38. The Natural Modernity

@Genting Highlands, Pahang, Malaysia.

Being at Genting was like being at the top of a new world; Titiwangsa Mountains of the Tenasserim Range as it is called; a resort on the mountain peak it was; not just any common resort, but a combination of many things which would make it impossible to make a clear understanding of what it really was; ambiguities were so many and a situation of paradox in bulk could not be created due to a presence of uneven science and it’s ridiculous products in the mind in such a way that it blurred the vision to an extent which would be abominable beyond the measure of the strong, foul odour of a skunk which comes to you more through cartoons and comics than anything else. Located just one or two hours from the city of Kuala Lumpur, this is where the nature meets modernity in such a way as to make nature less important; it is not the best thing as it would have been better if it happened the other way around, but as we have seen in the movie Avatar and proved in another thousand movies of Hollywood, nature is always seemingly weak in front of the horriblly evil scientific creations of those devilish scientists who always find a way to exploit the beauty of mother nature. Still, the nature will have it’s revenge and this place hasn’t really lost it’s natural beauty that much, as there will be enough for any tourist.

The nature scene is of best view and is made to the most use by the human creation which exists more for the tourist use than for simple travel; there is the journey by a cable car called Genting Skyway which, during it’s inception and it’s initial working days used to be the world’s fastest ropeway transport and South East Asia’s longest gondola lift. To be frank, the journey was quite wonderful and filled with natural beauty from the roads too, as the travel consisted of a luxury bus, a van and then this ropeway until it finally reached the top of the hills. It was undoubtedly a beautiful scene from the top of those green mountains, sometimes getting close enough to the land on some open spaces, well enough to see the ground, but otherwise most of the time at that height good enough to get a fantastic aerial view; taking of photographs of the land from an elevated position so much above the ground, has never been better. Some views make you feel that you can just climb on a rocket or a missile on it’s way to a nuclear impact, just to take some photos free of charge. There are always some wonderful moments before total obliteration, which can be used to take those photos and upload them instantly using the wireless internet thus making some of the world’s best photographs which would live on for the future generations to see.

As it is, this Genting Skyway which was opened in 1997 is the reason or the introduction to nature and it’s greenery which could have easily been considered inferior to the attractions at the top as a result of a comparison initiated by the people of the new scientific world. The system designed by Leitner Ropeways, part of the Leitner Group of Italian origin, never ceased giving the feeling of safety, which would have been easily possible considering the height and length of the cables as well as the number of enclosed cabins attached to it. Crashing into the natural beauty of the rainforest of the region wasn’t going to be like crashing into some wonderful forest in the middle of some awesome planet, and therefore some fear would have been sanity, but considering the ways in which one can die, there is no right option and there is no exact moment of good and appropriate fear and it’s amount is also not to be easily calculated. Travelling in the world’s fastest mono cable car system and the longest cable car in Malaysia and South East Asia was more than just a privilege at that time, but it was still not something to clear the fear; the options of reaching Earth faster than ever from a height which is beyond the usual standard as well as that of being caught in the middle of the longest cable car system were going to nothing less than scary, but one can always be glad that there have been so many other people around along with many more who already travelled safely.

As the trail of nature was left behind in the cable car, it was a new world inside; at a time when the first shopping mall was not started in Cochin, not anywhere near Kerala. It was not the time of escalators, as the moving staircases were new before the visit to Singapore and Malaysia; it was the time when shopping for different things were done in various places after going through many difficulties; one building was never enough. At that time of slower, but more clear shopping which was more of shop visits, there was this place at Genting which came up with that new level of shopping in the beginning of the first decade of the twenty first century, which should be considered too old a journey considering the speed at which time travels now and the way in which inventions get obsolete and the world changes, can be considered something which is plain ridiculous and impossible to catch up even for a little old generations. But all of these will surely come to that day on which the Earth will stand still, not just like in the Keanu Reeves’ movie or it’s original and not because of that machine of ‘Mutant Chronicles’, but due to reaching a point which will bring the Judgement Day which will have an identity other than the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie; the end would be more complicated than what is to be explained by a robot or a hybrid.

There was a casino which I couldn’t explore and restaurants in which I couldn’t eat, except for that one place from where I could try my luck with some variety of Fried Rice which had a strange name attached to the beginning of the dish name, but it was still good enough to enjoy the taste. There was Panggung Wayang Cineplex where the movie ‘Fantastic Four’ was running. There was also ‘The Island’ as well as a Chinese movie as far as I can remember. Even as I didn’t go in and watch any of them, there were photos taken in front of it, but none of them came out that good even as the movie poster looked fine. There were also models of world’d famous structures including the Big Ben, Petronas Towers, Eiffel Tower and more. There were so many theme park divisions around and water looked the more prominent among them. There was the ‘Snow World’ which caught my attention first, and ‘Ripley’s Believe It or Not’ was quite the strange thing which increased the paranormal activity of my brain which was further accelerated by a few people dressed in wonderful costumes reminding me of an early Halloween. The ‘Archery Range’ was to make me a Robin Hood which I had to decline even if I had a hood on my dress, as I knew it was just going to be out of my reach, and there would have been no place around which I wouldn’t hit, other than the blood target which would laught at me when I would go on to write a poetry about it.

Overall, the trip had less time with mother nature than what is expected of a journey to some highlands where it is quite cold enough and kind of windy. It didn’t have both of those climatic factors though. The human constructions covered the nature with the support of the materialistic tourists who visited the place, and a small minority who thought otherwise might be what is keeping the green side alive. The idea of creating this hill resort might be something which was quite a long procedure in many brains starting from 1964, but it is still changing for sure. I would love to wonder if it will remain the same if I visit the place again in a few years, or may be even right now it would be different; as time moves faster than the imaginary capacity of man which is limited. The thinking procedure of humans would take a break, but as time moves on, there is no catching up unless supported by that vision all the time which is another impossible thing right from the root of it. The Genting Highlands would change and so will Malaysia, but my wish would be to find a better situation of paradox that I could use without ambiguity or remorse which would limit my imagination to the steel and concrete world of ultimate human restriction which is similar to a building of four walls with a leaking roof, or a cage to be exact. Magneto would live in that with joy as long as it is not plastic; no human being should, though.

Diving out —>

TeNy

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