Farouk Gulsara's Blog, page 170
March 19, 2016
Is it all about me or about us?
It started with the desire to maintain status quo to eternity, that the descendants of the rulers and their entourage should take charge forever and ever. Ceremonies were organised in their guise of appeasing the divine forces. Who the heck knows whether the celestial bodies existed or not in the first place but it just suits everybody fine. The upper ruling class were on the throne while the working class labouring for them. Nice.
Everyone was told that we live for the society. Our primary aim, our reason for existence is for the continuity and well-being of the community. In that way, everyone was kept contended. Every soul, the weak, the sick, the handicapped were bestowed upon them the title that they hold a special place in the lap of the Gods. In that way, the rest of the living took it upon themselves that the others have their place in the sun.
Soon the ignorant one became wiser as their feeble minds start wandering. They could buy their stories anymore. The fables had more holes than the beggar’s tattered clothes. Then the wise gurus came up with yet another new philosophy. To attain newer heights in human endeavour, the answer is within oneself. The human mind holds the secrets of the universe. After all the blueprint of the near beginning is embedded within us. It is just for us to unravel. Introspection is the answer. It was hoped that by each trying to discover himself, to know thyself, peace can be attained.
Soon everyone became self-centred. They became self-centred. Nobody wanted to miss the boat. All that mattered to him was his welfare, not that of his neighbour. He wanted salvation. He cared less about his fellow being’s suffering. Compassion became a foreign word. In his eyes, he only wished to see roses, not the thorny reality of life. Even the sight of a hungry baby suckling on a nursing breast appears vulgar to him. He talks about his wants, his right, his liberty and his space. Mayhem ensues.
Soon people yearn for the time not far back in the distant past when the powers-that-be thought of an economic plan when equality and social justice was given paramount importance. They promised of a utopia where everyone was appreciated for his labour and is a slave to money. Unfortunately, the world which could satisfy the needs of all the citizens of the world just could not meet up with their greed.http://asok22.wix.com/rifle-range-boy
March 17, 2016
Indian Chemist discovers the secrets of Agastya Samhita in 1927!
By Sanskriti on February 2, 2015.
What was probably the first non-stop flight was made not from New York to Paris but from Ceylon to a place near modern Delhi, if the records are correct.
According to the Sanskrit epic, Ramayana, a story many centuries older than the Greek epics, an Indian king made this trip in a balloon in five days. His carriage was called “Pushpaka”, meaning “butter-fly-like” and the epic contains a detailed account of preparations for the flight, with a vivid description of the balloon itself.
What is more convincing evidence that the trip was actually made, is the fact that the poem contains an accurate and beautifully written description of an aerial view of the various cities and countries passed over on the journey. Only a super imagination could have conceived this perspective and picture.
It is due to the investigations of Varam R. Kokatnur (’14 M.S., ’16 Ph.D) that this and many other fascinating discoveries about the learning of ancient India have been made available. Dr. Kokatnur is a consulting chemist by profession, having his business in New York City; but his hobby is the study of hieroglyphics; and it was while tracing the relation of Sanskrit to the hieroglyphics that he discovered valuable information which will greatly affect our present knowledge of history of chemistry.
When the American Chemical Society met in Detroit, Michigan, from September 5 to 10, Dr Kokatnur read a paper containing evidences to show that Cavendish and Priestly were not the first men to discover hydrogen and oxygen, but that these gases had been known to the sages of ancient India, and then he read a second paper to show that chemistry was of Aryan and not Semitic origin.
After listening to the proofs he offered, members of the convention gave the author a special vote of thanks for the originality and value of his researches and agreed that his evidences were conclusive. The papers, as read by Dr. Kokatnur, will soon be published in the Isis, a scientific journal published in many languages. The publication of this article in the ALUMNI WEEKLY precedes all other announcements.
Dr. Kokatnur is a native of India, educated in Bombay University and the University of California as well as Minnesota. He was a Shevlin fellow in Chemistry, is a fellow of the American Institute of Chemists, a member of Sigma Xi and many other scientific societies.
While working on his study of hieroglyphics, he came across a Sanskrit book which contained four pages of an old but well-known manuscript which was written in 1350 and contains the collected writings of Agastya. These few pages were discovered by Vase in the library of an Indian prince, in 1924, in Ujjain, India.
Agastya is a sage whose name has been mentioned in Indian writings as far back as 2000 B.C. Consequently, this manuscript, which is known as “Agastya-Samhita” if authentic, is extremely old as far as source material is concerned, belonging to post-Vedic and pre-epic times.
Being a chemist, Dr. Kokatnur naturally seized this manuscript with avidity for in mythology the sage Agastya is credited with being the discoverer of hydrogen and oxygen, the dry electric battery, electro-plating, kites, hot-air blimps and propelled balloons. In fact, he is named variously after his discoveries, in contrast with the present practice naming the discoveries after one’s name. Thus he is called “pot-born” (dry electric battery); “cathode-anode” (electricity); “conquerer of kites and blimps”, and so forth. It is as if we should call Henry Ford, “Flivver”, and Mr Edison “incandescent lamps”, “movie” or “Dictaphone”.
In this manuscript, the mention of hydrogen and oxygen is made only incidentally in connection with the construction of the balloon. Of course, Agastya did not know the gases by these names, but his terms for them are more specific than ours. Hydrogen is called “upfaced” because of its lightness; while oxygen is known as “vital” or “essential to life”. He did not use the word “gas” but called them “airs”. In the English language, hydrogen is so-called because water is generated by its combustion, and oxygen was named by Lavoisier from the Greek root meaning “acid” because he believed it to be an essential part of every acid. In the German language, hydrogen is “wasserstoffe” and oxygen “sauerstoffe”, meaning the same but being also inaccurate, for all acids do not contain oxygen. How much more accurate were Agastya’s names than ours? The originality and aptness of these names is cited by Dr. Kokatnur as one evidence that the manuscript must be authentic.
Chemists at the convention gasped when Dr. Kokatnur read to them the following translation of the method of making a dry electric battery which was written centuries before the Christian era:
“A well-cleaned copper plate should be placed in an earthen-ware vessel. It should then be covered first by moist sawdust. Mercury amalgamated zinc plate should then be placed on the top of the saw-dust. By their contact a light known by the twin-names Mitra-Varuna (cathode-anode or electricity) is produced. The water is split up by this into gases, Vital and Up-faced. The joining together of hundred such vessels is very active or effective.”
From his knowledge of Chemistry, Dr. Kokatnur recognized that this was the method used in making a dry battery, but did not know what part the mercury amalgamated zinc plate had in the reaction until he consulted a battery maker who explained that it prevented polarization.
Continuing, Agastya said:
“When the “up-faced” is filled in an air-proof (impervious) bag and the bag is tied at the head of the vehicle, the “up-faced” due to its lightness carries the vehicle in the sky.”
Then the process of air-proofing the balloon bag is explained. This is to be done by dipping a silk bag in the bark of trees which produce a milky juice (probably rubber). After the first immersion and drying it was again dipped in the juice of another tree which contains tannin. Then it is dried again, coated with wax, and at last coated with some kind of mixture made from sugar and lime.
Only to a chemist would the original translation have meant anything, for the manuscript does not specifically state that tamin is the second juice used. The tree is named, and from his knowledge of Chemistry, Dr. Kokatnur deduced that the desired juice might be tannin for that is one of the chemicals contained in the sap of this particular tree. He consulted a rubber chemist and found that tannin will coagulate rubber (latex).
After he has explained the process of making a dry electric battery, the sage Agastya gives us the process of electroplating:
“(This great light) plates the copper with gold or silver in the presence of acidified water and the metal that is combined with saltpeter. The gold-plated copper is called “hundred pot born”. Apparently the metal combined with saltpeter is either gold nitrate, gold chloride or gold cyanide.
According to ancient literature, the Indians of pre-Christian times knew the laws of air and water and recognized that they were similar, except that in water one moves on the surface and in the air one must travel through the body of the matter. Manuscripts written in 800 B.C. show that they had a knowledge of physics, for it is specifically stated that light, heat and sound exist in waves.
They knew how to take advantage of currents both in the air and on the water. Their balloons were steered by sails and guided by specially bred birds which must have been crossed to produce a bird of unusual strength which could be easily trained. Hundreds of such birds were tied to the balloon described in the epic, Ramayana. In the translation made by Romesh C Dutt, which is a condensed version of the Sanskrit original, we find in Book Five that Rama, the hero, had met and consulted with Agastya. Dutt says:
“The wanderings of Rama in the Deccan, his meeting with Saint Agastya, and his residence on the banks of the Godavari river, are narrated in this Book. The name of Agastya is connected with the Deccan, and many are the legends told of this great Saint before whom the Bindhya mountains bent in awe, and by whose might the Southern ocean was drained. It is likely that some religious teacher of that name first penetrated beyond the Vindhyras in the Deccan, three thousand years ago.”
According to the epic, Agastya gave Rama magic weapons with which to conquer his foes. There is not space here to relate the story, but it closes with Rama, returning home victorious with his rescued bride Sita, in an aerial carriage. Dutt’s translation continues:
Of course, such poetic descriptions have always been given legendary, poetic interpretations, but we know that many arts known to the ancients have been lost.
No one can say definitely that this balloon flight as described was actually made, but Dr. Kokatnur has a number of evidences to substantiate his belief in the authenticity of the manuscript, Àgastya-Samhita`.
“In the first place”, he says, “the fact that the voltaic cell was discovered only a century ago and that the remedies to prevent polarization were discovered still more recently, indicate that the manuscript, to include these elements must be, if a fake, of very recent origin. It is easy to detect if a manuscript is 50 years or several centuries old by examining the condition of the paper and writing. These appear to be in favour of its authenticity. Further, it is not often that a man is well enough versed both in science and language to execute a fraud successfully is found.
“In India the knowledge of the sciences is only available in the English language. It is doubtful if any Indian English-educated chemists – there are no electro-chemists by the way – know the fact that amalgamated zinc prevents polarization, and if one did, the chance of his knowing Sanskrit well enough to fake such a manuscript is remote.”
“The names of the twin-gods “Mitra Varuna” is very old and is even mentioned in Rik-Veda. The word “Mitra” means “friend”, “an ally”, in other words, “cathode” because a deposit is made at this place. “Varuna” means “liquefied or enemy” (of zinc) and therefore “anode”. The use of such a twin word with such a significant meaning is certainly highly original.
“Similarly the names “prana” “vital life” and “udana” (up-faced or upward-moving) for oxygen and hydrogen are equally original and significant.
“Hindus seem to know of gases and there is no question of the antiquity of such knowledge. From times immemorial, the twice-born castes of India have repeatedly chanted certain prayers, wherein som of these gases are mentioned. One of the prayers of undoubted antiquity, repeated every day in India by the twice-born at the time of meals, somewhat in the spirit of a Christian blessing, is as follows:
“I reside in the animal body in the form of digestive fire (animal heat) and with the aid of Prana and Apana gases, digest the four kinds of foods”.
“If the knowledge of these gases were an isolated instance, one might well believe the fraudulent nature of this manuscript. But the high concurrent knowledge of Chemistry in India is a never-to-be-disputed fact. Their knowledge of the preparation of mild and caustic alkali several centuries before the Christian era, their knowledge of aqua-regia in potential, the detection of metals by the colour of their flames, the recognition of zinc as a distinctive metal many centuries before it was definitely known as such in Europe, and above all the great monuments like the ten-ton wrought iron gun at Nurver, as prerequisites point to the authenticity of this manuscript.”
~ The Minnesota Alumni Weekly, Volume 27, Number 3, July 1927. Edited by Leland F. Leland
http://asok22.wix.com/rifle-range-boy
What was probably the first non-stop flight was made not from New York to Paris but from Ceylon to a place near modern Delhi, if the records are correct.
According to the Sanskrit epic, Ramayana, a story many centuries older than the Greek epics, an Indian king made this trip in a balloon in five days. His carriage was called “Pushpaka”, meaning “butter-fly-like” and the epic contains a detailed account of preparations for the flight, with a vivid description of the balloon itself.
What is more convincing evidence that the trip was actually made, is the fact that the poem contains an accurate and beautifully written description of an aerial view of the various cities and countries passed over on the journey. Only a super imagination could have conceived this perspective and picture.
It is due to the investigations of Varam R. Kokatnur (’14 M.S., ’16 Ph.D) that this and many other fascinating discoveries about the learning of ancient India have been made available. Dr. Kokatnur is a consulting chemist by profession, having his business in New York City; but his hobby is the study of hieroglyphics; and it was while tracing the relation of Sanskrit to the hieroglyphics that he discovered valuable information which will greatly affect our present knowledge of history of chemistry.
When the American Chemical Society met in Detroit, Michigan, from September 5 to 10, Dr Kokatnur read a paper containing evidences to show that Cavendish and Priestly were not the first men to discover hydrogen and oxygen, but that these gases had been known to the sages of ancient India, and then he read a second paper to show that chemistry was of Aryan and not Semitic origin. After listening to the proofs he offered, members of the convention gave the author a special vote of thanks for the originality and value of his researches and agreed that his evidences were conclusive. The papers, as read by Dr. Kokatnur, will soon be published in the Isis, a scientific journal published in many languages. The publication of this article in the ALUMNI WEEKLY precedes all other announcements.
Dr. Kokatnur is a native of India, educated in Bombay University and the University of California as well as Minnesota. He was a Shevlin fellow in Chemistry, is a fellow of the American Institute of Chemists, a member of Sigma Xi and many other scientific societies.
While working on his study of hieroglyphics, he came across a Sanskrit book which contained four pages of an old but well-known manuscript which was written in 1350 and contains the collected writings of Agastya. These few pages were discovered by Vase in the library of an Indian prince, in 1924, in Ujjain, India.
Agastya is a sage whose name has been mentioned in Indian writings as far back as 2000 B.C. Consequently, this manuscript, which is known as “Agastya-Samhita” if authentic, is extremely old as far as source material is concerned, belonging to post-Vedic and pre-epic times.
Being a chemist, Dr. Kokatnur naturally seized this manuscript with avidity for in mythology the sage Agastya is credited with being the discoverer of hydrogen and oxygen, the dry electric battery, electro-plating, kites, hot-air blimps and propelled balloons. In fact, he is named variously after his discoveries, in contrast with the present practice naming the discoveries after one’s name. Thus he is called “pot-born” (dry electric battery); “cathode-anode” (electricity); “conquerer of kites and blimps”, and so forth. It is as if we should call Henry Ford, “Flivver”, and Mr Edison “incandescent lamps”, “movie” or “Dictaphone”.
In this manuscript, the mention of hydrogen and oxygen is made only incidentally in connection with the construction of the balloon. Of course, Agastya did not know the gases by these names, but his terms for them are more specific than ours. Hydrogen is called “upfaced” because of its lightness; while oxygen is known as “vital” or “essential to life”. He did not use the word “gas” but called them “airs”. In the English language, hydrogen is so-called because water is generated by its combustion, and oxygen was named by Lavoisier from the Greek root meaning “acid” because he believed it to be an essential part of every acid. In the German language, hydrogen is “wasserstoffe” and oxygen “sauerstoffe”, meaning the same but being also inaccurate, for all acids do not contain oxygen. How much more accurate were Agastya’s names than ours? The originality and aptness of these names is cited by Dr. Kokatnur as one evidence that the manuscript must be authentic.
Chemists at the convention gasped when Dr. Kokatnur read to them the following translation of the method of making a dry electric battery which was written centuries before the Christian era:
“A well-cleaned copper plate should be placed in an earthen-ware vessel. It should then be covered first by moist sawdust. Mercury amalgamated zinc plate should then be placed on the top of the saw-dust. By their contact a light known by the twin-names Mitra-Varuna (cathode-anode or electricity) is produced. The water is split up by this into gases, Vital and Up-faced. The joining together of hundred such vessels is very active or effective.”From his knowledge of Chemistry, Dr. Kokatnur recognized that this was the method used in making a dry battery, but did not know what part the mercury amalgamated zinc plate had in the reaction until he consulted a battery maker who explained that it prevented polarization.
Continuing, Agastya said:
“When the “up-faced” is filled in an air-proof (impervious) bag and the bag is tied at the head of the vehicle, the “up-faced” due to its lightness carries the vehicle in the sky.”
Then the process of air-proofing the balloon bag is explained. This is to be done by dipping a silk bag in the bark of trees which produce a milky juice (probably rubber). After the first immersion and drying it was again dipped in the juice of another tree which contains tannin. Then it is dried again, coated with wax, and at last coated with some kind of mixture made from sugar and lime.
Only to a chemist would the original translation have meant anything, for the manuscript does not specifically state that tamin is the second juice used. The tree is named, and from his knowledge of Chemistry, Dr. Kokatnur deduced that the desired juice might be tannin for that is one of the chemicals contained in the sap of this particular tree. He consulted a rubber chemist and found that tannin will coagulate rubber (latex).
After he has explained the process of making a dry electric battery, the sage Agastya gives us the process of electroplating:
“(This great light) plates the copper with gold or silver in the presence of acidified water and the metal that is combined with saltpeter. The gold-plated copper is called “hundred pot born”. Apparently the metal combined with saltpeter is either gold nitrate, gold chloride or gold cyanide.
According to ancient literature, the Indians of pre-Christian times knew the laws of air and water and recognized that they were similar, except that in water one moves on the surface and in the air one must travel through the body of the matter. Manuscripts written in 800 B.C. show that they had a knowledge of physics, for it is specifically stated that light, heat and sound exist in waves.
They knew how to take advantage of currents both in the air and on the water. Their balloons were steered by sails and guided by specially bred birds which must have been crossed to produce a bird of unusual strength which could be easily trained. Hundreds of such birds were tied to the balloon described in the epic, Ramayana. In the translation made by Romesh C Dutt, which is a condensed version of the Sanskrit original, we find in Book Five that Rama, the hero, had met and consulted with Agastya. Dutt says:
“The wanderings of Rama in the Deccan, his meeting with Saint Agastya, and his residence on the banks of the Godavari river, are narrated in this Book. The name of Agastya is connected with the Deccan, and many are the legends told of this great Saint before whom the Bindhya mountains bent in awe, and by whose might the Southern ocean was drained. It is likely that some religious teacher of that name first penetrated beyond the Vindhyras in the Deccan, three thousand years ago.”
According to the epic, Agastya gave Rama magic weapons with which to conquer his foes. There is not space here to relate the story, but it closes with Rama, returning home victorious with his rescued bride Sita, in an aerial carriage. Dutt’s translation continues:
“Mark my love,” so Rama uttered, as on flying Pushpa car,
borne by swans, the home-returning exiles left the field of war.
Lanka’s proud and castled city on the Trikuta’s triple crest,
As on peaks of bold Kailasa mansions of Immortals rest!
See my love, round Ceylon’s island how the ocean billows roar
Hiding pearls in caves of corals, strewing shells upon the shore,
And the causeway, far-extending – monument of Rama’s fame –
“Rama’s Bridge” to distant ages shall our deathless deeds proclaim!
See the rockbound fair Kishkindha and her mountain-girdled town,
Where I slayed the warrior Bali, placed Sugriva on the throne.
And the hill of Rishyamuka where Sugriva first I met,
Gave him word – he would be monarch here the evening’s sun had set.
See the sacred lake of Pampa by whose wild and echoing shore,
Rama poured his lamentations when he saw his wife no more,
And the woods of Janasthana where Jatayu fought and bled,
When the deep deceitful Ravan with my trusting Sita fled.”
Of course, such poetic descriptions have always been given legendary, poetic interpretations, but we know that many arts known to the ancients have been lost.
No one can say definitely that this balloon flight as described was actually made, but Dr. Kokatnur has a number of evidences to substantiate his belief in the authenticity of the manuscript, Àgastya-Samhita`.
“In the first place”, he says, “the fact that the voltaic cell was discovered only a century ago and that the remedies to prevent polarization were discovered still more recently, indicate that the manuscript, to include these elements must be, if a fake, of very recent origin. It is easy to detect if a manuscript is 50 years or several centuries old by examining the condition of the paper and writing. These appear to be in favour of its authenticity. Further, it is not often that a man is well enough versed both in science and language to execute a fraud successfully is found.
“In India the knowledge of the sciences is only available in the English language. It is doubtful if any Indian English-educated chemists – there are no electro-chemists by the way – know the fact that amalgamated zinc prevents polarization, and if one did, the chance of his knowing Sanskrit well enough to fake such a manuscript is remote.”
“The names of the twin-gods “Mitra Varuna” is very old and is even mentioned in Rik-Veda. The word “Mitra” means “friend”, “an ally”, in other words, “cathode” because a deposit is made at this place. “Varuna” means “liquefied or enemy” (of zinc) and therefore “anode”. The use of such a twin word with such a significant meaning is certainly highly original.
“Similarly the names “prana” “vital life” and “udana” (up-faced or upward-moving) for oxygen and hydrogen are equally original and significant.
“Hindus seem to know of gases and there is no question of the antiquity of such knowledge. From times immemorial, the twice-born castes of India have repeatedly chanted certain prayers, wherein som of these gases are mentioned. One of the prayers of undoubted antiquity, repeated every day in India by the twice-born at the time of meals, somewhat in the spirit of a Christian blessing, is as follows:
“I reside in the animal body in the form of digestive fire (animal heat) and with the aid of Prana and Apana gases, digest the four kinds of foods”.
“If the knowledge of these gases were an isolated instance, one might well believe the fraudulent nature of this manuscript. But the high concurrent knowledge of Chemistry in India is a never-to-be-disputed fact. Their knowledge of the preparation of mild and caustic alkali several centuries before the Christian era, their knowledge of aqua-regia in potential, the detection of metals by the colour of their flames, the recognition of zinc as a distinctive metal many centuries before it was definitely known as such in Europe, and above all the great monuments like the ten-ton wrought iron gun at Nurver, as prerequisites point to the authenticity of this manuscript.”
~ The Minnesota Alumni Weekly, Volume 27, Number 3, July 1927. Edited by Leland F. Leland
http://asok22.wix.com/rifle-range-boy
March 16, 2016
My aching heart!
Eureka (ユリイカ Yuriika, Japanese; 2000)
It is an extremely long and draggy 3-hour long melancholic drama of what may happen to survivors of a potentially life-threatening ordeal. Most people would just push their bitter experiences aside and move on with life. Some may blank off that unsavoury incident and live in denial. A small group of people would be suspended in time and would relive the moment in their minds.
Eureka is a Japanese movie set in rural Japan. It is done completely in sepia tone, save for last one minute as if to denote closure to the previous black episode.
A bus is jacked. In the ensuing showdown with the police, the bus jackers, a policeman and some passengers perished. The only survivors are Sawai, the bus driver, and a pair of siblings (brother Naoki and sister Kozue Tamara).
Sawai was used by the hijacker as a human shield before sharpshooter gunned him down. This gruesome blood bath proved too much for the three survivors.
Sawai becomes a recluse. He goes missing for two years, travelling aimlessly. His wife leaves him. The children become withdrawn, refusing to speak, socialise and even go to school as rumours started flying about sexual assault during the jacking. Marital disharmony ensues and mother walks out on the father. Father finds solace in the bottle and dies in a fatal road traffic accident. The children, Naoki and Kozue, stay alone in their family home.
Meanwhile, Sawai returns home to his brother’s house. Incidentally, many young ladies are killed and Sawai is suspected as a potential killer. Feeling uneasy, Sawai leaves his brother’s house to stay with the Tamara kids. Slowly, they start the process of healing as they travel around the island.
The million dollar question that lingers on everyone’s mind is why is so difficult for modern man to get over things. Generations before us had more difficult lives, enjoying shorter life spans and facing more frequent tragedies in their lifetimes. They also had to endure wars and cruelty of nature, yet many of them manage to swim through it with ease. Is all the mollycoddling and pampering making us weak, psychologically? Take the instance of allergies, for example. A century ago, probably nuts were never known to cause any problems for its consumers. Now, every food package is quick with a label to warn its users of potential anaphylactic reactions with its ingredients. What gives?http://asok22.wix.com/rifle-range-boy
It is an extremely long and draggy 3-hour long melancholic drama of what may happen to survivors of a potentially life-threatening ordeal. Most people would just push their bitter experiences aside and move on with life. Some may blank off that unsavoury incident and live in denial. A small group of people would be suspended in time and would relive the moment in their minds.
Eureka is a Japanese movie set in rural Japan. It is done completely in sepia tone, save for last one minute as if to denote closure to the previous black episode.
A bus is jacked. In the ensuing showdown with the police, the bus jackers, a policeman and some passengers perished. The only survivors are Sawai, the bus driver, and a pair of siblings (brother Naoki and sister Kozue Tamara).
Sawai was used by the hijacker as a human shield before sharpshooter gunned him down. This gruesome blood bath proved too much for the three survivors.
Sawai becomes a recluse. He goes missing for two years, travelling aimlessly. His wife leaves him. The children become withdrawn, refusing to speak, socialise and even go to school as rumours started flying about sexual assault during the jacking. Marital disharmony ensues and mother walks out on the father. Father finds solace in the bottle and dies in a fatal road traffic accident. The children, Naoki and Kozue, stay alone in their family home.
Meanwhile, Sawai returns home to his brother’s house. Incidentally, many young ladies are killed and Sawai is suspected as a potential killer. Feeling uneasy, Sawai leaves his brother’s house to stay with the Tamara kids. Slowly, they start the process of healing as they travel around the island.
The million dollar question that lingers on everyone’s mind is why is so difficult for modern man to get over things. Generations before us had more difficult lives, enjoying shorter life spans and facing more frequent tragedies in their lifetimes. They also had to endure wars and cruelty of nature, yet many of them manage to swim through it with ease. Is all the mollycoddling and pampering making us weak, psychologically? Take the instance of allergies, for example. A century ago, probably nuts were never known to cause any problems for its consumers. Now, every food package is quick with a label to warn its users of potential anaphylactic reactions with its ingredients. What gives?http://asok22.wix.com/rifle-range-boy
March 14, 2016
Political manoeuvring in the name of religion
The manipulation by the practitioners of the second oldest profession in the world can be seen as early as the Rig Vedic times. Hoodwinking of the public by invoking pseudo-religious mumbo-jumbo traditions can be seen even here. The unholy union of the warrior class and the educated class seem to legitimise the ritual of horse sacrifice to appease the divine powers to prosper the kingdom.
A white horse is let to run loose in the wild for a whole year under the hawk-eyed scrutiny of the kings men and officials. The animal would graze with impunity on peasants’ land. Any form of resistance or resentment would be a good enough reason for the ruling clansmen to rage war and take over possession of the property. Sure, this ritual smells prosperity from the word go.
During one of these God-name invoking expansion exercise, King Rama met his long lost twin sons Luv and Kush. The scriptures tell of the fate of Sita, who was rescued by Ram and his Tamilian friends down south. Doubts about her chastity forced Ram to send his wife, whom he had hardly spent much of his wedded life in a palatial environment, back to the jungles to stay with the sage who wrote Ramayana, Valmiki. Fate had it that the twins had to retaliate to protect their land and to fight valiantly to defeat the henchmen.
Cut the long story short, Ram discovered the true identity of the twins. Nectar (amrit) was used to treat the wounded and nurse them back to health. Drops of nectar fell on the land which was eventually named Amritsar!
What happens to the sacrificial horse? If it could talk in the after-life, it would speak volumes of the ceremonial carving of the torso with lessons of symbolism imbibed in the funeral ceremony graced with liberal usage of intoxicating effect of the some plant and tinge of beastiality thrown in for good measure!http://asok22.wix.com/rifle-range-boy
March 13, 2016
Not just a barber
The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001)
Written: Coen Brothers; Direction:Joel Coen
Another quirky movie from the Coen brothers, only, this time, it in black and white. The trademark is their story is written all over. It is a story set in the late 1940s of a small town barber who is a loser, who does not say much but does all his talking in soliloquy. He is so withdrawn and is living in his world, still trying to make out the meaning of life right till the end of the movie. (Spoiler Alert!) At the end of the film, as he sits in the electric chair, he hopes that his uncertainties would all be answered in the afterlife, he hopes, if there is one!
Ed Crane (Billy Bob Thornton), the chain-smoking barber, like he says, “is just a barber” who works as an assistant to his brother-in-law. His wife, Doris, is a book-keeper who has an illicit affair with her boss. A mysterious customer hoodwinks the gullible Ed into investing $10,000 in a dry cleaning business venture. To procure the cash, he blackmails Doris’ boss (Ed knows about the affair) and successfully signs the deal.
The boss, after a showdown with Ed, is fatally wounded. Somehow, Doris is implicated when she is accused of cooking up the books for the boss to pay the ransom. Now, Ed has to hire an expensive attorney, with the help of his brother-in-law, to defend Doris. Just as the trial dates get near, Doris commits suicide!
Life goes on. Ed runs the barber shop as his brother-in-law buries his sorrows in the bottle. Ed’s life gets complicated when he gets involved in an accident and is accused of killing the earlier conman (of the dry cleaning business)! I guess poetic justice was served.
Memorable quote:
The final soliloquy (as he is strapped on the electric chair)
I don't know where I'm being taken. I don't know what waits for me beyond the earth and sky. Maybe the things I don't understand will be clearer there, like when a fog blows away. Maybe Doris will be there, and maybe there I can tell her all those things they don't have words for here.The lawyer, creating the element of doubt,
The more you look, the less you really know.http://asok22.wix.com/rifle-range-boy
March 11, 2016
The endpoint, the same.
Yi Yi: A One and A Two (Taiwan; 2000)
Thought provoking movie that tells about the simplicity of life and how it is made complicated. Life from the time immemorial has been birth, marriage, merry making along the way and death. Somewhere in the turn of time, we have made it perplexing and had created problems for ourselves.
It tells the perspective of life from the eyes of three generations and three couples at the prime of their lives.
There is NJ, the main protagonist, an engineer who did engineering not by choice but by pressure. He is a high-flying executive but still something is not fulfilled in his life. By chance, he bumps into an old school flame at a wedding and later during his business trip to Japan. His ex, Sherry, is now in the US after two unhappy marriages and imagines how life would have been if she had instead settled down with NJ.
NJ’s wife, on the other hand, has a mid-life crisis. She goes on a spiritual retreat trying to understand the meaning of life and tries to find peace in Buddhism.NJ’s teenage daughter has boyfriend issues that she tries to sort out herself. NJ’s son, an awkward preteen, has issues with girl bullies and problems with his teachers who think he is a rebel.NJ’s neighbour, a single parent lady, has an affair with her daughter’s teacher. The daughter herself fall in love with a boy who two times with NJ’s daughter.NJ’s friend is shown in the early part of the movie, marrying a fully pregnant demanding socialite. Amidst all that is NJ’s mother-in-law who is affiliated with stroke.
After going through the trial and tribulation of our own made lives, marked by expectations and disappointments, we eventually have to lick our self-inflicted wounds and just be contented with what life and the world have to offer to us. We scream, we demand, we acquire, only to realise that the endpoint, the destination, is all but the same.
N.B. Different generations speak different dialects in this film. Mandarin seems to be popular amongst the young and is the formal form of speech in offices. The informal speech has Hokkien words in it. A Penang kia like me can appreciate many of its words.http://asok22.wix.com/rifle-range-boy
Thought provoking movie that tells about the simplicity of life and how it is made complicated. Life from the time immemorial has been birth, marriage, merry making along the way and death. Somewhere in the turn of time, we have made it perplexing and had created problems for ourselves.It tells the perspective of life from the eyes of three generations and three couples at the prime of their lives.
There is NJ, the main protagonist, an engineer who did engineering not by choice but by pressure. He is a high-flying executive but still something is not fulfilled in his life. By chance, he bumps into an old school flame at a wedding and later during his business trip to Japan. His ex, Sherry, is now in the US after two unhappy marriages and imagines how life would have been if she had instead settled down with NJ.
NJ’s wife, on the other hand, has a mid-life crisis. She goes on a spiritual retreat trying to understand the meaning of life and tries to find peace in Buddhism.NJ’s teenage daughter has boyfriend issues that she tries to sort out herself. NJ’s son, an awkward preteen, has issues with girl bullies and problems with his teachers who think he is a rebel.NJ’s neighbour, a single parent lady, has an affair with her daughter’s teacher. The daughter herself fall in love with a boy who two times with NJ’s daughter.NJ’s friend is shown in the early part of the movie, marrying a fully pregnant demanding socialite. Amidst all that is NJ’s mother-in-law who is affiliated with stroke.
After going through the trial and tribulation of our own made lives, marked by expectations and disappointments, we eventually have to lick our self-inflicted wounds and just be contented with what life and the world have to offer to us. We scream, we demand, we acquire, only to realise that the endpoint, the destination, is all but the same.
N.B. Different generations speak different dialects in this film. Mandarin seems to be popular amongst the young and is the formal form of speech in offices. The informal speech has Hokkien words in it. A Penang kia like me can appreciate many of its words.http://asok22.wix.com/rifle-range-boy
March 10, 2016
Come what may!
The Greeks say that a true Stoic sage would not crack under pressure. He would take all the curve balls that life hurls at him at the same stride as he embraces joy. He would find happiness in the simplest of things in life and would not gloat of others’ misgivings or be envious of others’ successes. He knows that everyday accomplishment has in weak points and every underachievement its merit!The Greeks say that a true Stoic sage would not crack under pressure. He would take all the curve balls that life hurls at him at the same stride as he embraces joy. He would find happiness in the simplest of things in life and would not gloat of others’ misgivings or be envious of others’ successes. He knows that everyday accomplishment has its weak points and every underachievement its merit!
King Rama must have slipped into this role, a true Stoic sage, quite well. Imagine the tragedies that bemoaned upon him. He, however, continued performing his various duties, as a ruler, a son, a crowd pleaser without losing focus. Perhaps, the priorities of being an exemplary husband or a doting father did not fall into his dictionary.
After waiting so many years in line for the realm, just when the ascent to the throne is imminent, he had to take a back seat and retreat into the jungle for 14 years. That too, because of some nonsensical promise made by his father. Imagine an exile into the unforgiving woods, with a new bride hardly accustomed to the hardship of life. Life in the wild was no walk in the park either. Keeping intruders away was a challenge. If that was not enough, his young wife had to be kidnapped because of some old flame issues.
Recruiting an army in a far away land down south was no easy feat. For which, he could not thank his Tamil friends enough. Rama carried the guilt of killing a just and learned king who was revered by his subjects. What about his dear friends that gave up their lives in the meaningless battle? Rama carried all that guilt.
Just when he thought all were over with the burning city and death of the ‘evil’ monarch and that he could rule Ayodhya in peace, political turmoil dictated that his wife is exiled again. If that was not enough, his wife had been pregnant when he sent her off! If not for the sage, Valmiki, she would not have survived the ordeal. What more, she had a pair of twin boys without his knowledge for years!
If fate were indeed cruel, it did rear its ugly head in Rama’s case. The sacrificial horse had to wander into their territory and his kids, Luv and Kush, had to defend it. Even before meeting his dear wife, she succumbed to her old age. Imagine, a father who not only misses his fatherly duties but almost killing them in the line of duty!In spite of all these obstacles in life, Rama continued his worldly obligations, allegedly without flinching, surrendering, faithful to natural justice, staying steadfast to his Dharma. That must have been the reason for his elevation to God-like status comparable to the Protector of the world!http://asok22.wix.com/rifle-range-boy
March 9, 2016
Some people...
When we look around us, there are many with different traits and with different views of looking at the happenings around them. Some are mere conformers who would not want to rock the boat and would just do what they are supposed to do, nothing more, nothing less. Anyway, they are not expected to think. Their mental capacity is only so much. Exploring beyond their actual potential would make them Little Napoleons, too good for raising hell but would run away with their tails between their legs at the first sign of aggression. Then, they are those with devious personalities. Reading between the lines and minding their comma and adjectives, they can think of the most conniving way, to escape persecution and punishment. They can make a child molester a Messiah.
Then there are the ones who relate better with non-human lifeforms and take care of our livestock and dear pets. They think animals have souls and would abstain from killing lives but have no qualms about hurting their ‘loved’ ones. The psychopaths are conniving enough and would lie through their teeth with their infantile innocent facial expressions to lead us to the slaughter chamber and we, like zombies, would willingly go.
There are those who are cocksure about the meaning of it all, life and its intricacies. They think they know it all and have no time to receive another opinion, fearing that they would be confused and shaken off the rockers. There is nothing else to seek as it is all there in plain view to see.
Then there are a group of people who are born to be skeptics. They do not believe anything you say. They would like to make their own objective assessment of your situation. Even then, they would be doubtful of their own capability. However, the society expects these people to be cocksure about their work. Despite being unsure of the problem at the hand, these people still have to display an aura of confidence as his seeming image of tranquility solves most of the problems. Some of the problems disappear on its own accord anyway.http://asok22.wix.com/rifle-range-boy
Then there are the ones who relate better with non-human lifeforms and take care of our livestock and dear pets. They think animals have souls and would abstain from killing lives but have no qualms about hurting their ‘loved’ ones. The psychopaths are conniving enough and would lie through their teeth with their infantile innocent facial expressions to lead us to the slaughter chamber and we, like zombies, would willingly go.There are those who are cocksure about the meaning of it all, life and its intricacies. They think they know it all and have no time to receive another opinion, fearing that they would be confused and shaken off the rockers. There is nothing else to seek as it is all there in plain view to see.
Then there are a group of people who are born to be skeptics. They do not believe anything you say. They would like to make their own objective assessment of your situation. Even then, they would be doubtful of their own capability. However, the society expects these people to be cocksure about their work. Despite being unsure of the problem at the hand, these people still have to display an aura of confidence as his seeming image of tranquility solves most of the problems. Some of the problems disappear on its own accord anyway.http://asok22.wix.com/rifle-range-boy
March 8, 2016
Living on the edge
The Big Short (2015)
At the entrance to Aristotle’s Lyceum where intellectual discourses were in progress, a banner apparently read, 'Those who do not know geometry need not apply’! It only goes on to show how much mathematics was needed to grasp the finer aspects of human intellect. Intelligence and ability to articulate is of paramount importance to understand philosophy which in turn is the bedrock to comprehend the meaning of existence and purpose in life. On the whole, philosophers of the yesteryears, in unison agreed that our life on Earth is basically to appease the Agent Intellect. Some look at service to mankind as the way to reach divinity. In short, Mathematics were used to make life comfortable for everyone. And some things are pre-determined while others are malleable with free will.
Fast forward to 1990s. The world has only one master to feed, greed. They use mathematics and the knowledge of chance and probability to hoodwink the general public to fulfil their own bloated agenda of taking the money and running! The people in the system who are trusted to hold the fort to assure fair play is instead in the game and setting their rules as they go along. The invigilators are all sleeping on the job and are playing hokey-pokey with the people they are supposed to be looking over. When the bubble bursts, the affected parties are the general public who are clueless on the operations of monetary system but the only persuasive factor is greed and the desire to save for old age and loved ones. The bankers and the manipulators get away scot free and plot their next new conniving scheme.
This 2015 film tries to explain the events preceding and leading to the 1998 financial crisis. It shows the banking sector which operates rudderless under credit. http://asok22.wix.com/rifle-range-boy
At the entrance to Aristotle’s Lyceum where intellectual discourses were in progress, a banner apparently read, 'Those who do not know geometry need not apply’! It only goes on to show how much mathematics was needed to grasp the finer aspects of human intellect. Intelligence and ability to articulate is of paramount importance to understand philosophy which in turn is the bedrock to comprehend the meaning of existence and purpose in life. On the whole, philosophers of the yesteryears, in unison agreed that our life on Earth is basically to appease the Agent Intellect. Some look at service to mankind as the way to reach divinity. In short, Mathematics were used to make life comfortable for everyone. And some things are pre-determined while others are malleable with free will.
Fast forward to 1990s. The world has only one master to feed, greed. They use mathematics and the knowledge of chance and probability to hoodwink the general public to fulfil their own bloated agenda of taking the money and running! The people in the system who are trusted to hold the fort to assure fair play is instead in the game and setting their rules as they go along. The invigilators are all sleeping on the job and are playing hokey-pokey with the people they are supposed to be looking over. When the bubble bursts, the affected parties are the general public who are clueless on the operations of monetary system but the only persuasive factor is greed and the desire to save for old age and loved ones. The bankers and the manipulators get away scot free and plot their next new conniving scheme.
This 2015 film tries to explain the events preceding and leading to the 1998 financial crisis. It shows the banking sector which operates rudderless under credit. http://asok22.wix.com/rifle-range-boy
March 6, 2016
Everything justifiable?
Gone Baby Gone (2007)
Nature has created our offsprings to appear cute and lovable. It is nature’s way of ensuring that the adults innately protect them, and these weak ones too have a chance to mature to adult. Left to the elements, they would easily perish. So when a four-year-old little girl goes missing, the media and the general public goes into a frenzy. She is from the poorer side of Boston, born to a mother of a drug addict who spends more time in a daze and the company of men of questionable character than nurturing her child.
In the midst of this, a private investigator and his partner (Patrick and Angie) are hired to help. With the assistance of the police chief and his men, they unveil a twisted plot of the child’s mother and her lover involved in a world of illicit drugs, money, ransom and the picture of a neglected child in the midst of all these.
The tale only gets darker. The police officers involved in the rescue mission are also no angels. They take justice into the own hands and justify their actions by believing that what they are doing is to right the wrong, ensuring the right person is punished.
The clincher is when we are informed that the police together with the uncle staged the whole kidnapping of the girl and orchestrated its foiled rescue attempt with the private investigators as a privy to all. They wanted to save the child from an obviously self-defeating environment to give her a chance in life. The debate at the end of the film is whether the best place for a child is with her mother, despite her shortcomings or she should be uprooted from an apparently decadent environment to ensure a brighter future.
There is plenty of references to illustrate that the rules, made from the theological viewpoint are certainly not so straight forward. Like for instance, the doctrine of ‘Thou shall not kill’ does not apply when you are the law enforcer, and you are up against a system so convoluted that justice may be denied, and the criminal is so treacherous, killing seems to be the only human thing to do. Or is it? Are we qualified to play God? About separating the mother and kids, they feel that children are mouldable like a clean sheet of paper, they adapt. They are so gullible that they ‘turn the other' cheek all in the name of love!
At the end of it all, we are left in a quandary. We are all like occupants of a boat which is inevitably heading to crash. All of us, despite not having a single clue on how to manoeuvre the vessel, try our hands at it with gut feeling and common sense as our guide to steer the vessel!http://asok22.wix.com/rifle-range-boy
Nature has created our offsprings to appear cute and lovable. It is nature’s way of ensuring that the adults innately protect them, and these weak ones too have a chance to mature to adult. Left to the elements, they would easily perish. So when a four-year-old little girl goes missing, the media and the general public goes into a frenzy. She is from the poorer side of Boston, born to a mother of a drug addict who spends more time in a daze and the company of men of questionable character than nurturing her child.
In the midst of this, a private investigator and his partner (Patrick and Angie) are hired to help. With the assistance of the police chief and his men, they unveil a twisted plot of the child’s mother and her lover involved in a world of illicit drugs, money, ransom and the picture of a neglected child in the midst of all these.
The tale only gets darker. The police officers involved in the rescue mission are also no angels. They take justice into the own hands and justify their actions by believing that what they are doing is to right the wrong, ensuring the right person is punished.
The clincher is when we are informed that the police together with the uncle staged the whole kidnapping of the girl and orchestrated its foiled rescue attempt with the private investigators as a privy to all. They wanted to save the child from an obviously self-defeating environment to give her a chance in life. The debate at the end of the film is whether the best place for a child is with her mother, despite her shortcomings or she should be uprooted from an apparently decadent environment to ensure a brighter future.
There is plenty of references to illustrate that the rules, made from the theological viewpoint are certainly not so straight forward. Like for instance, the doctrine of ‘Thou shall not kill’ does not apply when you are the law enforcer, and you are up against a system so convoluted that justice may be denied, and the criminal is so treacherous, killing seems to be the only human thing to do. Or is it? Are we qualified to play God? About separating the mother and kids, they feel that children are mouldable like a clean sheet of paper, they adapt. They are so gullible that they ‘turn the other' cheek all in the name of love!
At the end of it all, we are left in a quandary. We are all like occupants of a boat which is inevitably heading to crash. All of us, despite not having a single clue on how to manoeuvre the vessel, try our hands at it with gut feeling and common sense as our guide to steer the vessel!http://asok22.wix.com/rifle-range-boy
