Lotus
Issue 15 2018
The Blue
Arts Magazine
in this issue Sanjay Soni Farida Zaman Rajinder Singh Maneerat Srikampa Azizi Saad 1
Lotus The Blue
Arts Magazine
They are rattling breakfast plates in basement kitchens, And along the trampled edges of the street I am aware of the damp souls of housemaids Sprouting despondently at area gates. The brown waves of fog toss up to me Twisted faces from the bottom of the street, And tear from a passer-by with muddy skirts An aimless smile that hovers in the air And vanishes along the level of the roofs. Morning at the Window T. S. Eliot
The Blue Lotus remains a wholly independent magazine, free from favour and faction.
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The Blue Lotus Arts Magazine is an entirely free and non-associated publication concerned with bringing Asia to the world, and the world to Asia
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inside.... 6 Editorial Thoughts on the current issue
by the Founding Editor
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Golda Mowe - Interview Sarawakian author interviewed by author Robert Raymer
22 Sanjay Soni - Turban Paintings of Rajasthani turbans
38 Farida Zaman - Blue Bangladesh's premier female artist 58 Green Home Cambodian 'Community Project' 70 Rajinder Singh Silence from England, Ireland, Malaysia 84 Sayan Dey Poems from Bhutan
92 Maneerat Srikampa Paintings of 'Batik' from Thailand 106 Colors of Cambodia 15 Anniversary of Cambodia's 'Art Project'
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Front cover; Maneerat Srikampa
Issue 15 2018
128 Tower Spa An exciting way to 'Wellness' in Penang 138 More Blood on the Sand Speculative Fiction by Martin Bradley 140 Azizi Saad Malaysia's promising young artist 154 Nazlina Hussin Penang's spectacular 'Spice Station'
coming soon....
Rabindranath Tagore by Ahmed Shahabuddin
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Lotus Welcome to
The Blue Lotus Arts Magazine.
The Blue Lotus (previously Dusun) is in its 7th year, and has outlived many other 'Art' magazines within Asia. This time around The Blue Lotus magazine brings 'Turbans' from India's Rajasthan, a signifying 'orange' from one of Malaysia's top 'Contemporary' artists, as well as the colour 'Blue' from Bangladesh (in the guise of Bangladesh's premier female artist). Thailand is represented by amazing paintings of Thai 'Batik', by a figurative artist who is as happy using watercolour as she is acrylics. Young blood is represented by an up and coming artist painting cosmopolitan, and skyscraper clad, Kuala Lumpur. Food is brought to you on a platter from one of Penang's best. Now read on
Martin Bradley (Founding Editor)
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Feedback from previous issues Celso Pepito (The Philippines)... Congratulations Martin! Thank you for doing your best in promoting the importance of art in our community and in the world! More power to your incoming projects!
Jeffrey Say (Singapore)... Congratulations! That's a great contribution to a field where sources are scarce.
Sayan Dey (Bhutan)... Oh my God! The cover pages are just mindblowing.
Eva Wong Nava (Singapore)... This is the best arts magazine coming out of S.E.Asia I've seen and it is your labour of love that has contributed to this! Valerie Salee (Belgium)... Mannifique.
Nick Bellamy (England)...Well done Mr B. Very proud to have been part of this amazing journey.
Madan Lal (India)... Congratulations great journey sir.
Balbir Krishan (India)... How amazing. You're doing a great job, dear Martin. Many congratulations.
Pinky Kumari Madawela (India)... World is lucky to have u. Big hug and God bless.
J. Mahesh Mankar (India)... Congratulations sir . It's amazing all best arts magazine. Farida Zaman (Bangladesh)... Very proud to have this amazing journey. Anita Dinesh (India)... It's incredible.. u r doing fantastic work. 7 7
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GOLDA MOWE interviewed by Robert Raymer
Golda Mowe
Robert Raymer
I met Golda Mowe in Kuching in 2009. As one of the judges for the MPH contest I was conducting a short story workshop on their behalf, when Golda Mowe told me that she was working on a novel about Sarawak. Later she published not one, but two — Iban Dream and Iban Journey — and a collection of science fiction stories for children, The Nanobots and Other Stories. Born and raised in Sarawak on the island of Borneo to an Iban mother and Melanau father, Golda Mowe has always been interested in the culture and traditions of Borneo’s indigenous people. After graduating from Waseda University in Japan and enduring ten years of corporate life, the author found herself yearning for childhood evenings spent in the longhouse, sitting in a pool of lamplight, listening to her great-aunt tell tales of jungle animals or her father recount his hunting adventures. This led her back to writing and she is now living in Sibu, a town on the Rejang River in Sarawak, where she expends large portions of her time researching ideas for books and short stories. “I have loved folklore, myths and spooky stories since I was a child growing up in Sarawak…living on Borneo allows me to explore the beliefs and superstitions of multiple cultures, our own Asian ones and being exposed to western beliefs from our colonial heritage.” — Golda Mowe, author of Iban Dream and Iban Journey
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Robert: At the MPH workshop in Kuching, you stood out because you told me that you wanted to write a novel about Sarawak. Every other workshop, I get at least one writer who tells me of their plans, but few seen to pan out for one reason or another, so I was doubly impressed when you published not only Iban Dream but also Iban Journey! Congrats! I hope in some small way I may have inspired you… Golda: Of course you did, Robert. Remember that time when I asked you about “Neighbours”? I was so surprised when you wrote back a long and patient reply. That story of yours is still my gold standard. The words flow so smoothly, I forget I am reading. I now redraft my stories over and over until I reach that level of smoothness before I show them to anyone else. Robert: Over the years, I probably rewrote that story about fifty times — for three book publications and the French translation. I felt honoured when the Education Department chose it to be taught in Malaysia for SPM literature, which they did for six years. Mrs. Koh went on to become this stereotype for a busybody neighbour, and was even featured in an article in the New Strait Times by Denis Harry, “Are You Mrs. Koh?” When did you first begin to write Iban Dream and how long did it take to get that first draft done? How much longer before you got the novel to the point where you felt it was ready to be published? Golda: I was working on the first draft part time from 2002 until the end of 2004, when I resigned from my full time job. It was exhausting to work 8-hour days then come home and work some more on the manuscript. From then on, I did part-time work, earning just enough to cover my day-to-day living expenses. I completed the first draft around the middle of 2005….I only sent out my manuscripts to publishers recommended in the writer's forums because all the ones I found advertised in magazines or newsletter were vanity presses. After multiple rejections, I took another hard, critical look at the story. I changed some scenes, some plots and finished the second draft. I promised myself I would rewrite the book each time I got a rejection…assuming it was not good enough. Having said that, I must be very clear here: I treated this period as a time of educating myself…. You must have returned multiple drafts to your students for rewrites! So I treated these rejections as a request for redrafts from the publishing industry and did exactly that and resubmitted it to a new publisher or an agent. I cannot remember how many redrafts I did. I guess I would have saved a lot more time if I got advice from a professional, but at that point I was going into the industry blind. It never occurred to me that I should have looked for an editor who would have guided me in the right direction. The manuscript that I had put together by trial and error was finally accepted by Monsoon Books in January 2012. 10
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Robert: If only I could get those students and editing clients to take those rewrites seriously! Naturally they were less than pleased because they thought they were done or that it was ready to be published….It’s those rewrites that make your stories good and possibly publishable. Without that self discipline to rewrite (without a teacher or an editor standing over you with a ruler), you won’t go very far….It’s also too easy (and rather tempting) to think, ah, what does he know! See, this vanity press here (masquerading as a legitimate publisher) tells me my writing is good, that they’ll gladly publish my book (for a rather large fee up front and minimal, if any, editing that they conveniently forget to point out!) The Star called your book a fantasy novel, which it is, but having lived in Sarawak and having read various Dayak legends, I saw your book as an offshoot of the mysticism and animism that’s still prevalent today. There are certain taboos that you don’t risk breaking whether in a longhouse or in the jungle. For me, your book seemed ‘natural’ in a Sarawak context and even ‘believable’. I mean, you hear these fabulous stories that you just don’t question, that are probably not all that far from the truth — at least according to legend. Did you feel that way while you were writing, while trying to capture the ‘truth’ in your story or the ‘truth’ of certain Iban myths that perhaps you grew up with? Golda: I did not start out to explain the Iban culture…I was just writing what I know and what I have experienced. Since their migration into Sarawak, the Ibans had been separated by geography and disputes for three to four generations before coming together again in modern times, so my biggest headache had been to keep track of the bits of differences between the groups. I usually check and double check my facts to make sure that I have the appropriate taboo, custom, or belief for a particular region. One time, I wrote that the gecko represents the creator god Selampadai. This is true for the Rajang region, but my hero is based in Batang Lupar. Among the Ibans there, the representative of Selampadai is the millipede. Now, every time when I feel like taking shortcuts, I’m reminded of that oversight on a certain page in Iban Dream. Robert: Since you have been in Sarawak for so long, you must have noticed this strange combination of artistic freedom and restrictions among the Ibans. Golda: I feel free to write as crazy a story as I can, and put the demons, gods, and spirits into any kind of trouble I wish, but I am not free to change their nature. For example, Sengalang Burong, the warpath god, brings great blessing and good fortune. He does this all through the trophy head. Even though I wish I could make him more sympathetic and become a fatherly figure to Bujang Maias, I could not. Hence my protagonist had to disobey him in order to become a more modern and sympathetic hero. Robert: Did you do a lot of research before you began writing the first draft of Iban Dream or did most of it come later as you began 12
writing and realized that you needed to delve into the subject deeper to make your story or scene more convincing, or did it just come naturally from growing up within your culture or through extensive reading over the years or from listening to oral tradition repeated over and over since you were a child? Golda: A combination of all the above….There was no research work in the early stages, only a need to write the story because I could not stop thinking about it. Then as the MS progressed I became curious about the why’s and the how’s of Iban life. As you have mentioned, some things are just accepted as it is, and few people really knew why it was so. That was when I started looking for more information from books because very few people were willing to talk openly about some taboos. My real-life experience has helped me create characters who have a proper Iban attitude and beliefs. My love of Iban folklore has helped me create a protagonist who is typical of the Iban hero. And my research work has not only given me a solid foundation for the theme of the story but it has also helped me explain the Iban taboos and customs to non-native readers. Robert: A great book on taboo is The Golden Bough by Sir James Frazer. Occasionally I’ll come across a bizarre news story…about a teenager in Nepal dying while sequestered from her family in a hut because she is menstruating, and I’ll think, my god, they were doing that five hundred years ago…but now? Still! You could tell that a lot of research (and personal knowledge) went into this; there was little, if any, vagueness or generalizing. It was rich with details. It’s like stepping into a new world and feeling a part of the fabric. You made it all seem believable and that takes considerable skill to pull off; you can only fake so much until people see through it — especially those familiar with Sarawak. Also, a lot of first time novelists write mostly about themselves (and there is nothing wrong with that) but you clearly did not. How did your upbringing or your experience with those living in a longhouse influence you to become a writer or a novelist? Golda: My grandparents lived in a longhouse, so I visited during the school holidays. This has helped a lot in the sense that everything seemed so different, so I took notice of them. I started reading seriously when I was around nine, including a lot of Enid Blyton books, and believed that I could find fairies in the longhouse and at my grandparents' orchard. I pestered my grandparents with questions and, of course, they obliged by telling me that a demon lived in the tapang tree, or that the kelansat demon would kidnap me if I stray too far from them. Their intention was to scare me into behaving because I liked to roam off alone, but it had the opposite effect. I grew up poor in Sibu town. We had a proper home but there was very little luxury. I remember one time when Mary Poppins was showing in the cinema. Most of the kids in my class had gone to see it, and they would discuss bits of the story. I would listen and then repeat 13
the story to my toys….The vision of Mary Poppins floating down on a ray of light while holding an umbrella over her head is still very strong to this day. I don't know if my vision is correct because I have not seen the movie yet. (The green Chinese umbrella is definitely wrong, I think). My imagination was always running wild. Whenever my friends discussed any movie or show they had watched, I would pretend to myself that I saw the same show and made up stories about them. I think the most important factor that helped me become a novelist was the discipline of persistence that I accidentally turned into a habit. The school and public library only had classics during my school days, so after my Form 3 exam, I started reading a book by Sir Walter Scott. I did not understand most of the words he used, but the story was so interesting I started collecting dictionaries so I could read it. I think this habit is what gave me the discipline to stubbornly persist on learning grammar when I started writing seriously in 2004. Ivanhoe is still one of my favourites. I bought my own copy and still reread it every few years. Robert: Mary Poppins’ umbrella was black, but she had more than one….The idea of Mary Poppins floating down with an umbrella is surreal in any culture. It sure captured the imagination of children. Unfortunately some have tried it by jumping off their roofs thinking they will float to the ground — with disastrous consequences. I wonder if any kids tried to fly out a window with a broom quidditch style like Harry Potter? Did Aladdin prompt any children to fly on a magic carpet? I couldn’t get mine to levitate. I was so bummed. Did you study in a writing program or take a creative writing course or a writing workshop with anyone who may have influenced you to become a writer? (I learned from two fiction writing courses from Writer’s Digest because I was on the road a lot.) Or did you just learn your craft on your own — there many excellent writing books and writing websites out there! Golda: I think about the only serious writing lesson I ever took was the workshop where I met you. I registered for a writing course by post around 1996. I paid the fees, got the materials but did not do any of the assignments. Life got the better of me: work was hectic and the night life was intoxicating. Oh how I regretted not finishing the course with The Writing School. It was really frustrating when I started writing the first draft for Iban Dream. I read extensively, but I did not understand even the most rudimentary grammar structure. I combed through the English grammar sites and tried to learn as much as I could. Even though I eventually understood how English worked, I still could not write the way I wanted to write. Then I read that Jack London copied Rudyard Kipling to learn how to write like a master. I love Jack London’s work, so I thought I should try it too. Tolkien was my choice because his style of writing reminded me so much of the style of storytelling in Iban. I copied every word of the first chapter of Lord of the Rings by hand, circled every punctuation 14
in red ink and tried to figure out why a sentence was structured in a particular way. It took me months to finally figure it out. Robert: I’m impressed you actually did this….I’ve read of other writers doing the same. It makes perfect sense. I considered it but didn’t follow through. I was already married and on the road a lot setting up stores in the US, so I had little time to spare and was working on a novel about my experiences being on a road and setting up stores! The novel was horrible (but a confidence builder) except the first chapter, which I turned into a short story (actually it was the other way around, I wrote the short story and thought, hey, this could be the first chapter of a novel!) I think I would’ve learned more about writing novels had I copied Tolkien. Robert: Speaking of learning, how did you end up studying in Japan? What did you study? Golda: My father was an unskilled blue collar worker, so the only way to further my studies was to get a scholarship. Malaysia had a Look East Policy and they were sending students to study in Japan and Korea. I was lucky to be chosen….It was wonderful to be in Japan as a student. I am quite reclusive, and Japan is the perfect culture for people like me. There were secondhand bookstores everywhere, and the books were dirt cheap. I did not have to sacrifice a meal or my rent for any copy I bought. Then there were the well-stocked libraries. I studied accounting because the subject felt structured and systematic. I think this is where I got my data organizing habit from. I have always loved collecting information since I was young but was never good at organizing them. In a strange way, learning how to balance books had helped me to categorise my bits of garbled information. Robert: Books are horribly expensive in Malaysia. That was a cul ture shock for me and other expats. Having the skill to gather and organize information and a system to retrieve it when you need it would be great. For me, it’s like, I know I got it somewhere in this notebook or stuffed in this envelope or typed into the computer…. Hours (days later)—aha! I found it! Now what did I need this for? Did your corporate work or any previous work experience prepare you in some way to become a writer? Or did it just make you realize, that this corporate life is not for me! Golda: I worked in a few local companies, but my most significant training was from Daiken Sarawak and 1st Silicon. The people related stress did make me fantasise about being a hermit. I once thought that it would be amazing if I could find a job like the one that Jack Torrance got in Stephen King's The Shining. I did have two very good bosses in the Sales Department in 1st Silicon. They trained me to think in terms of forecast and expectations. This has helped me stay level headed about the prospects of success as a writer. I understood then that the majority of writers are not dirt poor; neither are they J.K. Rowling rich. It helped me decide how to choose the best strategy for myself when I was finally ready to 15
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look for a publisher. Robert: So long as that strategy didn’t involve breaking down publishers’ doors with an ax! Tempting, I’m sure. Stephen King’s and JK Rowling’s early struggles to sell their work and their astronomical success inspired a lot of writers to keep at it, this “discipline of persis tence” as you had so aptly put it. The odd are stacked against you but there are plenty of success stories out there, you included. How old were you when you when you got the idea/notion that you wanted to become a writer? Any early success getting your stories published? Did any of your stories lead to one of your novels? Golda: I remember when I was 12, in primary 6, the teacher asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I said, 'pengarang' or essayist. People just assumed that I meant secretary. I was so annoyed, I stopped thinking about it. The idea was re-ignited when I was 17 while reading Hanta Yo by Ruth Bebe Hill. This was the first time I read a novel about natives from the point of view of a native….It made me ask why I had not found an English novel from an Iban's perspective. I tried to write, but I hated everything I wrote. I was terribly disappointed with myself. I was my worst critic, I guess. I tried to pick up writing again in my late twenties. That was why I registered for the writing course. But I could not even mail out my first assignment. Nowadays I write a lot of short stories. Part of the reason is because I needed to get them out of my head, so I can focus better on whatever Manuscript I am currently working on. There had been stories I thought could be worked into a novel, but I have yet to return to them. The first two stories I managed to get published were for anthologies that a group of writers had put together. I was getting rejection after rejection for Iban Dream, so seeing my work in print helped lift my spirits. My third short story, “A Jungle for My Backyard”, managed to get into a serious anthology on the effects of climate change called Facing the Change (Torrey House). I also have one fantasy story for Remang edited by Daphne Lee and a second tale for The Principal Girl, to be published by Tutu Dutta and Sharifah Aishah bte Osman. Then I wrote a collection of ten sci-fi stories for children for the Malaysian publisher, Oyez Books, The Nanobots and Other Stories. Robert: I met Daphne Lee at a reading in Kuala Lumpur and she interviewed me for The Star, so I’m a fan. For your novels, I noticed that instead of a Malaysian publisher, since you’re a Malaysian, you went with Monsoon, a Singapore publisher. How did that come about? Have they managed to get your books outside of Malaysia/Singapore? Golda: Iban Dream is a culturally specific story, so it was really difficult for me to find a local publisher willing to accept the book. I got so many rejections that by 2011, I began to scour websites to see if any publisher had books on Borneo. Monsoon Books has A Servant of Sarawak by Sir Peter Mooney, so I wrote them a query and a month later my MS was accepted. 17
I must admit when I decided to become a writer, I had decided that I will never self-publish my first book. For one, I had no experience with the publishing industry, so I thought that if I can get a publisher to invest in my book then they will have a good idea for how to market the book. Then all I needed to do was to follow their lead. Monsoon Books have already built a good reputation for publishing books about Southeast Asia, so that was a huge plus point. I did not know that MPH and Silverfish were publishers, so it never occurred to me to approach them. Robert: I would’ve recommended both had you asked….It’s good that you’re getting sales outside Malaysia and Singapore, one of the advantages of publisher websites and e-books! From Singapore’s perspective, Sarawak sometimes feels like another country. I once wrote a blog about the difficulties of getting my books stocked in Sarawak when I first moved here from Penang, and about publishing in Malaysia and Singapore in general, which I recently updated, including the aggressive tactics of some unscrupulous vanity presses. Are you working on anything else? Golda: At the end of 2015, I entered the Scholastic Asian Book Award contest and my story The Budding Traveller was short listed for the main prize. I did not win but Scholastic will be publishing the MS under the title The Laughing Monster. It is targeted to be out in the first half of next year. On top of that, I have completed the first draft to Iban Woman, the final sequel to Iban Dream. Robert: Sounds like you’ve been very productive, quite successful, too. More importantly you’re finding a market for your work, even for “niche fantasy”. Good writing is good writing and your fantasy comes off sounding believable which makes it work. What is your typical writing process? Do you compose on a computer or write your first draft long hand? Do you rough out a first draft or are you meticulous from beginning to end? Do you keep a strict writing schedule that you have the discipline to adhere to? Golda: I used to draft long hand, but this was rather tedious for me because when I retype that draft into my computer I will become so engrossed with the details that the story will stay stuck until I am satisfied with the scene. Writing straight into the computer does not work well either. When I stop to think I would play solitaire….Then my eyes were getting tired. (Possibly too much solitaire). Now I work on a simple word processor that has no internet connection and no games. (It's a Japanese model called DM100…a word processor that is all work and no play.) This works really well for me because I can transfer the files chapter by chapter to my PC so I don't have to look at the draft until I complete the whole project. Robert: The internet for me has become this evil temptation. It’s too easy to be sucked into sensational crime stories (past and present) or news in general — the daily (hourly) drama coming out of the US…. It steals away valuable writing time, totally wrecks my writing schedule. Or is it just my lack of discipline? I know… 18
Golda: I don't stick to schedules very well, especially when I don't feel obligated to keep it. That is why I keep my life as dull and as organized as possible. This is like returning to my childhood years when I could not go to the movies or watch a show on TV. My best inspiration usually comes from information. Whenever I get an idea for a story, I will ready a large envelope for the project. Loose bits of paper, articles, books (or title and page numbers), maps, etc. related to the project is placed inside. Every time I feel uninspired, I will go through these materials to be rejuvenated….I cannot make myself write when I do not feel like it. So I try to understand how and why I am inspired to write a story, then create an environment that will help me stay inspired. Works quite well for me because it helps me write consistently. Robert: I like the fact that you’re focusing all of your energy on Sarawak and that is a good thing. It’s not easy finding good novels set in Sarawak. There’s a rich vein in Borneo nonfiction, the I-wasthere-and-this-is-what-happened type stories. I did come across a novel by a Frenchman, Borneo Fire, which I enjoyed, but from a native perspective, you’re pretty much it. So keep writing those Sarawak novels! Readers will find you. Singapore’s literary scene, I gathered, has already found you… Golda: Yes, I have done a few discussion panels at the Asian Festival for Children's Content in Singapore (2013 & 2015). I also did a couple of discussion panels at the Singapore Writers' Festival in 2016. Robert: How did it go? Golda: Are you asking a small town starry-eyed girl how it went? Of course they were wonderful. I don't know if anyone learned anything useful from me, but I got to talk with Tash Aw and Tan Twan Eng last year. Robert: I met Tan Twan Eng’s mother at the Popular Reader’s Choice Awards back in 2009. She was picking up an award in his honour and told me that I had taught her daughter creative writing at USM. I wished I had taught her brother, too! If you were interviewing yourself, what one question would you ask? Golda: Are you ever afraid of running out of stories? Yes, I am. Absolutely terrified of it. There was one time two or three years back when I actually thought that I had run out of ideas. I started some stories and could not finish them. Those were really dark days, and it lasted for months. Robert: For years I kept rewriting the same novels and short stories over and over again. While in Penang, I wrote the first 100 pages of a new novel, but something happened (we had a baby, I think) and I got sidetracked. I had this nagging feeling as the years went by that if I never finished that book I would never write another novel. Then my father died and while I was in America, I made a vow that I was going to finish the first draft of that book that very year. I was going to do it for my father. Since then I wrote two other novels (one completed, the other, a first draft). 19
What advice would you give to your younger self when you first began to write fiction? Would it be the same advice you would give to others? Golda: I would tell my younger self (and other aspiring novelists) — take care of your health. Eat healthy and have an exercise routine that is light and easy to follow daily. After I published Iban Journey, the second book, my overall health slid. It was my own fault. I live in an area where there were coffee shops selling carbohydrate laden food. While working on Iban Journey, it was easy to just pop into one of these places, have a quick meal then go back to work on the story. When the period of lethargy set in, it was all I could do to write. I was unproductive for months. No stories, no joy, no sense of achievement for anything. When I got my health back, and I became more sensible, the stories returned. The best stories I have written, are ones done during times of clarity. If I am feeling tired, or if I have a headache, or a stuffy nose, it will be hard to find the right words to describe the terror of jumping down a cliff or of swimming across a crocodile infested river. So stay healthy. Do all you can to keep your mind clear. Robert: That sounds like pretty good advice, something we all take for granted — our health. Eating right, exercising or you can work (or write) yourself to death, and who needs that when you have all these stories that you want to write! With all of these books coming out (and others in the works), you’ve certainly come a long way since that workshop where we first met. I’m proud of you. You’ve become an inspiration, not just to Sarawakians, but also Malaysians and Expats like me. Borneo Expat Writer
https://www.facebook.com/gmowe https://www.amazon.com/author/goldamowe https://www.amazon.com/Golda-Mowe/e/B008HBBFKI 20
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sanjay soni
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TURBAN
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TUR BAN by Martin Bradley
In October 2018, Sanjay Soni, a former Indian film poster painter who lives in New Delhi, India, exhibited his turbaned Rajasthani portraits at the Art Spice Gallery of the Metropolitan Hotel and Spa, in collaboration with the Chinh India Trust. The exhibition was titled ‘Romancing Nomadism’ (Nomadic Art Fair), and Soni was one of a number of exhibitors looking at Rajasthan, and its unique peoples. In that selection of paintings, Soni had featured turbaned headed portraits, taken from a much larger selection revealing myriad styles of tying turbans in the North West section of India. This area has become romanticised due to its proximity to the Thar (Great Indian) desert, the pink city of Jaipur, the blue city of Jodhpur and the annual Pushkar Camel Fair, near Ajmer. Aside from the desert, which covers some 77,000 square miles, Rajasthan boasts numerous palaces full of colour, wall decorations and insets with mirrors and carvings. Many palaces abut simmering lakes and any number could feature in eastern romantic fantasies. Many have featured in Bollywood and Hollywood films such as ‘The Far Pavilions’ ( Jaipur and Kookas), the James Bond film Octopussy’ (Udaipur) and ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ (Batman, Mehrangarh Fort of Jodhpur). Soni’s portraits are not those of monied nobility, but of another form of nobility, the nobility of the soul and of the desert. Soni’s portraits of Rajasthan desert folk bring us closer to those nomadic tribes (Banjaras) of traders, their customs and their traditions, (the term Banjara is taken from two words vanaj meaning to trade, and jara meaning to travel. Some might equate the Banjaras with the origin of the Roma, or ‘gypsies’, found across the world and believed to have originated from Rajasthan). Above I have referred to the Rajasthani headdress as a ‘turban’. The term ‘turban’ has a long and mixed etymology including turband, turbant, tolibant, from the French - turban, Italian - turbante, and the Turkish - tulbend, dulbend, and from an older English - tolipane; 25
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all referring to what we might now call a ‘turban’ style headdress. It is said that the word for the flower ‘tulip’ comes from the same source, no doubt due to the flower’s resemblance to a ‘turban’. It is believed that the Rajasthani ‘turban’ dates back to early Rajput dynasty rulers, in the 7th century. The term ‘Rajput’ hails from the Sanskrit, ‘raja putra’, or son (putra) of a king (raj). The kind of ‘turban’ worn can indicate the wearer’s social class, region, caste and the occasion it is worn on. The Rajasthani headdress is as practical as it is colourful and symbolic. Turbans have been used, damp, to keep the wearer’s head cool in the fierce heat of the Thar Desert, also well as being used as a sleeping pillow, a towel, blanket or as a rope for pulling a bucket from a well. In Rajasthan, various communities wear differing headdress styles, and some say up to 1,000 different styles, variously mentioned as being called ‘Pagri’, ‘Paag’ or ‘Saafa, depending upon the region. The Bishnoi
community, the Jat community and the Ram Snehi community all wear white turbans, while the Raika community wears bright red, and the Langa Kalbelya, a checkered colourful turban. The Kabir community wear red, and the Sanyasi community wear an ochre colour turban, while the Rajput wear a five coloured turban, or a saffron coloured one. There are many, many others, each having differing styles. A ‘Safa’ red ‘turban’ might measure as long as nine meters in length, and a meter width, whereas a ‘Pancharanga’ is more brightly coloured, and used largely in the harvest season. A ‘Falgunia’ turban is mostly red and white coloured, word during the ‘Holi’ festival. A black ‘Chunari’ turban is worn during the ‘Diwali’ (festival of lights) festival, and the ‘Mothara’ turban has small circles and is worn during ‘Rakhi’ or ‘Raksha Bandan’. Yellow turbans are worn for ‘Basant Panchami, pink turbans on full moon nights and for ‘Dusshera’, saffron coloured turbans are worn. 28
Within these magazine pages, Sanjay Soni has revealed to us that he has captured the essence of those myriad Rajasthani turbans, concentrating, primarily, on those of a warmer hue. Soni gives his viewers a brief insight into the complexity of this Rajasthani textile headdress, along with a demonstration of the differing styles of the wearers, their beards, their moustaches and the wear and tear on their amazing faces. Soni presents Rajasthan to his viewers, bathes them in the warm glow of these Thar desert dwellers, revealing complex lives not cursed with the trappings of comfort or material riches but riches, nevertheless, of the heart. Soni paints as only he is able, with grateful thanks to his diligence and former training as a film poster painter, he is able to bring these North Indian souls in front of his viewers with panache.
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Every so often a book appears that reveals and illuminates a project that might otherwise remain largely unknown by the outside world: ‘Colors of Cambodia’ is such a book. This is a highly personal and passionate account written by Martin Bradley and illustrated by Pei Yeou Bradley of her encounter with a remarkable art-based project in and around Siem Reap in Cambodia, and how she was drawn into practical involvement with the children for whom the project exists. The book shows how a small NGO run by William Gentry in Siem Reap has been able to reach out to children in local schools, some in areas of great poverty, through the medium of art, and to give them hope for the future in a country that has suffered so much. The children and their families who are drawn into the project prove how art can cross all borders of language and culture. The book also tells of how Malaysian children and their parents have been encouraged to support the project and to become involved with the children and their work.
This is a highly personal and passionate account written by Marti remarkable art-based project in and around Siem Reap in Cambodia, for whom the 36
n’s journey
And there is the additional touch of magic as Pei Yeou and Martin tell of their meeting and of how he too was drawn into the story, and contributes to it, and of how it changed his life. His sensitive words and poetry add another colour to this unique book In a world in which the news is bad more often than not, this inspirational book tells a story of optimism and success, and of how dreams can become true. Richard Noyce, Artist and Writer, Wales, July 2012 contact honeykhor@gmail.com martinabradley@gmail.com http://colorsofcambodia.org/
in Bradley and illustrated by Honey Khor of her encounter with a , and how she was drawn into practical involvement with the children project exists. 37
farida zaman
blue by Martin Bradley
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My country
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Sufia in dream
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I will be inspired only by the sensation that the season arouses in me: the icy purity of the sour blue sky will express the season just as well as the nuances of foliage. Henri Matisse, 'Notes d'un peintre’ originally in La Grande Revue
Paris, 25 December 1908.
Dr. (Professor) Farida Zaman, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Drawing and Painting, at the Faculty of Fine Arts, of the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, is one of Bangladesh’s most significant artists. For well over three decades she has diligently reflected her homeland, her people and the complex interactions between them. Farida Zaman has been honoured multiple times at home and abroad, and continues to produce artworks which intrigue, delight and demonstrate the continuing inequality of the sexes in Bangladesh. In exhibition catalogues, online, and in magazine and newspaper articles, much has already been written about Farida Zaman, and her innovative artworks. She has both championed the under trodden, and the role of women in her society. Dr. Zaman has frequently exhibited with other women, thereby adding to a broad spectrum of works by women for society, and thereby extending our insight into those differing worlds. Here, I have sought a fresh insight into the works of Dhaka artist Dr. (Professor) Farida Zaman, focussing upon her intense use of the colour blue in her works, trying to connect the dots, as it were. Anyone familiar with Dr. (Professor) Farida Zaman’s oeuvre, may come to realise that for this artist blue becomes revealed as an evocative azure, an enthralling, beguiling blue, an amazingly rendered and poignantly placed colour which as a catalyst for reflections and triggers to our enlightenment. For the knowledgeable, the enquirer, or the quester it may come as no surprise that blue, so familiar in Farida Zaman’s works, was a great favourite too of that great Bengali poet, Rabindranath Tagore (Rabīndranāth Thākur). Tagore was a painter too, and produced somewhere in the region of 2,500 paintings and, it has been said, blue was his favourite colour, one which he poignantly expressed as ‘rup’ (form), ‘lavanya’ (loveliness), or ‘ananda’ (joy), and a colour which had been introduced (through the purple/blue Petrea flower), into Tagore’s place of learning, in Santiniketan, India. That flower, planted by Tagore’s friend W.W. Pearson, delighted Tagore’s senses; for that grand master of words had a colour perception difficulty, and perceived no red hue 41
in purple, but perceived it as a deep blue. “Neel ronge aamar gabheer aanando” (Deep is my joy in the blue colour) Tagore would often say, he must, therefore, have been delighted at seeing those dark blue flowers blooming all around his house (Konark) in Santiniketan, which they still do until today. Farida Zaman may have seen them before collecting her Ph. D. (1995) from that very Visva Bharati University, in Santiniketan, which Tagore had initiated back in December 1901. An enquiry into the colour blue’s entanglement with Farida Zaman would be remiss if we dismissed those shades of the stunning ultramarine (from the Latin Ultramarinus, literally beyond the seas) which sparked Yves Klein’s ‘International Klein Blue’, following Klein’s fascination with the philosopher Gaston Bachelard, who had written “First there is nothing, then deep nothing, and finally blue depth”.
Sufia in joy
Rain
We must also tilt our metaphorical, or art critical, hats to the lapis lazuli (Latin -lapis, stone, and Persian [lājevard], later Lazuli meaning blue), stealthily ground to make the glorious (ultramarine) blue of Giotto (Giotto di Bondone) and later of Titian. Lapis Lazuli has been mined in Afghanistan for over 6,000 years and its discovery had fuelled the use of that stunning, deep blue across Europe. Between 1901 and 1904, the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso had painted his way through a melancholic Blue Period. This was, effectively, a period when he produced a number of mute, almost monochromatic, paintings in shades of blue and bluegreen which he had begun after the death of his Catalan friend, the writer and artist, Carles Casagemas i Coll, in Paris, February 1901. Those paintings, however, drew nothing from ultramarine, 42
nor Lapis Lazuli, but were developed from mixtures of Prussian blue, Navy and Cobalt blue and, according to Picasso’s biographer and friend Pierre Daix, the maestro Picasso had indicated that “It was thinking about Casagemas that got me started painting in blue.” In 2012, Farida Zaman participated in the Bangladesh women artists’ association SHAKO exhibition, in tribute to Pablo Picasso's ‘Blue Period’. For that exhibition, Dr. (Professor) Farida Zaman tendered ‘Sufia's Blue Heaven’ alongside paintings from Kanak Chanpa Chakma, Naima Haque, Rokeya Sultana, Azadi Parvin, Afsana Sharmin, Kuhu Plamondon, Nasreen Begum, Fareha Zeba, Sulekha Choudhury, Rebeka Sultana Moly and Farzana Islam Milky. It was an exhibition of paintings inspired by Pablo Picasso’s ‘Blue period’. Of her involvement with the ‘Picasso Workshop Art Camp’ at Athena (in Uttar Badda, Dhaka, Bangladesh), Professor Zaman was quoted (by Fayza Haq, in
Sufia with bird
Sufia in peace
Bangladesh’s newspaper The Star), as saying “I wanted to use the blue in the context of Bangladeshi women. I was forced to use them as a guide.” At this point it would be easy to address a dialectic regarding Farida Zaman, and that infamous Bengali blue, known world wide as Indigo blue. Dark Indigo blue is rendered from the species of the Indigofera (tintoria) plant (an evergreen shrub native to regions such as India and Bangladesh), which produces what has become known as ‘true indigo’ (which the Greeks had named indikon, or from India), and which has become deeply enmeshed into the psyche of Bangladesh. Indigo, was a blue so beloved of royalty and aristocracy that it was a main item of international trade from the 16th to the 19th century. Kathinka Sinha Kerkhoff (in her book Colonising Plants in Bihar 1760-1950, p122) has indicated that all was not well in the production of this colour, and that “Indigo cultivation had since long been a source of contention 43
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between the English planters and 'the natives’. The resistance in 1860 was referred to as 'the Indigo Disturbances' by contemporaries, and was later on described by scholars as the 'Blue Mutiny’”. The Blue Mutiny was one of the first movements, in Bengal, where the local peasantry had combined to rise up the raising of rents, cheap prices and extra legal sanctions. This historical farmer’s revolt of 1859-60 (known as Neel Bidroho) slipped into the creative imagination to become re-imagined in Dinabandhu Mitra’s play, Nil Darpan (or Mirror of Indigo, published in 1860, with the English translation being published as Nil Darpan, or The Indigo Planting Mirror, a drama translated from the Bengali by ‘A Native’ and published by C.H.Manuel, Calcutta Printing and Publishing Press, 1861). Through lapis lazuli; through indigo; through the growing of Bangladesh flax and its delicate light blue flower; through the stunning blue of the Bay of Bengal, being the mirror of the sky, we can debate the predominance of blue within Farida Zaman’s motherland, and its influence, over decades, on that artist’s creative work. Bangladesh (formerly East Bengal) is a ‘riverine’ country, with at least 700 rivers and tributaries seeping into its land. One long river bisects the country. It enters the country and is known as the Brahmaputra, easing its way out of India. That river flows south. Slowly it becomes the Jammna, then the Padma and eventually, as it draws towards the famous mangrove forest (Sunderban, said to be the largest in the world), it forms the Ganges Delta and eventually the Bay of Bengal. Due to the plethora of water seeping its way through the country, in autumn, misty mornings in Bangladesh become blue, following the masking blue of the evenings and having taken over from the luminous blue skies of Bangladesh’s summer. The audience gets a sense of this, within just a few seconds of film director Anwar Chowdhury’s film documentary ‘Joler Shilpamonjory' or ‘Waterworks’ (2006-2007) as a boat is propelled down Bangladesh’s River Meghna. Within Chowdhury’s film, Farida Zaman returns to the land of her birth (Sachiakhali in the Chandpur district within the Chittagong Division of Bangladesh). We are shown that scene where the blueness of the sky reaches to touch its mirror in the sea. The difference between sky and sea are all but indistinguishable, save for an essence of pinkness developing within what we recognise to be clouds. Two crafts come into view. The scene is still cast over with blue. The blue eventually dissolves to reveal the artist (Farida Zaman) sitting in a fishing craft relaying her biographical story, speaking of fisher folk, of casting nets, of how those memories become painted onto canvases, or work with water on paper. The sky and the river are both blue, broken only by the boatman’s shirt of pink and the sky gradually becoming roseate in its dawning. Skilfully the blue ebbs away to reveal Farida Zaman speaking “I am told that I was born in Chandpur”. She gazes towards the changing colour of the horizon, as if reflecting on her past. In the synopsis for the film ‘Waterworks’, you can read how Farida Zaman “…describes how her childhood memories of boats, fishing nets, fishes, fishermen, water dots and other subjects (are) reflected 46
My beautiful country
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Dream
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Morning
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Sufia
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into her painting canvas.” It give an insight into the importance the concept of ‘the motherland’ on this artist. In 2010, Farida Zaman presented a predominantly blue acrylic painting centring on a young woman, dressed in an orange sari. The character has a bird in her hand and is titled ‘Sufia in Joy-1’. The exhibition is ‘Rooted Creativity (2)’, the second gala exhibition held at the Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts, in Dhaka. Interviewed by Fayza Haq, Dr. (Professor) Zaman explained “My pictures are spun around a girl called Sufia. I've brought in boats and water which play such an important part of our lives. Fishing nets are suggested then actually brought in.” In many of Farida Zaman’s latter paintings, ‘Sufia’ is rendered in green, or orange, at times her black hair become blue, recalling Charles Baudelaire’s poem ‘Her Hair’ (La Chevelure, 1857). Blue tresses, like a shadow-stretching tent, You shed the blue of heavens round and far. Along its downy fringes as I went I reeled half-drunken to confuse the scent Of oil of coconuts, with musk and tar. From Her Hair, Poems of Baudelaire (Roy Campbell trans, New York: Pantheon Books, 1952)
The name ‘Sufia’ is possibly Arabic in origin, and suggests a person who follows the Islamic spiritual religion, Sufism. Someone called Sufia has a clean, or pure, heart. The Sufi mystic saint Semnani (1280-1386), when reiterating the seven mystical veils (centres of personal progress from egoism to a divine centring), suggested that the second veil was ‘blue light’, which was an indication of the soul. He did not speak of an orange veil, but pointed to a ‘red light’ veil which indicated heart and a ‘yellow light’, that of spirit. In the Sufi fable ‘The Conference of Birds’ also known as the Mantiq Ut-tair, by the twelfth century Persian poet Farid ud-Din Attar, the ocean is asked why it is so blue. The response ….. I am troubled because I am separated from my friend. Because of my insufficiency I am not worthy of him, so I put on a garment of blue as a sign of the remorse I feel. In my distress the beaches of my lips are dried up, and because of the fire of my love I am in a turmoil. Could I find but a single drop of the celestial water of Kausar, I should be in possession of the gate of eternal life. Lacking this drop I shall die from desire with the thousand others who perish on the way. The water filled, ’riverine’, land from which Farida Zaman hails; her ever closeness to the sea, water, and endless skies give 51
some credence to the notion of her blue artworks stemming from her environment and her fond attachment to those enduring, hard working, female figures like ‘Sufia’. Those industrious women are the backbone of any society, Bangladesh included. The blue in Farida Zaman’s paintings is not just emotive, but the by-product of practical observation. Her blue is historical (maybe a tad nostalgic too) as well as being societal and, at times, controversial in what continues to be a male dominated South Asian society. Farida Zaman’s ‘Sufia’ is seen in the artist’s works as far back as 2006, (in a catalogue for her solo painting exhibition ‘My Country, My Love’, shown at the Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts, Dhaka). The character ‘Sufia’, the embodiment of the Bangladesh woman, is named in ‘Sufia’, ’Sufia’s Dream’ and ‘Sufia with her Bird - 1’ though, in essence ‘Sufia’ is all the female characters within that catalogue and many more throughout the artist’s oeuvre, with or without blue.
Sufia in joy
Fishing net 3
Farida Zaman’s ‘Fish and Net’ (2009) demonstrates the artist’s skill in colour usage, with fish rendered in hues of yellow and orange/red against an ultramarine background of water, and a threatening mass of dark blue/ black spreading from above. Another ‘Sufia with Bird’ (2009) weaves various blues with green and dashes of red. The girl wears a white sari to match the white of the bird, while ‘Rain’ (2010, but included within her 2013 exhibition catalogue ‘Bound to the Soil) sparkles with blue, both the deeper blue of the rain be-speckled water and the lighter blue of the rain itself. Of course the blueness is offset by flecks of yellow, some turning green, and just a hint of red giving the blue its blueness. In that same (2013) catalogue ‘Marshy Land’ 3 (2012) and 6 (2012), though in a more abstract form, render the blueness of water as it seeps into otherwise dry land. From 2006, through to more current times, Farida Zaman has portrayed her central character, Sufia, from ‘Midnight Dream’ (2006), to ‘Sufia 52
with her Bird - 1 (2006), ‘Sufia with Bird’ (already mentioned, 2009) ’Peace’ (2010), ‘Love’ (2010) and through to ‘Sufia’ in 2015. One nonSufia painting ‘My Beautiful Country’ (2017), renders a mere glimpse of that artist’s country in a splendid (predominantly blue) semi-abstract work. There are, of course, many other works where artist Farida Zaman delights in her use of blue. I have mentioned but a few, from her oeuvre. Red, green and gold are the official colours of the country of Bangladesh. They are the colours of its nationalism,the colours of the proud flag fought so courageous for.And yet the aforementioned blue has its place of mention too. Blue is the colour of indigo which Bangladesh people grew, fought and died for. Blue is the morning and the evening of that riverine country; the summer sky, the simple flax colour and of Farida Zaman.
Joyous Sufia
Fishing net 2
Sufia with bird
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Poems by Sayan Dey If Jesus was Black, Then? If Jesus had black skin and rat’s eyes, cropped hair and a flat noise. Then? If the sky behind him was not so white, and if the rays from his blessings, were slightly greyish, then? If Jesus wore an underwear and, a long thin strip of cloth, wound round the waist like a belt, then? If Jesus ran with a machete, into the forests and jungles, hunting tigers and lions, then? If Jesus never spoke, Hebrew or English, then? If Jesus was never crucified, but died while fighting the testaments, then? Then, would he have been enough qualified – To hide the truth? To appreciate the lies? and be the father of Universal Peace?
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Cannabis Dreams: The Escape Route
A pot full of black and brown, burnt, half-burnt and red ashes, sucking away the nightmares of vacuum bloodsheds and inhuman triumphs, smoking away the catalogues of dark memories 9/11, 26/11, 15/9, 17/8. The soft, brittle edges of my grass knows what is best for me. It swings me back and forth and burns me in its loving arms, and sings the lullabies of cannabis dreams, a blurred vision of raped peace and dying truth. At a distance, The unceasing cry of a distressed mother swords through the impatient night, eagerly waiting for her warrior son to return. So many days, so many weeks have passed,. She didn’t sing a lullaby to him. The distressed father has closed his eyes long time back. Behind the black house, Under the white cross, Last September, he wished the world for the last time – Goodnight, sweet dreams forever. His epitaph warns: “The stairway to heaven is under maintenance. Sorry for the inconvenience.”
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The Time Keeper and his singing bells
A crass cacophony of human voices, Splashes of the mountain spring, and then all of a sudden, Buddha's bells begin to sing, pronouncing our journey, to the abode of the time keeper. Gradually the voices faded away, only a series of walking sticks, clattering against the shining stones and pebbles, just wet from the fresh kiss of the raindrops, timely rhymed by the singing of Buddha’s bells. The clattering gets slow and scattered, the rhythm of holy enthusiasm breaks, and heavy breaths fill up the air, carrying the burdens from the last night – pot of weeds, magic mushrooms, Pink Floyds and Linkin Parks. Lonely dreams and broken hearts crying for salvation, only in the company of Buddha’s bells. Roads narrow, steep and slippery, Heavy bodies struggling to move, only getting lighter with every passing seconds, counted by the song of Buddha’s bells. Some travelers are passing by and some are still way behind. some tired souls sitting at the edge of the creepy turns, but determined to walk again, with every beat of the singing bell, to the abode of the time keeper.
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One day the time keeper rode on a tiger’s back, to his nest, inside a dark narrow cave, to make sure that he never forgets, to invite his old and young guests, with the undying music of Buddha’s bells.
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To Death, with a Kiss
It was not just another Monday morning in our college campus----The sky was grey, blotted with scattered clouds, the students walked around, in a slow pace, with a grim face, getting ready for the mourning of a sweet young soul, who fell in love with death and departed for her family’s sake, in the land of broken dreams, where no one shouts, no one screams. On the last Saturday evening -----She dragged herself with a sigh, bade everybody a warm goodbye, happily thanking for the frolic and fun, and silently promising to never return. As she covered her face, in a thin, black shroud, and walked down the lonely way, into the bustling busy crowd, she was warmly embraced, by her new found love, who carried her up the stairs, through the door above. Then, she tightened the noose around her neck, with a thick wooden chair beneath, and closed her eyes to kiss her death. 88
She brought us together, with all her warmth and care, around 108 butter lamps to light, and around 108 minutes to spare, to celebrate her untimely departure, with teary eyes and musical prayers.  P.S. – The poem is dedicated to a student who committed suicide on 11th August, 2018.
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A Date with my Shadow One fine evening, as the sun called it a day and the moon reported to duty I planned a romantic date and walked out of my apartment. I walked alone in darkness, and then I spotted a street light where I saw my shadow, eagerly waiting to embrace me and accompany to our dream bar. We walked to the bar, did not wait for a chair, my shadow sat with me on my lap.
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We drank and we laughed, we hugged and we kissed and, we made love to each other, but no one knew, no one saw. No frowns of morality No doctrines of ethics No sexual boredom Just a lonely paradise.
Sayan Dey is a Lecturer at Department of English, Royal Thimphu College, Bhutan. He has been awarded the GAPS Travel Grant, German Research Foundation Travel Grant (twice), Charles Wallace Short term Fellowship and the Journal of International Women’s Studies Fellowship (twice) for research works. His creative and research articles have been published in different blogs, journals and newspapers across the world. Besides writing poetry he also performs his poems in different literary festivals.
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Maneerat Srikampa I love my cultural traditions, and the patterns of Batik. I was born and raised in a traditional way of life in Thailand where people in the countryside are calm, kind and are always sharing. This experience helped shape my identity to create art works. The simple, delicate patterns of Pa-tae sarongs, combined with South Thai culture, are unique and beautiful. They are a source of inspiration for my art works.
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The overall mission of Colors of Cambodia is to offer time, materials and a safe place for the children of Siem Reap to develop a sense of self belief by recognising and developing their own artistic voice and unique style, while understanding art can be both expression and a profession. We truly believe art will save the world. No. 592, Preah Sangreach Tep Vong St, Svay Dongkom Commune Siem Reap city, Cambodia. http://colorsofcambodia.org/ Phone 855 (0) 63965021 Phany 855 (0) 12214336 colors@colorsofcambodia.org
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Art Volunteer Kwee Horng teaching watercolour
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More Blood by Martin Bradley You, Don Ernesto, watch. The relentless Spanish sun harrows down as if on some yonder corrida, some bravado filled bullfight, its martyred and its many martyrs, beast and man. You practically smell the dry and drying blood, hear the explosions of the lustful crowd. From your memory you summon the atmosphere between apprentices, the novilleros, the more experienced matadors and the slaughterhouse death of the great bulls. You hear the bulls’ snorts, their black bodies heaving that final heave of the gruesome dance of blood. You wonder why the smell never deterred you, why your blood pumps on your constant returning to the death rings, why you must always return to Spain, to Madrid, to see yet another, and another magnificent specimen, toro de lidia, raise the dust, gouge the sand, spill its blood. Harsh shadows etch the dry Spanish earth on the other side of the yellowed river’s valley. From where you reminisce you see only drying shrubs and large, sculptural, Aloe Vera plants, at times their viciously spiky leaves are ironically topped with egg shells, to prevent accidents. You smile at the idea, preventing accidental bloodshed, in this land, and here, right here where there has been so much purposeful blood spilt. Those scarce plants form something, anything which might be called a landscape. Those lengthy, distant, white seeming hills appear devoid of shadows. By now you recognise the variations in the river Ebro’s valley. Remember the battle. Remember vineyards, remember eating mutton chops someone had smothered with tomato sauce and onions. You remember the fascist forces of Franco, pushing down the Ebro. You want to will it from your mind. Franco and Lorca will not be silenced. You frequently journey through here, this station, through your decades to forget, to push it to one side. You cannot, the majesty and quarrelsome nature of your memories and the reality of the Spain which you idolised for so long, continues to be, bloody, dusty, fraught. Don Ernesto, your acceptance of the shadow-less, treeless, train station marks you as a fellow traveller, in both senses. The reality of the bar, inside the station, colludes with the pretence of anything being marginally cooler than outside. This you notice, fail to remark. Sweat customarily releases salty rivulets from under your battered straw hat,
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in the Sand which you leave. Strings of bamboo beads play with intruding flies. You have no thought for that play, or for the reality behind, but only for the Barcelona ‘Express’, due soon, winding its way to you, then Madrid. Thoughts, perhaps, of watering holes in Barcelona, the corner situated Marsella, near the Barrio Chino and Boadas one of Barcelona’s oldest, initiated by friend Miguel Boadas, and your love for daiquiris. You are aware of the conversation drifting towards drink, cervezas, elephant looking hills. Your denial of the similarities, the wait, the constant wait and the two minutes that you, Don Ernesto, will have to climb into the carriage and, perhaps, in Madrid, head towards the Calle de Echegaray area, down a more congenial drink, or three, in La Venencia. This is all that occupies you now. That and the death of Federico García Lorca. His poetry, the same poetry in volumes in your bookcases, safely away across oceans, ending in his blood. The irony of his Bodas de Sangre (Blood Wedding), and the spilled blood of he, the poet so beloved by a youthful Dalí. This valley, you shudder, reminds you of going down that other ravine, being aware of the spot where they silenced that beautiful poet forever, there in Cortijo de Gazpacho, between the villages of Viznar and Alfacar.
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azizi saad Muhammad Hafiz Azizi Ahmad Saad, is a graduate of Malaysia's Universiti Teknologi Mara (UITM), Seri Iskandar Perak. These images are from his second two-man show. The first was in 2015, partnered with Ng Kok Leong at Pelita Hati’s gallery in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur. Azizi's work revolves around the congestion of the busy metropolitan city. In 2018,Azizi has continued his work but shifts his focus towards individual's struggles and selfsustainability when living amidst towering skyscrapers. From the Liku Liku Press Release
Lone Ranger 1
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Payung
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Meniti Titian Gantung 2
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Meniti Titian Gantung
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Bukan Mudah Jalan Berseorangan
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Survival 4
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Legal Stories of Life By Dhaka (Bangladesh) Barrister Omar H Khan
To reveal the significance of 'Law' to the people at large, Barrister and Head of Chambers, Omar H. Khan has written a revelatory book which has been profusely illustrated by some of Bangladesh's most prominent artists, including Rafiqun Nabi, Monirul Islam, Shahid Kabir, Jamal Ahmed, Rokeya Sultana, Mohammad Iqbal and Mustafa Khalid Palash. The stories are collected from Khan's Daily Star newspaper (Dhaka) ''Your Advocate' column, on the 'Law and Our Rights' page. The book is for all. It is for those who enjoy real life stories, about real events which can affect us all. Within these pages every reader will find stories to relate to. Legal Stories of Life is divided into several chapters, namely, family law, criminal law, employment law, corporate law, property law and miscellaneous, and illustrated by the internationally proclaimed painters mentioned above. 'Legal Stories of Life' is the first publication of Legal Counsel as a publishing house. Legal Counsel is a reputed corporate law chambers based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Published by Legal Counsel, Dhaka, Bangladesh www.legalcounselbd.com ISBN 978-984-34-4629-9
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Nyonya prawn laksa
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Nazlina Hussin
I have known Nazlina Hussin for many years, and even contributed a short story about Roti Cannai to her blog website www.picklesand-spices. Nazlina is a very energetic, entrepreneurial woman with a profound knowledge of Malaysian cuisine, and one who loves to share her skills and knowledge. Nazlina comes from Penang, Malaysia, which was once called 'Pearl of the Orient' and, incidently, has some of the best street food in Asia. Nazlina, and her skill in the local cuisine, has been featured in the British newspaper, The Telegraph (Saturday June 2010) in an article by Xanthe Clay, under the heading 'Simple, spicy Malaysian specialities' as well as being featured in the North American newspaper The New York Times (February 2012) Travel, under the heading ’36 hours in Penang, Malaysia’ by Robyn Eckhardt (February 2014). Both the British Independent newspaper and the travel guide Lonely Planet ranked Nazlina Spice Station as the number one foodie stop-over, worldwide. Two inflight magazines Going Places (August 2010) and Silver Kris ( June 2011) ran articles about her cooking classes. Nazlina Spice Station, her cooking school in Penang, has been awarded Trip Advisor’s Certificate of Excellence from year 2015-2017. Ed. 157
Torch Ginger
Peeled Prawns
Red Chillies Tumeric
Root Gin Lemon Grass
Garlic Bulb
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Gutted Fish
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Red Onions
Laksa Leaves Galangal 159
Vegan laksa
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Kastur Laksa Leaves
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Ulam Raja Leaves
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Tumeric Root
Red Chillies
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Chicken rendang
About Nazlina, the Culinary Guide at Pickles & Spices When I started a web site, I had no clue it would grow into something like this. That I would get readers from all over the world, that it would also help launch a professional career and would include an appearance on television. I never call myself a chef, after all, I never went to any culinary school. What I lack in paper qualification, I make it up through reading, interacting with other fellow cooks and practicing the skills, over and over again. Because of this, people from all over the world come to cook with me. I have food journalists, restaurant owners, chefs, food critiques and foodies as my students. It is a great experience! I also taught a Michelin star Chef, Atul Kocchar how to make nasi lemak. Numerous online publications link to my website. Newspapers from abroad have also published my story. Our own Malaysian Airlines inflight magazine: "Going Places" also printed a story about me in their
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Prawn Salad
August 2010 issue. Air Asia had me covered in one of their inflight magazines. The BBC included a section about me doing a nasi lemak class in one of their food programs. And early 2014 the British Independent mentioned Penang as the #1 food destination for 2014 with mentioning Nazlina Spice Station as the place to visit in Penang! I am getting famous! ;-) After moving from Tropical Spice Garden to Islamic Museum and later Lone Pine Hotel and E&O hotel, I set up my own Nazlina Spice Station which is now located at: 2 Campbell Street (Lebuh Cambell) 10100 George Town Penang Upstairs we do from Monday to Saturday cooking classes while downstairs we have afternoon cooking demonstrations, walking, heritage and food tours plus an additional range of hiking and nature tours in Penang and Perak available. Best regards, Nazlina 165
Fermente
Blue Pea Flower Rice
Long Beans
Bea
Cabage
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Salted E
ed Fish Sauce
Turmeric Fried Fish
CutTorch Ginger
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Coconut stuffed chillies
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Nasi Kerabu
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The Fierce Aunty’s No-Nonsense Guide to the Perfect Laksa Nazlina Hussin, 2017, Hekty Publishing Sdn Bh, Soft cover. ISBN: 9789671513606
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Traditional Malay Recipes RM 20 Nazlina Hussin 2017. Hekty Publishing Sdn Bhd Soft cover. ISBN: 9789834236069
available from...
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Dusun Publications The Blue Lotus Publications
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Books by Martin
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Books By Ma
Luo Qi and Calligraphyism (2019) China Academy of Art China One of a series of biographies concerning the Chinese artist Luo Qi, and his contemporary blend of the ancient art of Chinese calligraphy and Western concerns with 'Modernism' in art.
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The Journey and Beyo (2014) Caring Pharmacy Malaysia
A brief pictorial look at history of 'Community Ph in Malaysia, charting the community pharmacies an roots in Singapore and M
artin Bradley
ond
t the harmacy' rise of nd their Malaysia.
Uniquely Toro (2013) Walters Publishing House The Philippines A 'Retrospective' concerning 'Toro' an enigmatic artist from Manila in The Philippines, whose dynamic Pollack like paintings have captured the Asian imagination
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Books By Ma
Remembering Whiteness & Other Poems (2012) Bougainvillea Press (digital) Malaysia Martin's first collection of poetry concerning his life in South East Asia. Many in this collection have been read in performance across Asia and Europe.
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A Story of Colo (201 Everday Art Stu Mala
This is the jo Malaysian artist into working wit children's char and joy of giv and eventually education of Khm book is about the of learning alo volunte Profusely illust Honey Khor (K
artin Bradley
ors of Cambodia 12) udio & Educare aysia
Buffalo & Breadfruit (2012) Monsoon Books (digital) Malaysia
ourney of one t (Honey Khor) th a Cambodian rity, the beauty ving, teaching sponsoring the mer children. This e ups and downs ong the way to eering. trated by artist Khor Pei Yeou).
Martin unwittingly discovers, that there is nothing quite like uprooting yourself from your home of fifty-four years in suburban, temperate England and transplanting yourself into rural, equatorial Malaysia. with its trial and tribulations.
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Antho
The Best of Asian Short Stories (2018) Kitaab Singapore
Best of Southeast Asian Erotica (2010) Monsoon Books Singapore
New Malaysian Essays 2 (2009) Matahari Books Malaysia
Story - Bougainvillea
Story - Awakening
Story - Colourful Language
A sequel to Martin's 'The Good Lieutenant". Reggie Gold's younger son, John, pays his respects and discovers more than he bargained for in the process. It is a journey into John's past. A journey from John's comfort zone of Blicton-on-Sea, to equatorial Ipoh, and to emotions and cultures he did not know he was ready for.
In the heated atmosphere of an Indian Malaysian 'roti' shop, pubescent passions become inflamed. It is the awakening of young, innocent, desire and the complications which arise.
Not so much a story, as a light hearted essay about the difference between American English and British English, the notion of Malaysia's continuing Colonisation of the mind, and the effect of the West's materialism on Malaysian young minds.
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ologies
Urban Odysseys KL Stories (2009) MPH Publishing Malaysia
Silverfish New Writing 7 (2008) Silverfish Books Malaysia
Silverfish New Writing 5 (2005) Silverfish Books Malaysia
Story - Mat Rempit
Story - The Good Lieutenant
Story - The Orchid Wife
A Mat Rempit is a Malaysian term for "an individual who participates in immoral activities and public disturbance with a motorcycle as their main transport", usually involving underbone motorcycles. This is the story of one wannbe Mat Rempit, 'Abangah', and what happens to him in Kuala Lumpur.
The story of British Lieutenant Reggie Gold, working for the Federation of Malaya Police, and his family in England, during the days of Malaysia's 'Emergency'. This story underlines the sacrifices undertaken by British soldiers, in Perak, Malaya, during a very difficult time for Malaya.
This is, ultimately, the story of an Indian Malaysian couple, Devi and Chandran, living in Butterworth, near Penang. It is a story of the cruelties and abuses within marriage and how they become resolved.
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CAMBODIA CHINA ITALY
WITH MARTIN BRADLEY
MALAYSIA PHILIPPINES SPAIN 180