A Japanese Couple in Town

HJ and buddy were golfing at Meru when they met up with Taka San who was golfing alone. So they invited him to join them and the rest is history.

Taka San is a retired journalist who had worked in London for 4 years and therefore spoke pretty good english. His wife Iche San, also retired, worked as an Administrative staff in a English language school. Taka San spends the summer and winter months out of Japan.

They were in Penang when they found out about Meru Valley Golf Resort and booked 2 months stay.

HJ invited them both for another round of golf at Clearwater - he found that they were a very friendly and nice couple and wanted to extend the Malaysian hospitality to them.

It then lead to dinner with a group of friends, one of whom had a Japanese wife. We felt it would be nice for them to meet up with a Japanese who had lived in Malaysia for 7 years.

As it turned out they enjoyed the company and food tremendously and kept saying thank you to HJ. We even had sake courtesy of Jeremy. After dinner we took them for a short tour of the town (the only place they had been was to Jusco via the resort shuttle) and they liked the colonial buildings in old town.

I like Iche San very much, she is very warm, friendly and approachable. When we dropped them off at their apartment we hugged each other and they promised that they will definitely come back to Ipoh again. They also invited us to stay with them in Tokyo.....

What a funk - Rubbish Dumps

People indiscriminately dump all kinds of rubbish in an area near my house. Its an eye sore, a pong, a funk.

The council had cleared this area twice and put up a sign that says "No Dumping. Fine - RM500".

Guess what? A couple of days later that sign gets knocked down, rubbish continues to pile till that sign is buried. "There! I can dump rubbish here now there's no sign that says I can't."

It isn't as if the rubbish truck doesn't ply this housing area, people are "house proud" and don't want a rubbish bin decorating their back porch. People think a rubbish bin is too expensive, why buy one when there is a "free" area for throwing their rubbish?

People clear their beautiful gardens and throw the branches and leaves in that area - they drag those branches through the street and leave them there. Its too much work to cut up the branches and bag them for the rubbish man. So long as my garden is well kept, I don't care what happens around me.

The caterer throws the styrofoam plates, plastic forks and spoons and they spill all over - they don't even bother to bag them. What for? After all the dogs will scavenge, break the bags and scather them all over. Might as well save a plastic bag and do my bit for environment.

The tenants of a nearby house bag their household rubbish, walk to the dump area, leave it there and walk away trying to look angelic.

Some car passes by, slows down and a bag is thrown out. Quick! Check it out! Someone might have committed a murder!

Someone bought a new sofa and left the old one there. Or, rather it could be the furniture guy who agreed to get rid of the old sofa for you! Someone comes along and guts that old sofa taking whatever can be recycled to make some money. Hei, why don't you just take the whole sofa with you?

Someone else comes along, pokes in the rubbish and carts off some scrap metal. We should thank these people for getting rid of some of the rubbish...

Durian shells and seeds in some bags - the remnants of someone's delicious, finger licking good, 'Taste like heaven, smells like hell' heavenly meal.

Once I called the enforcement council and was told how they nabbed some people who threw things out of their apartment to land either on someone's head or car or laundry....

Enforcement said; "we will post someone there to fine these people and teach them a lesson". Several days later, the rubbish was cleared but far as I could tell no one was fined or caught.

Instead people started merrily decorating that rubbish area again with the unwanted trappings of their lifestyle...

I am in a funk.

What a Funk - Abandoned

The New York TImes - "On Language, Funkmanship"
By WILLIAM SAFIRE

Published: October 22, 1995
(http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9806E2D81139F931A15753C1A963958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1)

Extract:
"A funk, noun, has a couple of other senses not connected to the smell of tobacco. One is "fear, panic": Grose noted in 1785, "I was in a cursed funk." In his 1856 novel, "Tom Brown's School Days," Thomas Hughes gave the word its color: "If I was going to be flogged next minute, I should be in a blue funk." Another, related meaning is "black mood, depression." ... Other meanings abound -- the Historical Dictionary of American Slang notes "to flinch," "to back down" and "to fizzle" -- but "to be in a funk" usually means to be very gloomy, kicking the cat and muttering oaths."


Abandoned.
Puppies, kittens....

In one of my regular walk routes with Bernie, I came across 3 white and black spotted female puppies. They were huddled together behind a lamp post among some bushes. Two of them were brave enough to bark when we passed by; otherwise they looked as lost as they were.

The ex-owner of these puppies should be shot, quartered and dumped for what they did:

1. for not spaying the mother of the puppies in the first place
2. for not finding a home for the puppies
3. for dumping the puppies
4. for not being responsible pet owners
   

I only know for sure the familiar scenario of abandoned puppies in this neighbourhood or any neighbourhood for that matter. The puppies grow up on scraps provided by some kind person or scavenge in the rubbish dumps. They somehow survive. They get old enough to be in heat, the male dogs gather around and the nights get noisy with their howls and fights.

The puppies get pregnant; if they are 'lucky' their puppies get born; if not, someone calls the dog shooter and they are cruelly destroyed.

What a funk indeed.

Once many years ago, an animal lover tried to lobby for animal laws/rights in this country. There has been no news since then. And with the rising costs of living....you get my drift.

Once I rescued an abandoned puppy and took it to the vet who eventually found a home for him. I was happy with what I did. I would love to do it again with these 3 puppies.

But what did I do instead? I avoided this familiar route.......I couldn't bear to see those puppies because I can't do anything for them this time...

But I am in a funk...

A Botched Spay

Bernie had an ultrasound scan done today.

She was spayed at 8 months and now 3 years later she is on heat. Needless to say I was upset. The so called vet who spayed her was no longer in Ipoh.

So I went to her current vet, Dr Teoh a very nice and competent vet. He confirmed that Bernie was indeed on heat. However we had no way of knowing what the 'vet' did on her unless an ultrasound scan was done.

The scan showed that Bernie's uterus and ovary was removed but 1 ovary remained. That explained her being on heat. And it left me in a dilemma.

I didn't want her to have to go through that operation again. But I also get upset when dogs come to the house! So .... what to do?

I'm still thinking...

BTW what made me more upset was finding out that the so called vet was not a vet at all. This Inidan man was hired by the 'real' Chinese vet at his vet shop to help because the Chinese vet was busy with his 'other' business!!! This industry needs to be regulated in this country!

What is a Widget?

A widget is group of programming code that can be installed and executed within any separate HTML-based web page by you without requiring additional action on your part.

An example is Google Adsense that you put in the page elements in the Google blog template. You just need to put it in the page element and its done.

Widgets make it very easy for people who are not programmers to come up with blogs that are peppered with all sorts of things.

What are News Aggregators?

On the left side of my blog are links to news aggregators. I would like to explain what news aggregators are.

To make it simple, I have condensed from Wikipedia information about aggregators:

1. Aggregators reduce the time and effort needed to regularly check websites for updates, creating a unique information space or "personal newspaper."
2. 
   
3. The software applications used for aggregators are RSS readers, feed readers, feed aggregators, news readers or search aggregators
4. 
   
5. RSS is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated content such as blog entries, news headlines, and podcasts in a standardized format
   
6. A feed is frequently updated content published by a website

Malaysia News Aggregator in my blog is just a name I put to describe Virtual Malaysia Content Syndication's website. In there are links that allow you to read feeds using RSS.

At the bottom of my blog too is a link that allows you to subscribe to my blog so that when I update my blog, you will be notified. The link looks like this:

Subscribe to: POSTS (ATOM).

When you click on POSTS (ATOM) you will then be taken to a page where you click Subscribe to this feed (please refer to picture at top). After that it will open a new window and then you click Subscribe again. The feed is then automatically added to your browser's Favourites / Bookmarks and your computer will check online for updates even when your browser is not open.

Also in Virtual Malaysia Content Syndication's website are instructions on how you can get and use an RSS reader. I have extracted the instructions from them for your easy reading:

RSS Feeds
RSS feeds bring automatically updated information straight to your desktop. You can monitor Virtual Malaysia news, destination, event and latest travel packages.
More and more sites offer feeds, which you can identify by a small button that says either RSS or XML. However, if you click one of these links, you will most likely get a page full of code in your browser.

To properly read the feed, you need an RSS reader.

Here's how to get and use one;

1. Websites summarize content in RSS feed.
2. Visitors download RSS readers (aka news aggregator). There are generally two different types of RSS readers. The first kind of feed reader is a self-contained programme, the second kind of feed reader use a web browser. Many of the programmes are free, but generally those that have a small fee are more
   robust.
3. Visitors select the content and summaries they wish to view in a news aggregator or RSS reader. (News aggregator and RSS reader are essentially interchangeable).
4. Content is added to the newsreader by entering the URL or web address. Sites that have an RSS feed available typically have an orange RSS or XML graphic. Clicking on the graphic will provide the URL of the feed. Some RSS readers will auto-detect an XML file on a site indicating that a feed is available. (Assistance for those wanting to subscribe to RSS feeds)
5. Each time the feed is updated the content being viewed in the RSS reader indicates that there is new content. This insures that the customer has current information related to the topics they choose.
6. Professionals estimate that RSS will soon rival e-mail’s popularity as a content delivery method

I hope that this blog is helpful. If you need further help, please post a comment and I will help in whatever way I can.

Henkel SilverNight

Henkel held their 25th Anniversary dinner at Syuen Hotel on 23rd May 2008. HJ and I were invited as guests of New Horizons Special Children Centre, Ipoh. HJ is the auditor for New Horizons.

Henkel (M) Sdn Bhd is a company that produces electronic adhesives. Its parent company is in Germany. As part of their corporate social responsibilities, Henkel donates to societies and schools for children in need.

New Horizon is one of the societies. The other societies at the dinner were Hannah Home, Precious Gift Home, Pertubuhan Jagaan Kanak2 Cacat (disabled) and Pusat Jagaan Anak Yatim dan Miskin Nurul Aman (orphans and the poor).

New Horizons Society is a non-profit organisation which encourages and promotes the involvement of the Ipoh community towards the education and welfare of people with learning disabilities. It has been running an Early Intervention Centre since 1995. They provide an educational programme (EIP) for pre-school children and babies with development delays, learning difficulties or mental handicaps. They are run by Michelle and George.

Hannah Home was founded by Pastor Carol Cheng Penner and her Canadian husband. It was established on 7th June 2001. They house orphaned, abandoned and autistic children as well as homeless elderly ladies and single parents. Hannah Home is also adopted by the Budimas Charitable Foundation whose primary mission is to support projects that promote the welfare and well being of underprivileged children in Malaysia.

The children performed a dance at the dinner which was quite good! I tried to take a video of it but unfortunately the stage was too brightly lit for my handphone camera.

I was unable to search for any details on the other homes, unfortunately, so I will not be able to list any information on them here.

When I was in a mall in Kuala Lumpur I was approached by a kindly elderly gentleman who was collecting pledges for Budimas. I was interested to contribute a one time donation but that option was not available.

Later I recalled a controversial article in the Star about fund raising companies that NGOs subscribe to. It appears that the fund raising company takes about 50% of the funds raised for their overheads leaving the balance for the NGOs. There were some objections by the public regarding this and it cast a negative light on charities. However the NGOs rebutted that they used fund raising companies for their expertise; to get a steady flow of funds as well as to leave the NGO staff to do their job of caring for their charges.

For me, I think I will donate directly to the home.

3 weddings in 2 days

Over a Sunday and Monday, I attended 3 weddings - 2 sikh and 1 indian. I did not attend the wedding ceremony (which would have been an eye opener and which I heard from friends who have is very time consuming and full of tradition) but I attended the lunch and dinner.

The first was in a small village in Tronoh Mines about 45 mins drive from Ipoh. The ceremony was held in a Sikh Temple, after which the bride and groom had a photo session before the bride returned to her home alone for the lunch. (To find out more about sikh weddings and why the bride returned to her home alone; please go here.)

Lunch was buffet style with 3 types of vegetables, briyani rice and a dry curry chicken. Here is a clip of the people queuing up for lunch with loud bhangra music in the backgroud:

I saw something very interesting which I hadn't seen in many years a bed of the type in picture above. It is very cooling and nice to sleep on; probably an antique now!

The next wedding I attended was a Sikh wedding dinner on the same day. This was held in a club hall which can hold about 100 tables of 10 people each. Unfortunately, even that hall was not able to hold all the people who came. Those who came late had to stand and wait. The bridal couple came in very fasionably late; and dinner started 1.5 hours after the time shown on the invitation card.

It was a rather modern Sikh wedding dinner with a powerpoint presentation of the events of the day and a bollywood dance troop from Kuala Lumpur. Dinner was served that the table; there was curry mutton, chicken and different types of vegetables served with rice.

The day after was an Indian wedding dinner held at a community hall and orchestrated to the minute. In contrast to the sikh wedding dinner, the bridal couple arrived on time and everything went smoothly according to the agenda that was placed on each table.

Dinner was buffet style with a rather long queue as there were many gate crashers (2 wedding invitations were issued - one for the wedding ceremony; the other for the dinner. Unfortunately those invited for the ceremony only tagged along for the dinner... lol rather comical for me but not for the host!)

There was plain rice, briyani rice, chapati, tosei, fried chicken, curry mutton, all sorts of vegetables and a stall dishing out ice kacang.

The couple sat in a separate area from the guests with an ornamental tent over them. During the dinner, guests walked up to greet the couple and were given a sweet in return.

All in all the weddings were rather interesting.

S.U.M.O. Seminar

Paul McGee - The SUMO Guy - gave a seminar on 26 April 2008 at Canning Garden Methodist Church. Paul is an award winning author, international speaker, audio program presenter, motivational speaker, relationship expert and the creator of SUMO according to the brochure I got.

What made me go for that seminar was the title of one of his books - 'How to handle not strangle difficult people!' - because I had problems with that sometimes!

Well, at that seminar I learnt quite a bit. Paul proved to be good at presenting his ideas, besides being comical at the same time. Paul started with what SUMO meant - Shut Up, Move On

It meant to let go whatever it was bugging us so that we could move on with our life or we would be stuck at that point and not be able to enjoy our lives to the fullest.

E+R = O

E = event; R = response and O = outcome

An event would be something that happens to you like perhaps a fire gutted your house. The outcome would be you lose your house and all your belongings; which is disastrous. However your response while it will NOT change the outcome, will influence it in some way.

Paul shared 4 SUMO principles on how to respond so that outcomes are influenced positively:

A. Develop "fruity" thinking

The T.E.A.R. Method

T = thinking, E = emotions, A = actions and R = results.
The person we talk to the most is ourself. Our thinking affects our emotions which leads to actions and produces results; in other words Thinking affects how I feel, what I do and the results that I will get in life.

ALL of us are MAD - making a difference - no matter how small that difference may be.

Paul cited the example of a training he conducted for the employees of a company. A receptionist said that she would make no difference because she was only a part-timer; however she was wrong because she was the 1st contact with a customer whether or not she was a part-timer.

Develop "fruity" thinking rather than faulty thinking.

Faulty Thinking

1. The Inner Critic - would be your inner voice bashing yourself up each time you made a mistake
2. The Broken Record - would be going through that mistake over and over again and telling people about it all the time
3. The Martyr Syndrome - would be saying that you are the victim
4. Trivial pursuits - in other words making a mountain out of a mole hill.
   

The Brain

If we raised our left hand with fist clenched, and put our right hand over the clenced fist; it would figuratively "draw" the brain.
The left arm represent the primitive brain; the fist the emotional brain and the right hand, the rational brain.

The primitive brain is made up of:
a. fight or flee in dangerous situations
b. need for food
c. need for sex
these are unconscious, natural human responses.

The emotional brain controls our emotions, while the rational brain is what makes us think.

Sometimes we react using our primitive and emotional brain rather than our rational brain. Whether we use our primitive/emotional brain or our rational brain has a direct influence on the outcome of situations we are in.

"STRESS MAKES US STUPID" because we are not using our rational brain. So we need to take a time out to get back into rational mode.

B. Hippo Time is OK

Paul's rephrased 'time out' as 'hippo time' referring to the hippopotamus where the hippo wallows in the mud to keep cool. So it is OK for us to wallow when we are down BUT it is only temporarily so that we can MOVE ON. It is also the time to relax and play and to recover.

C. Remember the Beach Ball

A beach ball has many strips of colour on it - a person looking from one end will see different colours from another person looking at the other end. We see things with different perspectives. To have a good relationship we need to ask the following questions -

Question 1 - what is going on in their world at the moment?
Question 2 - what is important to them at this time?
Question 3 - do you listen to understand or listen to defend?

Listen to understand is NOT = listen to agree

We can agree to disagree.

Question 4 - have you clearly communicated your perspective?


D. Cape Diem - Seize the Day!

Paul ended the seminar with the words 'cape diem' which is latin for 'seize the day'. He ended with the note that when the opportunity is available for us, we should take it and not have faulty thinking to stop us.

For those who are interested to know more about Paul and his SUMO concept please click here. Of course what I have blogged is only the 'tip of the iceberg' - you need to listen to Paul to get the full benefit of S.U.M.O.!

Armish the little boy next door

Armish is 2.5 years old. He lives with his grandparents, uncle and Mano the cat. His parents are working in Kuala Lumpur and visit as often as they can.

This is the first time that I have had Sikhs for neighbours (not counting Armish's grand uncle who stayed next door earlier). Armish's grandpa Mr Mohinder, is a kindly and very helpful gentleman who always says that neighbours are his best friends. He is always ready to help; like looking after my dog Bernie when we are away.

Armish is a precocious little boy; very intelligent, the apple of his grandparents' eye though he drives them crazy with his antics!

Armish loves animals and rough houses with Mano the cat even though Mano hisses back sometimes! The other day, Armish decided to follow Mano under the car...while Mano exited the other side of the car; Armish stayed stuck and yelled his lungs out for grandma. Poor grandma was at her wits end, Armish kept crying and refused to come out so grandma had to pull him out by his legs......and poor Armish got small scratch on his back.

He was non the worse though, because later in the day he was telling me all about it in his baby language...car, car, car!

Armish is helping me know more about the Sikhs and their traditions, like when I asked his grandparents why Armish's eyes were smeared with something that looks like mascara. Armish makes me curious to know more because he is so different from children of my own race (Malaysian Chinese).

So when an article entitled 'Which Indians' came out on The Star, I found it very interesting and informative. Below is the article in full.


StarMag Sunday April 20, 2008
Which Indians?
By MARTIN VENGADESAN

To non-Indians, there are just Indians. Ask an ‘Indian’ what he is, though, and he would say he’s a Malayalee, or a Telegu, or any one of the other language-specific communities, of which there is a bewilderingly large number.

A YOUNG Sikh man and a young Ceylonese woman fell in love. They courted secretly for years until they finally decided that they wished to marry. The nervous couple parted to return home and break the news to their respective families, and were greeted, amidst much gnashing of teeth and pulling of hair, by the identical chastisement: “Why lah you have to go and marry an Indian!”

Now that particular little nugget may be an urban legend, but there is some validity to the assertion that many of the different Indian communities view themselves as having a separate identity of their own that should be recognised by others.

This view is held not just in India, which is home to many of the world’s religions and boasts more than 20 official languages, but also all over the world where there are Indian communities, including in Malaysia where Indians are a significant minority.

Surely that view is justified, for after all, who in his right mind expects homogeneity in a region of nearly 1.5 billion people (if you factor in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal)?
But as Indians move away from traditions (some of which, some might argue, are poisonous ones) like the caste system and arranged marriages, just how much of the Indian sub-continent’s rich and varied history is being lost to current generations?

Two recent developments brought this question to the fore.

The first was a faux pas committed by newly elected Perak Mentri Besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin who last Sunday mistakenly referred to the Sikh community as Bengali, when indeed the community has its roots in Punjab (see map, right).
Another was the almost bewildering confluence of religious festivals that occurred over the last two weeks – Vaisakhi, Poila Boishakh, Ugadi, Vishu, and the Tamil New Year also coincided with Thailand’s Songkran festival and other regional celebrations.

The Punjabi/Bengali difference
As I attempted a thorough investigation into this vast realm, I soon became overwhelmed by the sheer diversity of the various Indic peoples (generally divided into the northern Indo-Aryan and southern Dravidian groups).

For example, I learnt that there are Punjabis who don’t practice Sikhism but who come from the same geographical region and speak the same language as the Sikhs. These Punjabis are Hindus, so one cannot factually say that to be Punjabi and to be Sikh are synonymous. And there are Punjabis who are Muslim and Christian, too.

Malaysia Hindu Sangam president Datuk A. Vaithilingam explains that confusion over the specific race, religion, and language of the various Indian communities is nothing new, and that the Punjabi/Bengali error is a particularly common one.

“Many Malaysians make that mistake. This has been an error that dates back to the British colonial era when many Sikhs were brought to Malaya.
“Through some form of miscommunication, perhaps because the Sikhs came through the Bengali port of Calcutta, this incorrect title has continued to be applied.”

A variety of responses to the issue have emerged.
Khalsa Dharmic Jatha Gurdwara vice-president Baljit Singh was very displeased: “That utterance (by the MB) has made the Sikhs a laughing stock of other communities,” he was quoted as saying in The Star on Tuesday.

Dr Sarjit S. Gill, Universiti Putra Malaysia’s professor of Social Anthropology, adopts an altogether different stance, though: “I view the MB’s statement as a blessing in disguise because I welcome the debate. I don’t think we should blame him. Firstly, we should blame ourselves, especially the Sikh organisations and gurdwaras (temples) in Malaysia.
“I have attended many seminars and programmes conducted by Sikhs in Malaysia where non-Sikhs are not invited to join in simply because we do not want ‘others’ to know our problems. So how can we get upset if we are a closed community and other groups don’t understand us well enough?”

However, network engineer Nirmal Singh feels that our nation’s political leaders should make more of an effort to understand the various communities.

“I am used to this sort of ignorance, but while I have seen it among children and young adults, I didn’t expect a political leader to make such a gaffe. There is a huge difference between Punjabis and Bengalis.”

Nirmal Singh does admit, however, that he himself is not very well-versed in the differences between other Indian communities such as the Tamils, Malayalees, Telugus, etc: “I suppose because we have a different religion we expect others to understand the differences.” (Tamils, Malayalees, and Telugus are usually Hindus.)

The same, yet different?
Such confusion is probably aided and abetted by the plethora of Indian festivals.

The Hindu Sangam’s Vaithilingam explains that festivals are one of the best examples of both the commonalities and differences between Indian communities.

“Many regions of India have their own unique festivals, although often they might be linked. Telugus celebrate Ugadi according to the lunar calendar whereas Tamils follow the solar calendar. Songkran and many similar festivals in Cambodia, Laos, and Sri Lanka occur at around the same time because they followed the Singhalese New Year (which is based on the lunar calendar).”

Dr Krishanan Maniam, an associate professor in Universiti Malaya’s (UM) Department of Indian Studies, explains that the community’s representation in Malaysia differs vastly from that in India.

“It’s true that Indians in Malaysia come from various parts of India but a vast majority of them are from the south of India, (the state of) Tamil Nadu specifically. You also have significant numbers of Telegus, Malayalees, Kannadas, and so on.” (See map for where these people come from within India.)
Because, historically, Tamils formed a majority among Malaysian Indians, they soon became linguistically dominant among the South Indian communities: “Even though (the south Indians) brought many languages to the country, in Malaysia, Tamil became the lingua franca among the South Indians. This meant that Telegu-speaking families, for example, eventually became more fluent in Tamil!”

Prof N. Kanthasamy, who is also with UM’s Indian Studies Department, feels that while the differences between the various Indian communities should be studied and appreciated, they should not be over-emphasised.

“I think in a modern, progressive Malaysia we should try to overcome our differences and think of ourselves as Malaysians first. If we harp on these traditional factors too much we are back to square one.”

Still he does concede that the study of Indian history reveals many fascinating common points.

“If you look at history, you will see why the differences can be confusing. In India itself, during the Chola dynasty, which lasted many centuries (from the 9th to 12th centuries), the whole of Southern India was under one rule.

“During this time, the Tamil language became dominant, and it is the root language from which the other South Indian languages sprang.”

In fact, there are even a few Tamil words like kapal (ship), tali (string), and raja (king) that have influenced the Malay language!

“Since that time,” explains Prof Kanthasamy, “there have been numerous separations and unifications of (states in) southern India, and it was only as recently as the 1950s that Madras State became split along the lines of language.

“From that, you had the emergence of the Telugu-, Kannada-, and Malayalee-speaking states (Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Kerala, respectively).

“When people from these peoples came to Malaysia in large waves under the British, these groups were all classified as Indian, without much distinction.

Aside from sheer numbers, another reason that Tamils and their language may seem dominant in Malaysia is that the Telegu, Malayalee, and Punjabi language schools that existed up until the late 1970s eventually closed down, Prof Kanthasamy explains.
“These communities scattered, and there wasn’t enough enrolment in their schools, whereas the Tamils have had the numbers to keep their schools going.”

Maintaining identities
Dr S. Kumaran, another Indian Studies department expert, feels that the “dilution” of tradition is inevitable
“Unlike Indians from India, Malaysian Indians are not always well-schooled in tradition. In most cases, we cannot identify each other’s community visually, and so we rely on language, and even that can be mixed up.

“And let’s not forget that even at home, many Indians choose to speak English over their mother tongue.
“Still, to those who do follow tradition, there are true differences, especially in India. Each community will very often have its unique traditional clothing, ways of preparing food, and so on.

“The Malayalees, for example, might tie their saris differently, cook certain dishes unique to their community, and celebrate, say, Onam, but, again, some of these traditions don’t survive very strongly in modern Malaysia.”

Even names don’t necessarily offer much of a clue about a person’s roots anymore: “In Malaysia we have left behind the culture of using clan names like Rao and Naidu for Telegus, and Nair and Menon for Malayalees,” explains Dr Krishanan.

As Malaysia’s Indian society moves away from traditionalist mores that still hold sway in parts of India, we can expect a further blurring of communal lines, says Prof Kanthasamy.
“Intermarriage across communities is another factor that is breaking down such barriers.

“While you do have certain staunch traditionalists, many Indians are marrying outside their community and, often, outside their race,” he says.
“Arranged marriages are on the way out, and people tend to chose their own partners, perhaps based on educational and economic background more than race, language or even religion.”

So why then is there a need to focus on what makes us culturally unique? That there is some need is underlined by the irate mail that is quick to arrive at The Star whenever someone from outside the communities makes a mistake and glosses everyone with the same “Indian” brush.

“Economic factors might be a reason that communities in Malaysia might still want to emphasise their differences,” muses Prof Kanthasamy.
“For example, while many Indian Tamils originally came here in the late 19th century and first half of the 20th century as indentured labourers, the Malayalees and Ceylonese Tamils were brought in to perform more ‘educated’, white collar jobs, such as clerical work. “Thus, there may be a desire to maintain that socio-economic distinction.

“Nowadays, as the communities become more prosperous, they may also feel more confident about exploring and safe-guarding their roots.

“I believe even Astro has played a part in arousing interest as it offers programmes for Telegu and Malayalee speakers.”

Festive fervour
THERE are hundreds of festivals celebrated throughout the sub-continent. These are some that Malaysians might be familiar with, as South Asian communities living in this country mark them. Dates indicated are for this year.

• Ponggal – Tamil harvest festival (Jan 14)
• Thaipusam – South Indian festival honouring Lord Muruga (Jan 23)
• Holi – North Indian “festival of colours” celebrating the first full moon of spring (March 22)
• Gudi Padwa – Maharashtrian New Year (April 6)
• Ugadi – Telugu and Kannada New Year (April 7)
• Puthandu – Tamil New Year (April 13)
• Vaisakhi – Commemorates both the establishment of the Khalsa (collective body of Sikhs baptised by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699) and the harvest festival (April 14)
• Poila Boishakh – Bengali New Year (April 14)
• Vishu – Malayalee New Year (April 14)
• Onam – Malayalee harvest festival (Sept 12)
• Navaratri – Nine-day festival commemorating goddess Durga (Sept 29)
• Deepavali – Festival of Lights (Oct 28)

Planning a Swiss Vacation

Contents

1. The flights
2. The airports
3. Travelling in Switzerland
4. Accomodation in Switerzerland
5. Places we visited

The flights
I would call my travel agent to find me the best prices on flights. (Helena is a really good agent - very patient and resourceful. She works with First Travel, Ipoh. If you would like her services, drop me an email).

The short of it is this:

• Etihad (www.etihadairways.com) official airways of United Arab Emirates had the cheapest fare BUT it had a transit time of about 13 hours in Abu Dhabi.
• Qatar Airways (www.qatarairways.com) was the next choice - transit time of 2 hours in Doha slightly more expensive than Etihad but worth the time saved.
  
• MAS (www.malaysiaairlines.com) was the most pricey at about RM5,000 return but it was a direct flight and therefore took up the least time

We decided on Qatar Airways as the most cost effective. The food was good and the service excellent. The crew is an international crew; I learnt from an air stewardess that Qatar women are not allowed to work.

The Airports

• KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport
• It is a huge airport with many duty free outlets and as many gates.
• Note: if you transit at Doha, you may not bring in any wine or alcohol. We thought the ban was because Doha was a muslim city but we were proved wrong when we arrived in Doha
  
• Doha International Airport
• Small airport, still using shuttle buses.
• Only 1 duty free shop but a very popular one doing brisk business.
• They sold liquor and, we found at much cheaper prices than at KLIA what with the lower exchange rate.
  
• Geneva International Airport
• A small airport though a busy one due to Geneva's unique status since the United Nations is located there.
  
• Don't buy anything in their duty free shop unless you have a higher exchange rate to the Swiss Franc (CHF). Though the CHF had a lower exchange rate compared to the EURO, the standard of living is high in Switzerland.

Travelling in Switzerland
To get a head start on where to go and what to do, I would start by searching a tour agent's website for their itinerary.

Then I would Google the country's official tourism website and read up more on what I have garnered from the itinerary.

The best way to travel in Switzerland is using their public transport. Switzerland has the densest public transport in the world and their precision is well known.

Switzerland's travel system has many products depending on your needs. We chose the Swiss Pass as we would be travelling most of the time. The Pass has a discount if 2 or more people are travelling together. It provides unlimited travel on train, bus and boat with free entry to 400 museums. For prices check out the link above.

Our experience on the GoldenPass Line was a surprise as they gave away CHF10 vouchers just because the trip was delayed by 15 minutes. The voucher is exchangeable against selected GoldenPass Line services.

Accomodation in Switerzerland
Accomodation in Switzerland is expensive. In Tasch, a town just 10 minutes by train to Zermatt at the foothills of the famous Matterhorn; a small room with ensuite shower cost CHF140 per night per room (peak period) with breakfast. Breakfast was a simple affair; bread, cheese and cereals. We used Active Hotels to book the room - payment was made at the hotel not at the time of booking.

Places we visited