over teochew muay

people-watching can be therapeutic. today over dinner, i saw the assistants at the teochew muay stall discussing the latest lottery results. they sure invested heavily, judging from the thick stack of slips they were mulling over. reminded me of the fact that none of them would stay on in their current job if the money is right. to see all the colleagues banding over this common goal was also intriguing.

then there was this father eating with his two children. the children were having their usual sibling-squabbles and what caught my attention was the fact that the elder sister said “if you continue to be xxx, you’ll forever be yyy”. left me wondering, how is it that we from young, have a concept of “forever” even though we hardly knew what that means?

another lady was waiting by the side of the kopitiam with a stroller in her hands. in time, her husband (who presumably just arrived after a day’s work) met the mother-and-child pair and they walked off happily in another direction.

an old man sat opposite me enjoying his dinner and it seems that people seem to enjoy their teochew muay a lot more overtly when there’s a fish to polish off, bit by bit. he seemed a little grumpy and i was afraid that he’d notice me looking but his face broke into a gruff smile as another customer greeted him as he strolled into the stall.

this may all seem very expository but i guess this evening’s dinner helped remind me that there is so much going on in the world, even in just a small corner of bukitbatok. there are individuals, couples, families and they all have dreams and aspirations. who’s to say that one is more important than another? but oftentimes we become so self-absorbed in our lives that we become detached from the lives of others. i need to learn how to care more, instead of only being interested in appearing to care in the shortest time possible, heh.

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