Swift Bats dodged in the humid Malaysian night. Two young red dressed Indian girls swayed and danced Odissi while fireflies flitted around the octgonal stage, at Sutra house. It was the begnning of a rare night's entertainment.
MIA founder Chung Chen Sun shared his thoughts while performers waited and his audience clapped. Soft songs sought ready ears as one Chinese singer sang to acoustic guitar, speeches abounded, more songs, keyboard and welcome greeting by Malaysian dance maestro Ramli Ibrahim.
The cream of MIA mingled, ate, ate some more and reminded each other of the need for creativity. The time expanse of the seating was overtaken only by the length of the food queue. Sivarajah Natarajan's The Crowning Glory exhibition hid its brilliance behind pots of masala and crispy, fresh, roti cannai. I braved the food queue and then wrote under a tree fern, watched over by a statue of Ganesha.
Ex MIA students rued the loss of a city statue, others the pairing down of courses at the new Institute. You could feel the commitment to creativity and to each other. I was glad to, momentarily, feel part of the whole.
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