MOST of us probably spend too much time on the couch watching television every day. We have become compulsive consumers of media products, and some have become lifelong addicts of TV entertainment.
There is one thing seriously wrong with this; when we watch TV for many hours at a time, we become entirely passive and reactive. We just absorb passively the tons of data being beamed at us from the satellite from the high heavens. We have lost our precious active subjectivity.
That is why everybody must be extolled to cultivate a few hobbies from a very young age to occupy free time usefully. Hobbies engage our attention actively, as we develop interest, knowledge, and skills over time. Hobbies are recreational!
Most children will immediately proclaim that they have a favourite hobby: playing computer games. In the eyes of this old hermit, there is nothing to gain for children by playing computer games; enlightened parents should limit their children’s access to the silly machines. Nay, ban them from the house altogether, if that is at all possible.
When I was thinking of healthy hobbies for children, I had in mind things like reading, singing, playing football, riding the bicycle, playing hide-and-seek, and other countless activities that children during my time used to do.
But times have indeed changed. I used to collect stamps in an amateur way. Nowadays, everybody sends his messages through email or SMS, so who would have the time to send me a letter with a precious stamp on it?
Naturally, as we grow up, we tend to find new skills and new interests in our lives. When I entered secondary school, I discovered sports and games, and after class in the afternoon, I would be on the field training for the various competitions. In those good old days in the 1960s, nobody had heard of private tuition.
It was about that time that I also discovered the beauty of Western classical music.
There was no television then, and our chief source of entertainment was the radio. My late father bought me an old fashioned bulky radio that ran on some kind of valve, because the transistor had not been invented yet.
With this humble radio, I was introduced to the wonderful world of short wave broadcast, scouring the world for the most interesting music and programmes. My favourite station was the BBC World Service, when I was exposed for the first time to the musical genius of people like Beethoven, Mozart, and Tchaikovsky.
In a North American university, I was introduced to snow and ice.
The natives there were crazy about winter sports, like skiing, ice hockey, skating, and a game called curling. My housemates used to invite me every weekend to go cross-country skiing, but being a tropical boy at heart, I never did develop an interest for winter sports.
I did pick up chess though, and sometimes skipped class just to play some games with my mates. It was then that Bobby Fisher played Boris Spassky, the match of the century in 1972. I was in Boston that summer, and followed the entire match game by game on TV. Bobby Fisher thrashed Boris Spassky, confirming him as the best chess player who ever lived.
It was around that time that a Taiwan restaurant owner taught me how to play a chess game called ‘Go’. It is believed to have originated from China thousands of yeas ago. Two players just take turn placing white and black pieces onto an empty board until it is full. Very few Malaysians play this board game, though it is hugely popular in Japan, China, and South Korea.
In those young days, I also liked travelling. You swung a bag over your shoulder, boarded a bus or a train, had enough money for you to survive on five dollars a day, and you were on the go to see the world. The sense of exhilaration and freedom was liberating.
Nowadays, having seen the world and ageing, I just want to sit at home, and read and write.
In my old age, I still maintain quite a few hobbies that my weakened frame will allow. I still love to cook, and look after my small garden. I spend quite a great deal of time and attention pampering my two lovely loyal cats. I still love to watch the sunset with my sundowner!
One man’s hobby is another man’s waste of time.
Occasional gambling with small wagers between good friends can be an amusing way of passing some free time, I suppose. The same can be said of placing a small bet on the week’s lucky four-digit number.
But I have seen too many lives wrecked by prolonged and compulsive gambling, and victims include many members of their immediate and extended families. If there is anything for which I wish to express regret about Sarawakians, it is this pervasive and widespread obsession with gambling.
I also know of the odd friends whose hobby in life is to collect girlfriends. The more common practice is for such Casanovas to go through their stable of lady companions one by one, but there are the odd ones who can maintain a few ladies at a time. These gentlemen must have very deep pockets.
I am afraid I am of the old school and look askance at people who treat the relationship between a man and a woman as raw material for entertainment or recreation. Where fidelity in a marriage is involved, such cracks to standing marriages may leave irreparable damage, leaving the poor children to suffer the painful consequences. For the same reason, you guys out there, leave the Dragon Ladies from China alone, and stay away from them with a 10-foot pole.
I have another group of friends who just like to feast and drink everyday. Every day after work, they would call one another and make arrangements to meet at various points in town wherever culinary delights are to be found. There this group of good friends would immerse themselves in the best Epicurean pleasures that Kuching City has to offer, until the small hours of the morning.
One such friend once announced proudly that he was flying off to Johor Bharu, where he would partake in a rare feast in which the main course was going to be tiger meat: hunters had shot this stray tiger in an oil palm plantation.
Being an animal lover, and well knowing that there are hardly 5,000 wild tigers left in the world, I was dismayed by the news of my friend’s extraordinary meal.
One man’s meat is another man’s cholesterol, and I prefer my food simple and straightforward.
Lately, I have also discovered the wonderful world of the Internet, the vast almost limitless virtual space in which you can roam free for hours on end. Any information is available at the click of the mouse, free of charge, at the speed of light.
I have also joined in a growing number of Malaysian bloggers sharing our views of the world. What you get is more than a new technology, but a revolutionary concept in communication.
Looking back, I have been blessed in my life, for I have travelled far and seen much in my many journeys. I still have my many lingering interests and passions to occupy my attention.
Sometimes, I do not even need any distraction. All I need is to make a cup of hot tea, listen to the rain galloping on the roof, and quietly enjoy the harmony in the universe. The best things in life are often free.