In Search for Shangrila

According to the legend, Shangrila is a hidden paradise on earth where her people are free from aging, sickness and suffering.

Coincidently, there are similar versions of Shangrila in many different civilizations. For example, the Tibetans call it “Shamala”, the Chinese had story about 桃花源, it’s Eden for the Middle Eastern folks. Peter Pan’s Neverland is another good example of how human long for a peaceful, suffering free and ever lasting place to live at.

There have been a lot of writings and even researches on Shangrila. Most of them focused on the possible locations of this mystical, even magical paradise on earth.

In summary, Shangrila must be located at a place where the geology, hydrology and climate are at their optimal balance. The soil, nourished by flowing clean rivers, is fertile and well structured. The climate is moderate for agriculture and yet cools enough to suppress most harmful pathogen activities. This will guarantee sufficient supply of good quality food all year round and very few diseases.

However, there is a more important factor than the physical aspects of the place – the social-cultural aspect of her population. Dump a bunch of fascist bigots there and Shangrila no more.

In my humble opinion, there are several essential social-cultural aspects that people in Shangrila believe and most importantly practice to make her Shangrila and not Pol Pot’s Cambodia.

The first and foremost important is – NO organized religions exist in Shangrila. There were more human lives lost in holy wars and other religious conflicts than all the other wars combined. Besides, millions were tortured, agonized and discriminated by the same great organized religions that preached universal love and eternal compassion. In addition, organized religions bring with them their holy men, messengers, preachers and whatnot. They do best at regulating everyone’s daily life and limiting creativities with big jargons like “eternal Hell fire”, “Divine Punishment”, “Holy retribution” by the All loving, all forgiving Holy Creator.
So, organized religions are definitely a no-no if Shangrila is to stay as Shangrila.

Contrary to what most people may want to argue, spirituality would actually flourish in absence of organized religions which makes monoculture mandatory. It becomes a boundless personal pursuance without the fear of witch hunting.

The second is real, practiced equality in her society. This means full sexual equality that frees half of the population from all forms discriminations and restrictions. The women are empowered to contribute as much as the men. This also means all forms of slavery and bondages don’t exist in Shangrila.

Shangrila’s people must also have advancements in science and at the same time appreciation for art, literatures and music. One of the most important benefits from science is birth control, which effectively frees the female population from the burden of repeated cycles of pregnancy, nursing and bringing up children. This enables them to have time for other activities and enjoy life on different levels. Before you jump up and invoke divine curse on me, I have to elaborate more on this. By no means, I m not implying that reproduction and caring for next generation is a bad thing. Without birth control and real sexual equality, female population would be reduced to organic baby producing devices.

Take a tour to the slums in Mumbai or Dhaka and look at the skinny, exhausted and broken young women who have a dozen or more children. Birth control and sexual equality are both prohibited, well, by the all encompassing, universal organized religions which they’re born into.

Medical treatments, transportation are some of the other benefits of scientific advancement, just to name a few.

There must be distinctive differences in Shangrila’s culture compared to what we have today. Difference and uniqueness are respected and accepted rather than “tolerated”. Social justice must be an essence in their society. The most important factors to incubate these unique cultural features is abundant food and water supplies as well as absence of life threatening elements such as invaders, catastrophic disasters and fatal pandemic; or annoying people such as preachers of universal love who call you brother/sister only after you join them.

What about those wonderful human natural instincts such as violence, greed, anger, ignorance, jealousy etc, you may wonder. We can see the full manifestations of these amazing values in our past and present great achievers the likes of Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot, Osama, Mugabe etc.
I would like to propose that in a small and close society where everyone is treated equally and with abundant of food and safe shelter, these human natures don’t manifest into physical behaviors that affect the others, or at least the impacts are minimal.
For example, you may like the new boat that your neighbour just built. In the small neighborhood where everyone knows everybody, you can’t steal it and claim it yours. Since you have a small family and food is abundant, you have all the time in this world to build yourself a better boat.

If after you have read this and say to yourself, “this ain’t too hard.” You may already have a plan to get a few close friends, buy a piece of land remote from the corrupted world and start your own Shangrila under your lead.
That may not be a bad idea. Many had tried it before with mixed results. We call them collectively as CULTS.

Happily ever after

This is based on a real story. Well, as usual, only the fictional parts are fictional. Don’t we all get confused sometimes. :-)

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It was a warm and lazy Sunday afternoon. The tropical sun was mercilessly scorching the workers who were laying the asphalt on the road. Inside Angie’s room, the air conditioner was at full blast. Her two good friends were there too, and they were chatting excitedly.

“I m so happy for you, Angie. Finally, the biggest day of your life has come. Have you decided which studio to take the photos?” Lin asked.
"No. Not yet. Ming has been busy lately with his project. It’s closing phase now.” Angie answered.
“That can’t be more important than your wedding, can it?” Michelle joined in.
“He’s under immense pressure from his manager and I don’t want to trouble him now.”

“What about the wedding reception? Have you completed the guest list?”
“I’m working on that now. Ming wants to make it simple and spend less on the wedding dinner. We want to save some money for our honey moon.” Angie said.
“What excuse is that? This is the least a man can do for to make his wife and family proud.” Lin said.
“Yeah. There are a lot of things you need to do, Angie. For example, choose the color of the ribbons, your new bed sheet, curtains, find the shoes that match your wedding gown, etc etc etc. your have to make sure you look stunning on your big day.” Michelle was married to a wealthy business man last year and was speaking from her experience.
“Oh. There are a lot of things. I didn’t think about those.” Angie felt a bit uneasy.

“By the way, have you bought some new underwear for the wedding?” Michelle asked.
“Why do I need new underwear? I’m not showing them like supergirl does.” They all laughed.
“Of course you need new underwear. You can’t possibly be wearing some old ones under the beautiful dress. Everything has to be perfect, girl. That’s your biggest day. It’s your wedding.”
“I never thought getting married can be so hectic.” Angie answered with a sigh.

“No worries. There is a sales starting today at the Mega Mall. We can choose some sexy lingerie for you. You shall be the princess of the day.” Lin suggested.
“Yeah, Ming will crawl on his knees just to kiss your toes.” They laughed and got ready to go shopping.
________________________________________________________

Ming was trying hard to complete the report on his computer but his mind was blank. He realised he was just staring at the computer screen without typing a single key for the last 10 minutes. Giving out a long sigh, he knew he needed a break. Without thinking much, he dialed his good buddy’s number and asked him to go for coffee.
_________________________________________________________

Angie and her friends were moving at snail pace on the main road due to a massive traffic jam. Michelle was getting restless and she kept changing the radio channel.

“What the hell is going on? This is really unusual for a Sunday afternoon.” Michelle was obviously upset.
“Ming just called. There is a demonstration in the city. That’s the reason of the slow traffic.” Angie explained.
“What’s it about?”
“I think he said it’s the protest against the violations of human right in Sri Lanka by the military towards the Tamils.”
“Where is Sri Lanka? Why do we care?” Lin joined in.
“I think it’s somewhere in Africa. You know, they always fight there. Poor countries have nothing else better to do.” Michelle said.
“Whatever. We better hurry up. I don’t wanna miss this week ‘Gossips’ on TV. I wonder if Tom Cruise is really having a divorce.” Lin said.
“We are not getting anywhere in this traffic, girls.” Angie said with a sigh.

___________________________________________________

Meanwhile, at the café, Ming and Johnny were happily sipping ice coffee and getting updates from each other.

“So. What made you decide to bite the bullet and tie the knots?” Johnny asked jokingly.
“Well, I’m tired of the dating days. I guess it’s about time to settle down and have some good family life. We have been dating for 3 yeas now. It’s my responsible to marry her. That’s the right thing to do, I guess.”
“Good on you, old man.”

“Save some money on telephone bill too.” Ming answered jokingly.
“Not a bad plan. Cut back on dating and focus your energy on more important things.”

“The big boss from US came to the office last week and announced re-structuring plan” Ming started in a more serious voice.
“Oh no. Are you affected in any way?”
“I escaped narrowly this time. Had I not been close to my country manager, it would be me instead of that guy, Albert, from the technical team. Now, I have to double up to cover his jobs too. Things are not going well.”
“Take it easy, man.”

“Johnny, I can’t take it easy. There are so many things I need to take care of. The wedding is driving me mad. Everything costs money, I mean lots of it. The reception, the dowry for Angie’s family, the wedding dresses and photos, the honey moon and the list goes on. I haven’t even paid up the credit card bills for the last 2 months”
“Don’t forget the new furniture.” Johnny said.
“Yea man. If I lose my job now, I will be well done.”

“Have you talked to Angie about these troubles?” Johnny asked with a more concerned tone.
“I can’t. I don’t want to let her know that I m weak and vulnerable. You know, she always thinks that I m the strong person who can support and provide for her. I want to give her good life after we are married”
“You better watch your back then, iron man.”

“To compound the problem, Angie has a very demanding mother. The last few months had been, to put it in management term, very challenging. To top it up, this is just the wedding, the beginning of our marriage.” Ming said in a rather sarcastic voice.
“Well, a lot of people mistaken wedding as marriage. Wedding is the most important moment, if you care to ask any of your lady friends.” Johnny replied jokingly.

After a brief silence, Ming tried to change the subject.
“So, what about you? Have you found anyone when you were overseas?”
“No. You know me, Ming. I like to roam freely. Moreover, I don’t always do the right thing at the right time.”

“Face it. Miss M is not coming back. Get over and move on.”
Johnny took a sip of the ice coffee and answered softly.
“It’s not all about her, my friend.”
“Ok. Tell me what you have been doing all these years.”
“I’ve been traveling in Indochina and doing volunteer work since I left my previous company. It’s really fulfilling to know that my work has made life better for others.”
“In two years, I’ve seen and learnt so much. I think I’m the one actually benefiting. You’d never imagine what some MNC from rich countries are doing to reap profit from the poor people.”
“Well, I’m all ears. Tell me all about it.” Ming said excitedly.
_____________________________________________________________

Back home, Ming had worked on the report for another 4 hours until he was too sleepy to open his eyes. He decided to go to bed early and wake up early tomorrow to finish the last part on executive summary. Just then, the phone rang and it was Angie.

“Hey. I have bought some lingerie at Mega Mall. Guess what color?”
“I have no idea. As long as you like them.”
“What color do you think we should choose for our new curtain? I like the one with Tweetie Bird on it.”
“That should be fine, dear”

“Have you done the short-list of restaurants that I told you to do last week?”
“Sorry. I haven’t got the time to look at that yet.”

“What? You always have time for your work and your friends but not our wedding. I m still not your first priority even our wedding is in 2 months time. Can you please put in a little more effort in our wedding?” Angie raised her voice a few decibel.
“It’s not that, dear. You know I love you and m looking forward to our marriage. I can’t wait to get into our married life.”

“You know Michelle’s husband took care of everything for their wedding. He also accompanied her to choose her outfit and booked a boat for their wedding photo shooting. Now, I can’t even get you to shortlist a few restaurants? What about the guess list that I have to do on my own? You just don’t have the heart for me. Mother was right about you.” Angie started sobbing on the other end of the line.

Ming let out a long sigh, silently. He knew his plan to wake up early to finish off the report was blown and he would have a lot to explain to his manager.