The Muppet Show: A portrait of a marriage
She is reticient. Her scarf is tied loosely around her head, for she is at home and not expecting any visitors. She is wearing a loose kaftan. He is smartly dressed in a shirt and trousers, and is raring to check his durians at his dusun. She looks away a lot, and seems to search for something at a distance. He is almost hyperkinetic; his thoughts run from his speech. She says she is happy. He is happy. View this union as a metaphor of the Malaysian landscape.
They were once idealistic. When they met in the 1980s, they had been working in Kuala Lumpur: she was in advertising and worked side by side with a few illustrous names that headline theatre performances today, while he was a professional with dreams. Together, they decided to go back to their homeland, bring up a family and turn Terengganu into their paradise.
Today, she seeks peace in prayers and the many religious classes held in town, and tells her family and relatives that she has found contentment. She is so adamant that she has found it that it makes others wonder, whether she truly has. He is still a working professional, with a dusun and a few small enterprises, because these days in Malaysia, everyone’s a businessman. They have four children, and they have to make ends meet. (more…)
