The man behind the spirit!

One thing I have noticed over the years is that there are some of our activities that reaffirm our propensity towards herd mentality. One is our appreciation of haute culture. Just because a movie star is seen wearing a transparent tunic which does not leave anything to the imagination of lies beneath (her undergarment or therein lack of), everyone wants a piece of the action. 

Some people take great pleasure in their vintage wines and spirits. It has become a fashion statement of sorts amongst the high societies to serve single malt whisky of a particular age which boasts of a specific amount of character and complexity from the cask. Guests would all nod in unison after the first sip. I wonder if they would still be able to discern the difference if the liquor was unceremonious replaced with a younger whisky or for that matter a blended one, after their third or fourth drink.

In 1976, Steven Spurrier, a British merchant who sold only French wine, had a blind wine tasting competition in Paris; involving French and Californian wines. The Californian wine industry was considered a Lilliputian in contrast to their French counterparts. Hence, it was unwelcomed results when the creme de la crème of France's oenophiles turned in the Americans as the winner. The organisers were so embarrassed by the outcome that they suppressed the news from the French public. A lone reporter from the Time magazine leaked out the information to the world of what was later to the 'Judgement of Paris' in reference to the Greek mythology. In the Iliad, Paris was appointed as a judge to a beauty contest involving three Goddesses - Hera, Athena and Aphrodite. The best candidate did not win as Paris was he bribed by Aphrodite.

Rihanna
covered the bare necessities?

Lately, Malaysians were pleasantly surprised to learn that a Malaysian-made blended whiskey had won a silver medal at the 2020 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. Pleasant because we are always trying to find accreditation outside to convince ourselves that we are doing alright. Surprised because no one knew that we were brewing whiskey in this country, with the new wave of religiosity creeping in and all. 

The point to note is that it is spelt 'whiskey' not 'whisky'. Whisky is sort of patented for whiskies brewed in Scotland, much like whiskies from America are bourbon. Elsewhere, it is just whiskey for you.

Timah is here and is selling faster than you can google them. The packaging honours a certain Captain Speedy who had served the British East India Company well. I was perplexed. Even though I cannot claim to know the Malayan history in and out, a famous figure that deserves recognition for a Malaysian product ought to tickle my brain cells, I thought.

A little search and there, I discovered that Tristram Charles Sawyer Speedy a.k.a Captain Speedy was quite a flamboyant character who led an illustrious life. Born in Meerut, India, to a family with army traditions, he was trained as a soldier in England. He returned to India as an Army Officer and went on to serve in the Northern Frontier Province and Ethiopia.  In 1871, he was summoned to Penang as the Superintendant of Police. He must have been quite a character for getting quite a caustic remark from the then Governor of the Straits Settlement.

Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society

Vol. 26, No. 3 (163), Captain Speedy of Larut (Nov 1953, pp 3-103).

Speedy went on to be a mercenary to provide Indian troops to squash the Larut clash between Ghee Hin and Hai San gangs. He went on to become the assistant to JWW Birch, the first British Resident of Perak. He was instrumental in the development of Taiping town.

Later, he and his Mrs went on to explore and live in Sudan. 

                                                         

(P.S. 'Timah' is tin (Stanum, Sn, atomic number 50 on the periodic chart, in the Malay language. Tin brought in Chinese immigration and an excellent opportune for British meddling of Malayan affairs. Chinese immigration also brought in the triad, namely Ghi Hin and Hai San. Originating from different part of China with different dialects, Cantonese and Hakka respectively, each wanted the stronghold of the mining business. Caught in the middle are the local chieftains who also wanted to collect levy (without working!). The chiefs turned to the British for mediation. Speedy, the maverick, who by then had resigned as the Superintendent of Police of Penang, was roped in the squash the disturbance. Speedy brought in Indian soldiers for that purpose and billed the Malay chief handsomely). 

That is Tin (Timah) and Speedy are linked.

The bungalow in Matang lived by Speedy.

The Baobab tree in the Jalan Macalister- Jalan Residensi junction in Penang. 

Planted in 1871 by the then Superintendent of Police of Penang, Captain Speedy. 

It is the oldest planted tree in Malaysia and is still surviving.

Captain Speedy of Larut
John M. Gullick

Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society

Vol. 26, No. 3 (163), Captain Speedy of Larut (November 1953), pp. 3-103 (107 pages)

Published by: Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society

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We become what we do not want

Shakuntala Devi (Hindi; 2020)

A joke that my friend once told me comes to mind. A child, aged 5, will think that his father is some kind of a superman. He is strong and invincible. At 10, he is still looked up upon. In the teenage years, the relationship sours. By 20, son and father do not see eye-to-eye. Father tries to pave the path with his wisdom, but the son thinks his ways are passé. He soon refers to his father as 'your husband' when talking to his mother about him. He only communicates with his mother and does not engage in any form of conversation with his father. Things just happen in a ritualistic manner. Son gets married, has a child, slowly enjoys parenthood. He soon realises the intricacies of parenting. By 45, he is impressed by his father's ability to juggle work, family life and skill to educate his siblings with his meagre income. By 50 or 55, the son tries to make up for lost times. When the son is 60, the father has passed on, and the son starts praising his father again, putting him up on a pedestal. He would say, "my father was a great man. No one can do all the things he did." He once again becomes a Superman, an Ubermensch.

At the spring of youth, wanting to explore newer frontiers, learning new things, looking at things from a different, with the possession of new knowledge, we see our parents as fossilised dinosaurs. We think they are not in sync with reality and are not keeping up with the demands of the changing times. We abhor our parents, are embarrassed and vow never to be like them. After all, with the benefit of education and modern knowledge, we think we can do much better. At the end of the day, we realise how wrong we were!

We go through the mill, traversing the joys and aches that life has to offer and soon realise that at the end of the day, we become the very person(s) that we despise.

Anupama Banerjee, daughter of Shakuntala Devi.

If one were to think that this movie all about the achievements of Ms Shakuntala Devi, a simple girl from Karnataka, who later came to be known as the human-computer, an astrologist, a writer, an activist for the gay community and even as the politician who stood against Mrs Indira Gandhi, one will be disappointed. There are many facets of this interesting lady. The storytellers decide to concentrate on her dilemmas being a woman, a wife and a mother in a world that is not really ready for her outlook of the world.

The story is told from the point of view of her daughter Anupama Banerjee. Many, even those in India are not aware of Shakuntala Devi, the mathematics genius. She has the incredible ability to do swift mental calculations. With ease, she would rattle off roots, square roots of multiple orders in record times, faster than the early late 70s' calculators and computers. She also has the ability to tell the days in a calendar. Give her a particular date any year, and she could tell the day it was. She did all these without any formal education. Her father, a circus man, upon discovering her talent at a young age, decided to bring her around showcasing her abilities like a freakshow for money. He brought her to the UK, and she started her shows there, even in Imperial College. Her fame soon brought to all the four corners of the world. Her skills even find a mention in the Guinness Book of World Records.

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A field day for the dark triad!

The Hater (Hejter, Polish; 2020)

It is not something that we do not already know. The cyberspace has become where everything is made possible; a false narrative can be oft-repeated the gospel truth. Truth can be bent to suit the flavour of the day. A non-issue can be made the next game-changer. Deepfakes can change the path of one's career or fate. Destiny is determined by the trolls and influencers.

There is a concerted effort by news spreaders to mould one's thought process in sync to the agenda of their paymasters. 

The modern world, it seems, is divided into the right conservatives who yearn for the good old times when the world was a place of milk and honey, where politicians were honest, policemen cared for the public (not look at them as perps) and outdoors were healthy. At the red corner is the leftist who basically plays devil's advocate aim for anarchy and pushes the boundary to the point of entropy. 

The leftists, outwardly seem to have the downtrodden at heart. They appear to fight for the plight of the oppressed and the minorities. They go all out to tarnish governments and civil societies just to create mayhem. They are the true wolves in sheep clothing but the internet has the ability to expose these but who is buying it? It looks like the democratisation of information does not make people wiser, but rather more confused.

The Hater shows us the modern world of the 21st century. Social media is the primary way to access people and get people's assessment of anything the 'majority' feels relevant. The problem is that the 'majority' is not the true majority, but a fake one propagated by paid trolls. They spread 'lies' (or bent truth, who knows?) of alleged fascism, Islamophobia, homophobia, misogyny or abuse all over the net. Are they opportunistic scumbags, victims of online culture that has destroyed decency or are there just to earn a living?

Tomasz, a law student who got expelled from his law school accused of plagiarism, moves around in a daze, hiding the fact even from his sponsors. His sponsors, a rich couple who delves with art pieces and moves in high society, had earlier taken a liking to him during one of their summer vacations. Tomasz realises that his guardians are putting a front when dealing with him. He proves it by leaving his mobile phone recorder on as he left their home, just to their vile sneering. 

He is living during heady times in Poland, where the society is struggling to keep its borders closed to immigration. Tomasz's sponsors' associate, a left-wing politician, is sympathetic towards immigrants.

As the movie progresses, we see Tomasz's almost psychopathic behaviour as he uses his position as a computer whiz in a PR firm to expose the hypocrisy of the leftists and make himself a hero through a series of truth-bending social media messages. 

It seems that the militant ultra-right-wing terrorists have another platform to communicate. If radiofrequency or cyberspace can be intercepted, now they can communicate freely incognito via the numerous game platforms that computer gaming can offer. Peoples' brains have all been so fried up that they cannot appreciate what is real and what is mirage anymore. We have way past passing the Turing test. And we do not know what is good and what is bad anymore.

The net has become a fertile ground for individuals with nefarious

intentions to churn out untruths and spew vile baseless accusations

under the cloak of anonymity. The globalist has set the agenda and
anyone found not conforming this narrative is cancelled off in this
new culture. Back during the pre-internet days, to break a 

functioning society it took slippery Machiavellian manoeuvres. 

In the cyberspace, psychopaths are having a field day. A single 
negative remark and the herd will follow, aided by the algorithm.

(Credit: AqS)

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Nobody promised a rose garden!

Raat Akeli Hai (A lonely night, Hindi; 2020)
Netflix

Everyone enjoys a delightful whodunnit every once in a while. The problem with most Indian movies is that the said story eventually becomes too outlandish as the movie drags on for over two hours and the screenwriters rushing to tie all loose end into a jumble. But not this one. It has Agatha Christie's trademark storyline written all over it. It goes on round and round, shifting the suspicion from one character to another. In the midst of all these, some subplots give the story more punch.   

A dead body starts the narration. No one is beyond suspicion, and everyone has something hidden in their proverbial closet. Everyone has a valid reason to be the murderer but an alibi as well. Good old detective work solves the case at the end.

A wealthy tycoon is found dead on his bed on the night of his second wedding to a girl younger than his daughter. The tycoon is a nasty chap who had lost his wife to a highway robbery cum murder five years earlier. His family which includes his adult son, daughter, sister and first wife's brother are all unhappy with the old man's marriage to his young bride, a lady of questionable reputations who came into the house as his mistress. With every member of this patriarchal clan having a perfect reason to commit the murder, in walks an inspector. Of course, the maids know more than they are willing to talk.

After watching the movie, only then you realise that you have seen it all before. Yes, it is a remake of 'Knives Out' starring Daniel Craig as the inspector. If 'Knives Out' was more of a light-hearted comedy, 'Raat Akeli Hai' is a dark drama that deals with the unsavoury truths of society where wealth and power bring with it evil intentions and ability to get away with murder. On the other hand, being stuck in the lower rung of society also pushes one to commit heinous crimes of desperation and helplessness. 

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Expressional freedom or exploitation?

Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion's 'WAP'

Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion's 'WAP'

It seems that this song is the latest one to play earworm in every Gen-Z and even millennials. It is said to have smashed many records and currently the most-streamed song. Streaming is said to be the true assessment of its popularity, uninfluenced by the interferences of the recording giants. It is also the talking point of many, saying that this song defines female-centred sexual empowerment.

To others, however, this is all just noise - a cunning way to exploit the female body to gyrate to obscene lyrics in scanty outfits. The dance moves are no work of art but mere abuse of freedom of expression to showcase pornography to the public eye in the name of democratisation of oppressed black females. The moves are not sexual innuendos but outright vulgarity.

Defenders of this type of expressions rebut that no one objected when male rappers made these type of sexually explicit videos. Not true. Even back in the 1990s, concerned with the rise in songs with dirty lyrics, a kind of classification system was introduced. This kind of lazy songwriting and exploitatory videos cannot be defended in the name of artistic licence.

Actually, this type of outburst is nothing new. Even when Elvis Presley started gyrating his pelvis to the song of 'Jailhouse Rock', the older generation thought it was an abomination. Such suggestive gestures, they say, was not in decorum with civil society. The end is nigh, they cried. People objected when 'Escape - The Piña Colada Song ' hit the airwaves; it promoted casual infidelity.

In Malaysia, Boy George's 'Karma Charmeleon' music video was banned as the singer crossdressed. Michael Sambelo's 'Maniac' went under the censors' scissors for the yoga pants that outlined the female anatomy a wee bit too vividly. The moral guardians, however, are helpless in stopping its wide-eyed citizens from feasting on Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion's 'WAP' as streaming transcend their jurisdiction.

For better or worse, this is how a society evolves. Lessons from the Prohibition in the US in the 30s only teaches us that suppressing something only makes the problem go worse. The inquisitive nature of people will always arouse their inner desire to take a bite at the forbidden fruit. In time to come 'WAP' will be as tame as Brothers Grimms' fairy tales. Only that the messages are cryptic just like how the story of 'Little Red Riding Hood' is not all a quick-thinking young girl but about a flirtatious girl caught between innocence and sexuality.

Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion's 'WAP' Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard Hot 100 With Record First-Week Streams

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Affairs of heart are irrational

Sufiyum Sujathayum (Sufi and Sujatha, Malayalam; 2020)

It started with a slow but discernable sporadic increase in reported cases of Hindu girls eloping with Muslim boys. Then came in the honour killings. The media picked it up. Everyone else then came out with their experiences of so-and-so female members of their families ex-communicating from the rest in pursuit of true love. To these girls, it finally meant embracing a new religion, new name, erasing themselves of their past lives and age-old traditions.

People started calling this phenomenon as 'love jihad' - a supposed form of religious warfare by Muslim boys to entice Hindu girls into conversion through marriage. It was a numbers game. They allege that that was another modality to increase their representation in the community. In 2009, it garnered national attention with claims of widespread conversions in Kerala and Karnataka. There were also similar accusations by British Sikhs and minorities in Pakistan. Even though the National Investigative Agency (NIA) in India found common instigators in 'love jihad' cases, the police and the court dismissed them as pure fabrications with no substance. As there was a hypothesis that these brides were prepared to be made ISIS bride, it became a terror issue, hence, NIA came to the picture. 

Another point not mentioned in any of these arguments is the lack of young boys in many of the places where 'love jihad' takes place. There were no economic opportunities in these states and the young men had to go off to work in the Gulf States or Singapore. Young girls with raging hormones and Muslim boys, in the spring of youth, left behind to mind religious and theological duties were the best ingredients for a perfect storm. And suave hunks with Bollywood movie-star look as many of these Sufi practitioners have, as some are from the Middle East, sparks are bound to fly.

As these girls who are alleged victims of forced conversion were major in the legal sense and were intelligent and educated, the courts could not nullify such unions. Anyway, affairs of the heart are never logical and cannot be argued in a sensible manner. Blinded by romance, the world is a wonderful place and pigs can fly.

Even though movie pundits on the social media hailed it as another must-see movie of 2020, I seriously think one can give this one a miss. It tells the story of a vocally-challenged Hindu Karthak dancer whose only job seems to be to cycle around the village and play with children in the madrassah. In the small town where the only member of the male gender is an uncle or from the geriatric population, a tall bearded young man is a sight for sore eyes. She is fascinated with him and his way of life - his mystical dances and songs. She falls flat for him despite the arrangements made by her parents for her to be married to a groom working in Dubai.

Long story short, she is emotionally blackmailed by the parents to get married.

Ten years on, she returns to India with her husband, after the Sufi lover dies. The rest of the story is about her letting go of her boyfriend and coming in terms with her status as a wife and mother, leaving her juvenile puppy love behind.

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Above us, not just sky!

Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl (Hindi; 2020)
Netflix


This film was stream via the OTT (over-the-top) media with a bang. First, the Indian Air Force (IAF) objected to the film depiction of the force being one filled with masculine toxicity and bullying of its officers of the fairer sex. Next came the netizens' loud call for the boycott of movies made by offsprings of movie stars. This follows the alleged suicide of Sushant Singh Rajput and the accusations hurled against the Bollywood mafias of nepotism involving children of stars.

In my opinion, this offering is just riding on the wave of nationalism that seems to have hit the world over. With the power of artistic licence, the story writers have given masala to spice up the saga of a lone wolf, or rather lamb, in a sea of wolves. As predicted in tales of this nature, the protagonist, despite all the barrage hurled along her path, she comes out smelling of roses. From this angle, the story seems to motivate young girls with ambitions to serve in the forces to realise that brawn is not all that is needed to swim against the tide, sometimes one just needs tenacity. 

The real Saxena and the celluloid form.

This movie tells the story of Gunjan Saxena who fought against the stereotype to become one of the first female officers in the IAF to go war. She was eventually awarded for her courageous works during the Kargil War in 1999. The IAF stated its objection against the depiction of discrimination of its female officers. There were also factual errors and twisting of events which may actually cause an officer to be court-marshalled. Saxena was not really the first female officer in the IAF. Saxena also had a fellow female officer in her batch who was not mentioned at all. In reality, it is not a biopic but stretched far away from the real story.

Again, the narrative just goes well with the oft-repeated general trend of the world; that we are living in a toxic world that discriminates the weak, the minorities and the marginalised. Any news is good publicity for the producers. Objection or accusations of nepotism is all the same. More curious viewers just throng to peek.

Sabiha Gökçen with Ataturk.

Just for curiosity, the world's first female fighter pilot is actually Turkish. As part of Kamal Mustafa Ataturk's modernisation programme of Turkey after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, woman empowerment was the order of the day. He banned the burqa and encouraged women to study. One of his four adopted daughters, Sabiha Gökçen, went on to become the first female fighter pilot.

She went on to become a somewhat controversial figure later. She was orphaned during the tumultuous times of Turkey when they went through brutal civil war and swapping of citizens (of Greeks and Albanians) at their border. They were rumours that she could an Albanian, hence defeating the scream for 'Turkey for Turks'  at that time. Her renewed assault on the Kurds became a sore point when Erdoğan wanted to mend his relationship with Kurdistan in 2011, threatening her iconic status in Turkish history.

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