I was taking a break after lunch when a man approached me.  He looked all worned out and with a haggard hopefully look, he spoke to me.

“Sorry, you tau cakap Melayu?”

“Ya?” That’s my reply.

“Saya datang dari Malaysia.  Say datang cari kerja kat construction site sini.  Tapi semua saja mau Bangla and India punya pekerja.  Saya stay kat Jurong East, jalan sampai sini pun tak dapat cari kerja.  Sorry ar, kalau saya kacau.  Saya belum makan lagi dan saya sangat penat.  Sorry ar… tapi saya sangat lapar, boleh encik bantu kah?”

The distance from Jurong East to Harbourfront is as good as from Subang Jaya to perhaps KL city.  I couldn’t really see myself taking such a walk, but somehow, I would think that this man perhaps did it.  He could not even really stand properly and was leaning against the railing as he talked to me.

Looking at the man, I had a fast reflection on my life.  Back then when I was jobless after graduation, it was unsettling feeling especially that I was away from home.  I had no one to turn to, and I did not know what to do except to wait for most of the time after sending out resumes.  I could be going enjoying myself then, or taking up some courses, but that all wasn’t possible as I had to put on a tight belt.  It’s a pretty much hand-to-mouth situation back then when I had to ask my parents to send me money every month in order for me to survive in Singapore.  With such high exchange rate, that period did put a toll to my parents’ financial status.

So this faithful afternoon, came this man.  I looked at him with pure pity.  I’m not sure what’s his entire story, but if considering what he told me is true, I suppose he has a huge hope to begin with when he crossed the Causeway, and until this afternoon, he has pretty much left with shredded tapestry of that.

I bought him lunch, and I hope he had had dinner right now…