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couple of things on my mind
Apr. 15th, 2018 11:51 pm1. Years ago, someone (I can't remember who it was, either on DW or LJ) went on this huge rant about how the Ramayana was literature of the Indian sub-continent and anyone else who referred to it and/or made use of was culturally misappropriating and they should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves, etc, etc.
I'm paraphrasing, of course (and who knows, I probably remembered the whole thing wrongly), but what stuck in my mind was the feeling of confusion and the persistent thought of: "Have you looked around the world recently?"
I grew up with stories from the Ramayana, and I'm Chinese. It's part of the culture in huge swathes of southeast Asia, where I'm from. To insist that people outside of the Indian subcontinent can't use Ramayana images means... Garuda Indonesia (the airline) can't use a picture of the Garuda? So, I re-learnt the fact that sometimes people really do not know what they're talking about. *shrug*
2. Back from a trip to Malacca City (not the first time), which was okay though it was either raining or sweltering, and I'm tickled as ever by the little bits of archaeological remains in the tourist area: you'd be walking, and all of a sudden there's a fenced-up trough and you're informed it's an excavated part of the city wall built by the Portuguese! And there's another one! And another! And this bit is inconveniently behind the mall we've built, so let's beautify it by adding a footbridge as though the giant hole in the ground is a pond in a Chinese garden. And that other bit is crumbling, so let's repair it with modern bricks. Good times.
The chicken rice was too salty but the cendol (chendol?) was tops.
3. Realised yet another big swathe of Malacca is reclaimed land. The historical part of Malacca has always loomed so much in my mind that it took me a while to accept the idea that it's a growing city, too.
4. Visited the Peranakan Heritage Museum (Baba Nyonya Heritage Museum), where the house tour ended with the guide pointing us to a couple of ancient... well, irons used for ironing clothes in the past (they used live charcoal), and how no one knows how to use them anymore and my mum pfted ("I used to iron clothes with those all the time!"). Thus proving that sometimes, history is a matter of perspective.
I'm paraphrasing, of course (and who knows, I probably remembered the whole thing wrongly), but what stuck in my mind was the feeling of confusion and the persistent thought of: "Have you looked around the world recently?"
I grew up with stories from the Ramayana, and I'm Chinese. It's part of the culture in huge swathes of southeast Asia, where I'm from. To insist that people outside of the Indian subcontinent can't use Ramayana images means... Garuda Indonesia (the airline) can't use a picture of the Garuda? So, I re-learnt the fact that sometimes people really do not know what they're talking about. *shrug*
2. Back from a trip to Malacca City (not the first time), which was okay though it was either raining or sweltering, and I'm tickled as ever by the little bits of archaeological remains in the tourist area: you'd be walking, and all of a sudden there's a fenced-up trough and you're informed it's an excavated part of the city wall built by the Portuguese! And there's another one! And another! And this bit is inconveniently behind the mall we've built, so let's beautify it by adding a footbridge as though the giant hole in the ground is a pond in a Chinese garden. And that other bit is crumbling, so let's repair it with modern bricks. Good times.
The chicken rice was too salty but the cendol (chendol?) was tops.
3. Realised yet another big swathe of Malacca is reclaimed land. The historical part of Malacca has always loomed so much in my mind that it took me a while to accept the idea that it's a growing city, too.
4. Visited the Peranakan Heritage Museum (Baba Nyonya Heritage Museum), where the house tour ended with the guide pointing us to a couple of ancient... well, irons used for ironing clothes in the past (they used live charcoal), and how no one knows how to use them anymore and my mum pfted ("I used to iron clothes with those all the time!"). Thus proving that sometimes, history is a matter of perspective.
