Gripevine

Navratri (nav - ratri) or nine nights of the Goddess starts today and ends next Wednesday on Oct 24. Generally Navratri is seen as a festival of women, where Hindu women will flock to temples attired in their finest clothes. From what I have been told, Navratri is considered very important to married Hindu women, it is the time of the year (though not the only time of the year) when they will pray for the well being of their families, the longevity of their husbands, the welfare of their children, good fortune, prosperity etc. As for unmarried women, they will pray to the Goddess for a fine husband. Once they are married, because I doubt the Goddess would disappoint her devotees, they will pray for all the things listed in the paragraph above, as such the happy circle of life will continue. I would like to humbly say that I am no expert on Hinduism, but I do voraciously read everything that I can lay my hands on, offline and online. Based on what I have read thus far, it

I'm a TEETOTALER, those who know me from way back in the mid 90s to the earlier years of the 00s will know that this was not always the case. Way back then, especially as a young reporter whose office was conveniently located in Bangsar (everybody's favourite watering hole), I spent many 'happy hours' trawling the many interesting joints located along Telawi1 and Telawi2. My students days in Australia were also quite a delight, alcohol was so......cheap! We Malaysian students were constantly gushing about this. So as you can see, the 'culture of drinking' is not one that is foreign to me. Being the proverbial observer that I am, and also because I was always "never that high", there were many things that I observed about human nature in those dimly-lit smoked filled joints where glasses were raised literally every second of an hour. I'm not gonna start by saying that intoxication does strange things to people, because that's something

This post was supposed to be written and published by August 31, but work dictated otherwise, while most of you were probably enjoying the start of the long weekend yesterday, yours truly was slogging it out at the office, furiously uploading photo after photo of Merdeka Day celebrations, and scrolling the newswires for stories on how the nation celebrated our 55th Independence Day - That in short is the stuff we newspaper people get up to on all the siesta/public holidays. Being exhausted as I was, I did entertain the thought of saving this post for next year, but then the thought occurred to me, that things might be a lil' different then. The last elections brought a lot of changes, and I think many of us are expecting more changes to follow, once our esteemed Prime Minister decides to dissolve Parliament and call for elections. So......the best time to write this post would be now I dare say. The contents of this posting is a result of years and years of observing the &qu

A classic love story always ends with both lovers dying together, one partner dying, and the other living on and eventually dying of a broken heart. As myth, legend, folklore and history will tell us. The other half of a truly loving relationship will find it inconceivable to go on in normal fashion, once their partner is no more. In most of these 'classic' love stories,  the woman is always the epitome of feminine beauty, and the man is always dashing and every ounce the virile hero. Which is why the story of Shah Jehan and Mumtaz Mahal, and the monument of love he commissioned in her memory - the Taj Mahal, has fascinated the world for centuries. Because of her marble mausoleum and the story of 'great love' which led to its construction, Mumtaz Mahal became and is the most famous Mughal woman of her time.   The Mughal woman I'm more fascinated with however is Nur Jehan or Mehrunissa. The 20th and last wife of Emperor Jehangir, the father of Shah Jehan.

 Last Friday I walked into a shop at Amcorp Mall that sells hair products and accessories. As I entered, I heard a customer whining to the sales staff at the counter about her hair. Said customer was a middle-aged Indian woman with long freezy hair down her back. When she noticed me, she gave me a look and told the staff at the counter: " You see lar, we Indians all have this kind of hair only." I was quite amused that she was putting me in the same category as her, considering that I don't have a huge lump of friz bobbing down my back. If only someone had given this woman some sage advice about managing her thick mane, maybe she wouldn't be whining and hankering after silky-smooth stresses - which she naturally cannot have unless she resorts to rebonding and rebonding till death, by which time she might no longer have any hair left. If only someone had told her that maybe she should not have her hair that long! And that perhaps she should trim it a little

A conversation between two women in their mid 50s Madam X: So how have you been keeping? Not seen you in ages! Madam Y: I'm fine, sorry I could not find the time to catch up until now, been busy, what with work and all..... Madam X: Working?? Why so old ready still must work....? At our age, we should be resting. Let the children support us. Madam Y: Well the children do their part, but I enjoy keeping busy and active. Don't see myself quitting anytime soon! Madam X: Wow really? Do they still accept people our age at the workplace? I'm glad to say there are many men and women in their 50s and above in the Malaysian workplace today. However ageism is also rife, not just in the workplace, but in society at large. And the ones guilty of this are younger Malaysians - the ones who should be more modern in their views, but who sadly are not! At one of my previous workplaces, some colleagues were hiring for their department, and going through resumes, it was

This is something that I have mulled about for years as a member of the profession, and I've finally decided to give words to those fragmented thoughts that have cropped up on and off in the course of work. There's this common enough perception, that in the quest to garner readership and sell newspapers, we in journalism would resort to sensationalising issues and digging up the dirt on others. First of all there is no way we can sensationalise anything, if there is nothing to sensationalise in the first place, and if there is no dirt to dig up, we certainly would not be putting our spades to the task! So to all those who keep grumbling about sensationalism, and the media giving them a hard time - usually all those so-called 'Important People', how about keeping your backyard clean first and not saying silly things - which of course will be reported! When you're that high up, we assume you're smart, it goes with the territory, so when you let slip t

When it comes to myths and legends, most of us grew up fed on a diet of beautiful princesses and their dashing suitors. The prince was brave, the princess had milky white skin, ruby red lips and was the epitome of what women should be - shy and sweet with a voice as sweet as a nightingale's. Which is why I consider Puteri Gunung Ledang one hell of a kickass character. Spurned all her suitors, even the Sultan himself, and preferred to live all by herself up on a mountain. For the record I don't believe the faerie princess had any ties with Hang Tuah, hence Tiara Jacquelina's big budget on-screen depiction of her is at best a fairytale and at worst plain lame. Well I digress, I have always felt that the stories worth knowing have been shrouded in obscurity, and what we have been fed time and again is cheesy crap. For instance, who doesn't know the story of Cinderella? The moral of that tale? If you need rescuing, wait for a fairy godmother, or a knight in shining a

Every once in a while, something will occur to turn the minds of Malaysians away from the "Sandiwara" of the Malaysian political scene. Usually only a grisly crime would do the trick. Especially if the blood spilled was that of a beauty or even a slightly attractive woman. People love to hear of beautiful women who die tragically. We still speak of Mahsuri and the white blood that gushed out of her don't we? This time however, the drama was played out in a different setting. The victim is a 74-year-old man, the setting a quiet suburban neighbourhood in Subang Jaya, the murderer.....? Now this is where it gets interesting. The one who brought Yip Sun Wah down by literally going for his jugular was a dog, whose breed many Malaysians are still scratching their heads about, even the Veterinary Services Department. Pit Bull? Bull Terrier? American Staffordshire.......? A cross among one of these breeds? For the purpose of this posting, I shall refer to this dog as -

As of yesterday we have our first SPM casualty of 2012. E. Prem Kumar apparently consumed pesticide after getting less than satisfactory results. There have been others over the years, those who rather take their own lives than face their parents after getting their results. Some silently ended their lives in the privacy of their rooms after getting scolded for performing poorly, getting average results or just getting less A's! Can you believe that? It seriously is insane, the kind of pressure parents put on their children to get top notch results. The thing is paper qualifications are not everything, and EQ (emotional intelligence) is just as important as IQ (intelligence). Many parents spend so much of emphasis on education, happily forgetting that imparting basic life skills - especially social skills is just as important. Future employers are not just going to hire you because they are bedazzled by your academic results and fancy degrees. They will also be judgi

Early this month, tongues were wagging as to a certain piece of news. But this time it was not the bedroom scandals of politicians or the ownership of the word "God" that got people talking. Actually the news in question was rather positive, and should have warmed our hearts, but it didn't! As good as this finding looks in terms of public relations, the reality is far different for most of us, and this is why we will not be popping champagne anytime soon. Snatch thefts, snatch thefts, snatch thefts!! Many people have lost their lives to this rampant crime.  Public transportation is not safe. Remember those taxi rapes? And those are just the reported cases. Malaysian cab drivers have also been known to rob their passengers! Things are definitely not looking good for us in this sector. Rape by those in authority - Students have been molested and raped by teachers, National Service instructors and college lecturers. The acid splasher - has the dude

The Star came under a lot of heat for the picture of Erykah Badu sporting body art offensive to Muslims in Star2 - the entertainment section of the paper. Three senior editors were summoned to the Home Ministry and the story did not end there. Heads were destined to roll and they did. Star2 senior editor Lim Cheng Hoe and deputy editor for features Daryl Goh were suspended indefinitely. And to make sure the paper does not risk offending Islam again, associate editors Rozaid Rahman and Shah Dadameah were appointed to advise the daily on issues sensitive to Muslims. I'm guessing that this was done to appease those who were baying for blood. But it appears that this decision has far from satisfied certain parties. Pas Youth are still not content, they want a dialogue with the paper to discuss the Badu issue and the coverage of Valentine's Day - because it also apparently rubs some Muslims up the wrong way. In true Malaysian fashion this will all die down eventually. M

Erykah Badu will not be the last international artist to be the object of controversy or have a concert cancelled at the eleventh hour. As long as hypocrisy prevails among certain sections of society and the government, this is bound to happen again. We are always neck to neck in competition with Singapore over many things, but one thing we can never wrest from them - is being the centre for performing arts and culture in Southeast Asia. The kind of restrictions imposed on artiste coming to perform here is ridiculous at best - don't take off your shirt, don't lie on the stage, no short dresses, nothing skimpy........with all these conditions, one would think ours is a squeaky clean society. Gwen played the good girl and decided to comply. But that is not the case. If it were, then fair enough, we wouldn't want the "rakyat" traumatised by the sight of a bare chest glistening with sweat or a woman's naked thighs on public display which would be oh so