Strange bedfellows? Politics and Religion

Of late, there have been talks of the need for sermons to be apolitical. Just like civil servants, they should just ease day to day living, not to have any political inclinations, so they say. Scripted Fridays khutbah and Sunday morning sermons are a no no.
Just the other day, one of the buddies in the gang of 5 was proposing the idea that religion is indeed a big political party by itself. It toes the line of how one should think and behave in society. It outlines the high priests / scriptures ordained socially acceptable way of living. When man reaches crossroads or is at a dead-end, unable to continue their next plan of action or their 'Plan B', religion provides solace to the heart wrenching broken heart moment. People just get awed by the bigger than life powers of Divinity.

For the social outcasts, they are received with open arms with no obligation (so it seems), giving them dignity and strength until they can fly again or be an eternal humble servant of God or the 'holier than thou' holy high priests who seem to hold the key to the secrets of life but they sometimes fall prey to pleasure of the flesh. (That is not their fault! Satan lurks everywhere to ignite the spark of negativity in the good work of the servants of the Lord).
At the outset, they appear ever understanding to your plight. They go out of their way bending backwards to help you, then they impose their ideology and regulations.
Of course, to continue all these humanitarian work, money is of essence. A fish net will passed around to collect more catches. And the catch would feed more than is needed. What the heck, more dough means more cloud on Earth to continue divine work and bulldoze their ideas in subtle ways. After all more people will hang on to strong branch when they about to fall. More money, more authority in this God created world.
So, religion is politics and politics is religion.
http://religion.lilithezine.com/The-Politics-of-Religion.html

Compliments of National Geographic #4

Half a century behind

After frying my fat cells in my cranium with five 13-episode seasons of Mad Men, the only deduction I can make is that what they are showing in the series is what is happening in 50 years later in Malaysia. In other words, some a sociological viewpoint, we are 50 years behind them, which is not necessarily a bad thing. It is a spontaneous evolution of any society where one seeming more 'advanced' society set a precedence and a yardstick for any younger ones to follow suit. In order to how what is in store for our future generation, see 'The new Beverly Hills 90210'!
Revolutionary changes happening over the 5 seasons were ladies creeping into decision making posts not mere making coffee and cleaning up, interracial unions, ladies smoking and drinking freely, extra marital and premarital flings with no qualms about its guilt and the effort of psychological disturbances in daily lives.
Gone is the era where people were more conformist to the norms set by the majority. Fundamentals held close to everyone's heart is sacrosanct no more. There are questioned. Abstract answers based on folklore and hearsay would not suffice to quench the thirst to explain and understand every non tangible subject with an objective answer. Blind acceptance is passé. The frustrated older generation who try to impart their long long learnt experience in lessons of life falls on deaf ears, not without an earful of explicits. Times are a'changing!

Respect the distance!

The basic rule of running is to respect the distance. Whatever it is a long track, a short trail or a marathon, the distance must be be respected. This, I learnt from the Salomon trail held on the grounds of the agricultural university at the area which houses the the dairy cows.
This time around, what used the playing field of aspiring veterinary students was our running ground. Tuned to most appropriate tunes of the 'Best of Eagles' country rock tune befitting the environment, to the smell of decaying cow manure and early morning dew, running in the muddy and sometimes slippery, sometimes uneven ground of latterite soil, we struggled through the trail of country road to the amusement to the masticating bullls and cows! Probably, they must be amused at our follies at running fast but wary to the deceiving slippery wet trail.
The trail initially took us through a puddle of mud as seen above. Some how, most runners managed to keep their feet dry by going around it. On the way back, however, most runners did not bother. What is a trail run if you do get dirty. Anyway, they all had splatters of mud on the calf and back and the shoes were all in different shades of brown.
If running the miles is not difficult enough, running on this kind of terrain makes it triply difficult.  It was made even more difficult by the never ending climbs. If you think coming down is easy, it is not. You are afraid of losing grip as the soil was slippery. And the mud that sticks to the sole of the shoes ensures that grip is at minimum.
Some of the runners still managed to find time to take photo shots of the cows which they would have never seen in their lifetime. They would only know them by taste!
The initially promised 10km run turned out to be 11.3km but it was in good fun. As like in any police drama series, where the cops would gather in the local pub to celebrate the solving of their case, we ended our day by stopping at a thosai shop.

The saga concludes...

Apur Sansar (The World of Apu, Bengali; 1959)
Continuing the conclusion of Apu Trilogy, I managed to lay my hands on Apur Sansar, Satyajit Ray's 1959 film. Ray introduced Sharmila Tagore to film world via this offering.
Apu completes secondary school is looking for a job, going in and out of offices unsuccessfully with no job in sight and room rent and food to pay for. His school friend, Pulu, meets up with him and invites him to his village to attend a relative's wedding. The wedding gets cancelled when the potential groom turned out to be mentally deranged. Apu is coaxed to marry the bride so as the bride would not be cursed and he is the only eligible bachelor around. As Pulu had promised to get a job, he caved in. He returned to his rented room with his bride, Aparna (a very young Sharmila Tagore).
Even though she grew in relative affluence, she soon adjusts to the simple rag lifestyle. Life is happy for both. Aparna goes back to her maternal home for her delivery. Apu receives news that his love dies in childbirth after delivery a baby boy.
A totally devastated Apu, having loss all his loved ones before- father, mother and sister- is depressed. He leaves his worldly duties and go wandering. He refuses to see his son and throws away the manuscript of his autobiography that he was penning. He moves around doing odd jobs.

The Man - Satyajit Ray

5 years passes by... Apu's son, Kajal, is growing with his maternal grandfather, unloved, uncontrollable, without visits from Apu. Pulu who returns from overseas, finds out the turn of events. He tracks Apu down to reunite father and son. Initially defiant, common sense later prevailed. He goes to visit his son.
Apu and Kajal try to communicate (father to son) but in vain. As Apu gives up hope to return to Calcutta, Kajal decides to join him as a friend!
A simple story with no melodrama. Excellent.

http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl2212/stories/20050617001708600.htm

Where have all the Malaysians gone?

In the 60s, there was a song by Peter, Paul and Mary titled 'Where have all the young men gone' -an anti war song highlighting the futility of war. In the flower power war and at height of Vietnam war, many artistes did cover versions of this song condemning the US government's move to send their average 19 year old sons to die in a country unwelcoming of their presence.
This tune is actually an American folk song and the lyrics were penned by Pete Seeger in 1955.

"Where are the flowers, the girls have plucked them. Where are the girls, they've all taken husbands. Where are the men, they're all in the army."

That is the feeling (from the song) when you look around our towns.

Peter, Paul and Mary

When it comes to choosing the best running shoes for yourself, the running magazines, mostly from the West and Australia, suggest that one should patronize a shop with a knowledgable salespersons or one with a podiatrist who could help you choose the best shoe for your foot. If that is the case, then one can never buy any running shoe anywhere in Malaysia. This is what I learnt when I visited a Asics sports shop in a premier shopping centre in the posh part of town. It was run by Filipina salesgirls who were more contended giggling amongst themselves narrating their life adventures. Professional advice on choice of shoes? Forget it. From the look of it, I guess they won't the difference between an underpronator and lying prone on the bed. Their main purpose being there is to collect the shoes from their stores and filling up the cash box (Kachingg...!$).
It is not only at the Asics shop, such a scenario prevails. Look around the rest of the supermarkets, food courts, the streets, the markets, the night markets, everywhere. Foreigners have taken over the running of the day to day lives of Malaysians.
Where have all the Malaysians gone? Out of the country?

Another blast from our colourful past

Even before Alleycats came to the local music scene, there was a 15-year-old girl creating waves with her song, 'Kereta Lembu' which is kind of a classic now. She started singing at the age of 13 and carved a name for herself through Juara Kugiran in 1969. After cutting a few albums in the garage music genre and living a 7-year matrimonial life with Adnan Othman (a fellow musician who sang together) which produced a daughter, she left the country.

I am referring to the famous singer of Malay songs of the 70s, Helen Velu (Halina Abdul Wahid). I just happened to hear her song on the radio. It was a plagiarized version of LaBelle's Lady Marmalade called 'Senyuman dan Kerlingan".

She is now residing in LA and makes periodic returns to the motherland to perform.

Helen Velu 2007

 

Voulez-vous coucher avec moi (ce soir)?

("Do you want to sleep with me (tonight)?" )