Poppyfield/Prospekt March

This is the first time I’m writing an entry without drafting it first (straight from the horse mouth)

There is a haunting yet serene song in Coldplay, which is Poppyfields/Prospekt March.

I was working at Bangladesh on 2012 when this struck my mind.

Yeah, orang Bangla datang kerja sini, aku lak pergi gatal join project construction kat sana hahaha.

This EP came out when I was in Dubai in 2008, but that time, I wasn’t into this song yet.

I used take a walk back from my site towards house, when as usual, child beggars came towards me begging.

Kat Dhaka city ada 14 juta orang, yet most are homeless. But in the same time, di Gulshan area where I was working, banglo banyak..and the banglo houses here, kalah orang kat Malaysia.

Rumah besar yang ada 5-6 tingkat with lots of cars inside.

And yet at this street, which big beautiful houses on my left side and my right side, banyak homeless beggars yang tidur tepi jalan just like that.

During my earlier times, aku pun selalu bagi duit sikit kat beggars, but then what happen is, as time passes, the child beggars recognised me and when they notice my presence at the street, they start roaming.

Daripada satu budak, lama2 jadi satu group of beggars datang mintak duit.

We stopped giving money when one of our Malaysian guys got mobbed. Sampai hilang passport mamat tu.
So apa aku selalu buat after the incident ialah jalan straight saja and ignore.

Terpaksa, sebab safety, sebab sekali kau bagi duit, someone will know that you have money and bad things might harbour.

(kalau dah ramai2 kerumun kau, orang sekeliling boleh tahu, ini mesti somebody yang ada duit ni)
Bila dah sampai kat apartment tempat kami tinggal, the security guard will come out and chase away the beggars.

Sometimes I peeked behind, security guard tu did chase them, sometimes with excessive force.

Bayangkan child beggar umur 3-4 tahun, tak berbaju dan tak berselipar, kena pukul dengan cota guard tu.

It was during those walks, when one day, this song came out played kat mp3 player aku.

Satu perempuan miskin tidur tepi jalan, bertilamkan raised concrete floor dengan kain buruk koyak sana sini, dengan debu jalan bertiup dan masa tu musim sejuk, dia tengah baring peluk baby dia yang tengah menangis.
hati aku tersentuh bila chris martin menyanyi “here i lie, on my own on a separate sky”.

Aku teringat satu dialog, tak pasti cerita jepun/anime/korea/chinese ke apa, di mana satu awek dan satu balak yang duduk berjauhan, balak nyer bagitahu awek dia “hey awak tengok lah langit, sebab saya sedang tengok langit yang sama”.

Bullshit.

Aku pasti view langit aku tak sama dengan view langit mereka yang miskin itu.


Prospekt March/Poppyfield

……….Don’t you wish that life could be as simple,
As fish swimming round in a barrel.
When you’ve got the gun?

Oh and I’ll run
Here it comes
We’re just two little figures in a soup bowl
Trying to get some kinda control
When I wasn’t one
Chorus:-

Here I lie
On my own in a separate sky
Here I lie
On my own in a separate sky
I don’t want to die
On my own, here, tonight
Here I lie
On my own in a separate sky