Lesson 2 Blog Post IT Home learning

HOME PURCHASE
With a homeowner's pride, you guided me around
the encased model of the estate laid out advantageously
with tower blocks, tennis courts, palm trees, playgrounds.

We peered down the long vista of terraced pools as if
we might catch a glimpse of future's reflection there.
No such sign, though they were almost wishing wells.

You explained patiently the calculations that went into
deciding between a bigger unit on a lower floor and
a smaller unit on a higher floor, overlooking South China Sea,

calculations he has gone through several times with you,
proving his prudence and your nervousness at committing
yourself to a blueprint that owns the quality of a dream.

What a dream! Re-imagining the show apartment into home,
a wall to be collapsed, floors to be covered, single space
made way for two. It is as much an act of courage, as of love.

FLOOR TILING
We needed something to cover the naked floor
delighted though we were with the concrete space
having moved from a smaller box occupied by others.

When a relative offered unwanted linoleum tiles
we gratefully accepted and my five-year-old arms carted
manfully the light and dark brown squares to the taxi.

With no floor plan in mind, my dad tore the paper off
and stuck a sticky tile experimentally to the floor.
The horizontal stripes were improvised side by side

before mother suggested an alternating pattern,
a prettier pattern. By then too many had been laid down
to start all over again, as a compromise, they co-existed.

We made the conscious aesthetic decision to tile
my parents' bedroom with light brown, which ran out
before the door and so the last square was the darker shade.

Tiles crawled out of line because of earlier mistakes
impossible to correct without ripping up everything.
I cut strips of tiles to complete the jigsaw dishonestly.

I remember my father stopping work. He went out
to the corridor to smoke a quiet cigarette, looked through
the doorway to see the whole extent of the work.

Afterwards, the inevitable flaws appeared: slits that seemed
trivial in the heat of work became permanent fissures.
That came later. Tiling made us simply grateful.

WHAT WORK IS NOT
Work is not love. It does not waltz
nor swing to the rhythm of blood.
It does not probe beneath the skin
nor conjure a metaphor out of an ice-cream
or a bouquet of roses walking down the street.
It does not sweat through the night
to make forever last but sees fevers
through to their necessary ends.

Work is not piety, filial nor religious:
it does not kneel to offer tea or incense
nor demand public approbation
for private gestures, or more loyalty
than a soul has a right to give.
It is not communal like saints' days,
birthdays, faith-healing meetings,
or mahjong in void deck funerals,
but a democracy of aims in a new house.

Work is not art, it does not entertain
nor legislate for mankind.
It cannot offer dark epiphanies
or transmogrification of the mundane,
to work, there is no mundane.
It is unconcerned with 'What If'
but with 'What Is'. It is not pop
nor classical nor modern, it is here.
It does not charge at windmills
but marches in a definite direction
and digs tunnels for pipes and people.

What work is - it is the play of minds
and hands on plasticine reality,
it is the extinction of differences,
levelling of hills and reclamation of seas.
It is a simple commitment to live.

But when work takes a rest,
it wonders what else is there.

These 3 great poems are written by Mr. Koh Jee Leong who was born in 1970. Having studied English in Oxford University and got a Creative Writing MFA at Sarah Lawrence College, he majors in writing therefore his poems are filled with deep and meaningful values.

I chose this poet as I feel his poems are filled with many mysteries that you discover each time you read his poem. Overall, I feel that he is a great poet and shows that Singaporeans can write poems that are equally good.

Credits: http://www.qlrs.com/contributor.asp?id=Koh%20Jee%20Leong

Why I like 'Neighbours'

I like this poem as it has many hidden meanings which without deeper thought and concentration, one cannot find. For example, 'I' say that she shouldn't wear shorts at home. In a normal circumstance, this dosen't make sense. However, if you link Hari Raya with not suppose to wear shorts at home, it makes sense. Many Malays are Muslims and they do not believe in showing any skin even at home therefore she says this as an insult towards the neighbour. Another example would be that they smile at each other friendly when they meet but hold with clenched fists tight in their hands showing that their friendliness and like for each other is only on the outside. On the inside, they hate each other as if they are fighting an invisible war.

Figurative language used in 'Neighbours'

1. 'Knocks on my concience' This is a hyperbole. The author's character is reminded to give cakes to her neighbour and this phrase potrays it nicely.

2. 'Poor woman, dosen't know how to make cakes' This is a hyperbole. The author is trying to exagerate how 'I' look down on 'my' neighbour.

3. 'I hear she's a gossip' This is a hyperbole. The author is trying to create the irony of 'I' saying that the neighbour is a gossip when the whole poem is about 'me' gossiping about her.

4. 'We hold with fists clenched tight' This is a hyberbole. The author is trying to describe the inside hatred between the two neightbours.

Neighbours by Alfian Sa'at

During Hari Raya she knocks on my conscience,
I knock on her door and I give her cakes.

She says she likes them and gives me
Sweets with gelatine inside. I throw them away.

Poor woman, dosen't know how to make cakes.
Her children eat Maggi after school everyday.

That's why the elder one is in Normal stream
And the younger one can't spell her name.

If I was her age I wouldn't be wearing shorts at home.
No shame, she dosen't know how to hide her womanhood.

When the children are naughty and I beat them
I close the door: I hear she's a gossip.

But she beatxs her children harder than I do
What to do her children are like that.

I once hear her scream she wanted to kill herself.
These people never value their own lives.

Other times I see her I smile and she smiles back
And her children smile and call me auntie.

But in our hands we hold with fists clenched tight
THe keys to our homes, each night we slam the bolt shut.

Is progress necessarily beneficial to our society?

I feel that 'progress' can be very subjective. Therefore, my opinion that progress may or may not be beneficial to our society depending on the time, the type of society and the progress itself. For example, in the book Village By the Sea, the government decided to transform Thul, a small, peaceful fishing village, into a industrial site for factories. This may be beneficial to the government's point of view because it has great financial benefits. However, to the villagers in Thul, they certainly do not think of the building of factories in their village as a benefit. They would rather get on with their peaceful lives as fishermen. Therefore, progress may not be beneficial to everybody.

In the book village by the sea, Hari also has had great progress when he went to Bombay. Instead of working in the fields and earning that small amount of money which was barely enough to support his family in the past, he went to Bombay and earned a lot of money relatively and was financially comfortable when he went back to Thul. This progress has a long term benefit but in the time of which Hari was gone, Lila would not have been able to cope if she was not lucky enough to have received help from the De Silvas like in the book. Therefore, this has also shown that progress has its advantages and disadvantages.

Who is your favourite/least favourite character in Village by the Sea?

My favorite character in Village by the Sea is Hari. Despite his relatively young age, he has shown great maturity in his actions. Because of his ill mother and drunkard father, he has no option but to carry a heavy burden of his parents which no ordinary child has to carry. He had to drop out of school due to the lack of financial assistance and has to work in the fields to try his best and support his family instead. With the constant reminder from Lila that what he was doing was not enough, he finally gets fed up and runs to Bombay in hope to find a job and a better life. Fortunately, Hari meets many helpful people that helped him greatly. When he finally earns enough money, he returns to Thul without spending a single cent intending to use the money to support his family. From here, he has again shown great maturity at such a young age. This has made him my favorite character in Village by the Sea.

My least favorite character in the book is Lila's father. Despite his change in attitude at the end of the book, he is the main cause of the trouble and hardship that Lila and Hari had to go through. According to the book, Hari's father once had a fishing boat and went out to fish every day making life very easy for them. However, since Hari's father became a drunkard, he sold his boats and their whole family became dysfunctional and Lila and Hari's lives were turned upside down. They had to drop out of school and Hari had to carry the great responsibility that his father was suppose to carry. Therefore, my least favorite character in this book is Hari and Lila's father.

Which part of Village By the Sea do you like the best?

After reading the amazing and interesting book, Village By the Sea, I feel that I liked the part where Hari goes to Alibagh to fetch his mother home from the hospital in page 242. I liked this part the best as I feel relieved when I read it seeing that their once dysfunctional family is now reunited. I am also happy when I see that Hari's father has stopped being a drunkard and went to Alibagh to look after their sick mother.

Their family has been very lucky which is a stark contrast from the start of the book as De Silvas helped Lila and her parents while Hari was in Bombay and Hari met very helpful and kind-hearted people in Bombay like Jagu and Mr. Panwalla. Overall, I like this part of the book the best as it signifies a happy closure of the story with the impression that they would live happily ever after. All these would also have not been possible without the strong bond and maturity in Hari and Lila.