Connie

The other day there was a letter from a reader, Wee Hung Lih ( see Today 9th Nov. 2006) who confidently stated that , and I quote, “I can see myself only as a Singaporean, born and bred in a multi-ethnic environement” . I completely agree with him. He is my kind of person , a rare person, who had the courage to stand up for his own convictions. He was responding to a letter in the same newspaper from Wong Hoong Hooi, who argued that all Singapore Chinese should speak Mandarin and not pretend they are ‘ang moh’.

I know that there are many people, Chinese, Malay or Indian who think like that and for whom their language is important for their sense of identity. But not everybody, including yours truly, feels the way Mr. Wong does.

This reminds me of a language detail I see on a movie trailer on TV which said that the Cantonese movie would be subtitled in English and Chinese!
Is Cantonese not Chinese?!

One of the joys of being old and retired is that there no need to rush – for instance, rush to get out of bed in the morning. I love lingering in the morning. I make my first cup of coffee, collect the newspapers, and go back to bed to read it. It is, for me the most delightful time of the day.

Another joy is not having to colour my hair. I have to stop pretending that I am young. There are advantages to this. Taxi drivers are more respectful and tell me to take my time. I can announce without embarrassment that I am 70 years old. It is all very liberating?

Remember Mdm Chow Ai Hwa? She is the old lady who was against the en-black sale of her flat because she had lived in that flat for many years and she wanted to hold on to the memories of her life with her late husband. She took it court and fought the case herself. Unfortunately she lost. I take my hat of to her for fighting for her values and her rights. I think she was fearless. That fearlessness comes with age.

I was told another story involving another old lady. This happened in Vancouver. An old lady, driving a flashy convertible, was trying to park her car when a young man , very quickly, cut into her space and parked his car. The old lady continued reversing her car into the lot and banged right into the young man’s car. And then she got out of her car, went to the young man and told him” Young man you may have youth on your side but I have more money”. Now that too comes with age.

I am on my way to Perth with my hand luggage packed with Bengwan Solo cakes. My nieces and nephews, whether born in Singapore or elsewhere have all passed on their passion for Singapore food to their children. So every family trip means carrying Sago lapis and dol dol and parathas, the kids’ favourites.

While I am visiting , the kids clamour for ‘puttu’ mashed with bananas for breakfast and appum and curries. Food, good food, brings people together; it brings families together and maintains, tenuous though they may be, the connections to their traditional cultures.

I look at a mirror and I don’t see an old lady. I just see me. I have often looked at the other women, possibly my age, and think of them as poor old ladies! But then I wonder what others see when they look at me.

I got the answer this morning when I was at a café with the two-year-old son of my niece. He had been playing with a toy which he dropped on the floor. Before I could get up to pick it up a lady, sitting at the table, next to us offered to pick it up, saying “ Let me do that. I can do it faster…” . Well I am not a poor old lady! I should be thinking of others as poor old ladies too.

We accept unquestionably the perspective of the Western world. We know of Aristotle, Constantine and Anthony and Cleopatra, Alexander, Oxford and Cambridge and so on. But what do we know of our own ancient world or own ancient civilisation? I know very little.

So I was glad to have attended the symposium on “Nalanda” last year.

Nalanda was a well-known and highly respected centre of Buddhist scholarship from the 5th to 12th century. It was the biggest university in ancient India, attracting students from all over Asia. At the height of its glory , Nalanda is supposed to have accommodated 10,000 students and 2.000 teachers from across Asia. It taught a wide and holistic range of subjects: the various strands of Buddhism, philosophy, logic, grammar, medicine, mathematics, astronomy and literature.

Nanada was the key destination of many Chinese scholars including the famous scholar Hsuan Tsang. It was at Nalanda that he lectured and wrote his 3,000 stanza on the Treatise on the Harmony of Teaching.

As far as I can tell, from my search on the internet, Nalanda is the World’s oldest university but was destroyed during the Turkish invasion in the 12th century. It is one of the largest archaeological sites in India.

There is now an interest in its revival by the Chinese, Indian and Singapore Governments.