The Statistician’s Dilemma

I've had just enough time to...   throw away my calculations

Taken in a back street of Surabaya, Indonesia where...

The statistician attended a birthday party

The princess got a Barbie and a pony

Everybody was supposed to be happy

The parent looked on anxiously

The statistician took a trip overseas

Wandered through streets that tourists miss

Watched children played in the underbelly

Where no one is supposed to be happy

Crunch his figures, do his maths

Calculate probability

Found no correlativity

Happiness is not measured in toys

It may be measured against something called love

But love itself cannot be measured against anything…

After visiting the Chinese temple in Surabaya in the last two posts, I walked through the back streets adjacent to the temple. I liked walking through the back streets if I perceived it is safe for I can discover many things one will miss in the main streets. This is how the residents of the city actually lived and you get to have a glimpse of the families going about their daily affairs which I always find very interesting.

I came across a few kids sitting on the floor with the eldest in school uniform holding a work book and explaining something to two younger girls while the youngest looked at me with interest. When they realized I’m taking their photos, they reacted by covering their faces with their hands and book. They were incredibly cute and innocent. Unlike mine, their lives look uncomplicated and happy.

these innocents shielded their eyes from a foreign devil... :)

A Stranger Through The Eyes of A Child.

I've had just enough time to...   see myself in the eyes of a child.

Taken in Kunshan while wandering around

“He doesn’t like me”.

Maybe it was not because he does not like me. Maybe it was because I witnessed what he did. Or maybe it was because he was protective of his little sister. His sister, who was looking at me with questioning eyes.

“Who are you?”

“What do you want?”

“Why are you taking our picture?”

She could not figure me out yet. So she was hesitant with her response. Maybe she will smile if I say a kind word or two. Maybe she will run away. But I kept my distance. I have no right to intrude.

Her brother, he just glared at me. I am a stranger. I can be up to no good. I cannot do anything for them except getting them into trouble. So he challenged me with his look. If I put on a fierce expression. Maybe he will run away. Maybe he will call for his family. I am after all a stranger and an outsider. So I kept my distance. Smiled, and backed off. I am after all an intruder into their world and I have to respect that. (I was in Kunshan with a couple of hours to kill and I’m not going to do that watching TV in the hotel room. So I wandered out into the street where ordinary people lived.)

Earlier, I “caught” them playing with the stainless steel bolts and washers that they somehow dismantle from the railings of the steps and overhead bridge. I tried one with my bare fingers and found it to be fast secured. Maybe, they have found all the loose ones or maybe they did it with some tools though I did not see any. If they construct the railings so poorly that children can dismantle them, then it is not the children’s fault for you can expect a child to do exactly what they did. I did not want to encourage them though so I checked my smile and moved away wondering what did I learn from this encounter to have it so strongly registered in my memory.