Not an all-or-none rule!

Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai 

(a.k.a. Bandaa; A Common Man, Hindi; 2023)
Director: Apoorv Singh Karki

It is not about being religious or anti-religious, especially when it comes to a crime committed by a godman. Just because one utters something in favour of the accused does not mean he condones the accused's actions. Conversely, saying something against the victim does not indicate victim-blaming. 

This point becomes very relevant in the present-day context when we discuss the Hamas versus Israeli issue. Many join the increasing bandwagon and assert that if one does not condemn the Israeli retaliation (defence), one does not empathise with the Palestinian course but supports the Israeli killing of civilians and children. Never mind that Hamas is a terrorist group; they drew first blood (this time around) and used civilian human shields to defend themselves. Never mind that Israelites have to protect themselves, too. Life is not straightforward.

The film is based on a true event. A revered holy man is accused of rape by a minor. Whilst the public sentiments are that such a man of high esteem would not stoop so low as to commit such heinous crimes, his supporters are quick to employ scare tactics to threaten and even harm the prosecutor's witnesses.  

Getting the case off the ground proved to be a Herculean task. The parents of the victim soon discover that the assigned prosecutor was trying to sell his case. That is how P.C. Solanki, the effable Jodhpur lawyer, comes to the picture on a pro-bono basis.

The case gets dilly-dallied over five years. The accused attempted and failed repeatedly to get bail and spent the whole duration under custody. Solanki came face-to-face with many famous men of law in the courts of Jodhpur and Delhi. Somewhere along the way, even the flamboyant Dr Subramaniam Swamy had to eat humble pie when his attempts at getting the holy man out on bail failed on technicalities. Before this episode, Swamy had boasted of not losing any bail cases.

While the filmmakers managed to grasp the viewers' attention through creative storytelling and excellent acting, the clincher came when the prosecution made his closing statement. He tries to justify his hounding of the man of God through the Hindu scriptures itself. This is akin to fighting fire with fire. Not that Solanki was a non-believer. He was regular with his salutations to Lord Shiva. 

Solanki invoked Ravana's antic of impersonating a sage to abduct Sita as an unforgivable sin. Preying on helpless people's trust for self-interest is unforgivable. 

In his understanding, in a conversation that happened between Parvathi and Shiva, Parvathi asked why Shiva refused to forgive Ravana. After all, Ravana had been his ardent baktha (worshipper). In defence, Lord Shiva allegedly reiterated, “There are three types of sons. One which is made inadvertently and can be forgiven. Next, there will be atrocities, which, some punishment, things resolve. Then, there is a category of unforgivable sin, where a person assumes a place to trust and the trust is used to wrong the person who trusts him!”

In my opinion, this edict can be exploited in our contemporary living as such. The society puts so much trust in people in certain positions. They go to meet them to solve their problems when society sanctions them to do so. A teacher, a doctor, a leader, and a priest are all people who hold certain esteemed positions in our hearts. When these professionals cross the Rubicon by misusing their position, their punishment must be harsh. 

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Sins of our fathers

We carry the burdens of our ancestors. At least, that is my understanding of how life works. In my simple mind, we suffer for the mistakes of our ancestors and the misdeeds or inaction of the past leaders. Conversely, we prosper and enjoy the reason for our existence from their farsightedness.

I was taught to believe, as the picture of life painted by my mother as I was exposed to the lessons in life, that when we do 'good things', we will be rewarded in due time. Somewhere somehow our good deeds will be returned, directly or indirectly. Then I discovered that you do 'good things' because it is the only humane thing to do. Later came the talk of karma and its nuances of how 'evil' actions, like Newton's Law, has a correspondingly counter re-action which may affect your descendants. Now, these people tell me that every person is an island. Everyone is responsible for his own actions or inactions and his 'soul' has to answer for it in this life or the next, in this realm or another.

The question that has been bogging of late is whether, in the material world, we are answerable to the follies and wrongdoings of our parents? It popped up when the children of now-deposed ex-PM Najib who made repeated pleas in the media of their ignoramus state of the dealings involving their father.

Are offsprings and forbearers just linked intrinsically for the infusion of beneficial DNA, cancelling of unsuitable traits and the continuity of species? If every individual is a stand-alone product, why is that the progenitors slog their life away for the wellbeing of their kids? That their descendants have a better life than theirs. The parents literally work their asses down till it the fibres of their soul run thin.  Their search for wealth and comfort for their kinfolks never stops despite knowing that their sojourn on Earth is finite and a short one at that.

Yajna - a sacrificial ritual to invoke Gods for salutations,

the offering and cajoling them for personal gains. It is said to

have the capability to ensure the well-being of our descendants

as well as to correct our past mistakes, at a higher realm.

Logically if the descendants benefitted from the loot of their elders, they should be punished as well. Shouldn't the lavishness of life alert the children that something is not right? But then, people are becoming so creative in hiding their ill-gotten spoils that proving ownership becomes a Herculean task in mumbo-jumbo imbroglio of red tape. 

So you are going to leave judgement to the pleasure of the Divine Forces? In the ethereal world, however, nobody knows what rules are actually followed if there are any, rules or the ethereal. Is it pure chance or the result of the dice-throwing games of the celestial bodies?

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

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Even the Titanic sank!

Paatha Kaanikai (Humble Offering, Tamil; 1962)

This YouTube snippet (see below) has been making its round amongst the Tamil speaking and Tamil song loving WhatsApp groups in Malaysia, after the recently concluded 14th General Elections. Netizens, after mumbling their grunt of discontent under their breaths all this while, suddenly have a breath of fresh air. With their newfound cyber freedom, they let their hair down; ridiculing the doyens who held the realm for more than half a century and making tongue-in-cheek one-liners at their expense. After suffering in silence the antics of tyrannic leaders and sycophants, people have come out in droves to voice their discontent.

This song is a constant reminder that even
the thickest of the hide of a mighty
elephant would feel the pain of a whip.
Mortal Man cannot be so haughty to think
that he is unsinkable.  

This song, like the many, which were penned by Tamil movie song composers of the 1950s through to 1970s carry many philosophical messages and thought-provoking questions that would be relevant at any time of Man's civilisation.

It highlights the foolhardy of Man chasing things that are all but temporary. Lest he forgets that all the worldly possessions and relationship only last within our short lifespan. What the composer, Kannadasan, apparently wanted to convey was that we, at the end of our sojourn on Earth, carry with us the deeds or karma to be assessed in our next birth. He, according to his fellow music composer, took the liberty of not mentioning it. Kannadasan felt that he, not the most virtuous of Man who indulged in many addictive habits, should not preach.

In the scene where this song appeared, the character, a reformed son, realises that he had been the cause of his father's demise and most of the familial maladies. This heartbroken man is heading to a cliff to submit himself back to his Nature. As seen, his younger brother is racing against time to avert another tragedy in the family.

The translation of the philosophy filled song is as follows...


Intro...
What 'dance performance' was that?
What great dialogue you gave?
The wealth that you squandered?
The relatives that surrounded you?
When the soul leaves the shell,
What comes with you?

Chorus...
Till your home, the relatives,
Till the street, your wife,
Till the cemetery, your child,
Who comes to the end?

Play till it's game over,
You gaze in thousand things,
The crowd that gathers,
Will they come to the grave? Ch... 

Mother is to cradle [maternal love],
Maiden is to bed [lustful desire],
Food to hunger,
Wisdom to the crestfallen. Ch...

 
Ask the departed,
He will ask you to come.
Ask the newcomer,
He will ask you to go back. Ch...
[In the cycle of re-births, death is liberation from the tortures of living]

The soul will leave your body,

The body will be inflicted,
The heat of fire,
Left with nothingness... Ch...

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

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

To forgive but not forget?

Killer hung, let the victim's soul rest in peace! Justice prevails! I was aghast by these captions found on many sane people's FB statuses. Maybe I am the insane one.

People who were displaced from countries have forgiven their tormentors and planted their roots and had gone on with their lives. Victims of attempted genocides have recovered from their shock, thanked their lucky stars and are smelling the flowers now. The abuse victims have taken a grasp of themselves and tried to erase the past, albeit with great difficulty, and moved forward. Orphans have forgiven God for their predicament and thank the general public for giving them a helping hand. People affected by MH370 have come to terms that their loved ones are gone for good. Theories were creative speculations of self-proclaimed experts with halos, inflated egos and empty vessels with mere thoughts. Given a choice, if a genie were to appear granting three wishes, one of them would be to know what actually happened on that ill-fated day. Victims of natural catastrophes have renewed their faith and rebuilt their abodes.

But, after 16 years of waiting on death row and trying to amends to his biggest mistake in his life, how can the hanging of the perpetrator give solace to the victim's family? Can a life gone be replaced by another life killed?

Turn the other cheek, love thy enemies, don't do unto others what you don't want others to do unto you, ... and you should forgive and overlook - do you not like God to forgive you? Love thy neighbour. He who forgives is The Merciful. Everybody seem to say these things when it fit them. But somehow, when the perpetrator is pinpointed to a single individual, people forget all of it. They go ballistic. They put the whole weight of the for vengeance to set an example for others not to follow.

But what I do not understand is how the killer's death is going to give solace to the victim's soul to attain peace and for the victim's family to give closure to a heinous event in their lives.