Reflections

There have been dramatic events in Malaysia in recent times. On the 9 th May, the ruling party in Malaysia, which had enjoyed uninterrupted power for 61 years since independence was voted out in what was one of the most stunning upsets in electoral history. Many had hoped for such a turn of events, but most Malaysians never expected that this would happen. However it did. The shell shocked Ex-Prime Minister tried to put a spin on events, but finally bowed out fairly gracefully, leaving the field to the opposition which then took over promising all manner of enquiries into the conduct of the past administration. On the day that the results were announced, all public transport ran as usual, the flights left on time, tourists entered and left Malaysia, the Malls were full of holidaying youngsters (the new government had declared a holiday). There was no violence to speak of and certainly no severe injuries and no deaths. The passion that the Malaysians felt did not reflect itself...

The Komodo island  Ben, in the meantime filled us in with information about Flores and the surrounding islands. He is a huge fan of the President, Joko Widodo, crediting him with trying to develop the far off provinces of Indonesia instead of concentrating only on Java and Sumatra as, he claimed, earlier incumbents did. Ben is Catholic, which, he said, was the main religion in Flores. The name itself came from the Portuguese for flower and it was Portuguese missionaries who had converted his forefathers from their pagan religion.   The economy depended on fishing and agriculture, coffee and spice plantations were the lifeblood, though paddy was also grown extensively. The languages also differ, even from region to region within Flores. According to Benjamin, it may be difficult sometimes for somebody from the eastern part of the island to understand the dialect spoken in the West. Nowadays, tourism is becoming an important part of the economy and is being encouraged...

I am blogging after almost a year's break. Sorry for the interruption as they used to say on Indian TV in my younger days. I hope now to be regular in my updates.  It was in the eighties that I first saw the Komodo dragon in a David Attenborough documentary in Doordarshan, then India’s only television channel. I am not sure which series it was. It was perhaps “Wildlife in One” or maybe it was not; no matter. The point is that the sight of these ‘dragons” captivated me and since then I nurtured what was then an impossible dream of seeing these animals somewhere: perhaps in a zoo? It never occurred to me in those pre liberalization days that I may be able to travel to the Komodo Island to see the dragons in their natural habitat. When I came to Malaysia, I realized that it was within the bounds of possibility that I may be able to make my dream come true. But it was only this year that my daughter who lives in Singapore planned and organized  the trip of which I am writ...