Deepavali was a good time to catch up with the happenings around me. It has always been an opportune time to recall fond, and not so fond, memories of the past. Talking to our uncles and aunts was refreshing, both mentally and spiritually.

The main topic of discussion centred around our lives, and with a great sigh, an uncle related his life and times, then and now.

In the years after Independence, everyone irrespective of racial origin felt the carnival sensation brought about by the thrilling atmosphere of becoming a new nation. It was the belief and expectation that all races belong to one large family. The common enemy then was the British.

All races collected under one voice to say that we, the Malayans, were capable of looking after ourselves. Implicit in that belief was our yearning spirit that we are all going to citizens, with the notion of equal brotherhood.

A few decades down the road, we saw a different picture, my uncle said. All that has happened is the replacement of the British masters with others. In an extrapolated sense, he claims, the times under the British and soon after independence seemed better. Over the years, the conviction with which we shared the brotherhood was lost, and we stood with a racially-coloured vision.

Those days, he said, we did not have television programmes to arrest racial polarisation, but today it has become a norm for leaders to talk of the need to contain this problem. After several decades of being an independent nation, we are grappling with the sore and decay of becoming human again.

In his final analysis, he questioned if there is any chance to go back to achieving that sense of brotherhood. Not during my time, he said.

In drawing an analogy, he compared the recent statement by the former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad - that the United Nations Security Council should be revamped to reflect present aspirations of the world - with our own policy at home, where a blind eye and a deaf ear greet our problems.

Today, criminal activity among Indians appears to be proportionately the highest, but yet we tell the whole world we have to determine the root causes of terrorism. In our own backyard, the same rule does not apply.

Someone in the group retorted that the only salvation is through education. Yet, this cannot be true, as recent revelations that extra marks were given to bumiputras to enhance their chanceof entering university.

It is the hope of all peace-loving Indians that our voices will be heard. Turning a deaf ear may cost us the serenity we hold so dearly to our hearts.

Trying for redemption thereafter may be a futile exercise. Well, I will be dead and gone by then, said my uncle. May the creator bless the future generations.