Novelist Chuah Guat Eng
[The author in her essay reminisces on how “Malaysia after Independence in 1957 functions on a framework of racial division??? and how she has had to constantly define and redefine herself “against a backdrop of several dominant cultures, all of them familiar, yet alien???.]
“As a young man, my father fell in love with a Malay girl but because he refused to become a Muslim, had to give her up and leave his kampong forever, thus cutting himself off from the ‘mainland’ of his childhood. Hearing the story when I was a child, I learned that religion is an ocean that divides the world into islands.
“It is tempting to romanticise the spirit of tolerance and the adaptability that foster the growth of hybrid cultures. However, tolerance and adaptability are often nothing more than the survival tools of minority groups surrounded by an alien culture, and survival in such circumstances usually requires a shaking loose of old roots.???
More …
http://goodbooksguide.blogspot.com/2008/10/essay-thoughts-from-disappearing-island.html
Retired educator Halimah Mohd Said
[Halimah muses on how like her father she has become in her literary interests; how like her mother in her culinary skills.]
“My mother died at 69; my father thirteen years later at 89. She died in middle age; he in old age. I’ve just turned 63, and if I have more of my mother in me there are only six years to go. Sigh! If I’m more of my father’s daughter I have a good two and a half decades – enough years to see the fruition of Vision 2020 and even 1 Malaysia. Wonderful prospects if I can keep my wits about me and my sinews fit!???
More …
http://ninitalk.wordpress.com/2009/09/02/1147/#comments
Former English teacher Patricia John
[Patricia, 53, celebrated her 26th wedding anniversary at end-July. She reflects that “nothing worth having is easy. It takes work, and a commitment to yourself and to the person that you love. We have to see beyond the ‘face’ – and look inside the heart???.]
“Over the last couple of weeks, I rediscovered an old album of John Denver’s in my meager collection of CDs. And I’ve been playing it over and over, and singing along …
“Anyways, John Denver’s music brings back so many memories as he was part of the soundtrack for much of my growing up years. All sad and achy, his many love songs were just the thing for a young girl, full of dreams, just waiting for love to find her.
“And it did, while I was singing one of his songs: I’m sorry. My first-ever boyfriend heard me singing it, and wondered who belonged to that voice! He came up to say hello, and that was the begining of a sweet romance. When I hear that song today, I remember him – no longer with pain, or malice (I used to want to claw his eyes out and feed them to an iguana!), but fondly. He’s just one of many memories.???
More …
http://theenglishcottage.blogspot.com/2009/09/seasons-of-heart.html