It's not your life?

Reader discretion is advised.

Thanks to JM for starting this conversation.

They tell you that you are worthless, that you are flawed, and that you are the product of the original sin. You are a disgrace and living off God's Grace. God's Grace is the only one which is going to save us at the end of days.

You are worthless, a sinner, a good for nothing. You who have nothing do not even have possession over your life. This soiled life is a total ownership of God. He has exclusive rights over you. You have no right to take it away. Even when one's dignity is lost, his existence may burden himself and those around him; nobody has the right to take it away.

It is better that he suffers and makes others' lives a living hell. Life has to go on. God has plans for him, and these hiccups are part of his grander scheme of things. Our role is to be herded through and let Him do His mysterious work. We must be herded by the shepherd. It is not our position to ask whether the shepherd has our interest at heart or whether we are being fattened for the slaughter?

The biggest thing a human being can get is the ability to live life. From a time when living life would mean conforming to the masses laid down by the community and prospering with and for the community. Any deviation from this social norm will render that individual an outcast. He will lose his right to live in the commune of people who live in a symbiotic manner. Losing his right to be accepted into the commune, he would probably end up as a hermit, living off alms and handouts.

Over time, this arrangement has lost its mojo. Society became self-centred. The idea of each man for himself crept in. The talk of the town now is individual development and human rights; no more progress of a society. Everyone wants to mould his life and live it however he wants.

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One man's meat is another's venom.

Axone (Akhuni, Hindi/English; 2019)
Netflix

It is a question of one man's meat being another's poison, just like the King of Fruits, Durian, being compared to putrefying and decaying cheese by visiting Europeans. Closer to home, a regular feature of Wednesday nights around the vicinity of the Taman Connaught Pasar Malam (night market) used to be, before the Covid-19 lockdown, the pungent and fermented, almost nausea-inducing stench of stinky tofu. At least that was what I was told, and there is always a long queue at the stall. The secret of the dish, it seems, was that the smellier it smelled, the tastier it tasted!

In the early days of the night market, it was a common sight to see passersby discreetly covering their noses as they passed it by. Over the years, however, the odour has become a trademark of Wednesday nights giving a sort of a nostalgic feel to it.

Many Malaysian students have had similar experiences with cooking belacan (shrimp paste), frying anchovies or preparing bak kut teh soup overseas. One flatmate thought somebody had released a stink bomb when I was heating up Malaysian anchovy sauce (sambal ikan bilis).

Back during childhood days in RRF, living in multi-storeyed low-cost flats, we were exposed to a potpourri of flavours and scents, both pleasant and offensive. The close proximity of occupants enabled us to understand and respect each other's culture.

Using the idea of a group of friends preparing a traditional dish, the story writers decide to highlight the discrimination of people from the North-East regions of India by the rest of India. 

A group of 20-something friends, all from the North-East of India (and one from Nepal) try to surprise one of their friends who was getting married by preparing a unique cuisine of Nagaland, akhuni. The problem is that the smell emitted by the brewing soup gives such a strong smell that leaves such an impression on the neighbourhood. They must have had some previous bad experience before; hence they devised an elaborate plan to trick the strict landlady and hoodwink the other tenants. With the help of the landlady's son, who is on their side (he just wants a part-time North-Eastern lover), they have to dodge embarrassing questions and frequent change of plans. 

The first problem was getting pork meat. 'Decent' people from the Indian sub-continent look at pigs with disdain. Hence, they have to go underground to obtain their merchandise. The running around and looking for a spot to cook provided a hilarious display of comedy and the bigoted views of the majority against the 'others'.

So much for the solidarity in the name of Brotherhood.

We are all guilty of making preset judgments on people just based on their external appearances. It is not necessarily a wrong thing. Over the generations, living in communities, we have developed a defence mechanism to safeguard what is ours for a rainy day against others. We learnt to sniff out our enemies. Anyone not practising our same culture was probably up to no good. Dominance over the 'other' is one sure way to keep them under check. The leaders also decided to emphasise that the 'other's lifestyle was wayward. 

The second wave of the Covid-19 transmission just re-inforced this belief. If initially, the affluent were guilty of bringing in the virus via their high flying habits, now people look at foreign workers in this country has harbingers of all diseases. Of course, they will be involved in clusters of spread. The deplorable housing facilities that you set up (or did not) make social distancing impossible. In some houses, a single bed in share by two - one who finished his morning duty, and later by the one after night duty. Doing lockdown, with no work, all of them had to be cooped together, putting them at high risk of acquiring the virus.

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Does the shepherd really have his flock's interest at heart?

We were told to surrender to the care of the shepherd. We should trust him unconditionally, for he has your best interest at heart. He is selfless and would not call it a day until the last sheep is accounted for. He would not harm his flock. Every member of the herd, small or big, meaty or skinny, young or old, is equally important to him. He will not rest his head until every member is safe and sound. So we were told. And it made perfect sense then. Pack your worries, fold it and give it for safekeeping with the shepherd. He would guide us through, and we would be safe. We will be saved.

Now that we have crossed the hurdles, we become conceited. We think all these successes are our efforts, ours alone. 

When we are told of the good shepherd and their noble intentions, we ask them to think of the true nature of his plan. He has no altruistic purpose. His sole aim to fatten his pack. Every sheep lost is lost revenue. His seemingly caring attitude is merely to fatten us to prepare us for the slaughter. Just like a 'mother hen' grooming a tender spring chicken for the profession, we were just being marinated for the grill. 

We can be the occasion sheep that wanders away, that may be mauled by predators or that he wants us to believe. We may be discarded as a recalcitrant, be abandoned as an insensible loss. Are our actions somehow going to turn the status quo on its back?

The majority find it easier just to follow the pack. It is too much hard work to think. Searching for the truth is too laborious.

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Man-made laws to make the numbers!

Ju Dou (Chinese; 1990)

Just as much as societal norms set the order in a society, they can also be the cause of discontent and chaos. Believe it or not, this is very much like religion. On the one hand, it tries to create a milieu of harmony where all individuals, rich or poor, stronger or weak has a place in the sun. Conversely, to try to enact 'God's Law' on Earth, we see people die, and countries go to wars towards this end. 

This classic multiple award-winning Chinese film tells of a tale which is set in a secluded village at the turn of the 19th century. Tianqing is adopted by a wealthy but miserly owner of a fabric dyeing factory. He is forced to work ruthlessly, almost like a slave. The elderly owner, Yang, after a spate of dead spouses, is now married to a young bride. Yang is abusive towards his young wife, perpetuated by his impotence and inability to secure an heir.

Tianqing takes pity on the bride, Ju Duo. The feelings develop into a romance, and an illicit affair develops. Ju Duo becomes pregnant with the intimacy, much to the joy of Yang, thinking that it is of his own. A boy is born.

After a fall, Yang becomes a paraplegic. The couple now feels justified to openly flaunt their romance after the things they had endured under his thumb. The boy grows up, realising of his mother's infidelity, develops an aversion against his biological father. At the climax, there is a duel between the teenage son and Tianqing that ends with a disastrous outcome.  

Laws are enacted to ensure order. Should rules be so rigid that exceptions cannot be made? When a person is wronged, and the situation is so helpless, can the law be bent on compassionated grounds? 

We are so loyal to our kith and kin that we fail to realise that they too are not immune to wrongdoings. Almost by reflex, we tend to be blinded of their injustices. Humans are social animals. We are strong by numbers. We feel vulnerable and need the validation of our deeds. We feel secure in a herd.

This story highlights how man-made regulations, like social mores, overpower the biological natural inclination to protect one of his own kind.

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

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Are we truly empowered?

Funny, this thing called empowerment. The person who holds the strings to power stays in the background and remains incognito. He does not want to be seen to be powerful. He looks simple enough and abhors to be under the spotlight. He scorns attention. He is happy to be the invisible play-maker.

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On the contrary, the powerless naively tries to exert his authority through the pompous display of his thoughts. He yearns to be in the limelight and wants to make his stand clear, loud and succinct his viewpoint. Even though his two-cents' thought is not cared for much by anyone, he feels contended. He had stood for his rights like it would change the course of the celestial bodies! Feeling contented that he has done the right thing, his life is blissful. He knows he would be rewarded handsomely one fine day.

The puppet-master and the wise ones remain in the background, smiling to themselves, watching the drama unfold and probably chomping on their popcorn.

Take women empowerment, for example. A person who earns her living through the flesh business would insist that it is her prerogative to do whatever job she so wishes. It is her right. A lady donning the hijab or purdah would insist that nobody can tell her what to wear. Conversely, her counterpart who does not believe that she should cover her bare essentials to show her piety would utter the same. That it is her right to don what she wants. Nobody could curb her freedom or her fashion sense. See how both parties use the same right to prove their point. A third person would just snigger, trying his best not to tell them that they are both being used.

The poor would say it is their right to have McDonald in their backyard. They should not be denied of modernity. When the effects and diseases of modernity affect them, they would insist that it is only human rights to be treated for diseases that they would not have got in the place, if they were contented with their old way of living.

We are just sheep, following the herd marching willing and religiously to the slaughter without realising our folly but convinced that it is the best and only thing to do.