The water hyacinth moved along the River Lembangan, through the Kampong Nyabor and down to Kampong Datu to join Batang Igan.
In the evenings we watched the sun setting by the banks of Batang Rajang. And on our return we would see the small kerosene lamps of the boat families.
It was a very romantic times for my siblings and I in those days. How could the people live in boats, go to school and yet their parents could make a living.
Our youthful innocence did not find the answers.
The water hyacinth floated by, day in day out......
Questions about school, questions about income, questions about justice and fairness could not easily be answered my late father said.
Like the Hyacinth, the flowers would just float and touch the boats and float by into a bigger river...or clog up water bodies...
Are we moving around like the water hyacinth? bumping into boats in the water ways...clog up water ways, cause a great a nuisance to mankind......and then soon we too would just shrivel up and disappear from the surface of the earth..
Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms
Family: Pontederiaceae
English: Water hyacinth
Malay - Keladi bunting, Kemeling telur
1 comment:
It's a lovely plant.
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