Gems galore!

Thanks to RS for this collection of pictures starting from a time more than 150 years ago...

Sikh Cavalry Officers, British India Army, attending Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1873 in London, England.

circa 1919..

Photograph by Randolph Bezzant Holmes (1888-1973), India, North West Frontier,

Indian army camel corp in Miran shah..

From an album, of 74 photographs compiled by Neville John Gordon Cameron, 

1st Bn Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders.

A British officer with his family, 1877, Mooltan.

Five Indian soldiers near Miranshah, Tochi Valley, Waziristan, 1898

Military encampment in the Razmak,1898

Indian soldiers and elephants, Multan, 1898

British and Indian soldiers with elephants, Multan, 1899

Hyderabad contingent regtl center band in Toochi..1895..

Churchill introduced to Sikh VCOs in Shillong,1945..

4th Sikh Regiment of the Indian Army. Group portrait of the Sikh officers and British captains of the 14th Sikh Regiment of the Indian Army. Multan, Punjab, India (Pakistan), 1919.

Guest: Son of Duke of Connaught.

1st Estab of Indian troops in out skirts of Nowshera (probably present day Risalpur),1907.

Payments by QM to COOLIE CORPS in Jamrood,1877.

The mutineers of 1857 were killed being tied to a cannon and blasted..these nations now teach us HUMAN RIGHTS and Geneva convention.

Abbottabad,1892..BUILDING????

Peshawar Punjab 1870

Photograph of Peshawar, with a view across the cantonment towards St John's Church and the distant mountains of the Khyber Pass, taken in 1878 by John Burke. John Burke accompanied the Peshawar Valley Field Force, one of three British Anglo-Indian army columns deployed in the Second Afghan War (1878-80), despite being rejected for the role of official photographer. He financed his trip by advance sales of his photographs 'illustrating the advance from Attock to Jellalabad'.

Football match 1903..(surprisingly RACE COURSE MURREE).

Officers of the 2nd Batallion, Worcestershire Regiment, Waziristan, British India, 1940. The vehicle is a Crossley "Indian Pattern" armoured car. These were developed in the interwar period for internal security duties in Northern India, based on a Crossley truck chassis. Substantial British and Indian Army forces were occupied in internal security in India during WW2, as the possibility of insurgency (encouraged by the proximity of Japanese forces from 1942) was a substantial concerrn. "Indian Pattern" armoured cars remained in service until Indian and Pakistani independence in 1947. The model here (like most others) was reconditioned in 1939, in the course of which the worn-out Crossley chassis was replaced with a Chevrolet truck chassis. Best regards, JR.

5th Sikh in Mardan,1895..after an operation in Tirah valley..

5th Sikh Regt in Mardan..1895..

Toochi,1895..

Punjab frontier cavalry,1878..D I KHAN..

Gurkha band in Quetta,1902

1/66 Punjabi's band in Abbottabad,1895..

Deputy Commissioner Camblepore with his tamed cheetah..1895.

Peshawar..???

Nicholson monument 1903..

Armoured corps boys wings barracks,Cherat,1930s..now HQ SSG..

Commander in Chief of India Gen. Monro + staff inspecting barracks Gharial, nr. Murree India 1917..General Monro served as C-in-C India from 1916 through 1920, and was in charge during the 3rd Afghan War of 1919. His career was tarnished by the Amritsar Massacre..

Indo-afghan border 1898..

1879..

Inside attock bridge,,

1902..

Military hospital Nowshera,1888,the largest and last major hospital during the AFGHAN campaign..1878..

Queen mother inspecting Indian troops Delhi,1903..during DEHLI DARBAR.

No.11 Light Battery (RFA) drawn up on a parade ground in marching order with full equipment. in quetta,1930..

Scenes with a marching column on Kohat-Tall road,the North West Frontier of India: Crossley (India pattern) armoured cars and crews parked-up during the march. All crewmen are wearing Royal Tank Corps issue overalls.

Scenes with a marching column on the North West Frontier: Men of a British infantry piquet in a sangar during a break for tea (in army slang having 'a brew and a wad') at mohmmand..

Military Service 1914 - 1939: Lieutenant-Colonel Montgomery, Commanding Officer of the 17th (Empire) Battalion, The Royal Fusiliers, with his officers outside a Bierstube in Durren during the occupation of the Ruhr.,from here he moved to command and staff college quetta as a DS,,

Military Service 1914 - 1939: Captain Bernard Montgomery DSO with a fellow officer of 104 Infantry Brigade, 35 Division, with which he served from January 1915 until early 1917. He was awarded the DSO for conspicuous gallantry on 13 October 1914 during the Battle of the Aisne in which he was wounded.

As you like it*

Man is an animal who interprets facts how he wants to interprets them in keeping with the environment he is keeping with or maybe with his vested interest on mind.

Winter Sonata

Many years ago, I attended a birthday party within a religious function. After the singing of hymns, came to time commemorate the moment of the birth of the guest of honour. In rolled in an egg-less vegetarian cake (it was announced). The leader of the pack started telling the rest of the crowd on so and so's birthday and extended his felicitations. The crowd started singing the song as the birthday girl lit the candles on the cake. The climax of the event was when all candles were lit. That is it. No clapping (it is not our culture) but instead hail the greatness of the Lord instead- though it was alright when they clapped when they sang the hymns! You see, their rationale, as the 'MC' later said that was we should rejoice at the lighting of brightness, not rejoice at the extinguishing of the greatest invention of God - light (agni), which is the pillar of all civilisations)! I decided to be a gracious guest by not being a wise guy and asking, "..but celebrating birthday is not our culture and we are celebrating the birthday based on a non-Hindu calender!".
21st December 2012 came and went but we are still standing. The world, though, is still as chaotic as before. Days before the D-day (End of Days) came a hoax prophesying that Nostradamus had indeed  predicted, in not so direct ways, that from the land of blooming flowers, when the man on a prancing horse hit nine zeros, the end will come (something like that). Smart alecs rationalised the land of blooming flowers as referring to Korea (why? because of picturesque Korean drama like Winter Sonata?), man on prancing horse is Psy doing his Gangnam style and nine zeros is referring to his YouTube hits reaching 1billion (1,000,000,000)! What the ....
In his effort to entice his congregation  back to the path of righteousness, the priest rattled on. "Now people are more interested in their 3G and Internet connections then coming to temple. Well, I got news for you. We alsohave wireless 3G service in this temple. The first G is Gita (Bhagavad Gita), the second G being GanggaJal (the purest of water given by God to Man and the third G is the Govinda Bhajans (divine songs) which would guarantee uninterrupted Internet connections to God!".
He went on to say, "If you say you want 4G facility, there is always Ghai (Krishna's companion - the cow)!".

*A Shakespearean comedy with the famous and oft-quoted phrase, "All the world's a stage" and the origin of  phrase "too much of a good thing".

As the society changes...

Guess Who's Coming To Dinner (1967)
During our trip to Taman Negara in 1983, I remember somebody saying, "Guess who's coming for dinner?" Well it was sambar deer - a timid occasional visitor to the chalets in the park. During their visit too, someone will say "Somebody's here!" (Sounds like sambar deer).
I remember this movie was shown in Penang's Capitol cinema for a long time. 45 years later, I get the chance to watch it.

At a time when civil liberation was taking shape and it was criminal in some states for couples of different races to be seen together, this film was released with surprisingly warm reception even in the southern states. I bet nobody would have thought then that a black leader would actually be heading their country some 40 years later!
This film is set in the form of stage presentation narrating the events that happened over half a day.

Sambar Deer (Somebody here)

Joey Drayton (Katharine Houghton), a product of a liberal minded newspaper editor (Spencer Tracy) and his wife (Katherine Hepburn) arrives happily with a black doctor (Sidney Poitier), whom she met 10 days previously, that they were getting married. What she gets, instead of blessings, is raised eyebrows from all around. Starting with Tillie, Joey's black live-in maid who raised her from her childhood who thinks that the black boy is up to no good, her father is also too shocked to accept the whole news as it was too soon and too quick. The couple had earlier decided to make a quick stopover before setting off for wedding, with her parents' blessings (at least that is what Dr John Prentiss was hoping for). The mother, the hopeless romantic, just agrees along.

In a twist of events, John's parents also decide to join in the dinner, but not before
being told by their son that their soon to be daughter-in-law is white.
Mr and Mrs Prentiss are initially shocked with their son's choice. After coming to terms later, Mrs Prentiss tries to knock some sense into Mr Drayton. In midst of all this is a Catholic pastor who did not do much to unite the families but rather enjoy his large helping of his pre-dinner shot of scotch!
The finale of the film is when Mr Drayton makes a long lengthy and emotional speech laying out the obstacles that the couple were going to go through but gave his seal of approval that the couple wanted. This speech turned out Tracy's last movie dialogue as he died soon after the filming before the film was released. He had been sick with myriad of medical conditions after a good life but was invited to act with his mistress, Hepburn, as his screen wife.

Capitol cinema, Penang

Memorable quote:

Tillie (The black live-in maid who hates the idea and is suspicious of a fellow black man getting to marry the little white girl that she nurtured. In fact, in the whole story, she was the one most vocal in displaying her dissatisfaction. The others were more civil!): Civil rights is one thing. This here is somethin' else.

The touching dialogue between Dr Prentiss and his father.Relevant generations after generations...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCAaEbCDovQ&t=1h24m10s

A modern fairy tale (..yawn!)

The Italian Key 2011
This film is now being screened in KL in conjunction with EU film festival. Well, it not my idea of a good movie. It may excite teenage female viewers who find joy in the likes of 'Mills and Boones' paperbacks or the 'Twilight Saga' where everyone is good looking and has unblemished facial skin! It has on its vitae a string of accolades, all from unknown festival and areas unrelated to story and acting, e.g. 'feel good' movie and music. I would agree that the view of the Italian country-side is simply breathtaking. The story and acting, however, is much to be desired.
The heroine of the story is a 19 year old orphan who grew up in the UK with her guardian Max and his two evil daughters (hey, sounds like Cinderella!). When Max dies, she inherits a key which brings her to a small village in Italy named just like hers, Capella.
After some research, she found that the key opens a castle. The mysterious village brings to her acquaintance 4 girlfriends (Flora, Julia, Maria and Sophia), a mute shop assistant, an Indian royalty, his paraplegic friend and girls desperate to be in love.
Along the way, in the house that Capella is staying, a young ghost appears to help her find her parents. With the help of her mother's diary written in Italian, she discovers that her mother was a nun who got pregnant while on charity work in India.
The story of Capella's mother, the nun, is told in instalments. It is quite scandalous to watch a nun walking around the village paths of India  with floral modern cut dresses which accentuate the God given body curvatures. There is a tussle of love between 2 gentlemen where Max, the guardian is the gentle loser who takes care of Capella when the father leaves India after a one night stand and the mother died when  Capella was 3. Capella's father did not know of the seed that he sowed until the end of the movie. At the end of the day, Capella finds love and her father while all her girlfriends too found their partners!
A very confused global movie produced by the Finnish, shot in UK, Italy and India to be spoken in English.

He tried to build a bridge but failed!

A Road to Mecca -The Journey of Muhammad Asad (2008)

At the outset, I thought it would be another West-bashing Muslim documentary. It started with the introduction of another attack by the Israelites on the Palestinians in 2006, and how pork was fed to the refugees with the ulterior intention of starving the Muslim refugees.

The credits started with the caption - for people who think. So I thought, since I think a lot, it was only wise for me to watch.

In essence, the story tracks the life and times of a Jew who became a Muslim and changed his name from Leopold Weiss to Muhammad Asad. (Asad and Leopold both mean Lion). He is credited with the formation of Pakistan, the English translation of the Koran, the author of the book 'Road to Mecca and was a critical modern thinker who dared to question the age-old practice of doing things based on what a small group of intellectuals decided.

The documentary starts from Asad's birthplace, Lviv, present-day Ukraine, in the Eastern part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Being exposed to the Jewish scriptures at an early age, in early adulthood, he became confused and did not have a solid footing in life. He headed east in search of 'the truth'. This is the time of fascination of Europe with psychology and the human mind. He worked as a journalist, and his work took him to Palestine. He lived amongst the Bedouins and eventually became a Muslim.

Muhammad Asad (1900 - 1992)

Swiftly, he climbed the ladder of spiritualism and became an advisor to the Saudi royalty. He was invited to establish Pakistan and was given Honorary citizenship of Pakistan.
In Pakistan, while filming, it was Independence Day. The Asadians (followers of Asad's thinking) were discussing the state of their country. One chap who had migrated to the USA lamented that the people of Pakistan had disappointed Asad in his vision of an independent Muslim state. An elderly dweller refuted, claiming that his country had actually prospered, being one of the only 19 countries in the world with nuclear capabilities and having improved crop production by 5 folds since 1947. Like clockwork, there was a massive power outage in the whole town just then!

Asad was appointed Pakistan's ambassador to the UN but resigned after being played out by his fellow countrymen. He then migrated to the US. He became prolific with his critical thinking books about religion, including his autobiography (A Road to Mecca) and his magnum opus, the English translation of the Koran.

Feeling homesick, he wanted to be nearer home, but he chose Morocco to continue working. Meeting hostility and book burning to his modern progressive way of thinking, he just had to move again, feeling drained physically and financially, this time to Spain. He died at the age of 92.

mind your mind....

"How does a person look into the eyes of a terrified child and have the guts to pull the trigger?" screamed somebody's status on Facebook. Another joined in to say, "the same way the Malaysian man beat the living

daylight of his 3year old step son."

It looks a daily occurrence. Somebody dressed as a superhero shooting aimlessly. Some recluse going a shooting spree. A loner shoots down his classmates and teachers in broad daylight. And a man from China goes amok stabbing 20.

From time in memorial, we are trying to understand what goes through our minds that makes us do the things that we do. Some call it being possessed, others karma. From the 19th century, we have been blaming it on our upbring, childhood, repressed sexual deviations and chemical neurotransmitters. Of course, they are many opinionated individuals jumping on talk shows' settees emphasising that all these are hogwash. They say man should take hold of his life and control his future and all this theories about psychiatry and use of pharmaceutical agents are part of a larger evil plan. Any alternative explanation and solution to this problem?
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/sideviews/article/i-am-adam-lanzas-mother-liza-long/