JANUARY 18 — Over what was supposed to be a festive weekend for most, if not all, Indians in Malaysia, a small kerfuffle broke out within one of Malaysia’s minority ethnic groups.

January 14 (Saturday) was Thai Pongal, the peak day of a four-day harvest festival commonly celebrated by Tamils in Tamil Nadu, India.

It was also Makkar Sankaranti which is a winter harvest festival celebrated in almost all other major Indian states, including Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where most of the Telugus in Malaysia hail from.

Both Makkar Sankaranti and Thai Pongal, which has a variety of other names across the Indian continent (it is also celebrated in Bangladesh), are also celebrated by Hindus for its astronomical significance: it marks the beginning of the Sanskrit term Uttarayana. 

Uttarayana, also known as Surya Siddhantha, marks the beginning of the six-month northern movement of the sun, which marks the start of an auspicious period according to classic Hindu texts and literature.

The way this harvest festival is celebrated across India is different and unique to each state. 

It is a major celebration for the Tamils typically associated with the act of boiling the first rice and milk to mark the start of the auspicious season; this is served as a dish called Pongal.

Telugus, Kannadas, Keralites, Marathis, Goans, and a whole host of other Indians have their own unique way of marking the start of a good harvest season — peppered with their own cultural tweaks and food.

Over the weekend, the president of the Telugu Association of Malaysia (TAM), Datuk Dr Achaiah Kumar Rao, was interviewed by the local radio station Minnal FM regarding Sankaranti, in which he stressed the similarities between Sankaranti and Ponggal.

And right on cue, the "harvest festival” started on Monday in Malaysia with the seeds of hate: mainly centring around an allegation that the Telugu community is attempting to hijack a Tamil festival.

When I was in college, there was liberal (but non-malicious) usage of stereotypes to describe the Chinese and Malay communities’ attitude generalisations. 

But often, there was no attitude generalisation for Indians. (Because saying India mabuk, or drunk Indians, is not an attitude generalisation but an addiction problem associated closely with social and economic conditions).

I always believed that there can be one generalisation for Indians: they are too "proud”, even when there is nothing left to be proud of. 

Proud of their mother tongue, their own culture, their own tradition, and most importantly proud of their own egos to the point that they are blinded to the fact that the community is stepping on each other. 

I believe my little non-religious explanation of the festival should be enough to explain why it is not even remotely misguided to compare the two festivals.

And by no stretch of the imagination is it an attempt to "hijack” a festival.

I believe human beings, more so Indians, can appreciate a common harvest festival without claiming ownership or exclusivity of it.

While these individuals might stress on the differences of these festivals — and by extension between Tamils and Telugus — here are some similarities between these two sub-ethnicities: 

Both Tamil and Telugus are Dravidians.

Both were brought by the British in the same vessels with the same motivation and purpose — to toil in the estates in Malaya.

Both migrated out of the estates and worked their way (or still are attempting to work their way) out from the lower economic classes.

Both fall under the same seven per cent population count in Malaysia. The Department of Statistics, and the folks in charge of the census, do not see the divide of Tamil, Telugus, Ceylonese, Malayalis, Punjabis, Gujaratis etc.

In a purely local context, both are Malaysians and have the same political leaders to turn to. 

Just like how Hindraf collapsed due to internal factions and small tussles, how there are more than three BN-aligned parties claiming to represent Indians’ interests, how the gap between rich and poor among Indians Is huge, and how their social mobility pales in comparison to other races: Indians often do a fine job of putting up walls even if it means feeding their ego in their own solitude.

Because, the boiling blood and the pride is more important than camaraderie.

In Pancha Thanthiram, a Tamil language comedy, written by the ever versatile Kamal Haasan, there is a scene where the lead protagonist is in a conference call with four other middle class friends, and he asks the rest to say their goodbyes so he can continue talking only of them.

Chaos ensues as everyone is confused as to who is supposed to hang up first.

"Padicha muttalangala!” (Educated fools), he calls his friends over the phone.

It is one thing to be able to teach those who lack knowledge and historical awareness but it is another task to teach people who have infinite amount of time to start Facebook pages attacking a whole community and certain individuals from the community when an explanation is a simple online search away.

These are people with access to knowledge and information, but who insist on dumbing themselves and those around them down in order to satisfy their cravings to be social warriors, without ever stopping to help someone in their own community.

In short, educated fools.

As this is happening, a Malaysian Indian, S Prabagaran, 29, is facing the gallows in just a couple weeks in neighbouring Singapore, and he is pleading for Malaysia and Malaysians to take up his case.

But of course we are too busy fighting over the ownership of a festival to forget that we are all Indians, let alone see each other as Malaysians and by extension, care for the plight of a fellow Malaysian.

Written by a Telugu man who speaks more fluent, proper Tamil than these social warriors. 

And I’m not proud of either of those characteristics. I just happen to enjoy both Sankaranti and Pongal.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.