Sunday 28 February 2010

the diary 5


my perception of this society might be distorted by my inability to speak the language but the idea i get is that it's more obscenely materialistic, more self centred, more interested in consumption and display, than my own.

i am still vulnerable to the thrill of purchase but i would like to think that i am growing away from that mindset so conspicuous consumption is hard to watch.

i'm wondering whether the hills surrounding this area have suddenly taken a new significance to me because of the contrast with humanity. i have never paid much attention to the ranges that stand blue in the distance but now i can only describe them as comforting. they are still and quiet and unchanging.

i think, too of their history in my lifetime, as a hideout for communist rebels and i wonder what significance they held for many generations of people in this area.
how were they seen by the chinese migrants? the indians? the british colonial power? and what about the migrant workers who come here from sri lanka, cambodia and bangladesh? do they have time to ponder the landscape?

12 comments:

  1. Kylie,
    I too remember looking to those hills and pondering what it might be like there as I looked down the road that led there. That's when your number one child and son was very very young.

    Your thoughts about the consuming society are apposite but the locals (Chinese?) are too busy going out to Eat , making money to buy new "things" to stave off their spiritual emptiness to notice oddities like the poetic shape of those hills.

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  2. i notice the colour more than the shape :)

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  3. Great shots! Your blog ( along with a few others ) went AWOL from me reader! Still trying to sort it all out...I need to play some "catch-up" here ;)

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  4. kylie, I've got you back on the reader but I'm still missing others. Blooger hasn't been kind the past few weeks! Cheers luv :)

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  5. I like it that you reflect on the history of the hills and how they were seen by different groups of people. So often we casually visit other countries and give little thought to the people living there and their experiences.

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  6. ah nick,
    i like it that you keep commenting here!
    it has taken me 7 visits to reflect on the hills so it wasnt fast :)

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  7. The plan all along among all governments was to turn the drivers of the economy from commodities to consumption. It's another idea gone wrong but the rest of the world will make its own mistakes trying to consume everything in the relentless pursuit of material wealth.

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  8. Beautiful, Kylie. You're a great writer.

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  9. Like like like the color of those hills!

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