Last Tuesday was Deepavali and then Thursday/Friday was Hari Raya Aidilfitri. Hence the long public holiday bonanza.
To be more precise (but less Malaysian), the Hindus and Muslims celebrated Diwali and Eid ul-Fitr respectively last week. I’d put links for educational purposes, but am too lazy, so google them yourself.
As I did absolutely nothing vaguely inter-racial or of an inter-faith nature on those days, here are some belated thoughts in the spirit of memupuk-ing semangat muhibbah.
I wish the kolam (or rangoli, depending on which half of India you’re taking your perspective from) played a bigger part in the brand of Malaysian culture that we pony up to tourists in the ads and touristy cultural programmes. Why not, it incorporates spectacularly vibrant colours and is so very decorative.
But most importantly, the creation of a kolam is a participatory event.
Imagine all those Ali-Ah Chong-Ramasamy-muhibbahly-inviting-the-dumb-matsalleh-to-make-kolam photo ops. With a couple of head wobbles thrown in to please the stereotype slapstick-inclined.
But seriously. A kolam can be such an amazingly breath-taking work of art. Wonder if anyone else was as awed by the gigantic peacock at Ikano Powercentre last year. Pity that the original geometric designs aren’t as popular here.
Oh how can I forget - I LOVE Indian food. Kanna Curry House or Annalakshmi anyone?
Moving on.
I like the sound of the Muslims’ call to prayer – the azan. Specifically at dawn and dusk.
A lone voice that rises above the bustle of commerce and daily living. An aural anchor, echoing across cultures, race, nations, centuries.
Of course, anyone living across from a mosque is probably going to go “feh” or “mou kau chor” at the naive romanticism. I guess I’d sympathise too, in such circumstance, particularly with the advent of amplifiers and multiple mosques in one neighbourhood.
Nevertheless, the infection of technology and ingrained racist sentiments aside, I can’t think of a more likely element that one might come across abroad which would evoke a reminiscence of home. Not so much in a nationalistic sense (I am SO not a patriot), but more a sense of childhood familiarity.
Outsiders or not, we grew up with the azan.
It broke the cool silence of dawn and drowned out the damn cockerel as we woke to school uniforms and blanco’ed shoes. Why there was a cockerel on the main street of town where I grew up, I don’t know.
It preceded the evening news on RTM 2, signalling the small break between the 7.30 sitcoms and dinnertime in which one had to lay the table and "scoop rice".
It’s piped over the PA system of some offices at lunch and tea times.
It’s carried with the evening flight of swifts as we fight our way through the pasar malam in our respective tamans.
How’s that for a Tourism Malaysia ad?
Unlikely. Too secular.
But there you go. The best way to breed tolerance is to look at things from a non-invested perspective and appreciate beauty for beauty’s sake.
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Having said all that, which dumbass packaged that stupid hand-over-heart gesture as the Malaysian greeting thing? You tell me WHO does that in real life other than some kena-forced-to people in the tourism industry?
Where got? Where got??
Cis.
7 comments:
I love seeing the kolam. yes, why is it that the tourims ppl don't make it a tourist attraction is beyond me.
i like how you portray the azan. i never see it from the pov before, it's nice that someone has nice memories to associates with that religious call.
eh, maybe you should write a letter to ministry and suggest this (i would but don't want to be accused of curik your idea :D)
hmm.. have to say this though it SO detracts from the awww nature of this post (except for the last bit! and as for that - a-ha, so you've managed to record your tcherk!)... this year's kolam at ikano is UGREE! after the proud peacock of last year, i was most disappointed :(
STILL, communal kolam-making is a great idea - so much better than that dumb make-the-longest-catterpillar-with-lego thing they had for merdeka (hmm, also at ikano... we should go out to other places more!)
nice romanticism there with the azan... like what one would read in stories of arabia and all that...
A lil preface: I know it's been weeks since you got yourself this new look, but I still marvel at the sparkling, *scintillating* feel of this page. Not to annoy you, but, it's still white on Mozilla Firefox. Makes me extra careful not to make or miss a typo here even in the comment box.. heehee... Not that that's a bad thing at all :)
Oh, I too love the Muslim call to prayer. Especially at dawn. (I'm a morning person, dawn is always special, kinda sacred to me)
It's beautiful, the man crying drom the depths of his heart - pardon the melodrama. It evokes a kind of longing that the tolling of church bells don't - and that says a lot, coming from me. You express it so well, spot, evoking images in the theatre of my mind.
Btw, I swear I can do the sing-song bit without skipping a beat. No kidding.
OTOH, unfortunately, in recent years, this call has been been both a call to prayer and war. See last weekend's feature in "The Australian".
asmadi - Thanks for commenting on this particular post. It really goes a lot towards the ongoing crystalising of my views on race relations in general. I was surprised to read the comments of Muslims in Cairo complaining about the cacophony of multiple calls emanating from the many, many mosques in their city. And they do have a point.
You go ahead and write to the ministry lah...i myself lazy, so won't be accusing you of curik-ing ideas!
snowdrop - Dang...didn't make the effort to go and see it myself. Wonder if still got. As for the stories of arabia - exactly. Titititi... :*
percolator - I just saw the "whiteness" on another pc running Firefox last night. Waddayaknow. Not bad also ;)
You're right, it really does say a lot coming from a Catholic. And, exactly. For me, in terms of faith, the significance of a human voice making the call to prayer cuts right to the heart of the matter.
The intimate, personal experience of one's faith is, IMO, undermined by the trappings of institutionalism. Y'know, I could write a whole post about this...think I will.
For now, I'll just say how jarring it is to hear live bands accompanying hymns in churches. Makes it seem so much like a misdirected focus on getting the numbers for numbers' sake.
As long as people don't subscribe to the belief that religion should be a personal experience, the spectre of holy wars will continue to haunt organised religions.
Eh..what sing-song bit ah? You saying you can sing the azan?? :D
Yes, I think I can actually 'sing' that part :) The sing-song bit is the (for want of a better word) preamble (before the recitations). The delivery is sing-song like because of the intonation they adopt. Was just speaking to a Muslim colleage who explained that there are generally 4 styles of delivering that 'preamble' (my word): Makkah, Madina, Al-Aqsa and Egyptian. The version usually broadcast by RTM is Egyptian. I just heard (downloaded thru Islamic Finder) it thru her headphones. :)
a couple weeks ago, the 2nd day of fasting to be exact, i was walking across campus to get back to my apartment. i smelled curry! and something like malay food. i was STARVING. and i followed the smell and saw a bunch of people - Muslim Student Association, about to break fast.
since i had some friends there, i got invited to 'break fast' with them. yum! and those muslim guys, put out some nice rugs (damn colorful) on the grass outside student union and DID THEIR PRAYER! whoaaa...what a burst of emotions - longing, hunger, awe, out-of-place, comfort, warmth...etc. to see them pray like that--open air, on the grass, to the sky, and 'ghosts' walking around, really opened my eyes.
one thing different--the speed of their prayers. whoaaa, super fast! i didn't hear the sing-song part pun :P
lotsachi,
'Sing-song' is only my perception of it. Like I said it's the (preamble) call before the actual recitations of verse and what-nots. You can hear the different versions in the "islamic Finder' site. But you need to give an email address before you can download it though :)
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