Just when I finished a brief phone chat with a Malaysian friend while on my way to the Central Station last weekend, a guy sitting next to me in the bus made it a point to start a conversation.
‘From Malaysia?’
I nodded, and he revealed that he is from Indonesia.
A series of words were exchanged afterwards between us, before at one point he claimed;
‘I’m from Acheh anyway.’
Now when u listen to that, one word immediately comes to mind- tsunami.
I was not sure whether I was struggling with shock or sympathy upon listening to his revelation, or perhaps it was the mix of both, but I somehow could not come out with nice words to get hold of our conversation so I chose to remain silent until we both arrived at our destination.
When we were about to go separate ways, I asked him where he was going. His initial response, however, was vague to me.
‘Don’t you know? It’s a casino.’
Dumfounded I was, but still I gave him a forced smiled. Before long, I realized that my sympathy was nothing but futile.
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