[In character] I’m Sylvia Graham, I write for the Times Newspaper in London which is why I came over to Malaya. Well it must have been a few days ago now. You see I have this marvelous idea for an article, and I beg the newspaper to let me travel over here and write it. I was hoping it would be the article of my career to tell you the truth. But then I went to this rally, I was convinced that I missed the elections, but I hadn’t. Something marvelous happened in fact. I met a man. A man called Raj Veerasamy.
I blushed thinking that it was love at first sight because I’m far too cynical for things like that. But I don’t know, it took me by surprise. It was one of those things that you never really expected. I traveled six thousand miles for my career essentially. And then I realized, there was no point in that anymore. My life has found a new meaning. And I was supposed to, I guess to go over whoever that bought me here, to build him up, to make sure that he could lead the party, the MIC in the best way possible. And I would support that through writing speeches. Which is what happened.
The relationship was good for a while, I think there were some tiny issues, but then culture comes into it. We both make sacrifices, one after the other. From the types of food, we like the type of friends we make. Things are rather different. You see love is a complicated thing, sometimes your emotions rule your head and then other times, your brain takes over. And I realized I wasn’t really using mine. And I was so full of ambition that I put everything on hold, for a man, and when he couldn’t give me what I wanted I thought, “I sacrificed everything and I want more.” Unnecessarily he wanted more too. And it’s a quite sad ending though. We didn’t work out. As a result, I fled, move back to London to write for the paper. To reclaim what was once mine.
I tried my best to fit in. Honestly, I did. I sampled the food, I even wore the clothes as they were. But it wasn’t enough somehow. I was always an outsider you see. I did try my best but people sometimes when they look, they look pass. I guess what’s staring them at the face. And I think I was very much the same, some parts. And probably held a lot of prejudice too.
My advice to all the girls out there is, don’t be scared. If you want to do something and your heart says to do it, then just go for it with no regrets.
MALAYA RELIVED
The second installment of Liver & Lung of immersive musical series, which seeks to unveil the cultural challenges our ancestors had to overcome in their fight for Malayan independence.
