On the night flight from Hong Kong to KL, the ocean below was filled with thousands and thousands of fishing boats - their lights twinkling off the seas.
They were like fire-flies on a dark night. Inanimate shiny objects as seen from high up in the sky.
And then I felt a strange sense of disconnect. I had to remind myself that the boats contained people - like me. Real people with families and hopes and anxieties. People who struggle and sacrifice - people who are separated from their wife and children by thousands of miles of ocean.
And then I tried to imagine the face of the father that that particular twinkling boat might carry. And the boat over there in the distance - so isolated from the rest of the boats - what would be the dreams of the families of the fisherman in that boat?
It is strange what distance - either real or virtual - can do to one's perspective. Elevation brings along a certain arrogance.
I said to myself I would one day spend time in a small boat in the middle of the ocean and experience the connection that I temporarily lost.
They were like fire-flies on a dark night. Inanimate shiny objects as seen from high up in the sky.
And then I felt a strange sense of disconnect. I had to remind myself that the boats contained people - like me. Real people with families and hopes and anxieties. People who struggle and sacrifice - people who are separated from their wife and children by thousands of miles of ocean.
And then I tried to imagine the face of the father that that particular twinkling boat might carry. And the boat over there in the distance - so isolated from the rest of the boats - what would be the dreams of the families of the fisherman in that boat?
It is strange what distance - either real or virtual - can do to one's perspective. Elevation brings along a certain arrogance.
I said to myself I would one day spend time in a small boat in the middle of the ocean and experience the connection that I temporarily lost.
1 comment:
Yeah, you probably have a real life experience to share..the one in Kumarakom where you were in a small boat with dark rainy clouds above staring at you and even worse - you could not locate the destination land anywhere in your view and the tide was not happy too! Remember?
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