RIFLE RANGE BOY

Juror #2 Director: Clint Eastwood Yet another big one from Clint Eastwood. This 94-year-old may have directed his last movie, but one can never say never. This one makes us think, as did his previous offerings, like 'Letters from Iwo Jima', 'Flags of Our Fathers', and 'Gran Torino'. It is a courtroom drama along the lines of '12 Angry Men', where the moral decision of convicting a person of a serious crime is the mainstay. This film, however, goes one step further. One of the jurors, Juror #2, may have committed the murder in the case he is judging. On the day of the incident, the Juror witnessed the tussle between the accused and his girlfriend at a bar. The girlfriend was found dead later that night by a creek beside a road. The accused was seen following his girlfriend in his car. With his destructive anger management issues, he was naturally accused of having mortally wounded his girlfriend.  The trouble is Juror #2 is a recovering alcoholic and was ...

Some stories I have told and some that I haven't Author: VC George (2021) T he powers that be wants us to believe their narrative. They assert that their concocted tale of how history happened keeps true to the natural chain of events. They create a smokescreen to justify the turn of events to explain social strata's current status and how social justice should be.  O ur history likes to paint Indian immigration to the peninsula as a single wave of settlement. With a single stroke of ink, they put all Indian in the same basket. That they were brought in the colonial masters as indentured labour (a milder wording for bonded slaves) to milk out not only the juices of rubber trees but also the milk the wealth of the nation. It was no coincidence that the Malay Peninsular was referred to as "Swarnabhumi" (Land of Gold). In the same breath, these keepers of Nation history declare that the British never really colonised us. They were just administrators .  S orry to burst y...

Written for IndiSpire... Edition 172 Growing up in the poorer side of town, people generally did not form any high opinion about me. My physical attributes did not compensate for the deficiency. Whether one likes to admit or not, society judges. A fairer skin would perform better in the impression department and I fail miserably. I would not be surprised if people do judge me to be incapable, unimpressive and unconvincing. But the question is, "do I give a damn?" It is a free world and everyone is entitled to the opinions. Just like how I have mine. I do not owe anyone a living just like they, on me. One humbling experience about judging others was shoved down upon me a good 24 years ago... This posting is an old one from my collection in  Rifle Range Boy . Back in early 90s, whilst I was still a green horned newbie at the art of healing in Malacca, I was approached in the course of my daily dealings, by a lady who despite her outwardly ultra conservative appear...

Dear Thelma, I am a 19 year old lady with very low self esteem right now. I am writing with the hope that you may empathise with my predicament. Hopefully you can help me justify with the big action that I am going to do right now. Growing up in the interior of Sarawak, education was not a priority. Carrying on clan's tradition and continuing the women's roles in the family was paramount to the existence of our gender. As the importance of education and need for self empowerment were not impressed upon us, we were raised to believe that we were born to serve the men folks and keep the home in pristine condition and not to stress up the men of the house. Going to school, which itself was a bore, a chore and a burden to the family, I found the long journey to school on raft and foot a nuisance. Hence, I was pleasantly and naively surprised when I joined the band of girls who started vomiting in school, not due sub-optimal preparation of canteen meals but rather because of blu...