Among us

I woke up this morning. Looking around, I realised that I'm back home in Nibong Tebal. That's fine.

Just like any other Friday morning, I washed my face and headed down and turned on the TV. Of course, it's NBA Friday. But the game's starting at 10.30am. So I drank a glass of water, and turned on the laptop. Waiting. And my phone rang.

It was Dad. He asked me to get ready and meet him in 10 minutes. He said that we are going to Ladang Victoria. I affirmed and rushed on.

For those who doesn't know what Victoria is, let me explain. It sounds nice, the name. But it isn't nice at all. Its inhabitants are the poorest of the Indian community in Nibong Tebal, may be even Seberang Perai. And because of its ghetto status, it is often overlooked by the populace here. It has terrible living conditions and limited electricity and water supply.

We drove to the place and saw this. I am not surprised myself, even with it getting worse, but you guys have to be shocked by this shit. It has been staying like this for years. Some politicians used to promise them the heaven, but no heaven came and the promise is still a promise.

Blatant.

My dad told me we are going to visit one of the houses there. We arrived at the door of that particular house, and its owner came out greeting us. Normal, typical Indian guy. And he introduced to us his son, and the cause of us being here:

It is so sad...

What do you do when you meet him? Shake his hand? Negative, his hands are immobile. Smile at him? He doesn't want to look at you for long. Say hi? Forget it, he's deaf. His brother, on the contrary, was smart-looking with intelligent eyes and even walked up to me to shake my hand.

So what went wrong?

His brother giving him a show.

This unfortunate boy was perfectly all right when his mother carried him. So the parents were heading happily to the hospital, expecting their healthy first-born son. The bubble of hope bursted, when the doctor in charge made a mistake while retracting the baby from the womb. His brain was seriously damaged and rendered him both dumb and deaf and confined to a chair (no wheelchair, his hands...). The parents wanted to sue the doctor, but were unable to do so.

I looked at him and looked at myself. I'm a lot more luckier than the poor kid. At least I am standing and talking and thinking. I can run about and play ball, I can be human. But that ain't the case with him. He sits there all day, looking into emptiness. When time is up, he just lets his family cleaned him up and feed him milk. Complaining about lack of freedom eh?

I left with a heavy heart. However we have not finish yet. We walked into the heart of the Ladang (farm), and dad told me that we are going to an old lady's.

We saw her not far away. She was minding her own business, and clearly was not expecting us. We talked to her a while, mixing BM with some help from the Indians too.

Her living quarters.

She showed us her companions for life.

No electricity.

This lady is approximately 70+. Her husband died few years back, and their two children never came for their parents. So she squats in this village, in that small space you saw just now. At night, she relies on a lamp for light. Her electricity supply was cut off as she is unable to pay for them.

I looked at her, another victim of societal indifference. Nobody cares about the condition of her life. I did not even dared to ask her where she goes when Nature calls.

Leaving the estate, I had many thoughts. I thought of the rich in their big cars. I thought of feeding my dog with beef and bones. What has the world turned into?