The blind guiding the blind?

Guide (1965)
Director: Vijay Anand

I was squeezing my brain, trying to determine the movie's premise. Then, it dawned upon me. We are all walking around aimlessly, looking for someone, anyone, to guide us through the path of life. We are a confused lot. Neither the Guide leading is cocksure that he is leading along the right track, nor we, the seekers, are good at picking out the correct guidance.

We are impressed with the explanation of the tourist guide who managed to sell us the beauty of the place he was promoting. His persuasive speech guides us to appreciate its backstory. Language is a lubricant that eases this exercise. 

That must be it, language. The power of speech is the one that guides us to look for that utopia that we are seeking. We think we will be out of the rut we have entrapped ourselves in. Sadly, after making the necessary changes, we are happy but just for a short duration. Pretty soon, we are embroiled in the same quagmire, looking for another seemingly unreachable goal. Along the way, our primal desires draw more tentacles of misery.

How, then, should we proceed afterwards? Take all that as life experiences that make our lives more meaningful, more colourful or as life lessons? Do you want a life with no undulations but a dull, predictable path?

The 1965 movie simultaneously in English and Hindi with the names 'The Guide' and 'Guide' respectively. It was based on a novel by RK Narayan. Interestingly both stories employ the same cast, but the storyline is slightly altered to satisfy their target audiences. Minus from the English version where the main stars converse Indian-accented proper English are the classic evergreen songs that appear in Hindi. These songs are still enjoyed by all today. Also missing is the emotional display and philosophical, existential soliloquy that are quite pathognomic of Indian cinema. The features are indeed the ones that make Indian movies Indian.

Unquestionably, in my books, the Hindi turned out tops. It is more engaging and brings out the message embedded in the story. 

This movie was not without controversy on release. The idea of an Indian wife leaving the marriage to live with another may be challenging for a mid-1960s Indian public to stomach. A married woman dancing her way to fame may not go well with them either.

Raju, a street-smart tourist guide, meets Marco and his trophy wife, Rosie, to show them around town. Marco, an archaeologist, is only interested in exploring the caves around there. Raju takes the frustrated Rosie sightseeing. Watching a traditional dancer performing a snake dance, her suppressed inner desire comes to the fore. Rosie's mother was a poor courtesan, and Rosie herself was an avid classical dancer. She left all that after her marriage to Marco. That was the deal for the wedding - Marco's aristocratic background would clear Rosie's blemished origins. 

One thing led to another, and her marriage crumbled. Rosie moves in to live with Raju. An unhappy Raju's mother is moved out. Rosie and Raju reach dizzying heights via her dance. The insecure Raju fears that Rosie may go back to Marco. He forges her signature on some bank documents and is charged. Rosie and Raju's manager-lover arrangement collapses. 

The Hindi version has dialogues
of dharma, soul and redemption.

Raju takes a long trip to nowhere and is mistaken for a guru. His one-liners and philosophical talks excite the masses. The word about him goes around. Raju is coaxed to go on a 12-day fast to pray for rain. His feat goes in the press. Both his mother and Rosie come to the scene. The ending depends on where you consume the story- the book, the Hindi or the English version. They differ.

In Raju's 'second avatar' as a holy man, it is also language that strikes a chord with people. The power of the language comforts the aimless seekers of divine intervention. Word soothes, motivates, and pushes an agenda. Conversely, it is the very same word that cuts, hurts and destroys an institution quite august.

P.S. A certain young Gujarati boy who would later grow up to be the Prime Minister of India, a certain Narendra Modi, was moved by this movie. In the end, he thought that 'Guide's primary theme was that everyone gets guidance from their conscience.

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A propaganda piece

India. The Modi Question (2023)

BBC Documentary (2 episodes)

Around the late 1990s, when I was working in Johor Bahru, I enjoyed the BBC worldwide service radio transmissions from Singapore. At that time, what appears to be an alternate universe to think of it now, their discussions were fair and extensive and looked at topics from all angles. Undoubtedly, their fundamental role in modern society has been exposed over the years. Their reporting of the elusive Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq and their many shenanigans are now open secrets. Their job is to be a tool of the US and a lap dog of the military-industrial complex.

A testimony of their rumour-mongering duty is this 2 part BBC documentary. It is an obvious case of biased reporting and ridiculing the choice of the citizens of the world's biggest democracy. Even though the BJP returned the votes with a more significant majority the second time around through what is deemed a fair election, the West cannot fathom the nation they once thought would disintegrate soon after its Independence.

At a time when Europe was in Dark Age, India and China ruled the world. The West stirred from slumber during the Era of Enlightenment, distorted the world order then, and exerted their will over the rest. With so many mischief and arm-twisting manoeuvres, they claimed dominance over the rest. They determined the world narrative and laid the foundation for how everybody should think. This was essentially the order of the day for a good millennium. At least, this is what the current generation is made to believe.

The 20th century saw the turn of the tide of the status quo. The colonised have been jolted off their ignorance. They are eager to reclaim their place in the world order. But the former colonial masters will not take this loss of stature lying down. They are going to put up a fight tooth and nail. BBC, CNN, Al-Jazeera, and other western media outlets quickly prance and sink their claws at former colonies where it hurts most.

2024 is an important year for India. It is when the nation goes to the polls. The world knows the sun has been shining bright on these so-called third-world countries. Economics is a zero-sum game. Profitability on one end means a loss on the other. A strong India is not healthy for the West. Hence, the rapaciousness to run down India and Modi, whose party is pipped to come out victorious in the next polls.

BBC selectively picks up internal problems within the world's most populous nation and puts a religious angle to them. It paints a picture of blood-hungry Hindus dying to sink their teeth into the jugular of the Muslims. The Muslims are portrayed as pitiful victims, never retaliating or casting the first stone in any calamity. An internal problem like the arbitration of Article 370 in India-controlled is made an international issue. The justice system is painted as tainted and working to the puppet strings of Modi. They make a mountain about the 2002 Gujerat riot, accusing Modi of being the master conspirator. To give legality to their presentation, the BBC had sourced the services of Indian sepoys like Arundhati Roy and leftist academicians from the UK.

Come to think of it, the Western Media is just doing what they had been doing all this while, bending public perception and skewing their way of thinking to benefit the West. Voice of America (VOA) was doing the same under the guise of being the voice of the free world.

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Rome was not built (or destroyed) in a day!

The Darkening Age (2017)

(The Christian Destruction of the Classical World)

Author: Catherine Nixey

My cycling buddy, JT, is fondly referred to as JC (Jesus Christ). Like JC, like a magnet, JT has been drawing in cyclists and potential cyclists in droves into his fold. After viewing his pictures and accolades on social media, his friends and relatives had all converted from couch potatoes to cycling-jersey-donning cleated cyclists. And these converts look at JT as JC. His every breath is sacred, and his every word is gospel truth. 

In another situation, I was invited to celebrate the passing of a relative. I also had the pleasure of listening to a sermon before the merriment. The pastor asserted that we are all weak by nature, prone to make mistakes and fall prey to temptation. He proposed his 8-step programme to his flock to emulate religiously and reinforce it weekly at their Sunday service. In not so many words, he told his congregation to go out to the world and spread the good Word.

In both cases, it appears that if the audiences are dogmatic to follow what they hear without using their faculties to sieve the chaff from the wheat, they will not be able to explore their true potential. They simply cannot be all blinkered and refuse to see beyond the rhetorics. 

I think early practitioners of Abrahamic faiths are guilty of this. Some went one step further. As stated by St Augustine, "… all superstition of pagans and heathens should be annihilated is what God wants, God commands, God proclaims!" 

Come to think of it, this is how jihadis think. They interpret the scriptures as they deem fit and impose their understanding of God's desire upon all. 

The ruins of Palmyra 

  

This book covers a time in human history in Europe, roughly between 385CE and 532CE, when Christian thinking slowly came to replace ancient 'pagan' philosophy. From an era when life and its purpose were questioned and re-questioned with philosophers putting in their two cents worth and scribbling on parchment, it morphed into a time when the Church determined what life is and how life should be lived. They impose their will on others, and in modern slang, "it is our way or the highway!" forcing many to immerse into the new teachings or leave for new lands. In the process, almost 99% of the knowledge is either lost or burnt. Outstanding human achievements in architecture and art were demolished, vandalised or defaced.  The human anatomy became vulgar, and there was a pressing need to amputate limbs, breasts, phalli and even Hellenistic noses.

It probably started in Palmyra's Temple of Athena in Syria, circa 385 CE. The idea of a goddess symbolising wisdom and war was too much for newly converted Christians to stomach. They only saw the exaggerated display of wealth and the glorification of a pagan deity. The accentuated silhouette of their body embarrassed Christians. Years of growing conversion climaxed with the imposition of their will on the rest. It immensely helped when the Roman monarch embraced Christianity and agreed to enforce God's law on Earth.

Hypatia of Alexandria

Ancient Alexandria saw the monumental work of Euclid and Ptolemy. To the new converts, their jobs were blasphemous. If the good said that God created heaven and Earth and everything on it in six days, so be it. Who are we, the product of the Original Sin, to question? The idea of a female mathematician-philosopher, Hypatia, running around telling people about the stars and the skies was repulsive. The sight of men learning the art of calculation was not in. In the name of religion, they killed and mutilated her body in the most inhumane way. All her work and wisdom from Alexandria's Great Library, one of the cradles of the Classical World, went up in flames.

History, as the Christian victors wrote it, made us believe that the pagan world became progressively disillusioned with the traditional Gods and rituals. They started disbelieving their myths and twisted tales and willingly embraced Christianity to seek the truth. The reality is not that.

Roman public bath

Early Christians were disillusioned with the world they lived in. They were fearful of a strange hostile world possessed by demons and made it their God-given duty to destroy these demonic representations. And they viewed these temples and deities as such.

Damascius, one of Hypatia's students, saw the actions of the zealots. He returned to see 532 CE Athens, a slowly evolving city. The Romans were interested in maintaining good governance providing public amenities, and religious tolerance. The new converts had different ideas. When more people saw Christianity as their newfound belief, they increasingly saw public baths and temples as demonic playhouses. Their orgy of destruction forced conversion, destroyed public property, deprived heathens of their livelihood, and chased philosophers away. There were even snooping squads, and people were rewarded for snitching on their pagan fellow citizens. The Academy, the birthplace of classical culture, was no more. Just one per cent of Latin literature would survive the purge; countless antiquities, artworks, and ancient traditions were lost forever. 

Come to think of it, what the Christian zealots did in Pre-Christian Rome was no different from the present-day ISIS or Taliban.

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Money can buy justice, or at least freedom!

Trial by Fire (2023, Miniseries)
Netflix

A management professor once told a joke about the Indian justice system. An 80-year-old man appeared for a molestation charge. After looking at the charge sheet, the judge queried, "you are accused of molesting a 16-year-old girl. Why? At this age..." The octagenarian replied, "Sir, I was also 16 when it happened!"

That is how long it takes the cogwheel of justice moves. It is not an Indian problem but a worldwide phenomenon. Part of the law school syllabus must be a paper on creative ways to dodge a trial and get away with it.

People enter a movie hall thinking they will be transported to a world of make-believe and forget real life's stresses for the next two hours or so. What audience who flocked to Uphaar cinema hall in Delhi on June 13th 1997, was far from it. They ended up struggling to stay alive when a transformer exploded. 59 people succumbed to smoke inhalation.

The general public patronises various public venues thinking that the licensing bodies and the enforcement units will do their part in ensuring safety for the general public. Victims of the fire also realised the hard way that all the while, the public has been short-changed. The businesses had been trying to maximise profits over safety. The local councils have been sleeping on their jobs as well. The question begs whether they deliberately looked the other way after their palms were greased.

Illegal extensions, indiscriminately increasing seats, and the erection of private viewing terraces only blocked exits. The doors were locked and bolted to discourage illicit entrees into halls, trapping and smoking the desperately trapped patrons to their deaths.

When the push came to the shove, even emergency response teams failed them. Their snail-paced lethargic swing to action was much to desired at a time when the public is aware of their rights is embarrassing.

Even the long arm of the law and cogwheel of the system appears to be dragging its feet. After 25 years, the parents of two teenage fire victims, Neelam and Sekhar Krishnamoorthy, are yet to see justice to be meted out to the owners of the ill-fated cinema hall. They, together with other relatives who had lost their loved ones in the fire, had taken a civil suit against the owners for negligence. They allege that they had neglected the safety of their clients.

The owners, big shots in Delhi, who had a hand in all development projects, are said to be big philanthropists with big community projects under their belts that seem untouchable. They are able to engage big-wig lawyers, and even the judges appear to feed off their hands. Delays and postponements are norms. Even the lawyer assigned to the defence by the Central Bureau of Investigation looked disinterested and needed prodding and feeding of information to proceed with the case.

Neelam and Sekhar, who wrote a book about their whole ordeal, had embarked on extensive TV interviews highlighting fire safety in public places. In one of such interviews, Neelam, out of sheer frustration, had blurted that she should have just taken a gun, shot the cinema owners and claim insanity rather than having faith in the legal system that seem skewed to protect the rich and famous. The rest of the population can just be taken for a ride with the false pretence that justice will prevail. In reality, money can buy justice or at least freedom.

This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. 

What do Rishi Sunak, Freddy Mercury and Mississippi Masala have in common?

https://borderlessjournal.com/2023/01/20/what-do-rishi-sunak-freddy-mercury-mississippi-masala-have-in-common/

Rishi Sunak’s appointment to 10 Downing Street has made people aware of the significant presence of Indians in the African Continent. Indian-African cultural and trade exchanges had been ongoing as early as the 7th century BC. Africans are also mentioned to have significantly influenced India’s history of kingdoms, conquests and wars.

The second wave of Indian migration to Africa happened mainly in the 19th century with British imperialism via the indentured labour system, a dignified name for slavery. It is all semantics. What essentially happened at the end day is a large Indian diaspora in countries like South Africa, Mauritius, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and many more. Many of the Indians who made their way there as labourers, over the generations, began to play significant roles in the economy and professional representations in these countries...

https://borderlessjournal.com/2023/01/20/what-do-rishi-sunak-freddy-mercury-mississippi-masala-have-in-common/

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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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