Behind the veil

Views from the other side

Recently, one of email buddies sent me a powerpoint presentation on the ordeals of the ladies behind the meshed veil of the burqa had to endure in a male dominated society all in the name of man's own interpretation of the religion. Their voices are muffled by the sobbing sounds of their unheard cries in the dark.
That got me thinking.... 
In fact, in our own everyday world close to us, there are many amongst us who walk around putting up a front covering the sorrows that they carry behind the mask that they wear on their faces. Just like they say in show business, "Honey, the show has to go on!", life has to go on...

Norman Bates & Bates Motel

I know a general practitioner, who is forever ready with his pearly-white teethed smile, was diagnosed with cancer of the urinary bladder about 2 years previously. He is still smiling these days after enduring 12 hours of radical surgery, nauseating chemotherapy afterwards, losing erectile and ejaculatory functions, losing his bladder and uses a stomal bag for urinary functions. And he is still practicing medicine to treat others as well as to provide for his young family.
Just like a lady that I know  who only moves in high society, attending one party after another. Her younger sister is an equally high heeled jet trotting executive in a successful multinational company. The youngest sibling, unable to live up to the sisters' mark lost the rat race and was labelled a schizophrenic. Struggling to manage himself, he needs the help of his ailing mother for guidance. But how long? So much of anxiety...
So the next time when you are in a situation where someone is hogging the road and you are in a hurry, take a step back and ponder. You do not know what hopeless situation he may be in. His wife could have died or something worse. You do not know what trouble he is in. Maybe you do not want to be in his shoes.

A happy man

Or the annoying man who is talking on top of his voice in a school concert in an unknown language. May be it is not because he lacks common phone etiquette or common sense, he may be in hot soup. Like they say, "I was complaining that I have no nice shoes to wear till I saw a man with no legs!"
Everybody wears a mask to face the real world. Do you seriously think that the runners-up in the Miss World is all joy and smiles for losing the crown or the worker who laughs it away when his boss reprimands him?
We want everything to be perfect for us but in reality we have to live with the imperfection that is endowed upon us and to get the best out of the less than perfect to newer heights.

       

Chindian - Result of true national integration!

One big Chindian family: The lady is blue,a Chinese baby was adopted by an Indian family and later became
 a Tamil school teacher! She is wearing shades after cataract surgery. Her family members are more inclined to Indian way of lifestyle - in preference of food, language and choice of spouse.

Bernard Chandran-designer

Nicol David @ Duracell Bunny

Not Chindian, but Amala (Tamil movie star of 80's).
Could pass off as a Chindian!

   

Tan Sri & son, Ruben Gnanalingam.
(2007:Forbes Asia, 29 in their List of 40 
Richest M'sians wealth US$215 million. 

Pretty Chindian lasses, could be mistaken for
Filipinas, Hispanics or any global citizen

Another happy family!

Michael Veerapan, jazz pianist extraordinare

Datuk Krishnan Tan

Puan Sri Gnanalingam

*Author’s precautionary advice:  Please be forewarned that the content of this article may appear racial in outlook. It is written with the noble intention of promoting unity, not otherwise. Readers’ discretion and common sense should prevail.
The word 'Chindian' cannot be questioned as an alien word anymore as a page is dedicated in Wikipedia for this word! (see:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chindian ) Before this only people from Malaysia  and Singapore were familiar with this word. For those in the dark about this terminology, they are people born of result of Sino-Indian matrimonial bondage. They are true result of national integration, which occurred by national evolution of mixing of cultures without fear or favour. In a country where various divisions and subdivisions exist in many day to day activities between and within races and when people often find comfort in their own kind, I view it with enigma. We can say this a true Malaysian race will evolve over time if integration is let to set in without forced intervention from the powers that be in the name hastening national culture.
I have many Chindians contacts, starting way back from childhood days in RRF.
My first contact with Chindians started when my sisters and I did a short stint of tuition classes with a certain Form 6 student in St. Georges’ School, Ms Kamala Veni, in Boundary Road near RRF. In those days, especially in the circle of RRF, sixth formers were considered a sort of local hero as not many successfully complete Form 5 (equivalent to ‘O’ levels). Since sixth formers were just a step before undergraduate studies, they enjoyed celebrity status in Amma’s books! Veni’s mother is Chinese. I remember her as a very jovial person would try very hard to blend in by talking Tamil all the time. In spite of her limited vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar, she attempted to communicate with people around her in Tamil albeit in a broken and comical, much to the amusement of people around her who would snigger behind her back. Unfortunately, Amma and my sisters were guilty of such behaviour!

Then there was Ms Thavamani of E14-10. She was a newborn when her Chinese biological parents gave her to an old Tamil couple for adoption. Even though physically, she looks every inch a Chinese (skin complexion, straight hair and facial features), culturally (way of talking, head gestures, hand gestures, mannerisms, dressing sense, long pleated hair with flowers, linguistic skills and many other features), due to her nurturing, made her more Indian than any typical Indian girl. In fact, she would sometimes pass cynical remarks about her Chinese neighbours and their pungent cooking ‘aromas’. I remember once an old Chinese who was incapable of conversing in Malay was trying to tell her something in Hockkein in the lift. Lucky for both of them, Lats, whose is fluent in the dialect acted as an interpreter!

Then there is a childhood friend of mine (SD) whose mother is his father’s niece. SD’s mother, a Chinese child, was adopted by my friend’s grandmother. The grandmother’s much younger brother married this girl (of course when she was of marriageable age) and my friend was born. So SD’s mother was also her mother-in-law. And the father’s sister was also his mother-in-law. But grandma was still grandma to SD, either way you look at it! In the Tamil culture, it is perfect alright for uncles (only mother’s brother) to marry nieces and first cousins to marry provided their fathers or mothers are not siblings! I suppose they consider that only the male species carry genetic material; the females are just empty vessels! (oops!)

Many years ago, SD was about to get hitched to tie the knot after cupid shot the arrow at the heart of a loving Chinese girl. During one of my visits at SD’s parent’s home, SD’s mum complained to me, “Look at your friend, he is marrying a Chinese girl. Can he not find a nice Indian girl instead?” I did not what to say, suppressing my funny facial muscles as I stared into her Oriental face. What racists we Malaysians are, behind the face mask that we all wear? Anyway, they all appear happy now – with the proud grandparents doting on the offspring of that blessed union.

In varsity, there were many amongst us who were Chindians. One apparent observation that I noted was their apparent bonding to the Indian students, i.e.if they acquired their ‘Chinese genes’ from their maternal side. Those who have Chinese fathers tend to stick to the Chinese. This is by no means a double-blind randomised control study prepared for publication. As a nation, we have many prominent Chindians who have contributed much to the country. A few figures that I can recall include Datuk Krishnan Tan (construction), Ruben Gnanalingam (being moulded by his father Tan Sri Gnanalingam of West Port Klang), Datuk Nicol David (squash), S. Kumaresan (cycling), Datuk Bernard Chandran (fashion), Michael Veerapan (jazz pianist) and Melvin Khoo (Indian classical dance).

Just that you may know....
Chindians display so much as a product of national integration that many are as ambassadors of sorts to the world like in the national airline carrier, MAS. Classical stereotyping as we, Malaysian, do sometimes land them in 'trouble' during the fasting month of Ramadan when they are 'caught' feasting, much to the embarrassment of the Islamic officials when the matter is clarified! 

Hope for a speedy recovery!

Harakahdaily columnist Dr Farouk Musa ill

Harakahdaily

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 15: Activist and Harakahdaily columnist Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa (pic) has been admitted at Hospital Kuala Lumpur since last week for bacterial meningitis. His condition is reported to be critical. Dr Farouk, 47, a cardiothoracic surgeon by profession and a senior lecturer at Monash University, was admitted on Friday evening. He was later put on sedation. He is currently still warded at the intensive care unit, but has yet to regain consciousness. Friends who visited him at the hospital describe him as a person who never runs out of energy. Days before he was taken to hospital, he informed Harakahdaily's English editor that he was preparing for his next piece for his column, 'Islamism Revisited'. Late last year, he launched a new organisation called Islamic Renaissance Front, a youth empowerment movement which focuses on intellectual debate. The IRF has since held several talks and seminars, most notably organising a lecture by well-known Swiss scholar Dr Tariq Ramadan last July and a seminar on Qur'anic tafsir. Dr Farouk is also a founding member of the Muslim Professionals Forum, and has been actively speaking at various inter-religious fora as well as contributing his thought-provoking articles on the subject of Islamic reform. Despite his busy teaching job and practice, he is said to be engaged in various projects, one of which is to produce a Bahasa Melayu translation of the late Polish-Muslim scholar Muhammad Asad's renowned work, The Message of the Qur'an. Dr Farouk takes a personal interest in the subject of Islamic revivalism, and in speeches and writings has emphasised the need for reform based on true Islamic intellectual traditions, an interest which led him to form the IRF. He has been actively involved in his medical field, having presented papers in Asia and Europe, winning several awards for his research works, specifically on minimally invasive surgery and atrial fibrillation. We hope readers will pray for Dr Farouk's speedy recovery. NB. Ahmad Farouk Musa was my classmate in Penang Free School between 1976 and 1980. (FG)

'Friends' with business benefits only!

The sad truth about Facebook.
The people who run Facebook, the social-networking company, are furious about a new movie that takes lots of liberties in its depiction of how Facebook came into existence. They’re upset because much of The Social Network, which opens Oct. 1, is just completely made up. That’s fair enough. But to me, the really interesting thing about this movie is that while much of the tale is invented, the story tells a larger truth about Silicon Valley’s get-rich-quick culture and the kind of people—like Facebook’s 26-year-old founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg—who thrive in this environment.
The Valley used to be a place run by scientists and engineers, people like Robert Noyce, the Ph.D. physicist who helped invent the integrated circuit and cofounded Intel. The Valley, in those days, was focused on hard science and making things. At first there were semiconductors, which is how Silicon Valley got its name; then came computers and software. But now the Valley has become a casino, a place where smart kids arrive hoping to make an easy fortune building companies that seem, if not pointless, at least not as serious as, say, old-guard companies like HP, Intel, Cisco, and Apple.
Silicon Valley’s Future Superstars
The three hottest tech companies today are Facebook, Twitter, and Zynga. What, exactly, do they do? Facebook lets you keep in touch with your friends; for this profound service to mankind it will generate about $1.5 billion in revenue this year by bombarding its 500 million members with ads. Twitter is a noisy circus of spats and celebrity watching, and its hapless founders still can’t figure out how to make money. That hasn’t stopped venture capitalists from funding dozens of companies that make little apps that work with Twitter, just as they’re also funding countless companies that make apps for Apple’s iPhone, and just as, a few years ago, they were all funding companies that made applications to run on Facebook. Zynga, the biggest of those Facebook app-makers, reportedly will rake in $500 million this year by getting people addicted to cheesy games like Farmville and Mafia Wars, then selling “virtual goods” to use inside the games.
Meanwhile, among some longtime techies, there’s a sense that something important has been lost.
“The old Silicon Valley was about solving really hard problems, making technical bets. But there’s no real technical bet being made with Facebook or Zynga,” says Nathan Myhrvold, the former chief technology officer at Microsoft who now runs an invention lab in Seattle. “Today almost everyone in the Valley will tell you there is too much ‘me-tooism,’ too much looking for a gold rush and not enough people who are looking to solve really hard problems.” Sure, there are still entrepreneurs and investors chasing serious technology challenges in the Valley. And Myhrvold says he means no disrespect to Facebook and Zynga, which have had clever ideas and are making loads of money.
“What bothers me is the zillions of wannabes who will follow along, and the expectation that every company ought to be focused on doing really short-term, easy things to achieve giant paydays. I think that’s unrealistic, and it’s not healthy,” Myhrvold says.
His company, Intellectual Ventures, intentionally runs counter to the prevailing trend in Silicon Valley. The only problems it tries to solve are ones that seem overwhelmingly difficult. These include creating a new kind of nuclear reactor and developing technologies that could address climate change and eradicate malaria.


Face-to-FacebookFriend Feed: We talk to Facebook users (and self-proclaimed addicts) about how the social networking site fits into their lives
Myhrvold doesn’t have problems raising money. He made a fortune at Microsoft and is a close friend of Bill Gates. But he worries about “the unknown engineers and professors who have good ideas. Are those people going to get funded or will they be talked out of it and told they should do something like Zynga, because virtual goods is where it’s at these days?”
The risk is that by focusing an entire generation of bright young entrepreneurs on such silly things, we’ll fall behind in creating the fundamental building blocks of our economy. The transistor and the integrated circuit gave rise to the last half century of prosperity. But what comes next? “If we distract people with the lure of easy money, with making companies that don’t solve anything hard, we’re going to wind up derailing the thing that has been driving our economy,” Myhrvold says.
We’ve already fallen behind in areas like alternative energy, better batteries, and nanotechnology. Instead of racing to catch up, we’re buying seeds and garden gnomes on Facebook. This won’t end well.

I feel goooood! Du,du,dum!*

That is exactly how I feel right now! Feeling on top of the world looking at my conquest of successfully completing the Newton 25km run yesterday in 2h 53m. The timing seems nothing to shout about but if you look at the terrain that we ran, you would be equally mesmerised.
It was organised by Triathlon Malaysia who are passionate about extreme sports, pushing the body to the limits with events like Ironman and finds pleasure in inflicting pain! So, you can imagine how the course would have been.

The run was flagged off 6.30am as scheduled from the recreational grounds of Bandar Kinrara 5. Basically the whole route was ‘T’ shaped. If you consider the lowest point of the vertical line on the ‘T’ as the starting point, the 12 km runners had to complete one half of the horizontal line of the ‘T’ whereas the 25 km runners had to finish the full length of the bar and run back. The problem is the horizontal line of the ‘T’ is nothing but horizontal in real. The course was wavy with uphill and downhill paths. It really literally took your breath away, just like the scenic view bordering the path of the run!
From Bandar Kinrara 5, we went past some housing estates, low cost flats and reached a T-junction. We turned left towards Bukit Puncak Jalil. Here, the roads go uphill, teasing a little with a decline then going on revenge with further inclinations. At the edge of Puncak Jalil, we made a U-turn and headed back. At 10km mark at Lestari Perdana, I clocked around 1h 07m. What goes up must come down. But then it went up again and worse! At 15km mark, it was 1h 45m. By 20km, most of the energy had been drained out, made worse by the morning sun. Lucky for the energy bar that I happened to carry, I managed to generate a few more action potentials on my muscle fibres.
And I felt good when I reached the finishing line. 2h 53m of continuous running (except for a few seconds of break at the 7 drink stations), I managed to secure a medal for my effort and a finisher’s T-shirt for completing 25km.

My partner-in-crime, Suresh, who took part in the 12km category had an equally gruelling time but managed to complete 12km in 1h 11m.
To view the course, try this site: http://www.triathlonmalaysia.com/race-details.php?eventID=22&tab=course

(Next stop – UPM on 17th October for 11km Mizuno Wave Run)

*Sang to the tune of the James Brown’s classic – I feel good!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7Z56dxeGMA&feature=related

Bikini killer

Back in 1976, I remember reading about a serial killer in a Sunday newspaper. Somehow, the story got stuck with me. Over the years, I have been periodically coming across this person's escapades (misadventures) in the dailies. I think it felt exciting and got stuck on to most people's grey matter because of the inclusion of the prefix 'bikini'! Now, with Google, every piece of information on this notorious psychopath is just at the tip of everyone's fingertip.

A few years ago, I visited one of the friends I know (not too many friends I have, anyway), whose wife had just delivered a baby boy a few days before that. I almost choked on the cordial drink that he cordially offered to me when he said, “We named him Sabhraj. What do you think?” I answered, “Fine! Nice name.” not wanting to be a wet blanket. I was just chuckled to myself and hoped that he never found out that he named his son after a serial killer! (A little bit too late to change as the child’s name had already been registered with the National Registration Department). Now, you know why I do not have many friends!

For the sane people who have no clue or fetish interest in serial killers and their fixations, here is a little introduction to this literally high flying bourgeois lady killer who moves amongst the high society. 

Hatchand Bhaonani Gurumukh Charles Sobhraj was born on April 6, 1944, to an unwed Vietnamese mother and a Sindhi (Indian) father who absconded. His mother befriended a French Lieutenant, and Charles became a Frenchman. He grew up in Paris, being involved in petty crimes and imprisoned many times. He escaped incarceration from France with a fake passport and a pregnant Parisian maiden to Bombay. His curriculum vitae expanded to gambling, smuggling and heist. He dodged imprisonment in India by faking illness and landed in Afghanistan with another fake passport. He was caught here for robbing tourists but got away by drugging hospital guards. And his adventure brought him to Iran and many Eastern European countries with many stolen passports. His spate of murders started in Thailand to sustain his lavish lifestyle and his clan of followers. He is sometimes known as 'The Serpent'.His trusted lieutenant, Ajay Chowdhury, was also sent to Malaysia on a gem-stealing mission.

After being arrested a couple of times and escaping police custody, he was sentenced to 20 years jail sentence by a Nepalese court on 31st July 2010. He is a celebrity of sorts - TV shows and books have been penned on his antics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Sobhraj

http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/sep/22sld1.htm
If you want to read the whole book on the life and times of Charles Sobhraj, look no further... (Be warned that it is 382 pages long!
http://www.scribd.com/doc/94694/Life-And-Crimes-Of-Charles-Sobhraj
http://blog.ekendraonline.com/1788/sobhraj-finally-convicted-life-sentenced.html

Changing of Guards?

Everyone has his own tall tale to tell!

My heart bleeds to see the unmanned security post at the entrance to our taman (housing estate). Prior to this, for the past one year, after a spate of break-ins and petty thefts, the Residents' Association decided, with my wife's brain child, to convert the taman into a guarded community. After the proper paper work, red tape, vetting of applications and an extraordinary general meeting, one particular company was unanimously chosen over the others as they promised 24-hours surveillance on motorbike with Malaysian guards. The monthly fees was capped at a reasonable amount of RM45 monthly per household.

Changing of guards@Buckingham Palace

Miraculously, crime was non existent and our model was emulated by other adjacent housing estates!
I suppose something good does not last forever. Everything was going on fine till a group of members within the committee members decided that services offered by them was not up to mark. The splinter group managed to convince the others to try out another security company. There was, however, a nagging suspicion that the new company could just be somebody's (the renegade faction's) somebody's relative's company. They promised Nepali guards and better service. They were given three months' grace period to prove their mantle.

The residents later realised that they were short-changed when the security guards turned out to be Bangladeshis and Pakistanis and were not conversant in Malay or English. Well, we have many Malaysians amongst us in the same boat as well but that does not count as they are bonafide citizens of Malaysia. You ridicule them and Michael Chong will be in the Star newspaper holding the citizen’s complaint letter and all readers will be in cahoots with his (citizen’s) predicament! That is another story altogether!

They did not do any surveillance rounds as they had no transport. Any Tom, Dick and Harry could just drive or walk through with a friendly wave of hand at the guards! So did the old newspaper man, the recycle man, the ice-cream man, various vendors and the mattress selling man with his irritating honk and loud speaker!

The residents decided that that was it. They stopped paying their monthly dues and that brought it to this. The taman is once again bare open to jaywalkers or roving ill-intended devils with mischief on their minds.

We are hoping for the good offices of the Residents' Association to reinstate law, order and security in the neighbourhood.

This is the problem again and again with man. Something good will be going on just fine. Someone will create a problem with ulterior motives and suggests alternatives which will not work out and things would be worse than it was initially and everyone will be left high and dry.

Let us just hope this is a transition period like changing of guard and everything will be back to status quo as before!

P.S. On the world stage, we all remember a someone who was adamant on the existence of weapons of mass destruction which places the world at a very precarious position. Day in and day out, this mantra was recited over all major news channels to justify war against terror. The march into a sovereign nation was a walk in the park with no evidence of WMD and the world is even more chaotic now!