Long Live Fidel, Shout my Malaysian and
Indonesian Friends
The night had just fallen and we could look
at the Mekong River from where we were sitting. Our little group of Malaysians
and Indonesians were busily engaged in chatter. It is worthwhile to spend time
to cultivate friendships and on this trip I cemented my friendships with my
Indonesian friends from Bogor and also met two lovely Chinese gentlemen, both from KL,
both businessmen, we hit it off well from the beginning as I have a recent
shared history with Malaysia.
I had ordered a Mojito, a drink popularized
by Ernest Hemingway in Cuba, even though the drink was present as long as sugar
cane has been cultivated in Cuba, long before Hemingway’s sojourn in Cuba.
I told the bartender that I would like it
as it is prepared in Cuba, and he obliged and I tasted it remembering the lazy
evenings with friends in Baracoa when my neighbour Miguelin used to prepare the
best Mojito.
My friends also wanted to try and a round
was ordered. When it arrived, the Malaysian businessman, who had studied at
University of Malaya in the 1970s and had read and admired Che Guevara,
announced, let us drink this praying for the good health of Fidel!
I was more than gratified to echo their
sentiments, so El Jefe Comandante, you were being remembered on the shores of
the Mighty Mekong River on this evening in August. Feliz Cumpleanos, August 13th!
