Aubade to Attap Chee

Before dropping by Bishan Library to return Loh Guan Liang's "Transparent Strangers" today I had lunch with my father at the Junction 8 food court: Double Beef Pepper Rice 加蛋, Ice Kachang afterwards.

It's close to a year since the food court had its renovation works completed (*poof* went the hidden arcade within). I can't keep track of the number of Double Beef Pepper Rice meals I've had in this place, but I know that it's here where my brother swore never to eat the attap chee in a bowl of ice kachang ever again; that's after my father told an edifying tale of how attap chee is transported on trucks without boxes or any sort of protective layer to keep it from direct contact with the grimy surface of the truck. Gullible, but he was 6.

It was just my father and I today, though, because my brother had lessons while my mother was at work. After I very thoughtfully pointed out that his oversized t-shirt made him look rather foolish, he took an interest in the book I was about to return and flipped through it, before landing on the "About the Author" page. By the end of Loh Guan Liang's admittedly contrived self-composed author bio, my father laid down a damning judgement.

"Fucker."

When your parent swears it should take you by surprise (supposedly). I sniggered, though mindful that the bio hardly did justice to the guy's writing. I'm immensely fond of writing that has an acute awareness of people and places - "Transparent Strangers" did the trick. The collection is interspersed with verse on transit, transport; times of the day when we are transfixed by the crowd that envelops us, a sea of strange, transparent people. Loh's writing may be characterised by romanticised rumination, but the simplicity and candour of his words belie any sense of pretence (unlike his author bio).

So, in tribute to attap chee days of yore, and this book that was really good to have around during the Prelims period:

at lunches peppered with quips,

the same attap chee affliction;

no just desserts suffered, for those

not transparent about transportation.

--

Is attap chee translucent or opaque? (Not a PSLE science question)

Also realised this post is more like those on the "left" page but I'm too lazy to do the formatting again.