RIFLE RANGE BOY

Aadujeevitham (Goat Days / Goat Life, Malayalam,2024) Director: Jessy By the end of the 20th Century, many of Kerala's male population worked in the Gulf Countries. Poverty and unemployment were the push factors for the 'Gulf Boom' in the 1970s and 1980s. Business was booming on the other side of the Arabian Sea, and petroleum was hitting record levels. Soon, sob stories started appearing about the abuse and pathetic living conditions amongst the Kerala Gulf diaspora.  In 2008, a Malayali writer, Benyamin, narrated the trials and tribulations of Najeeb Muhammad, a Malayali guest worker stranded in Riyadh airport. Not knowing Arab, Najeeb innocently followed an Arab man he assumed was his employer. His initial contract was for him to work as a cashier in a supermarket. Instead, he ended up herding hundreds of goats in the middle of the desert. He had no living quarters, time off, food, or pay. For more than two years, he had not seen any living soul except for his 'owner...

Velayutham from Pudukkothai It looks like every Malaysian leader who claims to represent the Indian community in the country also wants to bend over backwards to represent Indian migrant workers. Ever since a migrant Indian worker who escaped his abusive employer in Kuala Lumpur to showcase his sufferings on a Tamil Nadu talk show, every leader here, the ruling as well as on the opposition seems to be jumping up and down like an excited kindergarten child wanting to have the last say on the issue. To summarise the point at hand, a 40 years old carpenter from Tamil Nadu came into Malaysia, through an agent, with a tourist visa to work. His agent's arrangement was that he would be placed to commensurate his carpentering experience and that his tourist visa would be converted to a working visa in time. Upon arrival, he found himself having his passport confiscated, sent to be enslaved in a banana-leaf restaurant from 5am to 11pm every day. His wages were withheld, exposed to verbal ab...

Of Mice and Men (novella, film, play) Author: John Steinbeck (1937) Films: 1939,1992 This John Steinback's post-depression novel is still being used in schools on both sides of the Atlantic. Why use an old book when there are so many new ones with less objectionable dialogues and situations? I think that is precisely why such a book with depressing, flawed characters and bullying as themes be used for students. As days go on, society wants to sanitise everything for our growing minds. Everything needs to be politically correct, and social justice must be seen to be done at all levels. Imagine one school in the UK collectively agreed that opening a door for a handicapped person is actually toxic behaviour. By doing so, we are emphasising to the handicapped person that he is needy. Furthermore, with critical race theory permeating every level of our interaction with a fellow human being, we need to drill upon our young minds that it is perfectly alright for others to be different fro...