Farouk Gulsara's Blog, page 16

Chopping the hands that feed?

Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez (2024)
Netflix miniseries

I learned a new word today: parricide. It is the act of killing one's parents, sometimes as a universal term to include murdering relatives.

It is not peculiar to our modern times by no stretch of the imagination. All through human civilisation, children have been killing the hands that fed them, directly or indirectly. Ancient Indian scriptures have numerous accounts of patricide. The Greeks, Babylonians and the Norse were not far behind. Even though the Mughal emperors had to kill to grasp the throne, the most they did was kill their siblings, like how Aurangzeb, the militarily savvy son of Shah Jahan, is said to have masterminded the brutal killing of his brother, Dara Shukoh, the tolerant one liked by the subjects. Aurangzeb did not kill Shah Jahan. He merely dethroned him and kept him in prison till he died.

King Asoka, who advocated the Middle Path of Buddhism, did not follow the path of passivity. He had to kill his 99 siblings to be the Supreme King. Recent studies suggest that Asoka was already a Buddhist before his victory in Kalinga and a change of heart towards nonviolence and banning animal slaughter.

In modern times, however, parents are killed off due to psychological or neurological reasons. Besides the occasional cases when an explanation can be elucidated, most despicable crimes escape reasoning. In 1968 Japan, in Tochigi, a daughter one day decided to put an end to her father's 15 years of rape which resulted in 11 pregnancies and three children. The Japanese law at that time advocated the death penalty as a blanket rule for parricide. After this case, the courts determined that each case needed to be handled individually.

In 1966, in Texas, an ex-marine went on a shooting rampage, killing his mother and many others. An autopsy revealed that he had an amygdala tumour that would explain his violent behaviour.

US figures show that at least six parricide events happen on their soil weekly. A large proportion of them involve youths and early adults. The often quoted reason for this is usually psychological reasons: parental abuse and control, or occasionally over money.

This miniseries narrates the case of Lyle and Erik Menendez, who both killed their parents in 1989 due to fear their parents were plotting to kill them. They also cited self-defence after enduring years of emotional, physical and sexual abuse. They show that everything was not as it seemed, as there was premeditation in their actions.

The duo currently serve life sentences.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Not just pastime, it's knowledge!

Every living day is a new learning experience. Thanks to Hollywood and the various sci-fi movies they produced, Joe Public is cognisant of time travel, the concept of time, and the expansionary nature of the Universe. Still, we have a long way to go to be well-versed in these areas.

It is mind-boggling how some ancient Indian scriptures, which some quickly label as unbelievable mythological tales, carry some of the most fantastic astronomical knowledge with them. Forget about their authenticity; the wisdom embedded in them warrants a second look. Perhaps these tall tales are mere side dishes to the main course that they serve. Let us not be swayed by unbelievable events that defy logic. Let us have the know-how to differentiate the trees from the forest.

Two recent concepts that piqued my interest come from two stories mentioned in the Mahabharata, Srimad Bhagavatam and Vishnu Purana. They discuss time dilation and the cyclical nature of time.

Legend had it that King Kakudmi had a multi-talented daughter named Revathi. She was a prodigy and excelled in many areas, and the father thought no one was quite appropriate to marry her. Kakudmi made an interstellar trip to Sathyaloka, the abode of Lord Brahma, the creator of the Universe. After waiting for a musical performance to be over, he was given an audience.

Upon hearing Kakudmi's predicament, the Lord burst into laughter. Aeons had passed during Kakudmi's absence from Earth. His grandsons had died, and all of Revathy's suitors had passed on. By the time they returned to Earth, it would be another yuga* (epoch). Brahma had an idea coincidentally. Vishnu was performing one of his avatars as Krishna's brother, Balarama. She could marry him.

The story introduces the concept the movie Interstellar tries to convey. The youthful protagonist trapped in another realm can only see his loved one grow old and wither away.

I remember this from Einstein's theory of relativity; essentially, the faster you move, the slower time seems to go for you relative to someone at rest.

The next concept that turned my head was the story of Hanuman retrieving Lord Rama's ring in the netherworld.

It was time for Lord Rama to leave his mortal body. Unfortunately, as Hanuman was forever beside him, guarding him, Lord Yama could not take his life. Understanding this, Rama sent Hanuman on a mission. He dropped his ring into the crack of Earth and summoned Hanuman to look for it. Using his special powers, Hanuman made a dash for it only to meet the Serpent Queen, Vasuki, and a mountain of similar rings that Rama had dropped.

Vasuki explained the cyclical nature of time when life is lived repeatedly. The mountain of rings denotes the number of times Rama had thrown his ring for Haniman to retrieve. Perhaps, like the film ‘Sliding Doors', our lives follow different trajectories but ultimately lead to the same end. Unlike Western philosophers' understanding of time, from creation to the end of entropy, Hindu thinkers posit that everything repeats itself cyclically. Various yugas portray different human behaviours that ultimately lead to their self-destruction just to jump-start all over again.

All these so-called ‘myths’ need to be re-examined. They are not mere mumbo jumbos. There is much knowledge to scoop, told in poems and tall stories spiced up with the Gods' extracurricular activities to spur the interests of their listeners.

*Time is divided into four unequal parts (yuga) in multiples of 432,000 years. After a complete cycle, time repeats itself. 

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

See, Hear and Speak No Evil!

Three monkeys (Üç Maymun, Turkish; 2008)
Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan

The original three wise monkeys, often seen in pop culture, probably originated in Buddhist culture and reached Japan through Buddhist missionaries. The monkeys embody the principle of "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil." They also have names: Mizaru, Kikazaru, and Iwazaru.
MK Gandhi received a token of the three monkeys from a Japanese well-wisher. A larger representation is displayed in his memorial in Ahmedabad, Sabarmati Ashram. Gandhi's moniker, which spirals around non-violence, passive resistance, and satyagraha, syncs well with what these monkeys are trying to say. Are they?
When we say we do not want to see, hear, or speak evil, do we mean we want to view and consume things that are good, only good? Nature, in its all primitive form, can be an evil creature. The wrath of Nature has no boundaries. The natural forces of Nature bring us blessings in their own way, but they care for two hoots for people and live beings in their path. One good thing may be devastating the other. A freak thunderstorm in the middle of spring is a catastrophic event to rice harvesters and a nightmare to fishermen, but it is a boon to others. Those who lose out in this terrestrial sorcery are mere collateral damage. 
Fellow human beings can be equally evil, maybe for survival, place or dominance. It is all around us. Are we just going to see through the evil, shut our ears from injustices and not speak against tyranny? Just look away? Run away from it all to live in a world of make-believe world of no evil? 
Or does it mean that we should strive to create a world where there is no evil if anyone turns around to see, listen, smell or whatnot? For that, we should 'think evil'. Left to their own devices, I do not think anyone will want to do anything evil. It is the circumstance and desperation that leads him to this. Above all, one should have the wisdom to identify and refrain from evil. Then, there will be nothing to see, hear or speak. In the Analects of Confucius, a fourth monkey, Sezaru, propagates 'do no evil'. It is seen covering its genitals with its hands.
Another version of 3 monkeys
"Hear, see, and speak out loud
for what you stand for."I discovered this Turkish director who has been telling simple stories with picturesque cinematography and thought-provoking themes. This is one of them. 
An up-and-coming politician accidentally hits someone with his car while driving in an isolated countryside late one dark night. The victim dies on the spot. He asks his driver to take the blame, as admitting his crime would jeopardise the politician's career. The driver and his family are promised a fat remuneration for his sacrifice. The driver goes to jail for a year.
The monthly money comes on time, but the driver's wife and the politician start an affair. Somehow, the driver's late teenage son discovers their clandestine activity. The son is now in a dilemma. Should he just let it pass or punish the politician with malice. Is this way he pays back the man who carried his blame?
Meanwhile, the politician loses his election. The driver completes his sentence and is released. Even though the politician wants to end their affair, the driver's wife is helplessly in love with her lover. The three monkeys are in a fix: the driver senses something is wrong, the politician cannot get the monkey off his back, and the son is angry. Meanwhile, the politician is murdered.The driver comes to know from the police that his wife is having an affair with the politician. The son confesses to the driver that he killed the politician. Just as his boss did, the driver got a poor fakir from the mosque to be the fall guy and take the blame for the murder.
We can talk all we want about the three wise monkeys, but the present world seems to warrant the fourth monkey. Sezaru, the fourth monkey, has been looking the other way for so long. It is about time Sezaru stops the violence that embodies our world. With such laxity and laissez-faire attitude on sexual behaviours these days, is it not necessary for Sezaru to be shown with his hands covering his genitalia or covering his nose to denote the stench that is enveloping our civilisation?

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Against the tide?

Vijay 69 (Hindi, 2024) Director: Akshay Roy

To be sure, there is another movie called Thalapathy 69. That is an untitled, yet-to-be-released 69th film by Tamil movie star Vijay. This 69th venture would be his last, as he has embarked on a full-time career in Tamil Nadu politics.
This is a motivational movie aimed not only at senior citizens but also at the rest of society. 
I vividly remember my father chatting with his friends when I was probably 15. Their common friend had died suddenly after an apparent heart attack. After the expected condolences and the sombre tone of the conversation, somebody cut in to say, "... but he is 54 and is due to retire next year!". It was then perfectly normal for someone past 50 to die. See how things have changed in 40-over years.
Recently, a dear friend, aged 63, succumbed to a coronary event. This happened even when being under the keen watch of a cardiologist. His friends had this say, "63 is not the age to die. He went off too soon."
How much has changed in 45 years? Malaysians have increased their life expectancy and are in better health than the previous generations. Naturally, when they retire from their jobs, anywhere between 55 and 60, they feel their wings have been clipped. Unlike their fathers, who wait for Lord Yama to come a-calling anytime after retirement, they think they have much wisdom and energy to impart to the generation after them. Unfortunately, their downlines are not looking at them as hindrances. The young ones want to prove their worth on their own terms. They want the oldies to take a bow. It is not they are annoyed with them or do not like them hanging around. The elders have their uses, but telling the next generation what to do is not one of them. Things have changed since the time their fathers learnt things.
Hence, the oldies are left to their cocoon, perhaps feeling worthless. Only so much can one interact with their respective better (or other) halves. The desire to fulfil unachieved ambitions or the need to leave a legacy soon pops up. They want to do so much. They think they have so much juice, but everyone around them thinks otherwise. At one point, the senior starts thinking about whether the others are gaslighting him. They would quote this person or that person who dropped dead like a swatted fly. The aura would be created for oldies to be convinced they must sit still at home, waiting to be engulfed by the flames of time.
Against this tide, a small group of madmen arises against the negativities to prove something to themselves. This is the story of Vijay Matthew, a foul-mouth 69-year-old small-time swimming instructor who had just lost his wife to cancer. Still reeling from failing to clinch the gold medal at the national swimming days in his young days, he is a man on a mission. He wants to complete a triathlon at the age of 69. This self-motivating comedic sketch is a joy to watch. Vijay is played by Bollywood veteran Anupam Kher.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The ever complex Rubik's cube of life?

Recently, I caught an obituary announcement on social media. An old working senior had passed on. Even though my interaction with that person was short, it left an unpleasant aftertaste. From his demeanour, I learnt how not to disrespect my subordinates. This person was so vile in his comments during high-level meetings that my boss would ask me or one of my colleagues to accompany him for moral support. His scoldings were so personal that they bordered on testing my department's competence and even intelligence.

Everyone let out an air of relief when he was transferred for a promotion. Why a person of such arrogance should be rewarded was the million-dollar question. But then, we were glad that our problem was somebody else's. That was the last I heard of him until the fateful announcement.

There it was, the photograph of him with a toothful smile on his face, innocence oozing down his face, and religious symbols below it. It was his obituary announcement. Under that, a long list of his friends and relatives left touching comments. The impression that I got was that he must have left such an indelible mark in their lives. Then there were comments about how good a father, an uncle and a resource person he had been.

We tend to forget that doctors, engineers, shopkeepers, labourers, and security guards are not defined by the uniform or outfit they don. Outside their regular working hours, they are expected to assume other roles—a parent, a comedian, a musician, or a marathon runner. They may suck at their daytime job, but that does not render them beyond reprieve. There is an alternate universe for them.

That incident reminded me of the life and times of Babur, the brutal founder of the Mughal dynasty. A great conqueror he was, he never liked India. He thought that Indians were uncultured and their land was unimpressive compared to Afghanistan. He wanted their wealth, though.

In 1530, his Humayun fell hopelessly sick. The royal physicians gave up. Babur summoned the Sufi priests. They suggested that Babur should sacrifice something very dear to him. Somebody suggested that the Kohinoor (or some other precious stones, unclear) be given away. The trouble is the diamond belonged to Humayun, not Babur. So it was not his to give away. Instead, Babur circumambulated Humayun's bed three times, recited a prayer to Allah to take his life in exchange for his son's, cried out and fell sick to die three months later.*

There are these multifaceted views of an individual. What we see are representations of part of the picture.

* https://www.srichinmoylibrary.com/me-8 Sri Chinmoy, The Moghul Emperors, Agni Press, 2001

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Even the Universe does not bother!

The New Indian Lady Justice
Note the saree, absence of blindfold and sword.
(knowledge replaces brutal force)I have been naive all through my formative and even adult life. I had thought that Truth or the Universe would put everything in order. In the end, Dharma will rule. No matter how deviant, conniving, or evil humans may be, Nature has a way of tipping things back to equilibrium. 

Little things convinced me of this. When Man thought pests needed to be eradicated to increase their harvest yield, he introduced DDT. Little did he know it disrupted the food chain, from insects to birds and pollination of flowers and back to less yield. The spring of 1962 fell silent. When environmentalists were screaming, 'Save the Tigers on Sundarbans', little did they know that they had later to give protection to the people of that region when the tiger population doubled.

People equate the Courts with holding the balance of Justice. The courts are supposed to be independent, not swayed by emotion or power. We were convinced that everyone is equal in the eyes of the Law.

Increasingly, I think the Law has squinted eyes. One may argue that squinting does not equal altered vision. Neither does it refer to poverty of thought or vision. To the observer, however, it will always appear skewed to a particular side. After all, perception is vital in Law. Justice must be seen to be done.

It is apparent to my lay mind that the verdict of court cases, especially involving senior political leaders, go whichever way the current political wind blows. At the discretion of the learned justices, cases can go into cold storage, be fast-tracked or simply acquitted. When the evidence is too compelling, the accused may be off the hook awaiting temporarily, their cases seeing daylight at a later date (discharged not amounting to acquittal; DNAA), the wisdom of which is only known to the learned justices and the sycophants of the accused.

It is evident that the legal and judiciary systems pander to the might of those in power and bow to the general public's sentiments. The take-home message is that there is no right or wrong. Everything is contextual, including the direction of the public sentiments. Like a flower dependent on the elements of Nature to be pollinated, mere mortals get shoved and pushed around. 

Read the fascinating history of the coming of power of China's first Empress, Wu Zeitan. Her ascent to the throne was spectacularly bizarre. Starting off as a concubine, not even the favourite but sixth in line, she wrangled her way to be the Empress by killing her own daughter and blaming it on the reigning Emperor's consort. Her melodrama paid off. Even as the Empress, she called the shots of how the kingdom must be ruled. Her assertiveness and charisma made all the officials follow her line. She even paraded herself as a reincarnation of one of Buddha's female disciples. That regularised her demigod status and spread Buddhism to sell the religion to justify her maleficences. All the checks and balances were under her thumb. The learned court officers just toed the line in unison. The government machinery followed her tailcoat (or regal royal attire). The economy prospered, and peace was palpable. 

Maybe prosperity and peace of mind are all that matter at the end of the day, not righting all wrongs. One has to see the bigger picture, perhaps.) It is the economy, stupid, as uttered by a fornicator who went on to be the President and got away scot-free. In his mind, he did not have a sexual relationship with Lewinsky as, unlike others, he did think oral sex was sex. He was acquitted of impeachment charges by the US Senate. He is a respected speaker who earns millions around the world. The world no longer expects a leader to be virtuous. As long there is money. In Clinton's immortal words, 'It is the economy stupid!'

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Hatred breeds hatred

La Haine (Hatred, French, 1995)
Screenplay, Direction: Mathieu Kassovitz
This hint has been present throughout our history. Contended people make peaceful nations. Peaceful regions bring prosperity, meaning wealth. When people have money jingling in their pockets, they can fill their stomachs and are happy. They are kind to each other and respect each other.

I still remember my history teacher, Mr LKK, in his theatrical manner, describing the scene in France in 1789 before the Bastille invasion. The peasants were hungry, while King Louis XVI and Mary Antonette were busy enjoying their cakes. This resentment eventually, as we know it, changed world history.

This film tries to highlight the same point: Resentment among the people brings hate, and hate begets more hate. The people in the lower socioeconomic strata will always get the raw end of the bargain. Any new legislation or taxation will affect the poor more than the affluent. Understandably, they are the community with the lowest threshold for dissatisfaction.

The hate that brews in the suburbia and the poorer side of town is dangerous. When people are helpless, violence remains the last bastion of expression. This film was hailed for highlighting the slow cancer growing in the banlieues (troubled French suburbs) that needed government attention before it became a national catastrophe. Sadly, the result of that warning is reality. Frequent rioting in French, German and Belgian suburbs is common.

The film tells the story of a broken suburbia. There is no economic activity, and the young have no future to plan for. They identify themselves with gangs. Three young lads, a Franco-African, a Jew and a Muslim, are close friends. There is a semblance of a school but hardly any teaching. Children are not interested, and the outdoors is dangerous, with frequent rioting and police raids.

One gang member is seriously injured by the police. It angers one of the two teenagers in the story. The rest of the tale is about their wasteful wandering, doing seemingly unproductive things, and getting into the wrong side of the law in the next 24 hours.

It is about a society in free fall, the nightmare that no nation leader would want to see in his tenure. The responsible citizens must read the writing on the wall and act accordingly. When the domino wall starts falling, there is no stopping. The dialogue at the end of the movie tells it all. When the society is going down, it tells itself, 'so far so good, so far so good'. It does not matter how it falls; all that matters is how it ends!

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The spirit of the black cat...

Kuroneko (@ Black Cat, Japanese; 1968) Director: Kaneto Shindō
Thinking about it, primitive societies of yesteryears were run mainly by female tribe members. The male members were mostly out of the scene most of the time. Some may have been out hunting for food during their caveman days. In more civil societies, when aristocracy ruled the day, the male members needed to do their national services. Many left for months or even years together to fight wars. Children mostly grow up with absent fathers. Wives led the pack in their day-to-day running of the family unit. Men were left to make many life-changing decisions like defence, security, foreign relations and food security.
Guarding the household is no small feat. Nature is very unwelcoming and hostile. Torrential rains, storms, extreme temperatures and wild beasts frequently harass their abode. So, the female species was not as fragile as modern man had made them out to be. They are actually more robust than the world credits them to be.
Both sexes had their respective roles laid out. Both factions must diligently carry out their roles for a society to continue. No one's role was superior to the other. 
When specific communities encourage men to wed more than one partner, it is not so much for carnal pleasures as for the continuity of species. Infant mortality was high, and people had short life spans. At a time when might is strength by the numbers, an extra pair of hands meant better defence and help running the household chores. 
Much like in Onibaba (1964) , the villages are left to be manned by the women, as the men have all gone off to fight in local wars. After all, it was the pre-Meiji restoration of the Samurai era. Men all to bring home loot from the wars or at least bask in the glory of attaining 'samurai-hood'. Samurais carry a particular holding in society. 
A mother and daughter-in-law duo are seen eating their meal. Their dinner is ceremonially trespassed by a group of renegade samurai. They eat their dinner, rape the women, kill them and burn down the raggedy hut. A black cat licks their bodies. The spirits of the dead women come in the form of black cats to avenge every samurai that comes their way. Long story short, the husband/son of the deceased returns after the war, ordained as a samurai. He is sent to hunt down the ghost of the duo, unbeknownst to him their identity.

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Still a white man's burden?

BBC on Trial (Documentary; 2024) Produced by: Global Hindu Federation

Remember when Malaysians depended on Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) for our news fix? If one remembers well, the headlines on each vernacular channel emphasised different topics to keep each ethnicity happy and give the illusion that their needs were being considered.

They would have picked this up from their colonial masters, who perfected the art of diplomacy and ruling with the doctrine of 'divide and rule'. Goebbels is not the person who invented the propaganda. It was the British and their propaganda machine, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). In fact, the Germans learnt it from BBC, which was incorporated into its current form in 1927.

In the 1930s, the BBC management was singing praises of the Nazi's attempt to clear off its enemies. BBC perfected the art of choosing the perfect word to sugarcoat a potential disaster. They broadcast 24/7 in 25 languages and three bandwidths to tell the right message that their audience wanted to hear. Like the Piped Piper leading the children of Hamelin into the mountain, BBC and its propaganda news drew and killed 100 million Indians in one way or another in 40 years. BBC drew in fiction writers and performers to seduce its crowd to believe their stories. George Orwell was recruited to write scripts for the news on India.

Of late, people worldwide have to realise the BBC's nefarious agenda. With its clever play with semantics, it managed to successfully demonise people and humanise terrorists. There is an overt anti-India bias. They were quick to paint India as a ridiculous nation of poverty, ignorance and sexual perverts.

A year before Modi's third-term election, BBC thought it appropriate to bring a 20-year-old squashed conspiracy linking Modi to the 2002 Gujerat Riots. Even though the Courts investigated and cleared Modi of any wrongdoing, BBC, in its self-professed role of the bearer of the white media's burden, released its controversial documentary, 'The Modi Question'. Elsewhere, it decided to vilify Indian social fibre; BBC made a hero of an accused rapist in the 'Nirbhaya Case' by having a one-on-one interview with him after paying him handsomely.

Pandit Satish Sharma,
Interfaith Speaker and Pandit of
Dharmic traditions
Brainchild behind the documentary.The BBC has a very unique way of whitewashing crimes of a particular community of society when it comes to people of the Indian subcontinent. In the Leicester unrest recently, there is evidence of biased reporting, painting the Islamic aggressors as victims. Even Shamima Begum, who gave up her British citizenship to fight for ISIS, is portrayed as an innocent victim. Majid Freeman, an instigator of violence and a terrorist sympathiser, is labelled as a political activist.

BBC has been a prime mover of regime changes around the world. It is said they had assisted in 42 regime changes since 1945, starting with the assassination of Mosaddegh, the democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran, when he nationalised British oil holdings in 1953. Their shenanigans continued with Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein and the non-existent Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD).

Even though BBC is good at 'exposing' the shortcomings of third-world countries, even the post-colonial nations have leapt forward, surpassing their master; they have, within their establishment, people of questionable morals. Cases of BBC executives like Jimmy Saville and Stuart Hall getting mangled with child sexual abuse are no secret. In his capacity as the Public Prosecutor, Keir Starmer, the current PM, thought the case did not merit further action.

There are many sepoys, chronic victims of Stockholm Syndrome, who are still in awe of their former colonial masters and are under the impression the sun still has not set on the empire. They worked with local associated companies to churn out denigrating news of their own countries.

BBC has manipulated information to serve its agenda, creating division and mistrust among global audiences. It raises critical questions about the ethical responsibilities of media institutions and challenges viewers to consider whether the BBC should be held accountable for its actions. Impartial reporting is not in the equation. Their ultimate aim is to balkanise nations, making them weak and unsustainable. That is when the next wave of imperialism moves in. The concept of 'divide and rule' never left the table.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The Eternal Sleep of Kumbhakarna

https://borderlessjournal.com/2024/11/14/the-eternal-sleep-of-kumbhakarna/

I reported to Kuala Pilah District Hospital on 11th August 1989. Just having passed out from medical school a year earlier, followed by a year of housemanship training, I was rearing to go. Like Dr. David Livingstone, who explored the interior of Africa to treat the needy (and convert them), I thought I would change the world.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.