ELC Reading Club#5 The Kiss Diving deeper into family conflicts, religion and cultures.

        On 8th April 2022, the English Language Centre held its first reading club of 2022 on a short story entitled "The Kiss" which won a Consolation Prize in the National Short Story Competition organised by Shell and New Straits Times in 1995. The kiss, which was written by Malachi Edwin Vethamani, is a story that bravely explores family conflicts and gives life to the religious and cultural experiences of an Indian Christian in Malaysia. The reading club was chaired by Dr. Too Wei Keong, an associate professor at the School of Education, University of Nottingham, Malaysia. 

        As usual, the reading club was held online via Google Meet, and was joined by 17 students and four teachers. Dr. Too started the event by introducing the author of the short story, Malachi Edwin Vethamani, who is an Emeritus professor in University of Nottingham. He also took some time to show the participants some of his publications. One distinct feature of Professor Malachi’s works is that the language used in his text is often simple and easy to comprehend, making them suitable for learners of English language as a second language. He also often explores the theme of cultural identity and provides his audience snapshots of the life of everyday Malaysians.

        After the brief introduction, Dr. Too invited the participants to share their thoughts on what came to their mind when they first saw the title of the short story. Many participants expressed that they initially thought it was a story about romance but were surprised to learn that it is about a young Indian Christian named Bala who has just lost his Periappa (uncle) and his unwillingness to give a final kiss to the demise, ultimately  leading him to ponder on his relationship with his uncle.

 

        The highlight of the session is when Dr. Too got the participants to share the different  cultural and religious rituals performed in funerals. Miss Jhanani explained that in Hinduism, the bereaved grandchildren would often be seen carrying torches around the pyre as a symbolism of brightening the path of the deceased to the afterlife. Miss Malini, who was an English teacher in Hin Hua High School, added that the practices are for close-knitted relatives and not compulsory for friends. Many of the participants found Miss Malini and Miss Jhanani’s sharing eye-opening as they have never been to a Hindu funeral before. Their sharing also gave opportunities to the participants to recognize the large amount of cultures that exist in Malaysia and the importance of celebrating differences. 

        Before ending the session, Dr. Too invited all participants to leave short thank-you notes to Professor Malachi for permitting the free use of his prize-winning short story in ELC Reading Club#5 in Padlet. Dr. Too also thanked all the participants for showing up and encouraged the participants to continue reading English literature texts in future.

 《兴华月报》2022年4月号
http://www.hinhua.edu.my/ebook/2204hinhuamonthly/mobile/index.html