So much for women empowerment

Suzhal 2: The Vortex
Season 2, 8 episodes

https://www.indiatoday.in/entertainment/ott/story/
suzhal-the-vortex-season-2-trailer-kathir-takes-on-
gripping-murder-mystery-with-aishwarya-rajesh-
2682271-2025-02-19

This is not a continuation of the previous season, even though the main characters resume their roles, but with a new mystery to solve. While the accused remains behind bars awaiting trial, her defence lawyer, a vocal activist, is shot in the head. While the police are investigating along the lines of suicide, new evidence emerges indicating that the lawyer must be part of a paedophile ring racket. Just then, eight young teenage college girls turn up at various police stations, admitting to having killed the lawyer.

In the background is a month-long local temple celebration honouring eight local deities. At the temple, the activist lawyer, a devout believer, had stopped some toes when running the temple celebrations. 

Further investigations suggest that a well-executed kidnapping and transport of young girls to international waters using local fishing boats may indeed be occurring. Additionally, the unhealthy liaison of a school principal with this entire affair adds intrigue. It is quite an interesting series, filled with plot twists, mind-boggling dead ends, and infectious emotions, set against a backdrop of symbolism that venerates the feminine power of the Universe, namely Amman/Sakti.

It is perhaps quite startling to see that in a country which worships feminine powers and has millions of temples in her honour, some of the members of the society treat their female counterparts. Even ancient Indian history abounds with tales of brave female consorts and queens who led armies against invaders. Literature is aplenty with the works of female writers and thinkers. In contemporary times, the brutal rape-killings of young women do not speak much of their civilisational development. And the existence of colonies, infamous centres of flesh trade in most big cities targeting impoverished females, is nothing to be proud of.

https://www.riflerangeboy.com/2022/07/like-whirlwind-story-swirls.html

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A cautionary tale

Everything was hunky dory when others ruled them. Kingdoms after kingdoms came and went. Everybody lived within their space and thought they had everything taken care of.

Then, they even shared a sacred region, Katargama or Kathirgama. Each community claimed the local deity, Murugan, as their own. The Buddhists are told that Lord Buddha himself sanctioned Lord Murugan to protect Sri Lankans from the elements. The Tamils, with their ancestral affiliations, brought in their own diety and gave him his divine status.

Even the local aboriginal people there, the Veddas, the island's earliest inhabitants, claim the sacred area as theirs. Their DNA studies revealed their commonality with the tribals in Malaysia, India, and Myanmar, which is more apparent than their Singhalese and Tamil Indian brothers. The Muslims did not want to be left out. They built a mosque nearby to avoid missing out on the blessings.

So, they had a giant compound with a collection of temples of worship in a single area. It was heart-wrenching to see Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and Veddas all congregating in one area to pay respects to the Almighty to gain blessings.

It went on fine when they were ruled by others - the Indian dynasties and the European imperialists. Trouble started brewing when the colonial masters left the roost for the colonies to determine their destiny. Every ethnicity had the fear that the other would dominate them. Everyone, through the democratically elected leaders, pushed for their respective agendas. When peaceful means failed, they had to resort to armed struggle.

The gods can only protect us so much. Above all, human intellect should prevail. Sri Lanka's experience over the last few years is a cautionary tale for other nations trying to establish a strong footing and elevate themselves to a higher level.

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Between your God and mine!

Goa Inquisition

It is probably due to cognitive dissonance. Finally listening, for once, to what they were saying, they must have had a revelation. It must have sounded so ridiculous that they must have thought of what they were smoking when they plunged head-on into the cult. Hey, heck no! They are not going to denounce everything. They had invested too much time, resources and life to give it away. The next best plan is to convince others. They would get the numbers. It cannot be so wrong if everybody buys their story. And they thought, while we are at it, let us monetise the whole concept!

Hence, the worldwide inquisition started. Because they felt they had been told the inside story about the Creator and thought they knew the backstory of everything's creation, they walked around with a chip on their shoulders.

It is funny how overconfidence leads to aggression. It does not feel wrong to inflict all the pain, injustices and cruelty upon another being because it is viewed as carrying God's will here on Earth. Nobody actually saw the memo or had the guts to ask the same. They risk the label of a heretic.

Another group would take the Word of God and spread it as a religion of peace but with violence and ambush. As if to soothe the bleeding wounds, they would send in nuns and nurses who have dedicated their lives to saving lives. To make the natives useful idiots, schools would be built with the conquerer's belief systems. Servants of God would parachute down to spread the Word and plead with compassion and forgiveness as if trying to whitewash their previous misgivings.

Another method employed to subtly convert the next generation was through the boarding school systems. Horror tales of promising students uprooted from society with the promise of a better life, which ended with tragic ends of torture and death, are rampant in the Australian, Canadian and American aboriginal communities.

Just when you thought this was a footprint of colonial times, think again. Subversive religious conversion of adults and minors has always been ongoing below the radar. Much evangelism work was ongoing under the pretext of providing educational, medical and emotional support. Good for them.

Recently, a video flared up on social media of strategies for converting Malaysian secondary school students and keeping their religious conversion under wraps until they reach adulthood when they are free to profess their religion of choice.

Firdaus Wong is sharing advice on TikTok with teachers
 on converting their students to Islam without their
parent's knowledge. F.B. pic; June 6, 2024.

This naturally created a lot of apprehension amongst parents who saw schools and other governmental institutions as hotbeds for religious activities. Murmurs about this had been in the people's consciousness all this while. Still, everyone naively believed that the Nation had adequate laws to protect people of different belief systems from professing their religion of choice. If formerly conversions were done at the end of the sword, now it is insinuated through subtle reasons like economic prosperity and rebel yells of the ignoramus.

For anyone to trust the legal system, laws must be carried out, and justice must be seen to be done. Over the years, as evidenced by the pile of cases taken up by NGOs against the State, citizens cannot be blamed if they were to think that there exists a sinister plan to subjugate one religion over the others. 

 

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P.S. As any other Indian mother would, Amma was apprehensive when her much-loved son had to spend two years training in a state in the Malay heartland. Her circle of friends constantly told her tales of many promising young Hindu men falling flat for the fauna and flora, fawning over females there, returning home with a different name and surname, spotting moustache-less beards, and refusing to partake in functions deemed necessary by their parents, i.e. final rites and ancestral worship. So, Amma saw a shaman to make an amulet to ward off evil spells. The only restriction to be observed while wearing the amulet was that it should not be worn in places considered unclean with negative energies. Well, what does the shaman expect in a hospital? Of course, there will be deaths, suicides, diseases and all the negativities that need correction! As a good son, yours truly did don the contraption. Expectedly, Amma had thought too highly of her offspring. He fell for the flora and fauna, but there was no inkling of fawning over or by someone!

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Deep down we want some masala!

Amar Singh Chakila (Hindi, Punjabi; 2024)

Director: Imtiaz Ali

Whilst self-proclaimed intellectually minded individuals peruse the internet for minute-to-minute updates on the situation in Gaza, the masses are pretty contented sneaking into the WhatsApp communication between Aliff Aziz and Ruhainies, the latest two-timing pair of the Malaysian showbiz scene. Netizens feel for the wounded wife, Bella Astillah, who used to be Ruhainies' bosom buddy. 

Neither party, the 'intellectuals' or the regular people, can do anything to change the trajectory of the event. In no way do these events bring them their bread or make their lives more fruitful. But it allows the masses to divert their attention from their mundane lives. They do not want their lives to be complicated, but they find solace in finding how much muck goes on in people's lives. And how virtuous is theirs, until, of course, the readers' own story becomes the topic of the day…

Look around us at regions ruled by regimes which promote religion as their bedrock of creating a 'sinless' society. Paradoxically the regions turn out to be the ones with the most subscribers of Porn Hub, of rape, drug abuse, incest and domestic disharmony. 

My Malaysian Punjabi friends had not heard of this singer until this movie was shown on Netflix. Sure, they had heard that many Punjabi singers get killed, promote gun violence, and are misogynistic and vulgar, but somehow, Chamkila missed their radar. Now they know that he was once the highest-selling musician in Punjab and was even more popular than Amitabh Bachchan. Someone even referred to him as the 'Elvis of Punjab'. Sadly, he was gunned down while arriving for a show. He joined the now famous 'Club 27' - the talented musicians who conspicuously died at 27 - Cobain, Winehouse, Morrison, Hendrix and more. This was in the 80's.

Chamkila's story was that his songs were liked by the majority but no moral guardians of society. The moral guardians felt that Chamkila's vulgar, immoral song lyrics were not what the public wanted to hear. Funny, if that is not what the public wants to hear, how come his records are the highest grossers?

Chamila is not even his surname. It was given or maybe mispronounced by the introducer. Amar Singh started life in a lowly Dalit family, growing up in feuding families amidst a rather 'not-so-refined' neighbourhood. Caught in an unsatisfying job making socks, he composed songs to the tune of his musical instrument, the tumbi, during his free time.

A singer, Jinda, picked up his talent, and Amar Singh started writing songs for him. When Jinda failed to appear on time at one of his shows, Amar Singh had to fill in. The audience was so taken up by his rendition that they did not want Jinda when he eventually appeared later. Amar's singing career started then. After partnering with a few female singers, he stuck with Amorjit.

Amar and Amorjit became romantically linked. They got married. Only later did Amorjit find out that Amar was already married before.

The duo found success after success. Appointments were pouring from villages, towns and even overseas. There were criticisms regarding their overtly vulgar lyrics and crass tone of songs, but the money that came with the shows seemed to sanitise everything. When Amar's father got furious seeing that Amar had cropped his hair, his anger simmered down when Amar presented him with a stack of cash he earned singing. When his first wife and family got crossed when they discovered his clandestine marriage to Amorjit, everything was squashed with a promise of fat alimony and compensation.

Things became complicated when the Sikh elders and Kahalistani members accused him of corrupting the youth. Amar then started writing devotional songs and the call for freedom. The police construed these as dog whistles for the general public to rise up to the call of the Kahalistani movement. After all, this was the heady time after Indra Gandhi's assassination and national discontent with the Sikhs. Chamkila was confused. When the police and the religious people forbade him to sing his songs, the general public wanted more and more of his songs with raunchy lines about peeping toms and promiscuous MILFs. 

There was a strong suspicion that Khalistani hitmen killed Amar Singh Chamkila and Amorjit as they were getting down from their car for a performance at a small village on 8th March 1988, but nothing was proven. The killers are still at large.

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Control is key!

La Luna (2023)

Director: M. Raihan Halim

It is not just confined to one religion; it so happens that Islam is the reference in this film. Leaders of any religion, way of life, or cult take it upon themselves to be the de facto spokesperson on how the religion should be practised. They want to have the final say as if they had an audience with the Almighty, who whispered the secrets of life in their ears. 

To the young and restless, they give the impression that their lifelong purpose in life is to screw up everybody's happiness. Just to show who is the boss. 

Take this example. Occasionally, at the temple I sometimes frequent, there will be public service announcements of some good news or achievements. Naturally, the congregation would display their pleasure and admiration by clapping. That was the most natural thing for us humans to do. "But no!" said one elder, who raised his hands angrily to stop them from clapping. Strangely, a few minutes later, everyone was seen ecstatic, clapping and chanting to chants of 'Hare Rama Hare Krishna'. Nobody seems to know that there is such a rule and the rationale for having one when I ask around. After all, how does clapping in felicitations differ from the one during the recital of hymns? Finally, a very senior attendee just said that it was traditional. Period.

The lesson from this example is that people put rules and regulations in place because they can and want to. It is all about control and showing who is the boss.

This film got many of the religious people hot under the garbs. This comedy questions our blind faith and how leaders use it for selfish needs.

Kampong Bras Basah is a closely knitted village overseen by the conservative local holy man. He determines what is preached in the Friday prayers and micromanages peoples' affairs. Troubles come knocking when a plucky young lady starts her lingerie business in the village. Even though initially the villagers looked at the shop with scorn, they eventually flocked to the shop when one of the couples in the village showed remarkable improvement in their intimate relationships. The holy man digs up his sleeves to shut down the business. The storyline includes hints of spousal abuse, women empowerment, and the need to stand your ground and not blindly follow rules. 4/5.

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It's not your life?

Reader discretion is advised.

Thanks to JM for starting this conversation.

They tell you that you are worthless, that you are flawed, and that you are the product of the original sin. You are a disgrace and living off God's Grace. God's Grace is the only one which is going to save us at the end of days.

You are worthless, a sinner, a good for nothing. You who have nothing do not even have possession over your life. This soiled life is a total ownership of God. He has exclusive rights over you. You have no right to take it away. Even when one's dignity is lost, his existence may burden himself and those around him; nobody has the right to take it away.

It is better that he suffers and makes others' lives a living hell. Life has to go on. God has plans for him, and these hiccups are part of his grander scheme of things. Our role is to be herded through and let Him do His mysterious work. We must be herded by the shepherd. It is not our position to ask whether the shepherd has our interest at heart or whether we are being fattened for the slaughter?

The biggest thing a human being can get is the ability to live life. From a time when living life would mean conforming to the masses laid down by the community and prospering with and for the community. Any deviation from this social norm will render that individual an outcast. He will lose his right to live in the commune of people who live in a symbiotic manner. Losing his right to be accepted into the commune, he would probably end up as a hermit, living off alms and handouts.

Over time, this arrangement has lost its mojo. Society became self-centred. The idea of each man for himself crept in. The talk of the town now is individual development and human rights; no more progress of a society. Everyone wants to mould his life and live it however he wants.

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