A tinderbox waiting to be ignited, the world over!

Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

Director: Martin Scorsese

Based on David Grann's book (2017)
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI

The narration is always the same. Again and again, history has repeatedly shown the same narration. The local population would live in harmony, in sync with their environment. The rambunctious mavericks from outside, with both eyes fixed on the wealth, would trickle in, peddle their snake oil elixirs and promise the moons and the stars. They would bulldoze their thinking into the local populace. The host would be cordial enough to accommodate the newcomers' wisdom, too. Once the shields are lowered, when the host treats the visitors as equals and gives them due recognition, they would zap. 

The bottom line is all about wealth, money and control. 

The Native Indians were nicely tugged into the New World, as 'discovered' by Europeans. The areas around Missouri and Kansas were occupied by a group that later became known as the Osage (Middle River) people. As the 13 original states of the USA expanded westwards, winning over the West, the Osage people were relocated to present-day Oklahoma. Even though their new land was hilly and barren, devoid of hunting grounds, they took it as they told themselves that at least they got the White men off their backs. 

Life works in mysterious tangents. Behind every prosperous find, there lies a catch. The discovery of black gold, aka petroleum, aka devil's excrement* is no different. 

Petroleum wells started welling up in their backyards, and their family coffers started bulging. The Osage proudly displayed their newfound wealth, buying the latest edition of the early 1920s post-WW1 prosperity automobiles, shopping the latest designs of luxurious Parisian outfits and basically living the life. Many were living the white men's lives, embracing the high life and the white men's religion. The Osage Elders realised the tide change would not last forever and decided that the deed of the Osage land would be collectively held as communal head rights. Leasing of land for oil earned them much royalty. It could not be sold to outsiders. 

Meanwhile, the US government decreed (Burke Act, 1906) that the Osage were not smart enough to manage their money. An act was passed to make them appoint a white guardian to manage their finances. This led to much exploitation. It became a legitimate means to cheat the Osage blind. The Osage had to obtain approval for their expenditure and were often over-billed through the roof by their guardians. Soon, there was a trend for white men to marry wealthy Osage women to manage their affairs. Pretty soon, a spade of deaths emerged amongst the Osage Indians in Oklahoma.

David Grann did his own research to write about the 20 Osage people murdered probably because of their ties to oil. The newly formed precursor to the FBI, the Bureau of Investigation (BOI), was assigned to investigate. The local rancher, politician and philanthropist was charged with murder. This book shows the ugly side of the self-proclaimed defender of the Truth, one who introduced culture to the Natives and a Christian to stoop so low as to wilfully bully, cheat and kill the people who invited them to their homes. The local white leader, who was seen as a do-gooder and a philanthropist with his nephew, had masterminded the killing of many Osage people. The nephew had even married an Osage lady but had conspired in her death and, probably, her sisters and mother, too. 

This episode is just an example of the numerous atrocities that white Americans have inflicted upon their brethren. In 1897, 300-400 unarmed immigrant miners at the Lattimer Mines, who marched peacefully for better wages and better living conditions, were gunned down by the Deputies. The Deputies would not acted like that if the miners were English-speaking Anglo-Saxons. 

Around the time of the Osage murders, in another part of Oklahoma, which was dubbed as one of the wealthiest black communities in the USA, colloquially known as 'Black Wall Street', the worst racial massacre in US history took place. A 19-year-old black man was accused of assaulting a 17-year-old white woman. Rumours spread that whites were going to lynch the accused. The blacks gathered around the jail to protect the accused. In that tense situation, a gunshot went off, and mayhem ensued.

There had been many Native American-related movies from Hollywood before. 'The Last Mohican' and 'Dances of Wolves' are some shining examples. Unlike the earlier films that stand guilty of having been 'whitewashed' to suit the narrative of the day, this movie tells the story from the Osage's point of view. The 3.5-hour-long film is worth the indulgence. 

*Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonso, a Venezuelan diplomat and one of the two founders of OPEC was the first to use this phrase in 1975: "I call petroleum the devil's excrement. It brings trouble. Look at this locura (madness in Spanish), waste, corruption, consumption, and our public services falling apart. And debt, debt we shall have for years. We are all drowning in devil's excrement!"

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Truth, not fiction?

Paper in Money Out (2023)

Authors: Sree Iyer, Jagdish Shetty

This book is supposed to be a work of fiction, but what we read here is probably what every Indian podcaster with the right leanings, worth his salt, is reporting on his channel. 

It is a potpourri of dirty politics, dirty dealing and equally obnoxious under-table dealings laced with blackmail, thuggery, double-crossing and bribery. Perhaps I should add treason to the list as leaders, who were entrusted to protect the assets of the country, are seen making wheeling and dealings with the enemies. Money is a natural lubricant for any transaction, friend and foe alike. 

One familiar with the twirls and twists of Indian politics will see a canny resemblance of characters to the who’s who in the present-day politicians and prime movers of Indian politics. 

Offhand, I think I see the likes of Subramaniam Swami, P Chithambaram and son, Sonia Gandhi, Narinder Modi and possibly many leaders of the South. Listeners of the P Guru YouTube channel would find a sense of deja vu going through the story. Many times I have heard of printing ‘legal’ bank notes with duplicate serial numbers, of Pakistan printing money to fund terror, the ease of travel with multiple passports, of the porous international waters and the establishment of offshore shell companies to hide ill-gotten gains in the quagmire of tax havens and privacy protection. The Hawara network of money transfers has stood the test of time and can resist any scrutiny. There is no money trail to sniff out, so to speak. 

What used to be fiction is probably just another day, another transaction in convoluted worlds and mavericks and fixers. They slide easily between warring factions, and like roaches, they cannot be exterminated. Like mushrooms, too, after a downpour, after the coast is clear, they would revert to their job of fixing. These touts need not to searched for. Their tentacles are so intricate that they will find them. Their network is more comprehensive than LinkedIn and Headhunters put together. 

As long as there is free market, there will be fixers and touts. 

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Brutally funny?

Bhama Kalabam (Telegu, The Dance of Fate; 2022) 
Written and Directed by: Abimanyu 

I learned two things from this movie. 

Increasingly, crime is a funny business. This film falls under the genre of comedic crime thriller. The Indian cinemas have graduated from fake fighting with comedians pouncing on villains with their most hilarious bumbling moves. Now, it involves quirky investigators or their blundering assistants. Violence is a necessary mainstay, as, after all, it is a crime drama. So, nitty gritty grizzly details of the killing, striking the jugular and bundling a dead body into a suitcase are accepted as the most natural thing to do. Get a 13+ rating, and everything is kosher. Do not question dragging dead weight around with ease and the ability to keep a deadpan face after committing a heinous crime. If you pass all that, you should, as it is a comedy, remember, then you will enjoy this movie. 

Filmed during the pandemic, the moviemakers managed to pull through by confining the filming area within a housing colony and the street surrounding it. The effects of movement restriction are hardly noticeable. Despite a few flaws here and there, the film is enjoyable overall. 

The other thing I learnt from this movie is about Febergé Eggs. Not many people realise that the Russian Empire has its own stories of gory and glory. With ferocious leaders like Ivan the Terrible, Catherine the Great (who was terrible), Peter III and Nicholas II, they have their skirmishes with the Tartars, indulgences and opulence. In the late 19th century, at the heights of their Empire, only rivalled by the British, royal jewellers made bejewelled Easter eggs for the Czars to amuse their spouses. 

About 69 such eggs were made around St Petersburg, and 52 surviving eggs are exhibited in museums worldwide. It has come to signify the heights of opulence and is worth a fortune. 

In this film, one such egg, on display in a museum in Calcutta, is stolen. While admiring the loot, the blooming thieves dropped the egg off their vehicle. The egg lands right smack into a lorry transporting thousands of chicken eggs. The truck heads to a warehouse. 

Their leader is livid. 

Anupama, a YouTuber, a wife and a mum, has too much time on her hands. Between caring for her family, she manages to find time to be a busybody to mind the businesses of her neighbours. 

After exposing one of the neighbour's husband's affairs, she gets into trouble with the residents' committee. Instead of thanking Anupama, the wife of the fornicator, sides with him when he fakes a heart attack. Anupama gets a warning to mind her own business. 

Curiosity got the better of her when she thought she saw another resident harming his wife. When Anupama goes to investigate, she faces the thief who lost the Feberge egg. He had tracked the egg to that unit. In a scuffle, Anupama kills the intruder. That starts the cat-and-mouse affair of hiding the body, the discovery of CCTV footage, the police, the leader of the thieves and the rush to find the elusive Fabergé Egg. Amongst all these, in the background, is an aloof pastor who has heard in his childhood of a particular egg handed to believers by Mother Mary at the time of Cruxification of the promise that Jesus will arise from death. 

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Time for a reboot?

It is said that ancient Indians had certain ethics in war. Fighting can only be done between dawn and dusk. So, a pre-dawn surprise attack is technically wrong in their book. Their code of conduct also dictates that a warrior of a certain stature could only engage in combat with someone of the enemy of a similar calibre. That is a foot soldier duels with another foot soldier, a warrior on the elephant battalion with another one on an elephant and so on. The commander does not watch the battle on the sidelines but gets his hands dirty by being in the thick of things. By convention, come dusk, both warring factions would lay down their arms and continue in natural light the following sunrise.

The Kurukshetra War (circa 3000 BCE, dates debated) is said to have ended all the codes of war. When cousins and uncles go for each other's carotids, niceties are expectedly put aside. As the cyclical nature of time was pushing to Kaliyuga, anarchy is what one just expects. With battles sometimes going beyond the stipulated times and deceit taking charge, the gentlemanly behaviours of wars are cast aside. Drona, the archery teacher of both Pandavas and Kauravas, was fighting on the side of the Kauravas. He and his son, Ashwatthama, were charging gallantly and needed to be neutralised. A white lie was told to Drona that Ashwatthama had been killed, to shake Drona's concentration. In actual fact, an elephant christened 'Aswatthama' was purposely killed. This type of deceitful 'below the belt' manoeuvres became acceptable.  

Fast forward to the 21st century, nothing is sacrosanct anymore. There is no gentlemanly conduct in war. It is a free-for-all, no-holds-barred kind of affair. Women are taken as spoils. Children are used as human shields, to be sacrificial lambs for sympathy and to paint a bad picture of the opponents. Media is used and abused to algorithmically influence people's minds about a particular perceived agenda. Everybody seems to have a truth. At which point of history one wants to take as the beginning of the truth is the bone of contention no one can agree. 

Is there any way to curb all these, or is it merely an inevitable end to complete the cyclical of time to restart and reboot civilisation as we know, as it had happened many times before, again and again, and yet again!

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Bloody diamond? Women's best friend, Men's enemy?

Koh-I-Noor

The History of the World's Most Infamous Diamond

Author: William Dalrymple

It is said in Vishnu Purana, an ancient Indian text, of a cursed gemstone, Syamanataka. The King of Dwaraka, Satrajit,  a worshipper of Sun God Surya, was given an audience as he was strolling on the beach one day. The gem that Surya was wearing was so radiant that King Satrajit could see his God. Surya removed his shiny pendant so that his devotee could visualise Him. Surya later gifted the gem, Syamantaka, to the King as a token of affection.

The gem turned out to be an albatross around its wearer's neck. Legend had it that it was good only to one with a pure heart.

Satrajit's brother, who was gifted with it, was mauled by a lion. The lion was killed by Jambavan, the Bear King. Jambavan gave the Syamantaka to his son as a play toy. 

Krishna, Satrajit's son-in-law, was accused of killing off Satrajit's brother to own Syamantaka. So Krishna had to lead a hunting party to track down the jewel. The party found it in possession of Jambavan, who refused to return the gem. A fierce, protracted battle ensued. With the help of His invincible weapon, Sudarshan Chakra, Krishna defeated Jambavan and cleared His name. 

As it was seen, Syamantaka was cursed with causing much envy and bloodshed. Centred around this story, Indians have many fables about the power of precious stones. Many local tales tell about the mystical powers of gems, their entailed superstitions and stories of guardian nagas. In fact, gemmology is an ancient science in India. The fascination of Indians with gold and precious stones cannot be overstated. They have given ornaments unique places in society, worship and personal grooming. Scripts after scripts have been written about decorations and the glow they contribute to youthful appearance and feminine beauty.

Around the same vein, a book surrounds India's most famous diamond, Kohinoor. In reality, it is not the most exotic or biggest diamond by any imagination. It, nevertheless, has captured the hearts of conquerors, marauders, mavericks and rulers over generations. 

For centuries, many sojourners and invaders to India had been captivated by the sea of wealth and gems that they saw in India. 

Kohinoor: The modern version

It is thought that Kohinoor may have been first noted during the Vijayanagar reign. Babur, a Turko-Mogul poet prince with a shallow opinion of India, had captured parts of India and acquired an extraordinary diamond in his conquest. Was it the Kohinoor? This stone was initially obtained by Alauddin Khilji in the 15th century when he invaded the Southern part of India.

Many gifts were exchanged between Humayun and the Persians, mostly of precious stones. At one juncture, Humayun (Akbar's father) lost his kingdom but got it back with the help of mercenaries and the parting of some Indian stones. 

By the time Shah Jhan ruled India, the Mughal Empire had probably reached its zenith, dripping with silk and jewels, second only to the Ottoman Empire. Diamond merchants were making a kill. Around this time, Victorian commentators identified a diamond as the most excellent Kohinoor (Mountain of Light), compared to Babur's exotic diamond that the absent-minded Humayun lost. 

Shah Jahan commissioned the most spectacular bejewelled object, the Peacock Throne, a massive golden throne covered with diamonds, rubies, pearls and emeralds. The idea was to make Shah Jahan comparable to the biblical King Solomon. There is a query about whether the fabled Kohinoor graced the Peacock Throne or was the different 'Great Mughal Diamond'. There needs to be more clarity. Others say that the 'Great Mughal Diamond' is the Orlov, which made its way to Russia and Catherine the Great. It is now on display in a Russian museum.

Subsequent Mughal successors proved to be weak. The Empire fell.

The Peacock Throne then became the possession of Nader Shah, a Persian mercenary who rose to power. A rock, which would eventually be labelled Kohinoor, lay on one of the peacock heads. The rule also collapsed, and the Afghni Darranis became the proud owner of the gem. Maharajah Ranjit Singh, of the Sikh Empire, capital in Lahore, wrestled it from him and wore the Kohinoor on his white turban. Ranjit Singh was to be dressed austerely in all-white. Kohinoor was much in contestation. Later in his life, Ranjit was debilitated by a series of strokes that rendered him unable to vocalise. At one juncture, it was assumed that Ranjit wanted the Kohinoor to be placed at the Lord Jagannath temple in Puri. The Sikh Treasury, however, wanted to be willed to his successor.

This is when the story gets interesting. It shows the conniving nature of the colonial forces who have only one thing on their mind, acquiring wealth at any expense without giving a damn to the human beings they lie, con and plunder.

After Ranjit's death, the confusion of succession and the internal squabble between Ranjit's wives and half-siblings, Rani Jindan Kaur, the 17th wife, took the rein as the regent on behalf of her five-year-old son, Duleep Singh. Again, internal squabbles over the running of states were the best opportunity for the British to separate mother and son. After the Second Anglo-Sikh War, the British eventually took over Punjab and ousted Duleep Singh. A 10-year-old Duleep just signed off everything to the British.

Property of the Crown

Duleep Singh was adopted by a British agent who managed to brainwash him into loving everything English and later converting to Christianity. He was sent to study in the United Kingdom with Queen Victoria as his stepmother.

To mark the grandeur of the East Indian Company, the Marquis of Dalhousie thought presenting the Kohinoor to Queen Victoria. What could be more satisfying than having Duleep Singh give it to her? Meanwhile, bringing the coveted Kohinor proved to be quite challenging. It was quietly sneaked out aboard HMS Medea with so much drama behind the scenes. It seems the curse of Kohinoor was already rearing its ugly head. There was a cholera outward onboard, and they were refused a stopover at Mauritius. Soon afterwards, the vessel sailed directly into a 12-hour gale, almost breaking into two.

The British public was riled to believe that an exotic diamond was coming to their shores. Unfortunately, they were not impressed when viewed in Crystal Palace, Hyde Park, London. The Indian idea of cutting diamonds differed significantly from the European cut. The Indian diamonds are less shiny. Tinkering with lights and lamps failed to impress the crowd. Queen Victoria's consort, Prince Albert, decided to summon the royal jeweller, Messrs Garrard. The jewellers promised to cut the diamond without losing a single carat but to give an admirable lustre. All that turned out to be hogwash as the size of Kohinoor was slashed to almost half its size and unrecognisable.

Queen Victoria, the de facto proprietor of the Kohinoor, lost Prince Albert six years after gaining possession. Albert died at 42 of typhoid. Kohinoor was dawned on a black widow's gown. 

Meanwhile, at 21, Duleep Singh became a rebel. He developed Sikh consciousness and wanted to re-establish his lost Sikh kingdom. His letters to his estranged mother were intercepted by the British. After much wrangling, a meeting was arranged between mother and son in Calcutta. She followed him back to the UK. 

Kansan died soon later. Duleep's patriotic fervour grew further. To embarrass the British royal family, at the age of 26 years, he went on to marry a 16-year illegitimate child of a slave from an Egyptian convent who did not speak any English. His failed attempts at stirring Punjabi nationalism frustrated him. His way of spiting the British was to have big wild booze parties and send the bill to the Home Office. 

After learning of Duleep Singh's fate and perhaps of Queen Victoria's unhappy life after acquiring the Kohinoor, it was implanted in the public psyche that the gem was cursed. So, with the passing of Queen Victoria, the diamond was handed not to her successor, King Edward  VII, but to her daughter-in-law, Queen Alexandra. 

It had subsequent cuts and was used by Queen Elizabeth I and is now to be used by Queen Consort Carmella.

Since 1947, every time Kohinoor makes its presence in the public sphere, be it QE II Coronation or King Charles III's latest, screams of claims for lawful ownership of Kohinoor are heard. Right now, the contenders range from Puri's Jagannath temple, which Ranjit Singh had allegedly gifted to, to Punjab, where Ranjit's treasury was and never left to Pakistan, where Lahore, Ranjit's capital, used to be to Afghanistan from whose King, Ranjit had taken from, to India to all these countries these regions are from.

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Hindus fight back!

Oh, My God! 2, OMG 2 (Hindi; 2023)
Written and Directed by Amit Rai.

In 1893, Chicago decided to celebrate Columbus' 400th anniversary of landing in the New World with a six-month-long fair. One highlight was an inter-faith dialogue, 'World's Parliament of Religions'. Swami Vivekananda addressed the crowd there with greetings' Sisters and brothers of America!' to a roaring standing ovation. That must have piqued the interest of the American public in the mysticism of Hinduism and other Eastern philosophies. Even before that, Emerson and Mark Twain were already fascinated with Hinduism.

Vivekananda's lecture impressed the audience that Hinduism was a knowledge-seeking way of life. He further opened the path for other Hindu spiritual masters to make inroads into America.

MK Gandhi, however, painted a somewhat different picture of how Sanarthana Dharma was. He portrayed Hinduism as a pacifist way of life, bearing injuries and insults without flinching, turning the other cheek with non-violence being the lynchpin. It gave a perfect opportunity for the colonial master to rule over them over and forever.

In 1921, under the wing of the Khilafat movement, Moplah Muslims went on a killing frenzy, slaughtering Hindus under the pretext of fighting the British to establish a Dar-ul-Islam with the Turkic Caliphate as the head. Gandhi paradoxically told the Hindus not to fight back but blamed them for not understanding their brethren.

That, continuing with the British handpicked post-independence leaders, who continued with Gandhi's pacifist stance, gave the impression that they were all-accommodating yeomen and pushovers. In keeping with ahimsa ideology, India felt, at least Nehru did, that they did not need an army at one stage after Independence.

Of late, the image of a Hindu being a meek, all-agreeing, head-wobbling individual is slowly evolving. In their own way, this is what this movie is trying to hint at Indians, how, over the generations, they have allowed and accommodated other cultures and teachings into their fold that their own highly-placed values had taken a toss. Starting with Macaulay and his educational reforms, Indians began glorifying foreign cultures and frowning upon their own ancient-old wisdom. And now, they have arisen from their slumber, realising that their old-aged understanding of things around them.

The story revolves around a teenage schoolboy who, through peer pressure, is forced and filmed pleasuring himself in the school toilet. The footage is viralled, and the boy is expelled from a private English school.

His father, Kanti, a shopkeeper and a devout Shiva devotee, pleads for his son to be reinstated to no avail. The principal, the school board and even the head priest of the temple. Kanti, who works as hard as he prays to uplift the family status, is caught in a betwixt and between. A simpleton, a non-English person, but to take the establishment to court, demanding reinstatement, a meagre donation to the temple and a public apology to his son. He acts as his own lawyer, much to the amusement of the townfolks, the defence lawyer and the judge. Unbeknownst to everyone, Lord Siva himself has sent his representative to give Kanti a little prodding and moral support.

Kanti's central defence is that sex and masturbation are natural behaviours sanctioned by India's age-old gurukal system. It remains the school's duty to provide sex education and prepare the young to deal with the biological changes of their body, not to treat sex as a dirty and taboo subject.

The irony of the trial is that the majority of the town, primarily conservative Hindus, whose economic activities revolve around a Shiva Temple, are pro-sex education. In contrast, the educated, English-speaking individuals are against open discussion on sex. Of course, God's side wins in the end.

The most stirring moment in the movie is when a sex worker goes on the stand. She indulges herself in the sex trade solely to finance her son's education in a private school. Despite the stigmata associated with the profession, she is left with Hobson's choice -all to give her offspring a better life.

A recurrent theme that seems to be cropping up is 'Kamasutra', the 2nd century Sanskriti text on sexuality, eroticism and emotional fulfilment. The puzzling thing is how a society which was so open to what happens behind the bedroom doors suddenly became so bashful about sexual desires.

P.S. I remember reading about Tagore's family being denied entry to a club for dressing indecently. Using Victorian dressing sense as the gold standard, high-collared necks and long-sleeved blouses replaced bare-breasted ladies draping the modesty with the loose end of their saree. In temples, even the heads need to be covered to show chastity. This, however, came about as an aftermath of the Islamic invasion. Women, wanting to hide their identity to escape the rape and torture by the marauding invaders, covered their heads as Muslim women did to blend in. Over time, that became a tradition in Muslim-ruled regions.

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