The Roost

https://mybukz.tumblr.com/post/175292906152/poem-the-roost-by-farouk-gulsara

Credit: FB group: Rawthers

Penang circa mid-1960 

There was once a time, a few years ago, there was a spate when many of my relatives had given up on their motherland, turned their back on Malaysia and started looking around for greener pastures. I wondered how Mother Malaysia would feel to see one by one, her children, after years of nurturing them, after growing so big and strong, feel compelled to fly away from their roost. Like a proud mother seeing her kids having a mind of their own, she must be immersed in a kind of bitter-sweet feeling.


Like a flight of swallows,
you came all stocks and barrels,
from Swatow,
from Coimbatore,
Looking for a peace of mind,
you scaled the high seas and brine.

You were hungry, I fed your soul,
you had shivers, I showed you warmth.
you were homeless, I gave you home.
you were stateless, I was your hope.

Under the yellow umbrella,
and a piece of cloth,
you had dignity, camaraderie, integrity.
a history, a legacy,
an emblem, an anthem.
The colours to spill your crimson.

Now that you have wings,
you can expand your span,
once an ugly duckling,
majestically now a swan,
I remain your dodo,
Flightless, lifeless, brainless, valueless,
And cared less.

I am not up to your mark
not up to your spark,
no path to walk.
you want to fly,
to reach high up in the sky.
you peacocked to new horizons,
no future, you cite as reasons,
you curse me, you betray me
still, I don't call it treason.

A summer love, a puppy love,
the morning after, the hangover,
a one night stand,
a nightmare to be got over?

I have my desires too,
To progress like the red dot,
And shine like the rising sun too.
Not just a chicken feed to the rot.
I stay regal, guarding,
patient, majestic,
hawking over the nest
providing a haven for the crows and the rest.

-FG-

 https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson 

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Nothing personal, it's just for the nation.

Tun M tried it once, and now in his second lease of life, he is at it again - wanting to change our mindset to be tuned to the frequency of the Japanese. Their zest for improvement and perfection cannonballed them up from a nation devastated by the pulverising effects of a mushroom cloud to morph into the second biggest economy in thirty short years.

Somehow, we are deeply immersed and soaked in our mediocrity and lulled with self-glorification that even if we look at the Land of Rising Sun with awe, we remain faithfully as the Land of Twilight. For it is at the twilight of times, do we all become lethargic.

Gandhi, among the many things that he admired about the Europeans, includes cleanliness and punctuality. He went as far as to say that stickling to time made them able to rules countries timezones away (paraphrasing).
One of the virtues that skyrocketed the Japanese to great heights in discipline and keeping time. Go to any railway station and one can understand. A minute in the arrival of their train is a national crisis. Trains come on time at the dot of a second.

We, Malaysians, shamefully prescribe to the dictum, 'better late than sorry' but with a twist. We are late, we say sorry profusely but mean not a single word of it, and we would do it again without an iota of guilt. We do not bat an eyelid when we are stood up because we do the same. We apologise and a new slate. Queserasera.

Should it also be happening at a public domain level? Go to any bus or even no-frill airport terminal? One should think that, at least in the aviation industry, with their association with multinational concerns, some of the traits of timeliness would have trickled down. But hell no. I guess the lackadaisical Asiatic outlook and the humid tropical lethargy overpowers the desire to be prompt.

Try flying Firefly or Malindo from Subang (SZB) like I sometimes have to do for short trips. I think I may have some authority of sorts to vouch for their laggard performance on the punctuality department. Passengers would soon realise that the joke in on them after weaving and needling through the streets of KL to reach the airport just to be informed that their flight has been delayed. (Reasons: Pick your choice, as if anybody can fact-check; non-arrival of the shuttling planes from the other side, technical problems, inclement weather and the latest I heard is: a traffic jam in the KL skies!) You will end up arriving too early after all, for the umpteenth time.

More flights tend not to fly on time. No amount of profuse regrets is going to improve the hospitality. Both sides know it just lip service, mere little pacifiers. The apologies do not reflect the service providers' genuine inadvertent lapse in exemplar spotless work record but their inefficiencies. We all well versed with the Malay 'bangsawan' movie dialogue that goes, "beribu-ribu ampun, sembah patik harap diampun..." And we know they say it as a matter of figure of speech to think of an excuse to their undoing.

Have pride in your work. If you find it too complicated, perhaps you could leave it to others to manage. At this juncture, Peter's Principle comes to mind. In a hierarchy, people tend to rise to "their level of incompetence." Thus, as people are promoted, they become progressively less-effective because good performance in one job does not guarantee similar performance in another. In Malaysia, we also have a term. It is called 'jagoh kampong'.

"Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."  Arjuna, upon being shown the power of the Vishnu (Vishwaroop) in its full glory, is told by Krishna, "kalo'smi loka-ksaya-krt pravrddho" [Thou seest Me as Time who kills, Time who brings all to doom]. Is the scripture telling time is the One which controls the worlds? Hence, God is Time and Time is God. 

 https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson 

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Post #2000

A different time?

A unique painting: Krishna points out the Eid moon. 17th century, possibly by Hamid Ruknuddin from Bikaner, Rajasthan.

"Krishna Sights the Eid Moon," artist unknown, probably late 16th or 17th century. Did you know that Muslim artists in Mughal India produced many exquisite paintings of Krishna? Of course, the scene here is a historical impossibility, since Krishna, if he existed, predated Islam. But in this painting, and in the many other paintings that depict Vedic devotional themes using Persian/Mughal techniques, we see evidence of a time when religion was not the rigid, codified thing it is now. This India existed, in fact, until recently. And this syncretic approach to faith was the norm across Southeast Asia too, in what is now Indonesia and Malaysia. Something to think about this Hari Raya/Eid.

Patriotism to whom?

Stalking Crimes (2018)

Author: V.G. Kumar Das

The author was trepidatious with publishing such a book. It seems that there is an unwritten rule in the country that writings, even fictions, can only put the country in a favourable light. She cannot be portrayed to be a nation filled with crime, corrupt officials or religious xenophobes. That is why he took the liberty to publish an e-book rather than a physical book as that would be fraught with frivolous bureaucratic obstacles and unnecessary stresses. That is what the new set of leaders are promising - an open society which dares to confront the uncomfortable questions that we, as a nation, are facing. That is not going to be an overnight transformation. The community, ever so immersed in a feudalistic mindset and the culture of not wanting to be controversial, needs time to adjust to the new milieu.

People say that the idea of the nation-state is foreign to people on this side of the world. Before immigration policies were meted out in the 20th century, our borders used to so porous that it was a norm for people to move between countries for economic and social activities. That is why we have leaders who proudly announce their heritage without any embarrassment to their nationality. In this era of increasing nationalism, one wonders where their loyalties lie. Another ideology that seems to be creeping into their the society is loyalty to a common belief system rather than to the country. I think some Muslims in India had this same quandary during World War 1. Musslamans were divided whether to show patriotism to their colonial masters who were hellbent on destroying the last bastion of Islamic representation in the world, the Ottoman Empire, or to the de-facto leader of the Islamic world.

In the modern world, foes and friends, find a commonality in religion even if the intent is evil. Many hide under the cloak of religion to pursue their selfish agenda. The simpleton amongst shrivel at the mention of divinity and set aside our prejudice for Him to judge. How convenient for the wrongdoers? The name of God as an 'out-of-jail' free card!

Even though humanity dictates that we should all be Good Samaritans; help a fellow brother in need. Somehow, when it comes to our respective countries, we become selfish. We want to guard our borders against those who do not pledge allegiance to the same flag. Maybe it is not the flag which is the determinant but economics. People of a nation want to keep their wealth to share out among their citizen. They worked hard at keeping their backyard in order, hence, only they deserve to enjoy the fruit of their labour.  

Even though our educational levels and intellectual competence have surged over the years, the innate human desire to dominate through power and violence seems unabated. We try to beat the system, circumvent the law, cheat, forge, lie, create mayhem and even kill to make our evil plans see light. 

A new novel set in a new environment, oft not mentioned in the mainstream, becomes the backdrop to an adventure to a nail-biting escapade for law enforcer Zain Abidin. A fascinating, easy read featuring topics close to the heart of most Malaysians; religious fundamentalism, racial violence, unregulated immigration, corrupt practice of people in power and the nostalgia of a nation we used to be.

We have often read about the capital city and the exotic lands of the east coast of the Peninsular and East Malaysia. Many of us are in the dark of the existence of an archaeologically rich area around Lenggong in the state of Perak. Herein was discovered the skeletal remains of a man dubbed 'Perak Man' who lived 11,000 years ago. Royal Belum Rainforest, which is said to the oldest of the tropical jungles of the world is the backdrop to the set of this novel.

 https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

There was a time...

Thank you EsKaySK for sharing this.

The building of cars has come a long ways from the early days of Ford Motor Co.

This shows how large Ford really was. Unfortunately, everything in this world has a shelf life. Massive empires which never thought the sun would ever set on them actually saw twilight. Kings who claimed to have to have found the elixir of mortality only fell folly to their own foolhardy. Like Flint Town in Michigan which was looking into prosperous times when General Motors decided to build its plant here. It used to be the postcode that everyone wanted their lovely home to be. Look at it now. With the relocation of automobile plants and the slump in the American car industry, melancholy seems to be the order of the day. It has become a ghost town with no economic activity and lawlessness prevail in the greater part of the town.

These pictures are of Detroit, another of the numerous American cities in the same boat. What would you if you are an inmate of such a city. Would you choose exclusiveness, keeping everything as 'American' as it used to be in the good old days or choose inclusiveness and lose out all opportunities to foreigners or factories overseas?

The right to write!

Coitus Interupptus and Other Stories (2017)
Author: Malachi Edwin Vethamani

We all have seen these characters in our lives. Many of them lived amongst us or with us. Some of their actions may seem quirky, but we accept them anyway. We know that variety is the spice of life. Just because their point of view is different from ours and they unusually perceive specific values, it does not mean that they are evil. Who are we to judge, anyway?

Born an Indian in Malaysia and living through the time when some of the short stories were set, I can so relate to some of the characters found in this book. 

Going against the grain of what is expected of a marriageable girl in a conservative society of us, there are those who want to have the cake and eat it. They do not want to play second fiddle to some man but want to lead instead. The fear of losing one's religion is ingrained in the psyche of every Indian boy in their childhood. Oh, how many times have we seen ladies cursing their husbands for their misdeeds only to wail openly at their husband's funerals? And we know of so many of them who lead a double life just to paint a perfect picture of themselves in the public eye for their family's sake.

We are living in a new Malaysia after the recently concluded 14th General Elections. After being suppressed for so long under the previous ruling party, people are beaming in joy the freedom of their ability to say what they want. 

It seems like everyone has something to say. Let us just hope that the average Malaysian is mature enough to understand that what is good for the goose is also good for the gander. Just as much as one can say his peace, so can the other. He cannot impose his views on the other. Hopefully, they are adult enough to fathom that there may be many more ways than one to skin a cat. 

The leaders amongst us ought to set the example. Humans are fickle. They follow the herd, are sometimes easily swayed and can be unreliable. It is one day at a time.

 https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson 

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Automatons, are we?

 Kardashians - fiz-x.com

This post was spurred with someone mentioning how the whole Government machinery has suddenly found new vigour to streamline all its dealings. At a wink of an eye, civil servants who all this while had not been civil enough to show the gratitude to the salary that the taxpayers paid them, have found rejuvenated zest to right their wrong of so many decades. Have they really turned over a new leaf? Have they had their wings clipped or hand tied that prevented them from doing what they were yearning to do all these while - to serve? Are these moves just reactionary to the change in the tide of the time?

My thoughts were cradled back to a time in our recent past. The mantra of the day then was that we were to become an industrialised and advanced country by 2020. Wealth and money were then the new God. The yardstick to gauge the advancement of a society was the material things, not civic-mindedness, positive human values or culture. Megalomania was an accepted and revered trait. At that time, the obsession to become rich, if possible overnight, was on everyone's mind. To be rich was being successful, being poor a failure.

Why was that so? The leader then said so.

Syed Qutb - Wiki

That is the psyche of an average man. He is so fickled. He needs a hero figure that he looks up to for guidance. The nearest superhero icon to him is the leader that leads that bring their tribe/nation/congregation through their daily dealings. This must have been the case of the Hindu mythology that put King Rama at the status of a demi-god or even of that of an avatar of God himself. His conduct and decisions in life-changing situations became the foundation of how life on Earth should be lived.

In the present times, this vacuum must surely be filled up by rock stars, pop artists and icons who do nothing like Kendall Jenner and the rest of the Kardashians.

Realising this, Syed Qutb, one of the critical conspirators in extremist Islamism, had posited that people, in general, do not know what they want. They just thread through life like sheep grazing in the field just following the herd. The shepherd needs to guide the passage of flock; to the grassland or the abattoir. The entrepreneur Steve Job, on working to come up with the next generation handheld communication device had been heard to have said when criticised about the acceptability of his new gadget, "People don't know what they want. We'll show them what they want!"

patriotretort.com

Something can go so wrong unchecked under our very eyes for so long with us realising. We are only jolted to reality with a hard jolt that occurs occasionally. We are easily swayed with rhetorics and hero-worship. We follow blindly without thinking. The thinkings ones are too much cowed into submission by the voice of the majority. The occasional scream of realisation by the minority for sense and equity to prevail is cast aside as elitists.

In a way, we are all ignorant children mesmerised to the tune of day to be led blindly into our destruction. Some would call it the lure of the Evil, Satan's mischiefs, negativity or the Dark Forces. I would call it our ignorance. The only way to combat this innocence is to peel open the inner eyes of awareness and enrich our treasure cove of knowledge. 

Reference: The Fish stinks from the Head.

 https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson 

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