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Week 2: Explain how work, amusements, and social life are affected by the climatic conditions in your country
Malaysia lies in the tropics. Any foreigner who comes here for a visit invariably suffers from the incessant heat. Even the locals suffer, in varying degrees. My country is one that enjoys a perpetual summer, punctuated by periods of monsoon rains and thunderstorms. I, for one, do not like the scorching sun. The rain is always welcome except when it is excessive to the point of flooding.
Thus, life in Malaysia revolves around hot days and wet days, with an occasional overcast day. Most people do not like to work under the sun. If they cannot help it, like the road-workers, they normally wear large hats and thin clothes so as to minimize the effects of the sun. Strangely, though, the darker-skinned workers, like the Indians, seem less affected by the sun. So it is no surprise to see mainly Indian workers along the roads, working long hours under the sun without apparent harm.
The people of Chinese origin, who have whiter skin, are the ones most afraid of the sun. This is evident by the fact that the Chinese girls, in particular, who work in rubber estates, wear huge scarves, long-sleeved shirts, and long pants so as to cover their bodies completely. They do not like their skin browned, for it is considered unfeminine. The huge scarves that they wear like hoods cause them a lot of inconvenience, but they bear it for the sake of beauty.
Away from the sun and in the shade of offices and shops, fans turn unceasingly. Those who can afford it have air-conditioners to maintain a more pleasant atmosphere. Even cars and buses now have air-conditioners fitted. The difference between travelling in an air-conditioned car and a car without an air-conditioner is very great. Anyone who has done both will agree with me. On hot days, the ice-water and fruit stalls are a blessing. They provide thirsty people with refreshment that is so necessary to keep them going. These stalls have many varieties of drinks and fruits to cater to the equally varied tastes of their customers. Business is generally good except when the rain comes. Then it is a time of woe for the hawkers.
The sun thus drives most people to look for jobs in the cool comfort of air-conditioned offices. Furthermore, offices shield their occupants from rain and thunderstorms. Few people, and only those who have no choice, would expose themselves to the mercy of the two elements of nature, the burning sun and the driving rain.
The recreational and social activities of the people are also determined by the sun and rain. Sports and games are held early in the morning or in the evening. Most people cannot last very long under the sun, so it is not a good idea to play hockey at noon. The possibility of collapsing is very real indeed. Only mad cricketers stand under the sun trying to bowl one another out. No wonder cricket is a dying game in Malaysia. Most people prefer to remain sane and play outdoor games only when the sun is not as hot in the morning or evening. In the evening after work, one can see the playing fields crowded with football players, joggers, hockey players, and spectators. It is the most pleasant time of the day. Fewer outdoor types play badminton, squash, and billiards in weather-proof rooms.
The beaches are filled to capacity on weekends and holidays, but sunbathers are rare sights and almost invariably are foreigners from colder countries. The locals do not sunbathe, unless they are asking for burned skin and sore backs. Most visitors to the beach prefer to rest under the cool shade of trees or man-made structures. The more outgoing ones may frolic in the sea. The sun can be so hot that after a session or two of intense sunbathing, the foreign participants would be most careful in venturing out for more.
We have air-conditioned restaurants and shopping complexes to ease the strain of the sun. During the day, most shoppers gather at the cool complexes. When the sun sets, we can see "pasar malam" springing up. As the day is hot, the nights are cool in contrast. This is one of the benefits of living in the tropics. At night, we can venture out in ordinary clothes without fear of getting frozen. In fact, it is very pleasant to browse around the night stalls. The people are also in a better mood at night, so the stalls are patronised till as late as midnight, after which silence reigns, and only a handful of nightclubs carry on.
In general, then, life here in the tropics is a constant avoidance of extreme heat and extreme wetness. Cold is not a problem here. We keep cool and dry as much as we can.
Week 3: Scents and smells
If you walk along a typical busy street in town, how many different scents or smells can you discern? None? If you are one of the unfortunate people who has caught a cold, I can understand your inability to smell. Otherwise, you have not been using your nose properly. There are a thousand things to smell. All you have to do is be a bit more aware.
Walking past a sundry shop, you might smell the aroma of salted fish, spices, open sacks of rice, vinegar, garlic, onion, and other goods all together in one big whiff. It is quite an experience, this combination of smells. It is the mark of a well-stocked sundry shop, unmistakable, unavoidable, and always unforgettable. It is no use running past the shop and holding your breath as you run. The smell will cling to your clothes. There is no escape.
Further down the street, you walk past a clinic. What do you smell? It is the smell of medicine and sick people. You do not have to look into the clinic. The typical smell of chemicals exuding from the clinic is enough to remind you that illness and disease are still among us. It makes you glad you are not one of the sick.
If you wander into a bookshop, then the scents coming to your nose are different again. The smell of new books and magazines combined with the coolness of the air-conditioner gives the shop a unique atmosphere. You probably end up buying more books than you intend to. Such is the power of a good bookshop. It pleases your senses and makes you spend your money.
So you keep walking down the street, and you walk past all sorts of shops selling all sorts of things. Each shop has a unique smell. It gives the shop an identity. If you were to be blindfolded and led into different shops, I am sure you would have no problems identifying the type of goods the shops sell simply by smell. There is no way you can mistake the smell of cloth in a tailor shop, or the nose-tickling scent of curry in a restaurant, or the sterile coolness of an air-conditioned office. If you were to be left standing by the roadside, 1 am sure you have no trouble picking up the unpleasant smell of petrol and diesel fumes from the vehicles on the street. Also, if you were led anywhere near a public toilet, there is no doubt that you will identify the universal stench 50 typical of a public toilet. If you cannot identify the place, then your nose needs repairing.
Scents and smells play a big role in our enjoyment of food. This is made very obvious when you catch a cold, and you cannot smell a thing. Suddenly, the food becomes tasteless and bland. You have no appetite.
How often have you been led to the kitchen by the smell of food being cooked? The smell of fish and "belacan" being fried is quite something. It invariably makes my stomach rumble, and my mouth salivate.
Similarly, if any food is burnt, it is our nose that tells us first. You surely would have experienced the time when you almost put food in your mouth, but were stopped in time by the smell that told you that the food was stale. How wonderful our noses are!
Some scents and smells are predominant in my consciousness. The smell of freshly cut grass tells me that my neighbour is mowing his lawn. The smell of wood smoke drifting into the house tells me that my father is burning dry leaves. The smell of cow dung tells me that the cows have strayed into my garden again. I can even smell the stench of rotting flesh coming from a corner of the garden. It probably means that there is a dead rat or a dead frog there. I will have to get rid of it. My nose will guide me to it, or my dog, who has a far superior smelling organ. will get at it first.
These are some of the scents and smells that I know. There are many others, too numerous or impossible to describe. They have to be experienced to be known. Right now | can smell the approach of recess time. The smell of mee from the tuckshop is calling me there.
Week 4: Is life too hectic to enjoy fully?
For most of us living in towns and cities today, the answer to the above question would be a definite Yes'.
The reasons are obvious. Look at an ordinary schoolboy from an average home in a city. First and foremost, he has to go to school. After spending five hours in school every day, he has to have extra tuition, swimming lessons, art lessons, and various other activities so that he can learn as many things as possible. Finally, when he arrives home, he has to have a bath, have his dinner, and if he is lucky, get to watch television for a while. Then it's back to the grind: finishing his homework. Come weekends, there will be picnics, parties, and other functions. In short, the poor kid has no time to relax. Whether done purposely or not, he is being pushed all the time. The parents ought to realise that their child is not a superman. If pushed beyond his limit, the consequences may not be pleasant.
The result of his incessant pushing is not a well-rounded person, as is hoped, but one who does not know how to relax. This kind of person is exemplified by many adults living in the city. Such an adult is aggressive, harried, intolerant, and all geared up for success. Not everyone is going to be a roaring success. Most will not be so. Failure has become a dirty word, a condition that is considered shameful. So the poor trapped soul struggles on, trying to prove himself. He tries so hard to make a good living that he forgets to live. He does not enjoy his life anymore. "Where got time, lah" becomes his favourite catch-phrase. He has no time to live, really live.
To fan the flames of this hectic pace of living are innumerable amounts of consumer goods on the market, increasing rapidly with no end in sight. I remember the time! wanted to buy a bottle of shampoo in a local supermarket. I picked a bottle and looked at it. That was my undoing. Two salesgirls converged on me and insisted that I buy another brand they were promoting. They had anti-dandruff, conditioner, for dry hair, oily hair, etc. After a couple of minutes of continued hassling, I walked out empty-handed. bought my bottle of shampoo from a sundry shop outside town.
That is just an example of how hectic our lives have become. Maybe some of us are already numbed by the amount of advertisements on television, radio, and the newspapers. What do they all preach? Invariably, their products are the best. By using their products, we improve our lives - better cars, beds, orange juice, pens, soap powder, and a million other things, all made for a better life. Have our lives really become any better because of all these products? If so, how is it that we have pollution everywhere? How come the hospitals and clinics are always full? How do we explain the rise in crime, pornography, and all manner of human perversion and discontent?
Look at the pace of life in a city — rush, rush, and more rush to do more and more things in as short a time as possible. The rush for buses, traffic jams, and the resulting frayed nerves are part and parcel of city living. Try walking slowly in a lunch-time crowd on the sidewalk, and you will be jostled and pushed if not trampled on. Everybody has only a short break for lunch. So it is a rush to fill the stomach as quickly as possible, at a fast-food shop. Everything becomes fast, otherwise one cannot cope, cannot meet the deadline.
Faster, faster, maybe one will be dead faster too.
Even holidays are hectic. The trend is to see as many places as possible. So a two-week guided tour of a country becomes two weeks of hectic shuttling between places, force-fed with sights and sounds of quickly forgotten stopovers. What does a tourist get from such a tour except a fatigued body and a scrambled mind? The only consolation is that he can tell his buddies at work that he has visited the U.S.A. or Tahiti. Has he?
Such hectic living is not for me. I prefer a slower pace of life where I can savour each moment as much as possible. It is crazy to rush and not see so many things around us. Maybe we can learn something from William Henry Davies' immortal lines:
What is this life if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare?
Week 5: Fruits of Malaysia
Malaysia is blessed with a large variety of fruits. Most of us enjoy eating these fruits. They range from very sweet ones that make our teeth hurt to very sour ones that make our teeth numb. Whatever our preference, we can always find some that we like.
Some fruits are seasonal, while some are perennial. The famous durian, which is also known as the 'king of fruits,' is a seasonal one. This fruit appears in abundance around the month of May and again around December every year. The popularity of this fruit is undisputed. Many people from all walks of life can be seen surrounding the vendors when the durian is in season.
The average size of a durian is about that of a soccer ball. Its outer skin is hard and spiny. We have to be careful not to be pricked by the many sharp spines. Inside the durian is a different story altogether. A good durian contains seeds coated with sweet yellow flesh. The flesh also emits a powerful smell that needs getting used to. Most locals love the taste and smell. However, visitors to our country usually find the smell unbearable.
Other seasonal fruits are the rambutan, langsat, duku, rambai, mangosteen, and others. All of them have their unique taste and are consumed in large quantities when they are in season. Personally, I like the rambutan and langsat most.
Off-season, we have the perennial fruits like the banana, guava, mango, pineapple, papaya, melons, etc. In every fruit stall, these fruits can be found. The pineapple and papaya are especially favourite with us. One vendor told me that he spends most of his time preparing pineapple and papaya slices for his customers. He even showed me his wrinkled hands due to too much exposure to the juices from the fruits. I suggested that he wear gloves, and he seems to have taken to it.
There are other fruits like the mata kucing that are not so popular. Also, there are poisonous fruits that no one touches.
All in all, I would say that we are very fortunate to live in a land that has so many succulent fruits that we can enjoy to our hearts' delight.
Week 6: Progress — its benefits and harm
Progress normally means improvement, that is, a movement towards something better than what is. Undoubtedly, progress does make living easier for mankind. It is also undeniable that we have to pay a price for progress. Thus, progress has its benefits as well as its undesirable companion, harm.
The town I live in is undergoing great changes. A few years back, there was greenery all around the town. Now the hills and forests are quickly being removed for building houses. I admit that the houses are urgently required for the ever-expanding population, and the building of these houses certainly does benefit the residents. If these houses are not built, then the result will be that illegal squatters will spring up and make matters worse.
However, progress for us has to be paid with a terrible price. The price of this is the loss of the hills and forests, and together with it the natural habitat of the flora and fauna that cannot say anything in protest. So a benefit for human beings results in harm to the natural environment. Which is more important, human benefit or natural preservation? | really important, human benefit, or natural preservation? 1 really cannot answer that.
This trend of progress, whereby it is beneficial to man and harmful to the environment, is evident everywhere. The likelihood is that this trend will continue and probably get more intense. Look anywhere in the world where man has chosen to make progress, and the evidence of environmental destruction is plain to see.
For instance, the construction of superhighways is definitely necessary because the old system of roads simply cannot cope with the number of vehicles using them. These highways are of great benefit and convenience to human beings. To the environment, however, the highways are like great dividing lines that cut the land into many sections. No animal, and for that matter, human being, is allowed to cross from one side of the road to the other. In other words, physical contact between both sides of the road is restricted. An animal cannot go from one side to the other without the risk of being run over. Carcasses of such creatures can be seen daily on these highways. These dumb creatures do not know any traffic rules. So they get killed needlessly.
So the factories and other human constructions continue to eat into the natural environment. We human beings benefit each day as we grow in wealth and power. Our lives become easier and more convenient as we invent more and more gadgets to do our chores for us. We enjoy the fruits of our progress.
The Earth, however, has to provide us with all our comforts, and as such, the natural world has to be denuded. So far, the Earth can still cope with the unnatural demands of human beings. One day, when we have exhausted our natural resources, we may find that, despite all our modern conveniences, and because of them, our world is no longer fit to live in. We would have destroyed it.
Week 7: The beauty of nature you are aware of
In the evening, I sit in front of my house and feel the soft, gentle breeze caress my face and cool my body. The breeze is simply beautiful, and nature gives it to me freely. Actually, nature gives this freely to everyone, but it seems that not everyone is aware of this.
Sometimes the sky is immensely blue. White silvery clouds glide almost imperceptibly against it. The clouds are never the same as they change their shapes continuously. These things are more beauty that perceive around me.
Some days, when the sky turns black with thick, heavy clouds, a distant curtain of falling rain can be seen. It appears as though some unseen hand is pouring water onto the land to nourish it. The sight is beautiful, and it makes me feel closer to the beauty of the earth.
After a thunderstorm, the air is crisp and cool. Birds come out and sing out their joy in life. I sing too as I frolic barefoot on the cool, wet grass beside my house. The frogs Croak joyfully. Even the insects seem to buzz and shriek louder. I am sure they are all singing about how beautiful life is. Indeed, it is.
In the night, the stars make their appearance. Millions of these twinkling jewels can be seen in the black sky. How wondrous it is to gaze at the glory of the universe. No doubt I am just a tiny part of it, but to be able to take it in through my senses makes it even more wondrous.
At night, the moon often makes its appearance. Sometimes it is round. Other times it is crescent-shaped. Nevertheless, its presence adds to the beauty of the backdrop of stars in the far reaches of space. It is amazing that there are such things.
The little garden beside my house is filled with the things of nature. Little bees, butterflies, and other insects fly among the flowers in search of food. The flowers themselves are brightly colored with every possible combination of colors and hues. I feast my eyes on the scene of immense activity and again witness the beauty of nature's innumerable wonders.
The beauty of nature is so simple and undemanding that we often fail to perceive it. Modern man is deluged with artificial things that cut out his awareness of nature. However, I make it a point to smell the roses, to touch the morning dew, to listen to the songs of the birds, and to be aware of the great wonders that nature presents to me. I feel this great beauty within that is in tune with the great beauty without. Life in the forms nature gives to us is beautiful. We just have to be conscious enough to be aware of it.
Week 8: The uses and abuses of advertisements
A glance at any newspaper will reveal hundreds of advertisements. Some are elaborate full-page displays, while the majority are in the more economical classified sections. People and firms advertise for all sorts of reasons. We can read about job vacancies, new products, people wanting to sell or purchase houses and cars, announcements of births and deaths, lonely hearts looking for partners, home services, and others. The list goes on and is expanding every day.
The uses of advertisements are undisputed. Large companies depend heavily on advertisements to make their products known to consumers. These companies play a major role in the development of sports in our country. Without them acting as sponsors, we would not be able to stage international sporting events.
Most magazines and periodicals survive because of advertisements. The people or firms that advertise provide the necessary finance to keep these magazines running. Both parties benefit. The publishers get to carry on their business, and the advertisers get to sell their products. However, some magazines seem to lose their original purpose after a while because they have too many advertisements.
For an employer looking for workers, advertising provides one of the most efficient methods of getting them. How else can an employer let job-seekers know that there are jobs available? Through advertising in the newspaper, the whole country can be effectively reached and the best of the job-seekers selected.
It is the same when people want to sell or buy houses, cars, and other things. Through advertisements, they can come in contact with people not normally met in normal daily life. Again, the best buyers or sellers can be picked out, and the most suitable bargains reached. In short, advertisements enable people to widen their choices and chances in whatever they wish to obtain or discard.
As useful as it is, advertisements are sometimes abused by unscrupulous people. Misleading the public is the most common form of abuse of advertising. Consider some of the deceptions employed by advertisers:
In the midst of an international sports meet, we see the omnipresent sign of a popular-brand cigarette. Everyone knows that smoking does nothing good for one's health. Yet these advertisers blatantly ignore facts and promote their products nonetheless. Even the authorities turn a blind eye to the whole affair. Nowadays, the advertisers have begun to disguise their advertisements. Instead of the direct approach to cigarettes, they go in a roundabout way by advertising fashion, good living, and other aspects of "success".
On television, the abuse of advertisements is most apparent. Who can bear sitting through ten minutes of continuous bombardment by shampoos, hair creams, snacks, washing powder, and underarm spray? It is just too much!
What is worse, they always come just before the most exciting part of a program! Besides giving us a mental jolt, they methodically numb and abuse our minds until we watch them without actually seeing and hear their chatter without actually listening. It would certainly be for the good of all viewers if the advertisers cut down on their advertisements and only advertise discreetly. Presently, advertisements on television are based on hard-selling and relentless assault on the viewers.
Furthermore, how much of what they advertise is based on truth? Does using a certain brand of shampoo eliminate dandruff? My personal experience is a definite no. Does consuming certain foods make us healthier? Then why are the hospitals always full? Does using a certain brand of soap powder really make clothes cleaner? Does owning a certain type of car really make the owner happier? Such things we must ask, if we do not want to be taken in by the advertisements.
Thus, we see that advertisements can be useful as well as it can be destructive. It depends on how it is used. People advertise because they need to. It is only when they advertise falsehood and misleading information that abuse comes in. We cannot escape this onslaught of advertisements, but we can use our own intelligence to weed out the bad ones.
Week 9: Art and design in everyday life
The very desk and chair that I am using when writing this essay must have been designed by somebody. The designs are simple and crude, and can hardly be called works of art. Nevertheless, these humble desk and chair serve their purpose well enough. Looking around me at the classroom, the school, and in fact the whole world, I come to realize that almost everything has a certain design of its own, especially man-made things.
My school was built long before I was born, and the designers of those days must have had very different views about what a building should be like. The walls are a foot thick, the pillars enormous, and the elaborate curves and angles on the building are so markedly different from recently built buildings. By contrast, the school's new science block looks so fragile and bare. Modern school buildings are designed to be functional only. There is no fancy artwork nor Greek-style pillars. Only the barest minimum prevails. The old pre-war building has a certain charm of its own. The new, cheaply made science block seems so cold and lifeless.
Simplicity seems to be the trend for modern buildings, as compared to the elaborate designs of yesteryears. The old Kuala Lumpur railway station stands out distinctly among the ultra-modern high-rise buildings surrounding it. Although dwarfed by these skyscrapers, the railway station still retains its beauty and antique identity. It is always pleasant to look at its various structures and designs and wonder why we do not make such buildings anymore. Maybe it is too expensive, or maybe it is because it has become unfashionable to do so.
The clothes that we wear are also the result of the efforts of clothes designers. While most of us would go around in simple clothes, there are others who would spend a fortune on designer clothes, that is, clothes specially designed by certain well-known designers. These clothes do not come cheap. However, for the price paid, the wearer gets to "stand out" from the crowd. I, for one, cannot distinguish between a ten-ringgit shirt and a hundred-ringgit one, unless of course I see the labels. Still, I must admit that some of the outfits sported by some daring souls look very nice indeed; on the other hand, some of them look absolutely outrageous. I am no hero, so I stick to more conservatively designed clothes.
Book and magazine covers are designed with one thing in mind: to catch the eye of the reader. So nowadays we see most books and magazines with glossy artwork on their covers. The covers make extensive use of colours so as to be as attractive as possible. Some of these covers are indeed beautifully designed. The artists must be congratulated for their good work. The same cannot be said for the contents of some of the books, though.
In other areas of human enterprise, design again plays an important role. Cars are designed to look beautiful as well as functional. Towns are designed for better living and convenience. Roads are designed for faster and safer travelling. Shoes are designed for durability and comfort. Development projects are designed for progress, etc.
All these man-made things are designed for specific functions. How much these things can be considered "art" depends solely on the beholder. Other than paintings and other specially created art objects, most man-made things are not meant to be art. They are meant only to serve a purpose.
If we want to look at works of art in everyday life, then we will have to fall back on good old Mother Nature. Golden sunsets and clear blue skies can never be created by any man. Deep red roses, fluttering butterflies, chirping birds, and rolling thunder never fail to impress me. Nature's perfection and malformations, regularity, and spontaneity are really works of art. They occur every day for us to behold. All we have to do is look.
Week 10: Color in nature
According to my science teacher, we see colors when light of different frequencies enters our eyes. Light consists of electromagnetic vibrations that stimulate the retina in the eye. Without light, we cannot see any colour. Whatever it is, colour plays a huge part in our daily existence. It plays a huge part too in the lives of plants and animals.
When we get up every morning and look east, we can see the sun rising. Some days, the rising sun looks like a huge red ball of fire that seems to set the trees and buildings ablaze. Some days, however its shows no such colour except that of a blinding white which is too painful for us to look at directly. On overcast mornings, we do not see the sun, but we can perceive its presence through the greyish veil of the clouds.
The clouds themselves can be of varied colour. On hot days, the clouds are as white as snow against a deep blue sky. The interplay of sunlight on the clouds gives rise to different shades of grey that ominously change to black when the clouds get too heavy and too close to the ground. Then the sky turns black. Actually, we see no sky at all as a potential thunderstorm approaches. Our whole environment turns sickly dark. Flashes of white or yellow lightning stab like jagged swords from the clouds. The roll of thunder that follows adds to the already tense atmosphere. The wind pushes the clouds along, giving us a grand view of black clouds in turmoil. Blackness is the color of impending doom. It is not a happy colour.
Finally, as the storm breaks, the white sheets of rain pour down onto the ground. Distant things are seen through a curtain of falling raindrops. Focusing is impossible. Everything appears as a blur. The predominant colours are black and white. It is like watching an old film made before color film became available.
The rain pours itself out, and the tension in the air vanishes. The darkness lifts its morbid pressure, and color returns to our world. Everywhere, living things come out from hiding. Birds appear on the trees to sing their hearts out in celebration of the returning sun. Black birds, brown birds, yellow birds, and multi-coloured birds all come out happily to carry on their daily living. Red flowers, yellow flowers, and blue flowers glisten brightly as the sunlight is reflected from the water droplets on their petals. There is a feeling of freshness in the air.
Everything takes on a sharpness that is only present after a thunderstorm. Brown toads play in the cool puddles of water. The green grass feels crisp and alive as we stroll barefoot on it. Up above the sky is once again blue. The clouds are once again white.
The distant hills look blue. The nearer ones are greener. The really close ones are multi-colored. It is strange indeed to notice this colour effect that nature plays on us. From afar, things appear to be monochrome. Up close, all sorts of colours can be seen. A tree trunk can appear brown from ten feet away. However, if we get close to ten inches, we can see different shades of brown and probably spots of white and red on it. If we look carefully, we might even see a gecko lizard clinging quietly to the bark. Its camouflage is almost perfect except for the almost imperceptible movement of its chest as it breathes.
If we look once more as the evening sun sinks into the horizon, we will be treated to the infinite variety of colors of a sunset. No two sunsets are the same. The colors can vary from predominantly golden to a drab grey. It depends on the atmospheric conditions present at the time.
Then, as the sun disappears from view, we are left with an afterglow that may linger for a minute or two before we are then plunged into the world of black and white as night spreads its veil all around us. Yet if we look carefully at the sky on a clear night, we can detect different shades of red and yellow on the stars and planets millions of miles away. Colour is always present as long as we have eyes to perceive it.
Week 11: My class at school and two or three of its interesting characters
This year I am in the fourth form, Form Four A to be exact. My class is a mixture of some 20 boys and 15 girls occupying the first classroom on the first floor of our school's new building. We are a very active lot, much to the despair of our form teacher, Miss Ponnudurai. She says, in her strange accent, that we are a bunch of uncultured brats. Perhaps she has a point there, for I admit we are a bit mischievous
sometimes.
At the top of the list of mischievous brats must be "Gurkha'. Gurkha is actually Goh Kah Heng. He is a short, stout, hyperactive teenager who actually looks like one of his namesakes. The first two parts of his real name ensured that he would be called Gurkha forever.
Gurkha has a voice like a machine gun. What I mean is that when he speaks, the words come out like the staccato chatter of a machine gun. When he is excited, and that is not uncommon, the speed at which his words come out would put any M15 to shame. When that happens, no one knows what he is talking about. We just cover our faces with our hands to avoid the spray of his high-speed saliva.
Gurkha IS mischievous. He is always frightening the girls by showing an insect or a frog in front of them. The girls always scream in unison when they get the Gurkha treatment.
He even plays tricks on the teachers. Many men teachers have got the seat of their pants covered with chalk when they sit on the booby-trapped teacher's chair. Many women teachers have screamed when they see a dead frog on their chair. Actually, some men teacher did scream louder than the women.
Gurkha leaves most of the boys alone. He tried some tricks before, but all he got was some rough stuff in return. He is not a big fellow, so he cannot be too physical with most of the boys. They are usually too big for him. However, he does pick on skinny little Sivalingam.
Sivalingam, or Siva to his friends, is one of the late developers. He still has the body of a pre-adolescent boy. So he is the smallest of us all. He is even smaller than the girls.
Gurkha sometimes takes advantage of this fact. Often, I can hear Siva utter a weak cry when Gurkha suddenly sits down on his lap. Then, almost always, Gurkha will receive a cuff on the head from Hamidah, who sits next to Siva.
Hamidah is as big as Siva is small. This vast difference in size seems to work very well with them. Siva gets some protection from Hamidah, and Hamidah gets to exercise her muscles whenever Siva is threatened. A strange kind of symbiosis, I would say.
Actually | suspect Hamidah's motherly instinct is prematurely developed, thanks to Siva. Siva, on the other hand, appears to enjoy being mothered. If he keeps this up, his fatherly instinct may be greatly hampered. A change of place next to a bigger boy could do him a lot of good. Perhaps Miss Ponnudurai can see this and make the necessary change.
I heard from the other classmates of mine that Gurkha's mother passed away a long time ago. So he has been brought up by his father. Come to think of it, I am sure that Gurkha actually wants to be reprimanded by Hamidan. This is something he never got from his mother.
Anyway, these are three interesting characters in my class. There are many others, of course. Azlan, who sits next to me, says I am another, too. Ah, well, we will just leave it at that.
Week 12: Moderation is the key to life
If we eat too much, we are liable to grow fat, thus becoming vulnerable to so many diseases just waiting to do their dirty job on us. If we do not eat enough them we will suffer the consequences of malnutrition. Overeating and not eating enough are extremes. They do not help us to live life fully. Either way, we pay the price of becoming extreme. The only sane and healthy way is to eat moderately, enough to sustain our bodies but not too much to cause problems.
There are some people who are fanatically religious. They become blind to other things besides what they think religion demands of them. As a result, they live out of touch with reality and cause numerous problems to the rest of us. Their over-righteous attitude to life makes them see things only in two ways — right or wrong. They make for themselves a prison of their beliefs, and the rest of us are damned for not agreeing with them.
Right on the opposite end are godless people without a strand of conscience in their hearts. They are more like animals who give way to all their lusts and desires. They say and do things that show no respect or concern for other people. All they want is the satisfaction of their desires, regardless of the consequences.
Religious fanaticism or godlessness are extremes that will only bring grief to those involved with them. Both require taking one side to the complete avoidance of the opposite. The result is an imbalance that can only bring disaster. A person who wishes to remain clear-headed will not indulge in any of these extremes. He does not wish to blind his eyes with religious fury nor inflame his heart with uncontrolled passion. He is a moderate person who lives his life gently, letting his conscience be his guide. His life then proceeds along smoothly and calmly.
Everything in this world has its opposite. This is an unavoidable fact of life. We know something is hot only in relation to something cold. A person is tall only when compared to a short person. We are rich only when compared to a poorer person. Freedom is only meaningful when we experience the shackles of restriction. We value our health because we know that we are capable of falling ill.
Society has a penchant for youthfulness. So in its extreme, everybody tries to remain young. Cosmetics sell in huge quantities. Boys and girls dress in all kinds of atrocities that they think make them young and desirable. Middle-aged men and women also indulge in the same game. But nature has its way. People grow older by the moment. Old codgers fight a losing battle with time. Finally, when old age sets in, they sit mournfully alone in old folk's homes or stately mansions with nobody around but a servant. The desirable extreme of trying to remain young will result in the unhappy extreme of getting old. If, in the first place, we are moderate with our lives, not identifying with youth or old age, then it will not matter at all whether we are young or old. We can live peacefully with ourselves. We let nature run its course painlessly, gently. So it is with other areas of life. An overly rich person is afraid of losing his wealth. His very riches keep him anxious.
He is a prisoner of his wealth. A person living in abject poverty is anxious about where his next meal will come from. He is a prisoner of fear. A moderate person who simply works for his living has no fear of losing his wealth and no worries about his next meal. Moderation carries him along without any problems.
Those who over-exercise burn themselves out. Those who sit all day sedately suffer from atrophy. A boy who studies all the time has no friends. Another who only makes friends fails in his examinations. Staying too long under the sun can result in heatstroke and sunburn. Not going out at all makes the skin pale and pallid. Riding too fast on a motorcycle can cause you to crash. Not moving at all also means you cannot sit balanced on the motorcycle, too. Sharpening a knife too often will wear the blade away quickly. Not sharpening at all will render the knife useless. Being extreme is always the cause of pain.
Moderation, then, is the key to life. It is the way to live our lives as it is meant to be lived.
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