Divine Interjections: 02

Looking back at my last entry, somehow Weird Adventures lack a certain finesse. So I'm calling it Divine Interjections from now on. Yes, as a producer of the miniseries, I get to call these shots. Okay. Moving along...

I grew up with mom and her parents. We weren't terribly religious. On the other hand, my father's side of the family were. Now here was a bunch of guys who'd try anything once. We're pretty crazy that way. But then again, craziness is our birthright - we are after all, Hainanese. Hehhehh!

Dad's side of the family is a melting pot of religion and rituals. We've got the Taoists. The Buddhists are there too. We have a couple of Muslims. A Christian. And some of these guys had been around the block - religiously speaking, of course! They've tried a little Hinduism, some Shintoism and even a little Mahikari.

Somewhere in the mid-80s when Mahikari was all the rage, I dropped by my paternal Granny's for a visit.

My auntie took one look at me and said, "Do you know why you're so dark?"

By Chinese standards, I have very tanned skinned. I look nothing like a Chinese. In fact, time and time again I have been mistaken for a Malay. When I was in the Phillipines, they thought I was Cabayan. In Thailand, I'm Thai. So as you can imagine, I looked quite different from most of the family. If it weren't for the fact that I was a carbon-copy of Dad someone might have thought that Mom's had been up to no good!

"You're dark because you're full of evil inside."

I admit, I'm no angel. But surely I'm not so bad that I'm full of evil inside, am I? Hahahhahah!!! So, Aunty put her hand over my forehead and read a Mahikari chant. "See, you're glowing already," she said in a sage-like tone. "I just cleansed you."

She didn't stick with Mahikari for long. Didn't say why but still...Phew!