RIFLE RANGE BOY

https://mybukz.tumblr.com/post/175292906152/poem-the-roost-by-farouk-gulsara Credit: FB group: Rawthers Penang circa mid-1960  There was once a time, a few years ago, there was a spate when many of my relatives had given up on their motherland, turned their back on Malaysia and started looking around for greener pastures. I wondered how Mother Malaysia would feel to see one by one, her children, after years of nurturing them, after growing so big and strong, feel compelled to fly away from their roost. Like a proud mother seeing her kids having a mind of their own, she must be immersed in a kind of bitter-sweet feeling. Like a flight of swallows, you came all stocks and barrels, from Swatow, from Coimbatore, Looking for a peace of mind, you scaled the high seas and brine. You were hungry, I fed your soul, you had shivers, I showed you warmth. you were homeless, I gave you home. you were stateless, I was your hope. Under the yellow umbrella, and a piece...

Padaithaane (from Nitchaya Thaapoolam, Tamil; 1962) Lyricist: Kannadasan My wife thinks that I am nuts, listening to sad songs. No, I tell her. I am not into an exercise of self-pity or melancholy porn. It is just that, like Elton John said, sad songs say so much. I am in for the philosophy. Nietzsche suggested that we all need tragedy in our life, or at least in its art form. Like a Greek tragedy where the two opposing forces, the 'Apollonian' and the 'Dionysian', get intertwined to create art, life is no different. We are brought down from our high chair to the ground by Nature to make us realise of our vulnerabilities by infusing sadness into our lives. Tamil songs just got it right, to infuse intricate facts of life to its audiences when a character is facing obstacles of life. Its messages are immortalised via its many evergreen songs. 'Padaithane' (He Created) from 1962 hit 'Nitchaya Thamboolam' (a ritual of exchanging trays with gifts to ...

Eureka (ユリイカ Yuriika,   Japanese; 2000) It is an extremely long and draggy 3-hour long melancholic drama of what may happen to survivors of a potentially life-threatening ordeal. Most people would just push their bitter experiences aside and move on with life. Some may blank off that unsavoury incident and live in denial. A small group of people would be suspended in time and would relive the moment in their minds. Eureka is a Japanese movie set in rural Japan. It is done completely in sepia tone, save for last one minute as if to denote closure to the previous black episode. A bus is jacked. In the ensuing showdown with the police, the bus jackers, a policeman and some passengers perished. The only survivors are Sawai, the bus driver, and a pair of siblings (brother Naoki and sister Kozue Tamara). Sawai was used by the hijacker as a human shield before sharpshooter gunned him down. This gruesome blood bath proved too much for the three survivors. Sawai becomes a recluse...

Thulabaram (Sacrifice, Tamil; 1968) I do not know why but I keep watching this movie over and over again over the years. Maybe because it draws me back to the time of RRF and the time that steamed with hopelessness and helplessness. At the same time, I do not agree with the melodrama and the self pity that is exhibited in full glory in this flick. So, psychoanalyse me! This was one of the first movies that Amma took me to watch back in the days. Perhaps, she needed to reminisce her trying times of early adulthood. Even after all these years, its songs, especially 'Kaathrinile Perum Kaathrinile' sang beautifully by K.J. Yesudass, still makes my hairs at the back of my neck stand. This movie skyrocketed in popularity in the South that remakes were made in Tamil, Telegu and Hindi using the same main actress, Sharadha. The original film was made in Malayalam based on stage show. Sharadha went on to receive the National Film Award for that year. Sharadha Coming from a s...

Where  a local bookstore thought  Charles Darwin's ' Origin of Species ' should be placed?  In the fiction section!   It sometimes becomes more and more perplexing when you start asking questions about life. One question will lead to another and pretty soon you will caught in a dreaded dead end with only more questions encircling your head.  You ask yourself, if man evolved from apes, why are there still apes around? Wouldn't the apes and other primates have an innate desire at their DNA level to climb the stairway of evolution? Is it not the basic teaching of survival to forever improve oneself? For example, when the first generation discovers or invents something after so many generations of living in the dark about the subject matter, the second and subsequent generations learnt it so easily and improve it swiftly to take to great heights. Just about 40 years ago, a hand held device to communica...