Kammys Musing

I can’t recall how I learnt about this book. Definitely a section in the newspaper; but was it the obituary or the book review section? I have no idea.

“God, the Devil and Me” is a memoir written by Alf Taylor, an indigenous Australian, chronicling his years spent in the monastery in New Norcia during the 1950s-60s.

I read the first twenty pages with mixed emotions – laughing at the dark humour, pausing to wipe my tears of the ordeal of a child. Most of the images that I build up in my imagination is in black and white.

At times the paragraph would get me chuckling :

At times it made my heart squirm. I felt like running back home and hugging my kids tightly.

See – back in 2019, I went to New Norcia to survey the place to offer in my company’s tour destination option. I recall the quaint town, with the cosy little cafe that also serves as the local post office, with photos of the monks adorning its walls.

See – I was at a boarding school between 12-17 years old. I recall the loneliness, surviving by yourself. Not as harsh as ATs experience.

See – from where I came from (Malaysia), the Malays are labeled as lazy, useless, incompetent . When in fact “content” would be my preferred word. We are happy with our surroundings, not kowtowing to the capitalism culture to simply devour your nature and churning out as much as possible stuffs to sell.

See – my youngest is currently 6 years old, so I could tell how vulnerable a child is. When he wets his bed, we don’t usually give him cold shower in winter and a flogging as a reward.

I do from time to time get them cold shower in winter, just to remind them to embrace nature and be thankful of a running hot water (96% of the time I will take cold shower in winter myself).

The plight of the indigenous people of Australia is something that I take interest in recently. Years and generations of neglect, I reckon it would take a few generations before the proud Aboriginal people could stand up again.

Alf Taylor passed away on 29 July 2023 – else I would have loved to hear him talk, cracking jokes while sharing his experience.

Stay hungry, stay safe.