வானொலி நாடகம் - மர்ம மேடை (Vanoli Nadagam - Marma Medai)

வானொலி நாடகம் - மர்ம மேடை 
(Vanoli Nadagam - Marma Medai)

Yesterday, as I returned from the supermarket after getting the weekly grocery, we listened to the Tamil drama on the radio. The children could not understand why I liked listening to these melodramatic dramas. I told how my whole family grew up staying glued and listening to these radio dramas on Sunday evenings on Red Network of RTM at 6.30pm in RRF. Like that, I recalled an episode that I heard decades ago and related it to them. It was a story on the mystery series Marma Medhai (Stage of Suspense). I think it was written by a master radio writer of yesteryears, S. Vairakanoo.

The story starts with an insomniac man who has the habit of fiddling with his short-wave radio in the morning to tap into transmissions from a remote part of the planet. One day he stumbled upon a channel which only came on the air for a few minutes to predict his horoscope for the following day. He became interested as the days went on, as he found them accurate to the dot. It drastically improved his life as he placed bets and things like that based on these forecasts. Life could not have been better until one day, the broadcast announced his impending demise on the following day!

After the initial shock and denial, he accepted the prediction. He called in sick at his workplace and stayed home to avoid unnecessary exposure to freak accidents. He remained indoors and shut all windows and doors. He disconnected all electrical equipment and gas stove and waited in complete darkness (no fire hazard and no short-circuiting). He thought the prophecy would be nullified if he could stay alive till midnight.

Everything was going on fine till just before the stroke of midnight. As fate had it, a police patrol car combed our hero's housing area for an escaped convict. As they spotted the villain, the police discharged a few shots. Unfortunately, a stray bullet hit our hero directly in his heart, and he succumbed to his injuries on the spot just to the stroke of midnight! And the accented fortissimo dynamics of the background score accompanied the closing curtains...

All these stories come with a take-home message. In this particular episode, one must be ready to accept all eventualities of life - good and bad at the same stride. Just like we are glad to squander our parents' hard-earned fortunes, we must take their genetically transmitted illnesses and traits (like short stature and non-appealing facial features, i.e. ugly)!

*I wonder if my sisters remember the old radio we had in BG, depicted above. In RRF, we listened to the transistor, as shown here... 

Pastor Indra Shan's Eulogy written by Shobha

Indra Shan as I know can be equated to Mother Theresa of Malaysia or to Florence Nightingale. I came to know Auntie Indra when I got married to her nephew in the year 1990. During my first encounter with her, I remember how much she spoke about her charity work and her job with the church.

She can be remembered as a lady with a big heart. Understandably, she must have had many sacrifices in order to have served many helpless and homeless individuals who have been forgotten by the society. She has always been there for others and empathises with the poor and the mentally disturbed and tries within her means for them to be back on their feet.

She is a woman with big dreams. Just like Martin Luther King Jr. who had dream come true 50 years after his demise, she has inspired her children, nephew and nieces realise their respective dreams to become professionals and successful in their respective lives. Her dream to build the Mercy Home has also materialised, much to the appreciation for her beloved followers.

She loved all her relatives and friends and made it a point to share time with them. Her extra special visit to our humble home was during Diwali celebrations so as to meet my relatives and friends during this joyous occasion.

She had great interest in my children and their musical talent and progress, as she had a flare for music. She used to enjoy the piano music being played in my house whilst enjoying the meals that I cook for her.

May Pastor Indra Shan have eternal peace in of God's Home.

Eulogy: Pastor Indra Shan RIP

Eulogy written for Pastor Indra Shan's Memorial book

Pastor Indra Shan not only shares the first name with the lady who was an iconic figure of the 20th century and the former prime minister of the biggest democracy in the world - Indira Gandhi but her dynamism and ability to lead any organisation out of the doldrums.

My earliest encounter with my aunt (Pastor Indra), as far back as my grey matter can bring me, was when I spent a good one whole month during the year-end school holidays in December 1970. We (my sisters and I) were awed by the appearance of her bungalow in Malacca. It was furnished with exquisite furniture, carpets, and the accessories that went with it. I particularly remember a large aquarium in the living room with a fish named 'Oscar'! To complement this entire bourgeois ambience was an orchid garden and a walk-in bird cage with parakeets, sparrows and parrots.

My parents told us to emulate our cousins, who were rattling off in impeccable English and were also musically inclined. They were particularly impressed with Indra's way of nurturing her kids. She used to draw out a duty roster for the children to help her with the chores and running the house. I suppose she was trying to provide what she had missed while growing up. She was strict, a disciplinarian and a no-nonsense lady. She will constantly go after her children to study and play their piano. She was like a military task master!

After that fateful vacation, we used to see Indra and her family on their biennial 'pilgrimage' to Penang. Boy! That was indeed a milestone in our lives. There were the long chats into the wee hours of the mornings and the many pranks that my cousins, sisters, and I did. The memories of these will forever give us a pleasant feeling which will last a lifetime, carving a smile on our faces every time we think of those days.

As we grew older and more commitments set in, the visits became less often. She finally settled in Kuala Lumpur in the 1990s, and our meetings became more frequent. Despite her busy schedule trying to establish Mercy Home and help the needy, she still found time to spend time without fail on Deepavali day with my family. Even if she is enticed with a sumptuous spread of mouth-watering delicacies on such celebrations, she would be adamant about continuing her fast and prayers. She found joy in working for the marginalised souls of society and not self-glorification. True to her belief, she led a simple life.


*The above picture was taken during (what was supposed to be) her surprise 70th birthday held in G and J's home. We were actually more surprised when she said, "...but I am already 71!" Nobody bothered about registering dates and remembering birthdays those days! She was supposed to be born on the year her grandmother died (a few days before or after?). She is said to be the reincarnation of her grandmother!

The idiot in front of the idiot box

P. Ramlee (1956) Anak-ku Sazali {Confrontation} - This movie was of international standards; it won Best Actor (P. Ramlee), Best Director (Phani Majumdar) and Best Child Star (Tomy Castello) Awards in the Asia-Pacific 4th Film Festival in Tokyo, 1957.

The idiot in front of the idiot box

J.L. Baird’s unique invention of a cathode ray tube must have revolutionized the way news was disseminated to the masses. Malaysian TV started transmission in 1963, coincidentally the same year that I was born. As far as I can remember, I have been a TV addict until I started blogging.

The Sham family got their first TV in late 60s when we got a 14-inch black and white National TV when we were in Brown Garden and this set followed us to RRF. It was a depilated machine which was forever breaking down. It would be giving a clear transmission one minute and suddenly it will become snowy and then suddenly it will go kaput. Somehow, most of the time it will go on strike just before the opening credits of a Tamil movie – as if it was like a grudge against us for all the abuses over the years. It served us till about 1979 when Appa bought a new NEC colour TV.

I will try to recollect some of the shows we used to watch in RRF…

Cartoons

·         Merry Melodies

·         Felix the Cat

·         Astro Boy

·         Road Runner (inc. Whacky races, Mutley and GP races)

·         Birdman

·         Wait till your father gets home

·         Abbott and Castello

·         Archies

·         Beatles

·         Fat Albert

·         Marco (Japanese dubbed cartoon)

Science fiction

·      Space 1999

·      Gemini Man

·      Invisible Man

·      $6million Man

·      Bionic Woman

·      Bionic Boy

·      Flash Gordon

·      Batman

·      Voyager

·       Voyage to the bottom of the sea

·       Wolf Boy

·       MacGyver

·      Man from Atlantis

·      Incredible Hulk

Japanese Sci-fi

·      Ultraman

·      Golda

·      Godzilla

Crime Drama

·       Men from UNCLE

·      Baretta

·      Starsky & Hutch

·      Mod Squad

·      Kojak

·      Hawaii 5-0

·      Saint

·      Cannon

·      Sheriff Lobo

·      Mannix

·      Barnaby Jones

·      Run for your life

·      Dunkirk and Hobson(Deceased)

·      Ironside

·      Jake and the Fatman

·      Charlie’s Angels

·      Mission Impossible

·      Fugitive 

Family Drama

·       Little house on the Prairie

·      Waltons

·      P. Ramlee’s movies

Sit-Com

·       Wonder years

·      Gilligan’s Island

·      Petticoat Junction

·      Happy Days

·      I dream of Jeannie

·      I love Lucy

·      Different Strokes

·      One day at a time

·      Laverne & Shirley

·      Jeffersons

·      Prince of Bel Air

·      Cosby Show

·      Brady Bunch

·      Three’s a company

·      Beverly Hillbillies

·      The three stooges

Mystery

·       Mystery Movie series

·      Twilight Zone

·      Thriller
*      In search of (with Leonard Nimoy)
*      Cosmos (with Carl Sagan)

War Drama

·      Combat

Law Drama

·      Crown Court

·      Petrocelli

·      Paper Chase

Western

·       High Chapparal

·      Wild Wild West

·      Rifle Man

·      Have gun will travel

·      Rawhide

·      Gunsmoke

·      Bonanza

·      Virginian

·      Zorro

·      Walking Tall

·      Laredo

·      Lone Ranger
*     How the West was won!
*     The Quest

Soap Opera

·       Dallas

·      Dynasty

·      Peyton Place

·      Bold and the beautiful

…And the unbelievable and laughable ‘Wrestling’. Just to reiterate the words of my Modern mathematics teacher, Mr Chai Poh Keong, one should watch TV in their free time, not free their time to watch TV! Words of wisdom indeed.

Jai Hanuman Ji

Two things happened today that got me thinking. Both the two events were totally unrelated, but were they?

In the first incident, a stray monkey entered the study room and helped itself with some cookies placed on the study table and scooted off upon being spotted. The second one happened when I was waiting for my kids to finish their music class. There I saw an unkempt handicapped Indian (immigrant, probably illegal) man limping around spitting on the road with no care in the world. The hawkeyed can always smell out a non-Malaysian Indian. They are the ones who wear singlet under their T-shirt or wear a long-sleeved shirt in the heat of the afternoon sun or like donning chequered shirts with thick lock of curly hair.

This guy was walking back to his make shift quarters built at the corner lot of a terrace house.  I was fuming as he was spitting on spreading germs to be distributed among fellow Malaysians and fuming as misfits like him were allowed to roam the streets of Malaysia due to lax enforcement of the Immigration Department and the local government MPKj which was given the broom award by the previous Selangor state government for allowing them to build them homes there.

I am getting angry because the serenity of my living space has been invaded and my way of life has disturbed. This is probably how the monkey must have felt. His ancestors must have been swinging without a care in the world until the bulldozers came marching in to bulldoze their playing fields. We are looking at them as invaders of our privacy. We are wary of their presence because of fear of rabies and other communicable diseases.

This is also probably how the Malays felt in 1946 when the question of citizenship arose. They must felt that it is appropriate to get special treatment as they were here earlier!

With time all the migrant population will assimilate into the country. Just like the other day, a Bangladeshi family drove to the pasar malam in their Proton Wira to buy their favourite meal from the nasi lemak stall! Looks like we also have learn to live with the monkeys, too. Learn? Am already!

Don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me? PCD*

Just the other day, my eldest daughter asked me if I still found my wife (her mother) hot after all these years. A simple yes or no answer will suffice, right? Well, life is not so black or white. That’s lesson in Life 101!

Finding a wife is just like ordering food in a Chinese restaurant. After ordering your food, only then you discover that the food served on the next table seem to look nicer. Or like buying the latest mobile phone – just after weeks of buying your I-phone and still getting familiar with its applications, come I-phone4 with many newer features and is the talk of town. 

Love just happens! At the correct time and correct position of the stars, things just happen. Whatever changes that affects the couple does not affect either of the partner unilaterally. Everything happens in unison, naturally, in accordance to the law of nature. Just like the redistribution and increase of adipose tissues as well as climacteric changes that affect the female partner over time, their male counterpart also undergo various metamorphoses.  They not only grow older, gray, and slower in response time, reduced chivalrous gestures to familiar partner with increased abdominal girth. They also become grumpier and develop peculiar idiosyncrasies. Both parties must accept each other’s shortcomings and let it be. Do not wish for the moon and the stars, you will be zapped by a meteorite.

So, the answer to the question is an emphatic YES. Period.

*PCD is abbreviation for the female body flaunting musical group called Pussy Cat Dolls. They are the promiscuous musical icon of the post MTV generation, also called Generation-Y. Why Y? Probably because of their style of wearing their jeans almost dropping off their hips revealing the Y of the gluteal fold! The song was also featured in the movie ‘Norbit’, starred by the fast-mouthed Eddie Murphy in many roles including his 200 lb wife Norbit Respusha.

Behind Famous Men...BFM

More than a year or so, people of Klang Valley have been enjoying themselves listening BFM (89.9FM) on their  car radio while they soldier the traffic jam to work and back. It caters for the 40 somethings, intellectuals, elite, burjuous, expatriates as well as anyone who savour something different the usual fare churned out by most stations to appease  the ever fickle minded teens and young adults. By the way, BFM means Business FM. It does not only talk about business alone. Incidentally, they have the ingenious way to come up with many cute meanings of their acronym BFM. One of it is Business, Football and Music - as they also cover BPL, World Cup fixtures and their music is mostly classic rock. Most of their songs are from the 70s and 80s, rarely heard in our shores, e.g. Led Zeppelin, The Who, George Harrison (post Beatles era), Bob Seagal and the silver bullet band, Kinks, Rolling Stones, Sex Pistols, Deep Purple, CCR, Kula Schaker and the list goes on. New artistes like One Republic and Pink are also featured there!

People outside the Klang Valley can hear it here-http://live.bfm.my/

Some of their cute acronyms are: Bond Frustrates Moneypenny, Bribe-Free Malaysia, Brake Faster Macha (their car bumper sticker), Break from Monotony, Barrack Foils McCain (when Obama won the US elections), Barrichello Fancies Machibatta (F1 fans should know), Bowie,Frampton,Mercury etc.

When MAS was promoting their tickets, again listeners were invited to call in to promote MAS via the same acronym. Out came slogans like Better Fly MAS and Bawa Famili Melancung! If you are observant, you would have noticed the title of this blog is also their creation. And we all know the age old saying, behind every famous man there is always a woman. We also know that many men in the history of mankind have fallen because of their unchecked boiling hormones.

Behind most famous men there would be a subservient, sympathetic and understanding wife who would take in all their idiosyncrasies. Behind MK Gandhi was Kasturba who was willing to live a simpleton life in an ashram and wash the latrine because her husband believed in it. And she she had to endure the frequent uncertainty when her husband was jailed. And when she lost a child due to her husband's belief in traditional medicine. And the tantric experiments... And she stood his ground. So did Pushaneela when her husband was imprisoned under the ISA for 17 months. She not only took care of the family in his absence but ran his law office and constituency!

History is rife on the converse, downfall of men due to women. The famous example comes from the British Empire. In 1936, Prince Edward had to abdicate the throne to many the woman he loved. The woman,  Bessie Wallis Warfield, later Spencer, then Simpson, an American socialite, a 2-time divorcee with limitless ambitions was deemed unsuitable for the British monarchy. Another Edward, the US presidential candidate, John Edwards had to withdraw from the race when his affair was exposed. And if only Julius Caesar had listened to his 3rd wife (Calpunia) who had a dream on his impending murder, then the event on Ides of March and the famous Et tu, Brute would not have been said. His association with the Egyptian vixen probably was the turning point leading to his downfall.

One man who almost fall into dispute due to his wanderings with Monica Lewinsky but came out unscathed but not smelling of roses is Bill Clinton. 

What about Behind Famous Madames? Men are always there to bring her down just to prove that man is superior. In the case of Indira Gandhi, there was a Sikh sympathiser just waiting to gun  her down! Margaret Thatcher, The Iron Lady, managed  to escape and complete her term.

P.S. Listeners do not mind the business talk as it more than made up by its interesting diaspora of programmes, e.g.Breakfast Grille where CEOs get grilled by intelligent hosts (something like Hardtalk on BBC), The Bigger Picture where family, health, unity and others issues are discussed.