with colours in mind

Posted at September 21, 2006

Erna’s brother, Ay is saying goodbye to the KL smog and returning to the state of Mt. Kinabalu. In a way, I envy him — I have been to Sabah a couple of times, and they were the best vacations I’ve had. Of course my auntie and uncle residing there were excellent hosts, but there’s just something about the air that is different from that of Peninsular Malaysia.

But there is also something about the pollution here that gets to me, oddly enough in a positive way. The noise, the smog, the coughing, the choking… they come with the hustle-bustle of the city, bright lights and bad traffic. I hate them of course, but I don’t know if I could do without them. All these also represent work and money opportunities within the city, the places you could go to at 4 in the morning knowing that they would be open, the local art scene which I am learning to love, and so on and so forth.

They also make a week’s holiday in beautiful Sabah worth more than a king’s ransom.

But perhaps it is easier for me to actually like the Klang Valley. I am Chinese after all, and a fair one at that (by ‘fair’ I mean lighter skin colour). It is not difficult to pinpoint my race in this nation of tiga bangsa dan lain-lain. People being people, are naturally prone to sticking with their own. If you do not believe me, guess what brand of cars the Korean expat community in Malaysia predominantly use?

Ay is a nice guy. He is tall, slim, dark-skinned, a tad muscular and has beaauuutiiifullll eyes. He is smart, very friendly and obliging, speaks and writes English better than me, and is apt to crack silly jokes when the opportunity presents itself. He dresses like how boys his age do; casual Ts, cargo pants and sneakers. He also keeps a hairstyle that makes him look like an escapee from the Pusat Serenti. That perhaps may have been the main cause of his problems here in Klang Valley.

Since he does not own a car, he basically walks a lot to buy food and other stuff that he needs, newspapers and such. He enjoys walking, he said. Well, good for him, healthy shmuck and all that. It is not really a problem, unless it rains or something. Other people go the extra mile to avoid him on the street, but I don’t think that inherently is a problem. Or is it? Heh… maybe a percentage.

One of the funniest (or saddest?) incident involving Ay was like what I said, random strangers go all the way out to avoid him. The old newspapers pile in the house was getting taller, so I told him to get hold of the ‘old newspaper old newspaper’ lorry fella to collect our newspapers. A week or so later, I noticed that the huge pile was still there. I mentioned it to Erna, and she told me that we had a problem. Seems that every time Ay tried to hail the lorry fella down, the lorry fella stepped on the gas and quickly drove away. This happened more than once so it wasn’t a coincidence.

I laughed till my sides hurt, but also felt bad for Ay lah.

And I wonder, in these crime-laden days, if I didn’t personally know Ay, would I have the same reservations?

Just random Thursday jottings. Kind of bored at the moment.

Stories, Thoughts, Ramblings
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