RIFLE RANGE BOY

Credit: thenewsminute.com It was a Saturday night, and I was sitting smack in the middle of a temple going late 40s and an early 50s group. They had earlier decided to let their hair down and to indulge in the intoxicating bright nocturnal lights of capitalism and its lure. As the night slithered away into the darkness, their topics of idle banter started becoming more philosophical. From Malaysian politics and the lethargic state of affairs in the country, they ventured into the wisdom of the Vedanta. Somebody started talking about the symbolic gestures of deference amongst Hindus of touching or slightly signalling towards the feet of someone elder. It may a signal of deferring to the great soul that resides in the physical body of the one being touched. The soul has achieved so much, and the younger newbie submits humbly in awe. There are some who refuse to touch the feet. They believe that everyone carries their sins and evil deeds of their past lives in the lowest part...

13.2.2010 A simple gesture… Dinner at Govind’s in Klang with Mama and family was the usual stuff with the usual pleasantries, eating and talking. Suddenly, there was a tap on the shoulder. You know that feeling when you are the last to know something. That is the exact feeling I felt that day. People in front of me, facing towards me, were smiling and greeting. Only when I turned around did I realize, to my amazement, that it was my old buddy Samy! Our friendship had blossomed when we were working together as part of the ‘Hari’s Boys’ in the Surgical department of Seremban Hospital under Mr. Hari Rajah (The Smiling Surgeon). I did surgical elective for a year (Feb91 –Feb92) there. I used to stay the night at his place during my passive call days. I left to do Registrar’s posting in Malacca in April 1992 and we met up again in 1998 when I was in Klang GH as a Consultant O&G and he was an Orthopod. We applied for Sri Kota Hospital together. He got in but I got the boot. T...