RIFLE RANGE BOY

The Librarian (2017) Author: Kavitha Rao One of the problems identified to have inflicted the vast majority of people of the 21st century is their over-attachment to their mobile devices. They seem to be engrossed in their gizmos that it is sometimes comical to see them walking like zombies. They appear as if they are talking to their imaginary friends, all complete with hand gestures and explosive curses. Sometimes they become oblivious to their surroundings, walking through glass-doors or moving vehicles. They seem so engrossed in their gadgets that I would not be surprised if they are unaware if somebody jocularly strips them down. Well, it is not much different than how it used to be when I was growing up. An acquaintance of mine, while immersed in his spy-thriller novel, had his house burgled right under his nose (not really under his nose but rather with his presence). Amma also used to complain my sister and I were too buried in our books. She accused us of using the ne...

My experience in Spain is that the taximen there are not really affected by the hailing of rides stimulated by the digital economy. Nobody calls in or rather uses the Uber App to pimp their rides. The taxis still function as before, and they never lost their sleep over it. Just why is this possible? Sure, the taximen invested a lot of money in their machines and their licences. For the Uber drivers, it is just another way to make extra revenue. Being the socialist, people-minded that the elected government is, it naturally cared more for the people that elected them rather than the business people who financed their campaign. Furthermore, at a time when everyone has become nationalistic if not, practising 'identity politics', it does not help that the parent company is foreign-owned. Whatever way the debates go, the bottom line is providing a service. Mobility and agility is an essential tool for an economy to prosper. The service providers cannot hold the end-users to ra...

Chekka Chivantha Vaanam (Tamil, 2018) This film is supposed to have elements of Akira Kurosawa's 'Ran' in its storyline. And Kurosawa's 'Ran' is supposed to have similarities to King Lear. Unfortunately, the similarities end at the level of a man of power and the power struggle between his three sons over his ruling empire. Here, the struggle is for the position of 'Don' between three sons. Each suspects each other of sabotage and try to outdo each other with wit and the might of gunpowder. Unfortunately, at the end of the day, after much killing, the sufferings of their loved ones, the death of the few and the double-crossing of their most trusted ones, the thugs realise that one who lives by the gun dies by one.  Not much of a film. Just another movie that depicts India as a land of lawlessness with a corrupt police force where everything and everyone has a price. Sadly, they try to sell the idea that even the immigration is under the thumb of...

You are made to believe that the way to do it is divine. That, the effort that you put in your work is like serving God. That, you are performing the Almighty's job on Earth. You do not have to display your piety for others to see. All you have to do is to serve, everything else will take care of itself. You follow suit.  Then you realise that life cannot be all work. The people that you thought you have been sacrificing all your life for suddenly turn their back against you. They start hurling accusations of this and that. That you had been shortchanging them; that that is your job - your only job is to serve them. You, on the other hand, thought they would be eternally grateful to you for you had sacrificed everything for them in the course of your vocation. You thought yours was a calling. It, apparently, was not. It was just another job. You are just another spoke in the machinery of society that moves it forward. The tale that the people before you told were just t...

These banks of the River Guadalquivir witnessed the most momentous time in history which must probably be the single most crucial juncture in the maritime industry. Ferdinand Magellan is said to have set sail to explore another route for the Spanish to lay their hands on the lucrative spice trade. As it stood at that time, the Muslim rulers tightly controlled the land routes to the East. The river also saw the passage of a colossal amount of 'blood' gold from South America being transport through this port to the Spanish Empire.   By the River Guadalquivir ©FG The modern arched bridge over Guadalquivir ©FG Torre del Oro - the watch tower that oversaw entrance of ships to the port. A chain went across the river to block the passage of unauthorised vessels. ©FG 1929 was an important year for Ibero-Americano cooperation. After 20 years of planning and planned to be held in 1914, only to be delayed by the Great War, colonies decided to show the best that...

Hidden Heroes: Snapshots of A True Malaysian Patriot's Life (2018) Author: Lai Chee Seng Having gone through life hanging on a thread, living precariously one day at a time, having been shot in the thigh and miraculously surviving the communist terrorists' watchlist, S/Sergeant S. Kesavan would be the last person to empathise with the struggles of Chin Peng and his band of 'self-appointed' freedom fighters. In his eyes and the people of his generation, MPAJA and their successors can never be viewed as liberators of the land of Malaya from the Japanese and later the British colonial masters. No amount of facts and cajoling with the idea that history was written by victors and that the propaganda machine changed the psychology of the nation to look at them as the bad guys are going to going to convince S/S Kesavan of the genuine altruistic intentions of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM).  He was there to experience the brutality of the members of CPM who decided...

Silence is golden, they say. Sometimes all that you needed to do was to do nothing. Precious time can be used to ponder, meander and introspect. These things are necessary to take stock of our performances in our duties as parents, siblings, offspring, employers, employees, pet owners or just as a mere person. Libraries, parks, open spaces, temples of worship and wilderness once were freely available for this purpose. On the one hand, we say that resting is part of training and that still water runs deep or that only the empty makes the loudest noise. In the same breath, we also say that an idle mind is the devil's workshop, as if our brain must always be doing something at all times. Perhaps, it was a ploy by the people in power so as not to make his subjects a thinking lot. The modus operandi  is to keep their minds occupied only with their almighty bosses' rhetorics - no place for the lowly minions to start using the brains to start a revolut...