On Lantern Festival

Despite the attack of Norwalk Virus, which gave me the most serious gastroenteritis in my life, diarrhea, vomiting, dry mouth, fatigue, I gave Toastmaster Joy Chry welcome-home hugs and kisses on Lantern Festival, Sunday afternoon, February 24th.

Early Saturday morning, I felt an agonizing headache, I knew something was wrong. Before long, I had to rush to the toilette. The diarrhea came quick. I lay in bed all day without uptaking anything but warm water. In the evening, I had an urge of a throw-up. There was nothing but water. My body was tired, but my mind rambled here and there, past and present, in my dream!

Sunday, it was sunny. I felt a little better, but just as frail. I dragged myself to an eatery in the neighborhood at noon to recharge my body. In the afternoon, I was excited to prepare the ingredients for the potluck party for Joy at her home.

Joy wore a big smile when she greeted me at door. She put on the garments she purchased in India, a purple Pashmina shawl, an embroidered cotton jacket, and a lovely dark silk dress. It was hard to tell that she just arrived home from the airport. She took an overnight plane from Hyderabad at three o'clock in the morning.

Joy was eager to share her exciting stories in India for 20 days. While we watched Jodha Akbar part II, she talked about the Red Fort in Agra and her visit to the tomb of Akbar the Great.  I could hear Joy's footsteps and laughter at the Red Fort when we watched the movie. When she talked about the beautiful Taj Mahal, a jewel of Muslim art in India, she was touched by the love story of Shah Jahan (the grandson of Akbar the Great) and his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal.

After the movie, Joy encouraged me to browse all photos she took in India in her i-phones and i-pods. She was excited to talk about three Indian families, Christian in Agra, Hindi in Jaipur, and Muslim in Hyderabad she visited. Upon her heartfelt requests, three English tour guides opened their doors to Joy to let her know everyday lives in India. Joy had a big scheme to visit India soon in the future by organizing eco-tours to connect Taiwan and India. I hope I can offer my helping hands with time and money to realize her dream.

Out of blue, Joy asked me a question, between being a rich person in the poor country, or a poor person in the rich country, which one I prefer! It was the question she and her English tour guide contemplated at Taj Mahal in Agra. Both Joy and her Christian tour guide chose to be the poor in the rich country to enjoy the public welfare and social resources. I, on the contrary, prefer to be a rich person in the poor country. I can name many brilliant authors who are from rich families in the poor country, take Tagore, the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913, and Orhan Pamuk, the Turkish winner of Nobel Prize in Literature in 2006, for example. After seeing "Through the Olive Trees", if human beings are less prejudice, a morganatic marriage in stead of  marriage of convenience can bring two people of two different worlds under the same roof to know both sides of the stories.

A giant snake lantern in Hsinchu 2013

When the night fell, I was exhausted after devouring much information about the beautiful and colorful subcontinent. The exciting Indian experiences sustained both Joy and me in the afternoon, while Joy was short of sleep for the past 24 hours and I frequented the toilette in and out (sounds like me who just got back from India). Before we called it a day, Joyed showed me an outline of her travelogue in India on her i-pod, I just couldn't wait to read the entire article!