30 Hour Famine: Part I – The Preparation.

As mentioned in the earlier post, I was worried about how I’ll cope with hunger as I’ve never been hungry in my entire adult life. Receiving comments such as “hey, this is for young people, sure you can ah?” and “don’t faint ah!” did not help. The world is full of nice people who just love to deter you. And they are succeeding in shaking my fragile confidence.

Photo from World Vision

Luckily, I am seriously afflicted with an incurable condition called “kiasu” (scared to lose). Where am I going to put my paper thin face if I were to back out now? This called for drastic measure. Like the warrior preparing for battle, I had to condition myself. So two weeks before the big event, I started by skipping lunch. There was now this empty hole that used to be my stomach. It started to take over the rest of my body so my head feels just as empty. The whole office got to know and people start making speculations on how long I will hold out.

Photo from World Vision

Surprisingly to me, it was not that bad. I survived. It was no where as difficult as I envisioned. I learned something about myself and that alone would have made this endeavor worthwhile. My confidence grew and when people asked me now, I answered “no sweat”. But of course at the back of my mind, there were still doubts. So far, I had only been fasting 8 to 10 hours. 30 hours may be a whole different ball game. My feet were already in the water, might as well get the whole body wet.

The night before the event, instead having an early rest; I went for the Jacky Cheung World Tour Concert 2007. I remembered a saying from my bravado school days “Mati Tak Apa, Gaya Mesti Ada” literally translated as “It is all right to die, but one must do it with style”. So we did it with style. Me and my extended family, all fifteen of us went to scream our lungs out at 歌神the God of Songs, my favorite by far of the Four Heavenly Kings. And he did not disappoint.

But even he could not reason with the Rain God. Not long after he burst onto stage, the rain clouds also burst showering those in the expensive seats in the center of the stadium. There was a loud roar as those sitting in cheaper but ironically covered seats laughed at the misfortune of the rich. Talk about “schadenfreude”. I was glad though I was not shivering in the rain. Jacky sighed that the last time he was in Malaysia for a concert, it rained as well. He made a heart felt appeal to Heaven and what do you know, the rain stopped for the rest of the concert. Guess he is not called a Heavenly King for nothing. Though I thought he tempted fate a little when in the middle of the concert he sang 天黑黑 (Sky Dark Dark – it is going to rain).

Jacky had been singing since he won the Hong Kong national singing competition in 1984 with the song “Fatherland”. He hit it big with the song 每天愛你多一些 (Loving You More Everyday) in 1991 which he also sang for this concert. He sang hits after hits after opening with 愛火花 (Love Sparks) including the all-time favorite 吻别 (Goodbye Kiss) which contain one of the most poignant lyric – “We kissed goodbye on the deserted street / As the unkind wind sneered / We kissed goodbye on a troubled night / As my heart prepared to welcome grief”.

Whether fast or slow, Mandarin or Cantonese, he handled them all with aplomb and slick dance move. Tempo slowed towards the second half as he sang ballads from his musical “Snow. Wolf. Lake.” And songs from my favorite movie of 2005 - “Perhaps Love”. And when he sang “If this is love…” My heart reached out and sang with him. That concluded his main act for the night. Considering that he is still recovering from his illness and having sang for almost three hours, it was an admirable feat. But the audience would not let him go and the unbroken applause led him back. I had expected him to sing a few more songs but was touched and impressed when he sang another eleven. It was also an emotional night for him with his voice broken and eyes glistened as he left under a tremendous send off from his 30,000 fans.

It was a great night. I had been infused with music. It was quite late when I got home. But I know that when the spirit is pleased, the body will rest well. And that is the best preparation I could have made for the 30 Hour Famine.

To be continued…