Keep
on Rolling
It was sad to hear of the death of Andrew
Clark, late in September. We’d never met, which was a pity, but his skills in
teaching English and his efforts to ensure English-language messages were
rendered correctly in Bali – a Sisyphean task he nonetheless took to with gusto
– were second to none.
Clark, an Englishman, arrived in Bali in 1990 to teach and later to
establish the delightfully pun-ish Full Proof Writing Agency. He had an early association with Made Wijaya,
he who we gather mistakenly believes that cockatoos are pregnant carp (well, he
says Hector’s a twerp).
He preferred Eng. (UK) as his dictionary language, abjuring Eng. (US) as
an abomination and holding – correctly – that Indonesia’s official English
variant was UK. OK. He made this point
with some force in a Siapa column in this newspaper in 2004.
Since then, the ubiquitous spread of the American-dominated internet and
the vacuously indolent belief that spelling and grammar are no longer important
have together conspired to reduce spoken and written language to gobbledegook
and the mob preference, such as it is, to notionally US.
So we’ll have to muddle on without Clark’s attention, since he has
departed for the great language school in the sky. But some of us think Sisyphus got a bum rap
and we’re still out there rolling that damn rock up the hill.
RIP, Andrew Clark.
Gotta
Have Sole
SoleMen Indonesia’s annual walk around
Bali, which finished on Sept. 26, brought much needed help to the deprived
people of Bali. It also celebrated the triumph of Balinese Paralympian Nengah
Widiasih at a Return to Bali Celebration party at Bali Mystique Hotel in
Seminyak that evening.
SoleMan Robert Epstone, who did much of the weeks’ long walk before
being sidelined on doctor’s orders with holes in both his soles, tells us Nengah,
from a poor family and in a wheel chair since she had polio when she was four, nevertheless
managed to teach herself weightlifting and represented Indonesia at the 2012 Paralympics
in London in August.
The Sept. 26 party – it was a grand occasion and a great opportunity to
meet Nengah – was to raise funds for a replacement bus and a second permanent staff
member for 'YPAC' Home and School for Disabled and Mentally Challenged Children
at Jimbaran, where she lives. There are 66 young residents at YPAC.
Energetic charity weight-loser Christina Iskandar and friends happily
promoted the event in the expat community and many Balinese also attended. Food
at the function was provided by Biku restaurant and famed Russian violinist
German Dmitriev played for 20 minutes in addition to appearances by other
performers.
Raffle prizes were donated by Tugu Hotel, Sardine Restaurant, Bambooku, Dijon,
The Pelangi Estate in Ubud and many others.
Iconic
Sangers
The villa next door to The Cage is occupied
by a temporary resident, an old friend from Australia who’s here on an
Australian Business Volunteers task to introduce the Udayana University-based
Institute for Peace and Democracy to the arcane vagaries of relations with the
press. Which is good; and not only because it provides an excuse – though none
is needed – for several drinks to be taken, now and then.
He’s getting to grips with the villa, whose absent German owners,
residents of Hamburg, have confined themselves to holiday raids on targets
nearer to hand while the Fourth Reich sorts out how to get the Greeks and
sundry others in the European communion to work and pay for themselves. But
he’s had a couple of culture shocks, including Vegemite at the equivalent of
$13 Australian a jar.
By way of extraordinary coincidence we had a note the other day from
another Australian friend, Libby Callister, also on the subject of Vegemite. It’s
an Australian icon of course, and very, very yummy.
Libby and your diarist had an arm’s length association long ago – she
was running media for a minister in an Australian state government of the
opposite politics to those preferred at The Cage but the fellow, a great bloke
with whom we were on very good terms, helped raise funds for cancer research by
having his head shaved (in company) once a year. So, once a year, we crossed
the thoroughly artificial No Man’s Land of Australian politics, knocked
politely on the minister’s door, and handed over several crisp banknotes as our
contribution to his sponsorship.
Anyway, back to the point: Libby has a famous name. Cyril Percy
Callister (1893-1949) invented Vegemite and now his grandson Jamie Callister
has written a biography of this undisputed national hero. Libby’s media
consultancy business is running the promotion campaign. The book went on sale
on Sept. 24 and is being formally launched on Oct. 11 in Beaufort, Victoria,
where the Callister of Vegemite fame was born.
Vegemite
had a tough early history. It was on the market in the British Marmite-focused
Australia of the era for more than 15 years before it finally began to win wide
acceptance. Says Jamie of his grandfather’s fortitude: “It was particularly unpopular and at one
time they changed the name to Parwill
... “if Marmite, Parwill.” The Aussies used to like schoolboy puns until
they turned serious and started banning all manner of good fun.
They’re serving Vegemite sandwiches (kill for ‘em) at the Beaufort bash.
By happenstance we’ll be in Australia on the day; by unhappy circumstance, the
bit of Australia we’ll be in is nearly 3000km distant from the yummy sangers
and a signed copy of the book, so we’ll have to give the show a miss.
iPod.
Therefore I Am
By absolutely no coincidence, the latest
MinYak to hit cyberspace featured Nicola Scaramuzzino, GM of Mozaic at Ubud and
head honcho at Mozaic Beach Club at Batu Belig, where this year’s Yak Awards
were staged (on Sept. 28).
The Diary’s eye was caught by his answer to
the standard Q “What's been heating up your iPod lately?” because it was
apparent he and your diarist share much more than just a fondness for fine
cuisine and discrete globetrotting.
He said: “That's a tough one. I swing between moods quite quickly during
the day and my iPod does reflect this. There is always music around
me, I hate silence. If I'm working on accounting stuff, then classic Italian
music is the choice.”
We’re at one there. Nothing beats the mathematical brilliance of Vivaldi
(per esempio) if you absolutely have to deal with numbers. He further says: “If I have to work on some graphics and need
to be creative then AC/DC is normally the choice, together with Metallica, Pink
Floyd and Queen ... the 70s and 80s music always cheers me up.”
We
might demur on AC/DC (they’re often better unplugged) but otherwise – Right on,
Nicola! And we’re with him too in being able to state without fear of
contradiction that Hip Hop is absent from our own little pod. He says: “I just
don't understand that music – am I too old?”
Too
old for Hip Hop, certainly: But surely anyone sentient is?
We’re
Willin’
Diary and Distaff had a lovely dinner recently
with Marian Carroll, official mouthpiece of Ayana Resort and Spa etc, etc. It
was at Dava, where visiting guest chef Willin Low from Wild Rocket, Singapore, was
in the kitchen from September 21-23. He treated diners to exquisite dishes,
including soft-shell crab, wagyu beef and yummy desserts.
Singapore’s suddenly looking very good for a visa run. We’d be off like
a Wild Rocket if one were in the wind.
By the way, expect a long-awaited announcement from Ayana soon.
Go
Pink
We do, very occasionally, if it’s in a good
cause. So here’s a good reason: The Think Pink 2012 Luncheon and Fashion Show,
organised by the Inner Wheel Club of Seminyak – the Rotary ladies, you might
say, whose president is the redoubtable Barb Mackenzie – which is to raise
awareness of breast cancer and funds necessary to carry that message forward.
It’s endorsed by Bali Pink Ribbon (on whose annual walks the Diary consents to
wear pink) and the Rotary Club of Seminyak.
The event is being staged at Métis in Seminyak, which is surely reason
enough to attend anyway, and is on October 26. It’s from 11am to 3pm, too,
which should give everyone a chance to both eat and bid at the charity auction.
Tickets cost Rp300K and are available at Métis. The event’s
VIP sponsors are Bamboo Blonde and Think Pink Nails.
Hear
Her Roar
Helen Reddy, who galvanised the WomLib
movement in the 1970s with I Am Woman (Hear Me Roar) is performing for charity
at Anantara Rooftop in Seminyak on Oct. 19. One of the Diary’s favourite
dishes, Diana Shearin, tells us she’ll be there (she wouldn’t miss the anthem
of the movement or Delta Dawn, she says). But she won’t be dancing. She’s on
crutches after an unfortunate altercation with a wet terrazzo floor.
It’s
On!
The Ubud Writers and Readers Festival kicks
off today (Oct. 3). It should be a good show as always, with plenty of chatter,
erudite and otherwise. Be there – or you won’t be there. The festival runs to Oct. 7 with various
associated events around it.
Hector's Diary appears in the fortnightly print edition of the Bali Advertiser and on the newspaper's website www.baliadvertiser.biz. Hector tweets @scratchings and is on Facebook (Hector McQuawky)
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