You are currently browsing the daily archive for July 4th, 2008.
Okay, I may have exaggerated and pushing it a little too far with the title. And it was nothing as religious as the original Chinese novel may be.
Nevertheless, it’s a supposedly “spiritual” journey that was supposed to awaken us from the comfort of the shelter from our homes. Hey, I’m a sound guy. I work in an air-con suite that should be ideally soundproof! I’m not supposed to interact with the world… Haha~ kidding.
Today is 4th July. I knew I should be blogging everyday during the trip (especially so since I’m the webmaster of this blog… hmm…), but the lure of the rural life of India was too much for me to go back to my highly technological urban world…… Ok, fine, I was just plain lazy. But hey, I needed that extra sleep to cope with the extra weight I was putting on!
Okay, this blog entry is a DESPERATE ATTEMPT at trying to list down all the places we’ve gone to. It will be tedious to read, so…. DON’T SAY I NEVER WARN YOU, BUT READ ON IF YOU DARE~~
This trip to Karnataka has brought forth a welcoming sense of familiarity. Having been to Nepal before, I didn’t suffer the culture shock that will probably have hit some of my fellow Go-Far members. It felt great to be back in South Asia again, with its colourful people, rich culture and bedazzling scenery.
As I have shared with the team during the pre-trip presentations, the sincere hospitality of the people, especially in the rural areas, was most amazing and most unlikely to be experienced in Singapore. Some of the folks may be financially poor but their hearts and spirits are filled to the brim, overflowing with a rich generosity and selflessness. Being able to host a guest, especially a foreign visitor, is a great honour for the people we met in the villages.
Language proved to be a problem especially when translators were not around. But most times, all we need is just a sincere smile, a humble nod, and calm patience. Let’s try and start with a warm handshake and with enough effort, the people we speak to will warm up to us and end our interaction, with an endearing hug.
But it wasn’t just the people of Karnataka that made this preliminary trip a delight. It was an honour to hit the roads with a wonderful team in support of each other. More than just going for our own stories, the most imperative lesson we can take out of this trip, is the team spirit with every guy looking out for each other.
Let’s hope the next trip will bring us even much more closer than before – to the people of our stories and the people that make the stories.
Cheers,
ARECA ‘nut’ Lim
I was looking through the photos, and at the village where we went to interview the second family which a member had taken his own life, it struck me.
Even with the happy smiles and extremely homely welcome, I feel that they are trapped. Maybe because I’m seeing this as an outsider’s perspective. The only world they know is barely beyond their own village. And many are torn between coming back to the farm after education, or leaving it to pursue a so-called better life.
In many cases, the income divde widens. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. The stronger farmer will sell his yield at a higher price and larger quantity. While the marginal farmer, settles for lesser. They are then driven to take loans, and soon after debts stack up to an unbearable amount.
And for a moment, I realised this is the reality of the world. It doesn’t matter if we’re civillised or urbanised. Life is a struggle, no matter where we are.
Just my two cents worth…
Rachel Judith.
It’s one thing to be learning about India through words and numbers, and another to see for ourselves what India truly is like.
Even after knowing that 70 percent of India’s population live in the rural areas and are mostly farmers, it was a sight to see the miles and miles of farmland that stretched on for eternity, to feel the breath of the cows on your hand, and to talk to the farmers for whom agriculture makes up the world.
But more than the sights, sounds and smells (or the lack of), the rural people and their warm hospitality were what made the trip so amazing for us – I’ve never encountered anyone who would shout “come on!” across a distance the length of a few soccer fields, beckoning us to follow him into his house, just to come out a few minutes later with a plate full of jackfruits.
The Four Million Smiles campaign we had a few years back seems ludicrous now, in comparison to the villagers so freely gave during our trip. Maybe, like what Serene said, turning to farming will make us better people.
One thing I know for sure - if I ever have a farm, I’ll make sure it doesn’t have holes on the ground, just so that it is a little more Peiqi-friendly. haha.
Don’t say cheese. Say areca nut.
internet was very often not at our easy disposal over there, hence the sudden influx of summarised updates from us now. but now let me try to see if i can detail our trip a little more.
but before i go into it, let me just say go-far really rocks lah. i’d never have traded any single mmt encountered in the trip for anything else. it has opened my eyes to a whole new world and it is not even something u can see if u simply go holiday-ing there. i guess that’s one of the factors which draws me to journalism.
ok now this is going to be a long one…
