I still remember vividly when you used to crawl up to me when I was asleep and start pulling my hair and my ears and my nose. Everyone showered so much attention on you, and even I couldn’t resist teasing you just to see how you would react. Of course, we were young back then, and we lived simpler lives, oblivious and carefree to the ways of the world. Times have changed. We grew up, we started knowing things, our innocence were lost.

Yet, all that knowledge and reasoning still couldn’t stop me from trying to shout reason into the ears of this stubborn, loud, impatient man that is my brother.

Why the anger? That’s the one thing that bugs me. It’s one thing to be curious and to always have an inquiring nature, but discretion is also a valuable virtue to be learnt. Rudeness and arrogance will not only get you nowhere, but you also run the risk of people misinterpreting you and assuming things about you which are far from the truth. And yet you never listen to what we say. You ask for our opinions, but you become impatient and furious with us when our opinions differ from your solution.

Continued here.

This is something I wrote for The Star last week. I don’t know if it ever saw print, but in any case, here it is in it’s entirety. As always, comments are more than welcome.

TWO CENTS’ FROM AN ORDINARY MALAYSIAN
by: Ganaesh Devaraj

This is just a humble comment from an ordinary Malaysian. I am not a politician, nor do I aspire to be one. I am not a political enthusiast, and intellectual discussions about the intricacies of politics in this country will only serve to confuse me further. But I felt that I had to write this piece, even though it might appear simplistic in the end. It’s something that I feel I have to do, as a Malaysian and as someone who loves and values peace.

I am scared, and I don’t think I have ever been this scared my entire life. I have done some bad things in the past, but thankfully, they remain within the realms of mistakes that people are bound to make in their lifetimes. But this fear, the fear that I have within me now, is of something that I have no control of. I can only stand and watch while events unfold, and see the consequences of what a few of my fellow countrymen are doing, not out of rational thought, but out of ignorance and stupidity.

Continued here.