The lady at the share table had a little embarrassed coughing fit that seemed to be simply because something of the meal had not gone down right. She coughed into her elbow; husband opposite eventually passing across a tissue. 1.2 - 3m. was likely enough separation to be out of harm’s way—which did not apply to hubbie. Separation, no face touching, distance in queueing, no shaking, and from old neither was it advisable to sit cross-legged. Another clot would be no good at all right now, bad timing. The same with a traffic accident, a fall; &etc.
Sometimes an incident, an image or fragment of some kind forces itself upon you here, and not infrequently in one of the most densely urbanised locales on the planet. It doesn’t go away. Recurs rather again and again in the mind. Returning home from supper early last night a chap was down on his knees in a tight corner behind the Chinese apparel shop at Block 10, the smallest tower of the Haig Estate, which fronts Geylang Road. Four or five years ago along that wall the men used to gather for the games of dam. Police presence and a large surveillance camera at the head of the path had sent them away. (Games often had wagers on the side, one of the reasons for the keenness of the crowd.) In tight little corners like this older men would sometimes take a pee. This corner must have been alright, otherwise the man would not have chosen it for his maghrib prayer. It was the improvised tight space that struck so strongly, the man going up and down with his head into the narrow perpendicular. There may have been a mat he had brought, or cardboard possibly. Drawn by the vegetable gardens, there were rats along the path nearby, especially as darkness fell. People were walking to-and-fro along the upper pathway ten metres off, children with parents, joggers and cyclists. The man had needed to do his prayer and hadn’t been able to find any place better. The Converts had a prayer room out back, but at that hour they were likely closed. Opposite the Wisma had some kind of provision, though it seemed the designated prayer room there had been included in the government order. The mosques had been closed two Fridays now; almost two whole weeks. Something that had never happened before in Singapore. This Ramadan there would be no pasar malam, or any other kind of gathering. More than ever there was need for prayer.
28 March
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