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Saturday, January 30, 2010

向导。。。

" 向导"
父亲大我四十岁,皮肤黝黑得酷似马来半岛的原住民,那是他大半生靠海讨生活的岁月中阳光给他漆上的古铜色。壮年时东奔西走地劳动着以养活一家大小十二口,父亲给我们的印象是正面的,故兄弟姐妹们都十分尊敬他。父亲离世时我们都非常不舍,因为再不能孝敬他了。。。心中有幅未完成的构图:父亲立于船首,严肃并细心地引领大伙逆流而行。


My late father, 40 years my senior, has had the living image of the natives in peninsular Malaysia owing to his dark complexion – a memento of half a lifetime running as a seaman. We have a high regards for our father as it was due to his unwavered determination and correct principles that our family of twelve are not lack of food.

To this day, I still mull over father though he’s long gone; I have an unfinished composition of a painting where our father standing in the bow, conscientiously and carefully piloting and gliding a boat that holds his family, steadily sailing against the current....

"享乐"
有一阵子,我沉迷于跑步运动,经常绕跑道及公路转圈圈,或长三小时或短半小时。眼前只有个目标就是跑个三小时半的马拉松。于是自定了个简单的训练表,有时白天 偶而夜里,有时快跑有时慢跑地努力着。没几个月便看到些许成绩,叫我信心倍增好像年轻了二十岁。除了工作及休息,其余时间都在锻炼身体,脚累了便骑脚车,再来是游泳,游累了还闭起眼睛继续着。我小心着循序渐进地朝向目标前进,但身体开始响起警钟;从头晕到胸口闷,腰酸到脚后跟刺痛。有一回跑完了十公里后尿不自禁地从双腿流下,和聚满汗水的衣裤附和着。最糟的情况终于发生了,与妻子慢跑时在停顿的当儿脑袋一片乌黑。。。醒来时已被妻子扶坐起来,刹那感觉晕眩并担心怎么跑回家。。。于是,享受跑步的日子便从此结束。

I enjoyed running and for a while, I have abandon myself to running both on the stadium track and on the road that would stretched from thirty minutes to three hours. My goal was to run a marathon in three hours and thirty minutes. Thereupon, I worked hard, sometimes in the day, sometimes at night, sometimes fast, sometimes a slow jog. Before long, I saw results; I felt 20 years younger both emotionally and bodily. I expected I’m not far from reaching my goal if I keep on with my training rota. Therefore, I’m either running, cycling and swimming if I’m not at work or on bed.

I thought I have proceeded carefully and systematically but I have often disregarded and habitually overworked my body; swim with closed eyes even though I’m dreadfully worn-out. Before long, my body started to protest - from dizziness and nausea to chest tightness, from backache to swelling and stabbing pain in the heel. Once, I wetted (urinated onto) my shorts after finishing a 10 kilometres run. On another occasion, I fainted following a ten minutes slow jog and might have lost my life if I have been crossing the street. Thinking back now, though I was still in a daze, I worried on how to run home the instant I regained consciousness. Anyway, gone are the days where I could abandon myself to running.

"晚年"

Growing old is miserable and loneliness comes to those who do not prepare for a good retirement. For years, mother committed herself to social gathering; talk to friends and gets comfort from visiting children and grandchild as well as relatives. Whilst father kept himself busily involved in every little thing that gets his attention…..

晚年是凄凉的, 期盼家人的陪伴, 只因眷恋过去, 抑或是身体不再利落. 遗憾的是故居已面目全非,仅存记忆.母亲的晚年围绕在组屋楼下的同伴和儿女们的嘘寒问暖. 父亲能移动的范围稍微远些, 搭同一号巴士找同一个理发师剪头发以及看看大哥一家人.

父亲只读过一年的书,但却能阅览中文报纸।每每在报章上见到关于美术的报道都会递给我看। 若当天有刊登我的画作或报道, 他会很兴奋地到处拿给人看. 相信他很欣慰有个当画家的儿子. 我也努力着并以他的为我骄傲来鞭策自己. 遗憾我未能教会他一些对艺术的认识,如教他书法等一些我还应付得来的事物, 毕竟他是第一个教我涂鸦的人, 也就是我的启蒙老师。。

…..

"维多利亚"

Flashback of childhood memory happens to me all the time; I remember father would often take us three brothers to town, in particular to the shoreline. At that time, Elizabeth walk was surrounded by deep-sea and no “Merlion” then….The stature outside Victoria Memorial hall (the current Victoria concert hall) was not painted in black; anyway, father did not tell us that’s Sir Stamford Raffles….

小时候父亲经常带我们兄弟仨到坡底逛,尤其沿海一带。那时的红灯码头外就只有海水 ,连鱼尾狮还未出现。由加冷河口,我们沿防浪堤上的围栏笔直地往纪念碑处走。我最喜欢在途中伸手往沿海的围栏底部抓海蟑螂,一把可逮上十来只。它与家里见到的蟑螂一般大小,不同的是身上有整齐的横线条,象穿上囚犯衣服。另一景点便是安德逊桥底下的圆筒地道,我兴奋地高喊尖叫,并来回地跑动以便制造有趣的回音。。。。豁然开朗的那一头的不远处便是维多利亚纪念堂。那时站在该处的雕像好象不是黑色的?反正父亲也没告诉我那是莱佛士雕像。。。。

"安顿"

Having spent over 20 years in Tampines, we decided to move on to the city as we both find it exhausting and time-consuming to travel up and down to city 7 days a week.

For both my wife and me, coping with city’s complex activities is definitely not that tough. For I’ve always aspire to reside in the city because I’m fond to be surrounded by lively and thrilling sight. Moreover, we can go on foot to Fort Canning, Jalan Besah, Little India, Kwang Im Thong Hood Chu Temple, Bugis shopping hub, Orchard road, etc…..

去年六月,我终于从东部的淡滨尼把家搬到市区来,大屋换小屋。过程有点匆促,看屋子后的隔天,我拉着妻子多看了一回便下定金签合同。

很早就觑觎在市区居住,那是因为喜欢热闹。外加工作场所近在咫尺,以及方便到艺术学院和美术馆,因此并未花费太多时间寻觅最理想的房子。我选择了实里基路组屋十三楼的一个单位,屋龄和我一样大,建于一九六三年,是新加坡最早的高楼政府租凭屋,也算是第一

在这里,步行能及的地方还有皇家山,惹兰勿沙,小印度,四马路观音庙,武吉士商场,以及乌节路商业街等等。。。如此方便的环境里有好长一段日子无需搭车。在新居的首两个月里,老觉得好像住在酒店,心里总想着回淡滨尼老家。或许已在那里呆了二十年,需要时间将熟悉的记忆慢慢删除。抑或许是因为每回的旅行都在市区里找住宿,故总觉得这里与故地一样,方便得出奇。

就不知家猫美美及黒黑对于新居的想法。虽说它们甚少踏出大门,但毕竟还是来到了个新环境,怕生是肯定的。只是没想到黑黑可能不适应周遭,尤其前不久隔邻的工地噪音而犯病死了。

时间一晃而过,不适应的感觉逐渐淡化,对于市区的一切还是感到好奇,经常会刻意拐入不熟悉的巷弄,寻幽探密。至于老家,我还是惦念着,偶尔叹息。

"烟花"

It has been pretty normal for Singaporean to just watch lights of fireworks in the sky every New Year and was mostly so happy to see the magnificent fireworks brightening the sky; fireworks are beautiful works of art to admire when executed well......

元旦除夕有璀璨的烟花欣赏,人山人海的盛况也是另一个景观,大伙引颈静待随后欢呼喝彩,仿佛愿望已现,期盼这年会更好。

烟花像魔术能感染人们,望着泼向黑幕的红黄蓝绿,观者的情绪随着激动起来。烟花聚爆发力及美艳于一体,似变化多端的抽象画让人眼花缭乱。单色、协调色、对比色不停地替换,像互不相让的对手轮流着炫耀它们的艳丽。安德逊桥下的河面被映得像彩虹般的鸡尾酒,河水瞬间华丽起来。。。。

安德逊桥是观赏烟花的最佳地点之一,凡节庆如元旦、国庆、及大型运动会,那儿的走道必拥堵得水泄不通。当然,偶尔我也在电视直播观赏烟花这玩意儿,但总比不上到现场被旁人的兴奋、欢愉来感染自己的那种感觉。

有一回,陪好友到芽笼一带闲荡,从三十几巷步行往加冷地铁站。马路上的车龙川流不息,两旁横竖着雪亮的招牌,为做夜间生意的店铺招徕顾客。沿途所闻多为外国口音的路人,想必灯红酒绿的诱惑是冲着客工而来的。。。在十二巷的入口处,我见到了生平最难忘的烟花,就在花楼间乌黑的夜空,火树银花从南边体育场的方向喷发开来。顿时,街头巷尾竟是抬头发呆的行人,倏地车道上已挤满了人,都从屋里奔跑出来凑热闹。竟然在这个我不太能适应的地方见到欢愉、热闹、及轻松。

烟花带给我不只视觉上的享受,它还给予我美好的心情,因为它感染了所有的观赏者,再由观赏者反射到彼此身上而升华,这超越了只为个体赏心悦目的收获。



"点心"....




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