I guess a felicitation note is due for my partner in crime. This post is dedicated to his tenacious path to glory, paved with shrapnels of thorns, aches, pains, strains, and even fractures.
I met SK at a dinner party of a mutual acquaintance. That was more than 10 years ago. After the usual pleasantries, our conversation went to recreational running. He was intrigued that I ran, which, at that time, felt, to him, like a marathon. In reality, it was a mere 10km.
Fast forward, we, and a few friends, became weekend warriors. From 10, the distance becomes longer and longer. Then someone came up with the idea of doing the full monty, not the British type but the Phillipedes type - the crowning glory of running - a full marathon, the whole 42.195km of them.
When SK puts his mind to something, he puts his whole soul into the shebang. He would want to know all the nitty-gritty of the basics. He would not want any stone unturned to the extent of obsessiveness. Just like that, all the research landed his name in the annals of 1% of the world population that completed a full marathon.
Then some gang members with restless leg syndrome started toying with the idea of cycling. Like the children of Hamelin, everyone just played to the tune of the Piped Piper. So cycling it was. What started as an easy, relaxing 30km weekend ride morphed into gruelling 1000m climbs and diabolical six-hour rides in the heat of the tropical high noon. Then came the out-of-state and international rides. During one of those practices, SK received his badge of honour. He was christened a true cyclist after sustaining a clavicular fracture. He went on fine-tuning into the subtleties of road cycling until he became restless again. Perhaps, he wanted to realise his deep inner desire to make it to the 0.1% category of the population.
I guess that was when the talk of swimming started floating (pun unintended). After having two near-death experiences in the domain of Neptune, yours truly gave a pass. I tried to venture into playing a musical instrument instead. That is another story for another day.
Many group members put one foot into the water, but only SK, with his compulsive desire to beat the waves and re-wire his survival instincts to connect with prehistoric ancestors; from a non-swimmer, he grew fins to fight the choppy waves of an open sea.
This has been the story of SK's journey thus far. I can bet my bottom dollar that it is, by no means, the end of it all. He completed his Iron Man Competition. The echoes of SK's whining, grumbling and cursing still reverberate in everyone's ears. Do not be fooled. Like a parturient mother who screams, yells and pledges never to do it again but sheepishly presents at her Obstetrician's office before the baby can walk, with yet another pregnancy, be forewarned. SK may turn up again with another crazy venture.
Congratulations, my friend! Keep the flame aglow and keep the fire burning. Cheers!
We always associate destruction with negativity. Erection and construction, on the other hand, is hailed as the epitome of prosperity. Hence, annihilation, collision and termination are scorned upon. Unfortunately, life is not so simple. There can never be peace without prior anarchy; no construction without demolition and no shanthi without ashanti. Life, with its ups and down, are aplenty with cyclical loss and gains.
That was the same dilemma when I came to discover about Lord Shiva, one of the main component of the Trinity in the post-Vedic Hinduism. The trident-bearing Lord is revered for his greatness and ferocious power to destroy and is invoked for peace on Earth. It baffled me how damage can lead to prosperity. Herein lies the profound philosophy of life. Someone or something who jolts the equilibrium, the status quo, has to or to be destroyed before life can proceed in a just manner. The evils do not necessarily come from without to spew negativity. It could be within; an ill-thought good intention, a self-serving need, blinded vision of what is right and the list goes on. We need to kill the roaches to take control of our house. The roaches do not know that they are doing any wrong. They are just performing the tasks they were programmed to - to find territory, food, procreate and ensure continuity of species. Their biological mission is only a hindrance to us, not them. In their compound eyes, they are doing the right thing. We, from our perspective, spring at them with fear of disease, filth and loss of territory. Probably dominance too as we know cockroaches can resist a nuclear meltdown.
Thanos with his Infinity Gauntlet.
Like Shiva, is a destroyer. Vapourised up to half of the population of the Universe. If the population explosion is leaving a long and an ugly trail of carbon footprint, then Thanos' actions should be lauded.
We always think that colonisation, wars and enslavement are only found in the confines of our history book. The truth is far from that. Even though we are living in an era where education and knowledge had never been so freely available, we are all far from wise. Forget Nazi Hitler and Pol Pot. Even in the 21st century, we have people like George Soros and the Cabal who are hellbent on destroying societies. Soros, the leading globalist is still actively trying to re-organise the community which has evolved itself into a steady state. It looks like he will not stop till anarchy prevails. The Cabal, with its web of destruction, spreading through the world over with the cooperation of the Bank of London and fellow similar minded magnates, have been linked to many well planned and well-executed significant tragedies. There is a concerted effort to destroy the sovereignty of nations, open borders, restructuring societies and make communities godless.
One wonders whether Gandhi's passive resistance would save the day. Do we fight fire with fire, douse with water or practice self-immolation?
To enjoy Avengers: Endgame, one has to have a little background that brought the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe into turmoil. Thanos, the unstoppable destroyer, has in possession the six Infinity Stones (that controls time, space, mind, reality, soul and power) and had sent many of the superheroes into cold storage. With a little push from Carol Danvers (Captain Marvel), the ingenious mind of Iron Man, time travel, Hulk's scientific know-how and a lot of kissass action from the Marvel heroes, sanity prevails. To the uninitiated, without a background of the various characters, the film would appear a tad confusing. With so many different heroes with different suits swerving past the villain throwing ammunitions of different hues and explosive potentials, everything would seem like a fiesta of pyrotechnic display. Then, one would be wondering who those cute animals and weird looking ladies are and how they get pulled into the melee. The movie also gives the millennials a crash course in time travel, just like what Back to the Future did for the Generation-X in the 80s. Time travel comes with it its own benefits and peculiarities.
In war, everybody loses, but the winner takes all, whatever is left. In the war to end all evils, the protagonist also faced heavy casualties. You have to watch to find out. The audience goes back with a sombre feeling that this outing could be the last for the Avengers. Bearing in mind that the MCU is a make-believe one, anything is possible, especially when the fans (a.k.a. suckers) feel nostalgic and the filmmakers feel a need to fill their coffers. Talking about fans, while watching the movie, as and when various superheroes appeared on screen or landed a blow Thanos, I had a certain feeling I am watching a Tamil movie. The viewers were upstanding cheering and even giving hearty laughs to the tongue-in-cheek dialogues uttered by the characters. This is a new experience in Malaysia. The usual cinema going crowd here pay to see bigger-than-life explosions, gore and flesh, not dialogue. And to top it, a large portion of the audience was reluctant to exit the hall even after the credit finished rolling out. As if the 3-hour long movie was not long enough! I later found out some even wept at the ending when.. (oops, no spoiler alert!)
