Like Manora , I was brought up in a simple environment in Taiping in the 60s. During my younger working live there, I had a group of friends who were attached to various government departments.

Among the people in the group were five Malays, one Indian and myself, a Chinese. Among us there were only four motorcycles. Our friendship bond was so strong that we had complete trust in each other. Anyone of us could use any of the four motorcycles we had and there were no fears or concerns of anyone misusing or damaging the motorcycles.

We grouped together every evening in a warung by the Taiping Lake Gardens. We laughed, joked and took jibes at each other alike. We respected each other's religion, culture and participated in each other's festivities.

Like during Hari Raya Puasa, we will be at our Malay friends' homes wearing sarung and ketayap (skullcaps).

During the Chinese New Year, my Malays friends will be at my home for celebration. My mother will make sure that the chickens were slaughtered in accordance to Islamic rites and cooked/fried using completely new set of cooking utensils.

For Deepavali, we will be at our Indian friend's house and halal food were prepared for us.

After 30 years, I do meet my old friends from the group, some are now retired in Taiping with grandchildren. And we still talk about our togetherness during our younger days, and the feeling of fondness and respect for each other is still burning.

Wonder if such comradeship and sincere respect for each other across racial lines still exist?