Hunger

Last lunch for a month for these Malays here; and coincidentally the onset of an anxious month of wandering ghosts released from the underworld ("hell", BeeChoo mistakenly called it last night) for Chinese followers of the tradition of their forebears. Ramadan begins at dawn. The Hungry Ghosts of ancestors crept out with the dark last night in the Chinese quarters to haunt the guilty, the casual and forgetful living. The latter is a kind of All Souls or Halloween, stretching for a month for the Chinese. Burning of paper money began last night on the pavements near the entrances to homes. One young mother with her five year old squatted on their haunches in the alley behind Changi Road tending a blaze. Three larking lads in their twenties had a bonfire going in a side street with embers blowing all over the place. Food is also left out on party-plates for the ghosts: rice, oranges very common and pineapples too, coffee in plastic cups. Incense sticks are stuck in thick cucumber slices. This is one food the poor and homeless won't touch you can bet. Presumably the temples will get more patronage through August. This morning beside City Plaza prayers, chanting and clashing music under a large awning - the only one in this predominantly Muslim quarter.
         Only half the stalls under all the acres of cover round Malay Village are operating at present. With the beginning of the fast tomorrow they will be aiming for the evening release onto the streets. Hungry followers of Mohammed one end meeting famished ghosts of the dearly departed the other who still want to claim their share. Will the young Muslim tearaways display their dissent at the eateries in these quarters? You would guess not. In the city centre it may be a different matter.