The sheer fact that we all remember things and recall certain points in our lives bears true testimony to this mystifying entity that exists within us called memory. I am currently attending a module called "social memory"..
Pretty interesting so to say, providing insights to some layman questions and well, others satisfying the intellect's appetite. Watched certain films that seemed emotional, sentimental... others brimming with nostalgia. Mourning for the lost past that's gone with the wind. Hmm, more like hidden by the undergrowth it seems. So aptly, a programme on tv reflected the same issue on the last kampong facing the imminent destiny of destruction.. (A point aside - know how to prevent things from being destroyed??? keep it under construction. So long as it is not completed... there is really no point in destroying it) According to one of my readings, the revisiting of the past through nostalgia and the sense of loss that we face now is a negative criticism of the present. How we have "lost" the innocent days of running barefooted chasing chickens and playing five stones... vs. that of clicking away with our fingers (most do the tapping and flicking thing on plain screens nowadays) on the buttons and absorbing ourselves into the 13" or 15" virtual reality... sure thing our interpersonal distance may have grown further or closer depending on your very subjective paradigm but well, it is most certainly affirmed that our tiny island is headed in the direction that none would have previewed say 50 years back.
Even the days of my dragon headed playground or birdie playground with tunnels and merry-go-rounds (nowadays deemed as far too dangerous for the fragile kids) are gone. as far as I know, I was told there's one of the non-existant mythical creature left in Toa Payoh. Not that I will visit it since I have practically no memory of being in Toa Payoh when I was young. More appropriately, I should go to Tanjong Pagar, where the playgrounds were already changed to those that were much safe to our bare feet on soft landings (but very soon after rubber melted thanks to deliquents and holes sprouted out all over). I should perhaps revisit the open-aired playgrounds at Wisma carpark.. or perhaps Yaohan at Plaza Singapura. Or maybe... the dimly litted café at OG Chinatown for a heartwarming banana split session I shared with my mum.
Places certainly change and some are never the same. What I used to recall about them stays fresh in my mind... as fresh as how I want them to be. But as I place them in comparison to what's going on in reality, they pale. To the extent that it fades away... in years to come, PS3, XBox, PSP will face the same fate as my dear Nintendo, Sega GameGear and Mario Bros. The beginning of electronic recreational activities that marked the end of simple pleasures that sprung from imagination and creativity... and this beginning that will come to an end in no time. The cycle continues and well, what can we say about those memory that were never shared? What about those things that were shared by groups of people that were never publicised? Lost for good or for the worse?
I'm not being emotional or nostalgic here.. just reflecting on our current way of life... positioning my ontological self in tandem with what's going on.
Alright... back to readings.
