Random Thoughts Of A Driftwood

Dear Love, I lament the over bearing fact of the loss, The dejection of one's lost self, The aimless wanderings of a raving mind, For my love guides me to my destination, It is my strength, my passion, my life, It is my waking hours, to my slumber, It is the blanket that I snugly hold on to, for my heart, The infinite and never ending vigour, I love your beauty, I love your presence, For it lifts my spirit, It is the fire that keeps burning, I love your enduring ardour, Your words that keep me company, In the loneliest nights when the stars do not shine, I adore you with all my heart, Yours Truly, Your Love Forever.

Today's topic is a little personal. Marriage... it's a mixed, twisted and perplexing affair if you live in an Indian family. If you've reach the age where your family and relatives start to pester you about marriage, then you know the mental torture that precedes it. If your parents are the pro active type and start looking for a bride or groom, then ironically, you'll be the last to know about it. Why do they do that? The most awkward and embarrassing situation is being in a family dinner(out with relatives) or visit and having one of your parents bring up the subject of marriage only to completely catch you off guard. You what? but why? The conversation then just falls silent and then someone courteously tries to offer some advice to you. I appreciate their concern but I'm quite happy the way I am. This may sound weird, but I have always found marriage to be a rather ludicrous precept(I know I'm about to cause some divisions here with my friends, bu...

The Nut Graph posted this little piece over here that is another indication of how the Malaysian government feels it needs to tell us, the honest people, how to live our lives. Just like the peaceful assembly act, just like the Universities and Colleges act, the Race Relations Act is yet another attempt of plugging in loopholes in our dysfunctional society. It's a stop gap measure that big brother uses all too often. Don't get me wrong, I find racism and discrimination of any sort repulsive. But the sheer audacity of the state to assume authority to control society is... quite contrary to the enlightenment, and egalitarian principles. It's sort of like repairing a damaged wooden village house. They take a plank and a hammer and hammer away to seal a gap, rather carelessly. Cracks and problems start to appear few years down the road as all manner of cretins manage to squeeze their way in through the impenetrable 'act'. The fact is, people will always find ways...

Breaking News! Theshigen Navalingam hates Self Help books! I absolutely loathe self help books with a burning passion. Why the hate? The self help genre is like a parasite that feeds on the insecurities of the people and the feeble minded. It is an abomination of written words... words that don't actually tell you anything new, but people just seem addicted to it. I attribute it to the need, the desire, the hunger for positive self reinforcement. We all love being told how special we are(I have an issue with this, but I won't go on a rant about that in this blog post), how much god loves us, or how lovely we are, intelligent, smart, beautiful, talented, gifted and the verbiage assault goes on and on. You don't need a book to tell you this, just talk to a friend. Yeah, talk, communicate with others, don't expect magic solutions from these books. Because the only thing these books lack is a solution to anything. Suggestions are clichéd and you've probably heard th...

Biggest news of the week... Anwar Ibrahim, President of Parti Keadilan Rakyat, has been acquitted in his Sodomy trial. Sodomy in Malaysia is a criminal offence, an ancient inherited law from the colonial era of its past. The trial has been, at times, a circus, to a parody of quite literally, a kangaroo court. I was sure many were sceptical a verdict any other than Anwar to be found guilty was impossible. So with this political show now over, so what now Malaysia? With the curtains closed on this particular chapter of Malaysian drama, the 13th Malaysian General Election draws ever closer. It is said that it will be held in March and with Anwar now vindicated from his Sodomy charge, Parti Keadilan Rakyat would feel that it has received a spark of life, a break from all the in fighting and negative press it has gotten over the years. Will the opposition move away from being just anti BN and into a legitimate party with workable policies. It has to ...

"There isn't anything as wonderful as a fierce intellectual person" Arundhati Roy. For the truth to surface, it has always been maintained that a strong separation of intellect from our feelings is required. Any academic or intellectual work that is tainted with emotions or feelings is considered as biased and lack veracity. At least that's what the academics believe. There is some truth to this, and it is necessary to have this separation to push forth scientific work. But a writer's life is different. In life, art, and literature, emotions and passion cannot be separated from the intellectual rigmarole of the craft or art. It is the very essence of it. Separating emotion would not be a life worth living(and remember, artists consider their work as their life, not a piece of academic work to be analysed and held up as perfect). Give me passion, emotion, love, or give me death. Even an intellectual like Hitchens, Dawkins & Sagan were passionate about what ...

This simple proclamation, a statement of a certainty of the end... is part of Shakespeare's Antony & Cleopatra. Antony spoke to Cleopatra while in her arms, awaiting his certain death. He died tormented by the thought of separation from his lover and not dying gloriously in the traditional Roman way. Pretty epic, but not exactly the point of this post. While Mark Antony's death is an ultimate tale of love that was never meant to be, death is the topic for today. For death is a certainty and you can never be sure when it will seek you out. As morose as this might sound, death in itself, is nothing incredibly shocking or fearful. But it is the fear of dying in vain that has paralysed many(including myself) from this fate. What is worse than dying young, having discovered your passion, your love, only to die shortly after? Promises, talent, new found love, all disintegrate in  that short moment when a person breathes their last breath. How utterly t...

To borrow a term from Arundhati Roy, politicians in India are exclusive members of the Rah Rah Club . The Rah Rah Club is a cheeky little way of saying there's a lot of blowing hot air. Indian politics is an interesting yet rather unsophisticated beast, divided amongst rather communal and caste lines. Just the other day, I watched this Indian politician stating as a rebuke to another politicians statement that they will bring India on par of Singapore. To this, this almost predictable politician said his party will make even Singaporeans question how great India has become(of course, under their rule) and they would want to emulate India. What a load of hogwash Rah Rah Yes We Can rubbish! India, the second most populous nation with 1.2 billion people within its borders has a huge wealth distribution problem. With an estimated 30% of 1.2 billion below the international poverty line(that's a paltry USD$1.25 a day). This is where I suspect the Marxists(Left Democratic Front wit...

This was said by Indian writer Arundhati Roy in an interview with N. Ram, published in the book The Shape of The Beast . It's a remarkable little line that sums up the live of a writer. Not glamorous but a passionate live, filled with words and poetry. It's something the best writers have always known, with the ability of writing vivid, beautiful verses that are moving and emotional. How do words do that? It's a bit like music, but with magnificent arrangement of words... words can achieve an almost melodic structure. It's not just poetry that is song like... but great writers like Arundhati and even the late Carl Sagan have ways with words that most people wouldn't even dream of stringing sentences so touching and so full of life. I'm not a fan of poetry simply because of its rules. Although I do admire those that write amazing poetry given the rules and restriction to them. What I write is what I'd call free form writing, a mix between poetry, just pla...

Whenever people talk of unity, I become nervous. Politicians talk about political unity, nationalists talk about national unity, racial groups talk about racial unity. I've often wondered with much bemusement just what the hell they're basing their presumed position that unity is a good thing. Don't they know a thing or two about history? Hitler committed genocide in the name of Aryan German unity, Stalin massacred countless people in the name of unity among his generals and people, Saddam assassinated opponents in the name of political unity. Exactly what unity are people talking about when they claim what is needed is unity amongst the common folk? Besides unity is way overrated(been using this term too often these days). Human life is always wrought with conflict. It is a fact of life like evolution, the earth orbiting our sun, or the physical laws of our universe. Unity with conflict isn't much of a unity is it? Unless unity is forced upon us in an ...