It’s Spring!

“Wake up, Brother Suan!”, an excited Daniel knocking on his cousin’s door. “What do you want Dan? Let me sleep la. It’s Sunday”, his sleepy cousin moans annoyingly; still feeling the effect of previous Saturday night’s party. “The sky has opened up all of the sudden this morning! I see blue sky and bright sunshine. It’s so different, it’s so beautiful out there, it’s so breathtaking! I see the previously day’s snow-covered plants suddenly shed their wintry clothing and the garden is now a carpet of red, blue, purple, yellow and green blooming wild flowers hanging from their plants. I have never seen anything like that. Wake up…come and take a look Brother Suan!”, Daniel urges his cousin with utter amazement. “Of course it is. It’s spring time Dan”, his cousin replies knowingly. “Why don’t you go out to London for some sightseeing?. Call up your freshies at the uni to go with you. You would enjoy London at this time of the year.”, this time it is cousin Suan urges him on, trying to rid Daniel of his presence so that he could continue with his much needed sleep.
“Hey, Ringano, what are you doing? This is Daniel from Malaysia.”, Daniel took up his cousin’s suggestion and phoned his classmate. “Not much. Just lazying around. Why?”, Ringano asks curiously. ”Let’s go out to London for sight seeing. The weather is nice for a change.”, Daniel replies. Ringano seems a well-behaved lad who is hailed from a little hamlet which is situated below a valley surrounded by thick hostile jungle in the interior part of South America. He is quiet, prefers his own company and a bit of a bookworm. His father is a native Indian from the Suluni tribe and was the chieftain of his village. His village was frequently attacked by other tribes of the surrounding villages. They attacked the Suluni people because their village has the most valuable natural resources such as minerals and gold. His father is a fearless and powerful man with deep understanding of warfare strategies, gained from years of tribal conflicts. In the end, his father managed to defeat his enemies and even captured some of the surrounding villages. Later, he formed a nation of 500 people with the extended villages and called his nation the Sulupi Kingdom and duly declared himself as its first King. His father’s first wife was chosen by his father from a friendly neighbor village. 9 months after the marriage, Ringano was born. The tiny Sulupi Kingdom prospered under King Ringana’s reign but conflicts continued with the rebels who broke away from his father’s rule. These rebels mounted attacks against the tiny Kingdom with the hope of defeating the self-proclaimed King Ringana to take the rich land for themselves. They were led by their leader called General Kinkino. Kindino was the half brother of King Ringana. Ringana’s father himself was also the village Chieftain. He married several wives. Ringana was the first born while Kinkino’s mother was wife number three and was also the Chieftain’s favourite. Even from young, Ringana and Kinkino were always pitched against each other, helped in no small way by their scheming mothers. Their mothers hated each other and had implanted their hatred into the minds of their sons from young. By birth right, Ringana was the natural successor. But, his step mother has other ideas. King Riagana himself is twice married. His second wife was a French nurse who has gone to care for the sick and wounded in this war torn territory, under the auspice of the United Nation. She not only fell in love with the Suluni people but also fell for their powerful King, even though King Ringana was twenty years older. Ringano told Daniel he has a 3 years old sister from his father’s second wife. Unlike his grandfather’s family, there was no feud between King Ringana’s wives. They lived in blissful harmony and Ringano adores his little fair skinned sister. “What’s her name?”, Daniel asks. “Risuana”, Ringano replies. King Ringana sent his son to Britain so that he could receive a good English education and training and harbours the hope that one day his eldest son would take over from him to be the ruler of his Kingdom. Even though Ringano is far away from his ‘country’, he is constantly afraid of his life. His father has many enemies and he is afraid they might slip into London to assassinate him.
Over the months, Daniel and Rigano became fast friends. They often went out to do a lot of sight seeing together and to explore the life that London could offer with their new found freedom away from home. They have the most memorable experience that any young man could wish for. And what’s more, it is spring time. It’s a time of rebirth, a time of renewal and a time of emergence from hibernation. Shakespeare described spring as “April hath put a spirit of youth in everything." Spring can do wonders to your senses. Its breath of fresh air and fragrant flowers are the catalysts. After the dark winter months, when the world seemed like a big frozen refrigerator, spring awakens one’s hidden senses. The air smells nice and fresh and everywhere they went, they were greeted with a great variety of breathtaking flowers such as the daffodils, primrose, bluebell and tulips and trees are decorated with lovely jewels. Nature has made everything bloom. Nights are becoming shorter and the days are becoming longer and brighter. Britain has added an hour to the clock. The British have been changing their clocks forwards and backwards since 1916. It’s all to do with saving the hours of daylight, and was started by a London builder called William Willett. These early days of spring have infused the city with renewed energy. Londoners have embraced the sunshine, jumping straight from winter woollies to midriff tops and miniskirts despite. But the London weather in spring is not always sunny all day. It can be anything from clouds and rain to glorious sunshine; often in the same day! They took the waterbus to the Botanical Gardens which is also called the Kew Gardens. It is absolutely glorious in spring with carpets of bluebells and crocuses stretching out into the distance. They went downstream towards Greenwich and the fabulous National Maritime Museum. The Greenwich Royal Observatory is where longitude and time began. They had gone to St James Park which is close to the Buckingham Palace and enjoyed watching pelicans and black swans swimming in the lakes. From there they took an casual walk to the Trafalgar Square which is home to Nelson's Column. The National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery are just minutes away from the Square. They also took the bus to Westminster Bridge which is lying along the South Bank of the Thames, and proceeded to visit the London Aquarium, National Theatre, London Assembly building and the iconic Tower Bridge opposite the Tower of London. In the evenings, they often ventured out to the West End. Daniel was especially attracted to the sight of London’s famous theatres. He and Ringano went to watch the rock musicals called ‘Hair’ which was the most famous long running musical theatre show at the time. It depicts the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s. Several of the Hair musicals became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement. The song ‘Age of Aquarius’ is heard everywhere, it is played on the radio, television and in the pubs. Although Daniel enjoyed the songs and dances tremendously, he was put off by its excessive use of profanity, illegal drugs and nude scene. It was also during this time that the Beatles broke up, when Paul McCartney announced publicly on 10, April, 1970 that the Beatles would never work together again. The government is led by the Labour Party under Harold Wilson. The British government under this pipe- smoking, stern-faced, straight-talking politician, is responsible for a number of sweeping social and educational reforms. Under his government, abortion and homosexuality were legalized, comprehensive education extended and the Open University was created. But Wilson’s Labour government had also inherited a large trade deficit that led to a currency crisis and his government could not stave off the devaluation of the British Pound. They went on to lose the 1970 election to the Conservative Party under Edward Heath.
One Saturday spring evening, Rigano knocks on Daniel’s door to invite him out to explore Soho. He says they have not seen the fascinating night life of Soho which is so notoriously famous. Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and is part of the West End of London. It is an entertainment district famous for its film and theatre industry, night clubs, dancing clubs, gambling clubs and restaurants. It has also earned a reputation for sex shops, burlesque shows, prostitution, cheap food, shady dealings, gay and lesbian bars. Chinatown lies just behind the Empire Dance Hall. Soho was developed as an urban area from the late 16th century onwards. The name Soho is thought to come from a 17th-century hunting and battle cry. It is the centre of bohemian London with intellectuals, writers, artists and poets eating and drinking in Soho's many pubs and restaurants. Soho’s Carnaby Street was a centrepiece for swinging London in the 1960s. Ringano points to a signage standing beside a strip club which has prints ‘Only 50p entrance fee!’. “Well, that’s cheap. Let’s go inside have a look, man”, Ringano whispers to Daniel. But when they are inside the club’s foyer, a burly Greek looking man takes them by the side and says “It’s full house here. I can take you to the corner club which really has some very sexy ladies”, he entices. Being curious and innocent, Daniel and Ringano follow him, eagerly looking forward to what’s in store. As they arrive at the corner strip club, led by the burly Greek, two bouncers suddenly come forward and pull them aside. Without any nicety, they demand 10 pound from each of them! “Hang on a minute. This fellow here says it’s only 50p!”, Daniel protests. “It’s 10 pound here!”, the bouncer growls threateningly. “Well, in that case, we are not going inside, we have to go”, Ringano replies instinctively. At this moment, the two unfriendly angry bouncers come up and shove them against the wall. They proceed to put their hands inside their pockets, trying to fish out their wallets. Sensing it’s useless to fight them, they give up and each hand over 10 pounds as demanded. They are shown downstairs to the basement where the striptease shows are taking place. It is a small place, packed with foreigners and filled with tick smoke and smell of cheap wine and beers. They sat down at the corner of the room and started to feast their eyes on the stage. Young ladies with fair skin parade pass the audience, singing and dancing, teasing them, blowing them kisses and finally begin to take off their clothes piece by piece. The crowd react with wolf whistles and unrestrained screaming profanity. In the midst of such happening, Daniel could feel a finger stroking his hair. He turns around and sees the silhouette of a couple of people leaning against the wooden partition. They are kissing and fondling each in the dark, with intermittent laughter. Daniel could not see their faces clearly. Suddenly a hand reaches out to him, inviting him to join them. Daniel stands his ground, reluctantly to venture out. The couple then lean out of the dark and into the light. To Daniel’s utter horror, he sees a white man and a black man kissing and fondling each other, and mocking him in the endeavour. He turns to his friend , “Ring. I need to get out of here right now. Bloody perverts!”, Daniel cries with disgust. That’s the end of his Soho adventure.