People Watch

Victim #1: Lady in her 20s sitting across me on the MRT train on the way to school

Usually I’ll get some shuteye on the extremely tedious train ride from Tampines (pronounced tamp-pee-knees, not tamp-pines, to correct the non-eastside readers who think that this part of Singapore is “ulu” – sooo not) to Dover but this time I didn’t and kept my eyes wide open to spot interesting commuters. Nothing much, so I just focused on the lady sitting directly opposite me. She wasn’t every interesting either, just wearing a grey cotton shirt, black sports shorts and running shoes. She had her fringe pushed back and a dull-looking backpack on her lap. Obviously she had a workout or was going to a fitness place. However, I noticed she was scribbling in a notebook and I was kind of curious about what she was writing. It might just because I’m very “auntie” and kaypoh to want to know such things but hey, I’m Singaporean after all! Aren’t we all busybodies?

So what I noticed was after a while, she was dozing off with the pen still upright in her hand and her head was lolling around. It was quite hilarious, but then I have to remember this sometimes happen to me too. The lady then scribbled again for a few seconds before nodding off, and I know for the fact she was really dozing off instead of “thinking” (this was the excuse I’ll use if I had my head bent really low and eyes closed whenever I got caught falling asleep) because her head was swaying with the direction of the train. It’s not an unusual sighting on the MRT, but it can get annoying if you’re the one sitting next to the person whose head is lolling around – unless you’re falling asleep too. Then, you wouldn’t notice.

(Name: Soon Lee)

Victim #2: Old man just sitting on a concrete bench at Eastpoint mall

So I was having lunch with a friend at Long John Silver’s one fine day to satisfy my fried food craving (fattening, but I gave in eventually) and the way this branch at Simei (again, non-eastsiders will not know this might look) is built is that it’s pretty much all glass, almost like a fish tank that sells…fish and chips. Hah. Anyway, I was sitting at a particular table that was just next to a bench next to the fish tank and this old man was sitting there with his slippers off and in the very Singaporean manner of putting one leg up on the bench. He looked very distant, just staring at the people who walked by. One thing I noticed vividly was his eyes. He didn’t have small eyes, but instead eyes that sort of allowed to me peek into his mind, and it made me wonder what his memories were like. They seemed to have seen a lot. The interesting thing about old people is that they can just sit at one corner and watch the world go by, looking unfazed. Sometimes I think that they are slow at processing the action that happens around them, but most times I think they are reminiscing their past.

After a while a pigeon came by near him, and the old man finally wore his slippers but continued to sit there while looking at the pigeon. Old people and animals, there’s just something about them isn’t there? Maybe when I’m old I’ll be able to communicate with fish!

(Name: Choon Teck)

Reflection:

I felt this exercise was quite relevant, as we have to be able to recreate characters that are audience are able to relate too. So is most modern settings we need to be able to get down to the nitty gritty details on everything people do. It was quite fun watching people in their own skin, subconsciously doing things. It was also fun trying to imagine these people in a film scene, the thoughts they were thinking, the narration that accompanied their behaviour. So in all, I thought this exercise was helpful and informative in creating characters.

Review Exercise:

It was a humid day. Kumar boarded the bus panting, frantically looking around for a seat. There was one! He trudged over. Clutching the folder tightly and a nondescript laptop bag, he observed the commuters. Most were falling asleep from lethargy, others’ eyes fixated on TV Mobile. Perfect. He took some sheets out and tried his best to discreetly read them, head bent low, face scrunched up in concentration. It wasn’t noticeable to the people around him, but Kumar’s eyes were ferociously scanning every detail printed on that sheet of paper. He had to get everything right. He was still young, he wanted to graduate from university, he wanted to live. If he manages to pull through with this arduous task of fraud, he will be rewarded handsomely. If it fails, he’s dead. Even if it wasn’t by the bosses, the university would definitely expel him, and then his parents would kill him.

“Meet Maria Shirley by the altar next to the temple’s gates. She’ll be in blue slacks and a white tunic. When approaching, give her the hand signal. She’ll inform you of the next step…,” he read, over and over again.

15 minutes later with his mind twisted around the task, he felt the bus come to a halt and that instantly jolted him back into reality. He has arrived. Kumar alighted, and walked briskly towards the temple, trying not to gain any attention to himself, eyes facing the ground.

Maria was sitting at the temple steps sullenly, watching out for the apprentice behind her black sunglasses. She was fanning herself with a map of Singapore. Finally out in the distance walking towards the temple, she sees him. Jaya Kumar, twenty, university student. He looked a little bit scrawny, but she guessed her bosses knew better to hire someone decent looking and unsuspicious. He did the hand signal. She waved at him.

“You have all the info?” she asked, lifting her sunglasses up, pushing her hair back.

“Y-y-y…yeah,” he gulped, and passed her the laptop case.

“Good,” she smiled. “Follow me.”

She turns around and proceeds into the temple. Kumar stumbled in after her, trying not to trip over his own feet. They went into room after room and then a dark, narrow passageway until they reached a door with a big, burly man in sunglasses standing in front of it. Behind it, Kumar was revealed to a place full of machines. There were men typing on computers, printers spitting out pages of weird numbers, there was even a coffee maker. Kumar watched as Maria took the laptop out of its case and turned it on, curious as to know what the information was. He peered over her shoulder, and realized Maria’s once neutral expression was turning into one of frustration. He turned his attention to the screen, and saw the flashing red letters that spelt “Access Denied”. She turned her head slowly and intimidatingly to face him.

“What is this? Where is the information?!” she demanded.

“I…I…I don’t know!” Kumar replied, panic-stricken.

“You have got to be kidding me. Where it is! Where is the information?! Did you hack into our system?!”

“No! I swear I didn’t touch anything in there! I only did what I was told!”

“Why you little snitch-” Maria hissed, and grabbed him by the collar. Everyone in the room had stopped typing and was looking on with fear. “The bosses are going to to kill me for not being able to present the information to them, but since I’m going to die, I might as well kill you first,” she retorted with a evil gleam in her eye. “Louis, finish him off,” she told the burly man, and pushed Kumar to the ground. Kumar, frightened and trapped, only remembered a huge shadow looming over him before losing conscious.