An indian sat down opposite me during lunch time, with his bread and his dips. A few quiet minutes into the meal, I asked if he tried the indian food at Amara foodcourt, level 4. Comparatively, he like the one at Lau Pa Sat better. I asked him about traditional indian food and was told that North indians generally take more bread, south indians generally take more greens, rice and yogurt and he, from the brahmin caste, is a strict vegetarian.

The stall at Amara foodcourt was selling south indian cuisines. My first and only experience with it was rather memorable. I ordered some bread with mutton and was given 4 dips. A metal tray of colours greeted me; green, red, yellow, white... The assorted dips tasted differently from each other too. The green one was slightly bitter, one of the white being homemade yogurt was sour, the other with rice bits in it was sweet, and final the yellow dip was slightly spicy.

I was deeply amused, the meal being reminiscent of life's ups and downs. In chinese, life is described as suan1, tian2, ku3, la4, literally translated as sour, sweet, bitter and spicy. My lecturer once told me that in Japan, there are certain foods for certain seasons. And eating in a way, signifies the passing of time, just as this meal, which reminds me of how life can be colourful and everchanging.

I may not subscribe to the cultural significances given, but they can make life fun and meaningful, or they can make the already confusing life more confusing and a painful one more painful. For the same act, which the cultural exalts and praise, they can ostracize and penalize, while they reward and empower, they can punish and incapacitate for the same thing.

An example or two perhaps?

Work is defined as the actions you do to fulfil certain tasks in an occupation.

The act of copulation has dozens of linguistic equivalents, such as having sex, fucking, baby making, fornicating, making love, the union of souls/bodies, screwing....

Quoting a friend: Human beings do not copulate, they make love.

I guess my trip down Desker road the other night got me thinking. The sight that greeted us when we walked into the small shophouses were the sight of small rooms separated by thin wooden walls, with tiny sinks facing the door above small dustbins, overused and dirty mattress on wooden beds, with middle aged ladies scantily clad waiting inside the rooms. It was so cramped that little of the cement floor can be seen. The corridors were narrow with customers having little personal space nor privacy should they choose to walk in. While no rude noises could be heard and the environment remains relatively quiet, there was a strange smell in the air. Pink fluorescent tubes were used for lighting and for once, walking along the corridors of a shophouse feels like a surreal trip down its back alley.

I guess for first timers, the sights and sounds can be overwhelming. We were overdressed with 3 of us were dressed in long sleeves and 1 in tee shirt and and jeans, looking like part of an anti vice unit. Perhaps that is the reason, periodically I could catch someone watching us.

With 2 of my friends being having patronised the place before, my other friend was complaining that his future political career would be ruined if he be caught here, worried about his reputation if he runs into relatives here, whinning about the lack of morality and the decadence. One too many "if"s for me.

I was told that the majority of the patrons here are malaysians, with a few bangladeshis, and one or two caucasians. We went upstairs and was answered with an old man watching TV, signifying that we could find little relief for our curiosity should we go further. We went on to the next shophouse, having to leave my friend outside with his cigarettes in the shadows.

I could remember the song by Nobody called The Prostitute and the Singer/Songwriter, which greatly disturbed my sis during her creative and productive days. It compared the singer/songwriter to the prostitute, having to sell and exploit his emotions to make a living.

The chorus, pardon my poor translation:

You said that we are all exploiting our emotions,
under a different light, but the same act, the same burden.
You said that the emotions that they bought,
are your unnecessary pains and joys in your life.

Singer: Anna! It's 3am, what are you doing?
Anna: I am peddling my emotions...what about you? Why aren't you asleep?
Singer: I am like you, selling my feelings....it will be daybreak soon, tomorrow...what will tomorrow be like?
Anna: The same, I guess, everyday's the same....everyone's the same...
Singer: When will it be, when we will live on this world, finally devoid and exhausted of emotions?
Anna: Heh! When will it be, when we will live on this world, finally devoid and exhausted of emotions? When will it be?

I heard that the place has shrunk down a lot, and I noticed a condominium springing up nearby, and I presume that it will not be around for much longer. I have mixed feelings about it. The place has settled into an equilibrium, a microsystem isolated from the rest of the world, hardly interacting overtly with it. For the sake of someone else's condominium, these already suffering people has to move. They have to relocated to another hole because someone else wealthier are moving into the vicinity and they do not want their family and guests noticing the prostitutes as they drive past in their mercedes, nor the sight of the whorehouses spoiling the poolside view. I guess it is harder to sleep at night know that there is someone else just outside your house selling their flesh for money, while all the time, they are looking up in your direction, hoping for a better future...

While these people may hate and despise themselves for what they have to do for bread and butter, yet in developed countries, there are people doing the same for branded goods and promotions, only in offices, in designer suits and lingerie and spring mattress.

We are all performing the same transactions, under different lighting.

Kishore in his book "Can Asians Think?" wrote on the effects of the internet, technology and telecommunications on the global migration. In the past, the West had to deal with the problems of inequality during the Industrial Revolution. And now that telecommunications and the media are able to communicate the images and ideas of western affluence to the rest of the world, the inequality on a global scale is going to be greatly apparent.

And the ideas and the images of a better life has always been the driving force behind mass human migration. We are looking at a slowed population growth rate in developed countries compared to the growing population in the developing countries. Both Singapore and America were founded on refugees and foreign workers who travelled across oceans in hope of a better life. With modern modes of transport, the oceans are no longer as large as they seemed. In recent years we have seen the problems of increased global migration gaining international attention. If oceans were unable to quench the hopes of these people, will condominium walls be able extinguish them? It will soon be time to address these issues soon. I just hope that it will not be too late by then.