singapore observations: a running series

[jlundberg]

23. A young Indian boy on the train this morning, sitting perfectly still and staring at the passengers around him as if searing the scene onto the backs of his retinas. His large eyes are striking, and somehow wise; when he turns his attention on me, it's as if he knows me, and is imploring me to remember him. Unsettled by the intensity of his

Comments

[crissachappell]

i love it

[jlundberg]

Thanks!

[ciunas_alainn]

My favorite morning reading material. Sigh...

Being a single mom working two jobs, I'm always going, going, going and very particular about what I make time to read. Like Jonathan Carroll's lj, in the way that these Singapore observations are simple and wonderfully packed with bits of daily insight and "what if..." Sometimes less IS more. :)

#23 - Wow. That gave me chills. I have had similar encounters. Only, not with an Indian boy and not on trains in Singapore. Heh. A great follow-up entry (if something similar happened again) would be to stare right back, unwavering, and content with such "exposure."

[jlundberg]

Being mentioned in the same sentence as Jonathan Carroll, in any fashion, is a huge huge compliment. You just made my night, Amy. These were more personal observations than the general ones I've been posting lately, and I'm going to try to keep doing ones like these.

And I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to stare back. I'm horrible at staring contests; they always strike me as inherently funny, which gets me laughing, which usually breaks my gaze.

[anonymous]

I'll be anal here, but can I point out that Malaysian refers to all citizens of Malaysia and Malays refer to the ethnic Malays who form the majority population of Malaysia (and a minority in Singapore)?
I'm guessing that those ladies were actually Malays, since I assume that you can't tell a Malaysian and a Singaporean apart just by looking. I'm Malaysian, with close Singaporean relatives, and I can't. :)

[jlundberg]

Very good point. I'll fix it in the text.