Caving under mounting diverse pressures

GUANGZHOU — This column issue will soon commence with a rather Kafkaesque scene. Franz Kafka, the Czech author who worked as an insurance clerk during the day and wrote in German at night more than a century ago during some of the most turbulent times in continental Europe both culturally and geostrategically, has posthumously become an iconic figure in what may be called surrealist realism. He often started his novels or novellas with a rather shocking scene, such as a man waking up realizing he had become a cockroach (The Metamorphosis) or a man being hoisted on a very peculiar punishment machine ("In the Penal Colony"). These scenarios appeared weird at the outset, but as readers delve into Kafka's prolific writings, they soon realize that he was contemplating the harsh and often surreal social realities of the time, from the banality of evil (to paraphrase Hannah Arendt) to the quotidian cruelty of both interested observers and passersby.

Well, recently, a sinkhole appeared in one of the bustling downtown areas of Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital. A female tourist from India was walking on the street when the pedestrian sidewalk suddenly collapsed, and she fell into the resulting sinkhole. After more than a week of intense searching, she has not yet been found. The tragic incident has attracted attention both domestically and internationally. Shortly afterward, reports emerged of more ground collapses in the vicinity of this first caving incident, causing widespread concern. This series of ground collapses has also, to some extent, drawn my attention to some associated routine (in the eyes of many) but "strange" (in my eyes) happenings both within the country and abroad.