Wishing everyone a happy Vesak day! It’s an honour to know that it’s a holiday allocated to the Indians here in Singapore but followed mostly by non Indians. Salute the other races who embrace this religious event and glorify Buddha, before enlightenment, who was also known as Siddhartha Gauthama. Born in India, he soon spread his religious teachings throughout the whole world.

I am aware that many of us have overlooked this day as a holiday for Indians and have pursued the Singapore government to allocate Thaipusam as a public holiday instead. First of all I think we should thank all employers for allowing us to participate and carried out our religious vows on Thaipusam. Either by giving us an off day or allowing us to take leave. The key here is about acknowledging our gratitude to them.

Singapore’s productivity lies heavily on manpower. If we give an additional holiday it will affect Singapore’s economy as a whole. Even that one day makes a difference. We should always convert the negative into positive and make the most of what we have. Just because we are minority we always feel we are not given any priority. What’s our real objective here. What are we really fighting for. Where are our priorities. We have brandished ourselves to look even smaller by our requests. We have lost our humility by our demanding requests.

We compare ourselves with our neighbouring countries with how we celebrate the Vesak Day. Thaipusam is devotional why get emotional. I believe we can let matters like these pass and look at the bigger picture. We look at how stylish we can make our kavadis into. Let’s also look at how stylish we can make ourselves into by being the better person. Some forgo their deposits just because they want to be the last kavadi to leave. Rebelling against the organisers terms and conditions just for our displeasures.

So is this devotional or emotional. Organisers are always planning ways to make things more miserable and inconvenient to participants as well. They are showing that they are more powerful than the people because they work along the strict guidelines set by the law. Is this devotional or emotional? In the end it’s always the people who suffer. How can things be better. Focus on the actual religion itself. What’s it’s core and read up more about it. Don’t follow trends set by misfits and organisers should be more pro active and act as the voice of the people instead of imposing fines and forfeiting deposits.

Any idiot will know that this is not the best of ways to run any religious event. Everyone has their own ego because everyone thinks that they are always better than the other. Look for a win win situation. In order to be a good leader you must first learn to be a good follower. Vesak day is ours. Embrace it and fight for its celebrations like how you do for Thaipusam. Buddha teaches about peace. All of us will have a better balance. Let’s see how we can better ourselves for all of our religious festivities. With that I wish everyone a good night and a great start to the week.