ANDI

Where do I begin then, I wondered, after fastidiously critiquing then dismissing several written introductory attempts through discontentment, or better yet, unworthiness. Nervous perhaps? Likely. Gosh, I want to introduce here a person, a friend, who (unknowingly) played a monumental role in that which lead to my being where I am today – mentally, so it is of some importance to me, this delineation. But how, what combination of colourful adjectives, or wittingly composed clauses could adequately convey, and/or give justification to this incredibly positive, inspiring, and purely joyful personality… really. I deliberate, some more. Perhaps a short video clip might clear the passage, I decide, excited at the prospect of looking back over footage of Andi, an employee of the island resort which offered me the opportunity to progress the ‘idea’ that I perhaps knew what I was doing, which in retrospect, I’m not sure I did. I’ll be forever grateful for that, Paul.

As it were, I did manage to accumulate quite a collection of Andi (ography) during my short stay here, which, when considering my role was actually to make films of the guests, could be thought a little strange. I disagree. Andi, for lack of a better word, captivated me, or perhaps more so did his positive attitude and pure excitement for life which, for me, at that time, was incredibly refreshing.

Andi, a young Mentawai man, who had recently been plucked from a nearby village and offered a job driving boats at the resort, exemplified how little is required – or perhaps favoured, in acquiring a sense of happiness; he highlighted the importance of just enjoying life for what it is, and how this can similarly spread on to others. He provoked a genial disposition, a positive (and facetious) outlook to life, so naturally, I was drawn to this… pardon the profundities here, but this is what captured my imagination.

Andi inspired a great deal of thought within – which generally related in some way back to the problems being faced by my own culture, and why they existed. So I began flirting with the idea that an insight to a possible solution may in fact lay somewhere beneath the selfless felicity possessed by Andi… or in his upbringing, perhaps; which then quickly evolved into the experience that ensued, and the film.

The other reason for having this collection could indeed be attributed to his growing infatuation with methods of a modern world, his fondness for the camera, which, on occasions, would be responsible for my missing the guest’s ‘wave of the day’ or the like – oops. “Ah, sorry, I think I was changing the battery for that one” I would later purport, cheekily – thinking they probably wouldn’t mind anyway that I was actually filming Andi on the roof of the boat, reposing.

Anyway, for Andi, sarainam.
Masurak bagatta