Hong Kong – Hakuna Matata!

26 August 2019, I entered A Whole New World, and instantly fell in love with it.

November 2019, I packed my bags as well as I could in 20 minutes, and I ran for the airport.

If you’re gonna ask me why, I’m gonna ask you do stay updated with world news, and go to Google before you proceed reading.

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【特別分享】 一群熱愛香港的創作人集體創作的一曲《Bauhinia Rhapsody》，他們表示，「請將此曲分享給你認識的所有人。銘感你的聆聽。靈動如水，安住身心，永保自由，直至光復香港。」 // This song and video is a collective expression dedicated by you all. Song proceeds will go towards the legal fees of victims fighting #HongKongPoliceBrutality as well as supporting the artists of this project. 這集體創作的一曲，謹此獻給所有人。本曲所有收益全數捐予對抗警暴的義士以及支持本創作的所有創作人。 Dead streets, a shell of what once was – denying what could be – reveals a legacy that our great ancestors never wanted us to inherit. “How did it get this way?” Nobody asks; we already know the answers, repeated and beaten into our collective anxieties month after month and day after day. The truth wielded like a bloody truncheon, cracking skulls of the systemically oppressed. 這城街巷，今天只有殘留的軀殼，揭穿了一個前人未曾想我們繼承的殘局。無人問：「為甚麼會變成這樣？」但答案，我們都了然於胸。月復月、日復日，每個衝擊點滴累積成集體壓抑 ──鐵血的制度不止壓下染血的警棍、被爆的頭顱，也壓下真相。 I’ll tell you how I really feel. I’m scared. Scared to imagine a future where all my freedoms are taken away because I know what I’ve lost. And even so, that is nothing compared to imagining a future for a generation where they’ve no idea what freedom is. In fact, this is the present for many already, their birth right was stolen by weak men and women who deem independent thought and ideas too dangerous, and will go so far as to run tanks over any who break this narrative they desperately cling to. 坦白說，我很怕。很怕去想像將來一旦敗陣終將失去的一切。但更怕去想，未來可能有一世代的人不知自由為何物。可能這已是今天很多人的現況。怯懦之人視獨立思考為至危之物，將下一代本來生而有之的權利與光明前路奪去，他們甚至用坦克輾碎堅持真相的人。 But I’ll tell you what. I’m not scared of them; when I see the youth of Hong Kong and those behind them rally fearlessly in what they believe in, spitting in the face of apathy and police brutality, we’ve an entire generation who will pave ahead a time where history doesn’t repeat itself – repeat the cruelty of our would-be masters. 我跟你說，我不怕他們。當我看到香港的年輕人和背後千千萬萬個支持者挺身而出，他們的勇氣與智慧，在無情冷血的警暴之下依然不屈，我們整個世代會開創新的前路，超越時空，衝破歷史的永劫回歸，不再重複那可能主宰我們的殘酷。 You who continue this protest, know that you are incredible. Ignore the hate, reject the ignorance, take each step forward with pride – pride that we control our own future. We should be forever proud to be known as Hongkongers. 在抗爭中的你，真了不起。無視仇恨，拒絕愚蒙，我們昂然邁進每步，因我們堅信終可重掌未來。我們應

A post shared by 立場新聞 (@thestandnews) on Nov 16, 2019 at 8:20pm PST

‘All I hear is my city cry’

It feels like a dream now. I’m back in Delhi, and it feels as if I never left. All the thousand memories I made there were unreal, something cooked up by me. But, I had, indeed, spent 2.5 months in that city. The city which is going through the most crucial time of it’s freedom, like every other country once does. India & neighbours did during 1940s, Brexit is also some stuff I don’t understand, Taiwan had it going on very recently, and US has always been privileged. It’s time for Hong Kong to fight for their rights.

See, I don’t understand the politics of all this well, being very frank, nor am I gonna comment on who’s right or who’s wrong. What I know, and I care about is that – I was forced to return home just when I started calling that place my home. Last 2 days, all of us were closed inside our rooms, peeking through the windows and looking at the demonstrations – which were increasingly turning violent, while Netflix & chilling, since all our classes were cancelled. And, suddenly, our emails & WhatsApp groups were flooded with news, and there we were, packing our stuff and planning to leave the city – as safely and early as we could.

It didn’t take long for the university to turn into Hogwarts. (No, they didn’t start teaching magic. It was just under attack, on fire & final exams were cancelled.) And, reports followed. The inbox was even more flooded now, with every department, every professor mailing individually, telling us how the course will be graded now. They were so many updates, that it was even difficult to be happy about the fact that we don’t have final exams anymore this semester. (No, I wasn’t being Hermione.)

Well, in all honesty, happiness wasn’t even an emotion anyone of us could think of. It was scary. It was worrisome. We found that beautiful place just few months back, and so fast made a countless number of memories – be it having a birthday celebration during quiet hours or watching the sunrise while having a McDonald’s. And, finally when everything was going good, while we were gearing up for project presentations, for the final exams, when we had our return tickets booked, suddenly, everything turned upside down.

Now, whenever I listen to ‘A Whole New World‘ from Aladdin, I think of how beautiful the sunrise & sunset looked from the Hi-Bye bridge, and how, later, I saw piles of stones, collection of umbrellas & thousands of posters there. And how scared I felt when I crossed that to collect what I didn’t know was my last lunch in Hong Kong for a while. I think of Doraemon, and countless conversations we had there, and how I saw that become a camp for the protestors, taken over by the men in black. How even the banda-bandi there had the scary masks on them. I think of AC3, where we spent countless nights, either studying or playing cards, and it gives me goosebumps to think that it was set on fire. I think of the area in front of CMC, where the wind would give me chills, after I came out of practice for my first ever dance performance, and how that was totally broken, with roads blocked, and how I saw that from my window for hours. I think of SKM, and the police chase I saw in front of that. I think of Festival Walk, and #GoAt11, and now I think of the pictures I received from that mall, stuff I really want to unsee. And, no, I won’t post those pictures here, simply because I don’t have the courage to see them again.

Those 2.5 months were very, very fun. And, I’m gonna stay positive that all of us are going to return to Hong Kong next semester, back to the same place, and hopefully, everything will be okay. I know, we’ll be alright this time. This has been a life experience in itself, and certainly a story I’ll be telling my kids.

Until then, guys, stay safe! We have to believe in that everything will get back to normal, just how it was. See you next sem!

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