Singathology
Page 33
“I can help you, Dave,” She said. “I want to help you. Look, the membership of NDSBC is now 5,000 to 8,000 members. Just think of all these people buying your vacuum cleaners! Besides, there are more women than men in the church. That is why we are trying to recruit more men but only for their own good, of course.”
“I don’t have that many vacuum cleaners.”
“Plus, we are the main church distributing cell church materials to the whole world. We have people believing in gold teeth miracles, visions, dreams, etc. You think we can’t make them believe in your vacuum cleaners? You could become a worldwide phenomenon! We can use the slogan ‘Cleanliness is next to Godliness, let Salvation be your Salvation’. Isn’t that good? You see, you help me, and I help you. We can be a very good team.”
“Can’t you partner with another woman?” I asked her. “If a cell group needs two people to lead.”
“Don’t be ridiculous! Can you imagine how that would look? We are supposed to be role models! What kind of example would that set?”
She almost spat out the words. Then she looked at me and laughed. “Poor man. You are so innocent. You don’t understand these things. Look, it’s OK. I will help you along. It’s not difficult. After we get married, you just have to attend services and cell group meetings with me. I will tell everybody you are quiet, and anyway I do enough work for two people. If we don’t have children, that is OK too.” Was that her way of telling me our “marriage” would stay out of the bedroom? Eva Sharon was seven years older than I. Even if she had been seven years younger, she was not the sort of woman I could be sexually attracted to because her non-stop talking made my head hurt.
“But we should adopt. Children contribute to a more stable family unit. One of our members is a doctor. She is very good at arranging adoptions. Plus, she always checks what is the race of the father so that you don’t end up with a half-Indian or half-Malay baby.”
“Apostle Matthew is going to clean out Singapore. All I can say is, you better get on board while you still can. There will be no more of this worshipping of false gods in public rubbish.”
Mogallana, a Buddhist monk, pleaded with the Buddha to help his dead mother starving in hell. The Buddha told him to make offerings of food and fruits on the fifteenth day of the seventh moon, and his mother’s hunger was relieved. Even if you didn’t believe in hell and the Buddha, it was still good to remember your parents. But I did not say that to Eva Sharon Png. She was watching me as though she expected an answer.
I finished watering all the money plants in the corridor. “I’m going in now,” I said.
“Can we go inside your flat to talk? It’s so noisy out here!”
“It’s noisy inside also.”
“Actually, I need to use your toilet. It’s urgent.”
“No,” I said.
“Come on, don’t be silly. I have done volunteer mission work in the Philippines and Indonesia. I tell you, I have seen worse toilets than yours!” She was already pushing her way in past me. I could have grabbed her arm to stop her, but I didn’t want to touch her.
Eva Sharon had to pry. It was part of her nature. Although she had said she needed the toilet urgently, she stopped in my back utility room, sniffing.
“This is the connecting wall with your next door, right? Your toilets are back to back? There’s still a bit of the smell here. I think something may have seeped through. Especially here, the smell is really quite –”
She finally stopped when a vacuum cleaner hit her on the head. Her neck looked even longer, stretched out and twisted on the floor of my storeroom.
***
Together, we set up a little altar and lit joss sticks for Old Teo in the corridor. Now he was not around to gamble away his monthly pension, things would be easier for his widow and son.
“Is that loud woman coming back?” Ah Boy asked cautiously.
“No,” I promised him. She would not be bothering us again.
“I remember when I was small. Pa would accompany me to school or take me out on his bicycle,” said Ah Boy. Tears ran out of his eyes and snot ran out of his nose. “Before he started getting angry with everybody and fighting with everybody. I used to like him. But that was a long time ago.”
“Remember the good parts,” I told him. “He died peacefully in his sleep. We should all be so lucky.”
“We were married for thirty-six years. It was an arranged marriage. From the start, it was difficult because we had nothing in common. But at least now I have my son,” Madam Ang said. “Ah Boy was a clever boy, you know. Remember you and he used to play together? When he was still smart and you were still a girl? I used to dream that you two would marry one day. But, after his father hit him too many times on the head, I think inside there something went wrong.”
I offered her the Singapore Sweep ticket I had found in her dead husband’s fingers. She refused to touch it. Gambling had killed her husband, she said. She wanted nothing to do with it.
***
I give Madam Ang one thousand dollars a month. She did not want to take it at first but accepted after I told her that it was to buy better food and clothes for Ah Boy. From then on, whenever she cooks for him, she cooks for me also. I also give Ah Boy one two hundred dollars a week to spend on himself, but he usually buys cakes and snacks for his mother and me. He is not so painfully skinny now, and he looks happy, especially when he shyly hands me a packet of keropok or stick of otah. During durian season, he sells Malaysian durians outside the cake shop that has taken over Eva Sharon’s nail spa. Nobody seems to miss her yet. Nobody seems to know that she intended to marry me.
I put Eva Sharon in the utility room next to my mother. I also put an extra bag around them both. Now that I can afford to move away from here, I no longer want to. Besides, I don’t want to take the Salvation Solution storage bags with me, and I can’t leave them behind.
I go back out to the corridor and light joss sticks in front of a pile of pink sticky cakes. If the ghost of Eva Sharon doesn’t come for her cake and fruits, there are many others around to appreciate it.
ஊதுவத்தி
எழுதியவர்: க.து.மு.இக்பால்
நீ
நெருப்பில் மணம் அவிழும் மலர்
உன் கோபம்
வாசனையாய்ப் பரவுகிறது
காற்றின் கழுத்தில்
நீ போட்ட பஞ்சுமாலை
கனவுபோல் கலைகிறது
புகை முக்காட்டுக்குள்
நீ புதைந்திருக்கும் போதே
மயக்கும் உன் மணக்கோலம் அம்பலமாகிறது
வாசம் உதிர்த்த உன்னைச்
சாம்பலாய் உதிர்க்கிறது தீ
சாம்பலில்
உன் சாயல்கள் இல்லை
உன்போல்
மணவுறவு கொண்ட
மலர்கள் எல்லாம்
உடல் எரியாத ஊதுவத்திகளே
ஊதுவத்திகளும் பூக்களும்
உதிர்ந்து போகலாம்
ஆனால்
மணம் மட்டும் உதிர்வதே யில்லை
நினைவுகளிலிருந்து
வாழ்க்கையை
வாசனையாக எழுதுவதே
உயர்ந்த வரம்
ஊதுவத்திகள்
எங்களிலும் உண்டு
எரிந்தபடி சிலர்
எர
ியாமலே பலர்
Incense Stick
BY K. T. M. IQBAL
Translated by A. Palaniappan
You
Are a flower
Emanating fragrance on fire
And your fired-up ardour
Spreads out your aroma.
The soft spiralling smoke garland that you spin
Graces the neck of the gentle air,
Soon dissolving like a dream.
You entomb yourself
Under the veil of smoke
While your intoxicating aroma exposes you.
While you ooze with fragrance,
The fire reduces you to ash.
The dropping ash
Bears no resemblance to you.
All flowers kindred in fragrance
Are like you
But remain as
Unburned incense sticks.
Incense sticks and flowers
May fade and be gone
But
Their aroma stays
Within us in our memories.
To journalise life
In exotic fragrance
Is an exulting poetic gift.
There are incense sticks
Among us too.
Some burning themselves,
Others never consumed.
About the Authors
AIDLI MOSBIT [Young Artist Award, 2008]
Aidli Alin Mosbit graduated with a degree in Drama from Queensland University of Technology in 1998. An actor, director, and playwright, she won commendation prizes from the Malay Language Council of Singapore for her plays Kosovo (1993) and ...Dan Tiga Dara Terbang Ke Bulan [...And Three Virgins Fly to the Moon; 1996] in 1995 and 1997 respectively. She received the Young Artist Award in 2008 and the Anugerah Tokoh Muda-Kesusasteraan (Teater) from PENAMAS (the Mohammad Ariff Ahmad Foundation) for her contributions to Malay literature in Singapore. In 2003, with Noor Effendy Ibrahim and Alfian Sa’at, Aidli published ...Dan Tiga Dara Terbang Ke Bulan and Ikan Cantik [Beautiful Fishes] in an anthology of plays called Bisik [Whisper; 2003]. She is currently working on Cantik [Beautiful], a collection of eight of her plays, for publication. Aidli was the editor of Manja, a Malay monthly magazine. Since July 2010, she has been the Section Head of the Performing Arts Department in the School of Design and Media at the Institute of Technical Education.
ALFIAN SA’AT [Young Artist Award, 2001]
Alfian Sa’at is a resident playwright with Wild Rice, with plays including Homesick and Cooling-Off Day. His published works include three collections of poetry, One Fierce Hour, A History of Amnesia, and The Invisible Manuscript; two collection of short stories, Corridor and Malay Sketches; as well as two collections of plays. In 2001, he won the Golden Point Award for Poetry and received the Young Artist Award. Alfian has been nominated eight times for “Best Script” at The Straits Times Life! Theatre Awards, winning for Landmarks, Nadirah, and Your Sister’s Husband.
ALVIN PANG [Young Artist Award, 2005]
A poet, writer, editor, and translator, Alvin Pang has appeared in major festivals and anthologies worldwide. His poetry collections include City of Rain, What Gives Us Our Names, Other Things and Other Poems, and When the Barbarians Arrive. His work has been translated into over fifteen languages. A board member of the University of Canberra’s International Poetry Studies Institute and a Fellow of the Iowa International Writing Program, he also directs The Literary Centre (Singapore), a non-profit intercultural initiative.
BOEY KIM CHENG [Young Artist Award, 1996]
Boey Kim Cheng was born in Singapore in 1965. His five collections of poetry and a travel memoir titled Between Stations address his own disquiet about the rapid change in Singapore and the feelings of dislocation and displacement resulting from that. He received the Young Artist Award in 1996 and emigrated to Australia the following year. He teaches Creative Writing at the University of Newcastle.
CHIA JOO MING 谢裕民 [Young Artist Award, 1993]
Chia Joo Ming was presented with the Young Artist Award in 1993. He was also invited to participate in the Iowa International Writing Program in 1995. His novel Return (1999) was made into a television drama series while his short stories compilation A New Language won the 1996 Singapore Book Prize. In 2006, his compilation Reconstructing Nanyang won the Singapore Literature Prize. Chia is currently a Senior Executive Sub-Editor (Fukan) at Lianhe Zaobao.
LEW POO CHAN (DAN YING 淡莹) [Cultural Medallion, 1996]
Born in 1943, Lew Poo Chan is better known by her pen name Dan Ying, under which she has published poetry to great acclaim. Her books include Farewell, A Long Farewell (1966); One Man Lane (1969); Poems of Taiji (1979) and Time Passing Through My Hair (1993), both of which received the National Book Development Council of Singapore Award for Poetry; The Collected Works of Dan Ying (1995); and Human World Affairs (2012). She has also received the Southeast Asian Writers Award in 1995, the Cultural Medallion in 1996, and the Montblanc-NUS Centre for the Arts Literary Award in 1997. She is a founding member of the May Poetry Society and the Singapore Association of Writers.
FELIX CHEONG [Young Artist Award, 2000]
Felix Cheong is the author of ten books, including four volumes of poetry and a collection of short stories Vanishing Point, which was longlisted for the Frank O’Connor Award in 2013. In 2000, he received the Young Artist Award. He has a Master in Creative Writing from the University of Queensland and is currently an adjunct lecturer with the University of Newcastle, Murdoch University, and LASALLE College of the Arts. His latest book is Singapore Siu Dai 2, a collection of satirical flash fiction.
ISA KAMARI [Cultural Medallion, 2007]
A graduate of the National University of Singapore and the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Isa Kamari has written nine novels in Malay: Satu Bumi [One Earth], Kiswah, Tawassul [Intercession], Menara, Atas Nama Cinta [Nadra], Memeluk Gerhana, Rawa, Duka Tuan Bertakhta, and Selendang Sukma. He has also published two collections of poems, Sumur Usia and Munajat Sukma; a collection of short stories, Sketsa Minda; and a collection of theatre scripts, Pintu. He was conferred the Southeast Asian Writers Award in 2006, the Cultural Medallion in 2007, and the Anugerah Tun Seri Lanang in 2009.
K. T. M. IQBAL க.து.மு.இக்பால்பெ [Cultural Medallion, 2014]
K. T. M. Iqbal has authored seven collections of poetry and written over two hundred children’s songs for the Singapore radio programme “பாடிப் பழகுவோம்” [“Let Us Sing”] in the 1970s and 1980s. He has contributed poems, essays, and short stories to the region’s leading newspapers and magazines. His poem “தண்ணீர்” [“Water”] was selected by the National Arts Council for display in MRT trains in 1995 and for exhibition at Expo 2000 in Hanover, Germany. English translations of his poems by R. Balachandran can be found in The Evening Number and Other Poems (2008). He was an Associate Editor of the anthologies Rhythms (2000) and Fifty on 50 (2009).
LEE TZU PHENG [Cultural Medallion, 1985]
Lee Tzu Pheng retired as Associate Professor in English literature at the National University of Singapore in 2001. She has eight collections of poetry, Prospect of a Drowning (1980), Against the Next Wave (1988), The Brink of an Amen (1991), Lambada by Galilee and Other Surprises (1997), Sing a Song of Mankind (2012), Catching Connections (2012), Standing in the Corner (2014), Soul’s Festival: Poems 1980–1997 (2014); a book of prose reflections, Short Circuits (2012); and a book for developing reading-readiness in young children, Growing Readers (1987). Lee’s awards for poetry include the Cultural Medallion in 1985, the Southeast Asian Writers Award in 1987, the Gabriela Mistral Award in 1995, the Montblanc-NUS Centre for the Arts Literary Award in 1996, and three National Book Development Council of Singapore Awards for Poetry. She was a Fulbright fellow to the University of California (Irvine) in 1996 and has mentored many young writers. In 2014, she was on the inaugural list of 108 women inducted into the Singapore Women’s Hall of Fame.
MOHAMED LATIFF MO
HAMED [Cultural Medallion, 2013]
Mohamed Latiff bin Mohamed’s many accolades include the Montblanc-NUS Centre for the Arts Literary Award in 1998, the Southeast Asian Writers Award in 2002, and the Anugerah Tun Seri Lanang in 2003. He has won the Singapore Literature Prize thrice – for Bagiku Sepilah Sudah [For Me There’s Only Loneliness; 2002], Nostalgia Yang Hilang [The Lost Nostalgia; 2004], and Bila Rama-Rama Patah Sayapnya [When the Butterfly Injures Its Wings; 2007]. To date, he has published five volumes of poetry, five novels, and two collections of short stories. He is the Vice-President of the literary association, Angkatan Sasterawan ’50.
O THIAM CHIN[Young Artist Award, 2012]
O Thiam Chin is the author of four collections of short stories and one collection of flash fiction. He was shortlisted for the 2014 Singapore Literature Prize for Fiction and has been longlisted for the Frank O’Connor Short Story Award three times – for Never Been Better in 2010, The Rest of Your Life and Everything That Comes with It in 2012, and Love, or Something like Love in 2014. His short stories have been featured in World Literature Today, The International Literary Quarterly, Asia Literary Review, Asiatic, Kyoto Journal, The Jakarta Post, The New Straits Times, Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, Quarterly Literary Review Singapore, Manoa, Esquire, and Karavan and in anthologies such as Volume One and Two of Best New Singaporean Short Stories, ONE – The Anthology, and A Rainbow Feast: New Asian Short Stories. He was an honorary fellow of the Iowa International Writing Program in 2010.
OVIDIA YU [Young Artist Award, 1996]
After focusing on theatre for over twenty-five years, Ovidia Yu made the switch to writing fiction. This resulted in a children’s book, The Mudskipper, and a new edition of her retro Singapore mystery, Miss Moorthy Investigates. Aunty Lee’s Delights, featuring a plump Peranakan chef-sleuth, was published by William Morrow/HarperCollins this September. Ovidia has received the Young Artist Award, the Singapore Youth Award, and the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Singapore Foundation Culture Award. She attended the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program on a Fulbright Scholarship and is a non-resident fellow of Eusoff College, National University of Singapore.