The articles towards the back end of the edition of the Mekong Review that I'm now reading are considerably more cheerful than the excellent yet righteously depressing material in the first two-thirds of the publication. This has resulted in a distinct speeding-up of the pace of my reading.
I'm now embarked on a piece by Marc de Faoite on the joys of eating roti canai and, let's face it, there are few subjects that are more cheerful than that - though it has provoked a little bit of painful nostalgia for the days when we could just pop out to an eatery to indulge. Never mind, soon, we hope. This came after a lovely account by Jennifer Lindsay of the neighbourhood in which she lives in Yogyakarta, or more specifically her RT, standing for Rukun Tetangga, the equivalent of our Taman in KL. It's all about the ways in which the people living in her area get along and work together to make it a better place. When you look at relations on that scale somehow feeling hopeful for the future doesn't seem quite so foolish after all.
No comments:
Post a Comment