After being used to public transport in Delhi, where most people consider staring their birthright, the disinterestedness of Singaporeans in the metro is almost spooky. On my way back from office today there was this Indian couple travelling in front of me with their very young son in the mother's arms. The kid smiled at a young local lady standing beside his mommy, and the parents, as most of us must have seen parents behave in India, looked expectantly at her anticipating a smile in return, which sort of acts as a reassurance that the kid is cute. But the lady disappointed them thoroughly by not letting the remotest sign of expression come on to her face and looked away almost embarrassedly. The parents got off at the next station with slightly downcast faces.
There have been several occasions when I, who is normally very uptight about skin contact, have been taken aback by the strong abhorrence for physical proximity among the local population. The discomfort gets actually funny at times in crowded trains or elevators.
I read Indian newspapers' online editions at office, and I have noticed mention of this politician from Punjab involved in illegal migration of workers to foriegn countries. It's not only US and Canada that these unfortunate people go to, many also come to Singapore. Come to Little India on a weekend to meet many such people. There was a feature on one of the channels here recently on how many of these poor men end up unemployed and resort to prostitution to survive. The areas shown were places I visit regularly.
I caught about half an hour of Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World on TV. It's one of the dumbest movies I have seen in a long long time. And that should mean something considering my indiscriminate taste in movies. There was some controversy regarding the disrespectful connotations of the title as well as in the movie when it came out. The movie is bad simply because it's obvious that it tries to make money through the tensions between the US and the 'Muslim world' without any concern for authenticity. And Albert Brooks must be the worst 'comedian' ever. The only part funny in the movie is when he talks of showbiz as if he is a veteran. He probably is, which does not say much for Hollywood. It was so bad it was insulting to continue watching it and I switched to the wrestling match on another channel once my dinner was done.
Friday, April 20, 2007
Trains, workers and comedy
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5 comments:
Switching to wrestling match after dinner was done - may give something worth talking about :P
The fact that you found only that worth commenting on in the entire post does give me something worth talking about
Oh, look at you get all defensive! See, I don't have much to say about mass transport options in Delhi (the only place I have lived in so far) - maybe, purely because of my gender. And whatever little that I do have to say, has been done to death already, plus things don't seem like they will be looking up any time soon. Ditto for poor, unemployed people.
Which leaves me with the movie - that, not unlike most movies you talk about, I have not seen. And the fact that you watched wrestling after dinner. That's all:)
We dont have the same thing in New York, people will just say hello if you catch the eye, which also means that the number of hot (read, really hot) women I have ever talked to has increased by a real sizable number. It is awesome.
[zubin] I was talking about physical contact, not saying hello.
I am sure the number of hot (read remotely hot) women that you have touched has remained at the same (minuscule) level.
Sorry for hitting below the belt (no pun intended)
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