We, the people?

Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Director: John Ford
A novel by John Steinbeck

A typical scene in a big establishment when a crisis looms. When a patient is discharged from a hospital and has to speak to somebody who has the authority to give a discount, he will be given a runaround. Nobody has the power to approve that slash in the bill. It is always about the system, or the management has to decide. Who is managing, they may ask? Nobody can give a straight answer as a management team is not one person, and his job his not permanent. Even the CEO has to safeguard his career - too much of a discount-and may lose his job. Same with a big establishment like a bank. Even the bank manager emphasises with his loyal customers, his hands are tight. He has to toe the line of stock-owners and continue squeezing the debtor for dues. 

All the big establishments invoke the fear of the weight of powers that be upon the weak. The elites and powerful side of the society are constantly rubbing shoulder with the authority and the corporations. This unholy alliance creates a deep fissure in the community, as the haves and have-nots fleet further and further away from each other. In times of calamities, this becomes apparent; the effective use of all the resources upon their disposal to pounce upon the poor ensures that the rich continue enjoying their living style. 

If history has taught us anything, we realise that the widening of economic prowess is a perfect recipe for a revolution. When they feel powerless against a perceived autocratic system, people will raise their working tools in solidarity to fight back. We saw it in the French and Bolshevik revolutions. Hunger is a potent trigger to change the course of history.

Logically, we should soon be seeing the effects of a year of Covid-induced lockdown. Civil servants continued receiving whilst the self-employed had to tighten their belts with loss of income and the inconveniences of multiple Government restrictive policies.

After the initial euphoria of the end of WW1, the world plunged into an economic depression in 1929. The weather was also against their side for the Joad family in Oklahoma. The family has to leave their farmland as the bank pressures them for outstanding payments. The family with other Okies (Oklahomans) leave their Dust Bowl State for California in their rickety truck, together with Tom, who had just been out of prison. After enduring a treacherous journey, they soon discover that California is no promised land. There is starvation, oppression by the authorities, bullying by employers and police's unholy union, and restrictions on personal liberties. 

John Steinbeck's 1939 novel is a Pulitzer-winning classic with much Reds undertone and is used as reading in many American schools. He went on to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962 for that work. The book is a stark reminder that the subject matter discussed can be topical at any period. The poor will always remain impoverished despite advances in science, technology, and economic leaps and bounds. The rich and those in power will always devise ways to keep them under their thumbs. New laws will be instituted, taxes will be adjusted to accommodate the rich and novel ideas will prop up to entice the downtrodden to dance to the big conglomerates' tune.

The title 'The Grapes of Wrath' may have a Biblical reference. In the Book of Revelation, an angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the world, and threw them into the great winepress of the wrath of God [14:19-20]. Grapes, when pressed, will morph into a divine and spirited drink. Hence, when the workers are oppressed for too long, they would rise to wreak justice upon greedy and self-serving landowners and bankers. The filmmakers had to modify the storyline to not arouse legislators' curiosity when Hollywood was mainly targeted for subtly spreading communist's sentiments.

The phrase 'grapes of wrath' also appears in Julia Ward's composition of 1861 'The Battle Hymn of the Republic', a famous American patriotic song.

Roman Charity: Pero secretly breastfeeds her father,
Cimon who is sentenced to death by starvation
Peter Paul Rubens

The word 'Okies' in the 1930s was a derogatory word of sorts. It denoted westward-bound white migrant agricultural workers from cotton-growing states from the east. In 1937, California brought in the 'Anti Okie Law' to make it illegal to bring in any destitute person. It was later revoked as unconstitutional.

Not everyone in the USA, especially the Californians, took in kindly to Steinbeck's book. The idea of Americans treating their own kind with so much scorn and cruelty was too repulsive. The idea of our cooperative type of setup like the one in a communist/socialist nation instead of American democracy in solving the poors' misery was offensive. To top it all, the book presents a character who performs an act of Roman Charity. She nurses a sick and starving man.

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Symbolism of a broken system?

The Overcoat (1959, Shinel, ШИНЕЛЬ, Russian)

A Soviet film adaptation of N. Gogol's 'Overcoat.'

Watching Mira Nair directed film 'Namesake' eventually brought me to this Russian movie. One of the iconic lines mentioned in 'Namesake' is 'we are all from Gogol's Overcoat'. The quote is attributed to Dostoevsky, who meant the whole Russian literary world owe their ideas and styles to Gogol, the pre-eminent satirist and literary realism. 

Gogol's Overcoat had made it to the silver screen many times over. From the silent film production in 1916 to the 2018 animated version, some of it carries different storylines.

This 1959 Soviet production stays true to the original short story. I also managed to catch up with a made-for-TV adaptation for 'Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Presents' starring Buster Keaton named 'Awakening'. Both of these movies are available on YouTube.

Akaki Akakievich, the protagonist in Gogol's story, is a sad character who leads a boring life. He works in a governmental agency doing seemingly mundane job of keeping records, writing and copying documents. In his mind, he is doing something quite profound. He knows all the figures and numbers like the back of his hand. His eccentricity is actually the butt of joke among his co-worker. Akaki earns pittance, and it shows. He lives in a rented room in the poor side of town. His overcoat is so worn out and cannot be patched anymore, according to his tailor.

Buster Keaton, in an atypical dramatic roles

He stinges through to be able to sew a new coat and receives attention from his co-workers when he shows up with his new overcoat. The usual socially awkward Akiki is feted with an office party in his honour. Akiki is extremely happy with his decision, but still, his new purchase cannot change his awkwardness. He personifies his coat and cares for it dearly, sometimes over the top. He even removes the coat when it snows, not wanting to get it wet.

Going home, his flashy coat draws unwanted attention. He is mugged. Muggers scoot off with his pricey possession. Next comes the lengthy bureaucracy of reporting his theft. He is given the runaround. His loss and exposure of cold proved too much for Akiki. Akiki succumbs to pneumonia and haunts the neighbourhood. A meaningless death to a person leading a meaningless life.

The Buster Keaton version (The Awakening) has a slightly different ending. Akiki does not die, but instead, is determined to relive his dream where he raises up to assassinate the chief of the tyrannic system.

The story is a symbolism of a broken system. Even though people's patience has been stretched thin with ridiculous policies and unwise decisions, the people go on thinking that they are doing alright. Not realising that the joke is on them, they blindly give themselves a pat on their back for a job well done. Unbeknownst to everyone changes can be detrimental, but then, the Truth or generation after them will rise to the occasion. This is shown as Akiki coming back as a ghost to haunt the living daylight of the people of St Petersburg.

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We all came out of Gogol’s overcoat!

Namesake (2006)

We all wear coats to hide what we wear inside. Sometimes we are ashamed of what we have underneath and need to cover it all. At other times, it is chilly outside. Occasionally, what we have beneath it is inappropriate. Shame, political incorrectness or social awkwardness are all put aside; the real person under it all is the real us.

The act of being someone else that we are not may come back to bite us. Additionally, wearing blinkers and staying adamant about what we have without being receptive to positive external input is self-defeating.

Life is a learning experience. We are all eternal students picking up wisdom as we go. Our final destination is one that amalgamates all the wealth, baggage and tradition that we carry inside. In short, we are what we are but should not forget where we came from, but at the same time, learn to adapt and adopt our new environment.

We have often heard of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky, the famous Russian writer and his work surrounding human psychology and religion, mentioned in many classic movies. In this movie, the character is heard stating one of Dostoyevsky's famous sayings, 'We all came out of Gogol's overcoat'. Even though he meant that Nikholai Gogol had influenced later Russian writers, this phrase can be interpreted at different levels.

In Gogol's short story 'Overcoat', the protagonist, Akaky, a poor worker who is often teased by his co-workers for wearing a patched-up old coat. Embarrassed by this, Akaky saves up to buy a new overcoat. His co-workers rejoice by celebrating his purchase. Unfortunately, Akaky's joy is shortlived. He is mugged off his coat on his way back home in a poor neighbourhood.

That is the dilemma that most of us face in our daily lives. We are damned if we do and damned if we do not like Akaky, who is heckled for an old coat but robbed of an expensive one. In the same way, we do the best for our offspring giving the best that we can offer but expect to be as street-smart as the person who had survived the hard knocks of life. We pad their every fall but still expect them to be robust. We think the third world is not good enough for them to prosper but still expect them to have our ancestral values when they grow up immersed in their newfound motherland's cultures. The best they can do is to embrace the best of both worlds; the ancestral and sojourning homes.

Through the saga of an Indian professor who made the USA his home and his Indian wife plus their American-born children and Gogol's book, the screenwriters try to narrate the dilemma of NRIs. They are not quite American because of their names but yet feel alienated in India. They also cannot fit into what is perceived as Indian culture as is expected of them in the Indian community of the USA.

Sociologists have researched these children, whom they refer to as 'third-culture kids'. They discovered that after getting caught in cultures, though challenging, they become independent and confident and often benefit from their multicultural background.

An exciting presentation starring Irrfan Khan, Tabu and Kal Penn that makes you think. It will want you to find out more about Gogol and Russian literature.

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Every community has its funny stories!

Marriage and Mutton Curry (2018)

M Shanmughalingam

The Jaffnese Tamil (JT) community in Malaya and later, Malaysia, can stand with heads held high knowing that they had a pivotal role in the establishment of the country's early post-Independence civil service and putting it on a right footing.

The JTs, like many struggling minorities in the world, had their own set of quirky rules to live by. Their aim in life is a better life for their children. They are disciplined and being religious made it easier to instil order in the lives of the younger ones. They look at a job in the civil service of the ultimate joy in life. Education played a prominent place in society, and a young girl's biggest catch for matrimony is a doctor! The Ceylonese community is said to be very class-conscious, and success in education is looked upon as the avenue to escape their clutches of poverty and social class.

Shan, a seasoned writer who wears many hats, has managed to rekindle the memories of an old Malaysia that many of Babyboomers and Gen-X generation remember. It narrates of a time when life was simpler, people were generally nice to each other, and the biggest worry about nagged Malaysian was that our country would not be able to retain the Thomas Cup or that South Korea would defeat Malaysia in the Merdeka Tournament. How things have changed?

Growing, watching and absorbing all the idiosyncrasies of habits amongst many of old ladies and uncles (Mamees and Mamas), Shan has succeeded to put words a collection of short stories that illustrates life in a Ceylonese household and community. If one were to read in between the lines, one would realise that the writing is filled with puns, wit and sarcasm leaving readers with a contented smile. Many of the comedic scenes are situational and nicely executed wordplay of the language

The master storyteller adds elements of male chauvinism, women empowerment, sibling rivalry and keeping up with the Joneses in many of his stories. He laughs, not in a mocking way, with the readers at many of the quirky habits of people in the community. JT government employees are said to be exemplary workers, working diligently by the book and sometimes mimicking their masters, mainly the British. Sometimes, they try to be more English than the British. Many of them try to master the Queen's English and be proud of anything British. JTs like to build personal connections and apple-polishing of people in power. They know that these may come in handy in the possibility of career promotions. The favourite pastime of the JTs, it seems, is that frequent name dropping and bragging of the children's (over)achievements. In a comical situation in this book, a JT mother was bragging about her son to a lady she met at the post office. Embarrassingly, she came to know much later that the lady was indeed her son's boss' wife! As most JTs have similar names, most of them have titles associated with their profession, place of residence or appearances to identify one from another.

Being a doctor is a big deal in the JT community. He is infallible and is a good catch for their daughters. Even though giving of a dowry is supposed to be non-existent, it still takes place on the sly. As far as I know, their dowry system is friendly to the fairer sex.

Their history in this land goes as far back as anyone who claims their stake in this country. The first wave of JTs came to Malaya at the end of the 19th century as clerical assistance to the British. These people were mostly moving with the aristocratic crowd. Their offsprings were mostly English educated and occupied professional positions, albeit playing second fiddle to the ruling class. The second tide and the bulk of Ceylonese migration happened in the early 20th century. Servicing various nation-building ventures, they too underwent the perils of the World War and the brutality of the bicycle-riding sword-yielding fearsome Japanese soldiers and the Kempetei. 

Interspersed liberally within all stories, living true to the Malaysian spirit, spread upon spreads of food not only specific to the Ceylonese community but of all other races too, e.g. dodol.

Many successful communities have their own peculiar practices that appear odd to another. Nevertheless, these systems seem to have worked well for many of them, the world over. An interesting read that would tickle many a funny bone in those who have lived or spent time in the JT community.

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

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What is the writer's duty?

Manto (Hindi, 2018)

The versatile Nawazuddin Siddiqui in the lead.

Man is full of contradictions. He has laid rules that he proclaims to be of the divine decree, but nobody follows. They say one thing and do something else, knowing very well that their action is directly antagonistic to what they preach. But rules are for others.

They say all men are equal, but everybody knows that that only applies to a select group of people with political domination. Others do not really matter. Every community has its codes of decency, social mores and laws to put things straight but vice and crimes never cease. We know what is right and what is not, but we still turn a blind eye to atrocities that happen under our very noses.

What is really the duty of writers? Do they have any responsibility at all? Are they there just to preach a utopia that we can all transcend to? Is their job to highlight things as they are on the ground to create a certain awareness to change the status quo? To get people out of their comfort zones or indeed to create a platform for victims to be heard, writers may have a unique role. 

This biopic is the reply to Pakistan's 2015 multiple award-winning film of the same name. If the Pakistani version was longer and more in-depth, the Indian compensated through brilliant acting by the cast. It tells of the life and times of a Bombay author, Saadat Hassan Manto. A prolific writer before the Partition, he, due to the fear of religious double-crossing by his friends, he uprooted himself to Lahore. His intimate and graphic descriptions of true-to-life stories of the ordinary people, especially of women, did not go well with the conservative government of the day who considered his work as immoral. He spent most his short life fighting for his survival in the courts and being slaved to the bottle. Understandably, this film is banned in Pakistan. It portrays the Pakistani courts as a sham and the guardians of the legal profession as paternalistic dancing to the tune of the leaders. A good movie.

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

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Any way you like it!

One man's perception of certain of an event may differ to another's. Just like that his understanding of a part of scriptures may vary. He may cherry pick what he wants to see and the part that is favourable to his agenda.

I recently heard yet another interpretation of the iconic event of Bhagavad-Gita. The discourse between Arjuna, the warrior who got cold feet on the eve of a deathly duel and his confidante, Krishna, to most people, is an intelligent dialogue on the purpose of life and existence. Looking at it from another angle, it is psychotherapy.

Imagine a student pinning all his hopes to sit for an important public examination. This examination is so significant to him as it is the only way for him to escape the shackles of poverty and hopelessness. His family has put all their faith in him to succeed. The student has been doing well all through his life but somehow, this time it feels different. The pressure is too over-bearing. The thought of his whole life being decided on a single examination seem ludicrous. He grows cold feet.

Imagine a senior person who has seen it all comes to the rescue. He literally tells him to snap out of it only to realise that that method does not work. He starts counselling him on purpose of his path in life and ways to make sense of it all as well as the correct method to take things at a stride as they come.

As in Bhagavad-Gita, the opening of the content of your heart is therapeutic. Our fears, sometimes arise from the same mind that is supposed to protect us from external dangers. It is akin to the fences that were erected to guard our crops which start feeding on the produce.

Work in progress?

Letters to Home (2016)
Young Malaysians write back
Edited by Ooi Kok Hin, Aish Kumar, Nik Mohamed Rashid Nik Zurin

Just when you had heard enough of whining, ranting, hurling of brickbats at the pathetic state of affairs that the country and possible failed nation status that we may plunge, out comes a book which tries to paint a blue sky, a new dawn and words of hopefulness. At an instance, when most disillusioned Malaysians are leaving our shores to graze upon lush greens elsewhere and when overseas-trained graduates find their comfort zone their Newfoundland, this book gives a glimmer of hope. It tells us that life in this country in the future may not be all doom and gloom.

This 234-paged book is a collection of over 30 authors who contributed to this uplifting experience. The writers are mainly millennials who were privileged enough to spend some time overseas in their pursuit of academic excellence, some through state scholarships. Many of them are envious of the ongoing progress abroad and yearn to bring home their skills. They long to have their motherland the same scientific and technological innovations that they had seen there.

The topics covered here are quite varied, ranging from affirmative action and Malay supremacy all the way to environmental degradation. Many government-sponsored students do not return home to pay back their dues to the nation, but the powers that be are quite lackadaisical in doing their job to gain returns from their investment of human capital. Malaysians who experience life as a foreigner in another country generally can empathise with the plight of the many low-skilled foreign workers found here!

In any country, the younger generation is typically vocal about current social issues. History had shown that the youth were the first displeasure when so many young Americans returned in body bags from Vietnam and when injustice prevailed in many despotic regimes in many newly independent post-colonial Africa and Eastern European block countries. Here, however, the wings of the university students are mostly clipped with the University and its amendments!

They go on to talk about Malaysia's brain drain problem of 10% which exceeds the global average. One author who hails from East Malaysia narrates her awkward moments of being treated as a green-eyed monster in the Peninsular as a student! The rise of religious bigots who treat women as second class citizens gets an honourable mention. The topic of living as a handicapped, growing as an orphan and the lack of social safety nets and the acceptance of intermarriage with its complex issues are discussed.

The best part of the book, I feel, is the lengthy discussion on the evolution of university life. From a firebrand force in the 60's which gave the government a run for its money, university students have all evolved to become meek apathetic domesticated pussies.

There is definitely lots of work to be done to bring the back the nation to its once promising start!

Their Kryptonite!

Still on the topic of conforming to the status quo...

It is everyone's nature for wanting tranquility and sanity to prevail at all times, that life goes on almost on a flatline without too many undulations and surprises. Everyone has their life plans carved out nicely, and that everything goes on by per schedule, on the dot. In other words, we like to move along with time like automatons, without willpower as if everything is predetermined and preplanned.
Deep inside all of us, there is a desire to scream out, to throw everything away and scream our lungs out. But societal pressures and our wanting to conform to the rest restrain us.

There is a constant battle within us, all the time, always wanting to do the right thing, to follow the Truth. But what is the right way and what it the real truth? Is there a single truth or layers of truthfulness? Who determines what is right anyway? Nobody can tell us that, but help is on the way. There are people amongst us who can do just that. They can make us think out of the box, conjure up conspiracy theories, bring us into an utopic future of milk and honey, break barrier and shackles and occasionally laugh at ourselves.

These are the artistic people of performing arts, literary stuff, painters, poets, writers, storytellers and even cartoonists. They hold a special place in society and keep the unique weapon which is mightier than the sword. In their hands, like a Hindu godhead with an arson of weapons of mass destruction, they carry the tool -the pen that can stimulate the minds of the masses to raise the sickle and hoe against the brutality of the regimes that misplaced their trusts or overstayed their welcome.

No wonder the powers that be take a hostile stance against creative thinkers and those who have developed their non-dominant hemisphere of their brains! They like conformists, not smart alecs!

Future as we make it or is predestined?

Macbeth (2015)


It is amazing that a writer in the 16th century can pen out such a play so intricate in its emotional interplay. This is, of course, the work of a particular man of commoner stock from Stratford-upon-Avon. Playing the main character of this play seem to the lifetime ambitions of many an actor including Orson Welles, Patrick Stewart, Sean Connery, Richard Burton and Lawrence Olivier. Michael Fassbender reprises the role of Macbeth in this 2015 production.

Perhaps the only people in the world who do not have a sense of guilt are the psychopath. Otherwise, most of us are drilled upon us to build a wall of guilt within us that sometimes makes us lose our balance. The guilt that we are made to feel eventually eats us up. Despite the urge to survive and need to outdo and overrun others to succeed is there, most of our upbringing makes it mandatory for us to fell guilty. Sometimes, we dig our own graves, and our actions themselves push us in. 

The evil that lurks that compels us are not necessarily imbibed within us. They sometimes come to us by association. Despite the claim of many major religions of the world, the perception that one about them is one of misogynistic. The fairer sex is always portrayed as conniving or at least appear to think by emotion rather than by volition. They are also painted to act partial, incapable of meting justice.

Victorious soldiers Macbeth and Banquo return home after defeating Nordic soldiers. In the twilight of confusion, three witches with a child and an infant appear before them. They prophesied that Macbeth would be Thador of Cawdor and future King while Banquo would be the father of Kings. They passed it off with giving much attention until he receives news that he indeed had been appointed as the new Thador after the previous one was executed for treason. Macbeth narrates the prophecy to his wife. 

When King Duncan decides to visit Macbeth, Lady Macbeth instigates her husband to grab his chance for the throne. Macbeth kills the King. The guilt of the killing and subsequent crimes drives Macbeth to paranoia. Lady Macbeth, upon seeing her husband's brutality in burning women and children at the stake drove her to suicide.

Sure enough, the predictions of witches do come true when Macbeth, who thought, had the invincibility of having the boon of not being killed by a "no man born of woman" is killed by Macduff. Macduff was probably delivered by Caesarean Section (from his mother's womb / untimely ripp'd).

She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word.
— To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing.

— Macbeth (Act 5, Scene 5, lines 17-28)