Goodbye 2021, Have a Good Trip

Well, certainly this year will not be remembered among the best ones, as it was the second of the pandemic that has turned our lives upside down.

But I don't want to mention the bad part – we don't need it.

Better to concentrate on what I want to take with me, in the full suitcase that we have been carrying around since we were born, filled with what is dress, game, memory, and wound.

This Blog was born with the pandemic so it is celebrating its almost two years.

It was and is a wonderful adventure that gave me something that I thought was lost: the pleasure of writing.

Obviously, the first year was intense, since you couldn't leave the house.

In 2020 I wrote 184 articles, while this year just 97.

As if to say: less life, more art – more life, less art.

But on the other hand, this year I bring three new books with me.

The two photo-story books on Malaysia and Bangladesh and the fanzine book on Old Dhaka.

In addition, this year the Blog gave me the series of Asian Tales, or the new direction of short stories, the pure fiction that I always loved reading as a boy. With the excuse of writing stories about Asian countries, it allowed me to deepen or learn about new cultures and traditions. If I think about my future, I think this is the direction.

I love to write again.

In greeting 2021, I cannot but thank him for the new friendships born.

People are what is dearest to us in life, those who make us feel less alone. Although, like everything, they too come and go.

I am deeply happy to have become close friends with Sandro, Paolo, Mauro, Umberto, and Dario.

Of the many new Bangladeshi friendships born between the Hindu temples and the mosques of Torpignattara.

The mothers of the Sinhalese school of Chanchala.

The students of the courses with whom we held the photographic workshops and those of the university who followed my talks.

Roma Gang's Filipino rapper friends.

The discovery of new publishing houses, of Burmese and Cambodian literature, of new photographers, of hundreds of words and images and music.

One last thought, however, to those who have gone away this year.

To Daisy, Faridz and Nur.

 

Mine is a simple and heartfelt wish for a happy new year to each of you, and may you always have a little light to see the shadow, and a little shade to see the light.

Italian version