The World of Tai Tai

I n the shade of some dripping palm fronds, I was sitting at the edge of a bench, waiting for my brother to pick me up.   Many tall buildings of glass and steel adorned the area in the vicinity of KLCC, the busiest hub in the city.   My eyes, fretful with impatience, were searching for the rust-biege colour of my brother's car amidst the traffic that drifted up and down the road.  A spell seemed to have been cast upon everything, pulling them along the road in opposing directions.  As time passed by the frenzy took on a more feverish note.  Weren’t we all moving along life to earn our keep?  A break would interrupt the flow of regularity, and the gap would have to be mended before reestablishing the continuity of your journey, or so I thought.  From somewhere just beyond the depths of my own thinking, a strong singing voice pulled me back to reality. I directed my eyes to where the singing came from, amid the free-flowing crowds, to the owner o...

I entered the bright hall, and found myself surrounded by oil paintings, video installations, sculptures, photographs. Migration said the wall description but I had other things on my mind. I looked at them without seeing, lost in my own thoughts. But when I turned a corner, the brightness dimmed suddenly and I was jolted.  In that half dark room, there was a sea of faces, each face dazed, as if they had been punched between their eyes. So many faces, looking, dead ahead. A faint light reflected off their faces as they watched a screen, silent, mesmerised, oblivious to me, oblivious to their surroundings, looking at something beyond my shoulder.                 I stepped back deeper in the darkness and looked at them. They were cast from the same mould these people. Their foreheads were low, their eyes large, their jaws wide.  They were far from home,  leaving loved ones behind in pursuit of...