The Family in Paris

By Soultari Amin Farid

noramin_dd@yahoo.com

Shh... the family is asleep. Yes it is only 9.30pm and everyone, except moi, is sound asleep in this Parisian apartment right beside a noisy boulevard. Ah, there goes an ambulance, its piercing siren penetrating through these walls. And no, le bruit (the noise) does not stir them one bit. *sniggers to self*

I am at the kitchen looking at the amount of spices and asian groceries Mummy: a mix of food brought from Singapore and the booty she managed to gather from a day's trip to the supermarket nearby earlier today.

She was complaining why are French vegetables so few: carrots, peas, cauliflower and broccoli. Maybe she was expecting some European species of kang kong (water spinach), buk choy (chinese cabbage) or even taugeh (bean sprouts) to appear somewhere, somehow at the Monoprix supermache (supermarket) next door.

And tucked in the corner, is the mini rice cooker. Yup, an Asian must-have. Ah what great Siamese rice I had today all thanks to that rice-cooker.

I walked to hall and I looked at both my parents, lovingly cuddling each other. I can't help but be reminded about the many travels I had with them. The two individuals who gave me a glimpse of the world and were the main reason I thirst for it more and more as I grow.

Now, close to a quarter of a century later, we meet in this city: where it all began. My earliest memory I had of travelling the world, is that moment I was at the top of the Eiffel tower. I recalled being petrified at the height of this monument. I must have been 4 or 5 years old. Now, said "Wonder of the World", is a few metro stations away.

And I wonder how it will be when I meet it again.

This monument, a symbol, instrumental in making me the globetrotter that I am today...