A Man of Supreme Confidence and a Witness to History
John Victor Morais was born on 18 December 1910 in Trivandrum, India. He had his primary and early secondary education in Trivandrum. He then embarked on a seven-day long sea voyage to Malaya where his eldest brother John Manuel Morais worked and lived.
His brother was a highly respected teacher of Geography at Anderson School in Ipoh, a premier secondary school in Perak. His brother also had government quarters in Green Town, Ipoh.
Highly Respected Brother and Advisor
Victor Morais was the last brother to be brought to Malaya.
Two brothers who were brought to Malaya earlier on perished soon thereafter from diseases prevalent at that time. So naturally, the eldest brother, who was 18 years his senior and a father figure to him, was rather reluctant to bring yet another brother to Malaya.
But like a dutiful, filial and loving son, he relented when his father in India pleaded with him to give Victor a chance to make good in Malaya. Victor, as it turned out, happened to be the brother who grabbed the opportunity and made a tremendous success of his career and life. His brother enrolled him in Anderson School, Ipoh. Many years later, Victor was duly recognised in the school’s Year Book as a Distinguished Old Boy.
In those days in colonial Malaya, one could get a job with the Junior Cambridge Certificate. But Victor wanted to go further and completed his Senior Cambridge and earned that coveted certificate.
Along the way, he found time to excel in sports, football and cricket. Later on in adult life, he was regular in his weekly tennis games. He also enjoyed the scouting movement and rose to become the troop leader in his final year in school.
Rapid Results College
When his eldest brother, John Manuel asked him what he wanted to do after his form five examinations, Victor replied that he wanted to be a teacher like him. But his brother knew that Victor enjoyed writing because some of his letters had appeared in the newspapers at that time.
So the brother advised him to forget about teaching as a career. He told him instead to apply for a reporter’s job which he secured with some ease. To further his knowledge in this field, Victor enrolled for a tedious, time consuming but interesting correspondence course in journalism from Rapid Results College in the United Kingdom. With determination, he successfully completed this correspondence course.
Career as a Journalist
His career as a reporter was interesting, occasionally challenging and enjoyable. But during the years of the 2nd World War, when Malaya was under Japanese occupation, it was a dangerous and stressful occupation.
Victor was ordered to edit and publish the Yamato News.
Prominently placed outside his office and on the walkway were the severed and bloodied heads of two persons stuck crudely on two poles. These were individuals caught by the Japanese Police for some serious offence and summarily executed in a brutal fashion.
This was meant to be a stark and deadly warning for the public at large. It worked well to cow the populace and reduce crimes in the city.
Victor relished going on assignments and interviewing well-known personalities for news stories. He really enjoyed seeing the bylines that he had earned. Occasionally, he had to go outstation to towns like Kuala Kangsar, Gopeng or even Taiping to cover events.
Victor received promotions in quick order and before he was thirty years old, he was appointed the managing editor of Malaya Tribune at its office in Brewster Road in Ipoh.
A Supportive and Loving Brother
In the early days of his career, his bicycle served him well but as the assignments took him further away, his supportive and loving brother bought him a 2nd hand car for his use. Victor was truly shocked and humbled that his eldest brother would go to that length to assist him.
The brother himself opted to take a rickshaw whenever he needed to go somewhere. This was a brother that he truly respected, admired and loved for the rest of his life.
Victor received promotions in quick order and before he was thirty years old, he was appointed the managing editor of Malaya Tribune at its office in Brewster Road in Ipoh. This appointment was made by the directors in Singapore.
Invited to Serve as a Writer for Magazines in South East Asia and South Asia
In the seventies, there was a highly popular magazine, called the Asia Magazine that came free together with the Sunday issue of The New Straits Times. It was also included in the Sunday issue of regional English language newspapers.
This Hong Kong-based idea of a magazine covered regional issues of a light-hearted nature and had colour photographs of lovely South-East Asian ladies on its weekly cover page.
Victor Morais was invited to contribute articles and interviews for this magazine by a former colleague of his named Castro. He contributed a few such articles.
In the seventies too, Victor Morais received an invitation to become a regular contributor to a Bombay ( now Mumbai ) based hard-hitting, independent magazine called Himmat. This magazine covered a host of relevant issues in India.
He had a chance meeting with the publisher and editor, a man named Rajmohan Gandhi, a grandson of the famous Mohandas K Gandhi. Victor Morais also accepted this invitation and made a few contributions.
Recognition by Peers
During his time as a journalist in Kuala Lumpur, he became a member of the Press Club of Malaysia. At that time, he was the chief sub-editor of The Malay Mail.
Later on, he was duly elected as president of the Press Club of Malaysia. He enjoyed his tenure in that role.
It was his idea to publish a Who’s Who for the country way back in 1956.
Who’s Who in Malaysia
The famous biennial book publication, Who’s Who Malaysia, is now forever associated with Victor Morais.
It was his idea to publish a Who’s Who for the country way back in 1956. Many people, even well meaning friends, colleagues and printers, tried to dissuade him from undertaking this risky project. But he remained convinced, steadfast and resolute and went ahead nevertheless.
The first such publication was titled: Leaders of Malaya and Who’s Who. All future publications were simply called Who’s Who Malaysia. The book was sold to the public, to libraries all over the world – even to the Library of the US House of Congress, the British Parliament and to the Library in Moscow.
The cost of publication was covered by several advertisements in the book and also by sales of the book. Major companies, even multinationals took out advertisements and many schools, colleges and libraries in Malaysia also bought copies. Despite the unfounded fears of naysayers, Victor made this publication a financial success.
Many years later, he reluctantly sold the company publishing the book to an insurance company. But to his credit, he did manage to faithfully and successfully bring out the publication every two years.
Author, Editor and Publisher of Many Publications
Victor Morais was an ideas man in every sense of the word!
He was someone who was constantly thinking of writing on some subject. He was also keen on undertaking a book project from time to time. He tended to specialise, however, in biographies – it was his forte!
This love of his, for writing and editing, started very early in his career as a journalist. While still a young reporter and because he covered developments in badminton in Perak, he wrote and published a book titled: Badminton in Malaya under the pen name of Racquet. Victor was then the honorary secretary of the Perak Badminton Association.
He managed to obtain a few advertisements to cover the cost of printing. The proceeds from the sale of the publication became his profit. It was almost $1,000.00, a big amount in 1934. Victor was, however, humble enough to realise that he needed someone senior to look over his manuscript and to offer him expert advice. He found that in a senior editor, who readily obliged and then commended him.
There was no looking back after that maiden effort. Victor went on to write, edit and publish numerous books over the years. In each of these projects, he invested considerable time, energy and ideas and he has thus left a huge legacy.
Some Publications That Come to Mind
Some of these publications include the following books:
- A Tryst with Destiny on Tun Hussein Onn;
- Strategy for Action on Tun Razak;
- A Profile in Courage on Dr. Mahathir;
- Resolute in Leadership on Anwar Ibrahim;
- Witness to History – Memoirs of an Editor;
- Selected Speeches; A Man of His Time – Lord President Tun M Suffian;
- A World Trade Unionist – P P Narayanan;
- Without Fear or Favour – on Tan Sri Mohd Noah – 1st Speaker of Parliament;
- Blueprint for Unity on Tun Tan Siew Sin; and
- The Golden Wheel on Rotary.
Competent and Humourous Public Speaker
Victor Morais was well known for his public speaking skills and abilities.
He was equally good in giving prepared speeches as well as in speaking off the cuff when the need arose. With his prepared speeches, unlike many, he did not read from the written speech but he spoke naturally and with confidence on the topic. He was also adept at infusing humour in the speech.
During his lifetime, he gave over twenty toasts ( speeches ) at wedding celebratory dinners, mostly at Malayalee Catholic weddings and also at other Indian weddings in Ipoh and in Kuala Lumpur.
As a Rotarian in Ipoh, Perak and while still a well-known editor, he was called upon to speak on a number of occasions on behalf of his president who shied away from public speaking.
On the State Department-sponsored two week study trip for twenty South East Asian journalists to the United States in the late fifties, he was chosen to speak on behalf of the journalists at each of the US cities that the group of journalists visited.
From time to time, he also readily assisted friends who had to prepare speeches. All these activities came quite naturally to him.
Community Leader Par Excellence
Rotary Club of Ipoh
Victor was a gregarious person by nature and loved meeting people and interacting with them. He also had a passion to contribute to the local community in what ever way or manner that he could.
That led him to the Rotary Club of Ipoh where he served in a few capacities before being elected the president of the club in 1949. He was introduced to the Rotary Club by a well known lawyer named K L Devaser. This club had a mix of English, local businessmen and professional members.
St John Ambulance Association
Victor was also suitably recognised for his services to the St John Ambulance Association Brigade in Perak. Sir Donald McGillivary, the last British High Commissioner of Malaya presented him a medal i.e. Serving Brother of the Order of St John ( Sb.St.J ) awarded by HM Queen Elizabeth of England at King’s House in Kuala Lumpur.
Indian Associations in Kinta and Selangor
Here too, Victor was as active as ever. He joined these associations, first the Kinta Indian Association and later when the family moved to Kuala Lumpur, the Selangor Indian Association.
At both these associations, he soon became the president, and during his tenure, he and his committee organised many activities for the members. One such high profile activity was a dinner by the association in Selangor where the Indian community organised an event to honour and welcome Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj as the chief minister of Malaya. Also invited to the event was General Geoffrey Bourne, the then Director of Operations, Malaya. The event was also attended by representatives of all communities.
Other Bodies Where He Served
Victor Morais also made time to render service for some years to the following organisations. He was a Board Member of the Malaysian Association of the Blind, a Director of the YMCA and a Committee Member of the Pure Life Society.
He was a friend of the founder of the society, a man named Swami Satyananda. Victor also served a stint as vice president of the Ipoh Library.
High Recognition by the Government of Perak
Victor Morais was appointed as a State Executive Councillor of the Perak Government soon after his election as president of the Kinta Indian Association. It must be noted that he also held concurrently prominent positions in the Rotary Club of Ipoh as well as the editor of the local newspaper in Perak. And he was thus a notable and respected figure in Perak.
Much later in life and after he moved to Kuala Lumpur and then to Petaling Jaya, Victor Morais was nominated to serve as a Member of the Town Board of Petaling Jaya. He enjoyed serving in these positions and earned the trust and respect of those with whom he interacted.
Famous Personalities & Leaders
As a seasoned journalist, he had a natural curiosity to meet and interact with outstanding personalities and world leaders both in Malaya and later in Malaysia. He wanted to find out what made them tick! He also wanted to learn from such leaders.
These then are some leaders that he was privileged to meet, interview and/or interact with, in no fixed order of importance.
Rabindranath Tagore, the first Indian Nobel Laureate in Literature when he visited Malaya in the late 1930s and spoke to about 1000 teachers in the Ipoh Town Hall.
Subhas Chandra Bose or to many of his ardent followers he was simply addressed as ‘Netaji’ ( Leader ) when he visited Malaya and addressed a huge gathering at the Ipoh Padang in 1943. He was a former leader of the All India Congress. Subhas Chandra Bose had many admirers in South East Asia.
Jawaharlal Nehru, 1st Prime Minister of India visited Malaya in the 1930s before he attained high office.
Indira Gandhi, another Prime Minister of India when she twice visited Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Lord Baden Powell, was the 1st Chief Scout of the worldwide scouting movement. Lord Baden Powell visited Ipoh in the forties.
Mr. Malcom MacDonald, the charismatic British High Commissioner for South-East Asia.
Lady Edwina Mountbatten, when she visited Ipoh in the late forties as the patron of the St John Ambulance Association. Lady Edwina was the wife of the Supreme Allied Commander for South-East Asia during World War 2. Lord Mountbatten, an admiral of the Royal Navy was a cousin of HM Queen Elizabeth.
Tun Sir James Thompson, First Lord President of the Federal Court.
Tun Tan Cheng Lock – President of the Malaysian Chinese Association at the time of independence. His son Tun Tan Siew Sin was a former Finance Minister of Malaysia.
Dato Onn Jaafar, Founder President of the United Malay National Organisation. He was destined to be the prime minister of Malaya but fate decided otherwise. He is the father of Tun Hussein Onn.
Living a Life with Purpose
On looking back, I can say with conviction that Victor Morais led a life with high purpose, quiet dignity and unfailing grace.
He made time to render voluntary service to a number of organisations. This was because he truly believed in giving primacy to the human and spiritual, rather than the material values in life. He also strove to promote the adoption of higher social and civic responsibilities as part and parcel of one’s career.
Victor Morais was married to a lovely and talented lady named Gladys Vaz for a little over 50 years. She was also a great mother, a good cook and later became a gifted cake maker. Gladys Vaz also successfully conducted cake making classes for ladies for over twenty years. The couple have five children: Herbert, Benedict, Elaine, Dawn and Justin.
Someone wise once remarked: ‘ Do not be fooled by what a man says. Watch what he does ‘.
Victor Morais accomplished so much more in his lifetime ( 80 years ) than most people because he was always driven by some worthy goal.
Finally, I would like to leave you with this quote:
‘Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time ‘
– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Ben Morais 
Hi Ben! What fascinating vignettes of a bygone era and the historical giants who peopled it; and all intertwined with Malayan/Malaysian history. And your dad was truly a witness to it all.
He was such a prolific writer, journalist, editor, speaker and the author of numerous published books and he led such a multi-faceted and fruitful life that it’s a bit of mystery that he never got down to writing and publishing his autobiography/memoirs. His reminiscences, recollections and especially his personal take on the interviews and interactions with those historical personalities would make for some compelling narratives.
His autobiography was ‘ Witness to History – Memoirs of an Editor ‘ which was mentioned in my blog post. Thanks for your feedback Denis. Appreciate it.
Dear Master Ben,
Wow !!!
Amazing !!!
And of course your eloquent writing !!!
So many things we do not know, so many roles models that we never imagined existed. Awesome to see how people from very diverse and distant beginnings, brave to go to lengths and limits across seas and make remarkable achievements.
Thank you for this piece of work Master Ben. Enjoyed reading every bit of it.
From Kerala? Never knew that.
Vinay
Thanks so much for your feedback Vinay. Yes, indeed that was a distant era. But for the grace of the Almighty, we his children might never have seen Malaya or Malaysia. They took risks to cross the seas to a distant land to seek their fortune. In those days, malaria was a deadly scourge. Many from Kerala who converted to Christianity centuries ago took on Portugese surnames for eg. Fernandez, Lopez, Gomez, Morais etc. Kerala is a beautiful place and is called ‘ God’s Own Country ‘ especially for its backwaters.
Yes sir we do owe much to our forefathers, their will and their determination to go to an unknown land and most of them reached Malaya penniless in a country torn by war.
Hats off to them and deep gratitude that their endeavors led to the exposure we got in education, multi-racial involvement allowing us to mingle and blend to whatever we are now.
I consider that very fortunate without forgetting who I really am and where I originally come from.
Yes Kerala is Gods own country. Very beautiful indeed. Without its political curse it would have been one of the best places to live in.
So true Vinay. Our forefathers paved the way by their toil, sweat and tears so that we may have a better life.
I remember how many relatives from Kerala made a first stop at my uncle’s government quarters when they arrived in Malaya. Many stayed for days and weeks while looking for a job.
All their needs were borne by my father and uncle until they could stand on their own. The house used to be quite cramped with people living even in the passageway too. A different era when people cared to make a difference. I salute the pioneers.
I must admit, I am guilty of not remembering my dad (achan), often enough after his demise two decades ago.
Your blog contained the necessary ingredients which initiated my thoughts to recollect memories about dad. What I most remember about him are the simple things in life. I do not know much about his professional side of life and do not have much to mention. He was probably a family man. I am not saying that professional men who have reached levels of excellence are not family men but that this part is what I remember about dad. Sorry what I write cannot be equated with men of excellence but worth a mention .
I happened to the read the blog written by your sister, Dawn who resides in Hawaii. Your family seems to possess literary skills, it’s like genetics loaded the gun and circumstances and environment fired it. Q.E.D. 😊
Well coming to my dad, N. Krishnan, I will include things I was told and things I was able to learn myself. What we took for granted about how he managed to do anything, now seems “not easily done” without a great deal of sacrifice.
My dad was born near a town called Quilon near Trivandrum in Kerala. He belonged to a farming family and schooled during the British occupation of India and was taught by English teachers who ran one of the 100% English Travancore schools. Like Br. Gaston of La Salle B’Fields was obsessed with perfection in hand writing, dad was obsessed with the spelling, grammar and the dots and commas of the English language. Unlike the present day where we have internet and spell check at our fingertips, we had only the snail mail those days. Writing letters to him was a horror. It not only comes pat back, with spelling and grammar corrections in red ink, but we are expected to resend the same letter back with the corrections.
What dad inherited from his British teachers were, a good English school education, a good command of the English language and to dress in his starched white cotton pants, shirts and a well polished shoes. He carried a small piece of cloth in his pocket to wipe his shoes now and then.
After he completed school, his father wanted him to throw his books away and join him in ploughing the paddy fields they had. Coming to the point, dad and three of his friends decided to run away and boarded a train to Madras and the East India Company. They had Rupess eight amongst them, and worked onboard the sailing ship for their passage to Singapore.
They disembarked in Singapore and someone they knew arranged a room for all of them to stay. From the next day of their arrival, they went looking for work. Dad saw a big British style colonial bungalow nearby where a British Army Colonel lived. Every morning dad used to wear his white cottons and wait at his gate. He would be at the gate. He would be there when the Col. Cunliff would be sipping coffee in his garden reading his newspapers, he would be there when the colonel would be driven out of his to work and most certainly be there when the colonel returned from work.
This cat and mouse game went on for a few days and the colonel then called dad inside and asked him, what he wanted. Dad replied, work for him and his three friends. The colonel said that he can employ him only and asked him to move in and take charge of his stores where sacks of dried tapioca was stored. Dried tapioca was the staple food during the war.
After a week, he visited his friends and was shocked to see his friends starving without work and money. The only way he could help his friends was to give them a sack of tapioca. He asked them to come by the colonel’s house by midnight and he opened the store and gave them a sack of tapioca.
This sack of dried tapioca changed my dads life!!!
The colonel came to know about the sack of tapioca and called dad and asked dad about it. As punishment, dad received whipping and was ordered him to work in the colonel’s house.
As dad was working inside the colonel’s household he became closer to the family and he was like a family member. But dad said he was like a butler-cum-handy man. During the hard times of the war they would all pack up and go into hiding. Dad was their henchman.
When the war was over Col. Cunliff was deputed to build the Malayan railway. My dad was sent to get some technical training in UK and a short Signal Engineering course in Lahore. He went on to design most of the railway lines from Singapore to the north and build them. Unlike the landscape designs I was used to design, his designs were simple – parallel lines. He could draw straight lines without a ruler.
Now coming to the father. Dad was a very passive and soft spoken man. Very very well mannered, clean ( 4 showers ) Jack Daniels man. Respect and love for mum was one of my earliest memories of him. Dad used to respect mum very much. I guess being with a British colonel he was taught to stand up in respect when a lady walks in. I remember even when his Railway buddies used to come home for a drink, all of them would shut up and stand up until mom left the room.
That was about respect now coming to love for mom. This is one very romantic incident which even I could not beat 😉.
While we were in KL, during the holidays, dad would send mum and the kids to visit Singapore and our relatives living there. We were all already sitting inside the coach, mum by the window and dad outside on the platform. They were holding hands and talking and talking sweet little nothings and mum already had her eyes swelling with tears. The station master rang the bell and moments later the chook chook was heard and the train started to move slowly and then began to gather speed. They were still holding hands and dad was walking along saying his last goodbyes. He continued until the end of the platform and by that time mum was sobbing and dad still holding mums hand and running on the platform. The funniest thing is we were going only for four days and we were not going to the Lapp land at the North Pole😀.
He worked himself up from the position of Signal Inspector to acting Chief Engineer. He resigned as he was supposed to become the chief engineer but was given the post of acting chief engineer due to the bumi putra regulations. He was a very hard working man, always ready every morning dressed spic and span and his shoes always shining. Brings his files home and worked through the night and weekends. Two skills I learned from him. It was my duty to polish his shoes every night. Still am a good shoe shine boy. I also knot his necktie and still tie the perfect knots.
We were six siblings. I always wondered how he managed to look after all six of us when I found it difficult when I had the first child. Come pay day, all of us would be bundled up into our white Morris Minor to the toy shop. Although we did not have many clothes, whatever we had were the best. He did not have much influence on our studies as he was on tour most of the time. But he used to make sure he had sometime for him as I was his eldest son. I remember our long walks and talks along the then narrow Lake Gardens roads. He would always say, health is the most important thing in life. Talking about health, he was very particular about food and the vitamins we needed. All of us had some capsules or syrups and lots of fruits two or three times a day. Dad was the one who used to wake us up every morning. He will be at our bedside with a glass of coffee and a heavily buttered bun.
Dad was more cautious than ambitious. He was more concerned for our safety rather than riches. After the ‘69 May 13th, he wanted to take us to safety. I was the first to fly out of KL just after LCE. Although I could not suddenly cope up with the sudden change, I have no regrets. The athletic standard I arrived with in India kept me in the limelight in school and college. Being able to be a champion drowned the memories and missing Malaysia. ( Thanks to Master Denis ). The rest of the family returned to India after a year and dad after another year.
Well after returning to India, dad became a different man. I don’t know how to put it. He become more of an Indian I guess. He was not idle. He had a small gold business and some coconut plantations. Although he could not provide as well as he could while we were in Malaysia, he still tried his best. He used to exercise twice a day and keep fit until he fell ill.
I could keep writing about him but wish to end with this. Every month usually at the end of the month he would tell me in the morning, son let’s you and I go out for dinner tonight. He would take me to the best Chinese restaurant and he would order his scotch and our food. He would order so much that my tummy would be bloated. After a few shots of scotch he would call the waiter and tell him pointing at me. “ This is my son, feed him !!! And every time he never forgot to give me this advice. He used to say, “ when you get a job and have a family, your job and your salary does not belong to you. He said, “ it belongs to your wife and your children. You can not resign from a job unless they approve. He said, “ they have the right for a stable life.” I always took into consideration what he said.
He said, when you are ready, you will go abroad again and I did.
( Dad I hope you are not correcting my spelling and grammar from heaven right now 🙏)
Dear Mr. Benedict,
This brief and evocative description of a giant of a man has me recalling some very interesting moments when I used to visit your home during my school days as a schoolmate of your brother Justin. My early encounter with your dad was during one of these infrequent visits that I made to your home in Section 5 to meet Justin mostly after school in 1975-76. This was the time I had my first opportunity to interact with your incredibly beautiful mother, a very kind and welcoming lady, You see I had come from a poor labour class family who had never had the opportunity to enjoy the luxury of a bungalow nor was I exposed to educated english speaking parents. I was always overwhelmed by my inhibitiion and fear of disrepecting parents. Being extremely shy then, a consequence of my upbringing, I was always afraid in front of parents especially in my early visits to your home. But it was this lady, your kind mother, with a very warm disposition that made me feel most welcome and to a large extent relaxed as a guest. I saw myself losing much of my inhibition as I interacted with her over time. She never failed to invite me for a meal with Justin if it was during a lunch visit . Her cooking was out of this world and honestly I must say that there came a time when I was greedily awaiting an invite from her as the aroma of her cooking sent my taste buds into a tizzy, as I fought to keep my overreacting salivary glands from over-secretion, thus revealing my biological weakness. If that was not enogh the aroma of cookies and cakes made the experience even more ambroisial for the poor fellow that I was. Well the stories of your mother is best reserved for another moment in time.
It was during one of these visits to your home that I met your father, who appeared as a quiet and reserved person. His demeanour was daunting to me, for my upbringing was “to be seen and not heard”. I remember when I was invited to join the family for dinner in one such visit as I sat with Justin, Elaine/Dawn (?), your beautiful mother and your dad. I was tongue tied, my mind conciously in fear as every bit of my action was to force myself to not make a mistake. Frankly it was the longest 20 minutes spent on a dinner table. But there was only silence from me as your mother took time off to help serve me, as a meek thank you would escape my tongue tied self. I was very sure that she saw through my inhibitions, while your father was impassive in his stoic silence. Surely, he too would have seen through me but never showed any sign that could intimidate me. I was under a self imposed moral shackle to appear calm and composed till dinner was over as I quickly followed Justin back into his room, only to see me break into an immense sense of relief and back to my natural boisterous self. That was the beginning of many such encounters with Uncle JV Morais. Justin joined the police force and I was in University Malaya as my visits got more frequent. I found myself gaining in confidence as I now spent time talking to this giant of a man experiencing his erudition and wisdom, even as it was only for very brief moments. I learnt of his authorship of Who’s Who and was greatly honoured to have had the opportunity of having dined with one so illustrious. Many more thinks have gone past me but these anamneses, brings livid memories back simply to savour my life’s wonderful journey todate, where your lovely parents had a role too.
Thanks very much for your lengthy, positive and detailed response Visu. One thing is for sure. You have an incredible memory. Glad that your interactions with my late dad and my late mum were of a positive and long lasting nature. Memories are made of such lasting encounters.
Eloquence again. Well written piece of work indeed. Is this from our Vishu? 👏👏👏
Thank you Mr. Benedict Sir. You are so right on lasting encounters and a closer introspection reveals that such encounters last because of the wonderful nature of the people we encounter. Aunty Gladys and Uncle Morais took a leading role in this encounter of mine.
Yes indeed. It is from Visu.
Dear Master Ben,
Good story telling is a gift. You have this incredible gift stirring, a wonderful encompassing old-time splendour in storytelling boasting grand principles of past era, heroism and character and loads of personal observations.
Indeed, so much so that I return to your oft-told stories of the past era (12 times and counting), breathing new life into this old dog.
Educated and refined with British sensibilities (hence speaking perfect English, you possess the knack to express interesting events so vividly that it would pass by as a script for a movie.
Well hats off to Vishu too.His reply was not only interesting but it also made me realize one thing of our past. Most of us had a strict upbringing. One thing I am sure, this upbringing was the reason for me, to take a challenge and sometimes selfishly be adamant to break away from the old ways.
Vishu’s portrayal of his timid and respectful boyhood nature is the outcome of the standards our parents had in our upbringing. In one way, initially I became reclusive and pathologically self-contained, but was never going to be stuck being 100% just that. Quite foolishly, I had thought in my mind that once on my own feet, I am going to be different. Little did I know then, and realize now, that all these aspects of education, the principle instilled in us by our teachers and parents, the strict upbringing by our parents played a major role in who we are now. Like one of my colleague once remarked, that I belong to a different breed and he would wish to meet the people who taught me, the people I played with and worked with. ( He duly did that ).
I am so glad that that particular blog post drew so much feedback. Thanks to all who took the trouble to provide the comments and insights. I remain grateful.
To me he was Uncle Victor (Morais)
I was blessed as he accepted and was the Toastmaster at my wedding in 1977, I have fond memories of him, I remember that each time I went to Kl in the seventies I would go and visit him in his office at Jalan Mountbatten, and spend some minutes there, he was a source of great inspiration.
Great uncle Victor.
Thanks for your feedback Toffee. Appreciate it. These are wonderful memories to treasure, I am sure.