The cycle is a MacGuffin

Cycle (Marathi, 2017)

A Malay proverb goes, 'gajah mati meninggalkan tulang, harimau mati meninggalkan belang, manusia mati meninggalkan nama'. Literally translated it meant elephants die leaving bones, tigers leave their stripes and men leave their good name. Essentially it denotes that a legacy of a person is his deeds, not his materialistic assets.

It may all be make-believe and fabled narration - that the world is so good where it provides for everybody. Your deeds are the only that matter. That is the only thing that is remembered of you are your virtues. The material representations of you are not you but the mere reminders of your existence.

The movie set in 1958 rural India. Perhaps the innocence of Man that existed in the yesteryears is just a forgotten relic of the past. Modern Man is more self-centred and suspicious of the person beside him. Money has pervaded into everyone's life that it supersedes doing good or the right thing.

Maybe somewhere in the corner of our hearts, we still hope that humanity and all the traits that protected mankind through hardship over the years are still alive. People would yet be assessed by their virtues and not their bank balance. Material possessions are essential but not be-all and end-all of our being. 

The story tells about a decent much-loved astrologer, Keshav, who is placed in high regards by people near and far. He is gentle when speaking bad omen and sometimes tells his client the good things that they want to hear and sugarcoats the unpleasant one. His one much-prized possession is his yellow bicycle. It was bequeathed to him by his grandfather who received it from a British officer for his services. Keshav loves his vehicle too much, to the level of obsession. No one is allowed to ride his bike, strictly nobody. He even keeps it indoors.

During his absence, on a faithful day, Keshav's bicycle gets stolen by two bumbling thieves who had just robbed a house but were chased by dogs. A devastated Keshav goes in search of his machine.

Meanwhile, the robbers on their getaway, get the royal treatment from the adjacent villagers. They believe them when told, though they were initially unconvinced, that Keshav had loaned them his contraption. Long story short, the thieves realised they had stolen from a decent chap. Keshav also gets back his cycle, but by then, he realises his folly. He had emphasised too much on his bicycle but failed to see all the love around him.

In this unsettled world full of uncertainties, this movie could be a wake-up call for us to reassess our priorities. We should not be all rapacious in our zest for wealth acquisition but consider having a re-visit upon things we had wanted to do all our lives but never the opportunity to do so.

P.S. Learnt a new word - MacGuffin. It is an object or device in a film which serves merely as a trigger for the plot. It has nothing to do with the story. It was coined by Alfred Hitchcock. Asked in an interview, "what is a MacGuffin?", he replied, " It's an apparatus for trapping lions in the Scottish highlands."

The interviewer went on to enquire, "But there are no lions in the Scottish highlands."
He cheekily said, "Then that's no MacGuffin."

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Of integrity, coinage and inner devil of Man.

Naanayam (நாணயம், Tamil; Integrity/Coin, 2005)

It is ironic the very thing that makes one loses his integrity bears the very same name that gives confidence. In the Tamil language, நாணயம் (Naanayam - the title of the movie), could indicate either integrity or coins as well as currency. The root word tells it all; coin/currency works based on trust. Once someone loses his trust in the economy of a, say banana republic, its whole financial institution collapses.

There is no problem that a little moolah cannot solve, they say. In a Tamil saying, it is mentioned that even a corpse would open its mouth at the mention of money. There is no stronger bond than the love for money. Even motherly love can be bought over. At the same time, money unleashes all the evil feelings that have been suppressed over the million years of our civilisation and the code of conduct that evolved from it. At the sight or suggestion of easy money, all integrity goes out of the window. When wealth is small, Man is its master. Conversely, money becomes the Master to man when it is humungous.

This movie came to the limelight after passing of the legendary SPB. He plays a pivotal character in the film and his son, SPB Cheran is the producer.

The plot of the film is nothing new. We have seen the same theme in umpteen Hollywood offering in various twists and turn. Here, the storyline gets marinated with lots of masala and music to whet the local appetite. It is a forgettable feat but makes one realise that any full proof security system is as good as the last. Sometimes one wonders, like the makers of COVID vaccine who could have conjured up the Wuhan virus in the first place, perhaps the security firm break their own 'unbreakable' system to market their next product.

The desire to usurp wealth is so great that positive human virtues like integrity, honesty, loyalty and such just get thrown off the window. Money buys everything. The similar attraction must apply to hunger, power and erotic ambitions.

Ravi, an ambitious young man, has his future set when he helps a banker in trouble. The banker employs him and plans to use the young man's security proposal for his bank. Ravi thought everything was falling in place when he met a pretty journalist. The next thing he knew was that her ex-husband appears and makes a ruckus. The ex-husband ends up dead, and Ravi is blackmailed and accused of killing the ex-husband. Then starts the cat-and-mouse game for Ravi to find out what was going on and hence prove his innocence. 

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It is all about power and control

The Death of Stalin (2017)

The difference between Capitalism in the West and Communism in the East of Europe arose because Capitalist societies retained philosophical persuasions and political pluralism as expressed in a parliamentary democracy, a free press and free trade unions. Communist societies, on the other hand, froze Marxist philosophy into a closed system of orthodoxy. This led to heresy-hunting, which in due course reduced Marxism to the status of a Semitic creed like Christianity and Islam. Bertrand Russell was not far wrong when he identified Communism as a Christian heresy. It has acquired all the characteristic features of the Christian Church such as the only saviour, the only Revelation, the only Pope, the only priesthood, the only baptism, and the only sacraments. Communist regimes could not help becoming totalitarian enemies of human freedom.

The initial success of the Bolshevik Revolution is evidenced by the advancements in living conditions and headway in science, technology and space exploration. Buried in the rubble of development was the loss of human lives in the name of dissidence and the rebel yell for freedom.

For quite a while, Capitalism portrayed itself as the saviour of Mankind after the fall of the Iron Curtain. Greed drove economies, and everyone was happy. Nobody realised that unregulated Capitalism was the harbinger of many unrests that were to ensue. Vulture Capitalism left a trail of destruction and the widening of the gap between the haves and have nots. What started as compassionate capitalism which replaced despotic regimes and feudalistic autocrats ended up as cutthroat capitalism. The weak remained suppressed under any economic modality.

We finally realise that the world has all the resources to fulfil our needs but not our greed. No one economic system can sustain our wellbeing forever. It is innate within to take shortcuts and find ways to beat the system. We get lazy and cut corners.

Despite earning the unenviable reputation of having killed off over 20 million people during his reign, including more than a million the Gulags, Stalin still have a place in the heart of many Russians. His feat of decimating the Nazi Army singlehandedly, after being left to fend for themselves by the Allied Forces in the Second World War, hails him as the favourite leader. In a poll in conjunction with the Centennial Celebrations of the Bolshevik Revolution, 51% of respondents voted favourably towards Josef Stalin as a real Russian leader. Putin has been compared positively to Stalin in meting actions against 'outlaw' former Soviet states like Ukraine.

Stalin and his band of yeomen

The 'Death of Stalin' is a satirical piece on the set-up of 1953 Soviet Russia surrounding the time of the demise of their supreme leader. It tells about the grudgingly subservient people in the inner circle of the Politburo. Secretly each has power ambitions but does not dare to state the obvious for fear of joining the scores of people sent regularly to face the firing squad for alleged treason. Before the body is cold, they are scurrying around in an attempt to shore up their positions like in a court suddenly in need of a king. The inner circle of Stalin's 'comrades-in-arms' include Georgy Malenkov, Stalin's likely successor and deputy premier; Lavrenti Beria, Stalin's influential chief of the secret police; Nikita Khrushchev, whom Stalin had summoned to Moscow to balance the power dynamics of Malenkov and Beria; and Nikolai Bulganin, Stalin's defence minister. 

At the end of the day, even though the film opened to rave reviews in film festivals, it left with a bit of bad after taste. There were historical inaccuracies in the timeline of events that were shown in this supposedly historical movie. It ended up neither being a comedy act nor one which highlighted the horrors of Stalinism.

The movie is banned in Russia and many of the former colonies of Soviet Russia for denigrating Russia's WW2 war heroes and being disrespectful of their history.

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It ain't over till it is over!

Landscape with Figures" by George Tooker (1992)
Trapped in pigeon holes?

I have known Uncle K7 for more than thirty-over years. Ever ready with a gleaming smile, he enjoys having long banter with me every now and then, I think. Periodically, during draggy family functions, we would often be nooked at a corner to discuss his life and times as a young technician in the world of espionage. Working in the Malaysian Field Force as a sergeant, he was in the frontline trying to intercept communist's radio communication using the then avant-garde British and German technology. 

These family gatherings were nothing more than marking of attendance akin to a Mafia family meetings where the same crowd meets, again and again, to reinforce who is who in the family's hierarchal ladder. 

My interactions with Uncle K7 over the years opened up my understanding of mortality, immortality and the purpose of life. Through him, I realised the need to discover, re-discover and continue learning till the end of times. 

Thirty years ago, he was a happy man living in the memories of his working experience. He was retired from work but contented to see the country he fought for morphing into a developed one. He was delighted to see his four daughters blossom into young mothers with beautiful children. And the love of his life was by his side to attend to his whims and fancies.

A few years later, he was telling how he quit his chain-smoking habit. It was a time when he used to flame sixty stick a day. He blamed the British squarely for this unsavoury habit. It seems he picked up the nasty habit in the Force. A pack of imported cigarettes was part of his ration when he went into the jungle for his bandit-busting expeditions. What started as a harmless desire to try ended up as an addiction hard to expel. 

He enjoyed his last stick just before performing his penance at the Tirupathi temple in India. As it was customary to abstain from smoking in the vicinity of the holy site, he complied. Reaching for his habitual stick at the end of any task, he found it tasteless. And he grabbed another; also bland. Suddenly he had an intense abhorrence to the smell of cigarette. He threw away the pack, and henceforth he became an ex-smoker. I learned from him that 'all or none law' or 'cold turkey' are the ways to go. One has to put his mind to something and give his heart and soul to see it materialise. No half measures will do.

Yet another few years later, he was devastated by the sudden passing of the love of his life. The meetings after this era were filled with his accounts of melancholia, reminiscing the spring of his youthfulness. Soon after that, he was diagnosed to have quadruple coronary vessel disease. Against medical advice, he opted to go conservative, shunning any surgical intervention. Despite being labelled as a ticking time bomb, he was ready to embrace the offer of the walk to the Otherside. In his mind, his job on Earth was over; the sowing, the nurturing and the continuity was done. But time kept ticking with him, not away from him.

He later went on to immortalise his life experiences in a memoir, marking his contributions to the genesis of the newly independent nation called Malaya.

Now, twenty years after the diagnosis, he is still a happy man, embracing life as is offered to him. Still wearing his trademark grin, he replied with glee in his eyes when asked what he is up to. Since my last visit, he had discovered the magic of Youtube and the wealth of knowledge buried in cyberspace. He has delved into the art of face-reading (physiognomy) and numerology. On that evening, I was the guinea pig!

I am amazed that Uncle K7 always has something to do to keep himself busy. Many of his contemporaries are departed; hence, he has to explore and re-kindle himself to be occupied so that the light within him does not stop flickering.

At the time of retirement, I have seen many who just drop everything to plunge into what they think as well deserved break after years of breaking back for the family and for themselves. It may not be the best thing for the mind. It is as if one is just buying time before the Grimm Reaper's arrival. It should not be this way.

Being lazy or just resting?

Reminding ourselves of what Karl Marx said about capitalism's evils, he emphasised the importance of free time and shorter working hours for increasing productivity. Having time to oneself to indulge in activities they like give meaning to their existence. Since working hours are not going to get any shorter, but we tend to live longer, the only logical thing to do would be to use the time after retirement as a time for liberation. The silvered haired has the most opportune time to immerse himself in that something he wanted to do all his life but never had the time, resources or peace of mind to do as he was busy finding his footing in the material world.

"Free time is time for the full development of the individual - Karl Marx."

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Gun, Oil and Drugs - the GOD Complex!

Population Control: How Corporate Owners Are Killing Us
Jim Marrs (2015)

It may have sounded like rumblings of an old man who had lived too long to be amiable to the wranglings of the modern world, or it may scream of the rebel yell of a conspiracy theorist who is explaining about that is wrong with the world today.

In America and in the world as a whole, entire populations have been culled for profit and control. Elites have used the so-called GOD syndicate—Guns, Oil, and Drugs—as well as toxic air, water, food, and medicines, and of course, the unhealthy financial system on which the whole master plan depends—to reduce the world’s population. This is due to the belief of the global elite that the basis of all the world’s problems is overpopulation—just too many people using the Earth’s limited resources.
The conspiracy theory angle starts with the story of the American Stonehenge, which was unveiled in 1980, in the state of Georgia by anonymous donors. The inscription gracing the four mammoth slab of Georgia Guidestone, written in eight different languages, among other things mentions the need to maintain the world population at 500 million. In 1980, the world population had already capped at 4.4 billion. How on Earth are the people behind the Georgia Guidestone going to have their mission accomplished if not for the mass killing of the masses?

We were taught that economic growth and population growth are inversely related to each other; overpopulation is linked to poverty and famine. On the hand, the equation is not so straight forward. It has to be weighed against productivity, migration policies, access to medical, savings and educational facilities as well as civil society and good governance.

Modern statistics teaches us that for a society to continue, there needs to be a constant population growth of at least 2.1. By biological design, to create more thinking brain and exponential technological advancements, couples have to have more than two children. Exponential population growth, however, is a recent phenomenon, spurred by the industrial revolution and later progress in the medical field after the second World War. 

The neutrality of population growth with respect to economic development came into disrepute again in the 1990s, when tigers of East Asian sprang their fangs. Despite their vast population, instead of being a burden to the country, they became a market for their products, which consecutively steamrolled the economy.

Georgia Guidance

The premise of the book is that there is a cabal which wants to control the whole world and control its resources. First, it needs to eliminate the population, damage the environment, acquire all its natural resources, its fauna and flora, influencing the economy, usurping industries, destroying mom-and-pop businesses and replacing them with multinational conglomerate owned enterprises which would terrorise to control price, seed and quality.

The water would be polluted with toxic fumes and chemicals. The land will be laden with heavy metals and polluting hydrocarbons. Big pharma will sell medicine for the diseases that they create. And the data which are reported by dishonest scientists who sell away humanity for personal glory. New non-existent disorders are plucked out of thin air, like social anxiety disorder which was formerly referred to as just shyness and female sexual dysfunction syndrome. The society is drugged to receive fake news, to be numbed and be herded to the slaughter.

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Just do it, whatever!

In the late 1970s, as my future laid bare before me, I found no time in anything but my books. I looked at watching movies as three hours of wasted time that could otherwise be spent on something more worthwhile, so I thought. At that age, everything was either black or white, factual and goal orientated. Watching the then Tamil movie which showcased hirsute stars in unkempt hair and their un-touched up face narrating mind-stupefying cheesy village stories was a turn-off. Its songs, despite be blared incessantly by my neighbours on their music devices, were just white noise. 

Actually, it was an annoyance, as something I had to run away from to find solace at the quiet corner of the cemetery or empty classroom in the school to jam-pack precious information into my grey cells. That was the time when SP Bala and Illayaraja were churning out hits after hit that just passed me by. Occasionally a song or two would come to my attention clamouring from my father rickety radio. I did not, however, give any two hoods to it till now. Deep within me, I thought they were doing just what I wanted to do; to find a footing in life, for fame and fortune and to leave our mark in the society.

S P Balasubramanyam

The recent passing of the legendary playback singer S P Balasubramanyam, and through all the postings dedicated to him, highlighted his groundbreaking feats. Having sung 40,000 songs in 16 languages must be an achievement by any standards. Many musical analysts have dissected his exploits and his collaborations with music directors to bring to the fore many of the efforts in exploring new frontiers in music-making, music compositions and voice modulations. And everyone is impressed.

                                                       

SPB was quite popular lending his voice to movie-stars as they belted their love and emotional messages in melodious tunes to plicate what could not be expressed in dialogues. And they had everlasting impressions on the minds of its audience. Sometimes the story is forgotten but not the songs.

Every single thing that we do it in life is a revolution in the making. A little experimentation here and a little pushing the borders there are all bold moves to make the frontier further. We think what we do is a mere waste of time; not going to have any effect on the evolution of mankind. Maybe not, but a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.

We do what we think is right. Let history decide its appropriateness. Generally, people are kind to the deceased.

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Normalising objectification?

Cuties (Mignonnes, French; 2020)

Back in secondary school, my friend AK, and I were engaged in an in-depth discussion on the topic of American situational comedies which later became to be abbreviated as sitcoms. AK was adamant that the depictions of teenagers, then in family dramas, were detrimental to the behaviours of people. The fighting back, the rudeness, the promiscuity of teenagers, the docile nature of parents were bound to have change on the local society. This would happen even though the storyline would indicate poetic justice at the end. Even though good virtues would prevail over bad, viewers tend to remember the bank heist rather than how the robbers suffered for their feat - their unsettling life whilst being on the run and the incarceration later on.

The same thing happened in this film. Even though the movie's storyline is genuine in highlighting the current societal obsession in adultification of preteens, the cinematography and wardrobe department just conveyed the opposite message. Viewers from the world over are up in arms objecting to the portrayal of 11 years pre-pubertal girls in age-inappropriate attires, twerking and engaging in dance moves that leave nothing to the imagination but are overt sexual postures ala-WAP.

After irritating Hindu audiences in India, now American viewers have joined the chorus of people who have started supporting #CancelNetflix. They accuse Netflix of promoting child pornography and have requested the FBI to initiate investigations along that line.

Depiction does not equate to an endorsement, they say, but as mentioned earlier, viewers only remember the awe factor. Five years down the line, people would only remember this movie as one which showed tween twerking, not the fact that it brought to the surface the constant peer pressure, the desire to fit in and the stress of coming of age. 

No one would remember that this film also showed how children of immigrants find it so difficult to be accepted by the natives of their newfound homes. Nobody can understand why the immigrant parents are hellbent on keeping alive their age-old traditions as their traditions failed to make a utopia in their homeland. It is the pull factors in the new countries that drew them like bees to the pollen. Indeed it is idiotic to consider that people in the new country are practising some kind of inferior way of life. It would not have made them so open-hearted to accept immigrants and bear with all the baggage that comes with them.

The film also shows the hypocrisy of societies that expects women to play second fiddle to all the antics of man whilst still appearing happy about it as if it the will of God to be subservient to men and live without a brain. On the one hand, it expects women to be pure but at the same time, objectifies women to fill the lust of men. This way of thinking is not limited to societies perceived as 'backwards'. Even progressive communities are guilty of this.

This presentation is a cautionary tale to remind us of our constant craving to push the limit of what is accepted as the norm. There was a time when there was no such thing as childhood. Little people feel grateful to be born and fed. They watch and learn and fit into societies as contributing individuals. Then the community decreed that little people need to be educated and have to have a proper childhood that develops character. Their biological requirements took a backburner. They had much more to achieve in life. Then the bar was progressively lowered. Social interactions and mingling of sexes were the standards. With affluence and reduction of responsibilities on the young shoulders, their interests peaked elsewhere. 

We should not forget that it is not easy for teenagers to grow up in the digital era. With so much scrutiny by peers and imaginary 'friends' in the social media sphere as well as pervasive cancel culture that is out to crucify anyone who does not conform to the general flavour of the month, emotional health can never be serene. At an age when they themselves are unsure of many things around them, the last persons they would listen to are adults. All the life experiences that adults preach will only fall on deaf ears. No matter how self-defeating their peers' action may be, it is nevertheless, more appealing to their age-group.

There is a difference in reading about young girls engaging in precocious activities than viewing them on screen. What is more unpalatable is when it is performed by underaged actors. In the name of art and wanting to pass a public message, is this justified?

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