RIFLE RANGE BOY

Like clockwork, not even dust had settled after the Earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale hit Myanmar; numerous announcements have emerged over the new social media outlets of well-meaning organisations offering services to collect donations for its victims.  We have had all these so many times before. The earliest of these must surely be the Great Tsunami of Boxing Day 2004, which measured 9.1. The world saw a plethora of bodies going hyperdrive, bending backwards, trying to extract money from the well-meaning but unassumingly naive public. The collection, it seemed, was quite overwhelming. Ten years down the line, a documentary was made about the towns hit by the tsunami. It revealed that only one pledged housing project saw living daylight amongst all the broken promises; that too by the personal effort by an individual, the world-famous singer Ricky Martin. The same thing happened in Haiti following its devastating 2010 hurricane. The Clinton Foundation jumped in to hel...

While scavenging around for the next topic to ponder, I came across a conundrum a friend of a friend was going through. Not many would find it a big problem. Many would not mind inheriting that problem. Others would say, "What problem?" After working all their lives engaging with various businesses to pull themselves out of the shackles of poverty, they can say they have arrived. No, thanks to the governmental racially discriminatory policies, and despite this, they had managed to give their three children an overseas education. Again, the children had opted to settle overseas because of the national social re-engineering policies. The roots are so deeply embedded elsewhere that they find it pointless to return to the roost. Their occasional summer vacation and digital connections would suffice for family bonding. The couples are left to fend for the coop and the empty nest. To complement that, there are multiple landed properties, real estate assets, various incomes, and a s...

HUSM, Kubang Kerian, 1986 Ask any medical student in HUSM Kubang Krian around 1986-88. Invariably, everyone would have learned everything there is to know about fistula-in-ano from one particular patient. He was a chronic long-staying in-patient with an intractable condition used in many surgical medical student final examinations. The chap was so knowledgeable about his condition that he would coach medical students on the correct questions to ask. This patient had quite an engaging story about how he acquired his debilitating condition. He was a peasant in the interiors of Cambodia during the civil war. He was apprehended by the soldiers and underwent unspeakable tortures. Traumatic insertion of blunt objects into his posterior end eventually led to his situation.   A patient is not just a person with a medical condition but the sum of the ups and downs of his existence. Hence, a medical student should never fail to paint a composite picture of his whole being. We knew ...

Just the other day, my friend commented that during her midnight viewing of 'The Man of Steel', way too many toddlers were among the audience. Toddlers and midnight screening does not go hand in hand. Well, in Bolehland, everything goes 'hand in hand', 'hand in glove', 'ear to ear' and 'close one eye'! Isn't midnight way past their bedtime? Then you have a widescreen public announcement of putting the tone of the mobile phone in silent mode courtesy of Malaysia's favourite reason for obesity, KFC. Just five minutes into the movie, a joker would talking at the top of his voice about his whereabouts to his caller after an equally irritating ringtone of 'Gangnam Style'. A typical scene in a philharmonic orchestra  performance of international stature in the heart of KL... As the audience are cradled into bliss of cultural immersion, somewhere in the hall, an earth shattering techno music ring tone would shatter the serenity and ...

C hardikala literally means "Rising Spirit". It is an expression of always being in High Spirits, forward thinking and progressive. It can also be an expression to promote Goodwill. The PJ Sikh Gurudwara organized a charity run with Fauja Singh as the star. After running in the Singapore SC 10km race, he made a stop over at Malaysia to flag off the runner - a lot of activity in a day for a 101 year old - The man who ousted David Beckham as their mascot in Adidas. Disappointed with the non participation of the centurion, 1000 participants still thronged the Astaka Stadium in Petaling Jaya amidst the drizzle and threat of downpour to witness this historic event, more to see the Man in real light. What is a Punjabi function without loud music, right? As part of their warm up session, the Masters of Ceremony (DJ The Flying Singh of Traxx FM) and Niphon led the crowd through bhangra! After a not very pompous start, the runners, mostly not-so-serious runners of all race...

Konned by Kony 2012?  Why is it that I do not believe anymore in humanitarian efforts in saving lives? After seeing through Banda Aceh's devastation by tsunami and how the world flocked together to give heavily politicized medical and monetary aid  to an area which have not seen any discernible since the mishap. How about the Asian financial crisis and how the learned bankers from the the most advanced countries put the blame squarely on the the affected  countries' bad practices, suggested radical reforms with IMF's interests' at heart. Only later, did fate hurled a cruel blow to themselves in the form of sub-prime loan fiasco! Now, there is a move to bring to light the figure of Joseph Kony, an Ugandan rebel with delusions of grandiosity who is the cause of 'The Invisible Children'. This invisibility of these children is through their separation from families and enslavement into the flesh trade and mindless training to be child soldiers. A ...

Just attended a gala charity dinner organised by a college in town. It was held to honour orphaned children from three orphanages. Sounds like a noble cause, the well endowed high heeled paying back to society, to entertain attention deprived kids and to raise funds for their daily needs! Yeah right! The nihilistic part of prefer to see it from another angle... The college run by fat capitalistic businessmen who, realising the raising concern on the decline and apprehension of the standard of public education in Malaysia, built colleges to offer quality education with affiliation to well renowned overseas universities to entice the ever unhappy paranoid Malaysian (who never believe the official version of Malaysian statistics) to send their spoilt bred kids to them for studies at exorbitant fees. Feeling the guilt and increasing brickbats from the lower strata of society, like the heat felt from the Wall Street demonstrators, these business conglomerates try to wash their '...