What is life all about?

Star Trek: Picard (2020)
Miniseries, Season 1, E1-10.

I did not grow up appreciating the original Star Trek TV series. Hence, I do not qualify to identify myself as a Trekkie. I, however, managed to catch up Star Trek: The Next Generation when it made its way to the terrestrial TV channels. I remember the series not as much of an action-packed series but more of a cerebral one discussing life issues. I never did follow the ensuing Trek series or the silver screen productions. So, to me, Picard is only Starfleet Captain that I know.

More than a decade after his last mission and his unceremonious departure from USS Enterprise, Admiral Picard has to go to back to space. He does this clandestinely against the orders of the authorities, with a ragtag assembly of crew and space ship. In his previous mission, Data had caused the destruction of Mars. Because of that, androids, or synthetics as they were known in 2399, were banned. Picard had resigned in protest.

Enjoying his retirement in his chateau, Picard comes to know of a girl who may be the 'daughter' of Data as she was developed from Data's positronic brain. She is, unfortunately, assassinated. There is a vast conspiracy, from the Romulans mainly, as they had to bear the bunt of USS Enterprise's destruction of Mars earlier, to wipe out all synthetics. Picard's mission is to find Data's other twin daughter and save all synthetics from annihilation. 

Keeping with the characters who are all senior citizens trying to save the Universe, the series progresses slowly with a lot of dialogue and intellectual discourse.

The last two episodes are the most exciting part of the season for an occasional Star Trek fan like me. Perhaps at that time, earthlings have eradicated poverty and abated their fixation for material wealth, their discussions seem to focus more philosophical issues. People still try to create schisms and have pre-conceived ideas about 'the other' even though he never had the chance to meet or interact with them. They fail to realise that all these animosities will eventually cause self-destruction. Is it necessary for species to kill each other to survive? Is sacrifice the highest form of deed one can offer to a fellow kind? Is there logic in sacrifice or is life too precious to be wasted?

Picard, Riker and Troi (after retirement)

The finale discusses death and purpose of life. The past is already written. The future is for us to pen. How is the narration going to be? It is fear and suspicion of the unknown, which is the destroyer. Is believing that openness may allay these problems naive? To say that we do not have the choice is indicative of our lack of imagination. We are beyond all these. Our collective intellectual should be able to overcome adversities.

Being alive is not a licence to indulge. It is not a choice, but it comes with specific responsibilities. It is the price we have to pay for building consciousness. It expects us to think for the future. Mortality gives meaning to our time on Earth. Developing peace, friendship and love help us to appreciate the gift of life. At the end of our lifetime, we are left with only memories.

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Are we blinded?

Andhadhun (Hindi, Blind Melody; 2018)

The movie starts with an empirical question “What is life? It all depends on the liver." At one look, it looked like an awkwardly constructed question. It may appear like it is grammatically incorrect. Or perhaps it could refer to how much one could hold his drink dependent on the neutralising effect of his liver. Maybe, it could refer to a time in Mankind's history when he was wondering where consciousness was situated. Some thought it was the brain while others placed it in the heart. Islamic philosophers gave credence to the liver for what we are. We are what we eat, and the liver plays a pivotal role in our digestion.

As it turned out, it was none of the above. In the context of this movie, it referred to the illegal organ harvesting trade! This is the gist for its viewers - a film full of double speaks. In fact, the title also could denote the blind rage that one experiences at the height of anger.

Andhadhun is based on a French short film, L'Accordeur (The Piano Tuner).

A blind pianist, Akash, with a sob story of how he was hit by a cricket ball which damaged his optic nerves. He goes by doing small gigs playing his music and has big plans to go off to the UK. He befriends a motorcyclist, Sophie, who almost knocks him down. The real truth is that he is not blind, and he is doing it for sympathy or for a social experiment, as he calls it.

Is that a blind rabbit?

Everything was going on fine. He had his cake and ate it. He had a beautiful girlfriend in Sophie, earned large tips, and everyone enjoyed his music. Until...

He came in to perform for a client's wife, Simi, to surprise her on her birthday, only to find the client sprawling in blood out cold, dead. The client apparently caught his wife in bed with her lover, and he ended up dead. Akash continued acting blind despite everything happening under his nose, the dead body being bundled by the lover etcetera.

This scene could hold the answer to the final ending.

The next day, he went to the local police station to report the murder. To his bewilderment, the lover turned out to be a police officer. Suspicious of Akash's movement, so started a cat and mouse chase -Simi and her lover hunting down Akash, Simi actually blinding him, Akash getting caught with a crooked doctor and his assistants who are keen to harvest his organ and a devious plan to outwit Simi of her money. The twist at the end of the movie where the ending of the story is left to everybody's imagination as Akash stays alive to narrate his life story to Sophie two years later in Europe.

As Akash walks away after telling Sophie about his life adventures, the audience realises that Akash is seen voluntarily hitting a crushed can. That is when we wonder, 'Hey, what is real and what is fake anymore?' Interesting storytelling.

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Surrendering to the will to live?

Kapoor and Sons, since 1921 (Hindi, 2016)

Maybe, like what Schopenhauer said, every life history is the history of suffering. Life has no intrinsic worth but is kept in motion loosely by desire and illusion. We hopelessly fall in love, to marry to do everything possible to become an object of disgust to each other. The 'will to live' for continuity of progeny has hijacked our will power. He further went on to say that our inborn error is to think that we exist to be happy. But at every turn, we soon realise the contradiction that the world and life have to offer. It seems that is why the face of the elderly intrinsically appear deeply frowned and depressed, realising the futility of life and death that will ensue.

From the moment of the first cry, life is just a barrage of tests, tragedy and turmoil. We somehow are geniuses in creating troubles for ourselves. Rational people make rash decisions under the influence of emotion, giving intellect a rest. We think we are wiser with time and will not make the same mistake twice. Once bitten twice shy, we tell ourselves. But hell no! At the most crucial moment, our hormones and heart dominate over our intellect. Like Sisyphus, within the cycles of seeming joy of achievement and agony of defeat, we have to find contentment.

Aristotle believed that the final goal of mankind is happiness, and this is achieved with virtue and knowledge. The Greek thought we needed tragedy in life, through art and culture, to remind us of the hopelessness of life. It is a catharsis of sorts for us to purify our minds and souls to understand truths about suffering, loss, misery, adversity, and redemption. 

Is everyone happy?

This 2016 film is not the usual Bollywood fare. Done in a not so melodramatic fashion, it showcases the issues an average middle-class family encounters as the husband-and-wife couple is married too long to each other and their children have all grown up with a mind of their own.  The husband and wife cannot stand the sight of each other. Their every action seems like an annoyance. Sometimes they ponder where love disappeared to. Trying to make the most politically correct response and trying to pacify warring factions between offspring proof stressful. Celebrations come and go. Everybody puts a brave front, putting fake smiles to display of portrait of happiness. Simmering beneath the cover are the frustrations, anger and disappointments of broken dreams just waiting to explode. The display of emotion does not always end in resolution. The end result can sometimes be quite devastating, and we wallow in melancholy. Hindsight vision is 20/20. We had seen it all along. We tell ourselves that we will be wiser the next around. But we will never learn, just waiting to plunge on head-on to the speeding trailer all over again.

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A false flag disease?

Inventing the AIDS Virus (1996)
Authors: Peter H Duesberg and Bryan J Ellison

With all the controversies surrounding Coronavirus, whether it is a man-made virus or a naturally occurring one, the debate is just proving to be so convoluted. On one side, the Americans are accusing the Chinese of sending a bio-weapon out to the world to screw up everybody's economy. On the other end, the Chinese are alleging the USA sent the genetically altered virus to China, but the virus has come back to bite them. The situation becomes murky as the rest of the world are taking the Chinese government to court as they concur that Chinese underplayed the seriousness of the disease when it hit them.

Throwing a spanner in the work of discovering the origin of the virus is the suggestion that the novel Coronavirus, COVID-19, could be a retrovirus, just the most famous retrovirus of all - HIV. For recollection, a retrovirus is a type of RNA virus that inserts a copy of its genome into the DNA of a host cell that it invades, thus changing the genome of that cell.

This fact brought about the discussion about HIV-AIDS and how this disease is denied by a significant group of activists. They vehemently deny the virus named HIV as the causative agent of a collection of manifestations, or syndrome called AIDS.

The story of microbes causing ailments came about in the 1890s after Robert Koch, the German physician and bacteriologist, laid down his postulates as the groundwork to prove a particular agent in the genesis of disease. The microbes must be identified in the sick, it must be isolated and grown outside the body and induce sickness when introduced to a healthy subject.

The world was excited that they could give an explanation to many of the maladies around them. Unfortunately, in the earlier part of the 19th century, scientists without much scientific basis, lumped many sicknesses to have a microbial origin. It was thought that pellagra, scurvy and beriberi was caused by germs. This was before vitamins were identified.

The scientific community was all relieved when Jonas Salk discovered the polio vaccine. The idea of viruses causing all unknown illness became vogue. With the splurge of finances in the USA after benefitting most from the post WW2 era, many research facilities and funds were made available for virus research. A link between cancer and any other explainable sickness was attempted. Virologists became the new superstars and viruses their nemesis.

In the 1960s, a polio-like paralytic condition named SMON (Subacute Myelo-Optic Neuropathy) was a big menace. It even threatened to cancel the Tokyo Olympics. Scientists went from gut bacteria to mycoplasma to viruses as the causative agent. When they could not pin down their suspect, they started creating new entities like slow-viruses. Finally, it came to light that it was probably related to the consumption of Clioquinol, an anti-amoebal, anti-shigella medication. Hence, toxins were the cause here.

The world, through its many agencies, like the National Health Institute (NIH) and the Centre for Disease Control (CDC), took the virus approach in investigating many afflictions. The 1976 unexplained pneumonia was attributed to a common pathogen named Legionella when it was discovered during a legionnaires' conference. Kuru, a debilitating brain infection, was blamed on a slow-virus which in most cases remain undiscovered. The same story, according to the author, is present in SSPE, multiple sclerosis, hepatitis C, Epstein-Barr virus in Burkitt's lymphoma and even when Coxsackie-B virus was implicated in Type I diabetes. Also though many in the scientific community accepted these findings, the question of reproducibility often arose.

The story of retroviruses started way back when it was suggested in 1975.

Most microbiologist view at Koch's postulate as the holy grail in pinpointing a particular organism in infections. In the case of viruses, it had to be modified as culturing microorganisms was not easy.

When a mysterious collection of symptoms started among a particular segment of a population in the early 1980s - homosexuals, haemophiliacs, heroin users and Haitians, the CDC sprung into action. Pioneers in the filed on HIV include Luc Montagnier of Paris, and Robert Gallo of Cancer Institute in Bethesda are said to have discovered the offending virus. Montagnier published the identity of the virus which turned out to be identical (to the genomic sequence) of Gallo's. A court case ensued which was settled amicably out of court through Jonas Salk who had similar issues with Albert Sabin over polio vaccine. There were rumours of Gallo stealing Montagnier's work!

From the word go, some sceptics were wary of the convenient association of HIV (initially named HTLV) to the collection of symptoms called AIDS. Doubters questioned whether HIV was just a passenger particle. The diagnosis of HIV is made by testing for antibodies which shows that the immune system is intact, but the very disease weakened the immune system. Are we just testing the innocent bystander here?

The possibility of overlooking exposure to toxins was put forward. The failure to identify the virus in organs affected by AIDS was apparent. Even though Kaposi's Sarcoma was unheard before this epidemic has become the sine qua non of AIDS. Unfortunately, there also were HIV-negative patients with Kaposi's Sarcoma. The other manifestations are Pneumocystis Carinii and HIV dementia.

Homosexuals subjects in their epidemiological studies show that their abuse of intoxicants like amyl nitrite as aphrodisiacs and muscle relaxant as well as IV heroin usage. These habits were suggested for their pulmonary affliction, rather than a viral aetiology.

Haemophiliacs who started receiving purified Factor VIII had a lower transmission rate of HIV positivity. The possibility of other viruses like CMV was put forward.

People like the author and those who are labelled 'HIV deniers' (like the Holocaust deniers) are not saying that it is a fictitious disease. It is just that the world could be barking up the wrong tree. These controversies never stopped the unwavering political support for the virus hypothesis.

The spread of any viral infection usually follows a particular pattern, a bell-shaped distribution curve, as described by William Farr in 1840 (for smallpox). In the case of HIV-AIDS, this type of peak never materialised. The threat of epidemic which was predicated in the mid-80s never emerged; the numbers never reached pandemic proportions. Is it because of the preventive measures like condom usage and needle exchange programmes or the use of Zidovudine (AZT) in HIV + patients with deteriorating symptoms?

Coming to AZT, it is said to the classic case of where the treatment is more damaging the disease. AZT, a failed cancer drug, was promoted to be the mainstay of treatment. It is thought that since retroviruses cause sarcomas in chickens, there must be a basis for viruses in human cancers. This is where the role of big pharmaceutical giants like Burroughs-Wellcome come in. Many accused of the drug being fast-tracked to clinical use without proper double-blind studies and deceitful trials. The name of Anthony Fauci, who is the headlines of late, as the director of NIH who is fighting the COVID-19, appears as a facilitator. The role of the media (print and cable news networks) and its practical usage by the powers that be cannot be overstated in creating public anxiety as well as securing public approval cannot be underestimated.

The book quotes many instances where asymptomatic HIV+ individuals becoming gravely ill after commencing AZT. It helps to tip an HIV+ person into becoming a full-blown AIDs patient with its immunosuppression. Hence, is there a place for usage of AZT as prophylaxis?

HIV and AIDS have become a big business that generates income from the third world. Many corrupt governments also benefit from aids that are channelled to their countries to combat AIDS.

40 years into HIV and we are struggling to keep this condition under wraps. Perhaps the people who are entrusted to protect our affair are lured away by other personal interests. Media is a convenient tool towards this end. We should be careful that COVID-19 may follow the same path. One day it is a man-made virus, then the next day, scientists swear that it cannot be man-made but a freak of Nature. Later yet another day, like a science-fiction script, the virus mutates within a single season. It is mind-boggling. There is a push for the creation of a vaccine by the drug companies and philanthropic organisation who tend to benefit most from such an exercise.

The forward of this book was written by the inventor of PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) and Nobel Laurette, Kary Mullis. He believes that climate change and climate change and the HIV/AIDS connection are due to a conspiracy of environmentalists, government agencies, and scientists attempting to preserve their careers and earn money, rather than scientific evidence.

This book was brought to attention via the YouTube videos of Dr Shiva Ayyadorai, who is on a crusade to expose the malicious intents of Big Pharma.

Kary Mullis interviewed.

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Somebody to ape?

Friends (1994-2004; Season 1-10)

People need role models to guide them through the uncertainties of life. Every living day is a new experience. Hence, newbies who step into different stages of their lives necessitate the presence of someone with authority to emulate. Parents and teachers are sparse representations of adulthood. Their paths are dull, unexciting and merely outdated. Juniors need to follow routes that are 'compelling' and approved by their contemporaries. They aspire for someone or some icon to tell them what normality is.

For teenagers who peeled their inner eyes of awareness at the turn of the century, the Gen-Y's, the TV rom-com 'Friends' could have influenced their perception of what relationship is all about. 

Come to think of it, a generation before them formed their opinions on more significant life issues from Oprah. Oprah Winfrey set the standards on women empowerment, relationship issues, and accepting body image issues. It was as though the whole world had one set of values and it was dictated by the divas in the superficially glamorous city of Tinseltown.

The Gen-Ys (a.k.a. Millennials, born 1981-96), the middle-class English speaking urbanites, moulded their lives around the characters of 'Friends'. It was the norm to have close friends of either gender who may be intimate friends of any kind, with no holds barred, including those considered taboo by the generation before them to go to in time of crises. The social and cultural norms deemed 'normal' are as determined by their favourite characters or collectively by the cast of 'Friends'.

For those who have been living in hibernation, the sit-com 'Friends' is about a group of six friends, two apartments and a coffee shop that they hang out as well as the people as they meet in their lives. They were in their 20s when they started the show. Ross and Monica are siblings. Chandler attended the same high school as Ross. Rachel was Monica's high school mate while Joey joined the group when he became Chandler's roommate. The sixth member of the group is Phoebe, the free-spirited 'hippie', who once lived off the streets and now works as a masseuse. 

Ross is a palaeontologist in a museum. Chandler is a statistic analyst while Joey is a struggling actor. Monica is trying to make it big as a chef. Rachel started as a waitress at the cafe they hang out, Central Perk, but later found a job in the fashion industry.

The earlier seasons were refreshing, but as more episodes get churned, one cannot help but notice that the scriptwriters were running out of ideas. I guess one cannot ask too many questions like how some cash-strapped struggling young adult could afford to live in Manhattan and spent most days chilling at their favourite cafeteria. And why a palaeontologist and an academic would find the company of blue-collar workers more appealing. As their funny bone shrunk, their canned laughter seemed to reach higher decibels, and their threshold for laughter fell to almost zero. The writers dragged airtime by creating lazy jokes with sexual innuendos and sometimes in-your-face tasteless language labelled as a comedy. Another time-buying manoeuvring was replaying clip shows and operating on sentiments of nostalgia. The show failed to show a growing maturity in the characters. They seem to be excited by the same jokes all throughout the seasons.

It is ridiculous when in one season Joey and Rachel are lovestruck and the next, they are finding dates and discussing ways to bed their respective dates. Sure, it is all supposed to be taken lightly, it is after all showbiz, I find it comical when a couple who has fallen out of love with each other can look at each other in the face like nothing happened. And live in the same apartment, on top of that! Or is that modern love or something called moving on?

After being in the limelight for ten seasons, the producers finally pulled the plug on the show after episode #236, leaving a string of broken hearts and rudderless souls. They await a reunion of the cast in a single unscripted comeback show which was supposed to out in March 2020 but postponed due to COVID-19.


It is not for me to say, but maybe it is for social scientists to explore. The male characters are not given prominence in the series, much like many of the shows that are churned out from Hollywood. The male personas appear the not so intelligent ones, jokers, laid back, indecisive and be wrapped around the fingers of their female counterparts. It would be interesting to see how social dynamics in other parts of the world get moulded by the American Dream and the American perspective of women empowerment. It is good to know just how much the teaching of the art of flirting and promiscuous lifestyle that is sold to the general public actually modify our social mores?

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Like a surgeon! Rapid and precise.

Uri: The Surgical Strike (Hindi; 2019)


It happened a couple of times before. Rogue parties have often made mischiefs previously. Like the Malay proverb goes, 'Baling batu, sembunyi tangan' - the perpetrator would start trouble by throwing stones, but with a sleight of hand, he would fold his hands behind and join the crowd acting innocent. 

It is an exercise of futility cracking our heads, doing the conventional way, trying to be fair, exhausting all avenues in attempting to mete justice. Many a time, we have to depend on gut feeling and God-given intellect to deduce and do the right thing. Like the hand of a traditional surgeon, he uses his senses, makes a diagnosis, makes a precise surgical incision and removes the offending ailment and returns the patient back to health. Time is of the essence. Dilly dallying with formalities and pusillanimous inertia will just tip the feeble to the point of no return.

In recent history, at least twice the Israeli integrity was put to a challenge. In 1972 Munich Olympics, when a Palestinian terrorist group held Israeli athletes hostage, the German police killed five of the eight kidnappers. Hostages perished in the massacre. The prisoners were later exchanged when a Lufthansa flight was hijacked by the same group a month later. The Israelis did not wait for natural justice to take place. Neither did it remain idle for the international community to deliberate and drag its feet to condemn and advise. The following year, the Israeli Army retaliated by bombing Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. The Mossad hunted down to last remaining kidnapper and killed them in broad daylight in the 'Operation Wrath of God'. The last of the kidnappers died in a planted car bomb in 1988.

Another enviable rescue mission carried by the Israeli intelligence was 'Operation Entebbe'. An Air France flight from Tel Aviv to Paris was rerouted to Entebbe, Uganda. The 100-over Israeli passengers were held, hostage. Israel managed to sneak in their commandos under the cloak of the night. How they outmanoeuvred the Ugandan radars (Idi Amin supported the terrorists) still remains an enigma till date. There are many unverified reports of how they deployed the expertise of Uri Geller and his psychic powers. In 90 minutes, the Israeli commandos killed all hijackers and rescued all but 3 of the 106 hostages.

Uri Geller - the spoon-bending psychic spy.

This 2019 film follows the same direction as many of the new movies that are coming out of Bollywood. It combines excellent cinematography with new young actors and a new narrative as told by the young minds of New India. 

The India-Pakistan enmity has been going on like forever. Pakistani dirty interference has been implicated in many upheavals and terrorist activities in India. This film is about one of them. When a military barrack in Uri, Jammu-Kashmir was attacked, and nineteen of Indians soldiers were killed, India had to rise to the occasion. This story is about how the Indian Army, with the help of the latest surveillance equipment, modern warfare machines, espionage and a little help from Pakistani turncoats, managed to hunt down the perpetrators of the Uri Massacre and flatten their launchpads in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK).

A high octane movie of high standards. The fighting scenes are believable. The actors are young and built well for their roles. The deployment of fighter planes and military strategies appear convincing enough. 4.5/5.

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