Short Story: The Beginning by Izarin Izmir

Izarin Izmir shares a heartwarming story with a poignant narrative about the beauty of the beginning.

We live our lives blind, but if we are lucky, there are moments we are offered glimpses of ourselves. 

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Malaya, 1960s

I was working as a teacher back then. I passed my School Certificate Examination and finished my training at the teaching college. My family was quite excited of my prospects and proud of me, given that my elders were rubber tappers and farmers. They were amazed that I was able to attain (and complete) formal education and was performing what they perceived as a noble profession. To be completely honest, I missed helping out my parents on a land that we had next to our house, where we planted tapiocas and sugar canes. Mother was adamant that I stayed near the school where I taught, since she said that she and my Father were completely capable of managing the crops themselves in the afternoons while their mornings were mostly spent rubber tapping at a plantation thirty minutes’ walk from our house. Despite what my Mother said, I felt obliged to send them a small amount of money from the salary that I received each month.  It was my first time living away from my family. It had been four months since I rented a room in a house owned by an elderly couple whose children have all moved away. My colleagues at work were kind and polite, but we mostly kept to ourselves. At some point, I realized I was mostly talking to my students while barely saying anything to my fellow teachers. The walk from the school to the house where I stayed took me almost forty minutes. I walked past rows of shops near the school before passing through plantations and at times, deserted plots of land.