After life, what?

Personal Shopper (2016)


Almost halfway through the movie, clueless of its genre, I remained lost. I did not understand why the protagonist, Maureen, was buying expensive clothes and jewellery but not wearing them or rather is forbidden to don them. Maureen is a personal shopper of a celebrity who cannot possibly be seen in public shopping!

Maureen has a genetic heart condition which was shared by her recently demised twin brother. She had not come in term with her loss as he was apparently healthy before his heart attack. Maureen, who considers herself a clairvoyant, tries to communicate with her brother for personal closure. In the interim, she moonshines as a seer to ascertain whether a house is haunted before it is sold. She also gets a mysterious text from an unknown number. The situation gets murky when her employer is murdered brutally, and she is muddled in the police investigations. After she is cleared of any wrongdoings, she continues her pursuit of contacting her dead brother.

Mankind has always wondered at the vastness of the Universe and the waste of space around us if we were the only living beings around. The whole Big Bang could not have happened just for us. People started toying with the idea that, perhaps, lifeforms dwelled in different realms. The ending of life in one plane just transports them to another and another. The 'soul', having unfinished businesses on Earth, may wander around for psychics to be a conduit for the living to say their peace. Whether these experiences are real or quackery is of personal choice. Is it that the dead are desperately trying to relate through obscure methods or are existing ones just convincing themselves that such a thing is actually happening? Are some just too insensitive to observe the subtle changes around them and the others just making something out of nothing at all? 

Are the dead souls out there really looking out for us? Like a guiding star, like a guardian angel. Do they 'scream' at us trying to prevent us from doing something so wrong? Or is life just 'Game Over' and everything goes BLANK! Like a TV station that has stopped transmission.

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

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Twists and turns as sensational case shatters Singapore calm

By Renga Subbiah

March 05, 2011

SINGAPORE, March 5 — A court case in Singapore has shattered the placid veneer that envelopes this little oasis, providing more than enough sensational material for the cocktail circuit. 
What tops this sensational story is the revelations of the intractable behaviour of a member of the Brunei royal family. Then there is the charge that a prominent Singapore surgeon overcharged her royal patient when the doctor billed the palace US$24.8 million (RM75 million) for breast cancer treatment between January and July 2007 just before the Bruneian died.
  
If that is not enough, there are dark accusations of conflict of interest and abuse of power involving a government official wearing multiple hats of instigator, accuser and raider.
 
The hearing against Dr Susan Lim for allegedly overcharging Pangiran Anak Hajah Damit, the cousin of the Brunei Sultan and sister of the Queen, was heard in private by the Singapore Medical Council. The inquiry ended in disaster after the panel stepped down on the first day over accusations that it had pre-judged the case.
 
At this time, something strange happened. The SMC changed the regulations governing an inquiry, which on the face of it, would ease prosecution hurdles, and issued an order to form a second inquiry. Lim took offence and went to the High Court for a judicial review saying that the second inquiry should not proceed.
 
At the judicial inquiry last week,  Lim’s lawyer said the Brunei Health Ministry had only wanted a discount and did not intend to complain about Lim’s charges. 
 
But when the matter was brought up to the Director of Medical Services at Singapore’s Ministry of Health, Professor K. Satku, he advised the Brunei authorities not to pay anything.
Following this exchange, Satku complained to the Singapore Medical Council and initiated disciplinary action against Lim for “overcharging”. 
 
Lim’s lawyer charged that Saktu was biased as he was not only the Director of Medical Services but also the Registrar of the SMC and the complainant. As such, one person wearing multiple hats meant a conflict of interest and would impede a fair inquiry.
 
Saktu was also the one who ordered a raid on Lim’s clinic, with medical bills being seized.
 
The court was also told that Pangiran Damit was a difficult patient as she was petrified of most doctors, and hence her demands on Lim were all-consuming.
 
There was a time when she refused to travel to Singapore for treatment, and Lim had to set up an entire ICU structure and fly it to Brunei in a private jet. There was even a demand for an OSIM massage chair be placed in her room before the visit of her cousin, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah. The chair was ordered to be removed an hour later.
  
Lim was required to be on standby 24/7 and had to be available at a moment’s notice if Pangiran Damit wanted to see her. This extended to the time when Lim had undergone eye surgery and was recovering in a hospital bed.

 Pangiran Damit insisted that she be by her side, despite the possibility that Lim could be blinded in one eye if she moved around. Lim had to be transported in that state to attend to Pangiran Damit.

The SMC’s lawyer said the bills of other doctors who helped Lim were marked up. The doctors denied this in sworn affidavits.
 
In his four-hour submission on March 1, SMC’s counsel argued that the second inquiry should not be stopped because “if the doctor is guilty, she would not get off scot-free; if she was innocent — if there was a fee agreement and she rendered such a good job for the patient who trusted her — those facts would emerge. Lim would then come out as pure as the driven snow”, he said.
On the same day as proceedings ended, the SMC announced the appointment of Professor Chew Suok Kai as the Deputy Registrar of the SMC and that he would be taking over Saktu’s duties.  This is a post which previously did not exist. A provision was made in the law and sanctioned in Parliament in January this year.
 
Singaporeans will have to wait till March 28, when the High Court hearing resumes, to find out if there will be more twists, turns and revelations. — Intrepid