Odysseys of George

Logo from Journeying

As the logo above resound my deepest wish, I cannot help but wonder, how close is the government of Malaysia treating us her non-Malay citizens as real anak Malaysia!?

For those who haven’t kept themselves abreast with the 50 post to independence (refer article 1) will realise that it reflects 50 opinions of 50 Malaysians who love the country very much but feel sad for almost the same reason!

As we celebrate the 50th Merdeka Day in full colour (refer article 2), I hope and pray that the future of this country would be brighter and fairer for all the children of this lovely land called Malaysia.

Selamat Hari Merdeka!

Articles of interest:

1. 50 post to Independence Day
2. Tribute to Merdeka

This was in my email from a conservationist who received this while strongly promoting anti-shark fin campaign!

NOT FOR THE FAINT HEART. I LOST MY APPETITE AND ALMOST VOMITTED
continue reading…

I thought I would make this more blog a little more interactive. Lately and thanks to my new camera, I develop an interest in taking pictures of flowers and plants. However, my knowledge of botany is in its deepest pit and thus felt like they botanist or the would be enthusiast can help out!

This flower is actually a common flower, I have seen it grow in various places. However, I was somehow attracted to this as also was a tiny little fly! This was taken on a highland while I was having lunch! I posted it up in an earlier post but only one responded but I think he got it wrong and I am not sure either. The picture reference he gave me looked very different!

So any takers?

Happy Onam to all fellow Malayalees. I received many greetings today and thus decided to wish all in this manner. I also received a pookolam from a fellow blogger, Vijay.

So what is Onam?

Briefly, Onam is an annual harvest festival, celebrated mainly in the south Indian state of Kerala. It is a popular festival among Malayalees, and falls during the month of Chingam (August-September as per the Gregorian calendar), the first month of the Malayalam calendar and lasts for ten days. During this 10 days, the rich culture of the Malayalees are portrayed in various ways such as the intricately decorated Pookalam, ambrosial Onasadya, breathtaking Snake Boat Race and exotic Kaikottikali dance.

Onam has two significance:

1. It is the communal memory and celebration of past history as ennunciated in the Mahabali Legend. A story of how paradise was lost.(Story below)

2.It is the celebration of the harvest tied with the memory of the golden age of prosperity. It is believed that during those days the whole of Chingam was celebrated as Onam season.After the rain drenched month of Karkidakam with its privations, Chingam is a welcome month for people in the state of Kerala. The festival is the harbinger of spring — signalling the start of the harvest season.

So how does the story goes?

Onam celebrates the visit of King Mahabali, a king of ancient Dravida to the state of Kerala every year. He is believed to have ruled in South India before the Ramayana event.

The story goes that the beautiful state of Kerala was the capital of the Asura (demon) king, Mahabali. However, he was very religious and was greatly respected in his kingdom and was considered to be wise, judicious and extremely generous. It is said that Kerala witnessed its golden era in the reign of King Mahabali. Everybody was happy in the kingdom, there was no discrimination on the basis of caste or class. Rich and poor were equally treated. There was neither crime, nor corruption. People did not even lock their doors, as there were no thieves in that kingdom. There was no poverty, sorrow or disease in the reign of King Mahabali and everybody was happy and content.

In the days of Ridveda, there were two major groups of Aryans; The Indo-Aryans who believed that Aditi was the true mother of the gods and Irano-Aryans (Dasyu) who believed Diti, the twin sister was. This caused a split between the Indians and the Aryans with many Daityas migrating towards Iran, but some remained in India. Mahabali is the descendent of this line.

As a Daitya, a descendent of Diti who was a cannibal, he was viewed by the Devas as unsafe. Looking at the growing popularity and fame of King Mahabali the Devas became extremely concerned that the Daitya way (cannibalism) might conquer the people. They felt threatened about their own supremacy and began to think of a strategy to get rid of the dilemma.

Disguised as Vamana, Lord Vishnu told Mahabali he was a poor Brahmin and asked for a piece of land. The generous King said he could have as much land as he wanted. The Brahmin said that he just wanted as much land as could be covered by three of his steps. The King was surprised to hear this humble request, and insisted that the boy ask for more. But the Brahmin again said that he only wanted as much land as he could cover in three steps. So Mahabali agreed.

As King Mahabali agreed to grant the land, Vamana began to expand and eventually increased himself to a size of cosmic proportions. With his first step the Brahmin boy covered the whole of earth, and with a second step he covered the whole of the skies. He then asked King Mahabali, where is the space for him to place his third step.

The King realised that he was no ordinary Brahmin. Mahabali with folded hands bowed before Vamana and asked him to place his last step on his head so that he could keep his promise. The Brahmin placed his foot on Mahabali’s head, and was pleased and offered him patala, the nether world.

As he was pushed down into hell, King Bali made a last request. He requested that he be allowed to visit Kerala once in a year to ensure that his people were still happy, well-fed, and content. Lord Vishnu was pleased to grant Mahabali his wish.

Definition:
Pookolam – flower rangoli

Onasadya – grand feast presented on banana leaf

Snake Boat race

Kaikottikali – women sing songs praising the legendary King Mahabali and dance around the pookalam. It is a captivating sight to watch troupe of female dancers performing in their traditional Kerala attire consisting of gold bordered off-white mundu-neriyathu and decked with a fragrant gajra in their hair.

References: Wikipedia mainly! It was a learning process for me too.

So, despite our own busy schedule, we managed to get together to go for the Royal London Circus Fusion which is a musical circus production by Paul L.B.Lee, a Malaysian. It was held at the Taman Puchong Utama and they started operating there from the 8th August and will continue at Puchong till 30th September before they move on to Bandar Botanic Klang from the 11th October to 18th November.

There was some slight difficulty reaching there and the ticketing counter was no better avenue to start. It was haphazard with total disregard to those who have bought tickets earlier. Anyway, after the entrance, there were some stalls selling food stuff but no funfair items.

Upon entering the Big Top, I could not help but be awed with the crowd. The event was packed to the brim with very few vacant seats left.

Then the show started with the MC and the lady with the golden voice singing opera musicals.

Then the show continued with lots of aerial shows, followed by animal shows then some acrobatics and at last the sphere of death. Enjoy some of the shots below

And alas, the audience….

And as they say at the Royal London Circus, ” May all your days be circus days!”

Hmm….. one can interpret that in many ways but as for now I shall take in its best possible way!

Coming from a town as far north as Alor Setar, the main transportation then and still is now is via bus to the city, Kuala Lumpur. I suppose the more effluent among the community would drop the idea of using the express bus services. The use of bus services escalated when the grand highways were built. I have used the bus service many times till one fateful day about 4 years ago. I was to attend a Paediatric Surgery Conference in Singapore and my boss who paid for the pre-congress workshop was unable to make it for that workshop. So he offered his place to me and I gladly took the offer as it was a hands-on workshop on the role and use of FAST( Focused Abdominal Sonogram in Trauma). So I bought a midnight bus leaving to Singapore. It was no ordinary bus and was on of those luxury comfort buses. The bus was full. I was seated right at the back. It was comfortable and all of us were fast asleep. Bang! Screeeeeeech!
I felt my limp body jolting towards the seat in front and my face slammed across the handle bar on the seat in front. Thank god my specs were in my shirt as I always do so when I sleep. The next thing, I felt a soreness over the eyebrow and my nose. It felt wet but there was no blood! Bruised! Damn! Then all of a sudden a child screams and her mother screams together. That woke me up to reality as I was still questioning my senses. It was all dark. There were no street lights or highway lights! I looked in front and two things caught my eyes immediately. There was huge hole in front of the bus – half of the bus across the driver side was missing upto the 2nd row of seats. The other was the screaming lady with her child was rushing to the back in panic. I had to think – and think fast! Everybody else was still in shock and slumped back to their seats in a daze! I quickly pushed open the air-vent on the roof so as to allow some light to come in and air to flow. Another passenger followed me for the vents in front. I confronted the screaming lady and got her to go back to her seat. Then I searched for the emergency exit. Goodness despite after having travelled by bus many times, I took a long time before I realised that the exit was easily 6 feet above road and thus one needed to jump off the exit. Well we managed to evacuate all the passengers. The worst case was of a young chinese lady who was thrown off her sit and landed at the front beside the driver just inches from the large crater formed on the bus. The bus driver was in tears supporting this lady saying sorry. I questioned him further and he said he dozed off and that there was no co-driver. Bloody hell! No co-driver but have a waitress for what? No special services rendered either! Anyway, the first thing the young lady said was she could not move her legs. I pinched her leg and her negative response told me immediately that she had suffered a spinal cord injury. We managed to get her out of the bus lying flat on her back. I remember vividly telling the other helpers to keep her flat. As I exited the bus and went around looking for her, I find her propped up and the police had already stopped a vehicle to get her to the hospital. As I was talking to her, she was lifted off and placed in the car with no regards to her spine. I was furious as I also told them to wait for the ambulance but it fell on deaf ears. The ambulance came very much later when almost nobody was there anymore.

Now that was 2003. This is 2008 and yet we still have the same thing occuring every year only this time it happened in succession and involved deaths. Why do we, Malaysia and Malaysian always wait till something happens to then only pick the problem and rectify it.

Only now they decide to go after the owners of the bus company who try to rake in huge profits by not having a co-driver for a long distance drive. Then they don’t bother to have their vehicles inspected. They don’t bother to screen the drivers they hire. I wonder whether any life time compensation was handed to the young chinese lady. There is still no safety belts for buses. So has bus rides ever got any safer?