RIFLE RANGE BOY

11.6.2010 FIFA World Cup 2010 (# denotes FIFA ranking as per 24 th May 2010) In the spirit of FIFA World Cup, we Malaysians (#147), can only contribute by sucking up all the World Cup merchandise and memorabilia by paying exorbitant prices and rejoicing by seeing other teams which were below or at most at par with us showing their prowl at world football rankings. South Korea(#47) who were our arch rivals in the 70s at our Merdeka tournaments have been consistently representing Asia in the 8 world cups and even emerged semifinalists in 2002 when they co-hosted the finals with Japan (#45), who were many rungs below us in the 70s! What can we do but stare blankly in to sky and blame everybody else (except ourselves) whilst others leap by bounds over the moon! We (the dumb cows) can run with the spoon. And you can reminisce the fine Malaysian footballers of the yesteryears. Maxis, in their effort to promote their 3G phones to view the soccer matches, are hitting on this sentiment ...

Ashoka the Great - Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty (304 BC – 232 BC) Sunday, 06 June 2010 11:34 History -  Biography     Bodies lay strewn around the smashed city, and the Daya River ran red with blood. The Mauryan Emperor Ashoka surveyed the damage that his army had inflicted on the Kalinga region. About 100,000 civilians were dead, as well as 10,000 of Ashoka's soldiers. Far from feeling the glorious rush of victory, Ashoka felt sick and saddened. He vowed that never again would he rain down death and destruction on other people. He would devote himself to his Buddhist faith and practice ahimsa, or nonviolence. A Chakravatin (possibly Ashoka) 1st century BC/CE. Andhra Pradesh, Amaravati. Preserved at Musee Guimet This story and many others about a great emperor called Ashoka appear in ancient Vedic literature, the Asokavadana, Divyavandana andMahvamsa. For many years, westerners considered them to be mere legend. They did not conn...

நான் சிரித்தால் தீபாவளி*(Naan Sirithal Deepavali) Deepavali in RRF I do not remember being particularly joyous at the arrival of Deepavali in RRF. Most of the time, it was just a hindrance as it came amidst year end and public examinations. As usual Amma will complain about the ever increasing cost of living and increased expenses incurred because of this one day celebration. Again, she would remind us not to overspend because even though Deepavali only comes once a year, it comes every year. And that we should not suffer the whole year just to enjoy on one particular day!  A month before the auspicious day, Amma will start receiving sewing orders and this will go on until the eve of the celebration! 2 to 3 weeks before this day of the win of good over evil, the whole family will throng the stores at Penang Road , Campbell Street and ‘Jual Murah Bazaar’ on bargain hunting. It will end with each child getting about 2 sets of clothes and the whining of ev...

9.6.2010 Radio Ga Ga When we were growing up in RRF, radio was a constant companion and sometimes an unwanted irritant playing and buzzing in the background like mismatched background music score of a B-grade movie! Appa had the habit of tuning in to the radio the moment he returns from work. After the normal broadcast time of Radio Malaysia Rangkaian Merah (Red Channel, later to Radio 6, now it is named Minnal), he would fiddle with the transistor aerial and tuning knob to receive a decent reception of SW transmission from Radio Singapore Tamil Channel. Invariably, the sounds from the radio will be waxing and waning, from melody to static noise, much to Amma’s annoyance. Most of the time, after painstakingly searching the band, Appa would just doze off on the sofa! Once a week, there will be radio drama on the Tamil radio. Dramas written by Anjalai from Simpang Empat and S. Vairakanoo were particularly interesting and the whole family would be glued to the radio for a full half...

Today's pointless discussion is on some of the meaningless celebrations that we as Tamilians honour. It caught my attention when one of the neighbours in my housing estate erected a canopy across the road blocking half of the road just to officiate the erection the small Muniswar statuette in his house compound. From my life experiences, I can say with conviction that the usual justification of such an erection is usually as part of fulfilling the demand of a dream. The Gods (or some of their representation of them, e.g. dog, whip or an apparition with a big moustache) would have manifested during their sleep and demanded or hinted for something of that nature. You cannot say this is something new or nonsensical as others have also known to have done this in the name of religion. Abraham (Ibrahim) almost put his son (Issac/Ismail) to the slaughter as God supposedly manifested in his dream to test his faith. Just as the unthinkable was about to happen, the 'sacrificial lamb'...

2.6.2010 Tamil equivalent of 'Aradhanaa' This is the scene I was referring to in the last blog. Personally, I have not watched this movie but somehow I came to know that this scene existed. I know that all the songs in this 1974 Tamil movie, composed by the legendary MSV were hits. Beside 'Ullam Rendum' (both hearts), there was 'Iniyavaley (the sweet one), both with equally catchy lyrics and music. In real life, no sane girl in the right mind will melt away listening to a guy singing on a jeep. On the contrary, it would be a complete turn off leaving such a demeaning impression where the girl will think that the hero will need urgent psychiatric help and not even bat an eye to look at his side, what more to blush at the lyrics of the song! Furthermore it is not humanly possible to hear any singing with the constant loud churning of the steam engine of the train. But that is the feel good aura of Indian movies, promising you to carry you away from the hustle a...