Farouk Gulsara's Blog, page 6

Sandwiched!

https://davisfinancialllc.com/financi.../The other day, I had a long chat with an old secondary school friend of mine. It was simply an ordinary conversation covering various topics of mutual interest, like many times before. We fondly recalled the carefree days of a bygone era when the future was a blank sheet of paper eagerly waiting to be coloured with our choices and imagination, guided by our family and friends, whether positively or negatively.

So, during the last phone call, my friend went on a rant about one of our mutual friends who had no control over his children. He claimed they had him wrapped around their fingers. This common friend, let's call him Joe, is a widower who lost his wife ten years ago to cancer. He had to play both mother and father to his two teenage girls then. Over the years, despite the ups and downs of their adolescence, he managed to raise them into independent women who have carved out their own futures. 
What is Joe's problem, then? He feels that his common friend's daughters are not sympathetic to his situation and do whatever they please without considering his feelings. He worries that Joe will be left alone in his twilight years to fend for himself. The daughters are already planning to live their lives abroad. 

I wanted to tell my schoolmate, "What's your problem? You are in no position to comment. You don't have children. You don't talk!”

 

Being the nice person I am, I didn't say that. I just told him it was complicated. 

You see, my classmate was so full of himself that he never hitched up to anyone until he was 50; that too in a long-distance relationship with someone beyond the prime of her youth. 
What my schoolmate feels right now is no different from how my wife and I felt before we had children. We had such grand ideas about how we wanted to shape our children to perfection when the time came. We used to scorn tantrum-throwing kids and promised our children would not behave that way. Of course, all of that proved to be false in real life. Many compromises had to be made, and ideal parenting only existed beautifully in our imaginations. 
Then there were the external influences in the form of TV, especially sitcoms, which gave a composite picture of what ideal parents should be like. These TV parents never raise their voices. They take in all abuses and forgive them in the spirit of learning. They allow dating and weekend sleepovers. A bear hug resolves all uncertainties. 
After that, Oprah and her new wave of human empowerment strode in. Suddenly, traditional values disappeared. In came Dr Oz and his quackery. Everyone at some stage believed they had PTSD of some sort and felt they had to speak out against the cruelty of the world. If the boomers thought they would be strong, they were mistaken. They saw the world as hostile and threatened to retreat into a safe space they would create for themselves. The rest of the world would be shut out, and time would seem to stand still for them.  

The internet crept in, which no gatekeeper could hold, throwing parental control into disarray. What parents had aimed to teach through their example over the years was shattered as an unseen force, from God knows where, rattled everything overnight. There was no turning back.

 

My classmate would never realise that people of my generation are part of the sandwich generation, meaning those with both children and elderly parents. We have to kowtow to our parents and bend backwards to meet the whims and fancies of our children, sandwiched between two dominant generations. One demands its way or no way. The other wants things not now, but yesterday!

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

Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.

Lord of the Flies

The Book (1954) (Based on the 1954 novel by William Golding)
(1963 movie, directed by Peter Brook)
(1990 movie, directed by Harry Hook)

This book is a popular choice among English literature students. It fosters engaging debate on the darker aspects of human nature, leadership, and the evil that resides within us. There is a fine line between remaining civilised and succumbing to savagery.

It was the period after WW2; the world must have been perplexed by the scale of the atrocities that took place during the war. The level of violence and destruction, especially after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, must have prompted questions about the evil that resides within each person. The 1950s still likely were not among the most peaceful times, as Russians had learned to produce the A-bomb and the US was moving into H-bombs.

Golding's story depicts a group of preteen boys stranded on an isolated island after their plane crashes. With limited resources, they attempt to survive until rescue arrives. The boys try to establish law and order by choosing a leader. Gradually, a rebel group forms among them, who would eventually go to great lengths to enforce their own ways.

1963 filmEven though they are just boys, it is interesting to see how they summon the animal savagery that lies dormant within their souls to harm and even kill the other party when competing. The dangers of unleashed energies driven by mob mentality cannot be overstated. At first glance, the narration portrays all people as inherently evil. We tend to see people as unthinking automatons with no agency. However, upon closer examination, some individuals do care for each other's safety. The boys initially cooperate to use what they have learned at school, like starting a fire and protecting themselves. They are willing to accept laws and follow them gladly. It is only when circumstances become tough that they retreat to their animal, primal instincts, revealing their ugly side. 

1990 filmPeople have to be kept contented and preoccupied with something to do. They need to be told what to do. Some amongst us are leaders material, the majority are mere followers and are easily malleable to rhetoric. An idle mind is the devil's workshop and the commentary of resentment and rebellion. When the piece of pie becomes smaller, tempers flare. There is a thin line between orderliness and mayhem.

Both the 1963 and 1990 versions feature mainly young characters, but I prefer the 1963 one. Maybe I am a fan of 'black-and-white'; it has more depth and gives the surreal feel of being trapped on an island. However, it also evoked a sense of watching a secondary school drama.

Both good and evil reside in the human soul. As individuals, we must remind ourselves to stay on the right path and not stray into darkness. Human history has shown that no single form of governance can withstand the test of time. When humans first began living in communities, they believed that autocratic rule by a monarch with demigod-like status would suffice. Resentment grew when divisive rulership became evident. Revolution was then justified. They thought that communism was the answer. However, human greed eventually overshadowed the desire for equality. It too collapsed. The free market often degenerated into vulture capitalism, and human follies permeated all systems. In a world darkened by terrible deeds, regular self-questioning and reasoning seem to be the only way social justice can prevail. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.

P.S. 'Lord of the Flies' is another reference to Satan (Beelzebub).

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When two tribes go to war...

Tehran University students, 1971.
https://www.reddit.com/r/interestinga...
tehran_university_students_iran_1971/Persia's love affair with the Jews dates back to 593 BCE, when Nebuchadnezzar plundered Jerusalem and took the Jews as slaves to Baghdad. He attacked Jerusalem again ten years later, destroying the First Temple and completing their captivity. After spending seventy years in exile in Baghdad, Cyrus liberated them, allowing their return to their homeland. In gratitude for helping the Babylonians, Cyrus enabled the construction of their Second Temple.

Throughout the generations, as Persia was overrun by various empires, including the Abbasid Islamic Dynasty, the Jews remained part of the Persian diaspora during the glorious days of Islam. The Islamic invasion did cause some Jews and Parsees to flee their homeland to various places, including India. Nevertheless, the Persian-Jewish relationship persisted into modern times. The Islamic Empire would claim that the Jews were very content living under the Empire. However, in reality, it is anybody's guess if the present-day opinion of Muslims about Jews is anything to go by.

Iran opposed the Palestine Mandate that aimed to establish the Jewish state of Israel in 1948. Many Persian Jews migrated to the newly formed country of Israel. Interactions between Iran and Israel remained cordial, though they were mainly transactional. Iran was among the first countries in the world to recognise Israel as a sovereign nation. Israel secured oil and finances from Iran, as maintaining a friendly relationship with Iran made considerable sense. It is important to note that the Israelis' neighbours, all of whom were Arabs, were quite hostile. The Persians have always held a sense of superiority, believing themselves to be one step above the Arabs. Therefore, maintaining a good relationship with a major non-Arab, non-Sunni country was crucial.

In the early 1950s, Iranian Islamists criticised Iran's diplomatic relations with Israel and actively collected donations for the Palestinians. They were unhappy with the Shah's close connections to Israel. The Iranian defence system used Israeli arms and was involved in their wars with Iraq. Both countries were also deeply engaged in developing each other's nuclear facilities. All of this changed after the Islamic Revolution in 1979. 
Suddenly, Israel became a 'cancerous tumour' as mentioned by Ayatollah Ali Khameini in 2000 and should be wiped off the surface of the Earth, according to President Ahmadinejad in 2005. Iranian hostility towards Israel grew over the years, mainly via proxies, in Hezbollah, Hamas and Houthis. The climax of all these must surely be Hamas's kidnapping of Israelis at a music festival on October 7, 2023. Finally, a full-scale war between Iran and Israel broke out on June 13, 2025, when Israel conducted strikes against Iranian nuclear and military targets. The world is once again at risk of a nuclear meltdown.

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

What wakes you up?

It has been over two years since our small exercise group disbanded. It is often said that familiarity breeds contempt. Everyone took each other for granted, or they grew too big for their boots. In the eagerness to self-motivate and right the wrongs, ego got in the way. The bottom line is that everyone has flown the nest in pursuit of other things in life. 

So, what is the difference between exercising in a group and alone? For one, the fun factor is eliminated. There is nothing like having many people with the same mental illness flock together to do the same thing week in and week out and expecting a different outcome, to quote Einstein, if he actually said that. 
I take a special kind of motivation to push the sorry ass up in the early mornings to start the exercise. If previously the motivation was to keep up with the rest of the gang, now it is just you, yourselves and your sorry ass. 
During training, there is a push and pull factor that tickles the ego to outperform oneself. Sadly, when one is training alone, this is missing. The worst part is that the inner demons remind us to slow down and not to overdo it. It takes a different kind of something to slay that beast. 
Given that background, I registered for this year's Powerman duathlon, as I have been doing since 2020. This will be my fourth participation, having been shelved for a couple of years due to COVID.
After sending and parking my bicycle in Putrajaya and moving around with the competition wristband, my wife asked me, "So, all running and torturing your body gives you happiness?”
“Oh yes,” was my reply. "As much as you enjoy going to the temple, meeting the same friends, updating the obituary list, doing the same rituals, eating the same vegetarian food and coming back in bliss, feeling blessed."
As for me, the competition went smoothly. A 5 km run was followed by a 30 km cycle around Putrajaya, then it concluded with another 5 km run. Over the years, my speed has been steadily declining. It could be due to the ageing process or perhaps a lack of peer pressure to motivate me. 
Come to think of it, even at the finishing line, finishers were served the same snacks that the organisers had been providing for donkey's years - a dry O'Brien sandwich, a Cavendish banana, and 100-plus isotonic drinks to wash it down, along with a finisher's medal.
https://www.riflerangeboy.com/2022/11/the-things-you-do.html
https://www.riflerangeboy.com/2023/06/life-is-battlefield.html

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

We are just inventory?

Asteroid City (2023) Director: Wes Anderson
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/296207471307This film received mixed reviews. One either loved it or hated it. The trouble is that it needed to be viewed more than once to grasp the essence of the story it attempts to tell. Even most film critics conceded to watching the film multiple times before putting pen to paper to share their two cents' worth.

Wes Anderson films have cult followings. As with all Wes Anderson movies, the most striking aspect is the deliberate choice of comforting light colours, which evoke specific emotions and imbue the story with a nostalgic feel. The images presented on screen are symmetrical; the colours selected come from a particular spectrum; the characters are quirky; and the scenes are interspersed with moments of awkward silence.
This time around, the film centres on two concurrent sets. One, presented in black and white, is a play as narrated by the screenplay and director. The second is set in the present (i.e. 1950s), where nuclear tests are taking place in a remote desert town, Asteroid City. Meanwhile, a stage announcer is seen, seemingly breaking the fourth wall, and perhaps the actors do the same. The actors move between sets, as if everything is merely a continuum, blending the past and the future. This leaves viewers wondering about its true meaning. One must make one's own judgment about the narration. 
The present set features a fictional town in the desert, with its landmark icon being an asteroid allegedly left behind by an alien, hence its name, Asteroid City. It serves as a stopover point for science enthusiasts eager to view a particular constellation in the sky. Coincidentally, a junior astronomy award presentation is also taking place there. 

Angus Steenbeck, a recently widowed war photographer, arrives with his prodigy son, Woodrow, and his three young daughters in Asteroid City. Woodrow is to receive an award. Their car breaks down, forcing all five to stay behind. Although their mother passed away three months prior, Angus has not yet told his children the bad news. Their neighbours at the chalet are Midge Campbell, a weary star, and her teenage daughter, Dinah. Dinah is also to be honoured at a grand ceremony, which will be attended by renowned scientists and high-ranking military officials.
During the event, something strange occurs. An alien spacecraft hovers over the town, and an alien descends to collect the asteroid before disappearing into the night’s darkness. A quarantine is imposed, and a media blackout is enforced, treating the city as a danger zone.
Nestled within this narration is the 'black and white' stage play, where the director recounts the story.
At the end of the day, the key lessons from this film include managing grief, the uncertainty of life, how people often dictate to others how life should be lived, perhaps the question of what is truly presented to us, and likely the question of divinity. We convince ourselves that life ought to be lived in a certain way, as if we possess that knowledge. As if someone has crossed to the other side and returned to tell the tale. What the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us is that nobody truly knows anything. The loudest and most charismatic among us lead, while the rest simply follow. Sometimes, the truth is suppressed to further their personal agendas. The person who controls the news controls the world. No matter how much the truth is buried, it has a way of resurfacing.
Lest remains the unanswered, burning question: Why are we here? What is the plan? Are we merely to create the inventory?

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

History rhymes?

https://www.dailynews.com/2023/08/28/...
nderground-shoplifting-economy-in-las-macarthur-park/If one lives long enough, one will realise that history has an unmistakable tendency to repeat itself. Occasionally, the roles are reversed, with the initial victims now taking on the role of the aggressor. At times, history also rhymes, featuring different players in somewhat altered contexts.

The latest thing that caught my eye is how the USA is raising such a hue and cry over the fentanyl problem that has hit the country. They are creating quite a scene on the international stage, squarely blaming the issue on China. The raw material, allegedly synthesised in China, has found its way into America through agents in Mexico and Canada. Recently, India was also called upon to assist, as it serves as a stopover for the merchandise, or perhaps some of its components are manufactured in India, the capital of pharmaceuticals.

The amusing thing is that it is primarily the USA that is so severely affected by the recreational use of fentanyl. Other Western countries are not as impacted. Interestingly, the potency of fentanyl has increased substantially over the years, leading to even accidental deaths of American paramedics attending to overdosed patients through mere inhalation or skin contact. The US (the West) is crying foul.

Interestingly, over two hundred years ago, such a fiasco dealt a significant blow to one of the two wealthiest nations in the world, China, which took over a hundred years to recover from the consequences.

The Western imperial powers believed they were providing a valuable service by introducing cannabis to China. The East India Company (EIC) viewed the business in which the Portuguese were engaged as notably profitable. The British were willing to spend excessive amounts on Chinese silk, porcelain (which they affectionately referred to as "china"), and tea. As a result, Britain was losing a considerable amount of silver to China, depleting the national coffers.

https://images.app.goo.gl/4LBwmSgZZa4...Opium was widely available in India, and by the end of the 18th century, the country was under the control of the EIC. It began cultivating opium on an industrial scale. Many farmers were coerced, lacking choices or under compulsion, to grow this highly prized commodity destined for China. Numerous local traders and middlemen benefited from this arrangement. Even the Mughals became involved by cultivating opium in the fields they owned.

 

In China, the limited access imposed on foreigners confined their business dealings to Guangzhou (Canton), Xiamen (Amoy), and Zhoushan. From these ports, smuggled opium was transported to the mainland. Over time, this transformed the once-mighty Middle Kingdom into a land of addicts. At its peak, there were between 10 and 12 million addicts in China.

It culminated in two opium wars, treaties, territorial losses for China, legislation regulating the opium trade, the rights of foreigners to engage in trade, and the permission for Christian missionaries to traverse China. Subsequently, the Qing Dynasty fell. It took nearly a century, marked by numerous coups, upheavals, and shifts in political systems, for normalcy to be restored. That is how long it took for a generation to recover and for the nation to reclaim its dignity.

 

So, the last time a country fell into the clutches of addiction, what did the rest of the world do, and what did the opportunists within the country do? They reaped the benefits that arose from other people's miseries. Nobody truly helped; they simply asked, "What's it for me?"

British faux pas. Pinning poppy flowers at the Hong Kong handover ceremony
in 1997. Reminding the former owners of the real reason why they lost
 Hong Kong in the first place. Or is it their way of giving the middle finger?

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Hope lies buried in eternity!

Most prayers we offer to a higher being invariably end with 'Peace on Earth' or 'Happiness for All'. Prayers like 'Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinaha 'and 'Om Shanti'  assume that everyone can have things their way at one given time, creating a win-win situation. Such a situation can only exist in our imagination.
https://borderlessjournal.com/2025/06/16/hope-lies-buried-in-eternity/

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.

Fliers taken for a ride?

oneworldvirtual.org/fleet/models/mala...Fliers in Malaysia are treated like flies. They are taken for granted, akin to how flies are viewed in the wet market—an accepted but necessary annoyance. Since the emergence of low-cost carriers and the widespread use of the internet for bookings, travelling has never been easier. 

Once the enticement concludes with super saver offers and the fabricated excitement that seats are selling out quickly, and once the transactions are finalised, the ball will be in the airlines' court. They have the freedom to postpone, cancel, and reschedule any trip to meet their business requirements, ensuring maximum returns. Multiple flights can be consolidated into a single journey if there are few passengers on a specific route. They do not owe their customers any explanation. In fact, contacting them is made nearly impossible. If customers persist, they can be redirected to chatbots, but only after verifying that the customers are indeed human. Humans must also pass the Turing test. The irony is that now machines are confirming humans to be humans!
Airlines may conceal behind the pretext of technical reasons, which can vary from a pilot failing to arrive for duty to a missing jet engine. 
It was a long weekend filled with wedding invitations, one or two at a time, back to back. Amidst this, a dear friend succumbed to a heart attack, making the weekend resemble a scene from 'Four Weddings and A Funeral', though with less masala.

I had booked a flight to Johor Bahru for 2:40 pm on a Friday. I thought there would be just enough time to finish off work and rush to the airport.

 

A few days before the flight, an email arrived informing me that the flight would be delayed by an hour, to 3:40 pm. This was fine, as the wedding was scheduled to start at 7 pm. It provided ample time to settle in and join the merriment. 

Once again, a day before the journey, there is another announcement. The plane now takes off an hour later, at 4:35 pm. How convenient. Of course, they offered a refund if the change was unacceptable, but one can only imagine the inconveniences and extra costs incurred if a new order is placed relatively close to the departure date. The airline can obscure their responsibilities under the often unread contract that customers must agree to before purchasing their tickets - it is the prerogative of the airline to delay, postpone, or even cancel the flight. 

Anyway, I made the trip in time for the function.

 

My return flight was scheduled for the following morning, the first one out at 6:30 am. If leaving early and rushing to the airport at an unearthly hour to arrive before the stipulated time was not enough, imagine how frustrating it is when the flight is delayed. Why was there a delay when the airport was clear, the weather was fine, and the plane was just starting its journey for the day? It's anybody's guess—no announcement and, obviously, no apologies. 

The reason people prefer air travel over driving in Malaysia, which boasts an extensive highway network admired globally, is the convenience it offers. The unpredictability of traffic conditions makes driving burdensome, especially for short trips. Although the travel time is comparable in both scenarios, the freshness factor becomes a significant consideration. The time needed to reach the airport, check in two hours before departure, and wait will be similar if one were to drive to the equivalent destination on the west coast of Peninsula Malaysia.

 

It appears that Malaysians are being taken for fools. They find themselves at the mercy of these operators, be they local budget carriers or regular airlines. There may be a need for assertive customers with a mob mentality, rather than the compliant, submissive ones they typically encounter here.

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.

Give a miss!

Thug Life (2025)
Director: Mani Ratnam
https://www.justwatch.com/za/movie/th...Following the release of this film, one realises the extent to which external forces are harnessing the power of social media to sway public opinion on various matters. Furthermore, films act as platforms for disseminating the ideologies of political parties.
Even before the film's release in Karnataka, during his promotional tours, Kamal Haasan, the central star of the movie, inadvertently – or perhaps not – provoked a diplomatic row between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. In his speech, he stated that the Kannada language is an offshoot of the Tamil language. This was not taken lightly by loyalists and politicians alike, who spoke the Kannada language. 
It is no secret that Kamal Hassan's political party is currently allied with the DMK, the ruling party of Tamil Nadu. The DMK practises divisive politics based on language, ethnicity, and anti-Hindu sentiments. Kamal Hassan is merely announcing his resurgence in Tamil Nadu politics. The State of Karnataka was a latecomer, having been carved out of the Mysore Presidency in 1956 on linguistic grounds, and has faced conflicts with Tamil Nadu over the flow of water from the River Cauvery, the worst of which occurred in 1991. This was when anti-Tamil looting and the burning of vehicles bearing Tamil Nadu number plates escalated after a Tribunal ordered the release of Cauvery water into Tamil Nadu. Although Hassan's statements were not incorrect, the Kannadian fundamentalists are unlikely to accept any of this. It is irrelevant that Tamil is an older language with evidence from ancient tablets, or that both languages may have arisen from a common ancestor, the Proto-Dravidian language.
The row has taken on monumental proportions, with the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce collaborating with politicians to ban its screening in the state of Karnataka.

The film itself was not groundbreaking. Movie enthusiasts have encountered numerous films with similar storylines. In fact, Nayagan, which the director made in 1987 with the same star, featured a son avenging his father's death, just as this one does. Narratives of betrayal and rebellion among gangsters are nothing new. Netizens were quick to point out several glaring plot holes. There is an awkward moment when an adopted daughter might have married her brother. In another instance, both father and son could be vying for the same woman in intimate relationships. The characterisation is superficial, and there are far too many characters who do not contribute significantly to the story.

 

https://www.ancient-origins.net/histo...
/thuggees-002145

I was more interested in the origin of the word 'thug'. It has Indian origins. It was during the time of the British Raj, and the colonisers were eyeing the mineral-rich interior lands, which were home to a tribal group that prayed to a form of Kaali named Thugee. The Thugees naturally wanted to defend their land. Just as the Mau Mau people of Kenya were vilified by the British to create stories of them being cannibals and baby snatchers, the Thugees were described as deadly assassins who moved in groups to identify their prey. Their weapon of choice was a bandana, with which they would strangle their victims and kill them. The Thugs were feared so intensely that they entered the English lexicon.

There is another connection between thugs and the origin of the word 'assassin'. Not all thugs are Hindus; some are Muslims. The Muslim influence can be traced back to the mid-1200s in Persia. There was a group of mercenaries who were compensated with hashish; hence, they were called 'Hashshashins'. The Hashshashins became known as assassins in the English language. They moved about, fighting for and against the Muslim kingdom while opposing the Crusaders. They battled the Mongols quite disastrously, who chased them away to India, where they lived among tribal communities. They mingled with the Thugee worshippers and collaborated with them. The Hashshashins revered Kali but did not worship Her. Of course, all this could merely be a figment of the British Raj's imagination, conjuring a bogeyman out of the Indians.

 

(P.S. A film that is not worth discussing. There are already far too many YouTube channels offering brutal rundowns on this movie.)

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Just another year?

1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything Documentary - 8 episodes
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14544732/
1971 could have been merely a non-discrete year, but the creators of this docu-series believed it marked a watershed moment. They considered it the year when the carefree values of the 1960s began to shift. It represented the onset of revolutions. The generation born in the post-war years, once content, has aged, and their offspring now find themselves in a world rife with turmoil and uncertainty. 
In the late 1960s, America witnessed its sons returning in body bags from defending a country that did not wish to be defended. The Americans saw no reason to uphold the free world against a perceived communist threat. 
The hippie movement created a new cocoon for disillusioned youths to escape into weed and rock and roll. In relation to that, the cult killing by the Manson family took centre stage. 
The hierarchical and patriarchal order of society was shifting. The introduction of oral contraceptive pills provided women, for the first time in their lives, an opportunity to control their fertility and potentially their sexuality as well. This was particularly significant as they gained more self-confidence after emerging en masse to support the economy when men went off to fight in WW2. 
1971 must have seemed meaningless. With the Beatles breaking up, Lennon and Yoko engaging in their eccentric activities, and the great musicians Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix having passed away, the youth must have felt that music was dead. A new wave of performers emerged, bringing fresh messages and revolutionary ideas. 
Marvin Gaye belted out protest songs with 'What's Going On?'. Aretha Franklin joined the movement of Black Consciousness, and Tina Turner became an icon of female empowerment following her publicised abusive relationship with Ike. The Rolling Stones attempted to fill the gap left by the Beatles, but were often busy rolling dope in the South of France. David Bowie was making his mark on the scene with his androgynous appearance, dressed in a full gown. 
The Black Power movement was in full swing. Angela Davis, a UCLA professor and an unapologetic, card-carrying member of the US Communist Party, was in the spotlight. The gun she had acquired was used in the courtroom killing of a judge. Numerous musicians rallied behind her. James Brown's soul music empowered Black men and women. 
1971 was also when the world realised that our minds can be fickle and suggestible. The Stanford Experiment taught us an invaluable lesson that remains relevant today—anonymity caused people to behave in a despicable manner. The Charles Manson trials revealed how impressionable, naive young minds can be manipulated into committing outrageous acts. The US Army massacre at My Lai in Vietnam demonstrated that the Americans were no different from the Germans in Auschwitz and the Japanese in Nanking.
It was a time of political awareness, social change, and musical experimentation. It was also the birthplace of many fantastic singer-songwriters, such as Carole King and Joni Mitchell. Music was explored using electronic devices like synthesisers, as exemplified by the band The Who.
1971 witnessed the UK's longest obscenity trial, which involved a 1960s counterculture publication, Oz. In one of its editions, schoolchildren were invited to edit the Schoolkids' Issue, which included pasting a cartoon mascot from the Daily Express into a sex strip illustration. The editors received jail sentences. John Lennon and Yoko Ono, who were themselves embroiled in controversy over nude album covers, came to their defence by organising protest marches and dedicating a song to this cause.

Logically, not everything changes in a year. Many of the things mentioned evolve over time.

 

1971 could be merely a random year. Every year contributes slightly to the transformation of our life on Earth. 1971 might serve as just a talking point, much like the story of how the Hardy-Ramanujan number came about. When visiting mathematician Ramanujan in the hospital, Professor Hardy, unsure of how to break the ice, mentioned that he took a taxi with the number 1729, which he considered dull. Ramanujan responded by stating that the number was interesting because it is the smallest number expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways. [1729 can be expressed as 1³ + 12³ = 10³ + 9³]

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.