RIFLE RANGE BOY

Settum Aayiram Pon (செத்தும் ஆயிரம் பொன்,  Even after death, worth a thousand sovereigns, Tamil; 2020) Netflix We paint our faces to make them presentable to the outside world, just like how we dress our dear departed as they leave on their journey to the other side. A make-up artist does that to make the actors look desirable. The undertaker does the same - to showcase the deceased so that the mourners can only see a pleasant looking corpse; devoid of the pain and misery of the tail end of his life. In a way, life and death are the same. A make-up artist and an undertaker do the same job, masking the unpleasantness of reality. Like a birth which is celebrated with revelry, so should death. The joy of the cry of a newborn child is comparable to the wailing of the aggrieved mourners. In most Eastern cultures, deaths are noisy and long affairs. The graphic display of emotions and rituals are actually ways to help the relatives resolve the separation issues and put cl...

Game Over (2019) It is always easier to follow the weather-beaten road. After the imperfections, the potholes, the unevenness may have been corrected, or the path may carry a warning sign. Unfortunately, in this era where individualism and self-expression takes a paramount role in human development, the onus in handling curveballs in life is placed squarely on the individual's shoulders. Previously, one can look back, follow the path of least resistance, have faith and move forward with confidence with the Divine Forces as the guardian angels. Failure is accepted gracefully as if it was meant to be anyway. Modern men (and women) do not subscribe to such determinism. Intellect has given free will to fight whatever eventualities. It also gave them the ability to think of the possible adverse outcome and the fear of the unknown. Not all minds are equipped to handle such stresses. Some crumble. Memory is sometimes a curse, especially of a traumatic one.  Life is not...

We are told that the fundamental need of man is simple. All he needs are food, sleep and the chance to procreate. The high water mark of procreation, the ecstasy of climax, must have been added by Nature to lure Man to help in the continuity of his species. With increasing complexity, when Man started living in communities, and social mores began creeping in, their fundamental needs zeroed on food, clothing and protection from the harmful elements of Nature. With further sophistication, when the society progressed, the essential things in life do not remain basic anymore. There used to be a time when food was a necessity, or perhaps obligatory, for one's body to be able to burn enough energy for one to garner sufficient might to provide for his loved ones. With their God-given limbs, the immigrants and the sojourners alike tried to change their fate through sheer hard work and willpower.  Whatever came their way which was nutritious and palatable was consumed fo...

Aruvi (அருவி, Tamil; 2017) Let's face it. People are expected to live within preset rules. The society sets what is acceptable, what is happiness, what is beauty, what should our aim in life be and it decides our desires and aspirations. We are enrolled in schools to be educated in a rote manner, taught to act in a predetermined manner, told what are good virtues to fit into society. At the society level, we are all like lambs to the slaughter. We work for the big corporations who sell us things that we do not need. The media sets values that are favourable in modern living. They pluck the strings of our heart to crave for things that the big corporations are willing to sell at a cost of an arm and a leg. We think we will be happy with the purchase but surprisingly, happiness is but an elusive dream. The world emphatically asserts that all man are equal. In reality, it is just hogwash. People are arranged in a pecking order, with the wealthier ones perched on the ...

Fools, Frauds and Firebrands, Thinkers of the New Left Roger Scruton (2015, reprint) I was always under the impression that the input from the academics and intellectuals is the one that is propelling the world forward in the right direction; averts hegemony by a certain group and tries to create a sort of utopia where fairness and justice is handed to all. With a single stroke of his pen, the author puts all these thoughts to the bin. He paints them all as troublemakers, who promised utopia but what they offer instead is dystopia, mayhem and destruction. For a start, he defines the leftist as the group of people traditionally seated to the left to King Louis XVI, the despotic monarch whose reign ended with the 1789 French Revolution. The members of the Estate and Generals usually were placed to the left while the nobelties occupied the right. Of course, it is all perspective which is right or left depending on whether you are an audience in apalace or looking from the monarch...

Credit: New York Times Is it just me or is it plain for all to see? I feel that the economists are the new leaders of the modern world. They seem to portray the image that they have a crystal ball in front of them and they are well aware how our society is heading. They talk as if they hold the steering and have total control of the rudder to manoeuvre the human race in the right direction. Their destination is the abode of the money God and its path is paved with gold. The lure of it seems so lucrative in a world where God is dead, and we killed him for something so fulfilling. These economists, the new theologians, speak in meaningless jargons like 'quantitative easing', 'ROIs', 'paper loss' and 'bull run' which are just rhetorics to pacify concerned laypersons. Funny a few centuries ago, we may remember of yet another brand of leaders who used to talk in doublespeak invoking fascinating fables and inspiring words like 'Grace', '...

Credit: weknowmemes.com Look around us! We are indeed living in a third world, ruled by leaders whose subjects are still caught in the feudal era, at least in their mindsets. Even though they enjoy the benefits of modernity, their subservience is reminiscent of the natives of the bygone era; not of the thinking and curious one reflective of years of education spent on them. Anyway, the learned ones have all left the roost. The ones left to occupy the vacuum are runaway employees, economic refugees, fly-by-night snake-oil salesmen and overstaying sojourners who had been legalised through umpteen amnesties that were carried out to smokescreen the authorities' incompetence, to create economic opportunities and to fish for potential voter bank. Some of the ones who opted to stay behind or lost out in the chase to scoot off the country when the opportune was ripe are generally too patriotic for their own good or had missed the gravy train. The other day, I heard an interesting ...

The Hills and the Sea (2017) Director: Andrew Ng Nobody actually bothers about the little people in this world. They only matter to leaders when they are not on the ruling side or to ruling leaders when it is time for their re-election. Otherwise, it is just lip-service. This 25-minute documentary highlights the effects of overdevelopment of Penang Island to the coastal fishing community of Tanjung Tokong and the displacement of the Dusky Leaf monkeys from the hills of Penang. Reclamation of lands around the Penang has utterly destroyed the corals, swamp and the marine life around the bay around Tanjung Tokong. Small-time coastal fishermen had been sustaining their family for generations with their little boat catching fishes, crabs and prawns in this area. The building of high rise luxury apartments had not only damaged their rice bowls, but it has also made them strangers on their own turf. A portion of the lagoon had been cordoned off and is classified as private property. ...

Last Tango in Halifax (2012-present, S1E1-S4E2) After fifty years of bra burning and empowerment of women, this is what you get. After enduring the second-class treatment and the cold shoulder treatment from the general public to show their prowess all these while, they have developed into strong willed individuals who are well prepared to handle the hurdles that come their way. This is exactly what you see in this movie. All the female characters dominate the show all the way. They decide, they control, they insist, they do, and they get away with anything they deem fit. It is indeed a matriarchal world. They rule the world, run the household and its daily chores, manage the farm, balance the accounts and go out to work. They choose whom they want to live with, stay married to and choice of gender of their man. Maternity is at their disposal. They are master of the fertility and feminity. No man is going to tell them what to do. Men, on the other hand, are depicted ...

Hell or High Water (2017) It has got opposition against corporate American written all over it. This movie must have liberal democrats drooling all over. It is a simple neo-Western story like the one one sees in a pulp fiction. Two brothers go on a bank robbing spree and two Texas Rangers going after them. Doesn't sound original, does it? In fact, it could have been plucked from the many Westerns we have seen before. But, see beyond it. There are no horses and there is more than meets the eye. In the modern world, being born poor is like hereditary disease passed from generation to generation. The poor is caught in a spiral, like a snake catching its own tail, a vicious cyclical self-defeating spiral. To come out of the rut, you need money which is sparse when you are poor. And to top it all, education, which the elites claim is the sure pass to unchain the shackles of poverty is no cheap feat. There appears to be a concerted effort to keep the poor poorer and the rich richer ...

Moonlight (2016) It used to be that the offspring are just offshoots of adults, brought to the world to replace the labour force once the elders become unproductive, withering to the test of time and elements of  Nature. The juniors will learn using their God-given senses to develop themselves by the time their bodies show signs of going into adulthood. There was no need to spend any time to appreciate childhood, to learn and mould their later character and vocation. Life was simple. You just be grateful to your parents for helping you to survive through childhood and continue the family business. No need to think too hard. You just live for the family and the community you show your allegiance. Somewhere along the way, things changed. One generation decided to play Mr Nice Guy to all sides. They kowtow to the demands of the elders and play dance monkey to their children. That just shook the balance. An adolescent, in the present era, has to endure so many adversities ...

So it all takes is for someone to snoop around to look for another destination. A place where people lead an idyllic life living in symbiosis with the elements of Nature with the divine forces as their guiding light. Venture capitalists move in. They show them the carrot and the lure of what money can do to enrich their 'impoverished' lives. They influence the elders who steamroll all oppositions who want to maintain the status quo. The general public thinks the opposers are just spoiled sports, reminiscing the old times, living in the past and naysayers who do not move with the times. The time to live is now, and they do not want to be left behind. So builds a frenzy to join the bandwagon to draw sightseers to see what they had to offer. They were willing to play dance monkey to the tune of the first world revellers. Slowly, the native's lives change. Their age-old tradition of caring for humanity rather than worldly materialistic things is but a thing of the past. Ri...

Ladybird, Ladybird (1994) Director: Ken Loach Now, how often have we seen of individuals, in our day to day lives, who are obviously leading themselves into situations of self-destruction and hopelessness? The clear and present dangers of their moves are apparent to everyone except themselves. They stare into abyss and abyss becomes a part of them. They plunge into acts which self-destructive in nature. They go astray, but there is nothing you can do about it. Your pleas and words of advice just fall on deaf ears. Just how often you have heard them say, " I know what I am doing!", "I am in control here!", "Just leave me alone!", "It is my life!" actually and "Don't control my life!" In the era of self-empowerment and individualism, nobody can put them in order especially if they are no longer minors. These people not only spiral into self-destruction but pull others into the whirlpool of the same. The authority takes charge o...

See what I picked up off WhatsApp... *Parent Induced Wastefulness* (PIW) When parents strive to give their children the best of everything at an early age, they are sowing seeds for materially insatiable monsters that are prone to sloth, apathy, avarice and fear. Don’t stand in self-defence as yet. I have proof. As I sit in my counsellor’s chair day after day I encounter an altogether a new disorder that I have come to label as- *Parent Induced Wastefulness* (PIW). Here are a few examples: * 26-year-old Manas does not want to finish his Engineering degree because he does not ‘feel like’ studying. But he harasses his parents every day for money. He tells me that whenever he did not feel like doing any particular activity, his parents told him he could quit. They always said they did not want him to get ‘stressed’ like they were when growing up. * 34-year-old Raghav is a qualified Engineer and is married for two years but his wife is not ready to live with him hence th...

Ae Dil Ki Mushkil (Hindi, 2016) Gone are the days when the sanctity of conjugal union and the adage of one man to one woman is guarded until the end of time till death do them apart. Poetic justice would be the order of the day as if one person was born for the other. Love triangles would invariably end up with either one sacrificing his/her love or his demise. The sanctity of marriage or love was kept 'pure'. Coming together of man and woman (only man and woman) is for ever, and there is no such thing as changing partners. People do not break relationships because it does not fulfil their inner desires or because it is meaningless. They make do with what they have and find happiness even the most hopeless of circumstances. When offspring come into the picture, the purpose seems more clear cut. That is in the perfect world of Tinseltown. The celluloid industry used to set the standards of how live should be lived and stuck set in its agenda of praising the age old I...

A friend whom I know was complaining to me recently. I know him as a faithful servant of a temple. He spends most of his precious free time doing chores at a temple with the believe that he was doing his bit to keep the faith going. He was hoping that his little deeds, will keep the seed of his religion going. His conviction was further strengthened when an offspring came into the picture after many futile attempts of medical intervention at fertility. He was compelled to accept that that produce was indeed divine in origin but not the immaculate type! Tmn Connaught to Angkasapuri Hence, his journey into the Divine deepened. He felt that he had to give his life and soul trying to live up the messages imbibed in the good Books. Within the confines of his abode and the surroundings of his place of worship, living it up to the teachings were no brainer. Everyone visiting the house of God naturally became well behaved. He had control of the behaviour of his family members in his hou...