Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Of gold rain and hailstones..

I've never skipped ocf cell prep on Tuesday nights. However, I took the Tuesday off this week and went to watch a play put up by LSE Malaysia Club. It was entitled 'gold rain and hailstones', a piece written by Jit Murad.

It was a great production; great singing, great acting and a great story line. (great for a student production that is..) It was also nice to meet up with old friends back from the old days.

Now, coming to the interesting part. The title was taken from the malay idiom, 'hujan emas di negeri orang, hujan batu di negeri sendiri, lebih baik hujan batu di negeri sendiri'. The story tells of a girl who has lived in the states for the past 10 years and she's returning to Malaysia. She's a smart and tough girl; one who embraces the western lifestyle and ideas. However, as she returns home to see her ailing father, she discovers that much has changed since she was last back in Malaysia- the country, the people and most of all, herself. The story goes on to tell of her inner conflicts and the skeletons in her closet.

Despite of all the sexual humour and some vulgarity (did I mention it was a Jit Murad piece?), the play had quite alot of depth to it. Even the title of the play was intriguing. It got me thinking a little- about the future and about PETRONAS.

Being a penultimate year student and going through usual intership applications, its always tempting to think the 'what if's and the 'what could be's if not for the bond. The prospect of working overseas with a reknown multinational which rank in the top 10 in the fortune 500 seems so wonderful, especially when you know it is within reach. Then compare it with working with PETRONAS (which by the way, still ranks top 100 in fortune 500), earning in Malaysian ringgit, and living in the 'oh-so-democratic' Malaysia. Entertaining such thoughts can make one quite disillusioned. Of course, each has its own pros and cons but I think that I know which I'd choose if I had the choice.

But maybe the only thing that is keeping me from realizing the potential of an equally great life back at home is my own blindness. I'm sure it'll be great back at home and I have my reasons for thinking so. What really helps is that I actually don't have a choice. =D Seeing that there seems to be no possibility of escaping this definite future, it is better then, to embrace it with open arms.

'Hujan emas di negeri orang, hujan batu di negeri sendiri,
lebih baik hujan batu di negeri sendiri.'

I've a future planned out for me. I know I do. Borrowing John Newton's words:

'Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home'

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