RIFLE RANGE BOY

Dr Rama Subbiah Scholarship Fund Golden Jubilee Celebration (1967-2017) Most of us who studied in the local universities are quite familiar with Dr Rama Subbiah Scholarship Fund which had been a boon to many underprivileged varsity students of Indian descent. Not many of us, however, know much about Dr Rama Subbiah and the genesis of this fund. Dr Rama Subbiah (1933-1969) is first Malaysian Ph D holder in the field of Linguistics. Working as a lecturer in University Malaya and Chairman of NUPW-PPN Hostel Management Committee, he financed, out of his pocket, accommodation for TAR College Indian students who had to commute long distances on a bus from out of town to study their A-levels. That started in 1967. From then on, the hostel students contributed their hostel security deposit money to start a scholarship fund. Many individuals later pledged small but regular contributions to this embryonic scholarship endowment which was initially named 'The Indian Students Scholars...

Aligarh (2016) Young men flirt with young girls in the open (and vice versa) but most people in an urban setting would not think much of it. But when two consenting men decide to show their passion for each other in the secluded privacy of their home, the public agrees that it is their God-sanctioned duty to shame the deviant couple! They insist that it is against the norm of Nature and would go to great lengths to correct this, even if to kill, in spite of God's plea for the conservation of all of His creations. They are not interested in scientific and medical explanations for their aberrance.  They say "it is all crystal clear. He decreed, we follow. It is my duty to ensure that His law is carried out here on earth. Period." This, is the essence, is the story of a Professor in India's third highest ranking University, Aligarh Muslim University in Uttar Pradesh. Professor Shrinivas R. Siras,  a 62-year-old divorcee, six months from his retirement, heads t...

It was a cool German June morning. SS still had her bearings all wrong. She is still jet lagged. After all, she had just arrived at Leipzig University to present her paper. Today is a special day. It is the day she turns 50. Yes, the big scary Five-O! Wow, there used to be a time when she thought 50 was the age where people plan for retirement to play stupid little games with their spoilt brat grandchildren. But, hell no! She has so much to achieve. The last things she feels now is old. Sure, a little aches here and there, breathlessness, extra pounds around the mid-riff but old, no way. Not bad, she told herself. Coming from humble beginnings in a household where melancholy was the tone everyday, she has come far. Her childhood was plagued with chronic asthma which she kept cursing her paternal side of her family as they were the carriers of that gene. Every member of his family had one thing to boast about - asthma. It was like a family heritage. She spent many days crouched bre...

The Paper Chase (1973) The TV series by the same name used to be a hit those days. The idea of a dedicated teacher (Prof Kingsfield) who maintains the teacher-student relationship and has the welfare of his students at heart fascinated us as we were plunging into tertiary education and uncertainties of our future. Unfortunately, when we entered university, we were sorely disappointed with our contemporaries who were anything like the 1st year Harvard law students who were portrayed in this film/TV series. They were shy and not forthcoming with their input in the daily class discussions. On the other hand, there were some who were apprehensive about divulging too much knowledge for fear that others may know too much! (kiasu ) Professor Kingsfield: You teach yourselves the law, but I train your minds. You come in here with a skull full of mush; you leave thinking like a lawyer.

After 26 years, comrades of the same ship pursuing the same paper qualification met up recently. Many things happened in their lives, the good, bad and ugly. Definitely, they had all matured gracefully. They were no more the shy inhibited individuals as before. Hard knocks of life have made them approachable and humble. Each attendee was given the opportunity to narrate their career journey. One thing that I noticed is that everyone had their own outlet to unwind from the demands of their daily dealings. Two cruise along the country road on their Harley Davidson bikes, one spend precious time of solitude in an orchard tugged far from human activity. One continue collecting diplomas and paper qualifications. One immerse himself in the pixels world of photography. Yet one runs marathons and away from his shadow. Quite a number surrender themselves to philanthropy.  Of all of the interesting extracurricular activities that I heard that evening, one insists that she chose ar...

Suckling piglet, anyone? Just the other day, yours truly happened to gate crash into my cousin's friends' farewell party. The crowd had known each other for, like forever, ever since they were siphoned to a foreign land at an impressionable age to do good with their future. Just out of the confusing age of teenage years, shuffled into the turmoil era of the twenties, they had the scary sight of their whole future laid bare for them to mold. With the grace of the divine powers and help from some friends of the same boat, they sailed the rough seas. Amid the choppy waters and howling winds, they got across in one piece, shaken but not beaten. And boy, did they have heap of tall tales to tell of the journey. I came to understand that that is what apparently happened every time they meet up. All their university days' stories will be told and re-told and they would have a good laugh at it as if they are hearing it for the first time. And the free flow of booze helped in t...