was just going back home for Eid? Or was he thinking of pleasant memories of his childhood?  I also wonde...

Us (2019) Written and Directed: Jordan Peele We think that we deserve the life we are leading, that everybody else there is to serve us, that the Universe owes us a living. We live under a false assumption that we merit the comforts and luxuries that are showered upon us. We demand that the little people be subservient to us. "You know who I am?" we tell them. It only takes a single catastrophe to turn the tables. When the balance is tipped, when equilibrium is tilted because of man-made or natural catastrophe, pandemonium would rule. There would be no niceties. The hierarchical order of the societies would crumble. The Master-Servant role would be reversed. For survival, one has fight tooth and nail. In my opinion, the above message is subtly conveyed in Jordan Peele's latest blockbuster 'Us'. At the word go, it is staring right at our face. The symbolism in this movie can only be rivalled by Dan Brown's 'Da Vinci Code'. 'Us' may impl...

The Indian side of the border. A spanking new complex in the pipeline. It is a daily affair, of public display of brotherly rivalry. The old wound of a state that was curved at will at a stroke of a pen. As the sun sets, both nations remind themselves they are of one DNA but two divided by politics and religion. It has become a ritual to irritate and provoke either side with their high flying kicking drills, the heaving of chests at each other and theatrical display of mocked emotions. Even though similar ceremonies are carried at two other border towns, the one at the trunk road between two sister cities, Amritsar and Lahore take the cake. They share a strong bond. Maharajah Ranjit Singh who united the states in Land of Five Rivers (Punjab) and held the honour of being the only force in the history of mankind to tame the hill tribes of Afghanistan, made Lahore his capital and honoured his guardian religion by building a golden outlook to the Hari Mandhir to see it as ...