RIFLE RANGE BOY

It looks like we are still immersed in the euphoria of our recent close to 500km ride from Srinagar to Leh, Ladakh. Friends and well-wishers continue wishing their felicitations and, in not so many words, tell us to thank our lucky stars (or the Almighty) that we were still able to complete the crunching climb of 7,000 metres at this age. One of the fellow cyclists in the group did not take kindly to that phrase. He had put in so much effort throughout his life to keep fit. After leaving school and leading a more sedentary life, he decided to go back to his active ways after seeing his father suffering from various complications of diabetes. From someone who jogged around the housing estate, he graduated to running long distances, hiking, and cycling. By a twist of fate, he found other fellow ‘madmen’ who shared his eccentricity amongst his neighbours. Hence, he started the weekend sorcery of commitments to hiking, running, and cycling. The avalanche in the weekend noradrenaline rush w...

Stop, Look, Think! By Farouk Gulsara Here I am, waiting in my car, clutching my steering wheel. It has been a good five minutes, and I am at a standstill. There are no vehicles in front of me. It is a T-junction with traffic lights. There is no traffic on either road, but I have no choice. I have to wait. https://borderlessjournal.com/2024/07/15/stop-look-think/ This work is licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License . google.com, pub-8936739298367050, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0

For generations, the older generations have pouted and frowned upon the subsequent generation. And they keep telling the end is near with their loss of inhibition as their actions seem to imply. Recently, I heard an interesting interview of a learned who disagreed with his father's opinion, but both parties appear to respect each other's viewpoint. The father, being a professor in Malaysian history, seem to think that the legend of Hang Tuah is a tall story devoid of historical evidence. The son, on the other, seems to believe that it is all right to romanticise the concept of an invincible warrior to spur the people to strive harder and have a national figure to look up to. The son,  in spite of being his father's ferocious critique, still manages to pen a foreword for his father's new autobiography. The offspring will only awe upon the parent until his thinking cap is dormant. Once he is opinionated, we should agree to allow the other party to disagree. Their opi...

8.3.2010 Soliloquy of numbers…..numbers… Today is the 2 nd anniversary of Malaysian political tsunami. Though this may be a historical date for me as a Malaysian, for someone who did his primary and secondary school education in the National language, did his undergraduate studies in a local varsity (instead of an overseas offer, for better or worse), did postgraduate studies with a state scholarship, served 7 public hospitals and is paying a sizable amount of taxes annually, why do I still remember these insignificant dates and numbers? How is it going to benefit mankind? Why do I remember the following numbers? Why??? 6103 Hutchings school registration number 5.1.1970 1 st day of school in Std 1 PD 8886 Father’s first motorbike PJ 9535 Father’s 2 nd motorbike PM 1337 Another of father’s bike PB 581 The bike forever breaking do...