aching love

in the subway cafeteria in suntec city
he sat at a table, his girl opposite him
he sat dabbing his red eyes, his girl wants to leave him
he wonders why, but she has met someone else
he does not want to let go, but she has decided dry-eyed
tears wells in his eyes
if only the most aching love was not love

Mystifying Rules

Over the last one week, there were two reports in the local dailies that highlighted some really strange rules created and propagated by some quite creative civil servants.

Rule 1:
Some buskers were complaining of the need to go for an audition before they could actually busk in our streets. Huh? I never knew that one had to audition for such busking. Life is already tough for the disabled ones who busk for some extra cash. They not only have to audition first but also need to be a member of some arts group! There are actually even more preconditons for busking listed in the busking authority webpage. Reading them is enough to put one off from busking.

Rule 2:
This rule surfaced when a foreigner working here refused to participate in the General Household Survey 2005 as it required him to divulge personal information and he considered it as an intrusion of his privacy. Guess what - he was threaten with a fine! There is actually a rule that allows the authority to impose a fine of $1000 on those who provide wrong information or simply refuse to participate.

Anyway, getting back to the story, the authority refused to budge and insisted he participate in the survey, saying that they could not simply select another participant as their samples were carefully selected. Hmm...does one do a survey without a backup list as there is bound to be someone who could not participate for whatever reason.

Do we need these stiffling rules to get the work done? Perhaps, it is simply a reflection of the authority officer penchant for creating rules rather than the state of our society. Sigh!

the real, the pretense

On a Saturday morn
Those
Calling, thinking themselves elitist
Pour into botanic gardens
With their dogs and kids
And maids in tow
Chirping, barking empty they trundle

On a Saturday morn
Those
Not calling themselves anything
Stroll into hdb parks
Walking, talking, mixing they go

The real, the pretense

the marginals part two

Somewhere in st george’s area
Are the one room hovels
Where the marginals live
The old, the poor, the desolate

Daily they toil
Sweeping the streets, clearing the rubbish
Cleaning tables in food courts
Collecting paper and cans
Cleaning and tidying our city

Daily they return
Adding up their cents
To their one rooms
Some with no water
Some with no electricity

Living marginally
Eating marginally
Sleeping marginally

The forgotten ones
Amidst us

Invisible Segregation

In a cafeteria
Malays eating with Malays
Chinese eating with Chinese
Indians eating with Indians

At orchard road
Malays out with Malays
Chinese out with Chinese
Indians out with Indians

An invisible segregation
Birthing in the elitist schools
Breeding then on

The Discontinuation of Memory

Friends, come and go
Joy, come and go
Grief, come and go
In a pause of time

Meeting and letting go
The discontinuation of memory

the losing poor

The poor, they cannot afford to pay
So we subsidise them
But need to wait in line
But need to wait a long time
Before they can see the doctor

The rich, they can pay
They wait a shorter time
They see the doctor faster

Should not medical care
Be given
Based on how ill you are
Than who you are
Than whether you can afford to

Monsoon Showers

Monsoon showers
Bolting down from the sky
Clanking against the window panes
Wetting the verandah
Washing the foliage

Monsoon showers
Streaming at my face
Running down my chest
Cooling slowing my heart
Washing away my stress

mixedup

Everyday we live
Day to day
Work to work
Home to home
Birth to death
In mixedup world

Everynight we dream
Where people gone come alive
Where times gone come alive
Where fun gone come alive
In another world

World, dreams
Illusion, reality
We continue on mixedup

the marginal

Once late at night
Eating in food centre
Saw
A woman
Aged and old
Wearing a beaten look

From bin to bin
She went
Groping for thrown drink cans
Collecting
Them in a plastic bag

From table to table
She went
Picking finished drink cans
Collecting
Them in a plastic bag

Selling them for a few cents

The Tissue Seller

In the orchard underpass
On a hot Saturday afternoon
Crowds streaming through
Walking hurriedly
To shopping jaunts

An old lady, sitting in a wheel chair
Face unmoving, looking nowhere
Hand thrust out clutching tissue packets
At the crowd

The unmoving crowd
Walking pass fast
Seeing but not stopping
at
hand thrust out
with tissues
to catch them

The Study Mamas

behind keong saik street
lies a narrow alley
with a meandering path lined with benches
with trees hanging their green leaves wide over
and some people taking a walk down the path

ladies, sultry
stand poised along the path
chatting up old men that happen by
selling themselves

ladies, sultry
calmness outside, sadness inside
but with no choice
trading this way
earning this way
so their child can go to school

old men on bench
continue gawking

One Night in Bangkok

At close to midnight
In a small alley in Patpong
With many streetcafes
Tables laden with food, tomyam, meat
Tourists and Thais eating, drinking, smoking
And talking jollily

Walking down alley
Comes an old, blind lady
Poor and desolate
Led by a small girl, barely of age four
Skipping ahead of her on bare feet
With can in hand
Seemingly carefree

Little girl
Should you not be in bed?
Is walking at midnight your routine?
Leading your granny, asking for some bhat
To buy some food
To fill you,
And make you happy

Little girl
Have you known any other life than this?
Where do you sleep nightly?
Do you get enough to eat?
Have you been to school?

Little girl pass by
Skipping on her little feet
Eyes looking at merry eating
Eyes at tables move
Looking elsewhere
Looking embarrassed
Some bhat klinked in can

Little girl move on
Rattling her can
Leading her old lady

Tiananmen - The Man Who Stopped the Tanks

June 4 is getting close.

That was the day of the Tiananmen crackdown in 1989. On June 5, a day after the massacre, this internationally famous picture was taken of a Chinese man who bravely stopped a convoy of about 17 tanks on their way to the square.

What became of this man? No one really knows. It remains a mystery up to now.

Read more in the link provided above.