The Harsh/Easy Living Along the Ban Panthom Streets
The very first impression I had when I reached Ban Panthom was, “how could the people spend their years of living there?” The narrow, disorder, gloomy streets were and still, will be the root of the living for the Ban Panthom community. From the perspective of a foreigner from Malaysia, this kind of living condition is actually seen as a backstreet condition in my country, which most people relate to vices such as drunken people, crimes, illegal businesses, drugs and more.
So we spent days at Ban Panthom getting ourselves acquainted and more familiar with the livelihood in the area. Of course, we grabbed the chance to ask the locals, including and not limited to youths, eldery and the immigrants, about their lives in Ban Panthom, issues faced and what they hope for in this community. Nevertheless, there were always different voices about liking the life here, or pointing out the dark sides of it. Despite so, the underlying similarity is that the people here are adapted to this typology of street life, where they do businesses, work, eating, living, basically their daily routine.
Yet, I found out that the streets here are actually lively and holds another form of beauty, which forms the identity and character of this community, during daytime. After few days of discovery and research, the streets itself and the people convinced me that, the streets are actually livable and charming and perhaps the current style of living is the best way for people of Ban Panthom. The streets are literally the living vessels of this heart of community, where connections, flows and movements happened.
I slowly realized that the adaptive nature of people works well anywhere, and it is just a matter of time. When life gets harder, people gets pushed harder too, resulting in compromises or conflicts. We can never be the owner of our life; we will never be able to have full control of it. The need to make compromises and adapt does not only apply to the Ban Panthom community, but for each and everyone of us, who are living under the same sky.
In addition, I also reflect upon the living conditions of the people there. This experience had me question myself, “what is the best way to live?” I think that we actually get way more than what we need. Or is life just about having as much things as we can? I have too many questions with none of them answered. Guess that they are better to be left open ended...
