On Tolerance

"We must respect other religions even as we respect our own. Mere tolerance thereof is not enough." - Mahatma Gandhi

I decided to put this quote I came about recently as it was rather ironic in my case.
As most of the people who are close to me know, there is an Indian temple somewhere opposite my house. On Friday night, they began setting up their temporary stalls, with zinc roofs and whatnots... To me that wasn't a problem... I am rather tolerant.... I think

Saturday came, I woke up to the sounds of indian drumming. So be it then, I went around doing my work till night came. When night came, so did the loudspeakers.... in da poo di han le ma le , I don't know Tamil, so its up to you to guess what the heck it means. Midnight came, hanlemale stil kept going on...... 12.30.. immense honking from the road... went to have a look, what a weird sight it was..... The Indians were dancing on the road! In the middle of the road to be exact... on one of the busiest known roads in Penang. and this fella was carrying something tat was 2m tall, in the shape of a half-circle, and was twirling it around.... and so, Air Itam road, right in front of my house, was this 2m radius of empty road, and this guy in a Mercedes honking all the way, trying not to be civllised... There was plenty of space beside the road, grassy pavement somemore.. and he chooses to dance in the middle of the road? C'mon lah..there's an easier way to die, such as jumping into the monsoon drain.

1 AM - hanlemale was still singing and the fella was still dancing, this time at the side of the road.

2 AM - hanlemale still on, fella went away, presumably tired

3 AM - hanlemale still on, street is empty, so others went to dance there, somehow they aren't aware that there is a stretch of straight road from CLHS, past my house and all the way up to Penang Hill..... about..... 3 km in all, a drag racer's haven.... they should be thanking Lord Bhrama/Shiva/Vishnu that the racers decided not to race this weekend.

3.30 AM - got feddup, went to bed, hanlemale stil on...

4.00 AM - hanlemale still on.

Saturday Night
Hanlemale went on till 3.30 AM, then this 6 wheeler came and dismantled one of the stalls and then hanlemale stopped.... no one was dancing that night....

Sunday Night
Hanlemale till about 2 AM thank god...

Monday Night
Hanlemale till 12 (?)

Although we are told be tolerant and understanding, but singing offkey, with a loudspeaker easily the size of a small house, isn't particularly homage to a God, especially his birthday. I know I would get pissed off if u sang a song at 100 dB at me for 12 hours or more. And for God's sake, its Air Itam! Statistics of Air Itam : 95% Chinese 4.99% Malays 0.01% Indians.. and why is there an Indian temple right smack in the middle of Air Itam.. ??

Best part is... the temple attracts Indians from all over the state, all sorts of Indians with absolutely no courtesy began blocking our gates and parking there.... until the lorries returned and it was either the lorries had to stay out, or the lorries came in and the cars into the monsoon drains... so the pathway was cleared :P

Now tell me, where is tolerance ? :P

I have another quote that I quite agree with in some way.....

"There is no harmony between the three races of Malaysia, there is only tolerance. Other nations think we have harmony because we do not fight."

This excerpt comes from the first chapter of a rather famous book..... most people would recognise this sentence. And if you don't you should know the book and the author as well.

The Malay Dilemma - Mahathir bin Mohammad