Not our crowning glory

COVID-19?
jumping species or wannabe predator??

Is it funny that every time Man thinks that he has it all figured out, Nature (or fate if you like to call it) just jolts him back to reality? Like Will E Coyote and his spanking new latest invention from ACME Corporation, it just falls flat and blows right on his face again and again, and Roadrunner always goes scot-free, scooting off yet again, screeching "beep..beeep!" 

The latest viral scare of COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) just opens up our vulnerability. All the so-called foolproof systems that we had installed are just scribblings on the sand - they cannot withstand the test of time. And they are so porous. We thought we had all the arsenal that could not only not annihilate our enemies but ourselves in the process too. All these are useless in combating our electron-microscopic size enemy. We are literally crippled by an unseen offending foe. All the King's horses and the King's men cannot put our peace of mind together at least for now. 

In the 1990s, our leaders were hellbent on embracing globalisation. They argued that we were heading to a borderless world where physical borders were an illusion. Commerce transcended boundaries, and we should welcome it with open arms. No one could live in isolation. Now, see what is happening. Countries are scurrying to close the borders as not only diseases spread like wildfire, refugees who bungled up their own nation are clawing through the immigration gates displaying their victim card. Many have opted for self-isolation to keep their people safe.

Over-dependence on particular countries for supplies and over-concentration of the supply chain from a specific region has not been a smart move after all. It looks like when China sneezes, the whole world may get pneumonia.

The democratisation of flying made travelling no more an activity of the bourgeois. Now, everyone could fly. With it came secondary industries and opening of new regions and tourists attractions. Unfortunately, the concept of open skies also opened the Pandora box of international subversive activities and seamless flow of problems. At the time of writing the tagline of one of the most popular low-cost airlines has changed from 'Everyone can Fly' to 'No one wants to Fly' or 'Nowhere to Fly'.

We thought the world wide web of interconnectivity was going to transform the world into a utopia of a knowledge-based society,  well-informed consumers and broad-thinking creative communities. How naive we were. What we have are fake news of questionable authenticity and a band of fist thumping keyboard warriors who type away their hate speeches under the cloak of anonymity without a thought of the effects of their actions. 

Generations before us grew up without any exchange of physical touch or public display of affection. In some societies, physical touch between unmarriageable kins was frowned upon. With open-mindedness, bodily contacts by handshakes, hugging and pecking became the norm. Come SARS, MERS-CoV and now COVID-19, and we are back to our traditional ways of salutations - bowing and placing of own palms together; fear of transmission of pathogens.

Just a thought...

The mighty Chinese armada used to travel to the four corners of the globe. They are said to have 'discovered' the Americas even before Columbus' alternate route to India. But then everything stopped. The Ming Dynasty decided to opt for a closed-door policy of the world. Even the Japanese kingdoms underwent a similar transformation. Was the spread of disease the reason for this move?

(Nerd Alert: Corona is Latin for Crown. Corona also refers to the gaseous accumulation around the Sun (which looks like a crown enveloping the Sun), mainly around its equator. Did you know that there is a field of study dedicated to studying the Sun called Solar Science (Helioseismology)? The suffix 'seismology' is used here because Solar Scientists principally study it via the oscillations of sound waves (?Om - ௐ, ॐ etc.) that are continuously driven and damped by convection near the Sun's surface. One of the puzzling thing about the Sun is that the Corona is hotter than the Sun surface by a factor of 150 to 400. The Corona can reach temperatures of 1 to 3 million Kelvin.)

The invention that saved a million ships

The Lighthouse (2019)

When we were young, we were fascinated with the lighthouse. Any sketch of nature would include seas, boats, seagulls, clouds and flashing beacons. As Penang, our hometown is a port city, we had the pleasure of seeing many in our lifetimes. 

Many stories have been written on the heroic deeds of many a keeper or 'wickies' as they were referred to put their lives at stake to provide a continuous beacon of light to the safety of travelling vessels. The job is an unrewarding one with boredom being the most significant and dangerous occupational hazard to beat. Being located far from civilisation and at precarious locations, access to these places may be easily compromised by inclement weather. Hence, the keepers may sometimes be stranded for months altogether. Solitude was thought to be the single most typical reason for the prevalence of madness in the profession. Another possible aetiology of insanity could be mercury poisoning. In the older models of Fresnel Lens that were used in lighthouses, the lens and light were floated on mercury. The job of regularly cleaning the mercury of impurities exposed the 'wickies' to mercury poisoning. One of the symptoms of mercury poisoning can be the onset of mental derangement. 

Fresnel Lens - the invention
that saved a million ships.

Neurological symptoms used to be seen in hat makers. The felt used in their work contained mercury. Thus, came the saying, 'mad as a hatter'.

In this day and age, with the advancements in GPS and navigational technologies, are lighthouses still relevant? These days, they are automated and are there just as a backup just in case all the modern tools crash, fail or run out of power supply.

Edgar Allan Poe's last book that he had hardly started before his death in 1849 was unofficially named 'The Light House'. It was a collection of log entries of a newly appointed lighthouse keeper, and the theme was loneliness. 

©FG
Busan, South Korea.

This 2019 film was written with that idea in mind. A rookie is employed to be in a lighthouse under the supervision of a grumpy elderly keeper. The dynamics of their relationship, their unrelenting efforts to keep the beacon of light alive while maintaining their sanity in that cold, damp and hostile environment forms the basis of this psychological drama. Like 1963 'Birds', viewers will never look at a seagull in the same way again. Those scary birds can peck your eyeballs out!

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

What is your priority?

Wild Rose (Scottish; 2019)


Sure, they say it is possible to lead a balanced life. One should be able to have a fulfilling life juggling between having a family life and pursuing your dream, whatever it is. After all, that is all the stars are doing having a fantastic experience moving seamlessly from work to pleasure to being cosy with their loved ones. Having children is no problem, just another cap in the feather. At least, that is what the media seem to portray. Shuttling between being a mother, a creative, a star, a public icon is easy peasy. In reality, it is far from it. Sacrifices need to be made. It is not possible to have the cake and eat it as well. It is a constant struggle between a good parent and achieving life's ambition. Are we selfish by putting our goals before the kids? Is the parent-child bond too self-defeating? To get the creative juices flowing adequately, do we have to sacrifice householders' life? 

This is not your usual happy ending movie of an unknown working-class girl with a one-track mind to be a country music singer. Keeping up with bad company and being released from prison after a year of incarceration for drug possession, Rose-Lynn finds life not a bed of roses. Having two kids in her teenage years is no help. With no father figure and only her single mother to keep an eye on the kids during her absence, she finds herself a stranger with her kids. Her passion, singing to country music in Nashville remains an unachievable dream. The club she was singing before her imprisonment does not want to hire a felon. She has to pick up the pieces working as a maid while mending her fences with her children. 

Through a twist of fate, she gets a stint to get a go at Nashville. Now, she has to reevaluate her priorities - pursue her dream or savour the pleasure of seeing her kids growing up.

(P.S. All is not lost. When one does not have the luxury in the spring of his youth, there is always a possibility that it can be achieved much later in life. That is, provided there are adequate economic resources and the presence of good bodily as well as mental functions. Sadly wrong decisions at a young age have devastating irrevocable sequelae.)

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

Fractured world we live in

© Manuel Strehl

What is in a font, you may think. The choice of a font could be a matter of personal picking. Some may be pertinent in a formal setting (e.g. Times Roman); other in a jovial environment (e.g. Comic Sans in a birthday party). 

Ever since printing became a reality in Europe in the 15th century, blackletter typeface like Fraktur and Antiqua were the mainstay chirography. Most publications were in Latin. Over time as people become more educated, local languages developed and the seed of nationalism was planted. Reformation works of Martin Luther and collection of fairy tales of Brothers Grimm created a need for the schism between Latin and German works. Antiqua was the default script for Latin and Fraktur for German.  

All through till 20th Century, Fractur typesetting continued in Germany and many Scandinavian countries. Most of the Europeans had theirs set in Antiqua. The Fraktur-Antiqua difference persisted till 1941 when the Nazi Party declared Fraktur was Jewish writing. The real reason behind this was commerce. Their clients found it hard to read fraktur script. By putting an 'acceptable' rationale behind the decree, the herd just followed blindly.

In modern times, neo-nazi or anti-migration movements use this font to subtly remind its readers of nationalism and to reminisce the time when there was a call to keep the land 'pure'. 
Newspapers with old traditions like 'New York Times', Washington Times' and 'Daily Telegraph' have their mastheads emboldened in fraktur font. Beers, pubs' signboards, tattoos and surprisingly heavy metal bands come in this similar typeset to add to their exoticness and mystique.

Closer to home, one wonders why radicals are hellbent on introducing the Jawi in the learning of the Malay Language when in reality the script does not improve the richness, the spread or the usability of the language in any way.

A political statement in Dresden, Germany 'This bus is driven by a German driver' it says.

The Fraktur font emphasises the 'Germanness' to drive home the message. © 99% Invisible.

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

Sometimes the truth stays buried

Malaysian Murders and Mysteries 

(A Century of Shocking Cases that gripped  the Nation)

Authors: Martin Vengadesan and Andrew Sagayam; 2019

This country has its many murders mysteries that could be a basis of many novels or even movies. Sadly, they just even up as conversation pieces at parties or as we group up for our daily fixes of sweetened aerated tea (teh tarik) at the Mamak's.

As most journalists in Malaysia are expected to be not too inquisitive but to act as mere scribes, we are intrigued when crime-reporters with their treasure trove of inside information decide to write a book about murders and mysteries. These stories hogged the newspaper headlines not too long ago. As the dailies were the only portal of information those days, most of us had to make a composite picture of crimes as it is reported or as court cases proceeded at a snail's pace. Besides that, there were tall stories told by individuals who seem to know everything about everybody and every incident. In Malaysia, however, these coffeeshop talks would eventually be proved to be true.

This short 230-odd page book gives an excellent rundown of many of 42 famous murders that occurred in Malaysia since James Birch's notorious death in Pasir Salak in 1875. Birch's assassination is viewed as the first evidence of resistance to foreign rule in the Malay Peninsula. In contrast, others look at it as frustration to loss of income as the British impose tighter controls on slavery. It ends with the 2019 mysterious deaths of the indigenous people of Northern Peninsular Malaysia. It could be classified as murder as the powers that be failed to preserve their traditional way of living and forgetting to include them in the wave of development.

Movie buffs would remember Batte Davis' 1942 film 'The Letter', which is based on a possible steamy crime of passion that happened on the grounds of Victoria Institution. The Batang Kali massacre where British troops mercilessly killed 24 unarmed villagers in the pretext of eradicating communist terrorist. As it was an event that occurred too long ago in history, the UK Courts refused to hold a public inquiry. Also happening during the Malayan Emergency Era were the assassination of Sir Henry Gurney and the trial of Lee Meng, a communist guerrilla. 

The mysterious disappearance of Jim Thompson is discussed. Many conspiracy theories surround his vanishing. In the heady decade of the 1970s, the IGP was assassinated, but to date, the case remains unsolved. That was also the time when Botak Chin @ Robin Hood of Sentul captured the headlines. 

In Malaysia's history, five aviation mishaps caught our attention - Tun Fuad Stephen's plane crash in Sabah; Tanjung Kupang crash where a Malaysian (not Japanese Red Army) was the hijacker; Ghazali Shafie's miraculous escape from a crashed Cessna plane in Janda Baik; MH370 disaster and MH17 slaying.

Forty over years after the slaying of a Miss Malaysia runner-up, Ms. Jean Perera Sinappa, her case remains unsolved. Politicians hit the daily headlines a couple of times in recent times for wrong reasons (as they often do). A Cabinet minister, Mokhtar Hashim, was found guilty of killing an assemblyman. Mazlan Idris, a UMNO politician, lost his life to the cruel antics of the nefarious witch Mona Fendy and her henchmen.

Before 1MDB hit our shores, the news of siphoning of money off the national coffers happened once before. Jalil Ibrahim was assigned to investigate the irregularities in the Hong Kong branch of Bumiputra Malaysia Finance (BMF). He paid dearly for the prodding. The real mastermind behind his killing was never identified.

In the late '80s, rumours were flying around that small communal violence in the Chow Kit area of Kuala Lumpur was hushed up. Little by little tiny details emerged; that an amok serviceman was out on a shooting spree avenging his dead brother; that his brother was clubbed to death by a royalty and how easily he was gunned down. It seems that it is not valid. It was a case of temporary insanity.

tête-à-tête with the author

Every now and then, particular news would grab the nation. In the 90s, a slew of cases of child abuse came to fore. The sad fact of Baby Balasundram, born to prostitute mother and drug addict father, gripped everyone. Baby Bala died without gaining consciousness but did spur the legislation of the Child Protection Act.

Besides that, the book also covers the activities of Mamak Gang, Bentong Kali, Al Ma'unah, conman extraordinaire, Elie Youseff Najem, and many more.

Many of the murders and mysteries remain unresolved. One wonders whether these cases were indeed thoroughly investigated, had succumbed to pressures from above, lost in the bureaucracy of the time, unskilful prosecution, or an all-accommodating crooked justice system. 

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

To tell or not to tell?

The Farewell (2019)

I first heard this story as being narrated by Lulu Wang in the podcast 'American Life'. It tells Lulu's story of how her family dealt with the news of her paternal grandmother's diagnosis of terminal lung cancer. It describes how Lulu's parents, together with her uncle's (father's brother) family in Japan, gathered in China, where the grandmother lives, to bid her farewell. The twist is that the whole family decided not to tell the patient, Nai Nai as she is affectionately referred to. The family, from three countries, descended upon Nai Nai's house under the pretext of celebrating Lulu's Japanese cousin's wedding.

Lulu's role is portrayed as an early 30s Chinese American student who goes to China in a soul-searching journey to rediscover her Chinese identity. She learns to appreciate the traditional family values. As their old values dictate that the happy mind would give a healthy body, the family thought that not telling Nai Nai of her disease and its grave prognosis. Still, instead of keeping her happy in the company of the people loves, it would go a long way in prolonging her life.

The trick seems to have worked in the case of Nai Nai. Even though she was given only three months to live by her Chinese physicians (and the diagnosis was agreed by American doctors), she went on to live another six years.

The traditional wisdom in modern medicine is that the patient has the right to know his or her disease. By understanding the extent of his illness, he is in a position to go all out to combat his ailment, especially which is chronic. This is especially so in cases where the prognosis is uncertain, like in cancers. A patient's attitude and resolve towards fighting the sickness and one-mindedness in battling cancer may actually alter the final outcome.

A person in the terminal stage of her infirmity may want to step up his preparations for the ethereal world. He may want to tick off the items in his bucket list (pun unintended). The content of his will may need alterations and many more.

In many Indian families too, I have noticed that the family would collectively decide that bad news, especially of the medical kind, would not be made known to the elder members. Are the family members worried that breaking bad news may trigger a cardiovascular and emotional meltdown that would be more devastating?

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

What's your reason?

Limitless (2017)
(Netflix, Documentary)


My parents never ran. I do not remember them running over or running away from anything. They practically expected others to run around doing things for them. In fact, nobody in their generation ran. It seemed running, and activities that required exertion is for the young. Older adults simply do not do those things which broke too much sweat. Things surely have changed over the years.

Members of the fairer sex also never had it so good. From a time not too long ago, 1967 actually, runners like Bobbi Gibb and Katherine Switzer had to run disguised, now, in most international marathons, the male to female ratio of participants of the full marathon is almost one to one.

Why do people run?

This made-in-India documentary looks at the lives of eight ladies and why they took up running. Despite the constant staring, cat-calling and security concerns, these lady runners seem to be empowered. Every extra half-hour that they manage to run without stopping, they get a renewed zest in life. The running events that they complete equip them with a higher level of confidence. 

Some run to numb the pains of their personal lives. It may be a broken marriage or even exodus from homeland like the runner from Kashmir who calls herself a Delhi-ite these days after being chased out from her ancestral home in Srinagar by religious zealots.

When the worldly duties are done, your offspring do not want you meddling with their affairs, but you are still teeming with energy, what do you do? Like Fauja Singh or Forrest Gump, you run, of course. Once you are locked into the routine, nothing can stop you - rain, shine, snow or fracture!

Runners make friends quickly, are more grounded and are a kind lot, looking out for each other and showing a high level of camaraderie. You hardly find a grumpy runner, do you? 

There is no good enough reason not to run. Run before you are prescribed running to save your life. If you do not have a quality sleep, run; feeling down, run; hit a wall at work, run; you got bad genes that make you susceptible to lifestyle diseases, run. 

If you cannot run, walk. Then alternate the walk with a run, and before you know it, you would be running for your life. What further motivation do you need? When you run, you are fighting the same inner demons that bog you down, dragging you with all the failures of life. Unchain the shackles.

In this documentary, a lady, hit by childhood paralysis, poverty and hard knocks of life runs for the money. The lure of the prize money brings her places. Her misery is no longer an excuse not to train.

Done with finesse, this 1-hour documentary is told seamless infusing many elements that are quintessentially Indian, the decorations, outdoors, and a peek into their places where they hangout. Humanity component is not forgotten as well. Exercise and running also help physically challenged individuals.

Katherine Switzer Bib 261 was the first registered female runner

to complete the Boston Marathon at 4:21 in 1967. A year earlier

Roberta 'Bobbi' Gibb, ran without a number.

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