Wrong decisions based on wrong compositions?

A NASA telescope called NuSTAR for short,

which is roaming around approximately 

324 million light-years from Earth, 

happened to be in the perfect position 

to see a black hole's powerful gravity

tugging on X-ray light emitted from a 

nearby Corona.

The discourse started over an article about a poor Hindu man who tried to advise a Muslim man against urinating in the open in a public space. The ego-dented Muslim called his friends to give the Hindu a nice bashing that he would never forget. Well, he never had the chance to remember. He was beaten up in the plain view of the public who, sadly, not one person came to his help or did call the police. The poor man succumbed to his injuries.

The incident escalated to a racial clash when the real issue is public apathy and the curse of being born poor.

From that angle, the debate went on to whether being poor is one's own fault or it is due to a composite of factors. My friend insists that it is self-made. Everybody is given equal opportunities in life. People make wrong decisions again and again, and the end result is being stuck in the lowest rung of society. In this vast world, chances are there for our taking. Nothing happens by chance. We are who we are due to the decisions that we made in life.

That is where I differed, in my opinion. No doubt decisions are ours to make, not everybody is endowed with the wisdom, willpower and intelligence to choose what is indeed best for him in the long run. Some do not have the foresight beyond that of a goldfish. Others are weak to persevere the hardship and throw in the towel easily. The tenacity to withstand a pressure cooker is the sum product of his genetic makeup and environmental factors. Poverty is a rut that traps one in a vicious cycle of malady, hopelessness and melancholia. Lack of parental guidance and supervision, lack of opportunities, lack of role models, lack of push factors and intrinsic desire for instant gratifications just perpetuates one to stay in the status quo. Poverty itself cuts down options. The need to bring the bacon draws both parents on back-breaking money earning spree at the expense of familial bonding and parental supervision. Economic deprivation draws them to less affluent neighbourhoods with less equipped educational facilities. Destitution reduces confidence. A large family demands sacrifices from all its members. In the name of compassion and blood bonding, the skin quivers and siblings have to give up privileges. Then there are social diseases, and the list goes on.

The realisation to break-free usually comes in the form of inner awareness, a kind of Enlightenment from within one's self with a little help from good friends with the same wavelength and family guidance.
Is there a guardian angel who paves the correct path for you or your astronomical coordinates that determine your lifeline?

All dolled up for what?

Bommai (Doll, Tamil; 1964)

Came across this not so famous movie director S Balachandar, but a with a brilliant song which used to be a regular feature over the airwaves in our childhood - 'Thatti thatti Nadanthu Varum Chella Paapa' was immensely popular. 

It is one of those rare suspense thriller films made in the Tamil cinema. It is supposed to be modelled after Alfred Hitchcock's 1936 Sabotage. It was a story of confusion when a bomb-laden doll meant to kill an entrepreneur is misplaced and fail to reach the intended recipient. By a twist of fate, the toy gets going around from hand to hand. The protagonist of the film, the loyal office worker, goes on a wild goose chase trying to locate the doll and avert catastrophe.

In spite of using mainly unknown actors, the film was a hit at the box office and passed the psychological mark 100-days' screening which marks the acceptance of the movie by the public. The only familiar faces in the cast are the captivating L. Vijayalakshmi who later was regularly paired with Jayshankar in his espionage movies and V.S. Raghavan who is cast as a villain. A very young V. Gopalakrishnan, a long time supporting actor is another recognisable face. K.J. Yesudas sings one of the songs and is seen in the credits (see below), in person, in his less hirsute form. The actors and the rest of the crew are introduced at the end by the director in an unusual format. 

In keeping with the theme that it is, after all, a Tamil movie, the director managed to squeeze in a little bit of philosophy through K.J. Yesudas' song, 'Neeyum Bommai, Naanum Bommai' (see third youtube snippet below). The subtle message imbibed in the song, which is sung by a beggar, laments that we are all lifeless dolls in the society. Children are helpless dolls needing the care of their mothers. The poor people are dependent on the rich. In the temple, the spineless are bowing to a lifeless God. In front of the firm and powerful, the good-hearted crumble. To the rich, the poor are their puppets. Workers are puppets on a string controlled by their masters. We are helpless in the wave of fate and karma where we are all taken for a spin. And we all become slaves to love and passion. Wow, there can be so much from the story of a doll with a ticking bomb!

The lure, too strong, you crumble!

Ninotchka (1939)

At one look, it appears like a movie from the genre of, what we would call 'romcom' (romantic comedy). Look deeper, it is a parody of communism and poking fun at the lifestyle of Bolsheviks who oust their bourgeois to distribute the wealth of the nation to the working class people. Look deeper still, you will find the unanswerable question of life. Is the purpose of life is to enjoy the moment, here and now or is it a journey of self-discovery, self-discipline, following of a preset path for a mission to be attained at the end of it all?

This preWW2 film was banned in the Soviet Union and its controlled countries as it painted a lifeless, caricatured and an automaton-like picture of Soviet people and its officers. In the film, life in Russia is portrayed as pathetic. Living in cramped quarters with privacy being an alien word and eating omelette is a luxurious cuisine.

It is the post-Bolshevik Russia and three Soviet officers are sent to Paris to auction off a set of jewellery from the aristocratic collections to finance the Stalin's 5-year plan programme. (There is a joke in the movie about the 5-year-plan taking 15 years to complete!)

The three bumbling officers, drawn to city lights and the lure of Paris orchestrated by exiled Russian bourgeoisie, go astray from their duties. Soviet authorities send their straight talking business minded special officer Ninotchka Yakushova to put things straight. Things were going right for the Russians until Ninotchka fell in love with the lure of private ownership, commercialism, the luxury of life in the free world and a hopelessly romantic playboy and a Count.

At the end of the day, personal ambitions, drive to do the good thing for the greater God and to do the right thing all took a backseat. The inner primordial desire to satisfy lust, to enjoy the finer things in life, sloth and greed won. No matter how hard one tries to attain his ambitions, Man, being Man, crumbles to his indwelling biological needs. You can only suppress the feelings to a certain extent. He would ponder on the futility of this exercise when the environment he is in is not hostile. He would question the necessity to prepare for an uncertain catastrophe, which in his current situation would appear remote or even non-existent. That is when he would the shields down and tell himself that he had a fool all these while. But has he?


Memorable lines

• This picture takes place in Paris in those wonderful days when a siren was a brunette and not an alarm --- and if a Frenchman turned out the light, it was not on account of an air raid! (Introduction)

• "I was hurt when the swallows left us in the winter for capitalistic countries.  Now I know why! We have the high ideals, they have the climate!" 'says Nintschka when she opens a Parisian hotel window to appreciate the capitalistc air!

Fear fear itself?

They say love makes the world around. It is said to be the last bastion that would the human race from annihilation. Our neocortical part of the brain, no doubt brought about leaps of advances to ease civilisation, from organised building civil societies, mammoth engineering feats and abstract thoughts, it is no match for the dormant reptilian brain which is lurking in the background. It is scheming its next movement to destroy his neighbours not only for mating and food but just he does not share his beliefs, dress and speak differently.

It is fear that makes the world go around. Fear is the one that puts us on our toes to leap forward to new heights, new discoveries and innovate ways to lead to our destruction. Our fear of foreigners, of people different from us who do things different than how we do things push us to the limit to 'protect' ourselves from the destruction of our own convictions. We satisfy ourselves in short term thinkings to create an unreal picture of the future. We fail to see our own follies. We cherry pick what we want to see and hate to reflect upon ourselves and our actions.

“Both fear and reason are essential to human survival, but the relationship between them is unbalanced. Reason may sometimes dissipate fear, but fear frequently shuts down reason.” Al Gore in the book 'Assault on Reason'.

A reason to reason it out!

Chasing a Mirage (2008)

The tragic illusion of an Islamic State

Author: Tarek Fatah

Islam has not been receiving a good report card of late. It needs rebranding and an exercise in an improvement of public perception. Tarek Fatah, a vocal advocate against the militancy in Islam and their return to the so-called 'glory days of Islam', is famous for spreading the idea of rational thinking when it comes to religious practices. He opposes unquestioning loyalty to the ulamas and the man-made laws in the guise of religion. Unfortunately, his voice together with the same minded intellectuals like Parvez Hoodbhoy and Hussain Haqqani who call for ijtihad (using the mind to reason) are muffled in the ever loud yells of the radical-minded bigots who are hellbent to infuse their brand of religion to the masses.

Even though many disillusioned Muslim citizens from Muslim dominated countries migrate to non-Muslim countries for a better life, their umbilical cord to their old practices are not really severed. They seem to have a chip on their shoulder, thinking that they are special and demand special brand of justice and special treatment by virtue of their faith. Fatah tells them that they are not special and need to assimilate into their new country.

Fatah tells the preachers who glorify the good old days which they label as 'The Golden Era of Islam' was anything but peaceful. In quite elaborate details, he covers the evolution (or rather failure) of politics and governance in many major Islamic countries, Pakistan (his native country), Saudi Arabia, Iran and Palestine. Pakistan, a country carved out of one the richest states in India, with the wealth of culture and agriculture, built to be a model nation based on the principles of Islam has ended up as a failed state and bedrock for terrorist activities. Saudi Arabia is a feudalistic country run by a family which never had any free elections. Its laws are misogynistic and tribal at best. Iran has a Surah council which must be composed of leaders of Arab descent even though Persians make up Iran. Palestine is a 70-year old problem with no solution in sight. Fatah reiterates that the infusion of Islam is political in nature. Rather than trying to live in a state practising Islam, these radically minded peddlers of extremism want to create an Islamic State (IS). Even equality among Ummah is the cornerstone of the religion, a hierachial order is very much alive based on gender, race (with the Arabs in the highest pecking order) and skin colour.

The author narrates at great length the history of Islam from the time of Prophet Muhammad all through the various Islamic Empires. Even though IS wants to bring the world back to the 7th century, which it describes as the Golden Era of Islam, there had been turmoil all through that time. Even after the demise of the Prophet, there have been major unrests over the succession. From time immemorial, people have been using the religion for political power and control over the masses.

The Caliphs had been brutally slain and the history of the Islamic is filled with gore, spilling of blood, vendetta, double crossing and desert tribal justice. The teachings of the religion of equality of races and gender fairness almost went out of the window after the Prophet's passing. Even founders of Islamic schools of thought were imprisoned or brutally killed for failing to keep up with the whims of the rulers of the day.

The only time that there is a semblance of civilisation is during the reign of the Abbasids in Persia in the 9th century when philosophy, music and the Islamic culture reached its zenith. It was the time when it was the place where everyone wanted to be, with its coffee bars, music, art and a kind of open-mic stage for intellectual discourses. Still, war and infighting went on.

Hence, the author suggests that instead of reminiscing the past, we should be in tune with the present and be able to face the future, keeping up with the rest of the human race.

He also has a bone to pick with the implementation of the Sharia Law, the unnecessary loss of lives in the name of jihad. There is a concerted of the jihadists to create a siege mentality amongst Muslims that the non-Muslims' world wants to bring them down. There is a hidden agenda to suppress women by insisting that hijab should be a pre-requisite for a lady to show her Islam-ness. What he fails to understand is what have the Arabs contributed to mankind that Muslims are willing to part their own age old culture and traditions to ape the Arabic way of living and dressing!

Tarek Fatah can be described as a rationalist just like the Mu'tazilites in the 9th century who were eager to argue intellectually on the topic of Divinity. Just like the Asharites who literally pulverised their movement, the members of Islamic State want to shut down any decent discussion on religion but to follow their Man-made laws! There is a difference between a state with Islam and an Islamic State.

How do you feel when people judge you? Do you judge people as well? #JudgingPeople

Written for IndiSpire... Edition 172

Growing up in the poorer side of town, people generally did not form any high opinion about me. My physical attributes did not compensate for the deficiency. Whether one likes to admit or not, society judges. A fairer skin would perform better in the impression department and I fail miserably. I would not be surprised if people do judge me to be incapable, unimpressive and unconvincing. But the question is, "do I give a damn?"

It is a free world and everyone is entitled to the opinions. Just like how I have mine. I do not owe anyone a living just like they, on me.

One humbling experience about judging others was shoved down upon me a good 24 years ago... This posting is an old one from my collection in Rifle Range Boy.

Back in early 90s, whilst I was still a green horned newbie at the art of healing in Malacca, I was approached in the course of my daily dealings, by a lady who despite her outwardly ultra conservative appearance of being dressed in a hijab, looked in the eye and asked whether there was any way that her 3month fetus could be screened for Down Syndrome.

From her dressing, it did not require a rocket scientist to guess her views on prenatal screening and termination of pregnancy. After a protracted discussion, I discovered that her previous child has Down Syndrome and needed multiple surgeries for heart septal defects and Hirschsprung's disease even before he was one. Seeing the puny one cut open and pricked repeatedly was just simply too much for her to stomach. And the monthly follow up the Capital City just drained here physically and financially. Even before she could recover from the trauma of having a special child, in rolls in another pregnancy (through the act of Man and The Divine Powers) in came the ensuing uncertainties. Rather than seeing history repeating itself, she was willing to undergo whatever test even a termination of pregnancy, if warranted than to deliver a Down Syndrome baby despite her religious conviction and country laws because she had first-hand experience of dealing with a special child.

It is easy to judge others using our life experience as a yardstick of how everybody else should live. When a similar malady strikes us, all the rules and regulations, which in normal times would be fought tooth and nail to be upheld, just goes out of the window!
This reminds me of a Lat cartoon published in the local dailies at a time when moral policing was the flavour of the month (it still is). It was a caricature of two elderly husband and wife couples in their 70s. The husband was reading aloud about the banning of Muslim girls in beauty pageants. The wife replies that it is improper to expose too much in public. To this, the husband replies, "I wonder who was the 1947 Miss Ratu Ronggeng? And the wife bows her head in embarrassment!It goes on to say that we make rules and regulations for others to follow but when we are the affected party, somehow the bar is lowered or the goal post is shifted!

We judge others using yardsticks impressed upon us in our childhood. We are told that is the way, the only way to do it. With age, hopefully, maturity and a few hard knocks and dent from the School of Life, we soon realise that we have our ways, they have their ways, the right way, the correct way, the only way, may just not exist!

It is what we eat!

Why We Get Fat (and what to do about it)

Gary Taubes

For the most part of Man's existence, over 99 % percent of our lives of Earth, our food pyramid had been quite different. If now, carbohydrate forms the broadest base of the pyramid, it was never like this before. As hunters and gatherers, our food mainly composed of protein and fat. Carbohydrate constituted a small portion and was found in complex forms, not refined.

Come late 19th century and beyond, we started loads of carbohydrate both in simple refined forms like sugars and complex ones like in potato, wheat and rice. I suppose it must have been quite alright when we were members of an agrarian society but it soon became toxic when our lifestyles became more sedentary with the ease of performing tasks after leaps in science and technology.

So, it is the carbohydrate that makes us fat. Insulin has pushed to the brim that our systems have been hardwired to use glucose as the first resource of energy. Ketones which can be utilised for many important functions, including the brain, stay in the background. Insulin stores extra glucose as unhealthy fat. Instead of using fat for energy at times distress, we instead crave for more glucose via hunger mechanisms or use our protein reserves. On top of that, many endogenous hormones and genetic predispositions determine where fat is reserved in the body. The longer we have fat deposited in our bodies, the harder we find it to get rid.

The author describes the oft-prescribed fat laden food as the villain for the aetiology of various lifestyle diseases like heart diseases, obesity and diabetic as fallacious. He suggests reducing carbohydrates, ketogenic diets and Palaeolithic diets as a way to rein weight loss and healthier living. Exercise keeps fit and increases metabolism but paradoxically increases appetite. Hence, it cannot be used as a modality to reduce weight.