Merdeka Sleep-in
It's Merdeka again! The whole country was celebrating its 47th year of independence from British rule and I was in two minds whether to stay back and join in the merry-making in Sungai Petani (and spend the rest of the night in the office) or take the last bus home and get some well-deserved rest and sleep!
The main road in front of the old courthouse was already closed since late afternoon to make room for the celebrations and last minute preparation on the main stage around the old clock tower. Although it was never reliable at time keeping for as long as I can remember, the clock tower has always been an integral part of major events in this town. I had hoped they would use their watches for the countdown to 12:00 midnight later on.
Traffic around town had been reduced to a crawl and kids on motorcycles were zooming through with flags flapping behind them, making a lot of noise with their horns and the silencers taken out of their exhaust pipes. I was told a concert would be held prior to the countdown culminating in a fireworks show at 12:01. The big procession would be held the following morning. That was it. Maybe I should just go home and get more excitement hunting down the lone mosquito in my mosquito net. Hey, the Japanese guy burnt his house down doing it -- that was exciting.
The whole ho-hum idea of "getting down" in a small town like SP didn't sound too promising, so I headed for the bus terminal. When I was first working in Penang in the late Seventies, the locals there really took their celebrations seriously. All they needed then was an excuse to celebrate -- Merdeka, New Year, April Fool, whatever -- and they'd take to the streets, cruising with their pants down and their butts unceremoniously pushed out through the car windows for all and sundry to see. That was exciting!
If you were unlucky enough to wait for the bus along Penang Road at the wrong time, you would catch these crazy guys mooning at you. It was hilarious to see those old superstitious Chinese ladies swearing at the amount of bad luck those moons would bring them. Of course, one guy by the name of David Arumugam went too far and was arrested for streaking (the 70's term for running stark naked) through the Botanical Gardens. That too was exciting, trima kaseeyyy!
So I opted for the latter choice, went to the terminal and boarded the last bus home. I thought a couple of Nepalese workers at the AIMST campus were still wondering where they were going when I reached home. The bus had to take a shortcut due to the jam and had bypassed their regular stop. Made myself a glass of milk, curled up with an old magazine which I have read a thousand times, listened to same old songs on Light & Easy on the radio and went to bed at the stroke of midnight. Merdeka!
The main road in front of the old courthouse was already closed since late afternoon to make room for the celebrations and last minute preparation on the main stage around the old clock tower. Although it was never reliable at time keeping for as long as I can remember, the clock tower has always been an integral part of major events in this town. I had hoped they would use their watches for the countdown to 12:00 midnight later on.
Traffic around town had been reduced to a crawl and kids on motorcycles were zooming through with flags flapping behind them, making a lot of noise with their horns and the silencers taken out of their exhaust pipes. I was told a concert would be held prior to the countdown culminating in a fireworks show at 12:01. The big procession would be held the following morning. That was it. Maybe I should just go home and get more excitement hunting down the lone mosquito in my mosquito net. Hey, the Japanese guy burnt his house down doing it -- that was exciting.
The whole ho-hum idea of "getting down" in a small town like SP didn't sound too promising, so I headed for the bus terminal. When I was first working in Penang in the late Seventies, the locals there really took their celebrations seriously. All they needed then was an excuse to celebrate -- Merdeka, New Year, April Fool, whatever -- and they'd take to the streets, cruising with their pants down and their butts unceremoniously pushed out through the car windows for all and sundry to see. That was exciting!
If you were unlucky enough to wait for the bus along Penang Road at the wrong time, you would catch these crazy guys mooning at you. It was hilarious to see those old superstitious Chinese ladies swearing at the amount of bad luck those moons would bring them. Of course, one guy by the name of David Arumugam went too far and was arrested for streaking (the 70's term for running stark naked) through the Botanical Gardens. That too was exciting, trima kaseeyyy!
So I opted for the latter choice, went to the terminal and boarded the last bus home. I thought a couple of Nepalese workers at the AIMST campus were still wondering where they were going when I reached home. The bus had to take a shortcut due to the jam and had bypassed their regular stop. Made myself a glass of milk, curled up with an old magazine which I have read a thousand times, listened to same old songs on Light & Easy on the radio and went to bed at the stroke of midnight. Merdeka!
posted by Kri at
4:05 AM
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