I love you and I wonder

Covid19 Lockdown (D1)

It is no wonder...

I was so restless the past two nights at the farm. Couldn't sleep.
Even thought on the first night I came home drunk as a skunk after a fabulous night of merry-making with long lost childhood friends.Tears flowed freely from my eyes as we sat at the restaurant table under giant Angsana trees listening to how proud of his girls (including wife) and his grandchildren he is.

I also met a few of my future comrades by the names of Balan, Saravanen, Praba & Ganapathy- the earthworks man. We drank to our hearts content and to our stomach's discontent. Ate deliciously prepared, best of the kitchen food. Made friends with the chef and owner. Left round midnite while we still could. Bcos there's no telling when this particular friend of mine becomes unpredictable after many drinks, he has been known to forbid people leaving before.
My farm supervisor also my childhood friend swiftly but safely delivered me home.

On the second night I was also tossing and turning feeling very compulsive instead of conscious. Couldn't sleep. Then I remembered my guru's words;  you are going through tremendous change. It will be painful. But things are coming together. The transformation is happening. It will be uncomfortable. I eventually found sleep as I managed to silence the mind.

I woke early, well rested, to another day of work no matter what day it is. Started with Aunty bright and cheerful right into the farm including the dogs and chickens along the paths past the Ficus grove then the bamboo grove, past the flowering durians trees, then the abandoned wooden house before coming right up to the chief gardener. He was busy filling polybags with earth under the shade of the giant mango trees.

Chief's Station

I squat beside him to help while he recounted stories of his many trips into the estates tapping rubber; he once saw a black panther, gleaming shiny and sleek in the dark, another time a very huge cobra standing, hissing in his path. He quickly lit a leafy fire to create smoke that drove the creature away. 

Which prompted me to tell my first encounter with a snake on the farm. 

I sat in a broken plastic recliner looking out at a bunch of almost ripe petai hanging on the tree, when all of a sudden I saw a silver line of a snake slither into frame on the ground fronting the tall petai tree. It was about a six footer brownish silvery sleek creature crawling across the 40-foot earthen platform escaping the searing heat of the sun on the ground. It was a feeling of wonder and danger although I know I was in no danger at all. The cobra not withstanding.

See the brown silver line in the middle.

Then I went into town, for dragonfruits, supplies and petrol after an awesome lunch of Assam fish curry prepared just the way I like. Sourish and soupy with chillies and a host of spices. Deliciously executed by aunty.

Assam Fish Curry

On the way back from town enjoying the idyllic village scenes float by, ideas came flooding into my mind while negotiating the gentle curving countryside roads.

I saw my entrepreneurial school programme and the neighbouring schools co-curriculum take shape while driving. So overwhelmed, I almost forgot to stop to have delightful local kuehs washed down with good Hainanese hand made milk tea on the way back.

Steamed ubi kayu (wooden yam) or Tapioca with gula melaka.

Feeling well satiated I went back to work watering the polybags as well as the rest of the new seeds on the new land. And the new Durian trees. I felt such joy lingering over excessive showers of water on the parched land that is full with seeds we sowed weeks ago. 

I finally manage to wrestle the bunch of petai I was eyeing for a long time from the un-yielding tree having failed on my first attempt. Only to learn that it was still too young. I ate them up with relish their tiny beans sprinkled onto the delectable Assam fish curry for dinner.

Having eaten my fill, I promptly left the farm. Driving home to KL into the night was like gliding across the land on my magic carpet- Smooth, swift & effortlessly landing on my balcony coming out of my hiatus. As my country and the rest of the world go into hiatus. So I wonder…

Stay tuned. Literally.