We built this country!

Some stories I have told and some that I haven't

Author: VC George (2021)

The powers that be wants us to believe their narrative. They assert that their concocted tale of how history happened keeps true to the natural chain of events. They create a smokescreen to justify the turn of events to explain social strata's current status and how social justice should be. 

Our history likes to paint Indian immigration to the peninsula as a single wave of settlement. With a single stroke of ink, they put all Indian in the same basket. That they were brought in the colonial masters as indentured labour (a milder wording for bonded slaves) to milk out not only the juices of rubber trees but also the milk the wealth of the nation. It was no coincidence that the Malay Peninsular was referred to as "Swarnabhumi" (Land of Gold). In the same breath, these keepers of Nation history declare that the British never really colonised us. They were just administrators. 

Sorry to burst your echo chamber, purveyors of fairy tales. Indians were sailing the seven seas even way before the Malaccan Sultanate, often quoted as the spark of Malay identity. The Malabari Indians even showed Francis Light the route Pulo Pinang, the island they had been frequenting for so long. How many of us know the Malaccan Sultanate kingmaker, Tun Perak, was of Indian extract? But then so was the despotic and corrupt Tun Mutahir, an Indian Muslim. On the royalty side, Raja Kasim who was summoned to the throne after Raja Muhammad's knifing fiasco had a mother who was Indian.

The Indians who reached here were traders and master boat builders in the early part of the country's history. Indian sojourners then sauntered in later at the end of the 19th century, equipped with the best of what English education could offer. They arrived at the behest of the colonial masters to help out in the day-to-day administrative work of a cash cow of a nation that paid for half of the Englishmen's extravagances back in their Motherland. 

Unlike other European colonialists who hurriedly left their posts in a hurry in total pandemonium, the British actually left Malaya with a comprehensive post-independence roadmap. They cast in stone the Constitution and the citizens' charter to ensure equality for all.

Somewhere along the way, this arrangement was hijacked. Politicians with self-serving agendas and a blank cheque for eternal power decided to use what they learnt from George Orwell and Joseph Goebbels to good use. They rewrote as they saw fit.  They knew that he who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past. They understood that they can create the illusion of truth by repeating a lie often enough to become the truth. 

They try to say that the indentured Indian labourer got immersed in estate life only to be torn about in the quagmire as the British planters left their plantations and the new owners decided to cash out. The Indian poor were forgotten in the greater scheme of things. Lost of job, home and wanting of skills drove them to the wild side of society, a world of crime and subsequently justified police brutality.

That is why we need more books like these - to tell the contribution of different communities to what was one time expected to emerge as one of emerging Asia's Tigers.  Sadly, the other sibling cubs have all gone places. We are left alone as the sick and wounded feline without a roar and probably needing crutches soon. 

VC George, a 90 years old retired Court of Appeal judge, tell us his life and times growing up in Klang in pre-WW2 Malaya all through his journey into adulthood and his illustrious career. He (Honourable, Lord or just George) has inked his narration in 100 short notes, which tend to end up with an unexpected twist or a witty footnote. This man was there in the flesh during the nation's birth, just like the many others referred to as pendatang (newcomers, just off the boat). These wrongly called pendatangs are the very people who helped to produce enviable students of international calibre, established medical facilities that transformed our health services to be at par with international standards, founded research centres and universities, and gave dignity to august Halls of Justice in the country.  

A good read. It is filled with many anecdotes and 'one liners'. It tells of a time when people would take jokes in a good spirit and not be offended or raise a big hue and cry, claiming victimisation. 

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A brilliant sequel

Drishyam 2, The Resumption (Malayalam; 2021)

Movie buffs would generally agree that sequels of hit movies rarely do well in the box office, more so with Indian movies—the sequels of 'Koi Mil Gaye', 'Dhoom' and 'Munna Bhai'comes to mind. Somehow, the magic of the original film is lost. 

Six years previously, Drishyam, a murder thriller, was released. It was then something of a revolutionary in storytelling where all the loopholes which are usually overlooked were patched and viewed had a chance to appreciate expert movie making at its best. Poetic justice was served when a peeping Tom, son of a high ranking police officer, meets his end at the hands of an outraged mother. The crime is concealed, and the victim was never found, leaving the deceased's parents with no closure. Georgekutty, then, had buried the victim in the place least suspected by the police - under a newly constructed police station!

Meanwhile, Georgekutty is now an owner of a movie theatre and plans to make a movie, much against his wife's approval. Life is not all hunky-dory as his daughter suffers from PTSD and seizures whilst the villagers still gossip about the murder. The victim's parents are still in mourning, and the new Inspector-General takes renewed interests in the case.  A newly released criminal professes that he saw Georgekutty living the then building site of a police station. Unbeknownst to Georgekutty's family, a husband-wife neighbour close to Georgekutty's wife is actually undercover cops.

The rest of the story is about how Georgekutty is arrested for his crimes, but all the collected evidence indicates no wrongdoings on Georgekutty. Even the body excavated from station premises was forensically reported as belonging to someone else.

Someone sent me a presentation about leadership qualities that one can learn from Georgekutty's way of handling the whole imbroglio. He took charge; he kept an eye on the pulse of things while assuring his down lines. He never assumed or left things to chance. He never rested on his laurels. He thought out of the box, strategise and execute effectively. He kept secrets close to his chest - secrets that can easily crumble the gameplan if too many people have access to them. He had no qualms about engulfing new technologies to his advantage. The most vital tool that was useful to him was his networking skills. He had contacts at different levels, and he knew how to keep felt needed. He spent time to gain trust.

 Please listen to the said Youtube below: 

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A future full of happy morons?

Idiocracy (2006)

This science-fiction film is no masterpiece, but it portrays a pretty close prediction to what Nietzsche predicted the future would be like. He envisaged a dystopian tomorrow where mediocrity is held in high esteem. Emphasis is on triviality and popularism. Evidence of this already gaining traction. Just look around us. People are frequently numbed by visual gratifications. Nobody thinks anymore. Intellectual discourse is just too energy-consuming; blind acceptance is becoming the norm. Astronomical science is centuries old, but many still swear the Earth is flat. Sowing wild oats without a care about the offspring that springs out of such an unholy union is defended as one's right to empowerment. 

Investing a wealth of time in something as ludicrous as catching 'Pokemon Go' is a legitimately approved pastime for a modern full-grown adult. Intellectual achievement is un-cool (and is becoming increasingly expensive for the average Joe). The people who least can afford to finance to provide for their children are the very people who have more than they can care for. Instead of using effective contraception to keep the aftermath of their carnal desires in check, they merely embrace their handiwork as a 'gift from God'.

Gluttony is hailed. Gulping tonnes of junk food is accepted as a lawful sport. Society is deep into consumerism without care about how the bill is going to be paid tomorrow. Living on credit is the modern way of living. Being prudent or thrifty is so yesterday. Speaking and writing well is vilified as queer. They lace their speech with profanity and hail it as a creative licence. The audience thinks it is a comedy when one spews obscenity in his conversation. Comedians get standing ovation when they curse or denigrate own's religious belief. 

The film imagines what the world would be like in 2505, and it does not look pretty. Earth is one big rubbish dump. Upkeep of high rise erections and structures is neglected as people are no longer interested in science. The world has lost its lustre in inventing and discovering. Corporations are bending over backwards to keep clients (i.e. everybody) happy, rewarding them with meaningless pleasures. People are lazy, indulging in purposeless cybergames consuming gallons of soda. It seems water is impure and is only helpful for sanitation. For all intents and purposes, it is Gatorade. The people of the future even water their crops with Gatorade with disastrous outcomes.

Everyone is required by the law to have a bar-code tattooed on their arm for identification, tracking and ease of business transactions. Society has become much dumber to indiscriminate breeding. Everyone is a happy moron craving for carnal pleasure and fantasy lacking in agency. Thinking is done by the powers that be.

The protagonist, an average Joe US Army Corporal, is transported five centuries into the future in a failed Army suspended animation experiment. The fellow subject in the experiment is a prostitute who was running away from her boyfriend pimp. Our subjects land in a lot of trouble with the law, but being the most intelligent person of the time, he is picked out by the POTUS office. Together, he tries to start crop planting, and he eventually takes over the post of President!

Not quite the wacky movie that it portrays, but it makes one think. Interestingly, after making the whole movie, the producers decided not to have the film release on a big scale to fear upsetting the multinational companies supporting Hollywood. Quite openly, the movie had condemned 2505 Starbucks and McDonald for stooping so low as to pander its crass customer desires.

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Victim or participant?

Queen (Web series, S1, E1-11, Tamil; 2019)
MX Player

It is no secret. Even though there is a declaration at the beginning of each episode that its story is a work of fiction and that any resemblance to anyone living or dead is purely coincidental, it is as plain as day. There is no doubt that this web series is a fictionalised version of the former Chief Minister's life and times and a one-time highest-grossing actress in the Southern cinema, J Jayalalitha.

The give away signs are the characteristic vermilion pottu with a vertical extension, the similarity in the protagonist's familial and educational backgrounds, the fact that the 'Queen' aka Shakthi Sheshadri was a state top scorer like Jayalalitha and that both were of Brahmin ancestry. It does not take much imagination to realise that GM Ravichandran (GMR) is a plagiarisation of MG Ramachandran (MGR). The story is told as flashbacks from an interview which is reminiscent of the classic bare-it-all interaction between the former First Lady of Tamil Nadu and host Simi Garewal.

'Rendezvous with Simi Garewal'

Besides being a googling session to differentiate between fact and fiction, the programme also delves into the philosophical outlook of problems of poverty, single motherhood, the man-eat-man world of acting, the dog-eat-dog world of politics, the patriarchal control of society, the manipulative nature of politicians, mental illness, women empowerment and many more.

The actress who needs no introduction in the Tamil cinema, Ramya Krishnan (or Neelampuri of Padayappa fame), assumes the iconic leader's role. 

Parents try to impose and restrict for wanting to provide the best and avert mistakes that they had encountered and wish had known better. The free-spirited children look at it as clipping the wings, restricting the freedom to explore their full potential. The parents look at their kids as the guidance-seeking that toddlers that they once were. In the children's eyes, the parents are forever that 35-year old who is out to destroy their 'fun'. 

 We have often heard that it is a man's world and how, despite all the works by the bra-burning feminists since the 60s, the fairer sex is still trampled upon.  On the other hand, many females play the victim card and charm to participate and springboard up the ladder using the same system they refer to as toxic, masculine toxicity.

An engaging web series with good nostalgia feel, a good guessing game and profound thoughts on life.

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The need to fit in

The Stranger (Novella by Albert Camus, 1942)
Feature Film (Italian; 1967)

Director: Marcello Mastroianni

The last few years of his existence were not particularly pleasant. It started with diabetes which progressively affected his night vision. His occasional falls off his motorcycle, and a fracture shook his confidence. Progressively, the Penang roads appeared too hostile to his liking. He lost his independence when his children did not allow him to renew his driving and bike licences.

From then on, things only went south. Two episodes of strokes later and a urinary bladder's tumour afterwards with the ensuing therapy made life more miserable. If that was not enough, the accidental falls, lacerations and worsening eyesight added to his misery and the people living around him. Many unsavoury words were hurled out of frustrations. 

So, when the day of reckoning finally came, it was a relief of sorts. At least, that is how I looked at it. Released from the distresses of the mortal life, he could be free in the netherworld, free of aches and pangs.

Albert Camus
1957 Nobel Prize in Literature

But, came the funeral; the very people who were frustrated with his demands were the first to have no qualms in displaying their emotive expressions of sorrow. They were shameless with their verbose exhibition of grief. Weepers behaved as if they were young orphans who were left in a quandary of losing a sole remaining parent. And I had the queasy feeling that they expected the same of me.

I wondered what they thought of me as I went on to do the final rites. I, too, was asking myself whether I had psychopathic tendencies for not sharing their same sentiments. I was relieved that he was free of his miseries and could take a long sleep, knowing very well that he did not have to wake up to another day, endure its uncertainties and drag through another 24 hours of pain. He was free from any encumbrances. 

I did not think mourners shared my viewpoints. In their minds, certain conduct is expected of a member in a particular community, barring which he is scorned upon. He would be labelled as deviant, not right in his head, not fit to be one of them.

The same sentiments must have been felt by the protagonist of Camus' 1942 novella 'The Stranger'. Arthur Mersault, a free thinker, is informed of his mother's death in a retirement home. Mersault never had a cordial relationship with his mother but, looking at it as his filial duty, he attends to the final rites. He merely whisks through the rituals without much attachment to his loss. He even declines the offer to see his mother's body for the last time before the coffin is nailed. 

The weekend following the funeral saw Mersault go for a swim, a movie with his girlfriend and an outing by a beach. He also helps his acquaintance, an unsavoury character, who is rumoured to be a pimp, to pen a threatening letter to his two-timing girlfriend. 

When Mersault is finally charged in the second half of the story for the murder of the brother of the pimp's girlfriend, his character is implied from his earlier behaviours. The clearly conservative legal system finds Mersault guilty as he is deemed a person of low morals and without a guiding stand in life because of his irreligiosity. In the 'righteous' jury mind, a person who is so nonchalant about the demise of the person who gave him life would not provide an iota of hesitation and remorse to gun down a defenceless Arab boy.

That is how it is. We are left to stay afloat on this journey of life without its purpose and try to find answers as we go on. We are doubtful about our perception, but we still convince ourselves that we have all answers. We try to reassure ourselves by spreading and forcing our beliefs on others. The more a lie is repeated, it eventually becomes the truth. We become more cocksure by the numbers. Any revolt against this status quo creates cognitive dissonance, the mental discomfort and frustrations about all the time and effort wasted upon a dogma. And we would fight it with tooth and nail.

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On paternal love...

Aelay (ஏலே! Hey You! Tamil; 2021)

We always complain that our fathers are not expressive enough, that they are not touchy enough. We allege that they are relatively economical with their display of affection. We despise their approach to solving problems. We say they are too laid back, sometimes also detached.  In our minds, our fathers exhibit all the traits of how a father should not be. We resolve to be just the opposite of what they were.

We spend a great deal of our adulthood not seeing eye-to-eye with our fathers. We tell ourselves we will not be like him when we grow older. Slowly, with the lessons learnt from the School of Hard Knock and Life, we soon realise that he managed, with and despite his knowledge and experience, to hold the fort for others to prosper. In the traditional sense, he looked at himself as a material provider. As for their deeds and misdeeds that he has under his belt, they cannot be held against as he did with his family's best interest at heart. As for vices, he is, after all, human. It is for him to err and for us to forgive.

We should not forget that our parents have to fulfil a particular personal obligation to merit their existence. They also may have likes, desires and sometimes guilty pleasures. Their sole purpose of being is not just to procreate and nurture their progeny. 

Parthi returns home to fulfil his filial duties at his father's funeral. He never a good relationship with his father. His father, a widower, brought him and his sister up working as an ice cream vendor. He was quite a character in his younger days, dodging moneylender and conning people of their monies to earn some extra cash. Parthi grew up hating covering up his father's antic, and he thought his father was quite an embarrassment.

At the funeral, Parthi realised that he had no tears for his father's demise. Unbeknownst to everyone, the father is just up to one of his tricks again - faking his own death to claim insurance! Amidst all this mayhem, Parthi's hears that his childhood is getting married. Parthi's father, meanwhile, is puzzled why his son feels no sorrow. 

Their backstory is told in flashbacks, and the ongoing story describes how Parthi tries to appreciate his father's struggles. The father's foolhardy comes to light, but only to die for real—an entertaining movie without much of the mainstream cinema's glitz performed by new actors. 

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Modern love

Kutty ♥️ Story ( Short ♥️ Story, Tamil; 2021)

Maybe because our attention spans get shorter, we seem to be content with short stories rather than full-length feature films these days. With the democratisation of viewing platforms, we, the viewers, never had it so good. Not only we get new faces to act, but we also have storylines that break the traditional, predictable plot of boy meets girl, meets opposition, but love conquers all. 

Securing finance for new ventures had always been difficult for moviemakers. Banks and other financial institutions were not forthcoming with loans. Hence, the association of producers and the Mumbai mafia and their associates. The Mafia dictated who could act and even approved storylines. Their network ensured only certain Moghuls could rule the silver screen. All that came to nought when OTTs paid their clients upfront and were liberal with their storylines. Herein also lie the problem, some say. They allege that breaking India forces try to portray only negative images of India (ala Slumdog Millionaire).

This collection of four short stories looks at love, what else, and its problems in four different scenarios. 

In the first story, எதிர் பார முத்தம் (Unexpected kiss), the age-old topic of platonic love is discussed. Is it possible for a male to build a friendship with another person of the fairer sex without having romance interfering in the bond? In their forties, a group of old friends reminisce about the protagonist's fling in college over a round of drinks. Now, married to a different girl, he denies any romantic link then or ever. The girl, after migrating, now returns and sets a meeting with the protagonist.

The next one, அவனும் நானும் (He and Me), talks about unplanned pregnancy in a college girl and the mountain of decisions she has to make to deal with it, whether to terminate, to give for adoption or modify her life ambitions. This, she has to decide amidst the fear of disappointing the parents and the society's hawkeyed look.

லோகம் (Universe) is a slightly different presentation. Two gamers, both with different avatars and anonymous identities, meet in a game. The male gamer falls in love with the girl in cyberspace but loses her contact when her avatar dies during a crucial moment. The lovestruck gamer reveals his feelings during a radio interview, and they are reunited. Most of the story is told in animation. The take message is that the world can be pretty depressing for some people, and they have to create false personas to find happiness. We hide our cracked interior by applying a thick mask of makeup to put up a happy front.

ஆடல்-பாடல் (Dance-Songs) explores the lopsided societal viewing of infidelity. A man's occasional fling is forgiven but not a woman's. A husband and wife, with a young child, have to deal with this problem. The wife lures her husband to respond to a flirtatious phone call and catches him read redhanded. He apologises, only to tell the wife that she had a short fling with her ex-boyfriend after her marriage. This riles up the husband. He uses his resources to uncover the identity of her boyfriend. After sleepless nights of research, he realises his double standard. They were no such person. Why does society expect the female community members to portray a perfect picture of chastity, but the bar is significantly lowered for the patriarchy?

It is an excellent and refreshing set of short stories, even for the not so lovey-dovey type. 

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