You cannot reason with a tiger when your head is in its mouth!

The Darkest Hour (2017)

Neville Chamberlain's faux pas with appeasement policy forced him to resign after Hitler ran over Belgium and France. Churchill was chosen as the replacement Prime Minister when Viscount Halifax declined the offer as he felt that he was not ready. Churchill was the only Conservative member who garnered the support of the Opposition and had been warning the House on the dangers of Hitler's military might even before Chamberlain's Norway debacle.

The ghost of Gallipoli did not augur well for his military strategies as many were wary of his seemingly ambitious plans. King George VI, who later developed a cordial relationship with Churchill, had his reservations since his support of King Edward's liaison to Wallis Simpson and subsequent abdication of the throne.

On the home ground, Churchill had a supportive hand in his wife, Clementine, but had to fight his inner demons, the black dog, depression. The indecisiveness on whether to broker peace with Hitler through Mussolini or to fight on proved too overwhelming for this war-time Prime Minister.

He had to decide to rescue the stranded British soldiers and to face eminent German attack on British soil. The movie deals with how Churchill, with his political wrangling and oratory skills, convinced the country to 'fight on the beaches' till 'the loser chokes on his own blood'.

It is interesting to note that despite being sidelined after his snafu about the Germans, Chamberlain remained in the Cabinet as a vital playmaker of the Conservative Party. At the same time, he was slowly dying of cancer.

Historians scoff at the supposed fictionalised accounts of the scenes depicted in this film. After the appointment of Churchill to the post, Halifax and Chamberlain are seen considering to get a vote of no confidence to oust him. When Churchill was undecided on the possibility of initiating peace talks with the enemy, he is seen here to make an unprecedented trip on the Underground to get the popular viewpoint from the crowd.

Overall, this flick is an intense drama with some powerful lines and a stellar performance by the almost unrecognisable Gary Oldman.

Memorable lines

“We have a drunkard at the wheel,” “I wouldn’t let him borrow my bicycle,”

“You cannot reason with a tiger when your head is in its mouth!”

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World politics is not so easy!

Black Panther (2017)

Congregations of all religions all over the world pray for peace on Earth. The preachers sell the idea that we are all of a single tribe and we should all live in harmony and pray 'Kum ba yah'. In reality, life is far from that.

Just like rain can be a boon to one set of society while it is abhorred by the other, doing good cannot be taken as a singular act. Sometimes, a leader has to make the unpopular step which he knows that it would benefit the nation in the end. Again, it is no easy task. Nobody has the crystal ball to show them the way. Sometimes the leaders have to bow to the pressures of the lobbyist who put them there in the first place. And least of all, a 'good' person who wants to do the best for everyone would fail miserably. 

'Black Panther' is a full-length feature film of a black superhero and a king of a fictitious country in Africa named Wakanda. Long ago, a mysterious meteorite containing vibranium which had unique qualities hits this part of the world. Vibranium is useful to generate power, technology, Captain America's shield and even gives superhuman attributes when ingested with a particular herb. The secret of vibranium is guarded closely against the rest of the world. Mayhem ensues when foreigners put it up for sale in the black market, assisted by double-crossers within the clan.

T'Challa, the heir to the throne, the protagonist returns to claim his due. The life decisions that he has to make forms the basis of this somewhat different Marvel superhero film.

©variety.com

Along the story, I could not help but ask myself why with so much technology in Wakanda did the ordinary people live like Masai tribe people with bare belongings and simple lifestyles. Even though skyscrapers were visible, magnetic levitation trains speed through the countryside and Star War-like spacecraft swish through effortlessly through the country's airspace, the general public do not seem to exude modernity.

It may appear altruistic to share all your nation's wealth with the rest of the world. It may only be the right thing to treat everybody as part of the human race, to treat each other as brothers and sisters, in reality, it is really a wild world. Again and again, we have seen that it is human nature, maybe it is the selfish gene within us, that we want to possess everything. We always want to ensure we are not caught stranded hungry and cold. We want to be prepared.

For example, look at the USA. Even though it has the most significant stockpile of petroleum, it is more keen to create pandemonium in the rest of the world for others to sell their oil cheap!

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More than a pretty face!

Bombshell: The Story of Hedy Lamarr (2017, Documentary)

“Any girl can be glamorous. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid.” Hedy Lamarr. 

I bet you did not know that the image of Snow White that we have in our minds, thanks to Disney's classic cartoons, is based on the features of the then dubbed as the most beautiful woman of the world, Hedy Lamarr. Even Catwoman's representation is of hers. There was a time when every actress wanted to spot her similar hairstyle, centre-parted dark hair. Beneath the beauty that she possessed, there remained an inventive scientific mind waiting to create something new.

This Viennese daughter of a Jewish banker, Hedy Kiesler, was a free-spirited lass when at the spur of the moment acted in a dirty German film, 'Ektase' which bewildered her the rest of her adult and professional life. She married an arms merchant (to the Nazis and Mousillini) soon after her fame at Austrian movie set later. Things took a turn after Hitler and his Jewish-hating propaganda took centre stage. Her father, her idol, succumbed to a heart ailment. She staged an escape plan for herself. Swapping clothes with her maid and stitching her money and jewellery in her tunic, she made a dash out of Vienna on a bicycle.

Hedy Lamaar ©Pinterest

She landed in London where Louis B Meyer (of MGM) was scouting for talents. Contracted, she made her debut in a 1938 Hollywood film, Algiers. Struggling through the stereotype that the cinema world gave her as an exotic seductress and the ghost of Ektase, she had her ups and downs. Despite her gruelling schedule in Hollywood, in the nights, she worked in her small lab at home.

It was at this juncture that her full potential as an inventor came to fore. She is said to have given Howard Hughes, the eccentric billionaire inventor, the idea for a brand new design for the wings of his planes. During the heights of WW2, when most Hollywood actresses were content with making special appearances to entertain the US Army and to sell War Bonds, she and a composer-pianist, George Antheil, were busy inventing. When the Navy was paralysed by the German U-boats which could jam the Naval torpedoes, they came up with the idea of a 'frequency hopping' system which could bypass the German interference. They patented this invention, but the Navy was not keen to use this design for a non-military layperson.

Her beauty was also her gilded cage. Perhaps, the feminist she was and the intelligence that she possessed proved too overwhelming to many of her partners in her many (six) failed marriages. She is best remembered as Delilah in 1945 'Samson and Delilah'. Her mega production, The Loves of Three Queens, could not be distributed as no distributors wanted to take it.
Her later life was a sad one riddled with court cases, depression, drugs, plastic surgeries and more surgeries. She spent her last few years as a recluse.

Her 'frequency hopping system' is the basis of GPS, Blue Tooth, Wi-Fi and military satellite technologies. In the later years, she was given due recognition for her discovery.

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1816, the year without a summer

Chichester Canal by J. M. W. Turner (1828) [Wiki] 

In 1816, whilst Reverend Hutchings was busy organising things in his selfless deed to set up facilities for English education, free from encumbrances of religion, race, creed and socioeconomic statuses, for natives on a small idyllic island of Penang, Europe and the rest of the 'civilised' world including North America were undergoing turmoils of their own kind.
In April the year before, the volcanic mountain, Mount Tambora in Sumbawa, Indonesia after building up energy over the years, decided enough was enough. It spewed lava, magma, shock waves and dust of such devastation estimated to have had volcanic eruption scale of 7. It is said to be the most massive volcanic eruption in human history and is dubbed 'Pompeii of the East'. The devastation that it left can also be described as callosal. Not only was the immediate human and property loss was immense, but the ash from the outburst also lingered on in the stratosphere long enough to affect climate the following year. As is generally accepted, weather changes affect economic activities and indirectly be a cause of social turmoil.

It is puzzling how an event occurring at one end of the world has such a profound effect on the opposite end of the world. Globalisation is not a new construct.

The lingering ash provided a picturesque view of nature. The view of the sunset with its exaggerated orangy hue had never been better. The snow, on the other hand, was tinged yellow. The presence of high sulphur content in the rain and a wet, cold summer devastated food cultivation for a couple of years to come. It was the nidus of famines to come.

Hong Kong sunset circa 1992
after the eruption of Mount Pinatubo [Wiki]

In the present area surrounding Myanmar, rice cultivation failed. Farmers eventually discovered opium to grow well during those colder climates. By the time regular weather patterns returned three years later, they had abandoned their ancestral vocation but pursued with the new more lucrative crop. This must have started the notorious drug route.

In New England of Northen America, failure of crop forced farmers to migrate west. This must have eventually opened the Western frontier, the mad Gold Rush, spurred genocide of the Natives, starting of fringe Christian societies like the Mormons and just perhaps the idea of the abolishment of slavery must have taken root.

Over the literary side of things, it is said that the cold summers of London forced a group of writers to stay on the icy lakes of Switzerland to write scary stories with dark, nihilistic themes. This later evolved to Frankenstein and Dracula storylines. A new revolution in writing had started. Human imagination had never been the same since.

It is intriguing how a single event can give such seismic shift in the direction of the path of mankind. With the rapidly and unpredictably changing weather patterns of late, I wonder what awaits the human race? Is it going to be all doom and gloom and are we just going to take a detour and head in another direction? Just like how we have done so many times.

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It ain't heavy, it is my karma!

It ain't heavy, it is just my karma!

The debate that was always going through our minds throughout the expedition was the appropriateness of using the assistance of donkeys to carry our loads.

What we perceived as a constant sad donkey facial appearance donned with eyes accentuated by droopy eyelids and long fluffy eyelashes was a steady reminder that we had sinned when we signed up to allow these hapless docile, domesticated 'workhorses' to partake our trip. 

Contrary to what we, the lazy homo sapiens, branded these meek animals, they were anything but foolish, stubborn, fat or lazy. We were reminded of the phrases in our daily lives; stupid ass, lazy ass, fat ass, stubborn as a mule (which is genetically half a donkey), making an ass of oneself and ignorance. In a Tamil proverb, they were symbolically portrayed as simpletons, not able to appreciate the more delicate things in life. (A donkey cannot relish the smell of camphor; as traditionally donkeys were used by dhobies to carry soiled smelly clothes, they would not be able to recognise fragrances.)

Over the course of the trip, we convinced ourselves that life was not all doom and gloom for our Equus friends. They existed, hence they had to live. To survive, they had to be fed. They also belonged to somebody. In a somewhat symbiotic way, in a win-win situation, their labour generated an income for their otherwise hard-pressed owners. Our contribution in the monetary forms assures a square meal for both the animals and their owners. They could walk up with their heads held high that they worked hard for their living. They need not live on handouts.

No matter what the world thought of them, the jacks knew that their labour was not for nothing. Maybe they had not been given conscience, perhaps, as they served well, they may climb the karmic ladder to attain higher statuses.

The journey or the destination?

Boracay, The Philippines. © DKLA

Even though my cousin had spent time studying overseas, with umpteen times of flying in and out of the country, lately he has developed a kind of aversion (is it bordering to phobia?) of flying. Maybe it is because of his new passion for big bikes and motoring long distances. Whenever possible, he quickly jumps into his riding gears to enjoy the swooshing of the wind on his face and body as he cuts through space and time. The periodic gusts of intoxications must be addictive since, instead of flying to places when his family and friends want to spend their holidays, he vehemently chooses to ride there on Harley Davidson or BMW Superbike. He does not mind the inconvenience of having to leave earlier, the discomfort of being intimidated by reckless lorry drivers and the safety issues surrounding travelling along the long lonely road out in nowhere. Then he has to be at the receiving end of the fuss of cheeky border personnel who find pleasure in asking for the unheard and the uncertainty of road, the weather and vehicle conditions.

Still, to this, he replies, "Pleasure is in the journey, not just the destination!" The best way to learn about a country is to travel amongst and together with the commoners, not as shielded tourists who are shown the watered down and whitewashed version of the country, geography and history.

That is a metaphor for life anyway. Life is a journey with its undulating paths. It is sometimes smooth and sometimes stormy; still and restless. The joy is in curbing the troughs and the riding the peaks, the lows and highs. At the end of the journey, one can look back, give a sigh of relief, and re-live in the memories of the sights, sounds, smells, sweats, tastes and the experiences that no well-planned pleasure cruise can give.

Sunset at Boracay © DKLA 

A tree in the middle of the road? Guess it was there before the road come into existence!©FG

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Doggone life?

Credit: stress.org

You think you have it bad, working your butt day in and day out, dancing to the tunes of the loved ones around you and clowning to the antics of your potential clients. You were made to think that you are responsible for your mess. It is not proper for one to absolve himself of his misdeeds. It does not matter if the mistakes were made in the prime of youth when the heart control the mind and the sacral plexus were more dominant than the pre-frontal cortex. You reap what you sow, they say.

The demands of the modern world get too overwhelming. The pressure cooker lifestyle that you lead needed decompression. Your friends tell you to de-stress your life. Their mantra sings, "Lose your wife and reduce your stress by 50%; lose your Wi-fi for the remaining 50%!"

On top of the world, not looking,

without a care in the world! © EsKaySK

Then you tell yourself that you have to unleash from the chains of this proverbial dog's life; shooed, shied away and under-appreciated even though you treat your loved ones as God.

© FG

You go incognito in pursuit of peace of happiness in the company of you and yourself, losing your wife and Wi-fi conveniently. You scale the high mountains and knee-deep snow seeking serenity and solace. You reach the pinnacle, you are mesmerised and humbled by Nature's creation. You lose yourself in awe but what do also see? Lying at the edge of heaven without a care in the world, basking in the crisp sunlight, eyes closed in forty-winks with a sly smile on the side on its little lip are bushy dogs who seem to have found permanent residence in Triund, about 2000 metres above sea level.


Then, it strikes you. A dog does not have a dog's life! Human chooses to have a conniving rabid-like environment around him. He thinks that by creating such a hydrophobic atmosphere, he achieves much. Conversely, the dogs take it lying down.

The world that you create depends much on yourself. A dog's life, a godly one, a being always on the move or to just take things lying down - pick your choice. The world is your oyster. You are given one life, only one. Use it wisely.

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