In the movie Chocolat, Juliette Binoche plays a character that must move when the North Wind blows. And so, every once in a while when the wind blows, she moves - abruptly and without notice. I am a person that have that kind of inclination. Every once in a while I have a strong inclination to uproot everything and move. Last year the wind was blowing strongly and I had the impulsive desire to quit my job and roam around like a vagabond. But the crumbling economic situation (plus the exhortation from my father) made me reconsider. Resisting the pull of the wind, I decided to stay for my umpteenth year in Singapore. Singapore is quite livable as a working place. Moreover, the pay in Malaysia for lowly servants like me is likely about half of what I am getting due to currency exchange. Anyway, I am still in Singapore and likely will be here for a while.
Maybe the moving thing isn't just myself but the whole family. It is a family legacy. We have a little nomadic blood in our lineage. Just like my Jordanian friend, Malik, who says he has Bedouin blood in him because he is always roaming around. (Bedouins are the nomadic tribe living in Arabian desert.) For my family, it might be Chinese nomadic blood. We feel the urge to move around and live in different places, like rolling stones. My brother is in UAE, my cousins are in UK, Thailand, Australia, etc. I am stuck in Singapore. The good or bad thing is that as I age, the wind blows less frequently now. But on some occasions it still blows and the urge to follow it still remains.
