The wedding night and the voyageur.

In a small area where there is no struggle for power there is always unity and a natural togetherness brought in by the need to assist each other and happy association with one’s fellow men, regardless of race or religion.

I was lucky to have lived in such a place once where people were not divided by their skin colour or their religion. They regarded themselves as just people who needed the friendship and companionship of people living near to them. Politics was far from their minds then.

Besides safety and companionship there is unity. Here is a story of what happened when I was still a little boy in a small village in Caunter Hall where the Indians, Malays and Chinese lived as the human race.

A family had moved out of one of the rooms in the big bungalow house where my family lived a week ago. Another family would be moving in soon. Through our daily communication, we knew that a couple would be moving in on the day of their marriage. So the room would be the couple first residence together spending their wedding night there.

There was lots of excitement as the people watched new furniture and things arrive at the place. They would peer into the room to have a look at the arrangement in the room. Well, no matter what the age, curiosity is always very much alive.
Then the wedding day came and there was a feast as all were invited to join in the celebration. It was a buffet kind of feast and everyone just got hold of a plate, rice and whatever food one wished to eat. In those days, the Muslims and the non-Muslims would sit down together at the same table with their permitted and non-permitted food. In those days, Muslims were not particular about the place or the utensils so long as the ‘eat nothing that contains pork’ or ‘eat not chicken which is not slaughtered by a Muslim’ are abided to. When it comes to chicken, there was an easy way out. There were so many Malays in the village and nearby and they were always ready to help with the preparation as well as the cooking of the food. (My wife and I once gave a feast in Tikam Batu, Kedah where all the cooks were Muslims.)

Well, with the feast over, each happily shook hands, wished the couple well and each went back home. That night, most of the folks in the village were tired and soon most of the lights in the village went out or dimmed with wicks in kerosene lamps turned lower. They all slept, not realising that two excited eyes watched the village from a distance, focusing on the room of the newly-weds.

Soon snores were heard through the wooden planked walls of the houses in the village. That was the signal for the two eyes to move into the village, managed to find a chair, climbed up onto it and peered into one of the many cracks in the wooden wall of the newly-weds’ room, heart-rate up to watch the new couple in their embrace. The voyageur was there to have his fun.

Of course, he would not hurt the couple but privacy is important to everyone. As the voyageur watched, he did not realise that there are old folks who do not need much sleep or are used to sleeping very much later than others. Excitement brought carelessness and sounds or was it a six-sense that caused one resident to suspect something, peered out through another crack and saw the uninvited visitor. Anyway, soon the sound of the beating of metal pots sent the voyageur running as fast as he could into the nearby banana plantation. That voyageur learned that unity and togetherness in life can deter people from evil deeds.

When the alarm was sounded, everyone came out with their torches and all sizes of sticks in their hands ever ready to uphold the peace and safety of their village. Such in their togetherness, their strength in the power of one, acting as one against their foes! That was the beauty of life in a village uncorrupted by the craze for power. And I was lucky to be in such a wonderful place once.