Inky memory.

Many moons ago, our grandparents owned a rubber plantation near Gemas, Malaysia.

I loved the look of the beautiful stripe pattern around the trees where the rubber resin was being tapped. We would know our road trip from Kuala Lumpur was nearing our grandparent’s town when the landscape changed from small roadside villages to acres and acres of rubber trees.Fond memories for us are not so for our grandparents, father, aunt and uncle when they used to walk or bicycle some distance to the rubber plantation to hack away at long grassy weeds whilst side-stepping snakes and battling monster insects. Dad remembers weekends doing hard manual labour at the plantation instead of making mischief with the local kids.I wonder if any of the rubber from our rubber stamp might’ve come from those trees.- R