Farouk Gulsara's Blog, page 92
June 11, 2020
Are you vexed?
Vaxxed - From Cover-up to Catastrophe (2016)
Vaxxed II - The People's Truth (2019)
It must be difficult being educated in the 21st century. With the plethora of information at our fingertips, we are left not more well versed but on the contrary, more confused and unsure about almost everything. The more knowledge we seem to acquire, the more we seem to be wanting. The influence of visual media and the persuasive power of raw human emotions make us buy any story and rethink that perhaps conventional wisdom perhaps needs reassessment.
For aeons, people succumbed to communicable diseases. Entire civilisations have disappeared in our not so distant past. The advanced Aztec and Mayan cultures were probably wiped out by the smallpox viruses brought in by looting Spanish sailors. Barring some viruses kept in laboratories for bio-weapons, we have managed to eradicate smallpox from our list of the leading causes of mortality. Vaccination used to be hailed as one of the fifty of mankind's greatest discoveries. Now, people stand proud thumping their chests boasting of their statuses of not being inoculated against communicable diseases. In fact, it appears as if they have lost all confidence in the medical profession.
No, it is not true that medical professionals are not trained in administering vaccinations. Contrary to what is wrongly alleged in this documentaries, medical students spend many hours studying immunology and rationale of immunisation. True, adverse reactions to vaccines are known but it is a numbers' game. We are talking about extremely rare serious debilitating long-term neurological side effects, in the range of 1 in 100,000 for triple antigens. The disgraced British Gastroenterologist, Dr Andrew Wakefield, in his seminal 1998 BMJ paper suggested that the combination Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) vaccine probably carried many contaminants that could be linked to autism. He suggested MMR administration be reassessed and be given as separate preparations.
Japan, after its 1960s experience with unexplained subacute myelo-optic neuropathy (SMON) which was linked to polio vaccine and threatened to put a stop to the 1960s Tokyo Olympics, is very wary of introducing vaccines to the country. For the record, many years later, a popular dysentery medication Clioquinol (CQL), was singled out as the probable culprit. The manufacturers of the anti-HPV vaccine against cervical cancer, Gardasil, have been trying very hard to penetrate into the Japanese market with no success.
The documentaries managed to pluck the melancholy strings of many of its sentimental viewers. The pictures and video clippings of before and after pictures of patients with vaccine-injury can move mountains. Imagine a bubbly and smiling infant learning to walk before the MMR vaccination turning into a fretful, floppy child with no eye contact. And yet in another instance, a dirt-bike racing teenager boy becomes quadriplegic with spinal meningitis after Gardasil. An active cheerleader with a bright future has her personality all altered after the anti-HPV jab.
Statistics do not matter to the victims of vaccine-injury. The question is whether the subsequent morbidity experienced by the patient was indeed caused by the act of vaccination. Was it a mere coincidence or a manifestation of an unrelated disease that was deemed to surface anyway? Are the symptoms related to the contaminants in the preparation of vaccines? It is known that aluminium, nickel and mercury which carry the antigen are linked to ill effects. Does the multiplication of deactivated viruses or antigens in animal cultures bring with it zoonotic diseases linked to attached retroviruses? Perhaps the human body has not been given time to adapt to the high load of animal inoculations.
The democratisation of information does not liberate its consumers. It merely pushes all the information to the end-users, to empower them to make choices. The product insert lists all the known and obscure adverse complications related to the vaccines, hence, absolving the manufacturers of possible litigations.
The presence of a special vaccine court in the US where vaccines cannot be sued but the possible victims of vaccine-injury may be compensated by a professional body raises suspicion whether Big Pharmas have some kind of a stronghold to reap benefit from an unsuspecting society. Is there more than meets the eye in the story of immunisation.
From a movement that demanded a reassessment of combination vaccines, it has now morphed into one that opposed all kind of vaccinations. In my opinion, it is a kind of overkill. Some of the later scenes in the second documentary borders on ludicrousness, though. Clips of proud parents from the Bible Belt region flaunting their seemingly healthy and smart children is no testimony of perfect health.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
http://asok22.wix.com/real-lesson
http://.facebook.com/farouk.gulsara
www.riflerangeboy.com
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Vaxxed II - The People's Truth (2019)
It must be difficult being educated in the 21st century. With the plethora of information at our fingertips, we are left not more well versed but on the contrary, more confused and unsure about almost everything. The more knowledge we seem to acquire, the more we seem to be wanting. The influence of visual media and the persuasive power of raw human emotions make us buy any story and rethink that perhaps conventional wisdom perhaps needs reassessment.
For aeons, people succumbed to communicable diseases. Entire civilisations have disappeared in our not so distant past. The advanced Aztec and Mayan cultures were probably wiped out by the smallpox viruses brought in by looting Spanish sailors. Barring some viruses kept in laboratories for bio-weapons, we have managed to eradicate smallpox from our list of the leading causes of mortality. Vaccination used to be hailed as one of the fifty of mankind's greatest discoveries. Now, people stand proud thumping their chests boasting of their statuses of not being inoculated against communicable diseases. In fact, it appears as if they have lost all confidence in the medical profession.
No, it is not true that medical professionals are not trained in administering vaccinations. Contrary to what is wrongly alleged in this documentaries, medical students spend many hours studying immunology and rationale of immunisation. True, adverse reactions to vaccines are known but it is a numbers' game. We are talking about extremely rare serious debilitating long-term neurological side effects, in the range of 1 in 100,000 for triple antigens. The disgraced British Gastroenterologist, Dr Andrew Wakefield, in his seminal 1998 BMJ paper suggested that the combination Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) vaccine probably carried many contaminants that could be linked to autism. He suggested MMR administration be reassessed and be given as separate preparations.
Japan, after its 1960s experience with unexplained subacute myelo-optic neuropathy (SMON) which was linked to polio vaccine and threatened to put a stop to the 1960s Tokyo Olympics, is very wary of introducing vaccines to the country. For the record, many years later, a popular dysentery medication Clioquinol (CQL), was singled out as the probable culprit. The manufacturers of the anti-HPV vaccine against cervical cancer, Gardasil, have been trying very hard to penetrate into the Japanese market with no success.
The documentaries managed to pluck the melancholy strings of many of its sentimental viewers. The pictures and video clippings of before and after pictures of patients with vaccine-injury can move mountains. Imagine a bubbly and smiling infant learning to walk before the MMR vaccination turning into a fretful, floppy child with no eye contact. And yet in another instance, a dirt-bike racing teenager boy becomes quadriplegic with spinal meningitis after Gardasil. An active cheerleader with a bright future has her personality all altered after the anti-HPV jab.
Statistics do not matter to the victims of vaccine-injury. The question is whether the subsequent morbidity experienced by the patient was indeed caused by the act of vaccination. Was it a mere coincidence or a manifestation of an unrelated disease that was deemed to surface anyway? Are the symptoms related to the contaminants in the preparation of vaccines? It is known that aluminium, nickel and mercury which carry the antigen are linked to ill effects. Does the multiplication of deactivated viruses or antigens in animal cultures bring with it zoonotic diseases linked to attached retroviruses? Perhaps the human body has not been given time to adapt to the high load of animal inoculations.
The democratisation of information does not liberate its consumers. It merely pushes all the information to the end-users, to empower them to make choices. The product insert lists all the known and obscure adverse complications related to the vaccines, hence, absolving the manufacturers of possible litigations.
The presence of a special vaccine court in the US where vaccines cannot be sued but the possible victims of vaccine-injury may be compensated by a professional body raises suspicion whether Big Pharmas have some kind of a stronghold to reap benefit from an unsuspecting society. Is there more than meets the eye in the story of immunisation.
From a movement that demanded a reassessment of combination vaccines, it has now morphed into one that opposed all kind of vaccinations. In my opinion, it is a kind of overkill. Some of the later scenes in the second documentary borders on ludicrousness, though. Clips of proud parents from the Bible Belt region flaunting their seemingly healthy and smart children is no testimony of perfect health.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
http://asok22.wix.com/real-lesson
http://.facebook.com/farouk.gulsara
www.riflerangeboy.com
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
June 9, 2020
If you love someone let him go!
K.D. @ Karuppu Dorai (2109, Tamil; கேடி என்ற கருப்புதுரை)
This story reminds me of the many stories that I discussed with my fellow partner-in-crime in the not so distant past. Quite many a time, seriously ill patients with advancing age with the myriad of medical illnesses that complements the geriatric population often gets admitted to his unit. Invariably, the patient's children would insist that their moribundly ill elders get all the best treatment that money can buy. The oft-repeated dialogue would be, "money is not a problem". My friend knows it is no use flogging a dead horse but like a good servant he is, he obliges, every time.
The tide would be going against the acutely ill patient. The next of kins would, however, stay hopeful. The life is literally hanging on a thread, living on a prayer. But hope lies eternal in the human heart.
Days move ever so slowly but the patient's condition doe not improve. Slowly, the number of visitors hanging around the visitors' lounge becomes thin. People have to go back to their daily routine. One has to live for the living. Occasionally, the nurses can hear arguments amongst siblings. One busybody nurse overheard one relative threatening to stop contributing to the family coffers. Then another would butt in to say that the treatment is the least the family offer to the patient. And yet another would throw in the towel citing economic reasons. Collectively they all would agree that the successful one amongst them take the tab.
Soon it would be a single relative hanging around to get daily updates on the patient's progress. Then the Universe will speak and lead to an amicable curtain call so as to give a suitable closure to the whole brouhaha. Nobody gives what the patient wants. The living what is best for the dying.
Everyone says that there is an absence of sufferings on the other side. One can enjoy of all kinds, eternally satiating all the senses at a divine but first, one has to die. That is the problem. Nobody wants to die no matter how much one is convinced of life after death.
This offbeat but entertaining drama tells of an unconventional bond between an 80-year-old man, KD, and young orphan boy, Kutty. This octagenarian was in a coma for three months. Lying in his daughter's home, given up by doctors, he holds on his life. Refusing to die, he becomes a burden to his 5 kids. They just want to go on with their lives. One sibling wants to marry off her daughter. Another is waiting for his inference to settle his debt. The youngest child, however, does not like the idea but relents anyway when collectively the family members decide to terminate the old man miseries by performing euthanasia using traditional village methods. By a twist of fate, the 80-year-old came around at the precise moment, overheard the conversation, and scooted off the scene on a local bus. He paid the fare for the last stop but the bus broke down in the middle of nowhere. KD decided to hang around a small temple, help around the temple, and make acquaintance with Kutty.
His friendship with Kutty gives KD a new lease of life. Kutty, an orphan, a street smart boy, was left at the doorstep of the temple at infancy. For the first time in his life, Kutty found love in an adult. Kutty made KD's bucket list and together they try to fulfil the list. The family, upon realising KD's disappearance, assigns a private investigator who is hot on the old man's trail.
Another entertaining story with a picturesque spread of the Indian countryside. It has its fair share of quirky moments as two members of different generations try to find commonality.
A lesson to learn: Do not let your family members decide the fate of your life. When your faculties are no longer yours to make a decision, they will make decisions that suit them or what is expected of them by society. Your suffering will be their bargaining chip. Write a legally binding declaration of refusing resuscitation when the situation arises. Have a difficult but necessary discussion of opting to turn off the plug when things do not look promising. Let people remember you as the ambulant and cheery person you are; not as the pain with tubes that drained half of the family heirloom, if there is any left.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
http://asok22.wix.com/real-lesson
http://.facebook.com/farouk.gulsara
www.riflerangeboy.com
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This story reminds me of the many stories that I discussed with my fellow partner-in-crime in the not so distant past. Quite many a time, seriously ill patients with advancing age with the myriad of medical illnesses that complements the geriatric population often gets admitted to his unit. Invariably, the patient's children would insist that their moribundly ill elders get all the best treatment that money can buy. The oft-repeated dialogue would be, "money is not a problem". My friend knows it is no use flogging a dead horse but like a good servant he is, he obliges, every time. The tide would be going against the acutely ill patient. The next of kins would, however, stay hopeful. The life is literally hanging on a thread, living on a prayer. But hope lies eternal in the human heart.
Days move ever so slowly but the patient's condition doe not improve. Slowly, the number of visitors hanging around the visitors' lounge becomes thin. People have to go back to their daily routine. One has to live for the living. Occasionally, the nurses can hear arguments amongst siblings. One busybody nurse overheard one relative threatening to stop contributing to the family coffers. Then another would butt in to say that the treatment is the least the family offer to the patient. And yet another would throw in the towel citing economic reasons. Collectively they all would agree that the successful one amongst them take the tab.
Soon it would be a single relative hanging around to get daily updates on the patient's progress. Then the Universe will speak and lead to an amicable curtain call so as to give a suitable closure to the whole brouhaha. Nobody gives what the patient wants. The living what is best for the dying.
Everyone says that there is an absence of sufferings on the other side. One can enjoy of all kinds, eternally satiating all the senses at a divine but first, one has to die. That is the problem. Nobody wants to die no matter how much one is convinced of life after death.
This offbeat but entertaining drama tells of an unconventional bond between an 80-year-old man, KD, and young orphan boy, Kutty. This octagenarian was in a coma for three months. Lying in his daughter's home, given up by doctors, he holds on his life. Refusing to die, he becomes a burden to his 5 kids. They just want to go on with their lives. One sibling wants to marry off her daughter. Another is waiting for his inference to settle his debt. The youngest child, however, does not like the idea but relents anyway when collectively the family members decide to terminate the old man miseries by performing euthanasia using traditional village methods. By a twist of fate, the 80-year-old came around at the precise moment, overheard the conversation, and scooted off the scene on a local bus. He paid the fare for the last stop but the bus broke down in the middle of nowhere. KD decided to hang around a small temple, help around the temple, and make acquaintance with Kutty.
His friendship with Kutty gives KD a new lease of life. Kutty, an orphan, a street smart boy, was left at the doorstep of the temple at infancy. For the first time in his life, Kutty found love in an adult. Kutty made KD's bucket list and together they try to fulfil the list. The family, upon realising KD's disappearance, assigns a private investigator who is hot on the old man's trail.
Another entertaining story with a picturesque spread of the Indian countryside. It has its fair share of quirky moments as two members of different generations try to find commonality.
A lesson to learn: Do not let your family members decide the fate of your life. When your faculties are no longer yours to make a decision, they will make decisions that suit them or what is expected of them by society. Your suffering will be their bargaining chip. Write a legally binding declaration of refusing resuscitation when the situation arises. Have a difficult but necessary discussion of opting to turn off the plug when things do not look promising. Let people remember you as the ambulant and cheery person you are; not as the pain with tubes that drained half of the family heirloom, if there is any left.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
http://asok22.wix.com/real-lesson
http://.facebook.com/farouk.gulsara
www.riflerangeboy.com
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
June 7, 2020
When we go up...
The Lift Boy (Hindi, 2019
)
Netflix
The slave sees how comfortable the life of his master is and vow that no one in his lineage should ever be clutched by the curse of the serfdom. The slave is willing to break his back to ensure that his offsprings do not experience that bitterness of having to crack his head to put the next meal on the table. He works through the humiliation, the ill-health, the injustices to appease his bosses. In his mind, his job is his divine duty; his career gives his dependents food, covered their modesty and put a roof on their heads.
The slave paves the way for his offspring to change the family's fate. His hope is that his family would be the exemplary model of a rags-to-riches saga. The offspring, on the other hand, thinks that it is his birthright to be served. He knows his parents have put heavy burdens on him. His parents made sure that their golden goose is pampered to lay the best eggs. The offspring thinks he is too good for his family. He wants out and feels his parents are an embarrassment.
Then, right smack on the face, fate plays a cruel game.
In this simple movie, an 'almost an engineer' student, Raju, who keeps failing his examinations has to replace his father at work, as a lift attendant, after he has a heart attack. As it is Raju's term holidays, he reluctantly agrees. In a real sense, it is not holidays as he has to sit for remedial examinations. It turned to be an eye-opener and a game-changing event for him. Raju initially thought that doing his father's job was way below his 'qualification'. His short tenure and interaction with the occupants of the building that he worked, became a coming-of-age experience for him.
The lift is a metaphorical representation of our desires to elevate ourselves in life. People who worked hard to own a space up there stays longer, but eventually, we all have come down. Also, a point to remember, the uniform that is given to us reinforces upon us our servitude to the profession entrusted with it. With a surgeon's scrub suit, he makes the bold life-saving decision at the nick of time. A person at the check-out counter is supposed to do just that; help in the check-out and tolerate whatever annoyances that comes with it.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
http://asok22.wix.com/real-lesson
http://.facebook.com/farouk.gulsara
www.riflerangeboy.com
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Netflix
The slave sees how comfortable the life of his master is and vow that no one in his lineage should ever be clutched by the curse of the serfdom. The slave is willing to break his back to ensure that his offsprings do not experience that bitterness of having to crack his head to put the next meal on the table. He works through the humiliation, the ill-health, the injustices to appease his bosses. In his mind, his job is his divine duty; his career gives his dependents food, covered their modesty and put a roof on their heads.The slave paves the way for his offspring to change the family's fate. His hope is that his family would be the exemplary model of a rags-to-riches saga. The offspring, on the other hand, thinks that it is his birthright to be served. He knows his parents have put heavy burdens on him. His parents made sure that their golden goose is pampered to lay the best eggs. The offspring thinks he is too good for his family. He wants out and feels his parents are an embarrassment.
Then, right smack on the face, fate plays a cruel game.
In this simple movie, an 'almost an engineer' student, Raju, who keeps failing his examinations has to replace his father at work, as a lift attendant, after he has a heart attack. As it is Raju's term holidays, he reluctantly agrees. In a real sense, it is not holidays as he has to sit for remedial examinations. It turned to be an eye-opener and a game-changing event for him. Raju initially thought that doing his father's job was way below his 'qualification'. His short tenure and interaction with the occupants of the building that he worked, became a coming-of-age experience for him.
The lift is a metaphorical representation of our desires to elevate ourselves in life. People who worked hard to own a space up there stays longer, but eventually, we all have come down. Also, a point to remember, the uniform that is given to us reinforces upon us our servitude to the profession entrusted with it. With a surgeon's scrub suit, he makes the bold life-saving decision at the nick of time. A person at the check-out counter is supposed to do just that; help in the check-out and tolerate whatever annoyances that comes with it.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.http://asok22.wix.com/real-lesson
http://.facebook.com/farouk.gulsara
www.riflerangeboy.com
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
June 5, 2020
The destructive forces of a revolution?
Karwaan (Hindi, Caravan, 2018)
Just to recapitulate what Jordan Peterson mentioned in his book 'The 12 Rules of Life', we tend to assume all social ailments or individual problems that one faces in the process of growing up must be solved with a radical restructuring of one's culture. The call for social revolution is heard loud and clear amongst the young chicklings in every generation. The oft-quoted complain among the youth is that adults are not in tune with reality or are living in the past. Names like fossils and dinosaurs have been heard. On the part of the elders, it is pejorative as well. Their offsprings have been referred to as the generation that would bring down civilisation.
What we often forget is that revolution by nature is destructive. Look back at history. Revolutions have always been of chaos, destruction and re-setting or jump-starting a failing system. If every generation feels that the generation before them had wronged them, there must be something wrong somewhere. Aeons of living together as a community, and we are still struggling to pave the best way from childhood to adulthood. Surely this cannot be true. The parents cannot be wishing ill of their downlines. This is contradictory to the theory of the selfish gene and maternal reflex of walking into a hopelessly burning building to save her young. Logically, after going through various challenges over the centuries, the human race would have surely come up with a blueprint on how to tackle teenage and growing pain issues. But then childhood, adolescence and teenage is a new construct of the 20th century. Before that, children were just little adults, beaming with desires to grow up and fill into the shoes of the adults. The priority was the community, not personal liberty.
Time is an excellent teacher. Hopefully, before the young gets all her life muddled up, they would realise that all the ranting and whining were indeed well-intended.
So, it was told...
A 5-year-old child would think that his father was the strongest, bravest or the fastest than any of his mate's father. At 10, he would not think too much of him. At 15, he cannot see eye-to-eye with him. At 20, he likes to avoid his father altogether. He only communicates with his mother (to pass the message). Then life goes on. At 40, now with children of his own, he understands that it is a Herculean task to be a parent. At 50, he appreciates his father's deeds. At 60, with his father dead and gone, it is all full circle again - his father is the strongest, smartest and most patient man.
This movie tells the story of three people who go on a journey of self-discovery when one of the protagonist's parent's remains was accidentally couriered to the wrong address. Avinash is living in daze working in an unsatisfying job, forever regretting of not pursuing his passion for photography. He has a bone to pick with his father, who had died recently during his pilgrimage, for making his childhood a living hell. His father had unilaterally decided what was best for his future.
When Avinash received his father's coffin, he realised that the sender had mixed up the package. He had to send the box to the rightful owner and reclaim his father's body. He got the help of a friend, Shaukat, with his van to travel from Bengaluru to Kochi. On the way, they had to pick a young girl, Tanya, the granddaughter of the other deceased.
The three characters all have 'daddy issues'. Avinash had a father who objected to his choice of carrier. Shaukat had a drunkard and abusive father. What puzzled him was why his mother took all the abuses and chased Shaukat out of the house instead when he raised up to question his father. Tanya grew up without a father from the age of eight. He had succumbed to cancer.
Looking at Tanya's rebellious behaviour opposing all the values that Avinash holds dear to his heart, he realises that that was how his father would have felt. With the benefit of being grilled in the School of Hard Knocks of Life, Avinash can see more things than what the young Tanya just simply fail to realise.
The cinematography is quite breathtaking as the characters drive through the country road to God's own country. Watching the film just reignited our cycling team's earlier plan to cycle in India. Before the COVID pandemic brought all travels to a grinding halt, we were interested in a 950+ kilometres cycling tour through Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
http://asok22.wix.com/real-lesson
http://.facebook.com/farouk.gulsara
www.riflerangeboy.com
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Just to recapitulate what Jordan Peterson mentioned in his book 'The 12 Rules of Life', we tend to assume all social ailments or individual problems that one faces in the process of growing up must be solved with a radical restructuring of one's culture. The call for social revolution is heard loud and clear amongst the young chicklings in every generation. The oft-quoted complain among the youth is that adults are not in tune with reality or are living in the past. Names like fossils and dinosaurs have been heard. On the part of the elders, it is pejorative as well. Their offsprings have been referred to as the generation that would bring down civilisation.
What we often forget is that revolution by nature is destructive. Look back at history. Revolutions have always been of chaos, destruction and re-setting or jump-starting a failing system. If every generation feels that the generation before them had wronged them, there must be something wrong somewhere. Aeons of living together as a community, and we are still struggling to pave the best way from childhood to adulthood. Surely this cannot be true. The parents cannot be wishing ill of their downlines. This is contradictory to the theory of the selfish gene and maternal reflex of walking into a hopelessly burning building to save her young. Logically, after going through various challenges over the centuries, the human race would have surely come up with a blueprint on how to tackle teenage and growing pain issues. But then childhood, adolescence and teenage is a new construct of the 20th century. Before that, children were just little adults, beaming with desires to grow up and fill into the shoes of the adults. The priority was the community, not personal liberty.
Time is an excellent teacher. Hopefully, before the young gets all her life muddled up, they would realise that all the ranting and whining were indeed well-intended.
So, it was told...
A 5-year-old child would think that his father was the strongest, bravest or the fastest than any of his mate's father. At 10, he would not think too much of him. At 15, he cannot see eye-to-eye with him. At 20, he likes to avoid his father altogether. He only communicates with his mother (to pass the message). Then life goes on. At 40, now with children of his own, he understands that it is a Herculean task to be a parent. At 50, he appreciates his father's deeds. At 60, with his father dead and gone, it is all full circle again - his father is the strongest, smartest and most patient man. This movie tells the story of three people who go on a journey of self-discovery when one of the protagonist's parent's remains was accidentally couriered to the wrong address. Avinash is living in daze working in an unsatisfying job, forever regretting of not pursuing his passion for photography. He has a bone to pick with his father, who had died recently during his pilgrimage, for making his childhood a living hell. His father had unilaterally decided what was best for his future.
When Avinash received his father's coffin, he realised that the sender had mixed up the package. He had to send the box to the rightful owner and reclaim his father's body. He got the help of a friend, Shaukat, with his van to travel from Bengaluru to Kochi. On the way, they had to pick a young girl, Tanya, the granddaughter of the other deceased.
The three characters all have 'daddy issues'. Avinash had a father who objected to his choice of carrier. Shaukat had a drunkard and abusive father. What puzzled him was why his mother took all the abuses and chased Shaukat out of the house instead when he raised up to question his father. Tanya grew up without a father from the age of eight. He had succumbed to cancer.
Looking at Tanya's rebellious behaviour opposing all the values that Avinash holds dear to his heart, he realises that that was how his father would have felt. With the benefit of being grilled in the School of Hard Knocks of Life, Avinash can see more things than what the young Tanya just simply fail to realise.The cinematography is quite breathtaking as the characters drive through the country road to God's own country. Watching the film just reignited our cycling team's earlier plan to cycle in India. Before the COVID pandemic brought all travels to a grinding halt, we were interested in a 950+ kilometres cycling tour through Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.http://asok22.wix.com/real-lesson
http://.facebook.com/farouk.gulsara
www.riflerangeboy.com
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
June 3, 2020
How far would you go?
The Pathological Optimist (2017)
Sometimes people tell me that I have to wise up, that I have to be a man. When I don't budge, they add that I have a moral responsibility to re-act. I owe it to society to voice out. If a person of my standing did not, who would? Doing the right thing is not always about doing the likeable stuff. One needs to create chaos to maintain order. The serpentine opposing forces of yin and yang, of male and female, are not mutually exclusive but complementary! Chaos and order make up the eternal, harmony of the Eden of life.
I claim to love my country so much, but I do not think I would be willing to don jungle fatigues, drag around a rifle in the discomfort of the outdoors and deafening sounds of exploding gunshots. Probably not in this lifetime.
Would anyone go through great lengths to defend what he thinks is right; at the expense of peace of mind, creating a turmoil within his family, being treating a pariah by people by people beneath them who obviously do not know what they are talking about. All the things that he considered his reason for living, his raison d'être, ridiculed like he is a lunatic. Just how far would he hold on to his conviction?
Andrew Wakefield, a Consultant Paediatric Gastroenterologist at Free Hospital in the UK, was having a comfortable life doing what he wanted to do all his life - to treat patients. The study he co-authored which implicated MMR vaccination to gastrointestinal dysfunction and neurological regression which appeared in a 1998 publication of Lancet changed all this. Even though ten out of the 13 contributors agreed to retract the said article, Wakefield stood steadfast. He reiterated that there was an association between the combined MMR vaccine and severe neurological symptoms. He suggests further testing and advocated single vaccines.
Brian Deere's investigative journalism work in the Sunday Times accused Wakefield of undeclared conflict of interest and manipulation of results. After a long process, Wakefield was struck off from the British Medical Register. He migrated to Austin, Texas. The topic of autism and its association with MMR as well as the increase in the activities of the anti-vaxxers' movement. Correspondingly, Wakefield's name gets mentioned every now and then in documentaries as well as in the mainstream media. It led on to multiple court cases against Deer and the BMJ to clear his name. Unfortunately, he kept losing all his legal battles and ended up paying the legal costs for the opponents. The many groups supporting those injured by vaccines keep on supporting him.
Despite all the difficulties that Wakefield, his wife Carmel and their four kids have gone through, he is adamant about defending his research, denies monetary intentions or fraud and works with non-profit organisations related to autism. The periodic spike in incidences of measles is blamed on his movements.
This documentary, done in a very personal way, following Wakefield into his yoga class and his home, takes us to a time between 2011 and 2016 when he had to slug it out with the Texan court in a suit against the BMJ. The viewers can see a weary man fight with all he has for what he calls a 'moral issue'.
P.S. So much for love will keep them together fighting a good fight. 32 years of marriage of Andrew and Carmel Wakefield came to an end. Andrew Wakefield is now dating ex-swimsuit model of Sports Illustrated, Elle MacPherson, 54.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
http://asok22.wix.com/real-lesson
http://.facebook.com/farouk.gulsara
www.riflerangeboy.com
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Sometimes people tell me that I have to wise up, that I have to be a man. When I don't budge, they add that I have a moral responsibility to re-act. I owe it to society to voice out. If a person of my standing did not, who would? Doing the right thing is not always about doing the likeable stuff. One needs to create chaos to maintain order. The serpentine opposing forces of yin and yang, of male and female, are not mutually exclusive but complementary! Chaos and order make up the eternal, harmony of the Eden of life.
I claim to love my country so much, but I do not think I would be willing to don jungle fatigues, drag around a rifle in the discomfort of the outdoors and deafening sounds of exploding gunshots. Probably not in this lifetime.
Would anyone go through great lengths to defend what he thinks is right; at the expense of peace of mind, creating a turmoil within his family, being treating a pariah by people by people beneath them who obviously do not know what they are talking about. All the things that he considered his reason for living, his raison d'être, ridiculed like he is a lunatic. Just how far would he hold on to his conviction?
Andrew Wakefield, a Consultant Paediatric Gastroenterologist at Free Hospital in the UK, was having a comfortable life doing what he wanted to do all his life - to treat patients. The study he co-authored which implicated MMR vaccination to gastrointestinal dysfunction and neurological regression which appeared in a 1998 publication of Lancet changed all this. Even though ten out of the 13 contributors agreed to retract the said article, Wakefield stood steadfast. He reiterated that there was an association between the combined MMR vaccine and severe neurological symptoms. He suggests further testing and advocated single vaccines.
Brian Deere's investigative journalism work in the Sunday Times accused Wakefield of undeclared conflict of interest and manipulation of results. After a long process, Wakefield was struck off from the British Medical Register. He migrated to Austin, Texas. The topic of autism and its association with MMR as well as the increase in the activities of the anti-vaxxers' movement. Correspondingly, Wakefield's name gets mentioned every now and then in documentaries as well as in the mainstream media. It led on to multiple court cases against Deer and the BMJ to clear his name. Unfortunately, he kept losing all his legal battles and ended up paying the legal costs for the opponents. The many groups supporting those injured by vaccines keep on supporting him.
Despite all the difficulties that Wakefield, his wife Carmel and their four kids have gone through, he is adamant about defending his research, denies monetary intentions or fraud and works with non-profit organisations related to autism. The periodic spike in incidences of measles is blamed on his movements.This documentary, done in a very personal way, following Wakefield into his yoga class and his home, takes us to a time between 2011 and 2016 when he had to slug it out with the Texan court in a suit against the BMJ. The viewers can see a weary man fight with all he has for what he calls a 'moral issue'.
P.S. So much for love will keep them together fighting a good fight. 32 years of marriage of Andrew and Carmel Wakefield came to an end. Andrew Wakefield is now dating ex-swimsuit model of Sports Illustrated, Elle MacPherson, 54.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.http://asok22.wix.com/real-lesson
http://.facebook.com/farouk.gulsara
www.riflerangeboy.com
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
June 1, 2020
Love is a four-letter word?
C/O Kancharapalem (2018, Telugu)
In Nature, the union of sexes exists solely for procreation. It has its check and balances to ensure continuity of progeny and survival is only of the fittest. It does try to prevent chimaera monsters by minimising extra-species exchanges of the seeds of life. Invariably, the union across species tend to be infertile and slow to respond to environmental changes, thus resulting in self-destruction. Mules, the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse, are mostly sterile. So is a zorse or a zebra-horse hybrid.
Even within species, through innately developed hierarchical dominance, Nature tries to ensure that over generations, the young will be hardy to face challenges of the environment. The strongest of the males get to mate the healthiest of the female to this purpose. The weak male has to do with the weakest or the deformed female, which would result in failed descendants. It appears like Nature is inherently nihilistic in its outlook of the future.
Now, homo sapiens are all supposed to be of a single race and species. Barring a few subtle insignificant differences, DNA analyses reveal that we are all the same- black, yellow, brown or white. Even though humans proclaim to be all one and the same, calling each other 'brothers' and 'sisters'. The fact that they are calling each other siblings only means that there are restrictions on their choice of mating partners. They are divided by race, sub-races, locales or religions, they have devised various impositions on such unions. We have social mores and regulations to ensure that the young are taken care of.
This low budget Telugu film is a refreshing offering with multiple international accolades under its belt. It takes its viewers on a rollercoaster ride which will all make sense in the end. Extraordinary things happen to ordinary people, but we are hoodwinked about its timeline; maybe because the backdrop of a typical Indian village had hardly changed over the years.
When young tweens explore their sexuality, it is considered a taboo. The society says, "there is a time for everything. Do not put the cart before the horse!" When young couple show interests in each other, the question of class, economic status and religion become a stumbling block. When love morphs in middle age, it is frown upon again. Apparently, it is socially unacceptable when a widow or a person in advanced of age is smitten by Cupid's arrows. The society takes upon itself to ensure that arbitrary social norms and religious dictums are held up at all costs.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
http://asok22.wix.com/real-lesson
http://.facebook.com/farouk.gulsara
www.riflerangeboy.com
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
In Nature, the union of sexes exists solely for procreation. It has its check and balances to ensure continuity of progeny and survival is only of the fittest. It does try to prevent chimaera monsters by minimising extra-species exchanges of the seeds of life. Invariably, the union across species tend to be infertile and slow to respond to environmental changes, thus resulting in self-destruction. Mules, the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse, are mostly sterile. So is a zorse or a zebra-horse hybrid.Even within species, through innately developed hierarchical dominance, Nature tries to ensure that over generations, the young will be hardy to face challenges of the environment. The strongest of the males get to mate the healthiest of the female to this purpose. The weak male has to do with the weakest or the deformed female, which would result in failed descendants. It appears like Nature is inherently nihilistic in its outlook of the future.
Now, homo sapiens are all supposed to be of a single race and species. Barring a few subtle insignificant differences, DNA analyses reveal that we are all the same- black, yellow, brown or white. Even though humans proclaim to be all one and the same, calling each other 'brothers' and 'sisters'. The fact that they are calling each other siblings only means that there are restrictions on their choice of mating partners. They are divided by race, sub-races, locales or religions, they have devised various impositions on such unions. We have social mores and regulations to ensure that the young are taken care of.
This low budget Telugu film is a refreshing offering with multiple international accolades under its belt. It takes its viewers on a rollercoaster ride which will all make sense in the end. Extraordinary things happen to ordinary people, but we are hoodwinked about its timeline; maybe because the backdrop of a typical Indian village had hardly changed over the years.When young tweens explore their sexuality, it is considered a taboo. The society says, "there is a time for everything. Do not put the cart before the horse!" When young couple show interests in each other, the question of class, economic status and religion become a stumbling block. When love morphs in middle age, it is frown upon again. Apparently, it is socially unacceptable when a widow or a person in advanced of age is smitten by Cupid's arrows. The society takes upon itself to ensure that arbitrary social norms and religious dictums are held up at all costs.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. http://asok22.wix.com/real-lesson
http://.facebook.com/farouk.gulsara
www.riflerangeboy.com
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
May 30, 2020
He who tills the land gets satisfied with bread
Ustad Hotel (Malayalam; 2012)
It is not just about owning a property. It is also about generating economy. It used to be that the owner of a piece of land will be King. Nature will bestow the yield with its raw materials. The landowner will provide for his subjects, whom, he subjugated via conquest or stature. In return, he will be served. Come to think of it, so did the Mafia. They provided for what the legitimate bodies found to be non-profitable or poor returns on investments.
Modern economies had real estates as such hot commodities. Each and every square inch of God's Earth has to be owned by someone and be developed. Developers and bankers all have their own arm-twisting techniques to squeeze that lone recalcitrant small landowner to surrender his property. They would bring in new legislation, enforcement protocol or taxes. It is evident that the powers that be are subservient to the rich entities. They believe that spurring economic activities will have a trickle-down effect. We now know it only widens the gap between the have and have notes. It is not that simple.
In this country, a group of intellectuals are lamenting that much of the nation's prized land bank has been given away to foreigners and citizens of a particular ethnicity. The funny thing is that they are blaming the recipients and the former colonial masters for the shenanigans, not the present administrators, even though this practice continues till date. It is an open secret that many land swapping deals happen at the highest level in full view of the powers that be.
Perhaps, it is business that dictates who owns what, not sentimentality. It is the economy, stupid. Before Independence, many of the lands around Malaysia was owned by the money lending Chettiars who would usurp lands from their creditors for lapsing payments. They would gloat looking at their vacant properties even though they were just attracting lalang and grazing cows. All these changed after the 1969 racial riots and the fear of instability as the Chettiars sold their realties and returned lock, stock and barrel to India. The Chinese who bought them over were courageous enough to develop these properties. Pretty soon mushroomed supermarkets, housing estates and cineplexes. He who tills the land gets satisfied with bread and also satisfies the whole village of their hunger. It is about working on the land, not merely owning it.
This brand of a new wave of films tends to hit the Indian movie scene these days. No more the same aged actors romantically paired with actresses old enough to be their daughters or pretty young things that are apparent mismatch the people surrounding them. And no more bad dubbing.
This movie combines realistic acting with a refreshing look at Kerala outdoors. The music is fresh and tends to grow on the listeners.
It tells the tale of a chef, Faizi, who is disowned by his father for choosing the profession that he so despised. Faizi's grandfather, who owns a small-time biryani restaurant, takes him in and teaches him the philosophy of cooking. To cook is not just to fill the stomach, but to satisfy the minds, of the feeder and the one being fed. Even though Faizi has plans to be a famous chef in Europe, as expected, he finds his calling in India.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
http://asok22.wix.com/real-lesson
http://.facebook.com/farouk.gulsara
www.riflerangeboy.com
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
It is not just about owning a property. It is also about generating economy. It used to be that the owner of a piece of land will be King. Nature will bestow the yield with its raw materials. The landowner will provide for his subjects, whom, he subjugated via conquest or stature. In return, he will be served. Come to think of it, so did the Mafia. They provided for what the legitimate bodies found to be non-profitable or poor returns on investments. Modern economies had real estates as such hot commodities. Each and every square inch of God's Earth has to be owned by someone and be developed. Developers and bankers all have their own arm-twisting techniques to squeeze that lone recalcitrant small landowner to surrender his property. They would bring in new legislation, enforcement protocol or taxes. It is evident that the powers that be are subservient to the rich entities. They believe that spurring economic activities will have a trickle-down effect. We now know it only widens the gap between the have and have notes. It is not that simple.
In this country, a group of intellectuals are lamenting that much of the nation's prized land bank has been given away to foreigners and citizens of a particular ethnicity. The funny thing is that they are blaming the recipients and the former colonial masters for the shenanigans, not the present administrators, even though this practice continues till date. It is an open secret that many land swapping deals happen at the highest level in full view of the powers that be.
Perhaps, it is business that dictates who owns what, not sentimentality. It is the economy, stupid. Before Independence, many of the lands around Malaysia was owned by the money lending Chettiars who would usurp lands from their creditors for lapsing payments. They would gloat looking at their vacant properties even though they were just attracting lalang and grazing cows. All these changed after the 1969 racial riots and the fear of instability as the Chettiars sold their realties and returned lock, stock and barrel to India. The Chinese who bought them over were courageous enough to develop these properties. Pretty soon mushroomed supermarkets, housing estates and cineplexes. He who tills the land gets satisfied with bread and also satisfies the whole village of their hunger. It is about working on the land, not merely owning it.
This brand of a new wave of films tends to hit the Indian movie scene these days. No more the same aged actors romantically paired with actresses old enough to be their daughters or pretty young things that are apparent mismatch the people surrounding them. And no more bad dubbing.
This movie combines realistic acting with a refreshing look at Kerala outdoors. The music is fresh and tends to grow on the listeners.
It tells the tale of a chef, Faizi, who is disowned by his father for choosing the profession that he so despised. Faizi's grandfather, who owns a small-time biryani restaurant, takes him in and teaches him the philosophy of cooking. To cook is not just to fill the stomach, but to satisfy the minds, of the feeder and the one being fed. Even though Faizi has plans to be a famous chef in Europe, as expected, he finds his calling in India.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.http://asok22.wix.com/real-lesson
http://.facebook.com/farouk.gulsara
www.riflerangeboy.com
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
May 28, 2020
Veiled altruism?
Plague of Corruption (2020)
Restoring faith in the promise of Science
Authors: Judy Mikovitz, Kent Heckenlively
The domain of caring for the sick is no longer solely in the hands of medical care professionals. Policies of treatment, prevention strategies and cure are not decided by the doctors and policymakers with a medical background. In the modern world, businessmen, philanthropist and Big Pharma are the ones who determine what best strategies to lay for mankind and where the budget for health should go to. These people are the new saviours of the world and pledge to have only altruistic reasons for the heroic journey. There is no business interest, they say. For this, they employed the might of media, print and cyberworld, to spin and repeat the mantra of doom and gloom that only these people can avert. The paternalistic approach of doctors and nurses is so passé.
The traditional advice of good food, fresh air and adequate physical activities is so archaic. Modern-day controlled studies show old preventive non-pharmacological measures so out of tune with modern living. Now, one needs to load oneself with chemicals, innoculate with a myriad of foreign antigens and compounds to spur immunity. Modern man is living in such a bubble that getting soiled with dirt and soil is unthinkable. If possible, he wants his gut to be sterile.
Judy Mikovits gained notoriety during the Covid-19 outbreak. A virologist by profession, she made many bold assertions about mismanagement of the viral epidemic by WHO, CDC and specifically Dr Anthony Fauci of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Her personal spat with authority goes way back to the early '80s with the discovery of the HIV virus. She was in the first American team of Robert Gallo and Frank Roscetti that isolated Montagnieu's HIV sample. Differences arose regarding wanting to publish the discovery. Along the way came patenting rights. In 2009, another controversy happened when Mikovitz suggested that XMRV
(Xenotropic Murine Leukemia Virus-related Virus), a retrovirus, which is linked to prostatic cancer to be the causative agent of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. Accusations of stealing intellectual properties from the laboratory she was working landed in her arrest, frequent brush with the law and subsequent fall from grace.
She (and her co-author) hit the headlines again when they linked autism to the early administration (9 months) of MMR. The previous proposal of gut-brain connection in autism by Andrew Wakefield in a 1998 BMJ article was shot down as fraudulent.
Mikovitz claims not to be an anti-vaxxer but raises the possibility of our vaccines being contaminated as it goes through animal cell lines during its production. Monkey kidneys and other animal tissues are potential sources of retroviruses, and they can potentially cause many untoward side-effects to predisposed individuals. Vaccines also carry nickel, chromium, formaldehyde and antibiotics. Do vaccines with the zoonotic additives make human more prone to other viral infections, like the pandemic we are having now?
She highlighted the existence of special vaccine courts to pay out compensations to victims of vaccine injury. If vaccines are so safe, why is there such a court? Apparently, the vaccine producers are immune from prosecution by victims, but the court will weigh on the damage.
Dr Judy Mikovitz is not the only crusader around on a mission to expose the concerted effort by the scientific and political elite who run the scam that is our global health system. They hold patents to products and run pharma conglomerates to push vaccines and specific treatment modalities with vested interests on their minds. They manipulate research findings to suit their agenda. Despite holding honourable posts trusted to take care of the people's wellbeing, they are turning their high office into money-spinning ventures.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
http://asok22.wix.com/real-lesson
http://.facebook.com/farouk.gulsara
www.riflerangeboy.com
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Restoring faith in the promise of Science
Authors: Judy Mikovitz, Kent Heckenlively
The domain of caring for the sick is no longer solely in the hands of medical care professionals. Policies of treatment, prevention strategies and cure are not decided by the doctors and policymakers with a medical background. In the modern world, businessmen, philanthropist and Big Pharma are the ones who determine what best strategies to lay for mankind and where the budget for health should go to. These people are the new saviours of the world and pledge to have only altruistic reasons for the heroic journey. There is no business interest, they say. For this, they employed the might of media, print and cyberworld, to spin and repeat the mantra of doom and gloom that only these people can avert. The paternalistic approach of doctors and nurses is so passé.
The traditional advice of good food, fresh air and adequate physical activities is so archaic. Modern-day controlled studies show old preventive non-pharmacological measures so out of tune with modern living. Now, one needs to load oneself with chemicals, innoculate with a myriad of foreign antigens and compounds to spur immunity. Modern man is living in such a bubble that getting soiled with dirt and soil is unthinkable. If possible, he wants his gut to be sterile.
Judy Mikovits gained notoriety during the Covid-19 outbreak. A virologist by profession, she made many bold assertions about mismanagement of the viral epidemic by WHO, CDC and specifically Dr Anthony Fauci of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Her personal spat with authority goes way back to the early '80s with the discovery of the HIV virus. She was in the first American team of Robert Gallo and Frank Roscetti that isolated Montagnieu's HIV sample. Differences arose regarding wanting to publish the discovery. Along the way came patenting rights. In 2009, another controversy happened when Mikovitz suggested that XMRV
(Xenotropic Murine Leukemia Virus-related Virus), a retrovirus, which is linked to prostatic cancer to be the causative agent of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. Accusations of stealing intellectual properties from the laboratory she was working landed in her arrest, frequent brush with the law and subsequent fall from grace.
She (and her co-author) hit the headlines again when they linked autism to the early administration (9 months) of MMR. The previous proposal of gut-brain connection in autism by Andrew Wakefield in a 1998 BMJ article was shot down as fraudulent.
Mikovitz claims not to be an anti-vaxxer but raises the possibility of our vaccines being contaminated as it goes through animal cell lines during its production. Monkey kidneys and other animal tissues are potential sources of retroviruses, and they can potentially cause many untoward side-effects to predisposed individuals. Vaccines also carry nickel, chromium, formaldehyde and antibiotics. Do vaccines with the zoonotic additives make human more prone to other viral infections, like the pandemic we are having now?
She highlighted the existence of special vaccine courts to pay out compensations to victims of vaccine injury. If vaccines are so safe, why is there such a court? Apparently, the vaccine producers are immune from prosecution by victims, but the court will weigh on the damage.
Dr Judy Mikovitz is not the only crusader around on a mission to expose the concerted effort by the scientific and political elite who run the scam that is our global health system. They hold patents to products and run pharma conglomerates to push vaccines and specific treatment modalities with vested interests on their minds. They manipulate research findings to suit their agenda. Despite holding honourable posts trusted to take care of the people's wellbeing, they are turning their high office into money-spinning ventures.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. http://asok22.wix.com/real-lesson
http://.facebook.com/farouk.gulsara
www.riflerangeboy.com
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
May 26, 2020
To relook, recreate and remind
Panipat, The Great Betrayal (Hindi; 2019)
Many post-colonial nations are eager to re-write their histories. Previously their colonial masters painted a story of their land as seen from their jaundiced eyes, in keeping with their narration as being the saviour and liberators. Now, after years of accepting the past history as the gospel truth, the natives have arisen from long slumbers. They want to re-write the baloney. There is an urgent need to re-look at our history books.
Indians complain that their history books are only filled with a dramatic depiction of impoverished India where the liberators from the West, rose to their occasion to illuminate wisdom and a sense of purpose. Their glorious pasts are conveniently whitewashed. It seems that even the narration about India's most prominent kingdoms like Vijayanagara, Paalavi and the Pandava Dynasties are conspicuously absent from the history textbooks.
Bollywood is trying to patch the gap conveniently blanked out of history. Of course, it is not going to be easy on all parties, as many have been mired in one kind of truth. To re-educate or re-wire their understanding of the original script may actually question their own existence. Loyalists, traitors, conspirators, villains and double-crossers may all be re-casted, depending on the scriptwriters.
Panipat, a site in modern-day Haryana, had witnessed three brutal wars. This film showcases the last of the Panipat Wars at the zenith of the once-great Maratha Empire which is famed by India's iconic hero, Shivaji Chhatrapati.
After defeating the Nizam of Hyderabad, Sadashiv Bhao Rao and cousins march towards Delhi to fight a Pashtun speaking chieftain, Najib-ad-Daulad of Rohilkhand who refuses to pay taxes and has form allegiance with the Afghan King, Ahmad Shah Abdali @ Ahmad Shah Durrani. Nawab of Oudh also supported Durrani.
It is not a showcase of the clash between the Muslims and the Hindus. The Maratha warrior had a Muslim warrior, Ibrahim Gardi, the artillery expert. In fact, the Maratha army had always had a regiment of mixed ethnicities and religiosities. The betrayal, as mentioned in the title, does not refer to Muslims acting as turncoats. The traitors here are the Rajputs and Jhats who decided to support the invaders due to high taxes.
King Ahmad Shah Abdali @ DurraniThe war is said to be the most brutal one with the dubious record of having the highest number of dead warriors in a single day. The Maratha's mistake was to bring in too many civilians. Their public relations with the local chieftains and strategical outlay was poor. Even though the Marathas lost the battle, its army was apparently praised by Durrani, in a message sent later, for the bravery and tenacity. King Durrani gave up his wish to conquer India after that.
This film is not without controversies. Effigy of the director and cinemas were torched to show peoples' displeasure. The Afghani embassy stated their objection for the depiction of the founder of Afghanistan like an Arab prince, with the crew's wardrobe choice and makeup (application of kohl).
Verdict: 3.5/5. The filmmakers have spent a lot of time to make the film believable. They have employed younger actors with the appropriate physique to pass off of warriors. Time and effort had been spent on war tactics and strategies. Though there can be room for improvement in the CGI department, the director managed to create the grandiosity of an army in full regalia and the aura of an ancient battlefield.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
http://asok22.wix.com/real-lesson
http://.facebook.com/farouk.gulsara
www.riflerangeboy.com
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Many post-colonial nations are eager to re-write their histories. Previously their colonial masters painted a story of their land as seen from their jaundiced eyes, in keeping with their narration as being the saviour and liberators. Now, after years of accepting the past history as the gospel truth, the natives have arisen from long slumbers. They want to re-write the baloney. There is an urgent need to re-look at our history books.Indians complain that their history books are only filled with a dramatic depiction of impoverished India where the liberators from the West, rose to their occasion to illuminate wisdom and a sense of purpose. Their glorious pasts are conveniently whitewashed. It seems that even the narration about India's most prominent kingdoms like Vijayanagara, Paalavi and the Pandava Dynasties are conspicuously absent from the history textbooks.
Bollywood is trying to patch the gap conveniently blanked out of history. Of course, it is not going to be easy on all parties, as many have been mired in one kind of truth. To re-educate or re-wire their understanding of the original script may actually question their own existence. Loyalists, traitors, conspirators, villains and double-crossers may all be re-casted, depending on the scriptwriters.
Panipat, a site in modern-day Haryana, had witnessed three brutal wars. This film showcases the last of the Panipat Wars at the zenith of the once-great Maratha Empire which is famed by India's iconic hero, Shivaji Chhatrapati.
After defeating the Nizam of Hyderabad, Sadashiv Bhao Rao and cousins march towards Delhi to fight a Pashtun speaking chieftain, Najib-ad-Daulad of Rohilkhand who refuses to pay taxes and has form allegiance with the Afghan King, Ahmad Shah Abdali @ Ahmad Shah Durrani. Nawab of Oudh also supported Durrani.
It is not a showcase of the clash between the Muslims and the Hindus. The Maratha warrior had a Muslim warrior, Ibrahim Gardi, the artillery expert. In fact, the Maratha army had always had a regiment of mixed ethnicities and religiosities. The betrayal, as mentioned in the title, does not refer to Muslims acting as turncoats. The traitors here are the Rajputs and Jhats who decided to support the invaders due to high taxes.
King Ahmad Shah Abdali @ DurraniThe war is said to be the most brutal one with the dubious record of having the highest number of dead warriors in a single day. The Maratha's mistake was to bring in too many civilians. Their public relations with the local chieftains and strategical outlay was poor. Even though the Marathas lost the battle, its army was apparently praised by Durrani, in a message sent later, for the bravery and tenacity. King Durrani gave up his wish to conquer India after that.This film is not without controversies. Effigy of the director and cinemas were torched to show peoples' displeasure. The Afghani embassy stated their objection for the depiction of the founder of Afghanistan like an Arab prince, with the crew's wardrobe choice and makeup (application of kohl).
Verdict: 3.5/5. The filmmakers have spent a lot of time to make the film believable. They have employed younger actors with the appropriate physique to pass off of warriors. Time and effort had been spent on war tactics and strategies. Though there can be room for improvement in the CGI department, the director managed to create the grandiosity of an army in full regalia and the aura of an ancient battlefield.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. http://asok22.wix.com/real-lesson
http://.facebook.com/farouk.gulsara
www.riflerangeboy.com
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
May 24, 2020
Foes within and without!
Breaking India - Western Interventions in Dravidian and Dalit Faultlines (2011)
Authors: Rajiv Malhotra and Aravindan Neelakandan
When Europeans reached the shores of India for the first time, they were mesmerised. It was the era of romanticism. The Europeans just could not have enough of India's exotic mysticism, wealth and knowledge. We all know what happened afterwards.
To become the masters to the hosts who welcomed them into their abode, they had to dig deep their bag of trick to break India up. They invented the now well-known 'divide and rule' strategy. Unfortunately, even 300 years later, these breaking India forces are still at it to create divisions amongst its people to push forward their self-serving agendas.
In the 1870s, as the British advanced deep into the periphery, they encountered resistance from the tribal people who were just protecting their land. The invaders quickly created a narrative about heartless local robbers who strangled their victims with kerchiefs. They were named Thuggees based on their diety. The British passed enactment to legalise tribal genocide. Long story short, they not only appropriated their lands but made 'thug' an English word.
The Europeans justified their atrocities on natives by revisiting the story of Noah and his sons. The white-skinned conquerers are the Descendents of Japheth, Shem's went to Asia and the Middle East while the dark-skinned cursed Ham's downlines were sent to Africa and probably to Southern part of India. Japheth's enlightened sons need to educate cursed Ham's people.
The scholars of the time also sold the idea of the existence of a big landmass named Lemuria or Kumari Kandam which connected Africa, India and Australia. Even though it was never proven, they claim that this land housed an advanced civilisation which spread as far as Persia. The advancing tribes of uncultured Aryans from the North pushed them down south. They also shoved Hinduism down their throats to make them subservient to the Aryan descendants.
In the late 19th century, pseudo-scientist delved into dubious experimentations and fashionable non-sciences to convince the people of South India and the tribal people that they were different from the rest of India. They were Dravidians, a great race suppressed by the Northerners and the evil Brahmins. The now-defunct 'Nasal Index' was used by Herbert Risley to prove his two-race theory and implementation of the caste system in Indian society. This was mentioned in Rig Veda, it seems. This 'discovery' was shown to support Max Muller's Aryan migration/ invasion theory. The Aryans from the Caucasus migrated down south to downgrade after marriages with the local while the wave of Aryans who went off to start the Greek and Germanic civilisations reached great heights. And the arrival of Europeans to the Indian shores is a time of reconnection.
See how this propagation of Aryan race created problems the world over. In Europe, it went on to Hitler, WW2 and devastation. In South India, it created the Dravidian movements that go on till today. In a way, it helped to flare the animosity between the Aryan-Buddhist-Singhalese and the Non-Aryan Jaffenese Tamils.
In Africa, the Hamitic mythology condones slavery and categorised communities to races which eventually spurred the genocide in Rwanda.
In 'God's Country'One of Jesus' disciples, St Thomas, is said to have reached the Malabar shores in 52AD. Others attribute a Syrian, Thomas of Cana, to be the first evangelist. He was martyred during one of his conversion stints when he was speared by a local tribesman.
Robert Caldwell, a bishop and a grammarian, proposed a racial divide along with linguistics. The South Indian languages were etymologically different from Sanskrit, further sub classifying Indians by class, race and caste by profiling.
According to the authors, Christian missionaries have been active in the conversion ever since the first missionaries touched. They have found many ingenious ways to connect with the locals. They dress like them, live with them and be the first to be by their side when they are wronged or go through a calamity. They receive substantial international financial support from the Southern Baptist Churches in the US, the Lutheran Churches, many philanthropic foundations like The Ford Foundation, Pew Trust, Carnegie Trust and many more. Under the guise of humanitarian aid, they are active in the conversion of the members in the fringe of society. Through their scholarship programmes, they have created local firebrand leaders who have no qualms discrediting their motherland to serve their masters. They form the Fifth Column who subversively weaken the nation from within.
Many of the scholars have reinterpreted Hindu text and appropriated them to fit the Biblical events. Many historical dates had been altered to make it appear that Christianity predated Hindu philosophy. They try to impress the unassuming congregation that the earlier Tamil scriptures were actually inspired by Christianity and its teachings. They claim that the Kural written by Valluvar and Saiva Siddhanta is based on Christian teachings. It is claimed that idolatry is a Hinduism construct and that Dravidians were not idol worshippers. The bashing continues subtly through media and films.
John Allen Chau, an evangelist
Killed by Sentinelese tribe in North Sentinel, near Andaman.It is said that the atheistic nature of Tamil Nadu politics was inspired by this Brahmin bashing trend that was prevailing in the mid 20th century when Periyar took Tamil Nadu out of the Congress Party. It continues to date.
The authors bring to light how seemingly opposing forces, as there are seen elsewhere, unite with the single aim to control India. Maoists, Marxists, Urban Naxalites, leftists, intellectuals, Communists, Jihadis aligned with Islam and Christian evangelists all have no qualms in setting aside their differences to fight their common enemy, the Hindutva movement, which has arisen to put back its forgotten history and facts in the right place.
As it stands today, India has to be wary against many internal centrifugal and external forces who are intertwined with each other to balkanise the country. They depict India as an opposed of freedom and a fascist state filled with horrors of Hindu savagery blurred between Islamic terrorism and violation by India against Muslims, Christians and Dalits.
What is the purpose of all these? They are of two folds. One is for political control to obtain a chaotic country with cheap labour. Secondly, there is a dire theological need to pulverise the last pagan civilisation standing to replace it with a monotheistic religion.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
http://asok22.wix.com/real-lesson
http://.facebook.com/farouk.gulsara
www.riflerangeboy.com
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors: Rajiv Malhotra and Aravindan Neelakandan
When Europeans reached the shores of India for the first time, they were mesmerised. It was the era of romanticism. The Europeans just could not have enough of India's exotic mysticism, wealth and knowledge. We all know what happened afterwards.To become the masters to the hosts who welcomed them into their abode, they had to dig deep their bag of trick to break India up. They invented the now well-known 'divide and rule' strategy. Unfortunately, even 300 years later, these breaking India forces are still at it to create divisions amongst its people to push forward their self-serving agendas.
In the 1870s, as the British advanced deep into the periphery, they encountered resistance from the tribal people who were just protecting their land. The invaders quickly created a narrative about heartless local robbers who strangled their victims with kerchiefs. They were named Thuggees based on their diety. The British passed enactment to legalise tribal genocide. Long story short, they not only appropriated their lands but made 'thug' an English word.
The Europeans justified their atrocities on natives by revisiting the story of Noah and his sons. The white-skinned conquerers are the Descendents of Japheth, Shem's went to Asia and the Middle East while the dark-skinned cursed Ham's downlines were sent to Africa and probably to Southern part of India. Japheth's enlightened sons need to educate cursed Ham's people.
The scholars of the time also sold the idea of the existence of a big landmass named Lemuria or Kumari Kandam which connected Africa, India and Australia. Even though it was never proven, they claim that this land housed an advanced civilisation which spread as far as Persia. The advancing tribes of uncultured Aryans from the North pushed them down south. They also shoved Hinduism down their throats to make them subservient to the Aryan descendants.
In the late 19th century, pseudo-scientist delved into dubious experimentations and fashionable non-sciences to convince the people of South India and the tribal people that they were different from the rest of India. They were Dravidians, a great race suppressed by the Northerners and the evil Brahmins. The now-defunct 'Nasal Index' was used by Herbert Risley to prove his two-race theory and implementation of the caste system in Indian society. This was mentioned in Rig Veda, it seems. This 'discovery' was shown to support Max Muller's Aryan migration/ invasion theory. The Aryans from the Caucasus migrated down south to downgrade after marriages with the local while the wave of Aryans who went off to start the Greek and Germanic civilisations reached great heights. And the arrival of Europeans to the Indian shores is a time of reconnection.
See how this propagation of Aryan race created problems the world over. In Europe, it went on to Hitler, WW2 and devastation. In South India, it created the Dravidian movements that go on till today. In a way, it helped to flare the animosity between the Aryan-Buddhist-Singhalese and the Non-Aryan Jaffenese Tamils.
In Africa, the Hamitic mythology condones slavery and categorised communities to races which eventually spurred the genocide in Rwanda.
In 'God's Country'One of Jesus' disciples, St Thomas, is said to have reached the Malabar shores in 52AD. Others attribute a Syrian, Thomas of Cana, to be the first evangelist. He was martyred during one of his conversion stints when he was speared by a local tribesman.Robert Caldwell, a bishop and a grammarian, proposed a racial divide along with linguistics. The South Indian languages were etymologically different from Sanskrit, further sub classifying Indians by class, race and caste by profiling.
According to the authors, Christian missionaries have been active in the conversion ever since the first missionaries touched. They have found many ingenious ways to connect with the locals. They dress like them, live with them and be the first to be by their side when they are wronged or go through a calamity. They receive substantial international financial support from the Southern Baptist Churches in the US, the Lutheran Churches, many philanthropic foundations like The Ford Foundation, Pew Trust, Carnegie Trust and many more. Under the guise of humanitarian aid, they are active in the conversion of the members in the fringe of society. Through their scholarship programmes, they have created local firebrand leaders who have no qualms discrediting their motherland to serve their masters. They form the Fifth Column who subversively weaken the nation from within.
Many of the scholars have reinterpreted Hindu text and appropriated them to fit the Biblical events. Many historical dates had been altered to make it appear that Christianity predated Hindu philosophy. They try to impress the unassuming congregation that the earlier Tamil scriptures were actually inspired by Christianity and its teachings. They claim that the Kural written by Valluvar and Saiva Siddhanta is based on Christian teachings. It is claimed that idolatry is a Hinduism construct and that Dravidians were not idol worshippers. The bashing continues subtly through media and films.
John Allen Chau, an evangelistKilled by Sentinelese tribe in North Sentinel, near Andaman.It is said that the atheistic nature of Tamil Nadu politics was inspired by this Brahmin bashing trend that was prevailing in the mid 20th century when Periyar took Tamil Nadu out of the Congress Party. It continues to date.
The authors bring to light how seemingly opposing forces, as there are seen elsewhere, unite with the single aim to control India. Maoists, Marxists, Urban Naxalites, leftists, intellectuals, Communists, Jihadis aligned with Islam and Christian evangelists all have no qualms in setting aside their differences to fight their common enemy, the Hindutva movement, which has arisen to put back its forgotten history and facts in the right place.
As it stands today, India has to be wary against many internal centrifugal and external forces who are intertwined with each other to balkanise the country. They depict India as an opposed of freedom and a fascist state filled with horrors of Hindu savagery blurred between Islamic terrorism and violation by India against Muslims, Christians and Dalits.
What is the purpose of all these? They are of two folds. One is for political control to obtain a chaotic country with cheap labour. Secondly, there is a dire theological need to pulverise the last pagan civilisation standing to replace it with a monotheistic religion.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. http://asok22.wix.com/real-lesson
http://.facebook.com/farouk.gulsara
www.riflerangeboy.com
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
