Transformation ***

Mai had just woken up. The rains had spawned swarms of mosquitoes, which were most active in the hours before dawn. Mai had woken up to their incessant singing in her ears. But she accepted the mosquitoes. They were part of life here in Ulu Benteng. She drank up the hot tepid sago soup her mother served up. She loved its sweet sticky taste. As she washed the coconut shell bowl at the stream behind her house, she saw Epit and Lawi. The two girls were across the stream, just behind the banana grove. As she watched, they spotted her, and excitedly waved her to come over. Mai scooted back to her hut, deposited the bowl, and before her mother could see her, raced to the stream. She gingerly crossed the coconut tree trunk which served as a bridge, and reaching the other side quickly joined her friends. They were crouching behind a thick clump of bushes. “What are you doing?”
Epit looked up, and smiled an evil smile. “A doll. It looks like Kanit.” The girls giggled. Mai squatted beside them. She saw the doll take shape, in Lawi’s expert hands. She carved the bamboo, and glued on the coconut fibres on with tree sap.

Across the clearing, there was furtive activity in the treetops. Masu sat on the branch. The boys were all munching on the delicious mangoes. And then, they saw Landai, the crazy man, passing below them. Masu winked at his friends. And they all smiled conspiratorially. In a moment, they disappeared among the thick leaves.
“Adoi, sapa tu?” An unripe mango had hit Landai right on his head. He looked up, searching the tree. He could see nothing. Landai walked away muttering to himself. As soon as he had disappeared, the boys reappeared, guffawing.

The boys descended to the clearing. They had carved the tops out of the guava branches, and were ready to test them out. Masu was first. His top spun beautifully, drawing sighs of grudging admiration from the other boys. Some of their tops just spun erratically before stumbling. But the boys were not disheartened. They carved the tops, experimenting with the shape until they got it perfect.

***
The village elders were gathered in front of the chieftain’s house. The children hung around to see what the excitement was about. “Some friends are coming from the big city. They want to help us. They will build water pipes to our houses. They will build toilets. They will give our children toys and sweets.”

Everyone was excited. Their lives would be so much better. They would have facilities like in the big town.

***
The people from the town had been coming every month. They had dug up the land and installed pipes to bring water to the homes. They had built toilets behind every house. They had handed out sweets, cereals, canned food, keropok, potato chips, sweets, chocolates and biscuits. All the children had Barbie dolls, plastic trucks and construction sets and so many other toys. The village of Ulu Benteng was transformed.

***
The stream was an eyesore. Its banks were littered with unsightly styrofoam and plastic and rusted tin cans. Stinking black trickles of water leaked from the toilets, truning the stream water a dirty grey. No one bathed there any longer.

The water came in a trickle. The pipe just spluttered. Epit knew that his neighbour was drawing more water than he should. This was why he himself was not getting the water. There was a big fight. In the process, Epit’s wife Kunat was fatally stabbed. The two neighbours were sworn enemies now.

Koding’s baby son was delirious with fever. He was hot for a while and then cold. Ampak the village medicine man could do nothing. Soon Koding’s other son was sick too. And within days, many in the village had succumbed to the strange illness. Later when the doctors from the big city arrived, they said it was cholera. Spread from the toilets.

Mai was so addicted to the sweets and the cereals and biscuits that she hated the sago soup her mother served. She was thin and emaciated, and often lay in her house. She stayed indoors, playing with the broken Barbie. Nowadays most of the children were not to be seen outdoors. They were at home. Sometimes sick. Sometimes playing alone with the plastic toys.

Life in Ulu Benteng had been transformed