[picture source: BooksActually webstore]
Book Title: Balik Kampung
Authors: Yu-Mei Balasingamchow, Yeow Kai Chai, Yong Shu Hoong, Gwee Li Sui, Dora Tan, Wong Shu Yun, Rosemarie Somaiah, Verena Tay (Edited by Verena Tay)
Year Published: 2012
Publisher: Math Paper Press, Singapore.
“Balik Kampung” is a Malay phrase, literally means “returning to one’s village (home)”. This book is an anthology of eight short stories, written by eight authors who have lived in the same area in Singapore for more than ten years. We might move around a lot due to various reasons, but I guess there is always a place that feels like home, which name comes immediately to our mind when we are asked “Where do you come from?”. While knowing about this trivia, it is always a pleasant experience for me when a book surpasses my initial expectation. Taking a new title into our hands is like accepting someone’s hand and be filled with anticipation.
The first story, “Lighthouse” by Yu-Mei Balangsingamchow, is told from the point of view of a little girl named Ying. Ying is especially curious of a lighthouse on top of an HDB block in Marine Parade area. It is so unlike the image of a lighthouse portrayed in her head. She finally gets a chance to be one step closer with the mystery, when her parents have her staying at a lady’s flat in that block during the weekdays. As she makes her way around the new surrounding and the lighthouse, she is also about to unfold her foster parent’s painful past.
Then, there is a story of a long-forgotten childhood incident that is back to haunt the present life of an old museum curator – and also the rest of the museum staffs and visitors – in “Tahar”. Written by Yeo Kai Chai, the passage of times will transport us to the days where Changi was still a kampung in 1950s, and when the kids really knew what it meant to be a child. Get yourself prepared as the man finally comes to face his old friend who is still trapped in time and space, even after five decades have passed.
Next in line is “The Great Dying” by Yong Shu Hoong, which borrows an interesting perspective of a murder victim who is now a wandering spirit. The character, a teenage girl, ‘floats’ her way back to her house and watching her dearest ones cope with their grief and takes a look at her own body laid in the coffin. This story might remind Singaporean readers of an unsolved murder case in the mid 1980s. “The Great Dying” tells about a parallel event that happens in the present days, around thirty years later. This short story easily becomes one of my favorites and surely a memorable piece of work.
A literary critic Gwee Li Sui contributes a story titled “Grandfather’s Aquaria”. This is a tribute to his grandparents, and what he remembers about their Nee Soon house and the mysterious moss-blanketed aquarium belonged to his late grandfather. The story itself focuses on the change of landscape that almost every part of Singapore has to go through, from Nee Soon to Toa Payoh and Yishun. His grandmother, like many people who lived before us, is quietly affected with this change.
“Seven Views of Redhill” by Dora Tan is also a favorite of mine in this anthology for its unique storytelling. As suggested by the title, the readers are invited to take a look at the earlier days of Redhill where a family of seven lived. A time where SIT flats were first built. A time where poverty was a common sight and left different marks in the memory of each of the family members. Some got along with it, while others were desperate in making their ways out of their environment.
While other stories talk about a nostalgia that younger readers might find a bit difficult to relate with, I am pretty sure that Wong Shu Yun‘s piece “Beginnings” feels closer to our reality. With the influx of migrant workers, and Singapore being a melting pot of Asia, we brush shoulders with different cultures every now and then. “Beginnings” is about a bond formed between a Filipina domestic worker and her Singaporean employer. She watches the only daughter of the family grows up and takes care of her as if she is her own. Set against the sleepy Changi during millennial years, this could be a story that many of us able to resonate with.
“The Flowering Tree” gives off a philosophical and very personal vibe about it. As we accompany Rosemarie Somaiah trails her relationship with fading green spaces in Singapore, we cannot help but to reminisce our own relationship with one. In her eyes, trees are not merely decorations of a mandatory open space in the middle of stifling concrete jungles. They are not there to be removed whenever we feel like doing so. They have been there before us and might live long enough to see our grandchildren play under their branches. A simple connection to nature is often an overlooked remedy.
Verena Tay, the editor of the anthology, closes off the book with her own piece, “Floral Mile”. Floral Mile was called so, because there was a stretch of plant nurseries from Kheam Hock Road to Chancery Lane back in 1960s-1970s. The short story narrates about an elderly man who intends to sell his house in Bukit Timah area due to his wife’s medical condition. A two-storey house renders difficulty for them to be maintained, hence his wife wishes to move into a smaller unit. Finding a buyer who affords to purchase the property is not a taxing task; what is harder is to spot someone with a sense of responsibility towards the values inherited.
I never thought that a collection of memories can be this touching, and found it surprising that I was able to share the sentiments. Like many others, I hailed from a neighboring country and pursued my undergraduate study in Singapore. I do not know anything about growing up in Singapore. But I guess, an opportunity to have Singaporeans friends and my miniscule random solo excursions to some offbeat areas in Singapore have shaped my perspective about the country and her people. I did find it strange that I was able to picture the dim back area of the grandparents’ house in “Grandfather’s Aquaria” or the living condition of the family in “Seven Views of Redhill” in my mind, although I did not have such an experience. I was also excited to know that I was once living very near to the former Floral Mile :)
“Balik Kampung” is definitely a recommended book for all people from all backgrounds – for young Singaporeans who wish to feel and see Singapore in her younger days; for foreigners who hold Singapore close to their hearts; and for those who want to return home, once again. And for me to recapture the afternoons I spent carrying the red plastic bag, filled with goods from a provision shop in Spottiswoode Park.
My Fair Papers 