These words were said for some other place, close to being a paradise, if not paradise itself but they signify “it has to be here, it has to be here, it has to be here.” So, we’re going to talk about paradises. If life had been a journey, then this has to be the travelogue! I had read this line in one of the blogs I came across, and I have a thought of starting a travel blog of mine. But I do not still have as many travels, as many adventures to fill it with. I guess I shall soon have that too. At this moment: Malaysia. And this isn’t really an account of my travel around the place, but my brief give and take affair of life with this beautiful, apparently peaceful, and laidback country. A year in Malaysia made me familiar with the small country much more than a tourist and perhaps more than quite a few natives I knew there. The excuse for the natives to not know much about their own country and not having been all over is pretty much similar to mine for not having travelled all over India: we tend to take our own places for granted.
As I had mentioned elsewhere, Malaysia never struck me any different from India. The exceptions were the neatness of the place, the half served and the rest self-served restaurants where I had to even pay for the water, and the comfort with which the people could live with their laidback attitudes without any ambition, which really got on my nerves at times. In a city as organised as Kuala Lumpur (KL), there is a large amount of ambiguity in terms of peoples’ behaviour and attitudes which trickles down to many a basic issues such as punctuality (or the lack thereof) and the awfully ridiculous pricing of everything everywhere. The peculiarly obnoxious traits of the Malaysian populace make one cast serious doubts over the existence and survival of the whole nation, at times, but more often in vain. One may look at the laidback attitude and the invariably predictable “don’t know” and “may be” culture[i], inevitably question the competitiveness of the country and its ability to progress, and still receive the same “may be” and “don’t know” in response. That’s Malaysia for you!
Kuala Lumpur
Like most of the people (ambiguous assumption no. 1… *geez*), my tryst with Malaysia started from KL, the vibrant commercial capital. The city appears happening all round the day and it seems that it may get livelier as the night checks in, but by 10 or 11 pm, every single thing seems asleep except for a few pockets. This city does sleep, and it is asleep until about 9 am in the morning. Picturesque as it is, KL has a host of places where one can spend the day.
Aerial views of KL from the Menara KL
The numerous shopping malls and branded stores top the lists if you are a glamour enthusiast. The KLCC (KL City Centre) boasts of almost all the world’s famous brands under its hood.
When you’re tired, you can relax by the pond or in the garden right outside KLCC marvelling the skyscrapers all around and again fixing your gaze at the Petronas twin towers which poke into the belly of the sky with the two poles which the other tall towers find unfair in the race for their height.
A must visit for all the geeks, nerds and techies is the Plaza Low Yat, Sungei Wang Plaza, the BB Plaza or the Berjaya Times Square (hell, KL can also have one Times Square, okay?) to gain an insight into ones’ “bounded rationality” about technology, increasing complexities in life in the quest of making it ironically simple!
Everywhere, one will be in awe of the Malaysian version of English and the ease with which they have made the language feel at home. For instance, a taxi is a teksi, or a bus is a bas, and so on. One can refer to the Fajar Oxford dictionary for a deeper understanding of this linguistic relationship – while relaxing in a Starbucks Kafé!
But a more careful effort reveals that the Malay language – the Bahasa – has its roots in Sanskrit. The indigenous people of Malaysia are called Bumiputras, the Malaysian capital is called Putrajaya, etc[ii]. This Sanskrit/ Indian cultural connection also reflects into the Malaysian rituals although it is an Islamic state and all the Bumiputras follow Islam as their religion. Malaysians make use of coconut and rice in their marriage rituals, very much like a traditional Hindu wedding. Each province of Malaysia still has a Sultan to govern it, and his courtesans bow him in the namaste position, joining both their hands and not with the traditional aadaab[iii]. The Sultans always wear a yellow robe which is considered to be pristine. One can find the importance of a yellow robe or a peetambar in any of the hindu scriptures. It’s a different matter that the pristine yellow is saffronised in India for too long, politically. The point here, is not to prove the prevalence of one over the other, but to find harmony among the diversity while we tend to choose to pay more attention to the differences and unfortunately, fight over them. To look for one of the traces of harmony, one can visit the palace of the Sultan which is open to public on special days like the Eid, which is called Hariraya in Malaysia. Talking of Hariraya – it is celebrated every year with the Deepavali and also called the Deeparaya festival. Of course Malaysia too has its own share of differences which cause concern, but I shall choose to ignore them here. Other places to visit in KL include Menara KL (KL Tower), the Musium Istana Budaya (Istana Budaya Museum), the Lake Titiwangsa, the bird park, and the suburbs of Bangsar, Brickfields and the Bukit Bintang.
Bangsar is an affluent suburb in KL which owing to its night clubs and expatriate pubs, tries to give the city a ‘never sleep’ feel. The pubs and night clubs however are not as expensive as those in Bombay or Singapore. Zouk, Beach Club, 11:15 (yes, that’s a club), Passion, Thai Club, etc are some of the places which are famous among party-goers but notorious for the rowdy nocturnal street-fights that take place there every night, of which you don’t just remain a witness, but quite a bit more. Again, you have to beware of the transsexuals who would lure you into buying drinks, spending on them and perhaps beyond, until the time you really discover them! My favourite hangout? Finnegan’s. This Irish pub with its golden-green ambience is the most peaceful place to unwind. Get a drink, pull a chair and enjoy the football match. The music is minimal, unlike those other Malaysian places where they play sick pop songs in the name of rock, and scream at the top of their voices.
Brickfields is an area with a large majority of Indians and one can find a good variety of North and South Indian food as well as some good looking Punjabans to stare at! Bukit Bintang on the other hand is a melting pot for Indians and Chinese alike. You would also find a large number of people of Arabic and Persian origin, mostly from Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Libya in this part of the city. This would lead you to a conclusion, inescapably so, that Persian girls are among the prettiest in the world! They all have big eyes and well sculpted lips and noses. Their voices are as soft, rhythmic, round and full as the gurgling of the sheesha!
On the outskirts of KL, one can go to Midvalley which is a suburb made out of a large opulent shopping mall. A one stop shop where you can find just about everything at every price. And if you are hungry and wish to have a five star dinner for peanuts (or even for free), drop in to the Indian eatery Annalakshmi, where well-educated people serve you with awesome food, just because they have a passion to feed people, to feed us, and they love the satisfied smiles on our faces! The place is run on an ‘eat what you like, pay as you feel’ basis. No one will ever bring you a bill for whatever you eat there, and you may even choose not to pay and they will still be glad because you offered them an opportunity to serve yourself. Isn’t this one of those kinds of places which makes this world more worth living in?
Malacca
Malacca is a city 90 km south of KL, which is of historical importance to Malaysia. It is said that Malaysia has its origin in this city, when a Hindu pirate called Parameswara who was driven off from Siam (present day Indonesia) sought refuge on this minus civilisation forest-island. He was resting under a tree known as Melaka, when he witnessed a deer bring chased by hound dogs. Suddenly, the deer turned back and chased off the hound dogs and Parameswara was in awe of the deer’s feat. He considered the event as a good omen and decided to settle down there. Coincidentally, Malacca, a natural harbour falls right in the middle of the sea-route from India to China and trade ships used to ply the route with spices, textiles, and what-nots. Parameswara, the pirate first offered ‘protection’ to these ships from piracy for certain amount of money, which later became a regular toll for using the route. By then, Parameswara was the king of Malaysia, and started trading the produce of the country with the Indian seafarers and the Chinese emperor Ming. A few generations later, Parameswara’s descendants embraced Islam. Then a couple of centuries later the Dutch, the Portuguese and finally the English came to rule the nation one after another and left their trail in this city. Thus Malacca turns out to be a beautiful mêlée of all these cultures: Indian, Chinese, Malay-Islamic, Dutch, Portuguese and the English! It has a number of museums including the Dutch-Portuguese Stadthuys Museum and the Chinese Baba Nonya Museum.
The remains of the Dutch fort A’Famosa help you relive the history when the Dutch governors and their wives plied from India to Malaysia between their administrative and vacation days. The British East India Company too, considered Malaysia, Singapore and India as part of a single territory under their governance. One has to only imagine the grandeur of those days when the English officers traded shares on the Bombay Stock Exchange sitting in Malaysia or Singapore! While the Parsee and Gujarati brokers would yell out their bids in the Jijibhoy Towers (The old BSE building), small kids were employed to stand outside to peek into the building through windows, jot down the important quotes at stipulated times and run to the telegraph offices or the press offices and other important places of Bombay where these numbers would be put on blackboards! Talk of the comforts of online stock trading from your desktops looking at the Reuters, Moneyline or Telerate tickers!
And Malacca also as a functional port and a good beach with a fulfilling view of the ocean. I missed the ocean a lot when I moved from Bombay to KL. The reunion took place in Malacca! The place has a large number of Buddhist temples almost of a size of small monasteries which are clean and peaceful. At times the silence felt haunting to me and I had the feeling as if I was being followed! Another striking feature of these temples was their similarity to the Jain temples in India. The way the Chinese-Buddhists worship Lord Buddha in these temples is surprisingly identical to the Jain practise of worship. Even the incense sticks and fragrances are similar! There is however a prominent use of the colour red in these temples, whereas the Jains make a prolific use of white.
In the south of Malaysia, the other places worth a visit include Johor Bahru, Port Dickson, Pulau Tioman (the Tioman Island) and of course, the Borneo. The Malaysian Borneo consists of two beautiful provinces of Sabah and Sarawak which are heavenly. One can plan a trip of Sabah, Sarawak and the Sultanate of Brunei – the little, big rich kingdom – together. And do not miss climbing the Kota Kinabalu (Mt. Kinabalu) which is among the world’s highest peaks.
In the north of Malaysia in the state of Pahang, there is another small mountain called Cameroon Highlands where they grow the Boh Tea, a Malaysian specialty. Cameroon Highlands is a hill station with a number of small treks, if you like to walk among the clouds for a while. Westward from Cameroon Highlands lies the beautiful island city of Penang where one can spend about three days looking around and enjoying the good variety of Indian and Chinese food. Penang too, is a place of historical and commercial importance, as it is one of the two busiest ports of Malaysia. While you read this, it is highly probable that all the information is presented to you via a processor chip manufactured in Penang, no matter whether it is an Intel or an AMD, because the manufacturing plants of both the rivals are poised right in each others’ neighbourhood in Penang!
The historical importance of Penang trickles from the fact that apart from Malacca, this port was another gateway to this country for the Indian and Chinese immigrants centuries ago. The British brought the Tamil slaves, their Syrian-Christian Malayali supervisors and the Punjabi and Sikh policemen largely via Penang, in order to govern the rubber and palm plantations with ease. While the Gujarati traders chose to settle in Malaysia via Malacca, the Chettiar moneylenders came in via Penang. A little up north from Penang is the mountain-town of Perlis, close to the border of Thailand. Southward from Cameron Highlands is the Taman Negara, the National Forest which is as big as Singapore. You can organise a six day trek across the jungle and spend some time with the Sumatran Tigers and Orang-utans!
The Perhentians
Then turn eastward to the coast and make a visit to paradise. Malaysia is blessed with a number of islands with mint blue water and crystal sand. Although the west coast has islands like Langkawi and Pangkor, they are much more commercialised. Langkawi is more known for the duty-free liquor and the plush resorts than its beaches. The east coast is home to the Redang, Perhentian and the Tioman Islands. Of these, I chose the pair of Perhentian Islands just because it has no civilisation and hence is the most beautiful of all. The two islands, Pulau Besar and Pulau Kecil are about a 45 minute speed-boat ride away from the mainland. The islands have no electricity or water and hence the resorts are awfully expensive. On the smaller island, the Pulau Kecil, there are a few chalets on the hill, with a fan and a bathroom where one can stay comfortably.
The beaches are so clean that the sand glares into your eyes when it is sunny. The water so clear all through, even near the mainland, that you can see the bottom of the sea from your boat! When I visited, I was forced to leave the islands by the noon, as the weather turns rough by the evening and no boats venture out to the mainland. The islands are closed during the months of October to January for the monsoons. On the early morning boat ride to the island, I witnessed the sun rise from behind the mountains and the rays dancing on the clear blue water! My first and last desire then, was to get lost on these islands and never be found!
I was told once, that I would die in water. If that has to be true, it has to happen here. I may die, but I would still not be able to close my eyes because of the incredible beauty of the place. I’ll still not be satiated taking the place in through my eyes. The boatmen living all round the year on the islands, therefore, are the luckiest of all the beings on the earth! But the sun went high up, the afternoon came and it was time for me to leave. I had to. And I remembered a dialogue I had read in Shantaram[iv]:
… after leaving the sea, after all those millions of years of living inside of the sea, we took the ocean with us. When a woman makes a baby, she gives it water, inside her body, to grow in. That water inside her body is almost exactly the same as the water of the sea. It is salty, by just the same amount. She makes a little ocean, in her body. And not only this. Our blood and our sweating, they are both salty, almost exactly like the water from the sea is salty. We carry oceans inside of us, in our blood and our sweat. And we are crying the oceans, in our tears.
And just in the same vain as I had come to Malaysia, it was time for me to leave the country too. I packed my bags with all my bitter-sweet memories and set out for meeting the witch. There was a joy, the joy of homecoming, and a sorrow, of leaving a life behind and a dream which was never meant to be. I may never utter it out consciously to the world, but this dream will always breathe with me, and die within me, when I die.
As I sat facing the aircraft, at the KLIA (KL International Airport), that was to take me home I had the feeling that Salman Rushdie’s Saleem Sinai[v] had, of dancing gleefully, shouting out loud that song of joy: Back to Bom! Back to Bom! Back to Bom!
[i] It so happens that the answer to most of your questions is either a “don’t know” or a “may be, lah” in Malaysia. And the “lah”! Nobody knows what it stands for, but its there for you, with love from Malaysia, lah! Again, it doesn’t matter whether there are any serious ideological differences between the Malaysians and Singaporeans or not, but the people in Singapore too, have adopted the Malaysian lah, with love!
[ii] Bumiputra is a Sanskrit word which translates into “son of the land” and Putrajaya means “the victorious Prince”. The names of Malaysian car models such as Iswara, Wira, too are derived from Sanskrit. Iswara means “God”, and Wira means “a warrior”, or “a person of great courage and bravery”.
[iii] Aadaab is the traditional Islamic/ Arabic way of saluting people, with a gesture made with one hand as if touching the forehead. Namaste on the other hand is a gesture which involves joining both your hands and bowing in respect of the person you’re offering a salute to.
[iv] Shantaram is an autobiography of the Australian bandit writer, Gregory David Roberts. This dialogue is spoken by Johnny Cigar, a slum-dweller, while sitting on the stone boulders in the slums of Cuffe Parade at the southern tip of Bombay. It is presented on the page 373 of the paperback novel. [v] Saleem Sinai was the protagonist of Salman Rushdie’s Booker of the Booker winner Midnight’s Children. He sings Back to Bom! when he was about to return to Bombay from his exile to Karachi.
