timeless
Today, I had that time-stop feeling I've not felt in a long long time.
Well anyway, I found it at this park connector by a canal in Tanah Merah. I was cycling along when I wondered where the path goes. I was hoping it would lead to East Coast Park. But it didn't. Instead it led to a dead end.
But all that's beside the point. The point is, I saw these men using the front cover of a fan and digging in the waters of the canal for something. At first I thought they hoped to find some precious items or stones to sell for money. But I was wrong. I asked this old man what he was digging for in the canal. He couldn't speak, but was capable of making incoherent grunting sounds. It appears he was digging for some kind of shellfish, with beautiful shells. They looked like mussels, but quite small ones. He 'told' me, using a combination of sound and sign language, that the mussels tasted good once put into the mouth. He had a lot of them, so I guess he would be enjoying his dinner.
As I was cycling home after that, I was thinking of the fact that one could still find people looking for food in Singapore. As in, looking for food that doesn't cost money. Everywhere else I see people queueing up to pay for food. But the old man was enjoying digging in the canal for what was to him, good food. I sensed happiness in him as he was talking to me (really!) and that short "conversation" sort of made my day for me. I thought of how it is really quite impossible for people like me to lead such a life. Given that we have to study, then work in order to provide for ourselves at least. But it wouldn't hurt to occasionally put it all aside, and simply relax, just like the old man. So that we wouldn't have to be bogged down by society's load, and instead just do what we enjoy, and thus find happiness.
Maybe I'll go there again when the feeling comes, even though it's only a dirty smelly canal to many people, I believe.
Well anyway, I found it at this park connector by a canal in Tanah Merah. I was cycling along when I wondered where the path goes. I was hoping it would lead to East Coast Park. But it didn't. Instead it led to a dead end.
But all that's beside the point. The point is, I saw these men using the front cover of a fan and digging in the waters of the canal for something. At first I thought they hoped to find some precious items or stones to sell for money. But I was wrong. I asked this old man what he was digging for in the canal. He couldn't speak, but was capable of making incoherent grunting sounds. It appears he was digging for some kind of shellfish, with beautiful shells. They looked like mussels, but quite small ones. He 'told' me, using a combination of sound and sign language, that the mussels tasted good once put into the mouth. He had a lot of them, so I guess he would be enjoying his dinner.
As I was cycling home after that, I was thinking of the fact that one could still find people looking for food in Singapore. As in, looking for food that doesn't cost money. Everywhere else I see people queueing up to pay for food. But the old man was enjoying digging in the canal for what was to him, good food. I sensed happiness in him as he was talking to me (really!) and that short "conversation" sort of made my day for me. I thought of how it is really quite impossible for people like me to lead such a life. Given that we have to study, then work in order to provide for ourselves at least. But it wouldn't hurt to occasionally put it all aside, and simply relax, just like the old man. So that we wouldn't have to be bogged down by society's load, and instead just do what we enjoy, and thus find happiness.
Maybe I'll go there again when the feeling comes, even though it's only a dirty smelly canal to many people, I believe.
posted by Boogerfella at
4:27 PM
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