Saturday night's experience.

In the afternoon, I invited my wife for a Japanese dinner and she told me that there is some procession in town and some of the stroads are closed for this purpose. So, I look through the Star newspaper and try to find the news.  I could not find that piece of news and I asked my wife to show it to me. It was a small column indicating " Roads  closed". I was abit upset . It is dirty politics and it has fallen to the level of level of glutter politics and making the layman like me suffering from he unsuspected traffic jams.

Yeah, I say it again. It should in the more prominent page and in bold letters especially it affects the common folks. Stupid newspapers. Only interested in politics.

So, I shifted the place to Egate away from the town. I choose Tyuchiya, a Japanese restaruant in Egate and is on the same side as Tao, another Japanese restaurant in the same area.  The food was okay   but  the place was packed . Yeah, maybe, they go there for the same reasons , to escape the traffic. I do not know whether they read the small advertisement or not.

After the dinner, when I almost reached home and I went head on against another procession. It was a street procession for a Taoist deity but the procession was only a short one. I think it is the same Taoist deity celebration as those processions in town.

I could recognize the ceremony because when I was young, my neighbour managed a Taoist deity's temple and on may occasions, they would celebrate with the Temple's caretaker in a trance. I could see them whipping their back when in trance or piecing a spear through their cheeks.  When there is an elipse of the moon, they will hit the gongs in the temple until the moon is clear again. This is to prevent the moon been eaten by the monster. During the younger days, I will follow the processions on the streets especially the 9th Emperor Festival.  I will follow my mum and asked for divine help in my studies and  for the good health of my parent.

It have been 50 years already  and most of the images have been hidden away and tonight, it brings back the good memories of my younger days , following the procession on the road and sweating it out , hoping that the deity will take care of me and my family.  In reality, we need the divine intervention in certain part of our life.

But, this procession was not highlighted in the road closure announcements in the newspaper. Luckily , it was only a small procession, otherwise, I will be complaining more severely.

Coming to think about it, Penang have thousands of such Taoist temples and if we were to announced road closures for all the small processions , I believe Penang will be paralysed and all traffic will be at a stand still.  To be frank, Penang is the holiest state in Malaysia . The processions are mainly for thenese and Indian deities and there are many superstitous folks in Penang.

It is true , Penang have many beautiful places to visit and good food to eat and also many Gods or deities to pray. Try your luck , you may get the right digits to strike first prize in the Toto or Magnum.

Namaste.