Monday, 19 September 2011

Departures (おくりびとOkuribito)

It is one of those Arty movies that I picked up (DVD) while waiting to go in to watch another film in the cinema (Bodyguard, Hindi). Boy! I am sure watching more movies than I should. Actually, I was only a bodyguard to my daughter to watch the film 'Bodyguard' (starring Salman Khan with his senseless ala Matrix kind of unimaginable stunts only to be bettered by Vijaykanth!) which is not worth mentioning in this posting!

I have departed from my narration of Departures, a full-length Japanese movie, subtitled in English, about the departed. Departed? Departures? Confused? That is how our hero, Kobayashi, got entangled in this mess in the first place. Kobayashi, a cellist in a symphony orchestra, returns to his hometown when the orchestra winds down due to bad business.

A good movie to watch to appreciate the sheer pleasing picturesque view of the interior colder parts of Japan. And I have definitely fallen in love with the finesse and the mild-mannered natured trait of the Japanese culture. I cannot imagine such a civilization went on a rampage and terrorized the Chinese and the South-East Asian nations.

I digress...

I have departed from my narration of Departures, a full-length Japanese movie, subtitled in English, about the departed. Departed? Departures? Confused? That is how our hero, Kobayashi, got entangled in this mess in the first place. Kobayashi, a cellist in a symphony orchestra, returns to his hometown when the orchestra winds down the business. He ends up in a job which he thought has something to do with the tourist industry - helping in departures, little knowing that it is helping the departed- dressing up the dead for the undertakers. He found the job an offer too lucrative to resist and decided to keep mum about the nature of his job from his wife.

Along the way, we are told of the various trials and tribulations of his work - of how people look down on his vocation and how they accuse him and his boss of living of the dead! Some of the awkward moments in his work include an instant when he discovers that a lady corpse is a cross-dresser! At another function, a family feud arises amongst the grieving members accusing each other as being the cause of the demise of the deceased. Kobayashi soon discovers how in the course of his work he helps the grieved in bereavement. Along the way, his wife discovers his fraudulent activity and walks out on him. After a little soul searching, Kobayashi finds solace in himself and his wife returns to tell him about her pregnancy and stays back.

The film also discusses other subplots -His boss' issue with his wife's death; his colleague's pathetic life and Kobayashi's unresolved anger with his father's walking out on his and his mother's life in his early childhood, eloping with a waitress.

There was a poignant moment when the boss compares the dead body to the carcass of meat that he was eating. If the meat were alive, it would be no use to us! Another plus point was the directors' take of the Kobayashis' intimate moments. It is tastefully taken with just enough exposure without showing too much flesh!

The father's character appears at the end of the movie when the news arrives that he is dead as an orphan. He and his wife come to see how badly the funeral parlours treats the dead. He takes over the care of his father's remain and finds peace with his father's misdeed. His wife appreciates his work as a professional and everybody is happy!

This movie grabbed the 2009 Oscar for the Best Foreign Language Film category.

Saturday, 17 September 2011

16 HISTORICAL PHOTOS

Short descriptions of 16 pictures that made history


1. The famous photo of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara
Che’, described as a ‘guerrilla hero’, appears in a black beret with his face looking out, in a photograph taken by Alberto Korda on March 5, 1960. Guevara, 31 years old at that time, was attending a funeral for victims of an explosion at Coubre. The photo was published seven years later.
The Art Institute of Maryland (USA) has called it ‘the most famous photo and graphic icon of the twentieth century’.  Indeed, this photograph has been reproduced many times around the world and is considered one of the ten greatest photographic portraits of all time. 
It is a universal symbol of rebellion for human principles against social injustice.
2.The agony of Omayra 
Omayra Sanchez was a little girl who died during the eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano, which destroyed the town of Armero, Colombia, in 1985. Omayra was stuck for three days in the mud, water, corpses of relatives and debris from her home. She was 13 years old.
Rescuers found that it was impossible to save her as they would have had to amputate her legs. The other option was to use a pump-turbine to suck the sticky mud. The only pump available was too far away and unavailable. Omayra was strong till the last moment of her life. According to aid workers and journalists who were with her for three days, she was thinking about returning to school and passing exams. Thanks to photographer Frank Fournier, the image of Omayra travelled the world exposing the indifference of the Colombian government to ordinary, destitute Columbians (which has not changed much today).
The photograph was published several months after the young girl died. Many view this picture of 1985 as the beginning of what we now call the globalization of agony.
3.Death at the door of paradise
A picture taken by Javier Bauluz, a Spanish photographer and winner of a Pulitzer Prize, shows two Spanish tourists on a beach looking at the lifeless body of a clandestine boat immigrant. The picture was part of a report on the entry of illegal immigrants through the shores of Western Europe. It denounces people’s indifference to the tragedies of others. Following its publication in La Vanguardia and the New York Times, reviews and  commentaries poured into Spain.
4. The little girl of Vietnam 
On June 8, 1972, a US fighter jet bombed the population of Trang Bang in Vietnam with napalm. Kim Phuc was there with her family. With her clothes on fire, the nine year old girl ran away along with other children. At one point, her clothes burned out. This picture was shot, at that moment, by the famous photographer Nick Ut. Kim stayed in hospital for 14 months. The girl underwent 17 operations for skin grafts. Anyone looking at this photograph can see the intensity of the despair and human suffering created by wars (still raging in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Columbia, Congo, Iraq, occupied Palestine and Somalia), especially the effects on children and women.
Today, Pham Thi Kim Phuc, the little girl in the photo, is married with two children. She lives in Canada where she presides over the Kim Phuc Foundation where the mission is to help child victims of war. She is also an ambassador for UNESCO. 
5.Execution in Saigon 
The colonel killed the prisoner. I killed the colonel with my camera,’ said Eddie Adams, the war photographer who took this snapshot. It shows the cold-blooded assassination of a Vietcong guerrilla on February 1, 1968, by the police chief of Saigon. The Vietcong hands were tied behind his back when he was shot at close range.
Adams, who had been a correspondent for 13 wars, won a Pulitzer Prize for this picture. He was so emotionally affected by the event that he changed his profession. 
6.The Afghan girl
Gharbat Gula was photographed when she was 12 by photographer Steve McCurry, in June 1984, in the refugee camp of Nasir Bagh in Pakistan during the insurrection against the Soviet invasion. Her portrait was featured on the cover of National Geographic in June 1985 because of her expressive face with green eyes. However, at that time, nobody knew the name of the girl.
The photographer spent 17 years searching for the girl. He took many trips to the region until, in January 2002, he found her. She was a 30 year old married woman with three children. Finally he discovered her name. Gharbat Gula returned to Afghanistan in 1992 where she lives in a remote village. Nobody had ever taken a photo of her before McCurry and she did not know that her face had become famous. The woman's identity was confirmed at 99.9% through facial recognition technology used by the FBI and especially by the comparison of the two photographed irises.
7. A kiss in Times Square
Say goodbye to war’ was taken by Victor Jorgensen in Times Square, New York City, on August 14, 1945. We can see a US marine passionately kissing a nurse. Contrary to popular belief, these two characters were not partners but passers-by who had just met there.
The photograph, an icon, is seen as the reflection of the excitement and passion of returning home (sweet home) after a long absence, and the joy felt at the end of war. 
8. The unknown rebel
The ‘Unknown Rebel’ was the nickname given to an anonymous man who became internationally famous for being photographed standing before a line of tanks during the Tiananmen Square uprising of 1989 in China. The photo was taken by Jeff Widener. The man seems to be stopping the advance of the tanks and the image has been around the world. 
In China, the picture was used by the government as a symbol of compassion the soldiers of the People's Liberation Army felt towards the Chinese people and their desire to protect them. Despite orders to advance, the tank driver refused to do so.
9. Protest in silence 
Thich Quang Duc was born in 1897. He was a Vietnamese Buddhist monk (also called a bonze) who burned himself to death on a busy street in Saigon on June 11, 1963. His act of sacrifice, which was repeated by other monks, was memorable. It was witnessed by David Halberstam. As his body burned, the monk remained motionless. He did not cry. He did not even make a sound. 
Thich Quang Duc was protesting against the way the US-backed administration of South Vietnam was manipulating Buddhism to further its goals. After his death, his body was cremated according to Buddhist tradition. During the cremation, his heart remained intact. Thich was considered a saint and his heart was kept as a relic at the Reserve Bank of Vietnam.
This was the origin of the term ‘self-immolation’, which, contrary to what people think, is not about committing suicide but about sacrificing oneself –a form of political protest.
10. Death rode 
The brilliant Sudanese photographer Kevin Carter won the Pulitzer Prize with a photograph taken in a small village in Sudan in the region of Ayod. The picture has toured the world. It shows a hopeless little girl, totally emaciated, lying on the floor, exhausted by hunger and dying, while in the background, the black silhouette of a vulture watching and waiting for her death. Four months later, overwhelmed by guilt and driven by a strong dependence on drugs, Kevin Carter committed suicide.
The destitution shown in the photograph is the direct result of the continuous meddling of Western foreign powers in Sudan in order to grab its riches. As a result of this and the inefficiency and corruption of the local government, Sudanese die of starvation in a country considered to be the richest in Africa in terms of agriculture. 
11.The fatal fall 
The Falling Man’ is the title of a photograph taken by Richard Drew on September 11, 2001, during the attacks against the twin towers of the World Trade Center at 9:41:15 in the morning. In the picture we can see a man falling from the towers. By jumping he is most likely choosing a rapid and violent death instead of slowly dying of burns and smoke.
The publication of this document shortly after the attacks angered some sections of the American public. Most media refused to include this picture in their vehicles, preferring to show pictures depicting acts of heroism and sacrifice. Some people are attempting to discover the identity of the falling man.
The picture depicts the weakness and fragility of man.

12. The wounded soldier
During an uprising in Puerto Cabello in Carabobo State, Venezuela, in 1962 – an episode known as the Porteñazo – the ruling dictatorship violently suppressed the insurgents. The picture depicts Padre Luis Maria Padilla holding a wounded soldier in his arms. While the padre was trying to lift him up the soldier could hardly say ‘my father help me’ before being shot again. This photo toured the world and was the sole recipient of the Pulitzer Prize World Press Photo.
The tragic death of this unlucky man proves that government soldiers (and insurgents alike) always pay the heavy price, not the ruling class.
13.The struggle of landless farmers 
This photograph by Luiz Vasconcelos earned an award in the Singles of the World Press Photo in the General News category in 2009. It depicts a woman with her child trying to resist eviction by riot police on the outskirts of Manaus in the Brazilian Amazon and illustrates the struggle of landless Indian farmers against white Creole landowners. It is scary to view this image and to think of family and children. 
14. Under the claws of the bulldozer 
Rachel Aliene Corrie was an American member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). She was born on April 10, 1979, and murdered on March 16, 2003. She was crushed to death in the Gaza Strip by an Israeli Army bulldozer, while she was kneeling in front of a local Palestinian's home, thus acting as a human shield, attempting to prevent Israeli Occupation Forces from demolishing the home. 
The pictures depict her before and after her cold-blooded murder. The spokesman for the Israeli Occupation Army stated that the death was due to the restricted angle of view of the Caterpillar D9 bulldozer driver, while ISM eyewitnesses said ‘there was nothing to obscure the driver's view’.
A student at the Evergreen State College, Rachel had taken a year off and travelled to the Gaza Strip to understand the truth of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is often covered up. This young 24 year old martyr proves that the naturally rebellious spirit of the ordinary American people against the forces of evil is alive and well.
15. The child resisting the tank  
A Palestinian child opposing an Israeli Army Occupation tank in Palestine – picture taken in the 1990s in the Occupied West Bank by an unknown photographer. This photograph shows the fierce resistance of an entire population, devoid of any support, facing a brutal occupation of their country. It is said that Palestine is probably the only country in the 21st century still being directly colonized. As such it has become the largest open air prison in the world ever since its occupation by Israeli settlers in 1948.

16.The ultimate photo
Some people believe in God, others not, but we must think and think again how small we are before the forces of nature. This photo was taken on the coast of Sumatra Island in Indonesia during an overwhelming tsunami, with waves measuring up to 20m in height. The picture was found a month and a half later in a digital camera. Whoever took this picture, no doubt, ceased to exist a few seconds after pressing the trigger of the small machine.
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Thursday, 15 September 2011

A teenage freedom fighter!

Datuk Rasamah Bhupalan (Rasamah Naomi Navarednam a.k.a. Mrs F.R. Bhupalan) needs no introduction. She has been seen in the media every now and then over the years. Listening to her interview, she must have had a very interesting and fruitful 84 years of lively life. Imagine a 16year old Indian girl in pavadai in 1943 donning military camouflage with a rifle over the shoulder and being shipped to Burma border as a soldier in the Rani of Jhansi Regiment of the Indian National Army under the auspices of Netaji Subash Chandrabose to fight the British.
Happy Malaysia Day!
"When the Malayan flag was hoisted in 1957, 'every person there did not represent one race, they were Malayans,” recalls Mrs FR Bhupalan, who was then a 30-year-old mother of two."



Tuesday, 13 September 2011

What makes them tick on and on (like a Duracell bunny)?

David Cameron and family
We are all used to hear of employees in Malaysia who have no qualms of calling in sick for the flimsiest of a reason that one can think of - great-grandmother sick, grandfather died at the age of 100 or the dog in ICU! Sometimes the same relative dies repeatedly and conveniently so as to ease their absence from work. Sometimes 3 days of national holiday in the middle of the week means a whole week of holiday! For example, recently Aidilfitri and Merdeka holidays were from Tuesday to Thursday. Most employees took it for granted that holidays start from the Saturday before all the way to the Sunday following Merdeka (a good 9 days of rest if Monday and Friday are sick leave!)

On the other end of the spectrum, believe you me, we have people who persevere through thick and thin with only one thing on their mind - to achieve their One Vision against all the odds, what come may! Life goes on...

It comes to mind how two recent British Prime Ministers came to the height of their respective careers in spite of happenings at their domestic (meant their own homes) front. Gordon Brown (2007-2010) had his first (2001) born prematurely and succumb to cerebral haemorrhage. In 2006, his son (third born) was diagnosed to have cystic fibrosis(CF), which in the UK, has a life expectancy of 31 years. James Cameron (PM from 2011) recently lost his beautiful 'special child' Ivan (b. 2002 with cerebral palsy and seizures) in 2009 aged 6. In spite of having a child who needs constant round-the-clock supervision, he managed to climb his ambitious ladder to reach his present stature. Do you call that apathy, being self-centred or being practical - life has to go on? Do their wives nag them for not being a helping hand around the house, that do they (the wives) have to do all the job around the house, that charity begins at home or to take care their own flesh and blood before jumping to help others to garner votes? I was just wondering... Perhaps politicians have thick skins, thicker than the toughest crocodile hide!

Whatever said and done, hats off to these gentlemen for persevering in their ambition in spite of the adversities in life and ticking on and on like a Duracell bunny!

Saturday, 10 September 2011

The quiet Beatle he was not!

Just enjoying the compilation CD of George Harrison as selected by his wife, Olivia and friends. Guess they just come up with a scheme to get more money from Harrison's legacy! George, the unashamed practicing Vaishnavite Hindu (yeah, the vegetarian who willed a princely sum of his estate to an ashram in India) and the rather quiet one behind the scene, overshadowed by John and Paul, is my favourite Beatle. Ringo, I think, was quite comfortable sitting at the back banging the drums crazy.
I just picked up this CD when I was picking up some books for my small guy at Popular's. I wanted to educate myself on listening to rock and roll music by a legend whose musical potential only came forth after the break up of the Fab Four. Listening to a CD is truly rewarding experience, unlike listening to the radio - not just the lack of commercials but you can listen to it again and again and music quality and crisp is beyond definition.
No regrets on getting the CD. It kind of grows on you more and more as you go on listening to it. This one exhibits 19 songs which eventually get you hooked. In fact, the past one week I have been listening the songs again and again.... abandoning all other sorts of music!
The following is by no means meant to be taken as a literary analysis of the album. It is just a piece of gibberish sounding repertoire of a person who only knows how to enjoy his music but not play a single musical instrument, perhaps only Indian prayers percussion (jalra) and recorder in school days! I try to promote what I did not master through my kids, albeit at partially success only!
Track listing
No. Title Writer(s) Original Album Length
1. "Got My Mind Set on You" Rudy Clark; Cloud Nine 3:52 - I never knew all this while that it was a cover version. Originally written by Rudy Clark and sang by James Ray (nothing to with Ray Charles) in 1962, listen here!

2. "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)" Harrison; Living in the Material World 3:35
Starts like an Eagles' like country rock then it progresses to a bhajan like song asking to be relieved of sufferings on earth, free from birth etecetera! I thought living on earth is a punishment for our sins.

3. "Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)" Harrison; All Things Must Pass 3:48

4. "My Sweet Lord" Harrison; All Things Must Pass 4:40
It is interesting how Halelujah later becomes Hare Krishna then Guru Sakshat Parabrahma and Hare Rama..

5. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (Live) Harrison; The Concert for Bangladesh 4:46
Needs no introduction.

6. "All Things Must Pass" Harrison; All Things Must Pass 3:46

7. "Any Road" Harrison; Brainwashed 3:52
This is a profound song with message about life and its purpose, also with a tongue-in-cheek comment (quoting Wizard of Oz) about if you do not know where you are heading, any road leads you there!

8. "This Is Love" Harrison, Jeff Lynne; Cloud Nine 3:47
Another sad melodious song which keeps on humming in your brain.

9. "All Those Years Ago" Harrison; Somewhere in England 3:46
This is a tribute song to John Lennon after his assassination in 1981..

10. "Marwa Blues" Harrison ;Brainwashed 3:41
This instrumental got a Grammy for best instrumental music. Reminds me of a sad Tamil movie music score - the higher the notes of the sitar goes the more the tears well up in the tear glands! The sitar (and its predecessor, the veena) are truly magical instruments.  Very touching...

11. "What Is Life" Harrison ;All Things Must Pass 4:25
What is life, you tell me, people say it is curse yet they like to stay on the curse as long as they can. The bonds that you have in your life helps you stay sane, yet sometimes may go insane, paradoxically!

12. "Rising Sun" Harrison ;Brainwashed 5:27
A song with very powerful lyrics. It sounds like Rising Sun is the name of a half-way house of a rehab for alcoholics or drug addicts! read the lyric.. I guess it is the only song with the word DNA in it. And the guitar work sounds like Eric Clapton like 'slow-hand' type of lead guitar! Nice 'un!
On the street of villains taken for a ride you can have the devil as a guide crippled by the boundaries, programmed into guilt till your nervous system starts to tilt. And in the room of mirrors you can see for miles but everything that's there is in disguise every word you've uttered and every thought you've hadis all inside your file, the good and the bad. But in the rising sun you can feel your life begin universe at play inside your DNA you're a billion years old today. Oh the rising sun and the place it's coming from is inside of you and now your payment's overdue oh the rising sun, oh the rising sun.

13. "When We Was Fab" Harrison, Lynne Cloud Nine 3:51
Guess everyone has a time in their life they truly dear, for Harrison it must be with the Beatles! Forgive the bad English - artistic immunity.

14. "Something" (Live) Harrison The Concert for Bangladesh 3:10

15. "Blow Away" Harrison George Harrison 3:59

16. "Cheer Down" Harrison, Tom Petty Lethal Weapon 2 soundtrack 4:06
Great guitar handiwork there, George! Lethal weapon was good too.

17. "Here Comes the Sun" (Live) Harrison The Concert for Bangladesh 2:54
Again, no introduction needed!

18. "I Don't Want to Do It" Bob Dylan Porky's Revenge soundtrack 2:54
That is why there was Bob Dylan's feel to it at the beginning of the song!

19. "Isn't It a Pity" (Version one) Harrison All Things Must Pass 7:07
This song was actually written during the Beatles' time but was rejected and vetoed for other songs. Later it  was released as a solo artiste and was voted as Harrison's best song!

Isn't it a pity that he has passed away? Well, in the immortal words of the mortal George Harrison - All things must pass!

Thursday, 8 September 2011

Nature vs. Nurture


You can only motivate someone so much. After that, it is left to nature or genes as one may call it. The more you push him to the brim, the higher the chances are that he may just flip. Everyone has his own capability to achieve his place in space and time at his own pace or bar of achievement. We cannot set our target and expect everybody else to follow. And just because the other person does not reach our expectation, it does not mean that he is a failure. At his own leisurely pace and his perhaps longer duration, he may actually attain enviable dizzying heights. The ability to explore and try out one's varied, sometimes eccentric ideas, not following blindly to preset norm is the cornerstone of innovation that started the Industrial Revolution at the end of the 19th century which categorically ended the greatness of the feudalistic empires of the world to be replaced by republics and people's rule of law by consensus. Let it be....

Tuesday, 6 September 2011

The products of a romantic star of the yesteryear!

Now you see all the children of Gemini Ganesan (of four wives, at least) posing gleefully for the camera after coming from different corners of the world to see the ailing father on his deathbed. They seem to found peace with the contributor of their half of their 46 chromosomes. Sure, growing up must have been hell seeing their respective mothers shedding tears, indulgence in unhealthy activities with one of them falling prey to the curse of the black dog, hating the sight of each step sibling, their respective heartaches all because of the evil done by one man who could not put his raging testesterones under check! Perhaps,the flashing lights and his dizzying heights that his career took clouded his judgement. After all, he was only human...

Gems of Gemini Ganesan
L-R: Dr Revathi Swaminathan, Narayani Ganesan,
Dr Kamala Selvaraj, Rekha, Vijaya Chamundeswari and

Dr Jaya Shreedhar. 
(Abs: Radha Usman Syed, Sathish Kumaar Ganesan)
Seeing six of Gemini Ganesan's seven daughters together is rare.
In December 2004, when he was very ill, they decided to come down to Chennai and nurse their father.
They met again in February 2005 at Chennai's Apollo Hospital. Rekha was to inaugurate the Apollo Wellness Clinic, and all the sisters except Rekha's sister, Radha, made it a point to attend the function.
The eldest among the six sisters is Dr Revathi Swaminathan, a radiation oncologist practising in Illinois, USA. Dr Kamala Selvaraj, Gemini Ganesan's second daughter, runs the G G Hospital in Chennai. Narayani Ganesan is a journalist with The Times Of India in Delhi. The youngest is Dr Jaya Shreedhar, a health advisor with Inter News Network.
Rekha and Radha are Gemini Ganesan's daughters of actress Pushpavalli, and Vijaya Chamundeswari, daughter of actress Savithri, is a fitness expert working at the G G Hospital.
"The only one missing is Rekha's sister Radha, who is in the US," says Dr Jaya Shreedhar. "She is elder to both Viji [Vijaya] and me.
"Though Appa was unwell, we had some good moments when we met in December. People may assume that there are strained relationships because we don't share the same mother, but there is nothing like that," she adds.
"We are professional women, and over the years, have learnt to appreciate each sister for what she is. We did not have the pleasure of growing up together. In fact, between my own elder sister Revathi and me, there is a 20-year age difference. Appa was thrilled to have all of us together. This was a pleasure he never had when we were young."
Jaya was the only daughter who saw her father at home when she was young. "By the time I was born, he was a senior star, had moved out of those relationships, and was with my mother. It is extraordinary, but the upbringing was in a way that there was never any ill-will. You are born into it," she says.

"Suppose we were raised in a middle-class, rigid culture; I might have found it unusual and emotionally challenging. When we sisters met this time, it was more like six 'wild' cousins meeting and talking non-stop. It was lots of fun!"


"..Though there is no correct account of the number of wives he had, it is widely believed that he was married to Alamelu, Savitri and Pushpavalli. He is survived by seven daughters and a son. His children are Revathi Swaminathan, Kamala Selvaraj, Narayani Ganesh, Jaya Shreedhar, actress Rekha, Radha Usman Syed, Vijaya Chamundeswari and Sathish Kumaar Ganesan...." Wikipedia

Don't talk to strangers?