Monday 12 April 2010

DISCRETION IS ADVISED

Bismillah hir-rahman nir-Rahim,

I've written this post years ago, and I reproduce it here because it exactly mirrors what I feel right now. This post contains some unsuitable languages, therefore, reader discretion is advised. Parental guidance is a must, and *biting my finger* well, I do not think it is suitable for you guys anyway. In fact, dont read it. All damages are your own responsibility.

Must dash!
Love always.
_________________________________________________________________________

In my trying journey to finish one of the volumes of economics of migration, I feel dizzy. Here I am, unbelievably forcing my brain to meet my intellectual obligation, trying hard to not abandon my academic responsibility, then BOOM, my stomach takes over.

Ever hear about Siapa Makan Cili, Dia Terasa Pedasnya? I’m the one who have eaten the chilis. Even I know my lower tolerance of hot food, my curiosity of what is the nasi goreng cili padi UK cooked by Putri taste like triumph. I’m not like my mother, and my other best friends, who love hot food. I can’t barely eat it, I do not know why, I should be able to consume it, since Minangkabau is in my blood. And now every nerves and veins in my body is screaming for being abused.

Perhaps I’m more like a Briton then!

Some people say we can judge people by the type of food that they like- clustering people according to their preferences criteria. Food has become an industry - a rich industry indeed. Thousands papers have ever written on it, countless students study how to be great chefs, no movie film fails to include this element, many scholars attempt to learn it in different angles – be it social, economics, politic, history, crime, science and health.

But I find it amusing, almost with a cynical tragedy, that the world can truly be divided into three categories- the filthy rich and wealthy who have enormous bellies that never know the meaning of scarcity, the skinny anorexics who starving themselves – slaves to a superficial concept of beauty, and the skeletal who have no choice but to fasting, because of the extreme poverty and famine. Face this – everyday, almost 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes – one child every five seconds.

Damn the globalization that destroys people more than they can realize, damn the stupid politicians who put their bellies need above all, damn the entrepreneurs who savour the neoclassical concept of profit-maximization. Damn you, Adam Smith, and you Keynes – who had introduced the concept of greedy government interventions, and you above all Ravenstein, who proposed that emigration was absolute in need to achieve economics prosperity – which led to colonialism.

Damn the chilis who make me feel edgy tonight.