Purpose of life...

An old friend gave me the honour to partake in a religious function recently.

Sitting through the function, I came to realise that the basic tenets of all religions are the same. The common seemingly 'good values' are somewhat universal. At face value, everything appears simple but as time goes on, we soon realise that things become more complicated. A simple statement like 'Thou shall not kill any living being' sound simple enough but not when you ask, "What if that being is potentially harmful, like a Bengal tiger or a lethal Dengue spreading aedes aegypti mosquito?"

To these difficult questions, different leaders would give different explanations and rationalisation that appease different target audiences. If the target audiences accept that there could be more than one way to dance the tango, no harm done. The problem arises when each vehemently proclaim that theirs is the only accepted way and others must be reprimanded for not doing the same.

The highlight the event was the stage drama acted and directed by its youth members. I thought that it was a very relevant story affecting all members across the generation. The older generation just goes on living life blindly (or faithfully) based on what they inherited from their elders without questioning too much. They, naturally expect their offspring to follow suit. Unfortunately, the very trait that their parents inculcated upon them, that is to question things and to be learned, are the very traits that make the younger one go astray from old religious teachings. To them, religion is just a set of rituals, akin to meaningless acts of a sufferer of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

To the young, modern day popular gurus like Oprah Winfrey, Robin Sharma and Deepak Chopra seem more relevant. They speak the same language and their answers seem contemporary. Unfortunately, all the answers that the youngsters are seeking are all there in the scriptures. It is just that they are not looking at the right places. The cyberspace always gets the bad reputation for spreading devious thoughts but it can also be instrumental for finding answers for questions people have been asking for generations for the purpose of life.

Kids say the meanest things!

Back in the 90s, the legendary Bill Cosby (of the Cosby Show and Hey, Hey, Hey, It’s Fat Albert!) hosted and produced a comedy programme featuring toddlers and pre-teen children. I suppose the politically correct term now would be tweens. It was called “Kids say the most darn things” and performed well for a couple of seasons. Kids have posed adult-themed (not the X-rated kind) questions (like how are babies born), and children would, with a straight face, answer them with some naïve and quirky replies, much to the amusement of the studio audience, making the producers laugh all the way to the bank!

In reality, as most of us already know, children can be pretty mean, especially towards their weaker and smaller peers. Let me share my experience from when I was growing up.

In RRF, some children used to call me 'orh kia’ or ‘kling kia'—meaning black kid or Indian kid in the Hokkien dialect. Malaysians then and now often assume that if they are too simple to learn any language other than their mother tongue, others must be the same. In fact, I once found myself in an embarrassing situation when someone who looked Malay turned out to be Chindian! So, I will need to be more careful in future.

In PFS, where students are mostly from the upper echelons of society, bullying and insensitivity were also widespread. A short, shy, ebony-hued Indian boy with braces was a prime target for these mean-spirited boys. Kids like DK, GR, KS, KTS, QKB, and JS would hum ‘eee…’ whenever I passed by them (because of the braces). LSY would invent new words like ‘Padukang’, ‘Pegu Yama’, etc., just to sneer at me. I wonder what these words mean and why everyone else joined in the façade. Whenever we learned anything related to the colour black, such as the Negritos in Geography (who are short and dark) or the black box concept in Physics, I would be the target. DK was also instrumental in cleverly changing my name from Asokan to Arse-Hole-Cunt!! All these taunts took a toll on my psyche and my performance in Forms 1 to 3. I used to wonder why I was born Indian. From Form 4 onwards, I managed to pull myself together with the support of good, motivating friends like Kameel, Hari, and Farouk.

I hold no grudges against all the people mentioned above. In fact, I feel like Gandhi or Jesus Christ – let them be, for they do not understand what they are doing. As Swami Sivananda once said, “Bear injury, bear insult; highest sadhana!” It is not my place to judge. By the way, these people are now my Facebook friends.

"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts..." As You Like It, Act II, Scene 7, 139-42.