The Chinese greengrocer maintains he spends only ten dollars for his hair dyeing, no more. Fortnightly he has his nice thick thatch coloured jet black. It seems unusually cheap. Even the Indian pavement barbers working under make-shift lights charge their own work-mates a minimum of five dollars for a style cut. However the chap would not accept challenge nor contradiction. There was no shyness or embarrassment. A question had been put; the answer duly given. We have struck up a good acquaintance over the term.
Seems the chap receives the treatment from a Malay out at Bedok, two stops further east toward Changi on the MRT line. For the last number of months the fellow has borne up manfully under the regular enquiries. No particular shame or awkwardness betrayed. The majority of men here do the same, follow the same practise, and all three races. Under the scarves the women, the Malay and Indian Muslim women at least, may feel less pressure. For the men it’s a standard grooming.
The owner of the fruit shop concerned does the same. The pair are about the same age. Rarely does the latter allow the white strands to show through. His hired help possibly strings out the visits to the hairdresser out at Bedok. Both men, and the owner’s wife too, work exceedingly long shifts. The help here treks out from somewhere mid-way between Bedok and Geylang Serai an hour or sometimes two before dawn. Three AM rises have been mentioned. Usually not until eleven do the shutters on the shop come down. The restaurant and Eatery trade comprise the chief line; sales to passers-by incidental. Mercs and other polished steel honk from the roadway for orders, always resulting in a trotting attendance from one of the trio indoors. Chop-chop, look lively.
The help is first cousin to the owner’s wife, a dependable, no-complaints sort, dad of a couple of kids still in high school. A level ten hundred a month drawn in wages, depending on the trade possibly. The fellow would not be the first encountered here who readily accepts an allowance of this kind. First hand he can judge how the business goes.
Twenty dollars a month not excessive in order to keep up appearances. The man is in his late forties. Though missed out on other than basic schooling, he has picked up a good Malay. Living and working in this eastern quarter it comes with the territory.
Neither of these lads from the shop have an eye for the ladies, neither those passing nor their customers. You can discount vanity. It seems the practice is widespread in the region, across the whole of South-east Asia. Just think of the Chinese leadership groups. Then the Indonesian and Malay. One can only connect it to the superstitions over the ghosts and the underworld. A warding-off. Not in essence frivolous.
Seems the chap receives the treatment from a Malay out at Bedok, two stops further east toward Changi on the MRT line. For the last number of months the fellow has borne up manfully under the regular enquiries. No particular shame or awkwardness betrayed. The majority of men here do the same, follow the same practise, and all three races. Under the scarves the women, the Malay and Indian Muslim women at least, may feel less pressure. For the men it’s a standard grooming.
The owner of the fruit shop concerned does the same. The pair are about the same age. Rarely does the latter allow the white strands to show through. His hired help possibly strings out the visits to the hairdresser out at Bedok. Both men, and the owner’s wife too, work exceedingly long shifts. The help here treks out from somewhere mid-way between Bedok and Geylang Serai an hour or sometimes two before dawn. Three AM rises have been mentioned. Usually not until eleven do the shutters on the shop come down. The restaurant and Eatery trade comprise the chief line; sales to passers-by incidental. Mercs and other polished steel honk from the roadway for orders, always resulting in a trotting attendance from one of the trio indoors. Chop-chop, look lively.
The help is first cousin to the owner’s wife, a dependable, no-complaints sort, dad of a couple of kids still in high school. A level ten hundred a month drawn in wages, depending on the trade possibly. The fellow would not be the first encountered here who readily accepts an allowance of this kind. First hand he can judge how the business goes.
Twenty dollars a month not excessive in order to keep up appearances. The man is in his late forties. Though missed out on other than basic schooling, he has picked up a good Malay. Living and working in this eastern quarter it comes with the territory.
Neither of these lads from the shop have an eye for the ladies, neither those passing nor their customers. You can discount vanity. It seems the practice is widespread in the region, across the whole of South-east Asia. Just think of the Chinese leadership groups. Then the Indonesian and Malay. One can only connect it to the superstitions over the ghosts and the underworld. A warding-off. Not in essence frivolous.
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