I ENJOY reading Prof Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi’s articles and his views. His recent article, “Telling tales to rebuild Malaysia” (The Star, Oct 26; online at https://bit.ly/3BgmClA), took me back to the good old days when my Chinese and Malay classmates knew about the different festivals in this country, and that people like me, a Tamil Christian, celebrate Christmas and not Deepavali.
These days, most people just assume that all Indians celebrate Deepavali, and Deepavali is the Indian New Year. Yesterday, a new friend suggested that we meet after Deepavali so that my preparations to celebrate this festival would not be disrupted. When I told her that I celebrate Christmas and not Deepavali, she defended her ignorance by saying she celebrates Chinese New Year.