2010
CITIBANK Carnival is over
13 October 2010
How could I have forgotten to tell you that the Ubud festival is now the Ubud CITIBANK Writers Festival. Great to have their apparently generous sponsorship but their name has been IN YOUR FACE all over Ubud on HUGE 5-metre high banners all up and down the streets where events are being held. Outside Neka Gallery there were no less than 27!! Bright blue with CITIBANK writ large and Ubud Writers Festival writ very small. A lot of people are pretty upset by this takeover of an already known institution, the UWRF. The huge blue and green wheel design logo and name was also all over the transport used to ferry around writers (and at times, one pushy translator!), the volunteers' T-shirts, the program, the bags, everything! The worst visual pollution, and one can't help but think that a very major part of their sponsorship was spent on their own advertising. I was given a T-shirt - and asked Josh did he know anyone who might like it, and he said maybe I could find a blind guy without a shirt to his back on a street corner who might be willing to wear it! Charming!
Anyway all the banners came down yesterday and Ubud is back to "normal". Yesterday's huge traffic jam in which I was caught up coming back into town, was caused by something else entirely - a parade through the streets of two young high school girls who had gone into a mysterious trance three days ago and no priest could bring them out of it. (Our driver got out and asked what was going on). So in their wisdom, the priests had them stagger blindly through the main street of town with the entire student body in tow! We were in the car when they lurched past, wild eyed, one supported by two friends, the other streaking ahead of the mob. It was awful.
Oh yes, another thing I forgot to tell you. Right in the middle of the festival the Ubud powers-that-be decided to do a major drain digging project in the main road, blocking traffic and causing general stinky mayhem right in the heart of town. Again, like the unfinished repairs of a huge hole in the road last year (quickly completed the week AFTER the festiva), the rumours are that local jealousies are the cause of such mis-timed public works!
Back to the festival itself, I did not tell you how much we enjoyed the one-woman play on Saturday night at the beautiful Amandari Hotel by Australian actor Jennifer Clare from Melbourne - in her 70s. It was a moving 90-minute monologue from the diaries of Tolstoy's wife, much the same subject matter as The Last Station film, her dealing with a selfish, 'do-gooder' husband who was always trying to remain idealistically celibate but not quite managing it and berating himself and her every time he failed - which was at least every second day!!! A marvellous performance in a small (icily air-conditioned) theatrette. She seemed very fragile as an actress - when someone took her photo (no flash) she stopped performing and told him off and started all over again - and visibly shuddered when a glass was knocked over and a baby whimpered. Glad no mobiles rang! I can imagine her long monologue called on enormous powers of concentration.
Also attended the Poetry Slam, won by a very clever and obviously highly literate high school boy from Jakarta. Alex performed an environmental rap together with ten-year old son Yani providing the rhythm breathing heavily into the mike. Alas, the words were not clear enough or it could have been a winner. Yani’s big brother Indi and his visiting cousin Millie also read poems which were fantastic and got high scores, better than a lot of the adults. The professional slammers who performed in the breaks, a black guy from the US and the others, slam winners from Oz, were of course just fantastic and very funny. The slam is a free event well attended by Ubud expats.
Maria in Cornwall has been so inspired by my rice field bulletins she has written a poem and I am sending it on to you! She will of course be entering it in the Poetry Slam when she comes to a festival here – next year, Maria???
A field of rice
Grows in a thrice
Before your very eyes
But when it gets blight
It’s an 'orrible sight
When whole bloody lot droops
And dies
A field of rice
Bright green and nice
A picture for all to see
Ducks they do waddle
Dogs they do paddle
Whilst Toni sips her coffee
Off to wake Josh and see how he is - he damaged his wrist badly in his martial arts class yesterday evening and may need to see a doctor today. He feels it was not broken - had ice on it for a long time last night.
Alas, just when we planned to have Jasmin for the weekend it turns out she is going away to the east coast with the whole family when Petra gets back from Padang. Dewi is doing her scuba diving test and they all want to go and support her. We'll have her next weekend for sure, just before I leave on Sunday night. Have been seeing her down at the house but prefer to have her here.
Talking of diving - Josh had a call from East Timor last night to say that the exhibition he did the underwater graphics for is a great success - well attended and looks wonderful.
Oh yes, another thing I forgot to tell you. Right in the middle of the festival the Ubud powers-that-be decided to do a major drain digging project in the main road, blocking traffic and causing general stinky mayhem right in the heart of town. Again, like the unfinished repairs of a huge hole in the road last year (quickly completed the week AFTER the festiva), the rumours are that local jealousies are the cause of such mis-timed public works!
Back to the festival itself, I did not tell you how much we enjoyed the one-woman play on Saturday night at the beautiful Amandari Hotel by Australian actor Jennifer Clare from Melbourne - in her 70s. It was a moving 90-minute monologue from the diaries of Tolstoy's wife, much the same subject matter as The Last Station film, her dealing with a selfish, 'do-gooder' husband who was always trying to remain idealistically celibate but not quite managing it and berating himself and her every time he failed - which was at least every second day!!! A marvellous performance in a small (icily air-conditioned) theatrette. She seemed very fragile as an actress - when someone took her photo (no flash) she stopped performing and told him off and started all over again - and visibly shuddered when a glass was knocked over and a baby whimpered. Glad no mobiles rang! I can imagine her long monologue called on enormous powers of concentration.
Also attended the Poetry Slam, won by a very clever and obviously highly literate high school boy from Jakarta. Alex performed an environmental rap together with ten-year old son Yani providing the rhythm breathing heavily into the mike. Alas, the words were not clear enough or it could have been a winner. Yani’s big brother Indi and his visiting cousin Millie also read poems which were fantastic and got high scores, better than a lot of the adults. The professional slammers who performed in the breaks, a black guy from the US and the others, slam winners from Oz, were of course just fantastic and very funny. The slam is a free event well attended by Ubud expats.
Maria in Cornwall has been so inspired by my rice field bulletins she has written a poem and I am sending it on to you! She will of course be entering it in the Poetry Slam when she comes to a festival here – next year, Maria???
A field of rice
Grows in a thrice
Before your very eyes
But when it gets blight
It’s an 'orrible sight
When whole bloody lot droops
And dies
A field of rice
Bright green and nice
A picture for all to see
Ducks they do waddle
Dogs they do paddle
Whilst Toni sips her coffee
Off to wake Josh and see how he is - he damaged his wrist badly in his martial arts class yesterday evening and may need to see a doctor today. He feels it was not broken - had ice on it for a long time last night.
Alas, just when we planned to have Jasmin for the weekend it turns out she is going away to the east coast with the whole family when Petra gets back from Padang. Dewi is doing her scuba diving test and they all want to go and support her. We'll have her next weekend for sure, just before I leave on Sunday night. Have been seeing her down at the house but prefer to have her here.
Talking of diving - Josh had a call from East Timor last night to say that the exhibition he did the underwater graphics for is a great success - well attended and looks wonderful.