For me, my favourite part in Village by the Sea is in chapter 6 and 7, where he first came to Bombay.
-Why?
His first impression of Bombay was rather interesting and it relates to us, while living in a similiar urban town as Bombay. The hill glittered like a great mount of jewels and the roads were lined with double rowed electric lights. These show how bright the electric lights is and the difference between his village Thul and Bombay. It shows the theme of modernisation and the debatable topic of the pros and cons of modernisation. He also described the elevator as a tiny cell which shows his lack of sophistication.
Bombay's pace of life is faster as compared to Thul's. This is evident from he pushing and shoving while they hurried to the Black Horse. Isn't this similiar to our pace of life in our city? There were reports about Singapore being the 'fastest city' with a time of 10.55s to cover 0.02km, if I had remembered correctly.
I also liked the speech made by Sayyid Ali and others. Sayyid Ali talked about the negative impacts of modernisation which I agreed. Factories pump deadly chemicals into the air and this pollutes the air for miles. There would also be water pollution whereby the fishes would be poisoned by the pollution and the fishes would poison the people who consume them.
Since the factories would be built at the villages, many of the villagers would have to move somewhere else but where could they move to? Bombay which is so crammed that people have to push and shove? There would also be not enough of jobs and many would be reduced to beggars on the pavements of the city instead of their life in green paddy fields and coconut groves.
I shall end here. Any comments?
Sunday, June 7, 2009
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Well, er, Si Hao, instead of just quoting from the book all the time and referring to Bombay, maybe you could also show how this problem relates to our lives and Singapore, and add in your own thoughts/solutions. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteAs for my take on this situation, I think modernisation is inevitable and can be beneficial too. If the world keeps stalling at the traditional way of live and do farming, fishing etc for a living, will the world ever improve of change for the better? Nowadays, as the people of the Earth has bigger demands for a better standard of living, we need these factories and industrialisation to meet their needs. This way, there would be less riots in the world about not having enough food etc and further disparities in certain countries.
Anyway, please take note that you are included in the Project Paperchain CIP. Check the SMB for more details and there's also 1 new CIP compulsory for all Ortusians. Thank You.
Derrick
Hi Si Hao, Kenneth here. Well, I do agree with Derrick that your post is literally quoting directly from the book. Although quoting evidence from the book to support your stand is a must, but you must also explain its relevance towards your stand. For example, about the pace of life, you can state whether it is beneficial to be in such a fast-paced city. What about your take on modernisation like what Derrick did? You can talk about the pros and cons of it too.
ReplyDeleteNext, my take on modernisation is so different from Derrick's. I feel that modernisation brings more harm than benefits. Modernisation is abused you see, a classic example will be the lifts. Why are lifts built? So that the elderly or the needy will have easy access to the floors. However, lifts have been changed to serve even the youngsters. This is when youngsters seldom take the stairs. What about cars? Cars are supposed to serve the need for the needy to travel conveniently and emergency or transporting bulky items. Now it becomes a form of luxury and status to own a car.
Ok, I thin I will end here. Do visit my blog:)