Another time, another life time.

It was an informal meeting planned in haste. A varsity mate, now residing overseas, after his ‘tanah air’ had turned her back on him, had made a lightning trip back. In a jiffy, a few friends on each other’s speed dial decided to flock together at an upmarket Chinese restaurant. Some of them have not met each other for more than 40 years. 

TS walked in into the restaurant with a sense of awe. He was amazed to see what he saw through the ceiling-level glass window that overlooked the skyline of Damansara. 

“Wow, just look at that,” he said. “40 years ago, I worked as a construction worker during my semester breaks there. This whole area was just lush greenery then. Look at it now!”

“My boss then kept telling me the developer’s mega plan to have multi-tied buildings, shopping complex, underground parking, hotels, and more.”

“It had materialised right before our eyes. They are pure visionaries. Imagine 40 years ago, they knew how the country would look now.”

That soon opened the floodgates of everybody with their life journeys, the aches, pains, heartbreaks and family life. 

Generally, all could hold their thrones, praising themselves for a well-lived life. Reminiscing the pathetic state and very humble beginnings that they had started their lives, they can pat themselves on the back for work well done. 

If we think our parents have suffered much for our futures, others are obviously coming from more hole trodden boats of life. Our achievements appear a pale comparison to theirs. 
Fast forward to the future; these people are in the twilight of their lives. They want to leave a legacy behind for the generation next to follow. They tell them of their struggles, endeavours and achievements. Gen-Xs and millennials are not interested. To them, these are all just bedtime stories that grannies tell their grandchildren to bore them to sleep. They cannot fathom their parents being someone so bold. They have only heard their parents talk each other down and denigrate each other in their day-to-day dealings. 

“Oh, how absentminded your father is!” or “Oh! How extravagant your mother is” are all they have heard. Nothing positive as they run the other down. How can they be who they claim to be? Unbelievable!

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Of dragging, drafting, pulling and teamwork!

Learnt a few new words over the weekend. A cyclist earns the title of randonneur once he successfully completes 200km of long-distance cycling. In some countries, Audax (bold in Latin) is the term to differentiate elite cyclists and clumsy riders with clunky vehicles. Once he completes the 200km course, he receives a certificate, a Brevet.

Cycling as a sport started at the turn of the 20th century when people not only discovered its versatility but also found it to be a woman empowerment tool. For the first time, ladies sprung to learn cycling. For Victorian women, it was their licence to partake in politics and business. The ease of cycling changed their gender-assigned roles confined to their homes.

Women Power

It also became a fad then for boys and girls to find romance on the wheels. If in the 1950s, it was cool to hang out at ice-cream parlours, teenagers got their kicks by cycling side by the people they fancied.

The road at their feet and a convenient contraption at their disposal were the best excuses to venture out to explore the world. And they did. The desire to get from Point A to Point B grew. Soon it became a popular recreational activity to complete a preset destination. The idea was not the race to end. The essence of the whole exercise is camaraderie, exploration and teamwork. From the offset, it was emphasised that randonneuring events were not races, but a social event, a test of tenacity and to work as a team.

PD Waterfront

Randonneuring has been popular amongst local enthusiasts for the past few years. After the lack of sports events over the Covid era, they all come out with a bang. At the spur of the moment, probably not in the best state of mind, my cycling buddies decided to sign up for a 200km cycling event. A local conglomerate, with the pretext of promoting their lifestyle living apartments and such, got the official licence from Audax Club Parisien to sanction the event here in Malaysia. Audax Randonneurs Malaysia has planned out a series of long-distance cycling under its umbrage. I think they have plans to have 600km events (gulp!).

Under cover of the dark, just after 5 am, the event started from Kota Kemuning in Shah Alam. Amid the cool breezy tropical morning, we, the seven members of my chain gang, cruised along the small state roads along Sepang district to Port Dickson via Tanah Merah. What? I thought Tanah Merah was in Kelantan. Now I know! Just like there is a Kota Baru in Perak, just like Kelantan has Kota Bharu. By then, the day had broken, but the sun was not emitting its powerful rays. Traffic was slowly building up. Again cycling along the country roads, this time detoured towards Tanjung Sepat, Morib, Banting and back to where we started.

It was a long day. For most of us, it was a new experience altogether. We were familiar with cycling 100km or thereabouts, but 200 was a new monster. The last 40 km was the longest 40km that we had ridden. By 5pm, it was all over. We had one casualty who cramped all over. Another two were too fast for the rest. All in all, came back in one piece, shaken but not stirred.

At Start

At Finish 

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Carpe diem?

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)

Director, Actor: Ben Stiller

We are told that routine is good for us. We as human beings are easily swayed by our primal instincts that we need a laid-out plan and to follow a ritual to explore the fullest of our potential. The path paved by people before us gives the best assurance that our purpose of existence will be met. 

Essentially, we are told to lead dull, predictable, mundane lives. Nothing new is bound to come out of this type of arrangement. 

But then, life is as usual, not so straightforward.

“Carpe diem, Horace had said. Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you will be dead for eternity”. You have one life to experience everything. Miss this, and you have lost it forever. You cannot step into the same river twice, said Heraclitus. 

For that flash-in-the-pan, out-of-the-box idea, one has to be spontaneous. Otherwise, the human race will not have that occasional vertical peaks of scientific and social discoveries that propel them forward in life. 

How often in our lives have we organised outings or holidays at the spur of the moment? In fact, these types of impulsive arrangements end up being more memorable. I remember buying tickets to watch ‘Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark’. Not knowing anything about the plot or its genre and not knowing what to expect, the two-and-a-half hours spent just blew my mind away. 

Perhaps rather than fearing that faring the alternate may derail our well-thought itineraries, one is allowed to stray away occasionally. Sometimes it is not all about the destination but also about the journey. It is not only about scaling Point A to Point B in record time but enjoying the journey and smelling the roses along the way.

This film is supposed to be a remake of a 1947 comedy of the same title. Actually, both movies approached the topic rather differently.

In the Ben Stiller version, Walter, a 42-year-old single introvert employed with LIFE magazine as a negative assets manager, is in a fix. His company is going digital, and he may be terminated. The negative needed for the next issue is missing, and the fellow female employee that he has the hots for seems unattainable. Rather than seizing the moment in front of him, Walter tends to daydream. Daydreaming gives him an outlet for him to channel his frustrations. 

A snow leopard off the mountains in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, pressure mounts to retrieve the missing negative, but the sender has no return address and is always on the move. Walter decides to embark on a rollercoaster ride to locate the sender. What he discovers is a vast world full of adventure that he never knew all this while.

The 1947 version is more of a slapstick comedy of the goody two-shoe son of a domineering mother and his entanglement with a mob. 

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A Christmas thriller

The Apology (2022)
Director: Allison Locke

Increasingly I realise that life is more complex. A crime is not always pre-meditated. Sometimes things happen at the moment out of uncontrolled emotions. Sometimes it is just a freak accident, a twist of fate. No one is going to believe the confession of an aggrieved man. What meets him instead is the full might of the law. The slow grind of the law, oiled by people with a vested interest, will throw the whole weight of the book at him to ensure maximum incarceration, remorse or not.

The humiliation and the inconveniences that come with getting caught with a crime, or even confessing to one, is way too much to handle for the perpetrator and all those intimately linked to him. Hence, it is necessary to get scot-free from it all costs.

Even when the case appears in the courts finally, there is no guarantee that Lady Justice is blind to suggestions and appeasement. Justice is not meted, but rather there is more emphasis on technicality and chains of events.  

What is the alternative to all these? A world where might determines right may not be everybody's idea of meting justice. Street justice leads to pandemonium.

This psychological thriller tells of a grief counsellor, Darlene, who lost her daughter some 20 years previously. Christmas is in the air. Her estranged brother-in-law, her sister's ex-husband and her old flame, Jack, enter unexpectedly. He tries to reignite their romance and his relationship with his ex-wife. As the evening progresses, Darlene realises that he is up to something no good. It turns out to be horrendous as he confesses to killing Darlene's 16-year-old daughter 19 years ago. It becomes a cat-and-mouse situation as Darlene and Jack try to outsmart each other the bring the other down. Good suspense.

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People are sheep!

The Conformist (Il conformista, Italian; 1970)
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci

People are like sheep. They flock around each other, following their shepherd, not knowing that their shepherd has only one thing on their mind. That is, to protect the herd from the wolf, to fatten them and nicely line them up to the slaughter.

The one thing that differentiates people from animals, their minds are so quickly malleable. With a bit of persuasion, they will bark, sing, bleat, dance or croak to the tune of their masters.

Plato’s Cave Allegory, described in this movie, succinctly tells how we behave.

In Plato’s original example, he told of prisoners who had never seen the outside world, tied by their hands to face a wall of the inside of a cave. From the silhouette that appears on the wall of human activity, of people playing and children eating ice cream, they imagine how the world is without ever setting foot outside their prisons. It is an imagined outside world that he imagines may be far from what may be present in reality.

Strong leaders, through their rhetorics and perhaps behaviour, are able to create an understanding of a future that the politicians want their voters to believe. If the leader tries to usurp power via ‘divide and rule’ tactics, that is how he will steer the nation, i.e., one with animosity amongst the citizens whilst the leaders laugh all the way to the bank. That may be their legacy. If he tries to inculcate an inclusive rule, that is how the nation would go towards prosperity, barring any untoward catastrophe.

Look around. The shrieks of religious bigots in this country were reaching deafening pitches just before the GE15. As the results of the elections turned out to be against their favour, the yells mellowed down to occasional muffled murmurs. What gave? I would like to think it is the leader that makes all the difference. This time around, we see everyone wishing each other Yuletide greetings, even those who do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Previously, religious bigots propagated the idea that one would convert to Christianity by expressing felicitations.

Look at WW2 Japan, Germany and Italy. See how their law-abiding, peaceful people followed behind the footsteps of their dictatorial leaders without questioning them, like the children of Hamelin would. The current generation must indeed feel ashamed of what their ancestors have done. A gag order on their faux pas is preferred.

Plato's Cave Allegory

This classic Italian movie by a master moviemaker managed to recreate the ambience of 1930s Italy under Benito Mussolini. The people of Italy are divided between following his fascist teaching and the faction that believes that knowledge and art should not be suppressed.

The clever use of darkness, light and shadow in this movie gives a traditional neo-noir ambience resulting in sumptuous visuals and extravagant, artful cinematography.

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It is the suspense!

The Day of the Jackal (1973)
Director: Fred Zinnemann

It is like watching a sitcom re-run or a delayed telecast of a football game of which you already know the result. This movie describes an assassination attempt on President De Gaulle's life. History buffs would already know that is not how he died, and the attempt failed. Nevertheless, the excitement and anticipation of how the plan was foiled kept the suspense going.

Charles de Gaulle became the President of France in 1958 when France had just lost one of their most profitable colonies in the East, Indochina. When the Battle of Algiers reached its peak, De Gaulle discussed the self-administration of Algeria with the guerillas. Subsequently, Algeria became independent, and many Frenchmen were expelled. Under the umbrella organisation OAS, sympathisers of French Imperialism and the military forces decided that De Gaulle had to go.  

In October 1962, in a failed assassination, De Gaulle escaped a rain of 150 bullets that rained over 7 seconds into a Saab car, ferrying him from a conference. The organiser of that crime was apprehended and executed later. That was where Frederick Forsyth's fictional account of another attempt at knocking off De Gaulle began in his 1971 novel.

In the novel, the vestigial members of OAS, now in hiding, hire an unknown assassin from the UK, possibly, to assassinate the French President. The rest of the story is about how the French Police try to identify, pin down and save De Gaulle, who has no inclination to stay away from public image despite the threat.

It is interesting to see how forgery was done, and police manually went through file after file to look for criminals in the pre-computer era. Still, work got done, and crooks got nabbed. This police procedural drama keeps viewers on the edge of their seats, not because they do not know the endeavour will fail but wanting to know how the police foiled the plan and where it went wrong.

Interestingly there is another assassin, this time a flamboyant Venezuelan communist militant, who was linked to many terrorist attacks around the world in the 1970s and 80s. Because he was a South American, he was nicknamed Carlos. During an exploration of one of his hideouts, a copy of Frederick Forsyth's 'The Day of the Jackal' was found. Henceforth, he was referred to as 'Carlos the Jackal'.

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A shortsighted populist policy!

Starting 1st January 2023, the State of Kedah in Malaysia closed all their gaming outlets. Nobody in the state could place their bets on their lucky numbers in 4D, Toto, or DaMaiCai or buy lottery tickets anymore.

What they need to comprehend is that Man is very innovative when it comes to beating the system. I remember a neighbour during my childhood who ran a clandestine betting business. After taking all the bets for the day, he would sneak the counterfoils above the electricity switchboard that served the whole floor of the flat. If he gets caught, the police cannot put his involvement in it.

Again during my childhood, as the European-run estates came to a grinding halt, the estate-managed spirit shops also closed. Labourers, who by then were addicted to the bottle, got their fix from bootleg booze. They had to settle for locally brewed concoctions because they were out of jobs, and legal liquor cost too much. Methanol poisoning caused blindness to many and cost their lives to some.

Lessons from the American 1920s Prohibition Law are worth revisiting. During the roaring 20s, easy access to alcohol was determined to be the root of most social ills. The frequent wild parties that led to deaths, the increase in alcoholism and the frequent absence from work as mass production was in high gear were blamed on booze.

The Churches, Women Empowerment groups and even Ku Klax Klan were all for the Volstead Law, which prohibited the production, transportation, sales and importation of alcoholic beverages except for ceremonial wines and liquor for private (the affluent) consumption.

As days went on, supporters of Prohibition decreased as they were unhappy with what they saw. There was widespread thuggery, shootings and racketeering. The police force had never seen such amounts of bribery. The number of outlets, called speakeasies, illegal, of course, paradoxically increased during Prohibition. The noble intention to curb access to alcohol actually backfired, with the government of the day getting no revenue from its sales.

Entrepreneurs became creative. The so-called ‘bathtub gin’ became a thing when water from the bathtub tap was added to the premixed powder to produce gin. Cakes with fermented grapes were sold past the expiry date to achieve the desired effect. And methanol poisoning reared its ugly head too.

Rather than banning something outright, the more sensible thing is legislating all these so-called sinful activities, booze, cigarettes, gambling and even the flesh trade. Outlawing them is akin to burying one’s head under the sand. The rest of the world will just go on, business as usual. At least you can go on with life, convincing yourselves that, at least in the afterlife, all will be hunky dory to eternity.

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