Of the Idiot Box and Reality

When Television was still considered a novelty in the early 1970's, many people of Kampugn Melaka Pindah would throng my aruah grandmother's house at night just to watch the programs shown. Sometimes when my family travel back for the weekend, we would find the men standing at the door and even on the ledges of the windows, while the womenfolk would be sitting quite comfortably on the floor of the 'rumah ibu', basically the living room of such kampung house. On our arrival, the men and womenfolk would make themselves scarce, perhaps embarrass by our presence.

Watching the TV with my aruah grandmother would sometimes evoke small laughs amongst her grandchildren. I particularly remember a time when we watched a spy movie where an actress was shot and killed by her counterpart. Watching the scene, aruah grandma would say "kesian dia...muda muda lagi dah mati; cantik pula tu". An elder cousin would then tell that it was just an acting and not real. She nodded her head, but my cousin's words seem not to have registered as time and again after that, she would say the same thing. Perhaps, living in a world where her two feet are firmly planted on the ground, the concept of make-believe, or acting, is something totally strange to her.

Earlier this morning I was at a mamak shop to tapau roti canai for breakfast. While waiting, I stood at the shop's newspaper stand and began reading the headlines. A guy came by and gave a loud snort as he picked up one of the papers. He then looked at me - my t-shirt, rather - and gave a louder snort. I think I know the reason for the second snort as I was wearing Harris Ibrahim's 'Boycott Newspapers' T-shirt; but what was the first for? Curious, I looked again at the headlines. I stopped wondering when my eyes caught a news about the death of a pretty 24year old woman who became a victim of a snatch thief. At that point of time, the words of my aruah grandma came to my mind "kesian dia...muda muda lagi dah mati; cantik pula tu".

The crime rate seem to be soaring again of late. My housing area have had several break-ins and many more similar incidents have been reported in the neighbouring areas. This, despite the announcement of setting up of more police beats and patrols. Except for one recently launched 'Balai Polis Bergerak', nothing else have been heard about crime-fighting, leaving one to wonder the effectiveness of the government of the day, and where lies their priority: the wellbeing of the people, or the the wellbeing of the Sarkas. With the continuing rising prices of good, the crime rate is expected to soar further. Meanwhile, those idiots live comfortably in houses of grand design, which when one really look at it, is nothing but an extension of a box designed for idiots of this world. While many of us too live in one, we are comforted in thought that our boxes were designed by one, made by another, but most certainly not for one.

Total garbage, my posting is.