=searching for a constant in a changing world=
fridae was a slack dae to cap off a very slack week of going home early (that is after 2) almost everyday for this this week. which gave me back my traditional custom of having a long nice afternoon nap. to drift off far away from a sch that is not grey, a country that is green, clean but dry n ugly.
todae almost managed to skip art...walk walk to bus stop then teacher call me ask me to go back. alittle bit of an idiosyncrasy as mr lee didn’t come to sch todae so there was no lesson planned for todae. but art students still have to go back to show their faces til end of lesson. which was basically wasted away doing nothing, walking round, n trying to do some hw. after that, for art club, ms lu screened some short films made by local professional directors for us to watch. it is wad i wd call the highlight of the dae, or rather, the only thing worth mentioning this friday.
one of the movies screened, entitled Moving House, was one local documentary that really hit me home, its message striking me loud n clear, but yet paradoxically brought across with such pathos n subtlety that one is left contemplating the many other complex messages that stem from it. it hits the heart, n hits it hard.
the scene opens wif the lin family (which the documentary is centred on) who drives to the chinese cemetery to pay respects to their forbears this qing ming day. after offering their prayers n spreading the offerings in front of the tomb, a monk prays in earnest, for this year, qing ming was going to b alittle different from them. their grandparents were to b exhumed that day.
it then cuts to scenes describing the mass resettlement programmes out of the densely populated civic district into hdb towns in the suburbs, that b4 long characterized our landscape. our economy grew, population quadrupled exponentially, n along wif it, so did the needs of the pple residing in our tiny island.
it grew to such a point that the govt decided that the needs of the dead shd make way for the demands of the living. n so the cemeteries have to go to make way for urban development. n along wif the tombs of those buried in it.
the lin family was one of those affected. but in the name of change, they had to accept the hard fact that their ancestors have to b disturbed from their graves, once again. one sibling interviewed did not, n still do not support such a move as he believed that when our ancestors died, n auspicious location was chosen for them to reside in, n their bodies wd absorb the gd feng shui in the earth which wd then b transferred to future generations.
scene then shows the exhumation of the graves as their grandparents remains r dug out from their coffins, n one by one, the bones r taken out. quite a sight that u don’t see everyday, n will probably never see again for the rest of ur life. it borders on the poignant n also the macabre. as the remains r removed from their resting places, the sky above them turns grey n thunder strikes, as if providence expressed displeasure at such an act. after the bones are removed n placed in plastic bags, the diggers affirm that there r no more bones left n proceed to hack away the tomb itself. along wif it the stone guardians n other embellishments on either end. leaving behind a pile of broken rocks n among them, the badly worn portraits of the diseased can b made out.
the family proceeds to drive to mandai crematorium to have the bones cremated n stored in one of the niches. this is filmed objectively, but yet convey a sense of intimacy. after that, the family sets out a spread in front of the niche now hosting their grandparents n a diseased sibling, n leaves.
on hindsight, one expressed regret for deciding for the exhumation, citing that our dead deserve to rest in peace among the silence of the other tombs, the green grass, under the open sky. feeling a mixture of anger n helplessness that our the tombs of our honourable dead were swaped for more something as useless as condos n golf courses. he reflected that the traditions n ambience of qing ming were lost wif the disappearance of the cemetery. the crematoriums were dull n cramped. the atmosphere was no longer there. the lins have since decided not to continue wif the qing ming practice, instead deciding to just visit on the death anniversaries.
the documentary ends wif a final cut to the abandoned rubble that was once a tomb. n the face of the person that once graced it.
ends on a very sad note. n for once i really empathize wif the lins as i myself very often also feel that our lives move too fast. in the rat race to earn money n emerge first, we have forfeited everything else, including our culture, heritage n our valuable family ties. one questions the emptiness of the our final goal. do we end up happy? then our spirits sink alittle as we resolve that theres nothing much we can do n resign ourselves to our sad fate. the world is changing, n the race is still moving on, even gaining pace. why is the world so short-sighted even blindly subscribing to such a meaningless endeavour. ah well saying this doesn’t change a thing not one bit. we still r, remain, n continue to b helpless players in such a game.
i am too idealistic i noe, n i accept that. i always dream of ideals, romanticizing them in the process. i lament that i am living in a land far from the utopia of my fantasies. but then it is loss that makes us yearn for what was gone. while meanwhile we don’t treasure the things we have. so maybe nostalgia n loss though bringing anguish, is also bittersweet n fulfilling in a sense. ahya at this point i seem to have totally digressed n have said too much. happy weekend! ciao pplez ....................(if u get to reading this far.)
alvin ong dozed and watched the sawdust trampled night @ 9:40 PM
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