The ends, not the means?

Fly by Night (Malaysian, 2019)

Once a while you get a good Malaysian movie without the usual ridiculing of races or filled with simpleton slap slick comedy. This is it. There are no attempts by the moviemakers to ensure that the characters are overtly different. They are who they are, Malaysians, and they act their roles. They switch between Malay, English and Cantonese seamlessly, with no demarcation of us and them.

Every scene springs familiarity as the background has been seen in real life many times before. The settings are authentic, like the back lanes and the interior of a typical working-class Chinese family.

The film centres around a band of brothers in a small family business of extortion and trickery. They use their city taxis and the airport terminal as their fronts for their nefarious activities. Their quiet business becomes a mess as their firebrand youngest brash family member spring wings and wants to explore greener pastures. A scorned mistress who is hellbent on seeking revenge from her jilting wealthy married boyfriend, everything goes wrong. Hot on their trail are the police and the leader of a triad whom the young member had royally pissed.

Trying to make everything as authentic as possible, I fail to see why they decided not to leave the 'TEKSI' labels on the cabs but rebrand it as 'TAXI'.

Mafia Boss Michael Corleone makes his confession to a 

Cardinal in “The Godfather-Part III” 

Credit: mozarellamamma.com

The world tries to divide all our actions into either good or bad. Professions associated with elements of gambling, intoxication and sex unsanctioned by the institute of marriage are frowned upon. Wealth acquired through these means is considered unholy. In reality, wealth is wealth. It does not matter where it came from. At the end of the day, one is either poor or rich. When he is rich, everything he does is right. He can even 'sanitise' his 'unholy' income.

Take the example of information technology. The leaps and bounds of progress that it has made is not merely via kosher means. Porn and porn-related industries form the backbone of the research and advancements that it has made. Nobody scorns the headways the digital world has executed but tribute it to the intelligence of computer scientists. The spread of successful small businesses and multitudes of trades based on algorithms helps to erase the internet of its somewhat tainted pass.

As a passing, one should not forget that the seemingly religious Sicilian mafias continue their treacherous activities planned right under the patronage of the Roman Catholic Churches. Their relationship can be described as twisted. The Mafia bosses baptise their children, attend Mass, wear crosses, pray to Madonna but their faith gets intertwined with acts of violence.

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

Weapons gone astray!

Sensitive topic - Readers' discretion advised

A Mosque in Munich (2010)

Author: Ian Johnson

When 9-11 attacks came about, investigations traced the perpetrators of sleeper cells spending a time of their lifetimes in Germany. These terrorist group did not spring up just before attacks on the American soil. They, in fact, have a very long past, going as far back as the Bolshevik revolution.

When Communist Soviet took over the predominantly Muslim lands in the Caucasus, collectively known as Western Turkestan, the area was filled with adrenaline-filled Muslim fighters who wanted to liberate their lands from their godless rulers. They were collectively known as the Prometheans, the mythical Greek hero who defied Zeus to save humanity.

This golden opportunity was grasped by Wehrmacht, the unified WW2 German Army to aid in their attack of Russia. As is common knowledge, many Muslim scholars, including the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, soar at the thought of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after WW1, decided to pour their support on the side of the AxisPower. 

Betting on the wrong horse, they lost more than just their homeland. Many of the Muslim freedom fighters ended up as refugees in Germany. By 1950s, West Germany, especially places like Munich, had undergone an economic transformation. The miracle of German tenacity and engineering marvel saw industrial giants like Siemen and financial titans like Allianz proving their strength. Many Turkish immigrants soon start coming into West Germany.
After WW2, communism became the bogeyman, and there was an urgent need to keep activities behind the Iron Curtain under check. Many of these ex-Soviet Muslims became the eyes and the ears of the CIA and West Germany. They were rolled in the CIA-sponsored propaganda Radio Liberty and Radio Free Europe as well as many of its espionage work. Along the way, the CIA decided to use Islam as their weapon to go after the non-believer Communists. They are said to create ruckus in Mekkah during a Haj season to highlight injustices against Muslims in the Soviet Union. At the 1955 Bandung Conference,  their members also created an embarrassing moment for the Soviets.

Schematic representation of the Mosque

The idea of having a mosque was drummed in by the Muslim community of Germany to garner more support to this end. Somehow, there soon came to be a tussle for leadership as members of the Muslim Brotherhood gained a stronghold in the Munich Mosque donation collection and construction. 

The Muslim Brotherhood movement, known for its doublespeak, saying one thing to one party and denying it to another, managed to hoodwink the Americans into believing that they could speak for the general world Muslim population. In reality, they advocated a rather conservative and domineering form of Islam; a kind which tends to control all aspects of day-to-day living and has no reservations against terrorism or killing of its enemies. 

Munich Mosque

The Munich Mosque was finally opened in 1973.

The Muslim Brotherhood, with the cooperation of the US intelligence agencies, managed to outmanoeuvre the ex-Nazi soldiers to control the mosque. As time went, The Muslim Brotherhood gained more traction in the world politics. The conservative, arch-Catholic city in Bavaria soon became a centre of radical Islam.

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

Time ends all things!

Sacred Games (Season 2; 2019)
Miniseries Netflix

Just like the convoluted world that we live in and the twisted problems that we get intertwined, the storyline of this miniseries is complex. In life, there is no one truth. Things are not so black-or-white as we grew up thinking it is. Good things happen to bad people, and conversely, bad things happen to good people. An action seemingly done in good faith may actually be pure evil in another's eyes. 

There is so much hatred amongst and between all the people of the world. On one side, one group is hellbent on destroying the other. It seems destruction of the other is the way to avenge or ensure justice on Earth. On another end, another group feels that injustices have tipped the point of no return. The only way to correct it is to re-boot everything. Evil has taken over where goodness used to prevail. Annihilation and jump-starting from zero is the only option. 

Like the first season, the most exciting part of the season is the title of the episodes. If in the previous season, the titles begged of Indian folklore or mythology to be told, this season episodes refer to a broader spectrum.

Matsya is the first of the nine avatars (manifestation) of Vishnu. Avatars of Lord Vishnu has been compared to the evolution of mankind. The first step to the formation of Man started when a sea creature such as fish (Matsya) became a creature of two kingdoms (Koorma, the turtle) before they became well-grounded as like Varaha, the wild boar.

Siduri is a Babylonian female divinity of ale making. Babylonians were known to have mastered the art of beer making as early as 2500 BCE. She appeared in a poem during the reign of Emperor Gilgamesh. She tries to dissuade Gilgamesh from his quest for immortality and urges him to be happy with life's simpler pleasures. 

Apasmara is the demon seen crushed under the feet of the dancing feet of Lord Nataraja. Apasmara is the personification of ignorance. Ignorance cannot be destroyed but can be put under check and balance. 

Bardo is the Buddhist purgatory, the place between heaven and hell. It is the no man's land between life and death or a transitional phase between death and rebirth. People are forever stuck in not knowing what they want in life. They do not know what they want.

Vikarna is the third Kaurava in the Mahabharata story. Even though the Kauravas are painted as the villains, Vikarna opposed to his brothers' ungentlemanly act of disrobing Draupadi, the common wife of the Pandava brothers when the Kauravas won her over in a dice game. There is goodness even in the evilest of Man.

Azrael is the Angel of Death found in Jewish and Islamic culture, responsible for transporting the souls of the deceased. Many amongst us fit the bill of Azrael for yearning for the destruction of others. What we do not realise is that as our weapons become bigger and more powerful, entropy seems like the endpoint.

Torino, another name for Turin, Italy, is known as the most haunted cities in the world. Ghosts are nothing but the haunting of my mind of our guilt and unfulfilled wishes. Our guilt of past mistakes, inactions and willful nasty acts haunt us for life.

The effect of the Radcliffe line is still felt until today. Even though they were from the same stock, an arbitrary line under the guise of religion has turned them as mortal enemies. One demarcation set a state to two countries but poles apart, and their relationships irreparable.
The show is not over...

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

Fighting the demons!

S2B: Seoul to Busan
It is not a race. Ep #1
Meet the P-stars. Ep #2

Episode #3: Fighting the demons!

It seems that humans start off life being fascinated with Nature - toddlers like to get their hands dirty with grime, dirt and soil, and as they grow older, they find union with Nature too. Is this a reminder that we are one with Nature or a hint of the adage 'ashes to ashes, dirt to dirt'!

What started as a weekend outing to Penang to partake a cycling race evolved to something that brought out the memories of the bygone care-free days of our youth. And we were itching for more. The agony of the heat, the sweat, the discomfort, the aches of sore muscles, the tan and the potential fall of the perch were no match for the post-race euphoria of accomplishment and the immersion in the high of endorphins.

Our resident techie, during one of his moment of bore, googled of a secluded highway in South Korea dedicated just for cyclists. It boasts of a 633 km picturesque trail along four main rivers on the Korean peninsula from Seoul to Busan. What started as a river beautification and flood mitigation effort soon became a tourist spot drawing cycling enthusiasts the world over to Korea.

couchonwheels.blogspot.com

Without a second thought, everyone in unison agreed to the idea of making a trip, and before long everyone was looking at the expiry dates on their passports, their work schedules and going online to book their tickets.

Then came the tricky part, the training. Leave it to Coach to prepare the pit to skewer the meat. We, the weekend warriors, in spite of the busy schedules, took the slightest excuse to grind and spin along the periphery highways of Selangor and Negeri Sembilan. Places like Chanang, Titi, Puom, Pares and Bukit Antu which sounded alien to us before became our backyard.

Leave it to cyberspace to supply us loads of information about the going-on and the going-about of the trip. Unfortunately, many of the information with regards to the Four River Trail was in the Korean language. Further exploration revealed a Facebook page explaining cyclists' experiences on their trips in the trail. 

Nietzche reminded us not to be complacent when the going is good or conversely if the going is beyond hopeless. Either way, things would only turn around. Our training was marred with one of our rider having a temporary lapse in concentration that sent him skidding off a corner and his bicycle landing in a six feet deep ditch. Luckily, he flew off his vehicle just to sit nicely on the shoulder of the drain, shaken and stirred. His heroics stunts earned a broken clavicle which was quickly fixed and is on the road to recovery. Other small instances, like a snapped chain and faulty bicycle valve, gave the gang invaluable lessons in crisis management.

Necessity, mother of all inventions!

We have resolved not to let these temporary setbacks dampen the spirit. As they say, it is not the destination that matters, it is the journey that gives the most joy.

Courtesy of FB page - SBB Seoul, Busan and Beyond

(T - 15)

(Next: The Drama, The Uncertainties)

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

It ain't over till the fat lady sings!

Game Over (2019)

It is always easier to follow the weather-beaten road. After the imperfections, the potholes, the unevenness may have been corrected, or the path may carry a warning sign. Unfortunately, in this era where individualism and self-expression takes a paramount role in human development, the onus in handling curveballs in life is placed squarely on the individual's shoulders.

Previously, one can look back, follow the path of least resistance, have faith and move forward with confidence with the Divine Forces as the guardian angels. Failure is accepted gracefully as if it was meant to be anyway.

Modern men (and women) do not subscribe to such determinism. Intellect has given free will to fight whatever eventualities. It also gave them the ability to think of the possible adverse outcome and the fear of the unknown. Not all minds are equipped to handle such stresses. Some crumble. Memory is sometimes a curse, especially of a traumatic one. 

Life is not as simple as in a computer game; lose one life and still have two in hand. In reality, it is one wrong move, and it is game over.

This story is well crafted one with many symbolism. It is a genre-bending thriller about a gamer who is recovering from a stressful situation; probably an assault of some kind which happened a year previously during New Year's Day. 

It is New Year's Eve, and her panic attacks are recurring. The tattoo that she had got inked a year previously has started hurting. A visit to the tattoo parlour reveals that the ink had been contaminated with the ashes of a brutally killed girl. And the deranged killer is back.

The storyline is relatively predictable, but it comes with a twist at the end. It gives three possible outcomes to the ending depending on how one strategise one's move. One should use one's nature-given faculties to determine one's fate, not leave fate to decide one's life.

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

Too deeply entrenched...

Article 15 (2019)


Of course, the law is quite precise in all of it; that no citizen should be discriminated based on their religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. The trouble is that people like to flock together based on common practices, interests and vocations. Even though every man accepts that all Man are equal, they also admit that if everyone is equal, no one would be King. Plato's idea of an ideal society is also based on hierarchal order. Every member of the community is tasked with a specific duty so that society can function. Everyone got their place in the sun, and over time, people started putting value and importance of one profession over the other and called it a caste system.

Articles of late are suggesting that the notorious caste system in India is actually a foreign import. The word 'caste' has its origin in Portuguese and was brought by the farangs during their conquest of the East. The division of members of the ancient Hindu society apparently denoted the aptitude of an individual to a particular profession. It came with different names like jathis and varnas. It must have evolved over the generations as it was seen as an economic facilitator. People engaged in the same profession can explore the nitty-gritty and know of every nook and corner of the trade. This is evident from the generational continuity of individual businesses, e.g. Chettys and restaurants, Patels and hotels and of recent Jains and diamond trading. Apprenticeship recruitment amongst clan members ensured continuity of craftsmanship and continuous supply of services in the society. It is said that there was no hierarchical arrangement in the strata of society. It united the community.

Trouble brewed when caste was used to divide. The British have the dubious honour of conducting the first caste census in 1871 to codify society, give spurious recognition of one over the other, create mayhem, divide and rule. The last caste census which was done in 1931 forms the backbone upon which the educationally and economically disadvantaged layer of the population is aided.

To ensure a continued supply of menial labours and to justify one's perch at the top of the ladder, it was given a religious twist; that it is sanctioned in the scriptures and was decreed by the Gods and the First Man on Earth, Manu. No legislation is going to change this way of thinking, especially when it is convenient to be people in power.

The political use of the caste system is divisive at best. It is used by self-serving politicians to divide, ensnare and instigate people against each other. Like the colonial masters before it is a convenient tool to 'divide and rule'.

Prof R Vaidyanathan explains how Caste plays a beneficiary

role in society. Caste played its position at a different time

with a different economic model.

This movie is about a newly appointed Police Chief, of a privileged upbringing, being posted in a remote district which is run by the old school enforcement unit. The chief's subordinates have been keeping things under check by adopting a clear discriminatory rule by decree. Daily the low-caste members of the society are prejudiced. Many reports of missing daughters of the untouchables do not see daylight. The chief can see funny things happening under his nose. The crux of the story is how he, an Indian who had spent a large chunk of his young adulthood overseas with an activist fiancé, try to change the status quo.

It is imperative to note that BR Ambedkar, himself from the Dalit community, is the central figure behind the drafting of the Indian Constitution in 1950. He had alleged quipped that if the impoverished and oppressed are not protected by the Constitution, he will burn the Constitution! The polymath is mentioned many times in this film.

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

Poverty stinks!

Parasite (Korean; 2019)
Direction and Story: Bong Joon-ho

Yet another genre-bending offering from the land of kimchi. It is a thriller, a comedy, a dark one and a gory one too, for there is a blood bath at the end of the movie. But above all, it is a social satire.

The sensation of smell is often described as one of Man's most primitive senses. Olfactory perception is quite impressive. Its nerve endings are in such close proximity with the brain and are one of a few neurons in our brain, which is capable of regeneration. Even though it is assumed that our olfactory bulb, where sensory input converges, is underdeveloped, as our primitive survival skills dwindled when we became gatherers and farmers, we are still said to be able to identify up to a trillion different odours. The olfactory bulb is also one of the areas of the brain where neuroplasticity has been shown. At least in rodents, it has been illustrated to regenerate over the lifespan. Our olfactory sensation is under-credited than what it is capable of. Our smelling 'prowess' is shown in many professions - wine tasting and culinary industry being two common examples.

Our sense of smell has a profound and prolonged effect on our psyche. Just ask ourselves how much smells of our childhood, when life was so much more straightforward, gives us a fuzzy feeling inside. Simple things like the bodily odour of our mother or of freshly baked cookies give us indescribable warmth or reassurance that everything would be all right. 

On the other hand, there are certain smells that we just want to be released from our systems. A person wishing to uproot himself from his previous working-class background would be all too familiar with the effects of toiling long hours under the heat of the sun. He would associate fermenting strong odour with the first sign of poverty. Even how much he tries to mask with perfumes and aesthetics, to the outsider, it is apparent. And he may want to run away from his chequered past. 

It is also interesting that our mind somehow can 'cancel off' some smells that we are entrenched in. Like stupidity, body odour is for others to realise. My mother once visited her friend. In her small home backyard, she reared a few cows. My mother could hardly endure the one hour that she spent there. Everywhere she smelled cow dung even though the house was far from the cowshed was quite a distance away. She was quite perplexed that her host was entirely oblivious to the stench and going about their daily activities, like eating, doing school activities and such without a care about the lingering 'malodour' (at least in my mother's perception).

Like Bong Joon-ho's other film, Snowpiercer (2013), this film is about the clash of the classes. It tells the tale of the Kims, a poverty-stricken but happy, tight-knit family of Papa, Mama and two young adult children, a boy and a girl. They scrape through life, doing odd jobs and living in a filthy basement apartment. A job offer comes when the son is offered to replace his friend as a tutor to the affluent Park's daughter. Slowly one by one, the previous servant and driver of the Parks are terminated with the Kims devious plans. Pretty soon, Papa Kim, Mama Kim and Sister Kim join the Park household as employees in various capacities.

The drama unfolds when the previous servant comes back with a vengeance as she lost more than a job when she was pink-slipped. Even the elements of Nature seem to thwart the Kims' desires to unshackle themselves from poverty.

A thought-provoking flick. 4.5/5.

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