Happy Deepavali

Here’s wishing everyone out there a Happy Deepavali, regardless of your age, sex, race and religion. Why do I say that? Well, elementary my dear readers, I am no Hindhu devotee, but then again, Deepavali is one of my favourite holiday throughout the whole year.

Why?

Why indeed. I could have said that Chinese New Year, Eid or even Christmas is my favourite festival. But then again Chinese New Year is crap, because I’ll be forced to give angpow to brats who sometimes I don’t even know, and I have to sit primly at a table full of old farts who thought highly of themselves and absolutely have no care for the youngster’s mind for the reunion dinner. The old farts simply do not give a damn about you, and just like any typical Chinese, they simply loved to compare and gossip about their children’s achievements to each other. It is just sickening to the stomach. The food for reunion dinner are usually overrated, expensive and simply unbearable-especially when you go to expensive restaurants instead of eating at home. And I kinda hate the alcohols and the poker play that goes on during Chinese New Year too. It stinks and just a waste of time and money.

Eid is no difference from Chinese New Year, since I too have relatives who are Muslim, and I am expected to visit them, and attend countless open house where all you have to do is stuff you face. While I do not mind stuffing my face with ketupat, rendang and homemade traditional cookies, but by the end of the day, I will surely get stomach aches and annoyed by the fact that I’ve wasted my holiday yet again by entertaining people around me instead of giving myself a well deserved rest.

Christmas is no difference either. Always hated it because there will be friends and family gathering one again. Worst, Christmas is the time for giving and exchanging presents. EXPENSIVE PRESENTS at that. I’m bad at wrapping presents, so this made the whole process unbearable too. I also could not stand the fact that I have to decorate some dumb Christmas tree for display, cuz it’s just simply pain in the ass, literally-trying to figure out where should I put the turtle doves or little porcelain angels when in the end, the people who visits my house won’t even be looking at the Christmas tree but look forward for the food and presents instead.

To me, the only fun thing about Christmas is just having a quiet time for myself reading Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol over a cuppa tea when everyone is gone and no longer pestering me for presents, food, or even cleaning up the house.

I’m always a little bit of  Ms. Grinch  and a Scrooge when it comes to festivals. Especially if it’s Chinese New Year, Eid and Christmas. People whom I dislike will pester me endlessly while people that I favoured simply would not appear. It’s just a pain in the ass.

But Deepavali or fondly known as Diwali elsewhere is a different story.  I love Deepavali because for once, no one will bother me, and I usually have fun putting a beautifully designed RM5-RM10 henna on my hands and get to munch on murukus, satisfy my sweet tooth on laddus and many more Deepavali delicacies that I loved to boot.I can also play dress up and put on some sarees or Punjabi suits if I want to and no one would laugh at me for donning one.

Apart from the fact that I have an extra day off on Deepavali, I enjoyed the fact that Deepavali is THE ONLY holiday in Malaysia that I am not expected to make a hassle of a tiring trip to visit some relatives or unbearable old farts. I also enjoy the fact that during Deepavali, I am also not expected to play hostess and try to please everyone else around me.

Deepavali always means a real holiday to me, and I hope it’ll remain that way for the rest of my life, for truly enjoying a relaxing Chinese New Year, Eid or even Christmas is truly out of the question.

Besides getting to rest, relax and enjoy Deepavali, there’s another thing more important above the rest. Deepavali is a reminder to me that despite Malaysia puts more emphasize on the Malays and Chinese’s wellbeing and welfare, the Indians are not forgotten, and never would be.

Having Deepavali as one of the officially recognized festival by the government, it reminds us all that the Indians, despite being a minority in this country, they are still a part of Malaysia, and still thriving and respected in the modern society, and would continue that way.

The Malays and Chinese may have made up the big portion of the nation and usually their voice are louder and more heard than the Indians, but without the Indians contributing their efforts and culture in nation building, Malaysia would never be complete. The Malays, Chinese and Indians may be different. They look different physically, but at the end of the day, without each other, we are incomplete.


Cleffairy: May this Deepavali the light of goodness illuminates your heart.

18 comments

  1. claire says:

    hi Cleffairy, I really admire your writing skills.. see, u have a talent.. a very wonderful talent specially for u, if i could write half as well as u do… oh, i m not groaning or complaining, God is fair… He gives us different uniqueness in an individual… use your gifts, dear…
    sorry, the topic is deepavali and i am talking about writing skills…cannot complimenting u… oh, i just came back from dinner, at another indian colleague of mine too…this time, it was tosai, mutton and curry chicken…. oppss… i belum curi recipe yet.. pls give me some time to master the plan first… 🙂

  2. Zara says:

    Hi darling!
    U make me stunned when read this!
    Totally stunned and hell yeah, I found it’s true. =)

    I always wonder what will happened when I’m getting married.
    Need to entertain more than just 2 families~
    *sigh*

  3. jen says:

    hey cleffy, i love henna arts as well *high 5*
    i hate CNY too because everyone keeps on asking when it’s my turn to give ang pow. worst part is that i’m too paiseh to take angpow from my married cousins who are much younger than me, lol.

  4. Cheeyee says:

    hi was here. Glad that you enjoy the holiday. This year did not get a day off for Deepavali, as Sat itself is already a non-working day. So it’s just another Sat to me.

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