Off the beaten track: Meryl Streep to melodious music

Nice to meet you after several weeks. Many of us would have watched excerpts from past Sunday's Oscar Awards Ceremony, in which the best picture award went to `The Artist' and the Best Actress Award to Meryl Streep.



Meryl Streep

The Show reminded me of a cool evening in 2009, when I had the pleasure of watching the movie Mama Mia. Meryl Streep displays an impressive performance in this musical consisting of hit songs originally sung by the Swedish Band ABBA. Though the main lobby of OK guest house in Phnom Penh, Cambodia (where I was based) was fully packed, I enjoyed the show and my vegetarian dinner. So did Hans Langendam, one of my best friends. Hans was Education Management Advisor to the Regional Education Office, Kampot, Cambodia. He is also nearly of my age.

As I write about Hans, I nostalgically remember a vegetarian dinner which he and I relished in a South Asian restaurant in Kampot, during one of my official visits to the town.

Kampot waterfront

Like Hans, there were Dr Ravi (who was Advisor in the Ministry of Health) and a few other friends who had an interest in soft rock of the `60s. (Most of us were in the same age group).

Melodious music is a cohesive force which binds people across barriers, as evidenced by events such as Dr L Subramanium's Global Music Festival.

Dr L Subramanium