Nature, Mushishi

After dinner just now, went out and sat at patio. Looked up, saw a little lizard by the fluorescent light. So I observed it and waited, and waited, and waited. It didn't move. But being still, I heard the trickling drizzle, felt the soothing cool wind in this tropical city, heard the crocking of toad, and thought, maybe technology has made our senses dull, our sight accustomed to a flat screen and our hearing only on artificial sounds. We don't feel things as much with our skin, and we demand a constant temperature. Entertainment technology has taken away the simple joy of enjoying nature's colours and voices. 


Talking about nature, I remembered a "pantang" in our traditional Chinese culture - not to whistle during night time so as to prevent spirits from being drawn towards us, and another peculiar thing - if whistle during day time, wind will start to blow. A manga on invisible natural thing - Mushi Shi coincidentally wrote about these two phenomenon in Volume 9 No.40 although I am quite sure the author has no knowledge of this Malaysian Chinese "pantang". It maybe a bit different in what caused the phenomena - the day whistle brought the wind mushi whereas night whistle will bring a space-eating mushi, but the phenomena observed is the same, the first mushi brings wind while the second mushi brings calamity. That said, the manga is now being made into anime and a movie, as besides its good storyline, it is also well known for its artistic style. 

Probably we should disconnect ourselves from entertainment technology at times, to appreciate this space and nature around us, and connect back to the real world we live in.