A Time To Reflect

Some time back, on a lazy Sunday, I had the honour of making the acquaintance of a karang guni man. Yes, a karang guni man; and yes, a big honour.

Instead of just selling off my stash of old papers, we engaged in a conversation. It started off by me asking for a better price for 2months worth of Straits Times. Have you ever felt you'd been fleeced by such men, who however high your pile is, will end up giving you $1 after customarily weighing the stack?

Well, he offered me $2 and asked if I had any old handphones or appliances to sell. It turned out that he is a Chinese Indonesian who lives on an island off Batam. An industrious young man whose main trade is to buy unwanted or broken stuff here and unloads them back home. Collecting papers is only a way of networking and reimbursing the lorry driver when he needs to send his stuff for shipping.

I was impressed, and deeply embarrassed. His spirit and actions were truly admirable but sorely lacking in me. As we spoke, I found out that he converted part of his home to house birds which spit out those precious birds' nest. Half a kilo of saliva he harvests each month, worth a couple of thousands.

Honestly, the longer we spoke, the smaller I felt. Poor, humble, hardworking and generous - a virtous young man.

He left me his contact and invited me to come over his island, where he'll fry me some "Mar Gow Hei" (which I figured was Mantis Prawn), an aphrodisiac we Singaporeans willingly pay $50 each but costs less than 10cents there.

Maybe I will go there one day and learn a lesson or two from him.


redcocoon