By Natalie Shobana Ambrose
theSun, Malaysia
July 1, 2010
According to my friends, my laptop takes far too long to start up. Personally, I’m a huge fan of my little notebook and accustomed to its personality and hang-ups.
However, when the time comes to replace it, I would actually buy the same model – perhaps in a different colour just to spice it up. It’s not because I’m a creature of habit but because it’s a really good laptop.
It is so much nicer to just upgrade. But what happens to the old?
Perhaps the older I get and the more gravity takes hold, I ponder about what my life will be when I’m older. I know a lot of people heading or headed towards retirement who to me have so much more to contribute in their field but have been told that it’s time to spend more time on the golf course or take a long holiday.
Personally, I think that mandatory retirement below sixty is cruel. No, I’m not talking about the millionaire whose superannuation is just pocket change. I’m talking about the average Shanker, Siti or Su Lin who when they retire, just stop working and quickly grow old.
For most people, our jobs define a huge chunk of our personalities. The first question one get’s asked when meeting new people is "What do you do?" I used to be thoroughly annoyed at this question but realise that this is an easy route to boxing up a person into a list of categories in our heads.
However, I’m guilty of doing it and haven’t come up with anything more creative. But the bottom line is what you do somehow defines who you are no matter how much we tried to detach from it.
We discount the old. Many times I’ve watched how noticeably older people are just passed by in conversation as if they have nothing of value to add. I recently attended a dinner and was seated next to an 88-year-old man.
What interesting conversations we had of his time overseeing rubber plantations during the time his British brothers lived in Malaya – and what good memories he had of our country. You’d think from the wrinkles on his face and his slightly hunched back that there was little conversation one could make, perhaps he couldn’t hear too well or that his social calendar would be pretty empty.
What a pleasant surprise it was when he pulled out his BlackBerry to check his schedule when someone asked if he was free to attend a Champagne Sabering evening – his schedule was filled up and you could see the amazed looks of some of the not as old people at the table who probably weren’t as tech savvy as this gentleman is.
But that is our attitude. It’s so much nicer having the new than the old but then we still yearn for days of old. That’s the secret of success of the new kopitiams where one can sit on wooden chairs made to look aged.
The difference – the kopitiam is air-conditioned, the waiters are foreign but at least the half boiled egg tastes the same, even if it’s 300% more expensive than the good old days – at least the coffee is cheaper than the big brands and it feels a little more authentic.
We are so reckless with what we discard. Look at how we treat the century old Pudu Jail as it is torn down for newer fancier buildings that would bring in more money on prime land. So we lose a bit more of our history, and soon there will be very little left.
On a recent trip to a more secular part of the Middle East where buildings are just popping up within weeks, I yearned to see the old city, of what it was and not as fascinated with the tallest building in the world. Modernity is necessary but it shouldn’t be at the cost of losing a country’s history and identity.
I think about my dinner company a few days ago and can only hope that if I live to a ripe old age it will be as vibrant and that I would not be discounted.
Natalie is grateful that her trusted old laptop still manages to do a good job. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com
