Singapore Hidden Gem - Mdm. Saripah (The Artist Along Orchard Road)

Recently, I have been meeting many earthly angels in the form of "strangers" from all sort of places - hawker center, on the bus, in a cab, in a restaurant, etc. The "chosen" place this time, at the bus stop along Orchard Road. There is no coincidence, I really believe by now, I was "guided" to be at that bus stop at that perfect timing. Now, I know why.

I walked closer to the bus stop, to check how the route was going to be after a newly appointed "concierge" of mine has assisted me with the bus selections. I passed a lady bending down, seemed to be selecting some bookmarks from a Makcik (a Malay term which means aunty) in her tudung (a type of scarf worn around the head by the Muslim ladies). 

"Looks interesting.", I thought to myself. I approached the Makcik after checking out the route and told her I would be interested to see more of the bookmarks. $2 each, I could buy some and give to my friends.

"Sit down here. You can choose." - she asked me to sit by her side. I obliged.

"Makcik, you painted all these ah?" - choosing ... choosing ... so many of them.

"Yah lah. What to do? Can't find job. I draw faces too. See, I take photo of people, the next day, you can collect the painting." 

"Wow. Nice leh, Makcik! Talented siah!"

"No lah. Making a living only. Are you a teacher?"

"No lah, Makcik. Why teacher?"

"Cause normally, teachers support my work. I used to sell at Arab Street. But someone stole my hand phone, and you see, I am using tongkat (walking stick), injured my leg. Difficult to walk."

"Alamak! So terrible these people!"

"Yah lor ... horrible lah these people. They know I can't run. So, I jadi (become) victim lah."

"So now, Orchard Road okay?"

"Okay lah. Still have to be careful. You don't know siapa baik, siapa jahat (who is good, who is bad)?"

"Iya, Makcik. Harus hati-hati (Must be careful). Today you are not drawing cartoon?"

"No have. I lagi puasa (am fasting). No strength. So, I just sit down here and sell."

"Oh ya! Sebentar lagi sudah mau buka puasa ya (In a while more, you can break fast, right)?"

"Yes. Mosque is just behind. Very convenient."

Done selecting. "Makcik, I want these 5." 

"Thank you so much. You buy 5, I give you one more free lah."

"No need lah!"

"Need! Take one more!"

I obliged - "Thank you, Makcik!"

"Thank you. You are so kind. Blessed your heart." She put her palm on my heart when she said that and asked,"What's your religion?"

"I believe in all, Makcik. Greedy lah!"

"Haha."

"My bus here liao. You take care Makcik!" I gave her a big hug and waved goodbye. (Good training, BFF, seems like this hugging thing is catching on me pretty well now.)

Mdm. Saripah, not sure if I have spelled her name correctly. Easily above 50 years old. Creating something out of nothing and trying her best to make a living. A woman of faith who still chooses to fast despite her physical and working condition. Truly admirable.

I wish I could do more. I really wish, I could.

Thank you for showing me how the $10 spent in supporting your creativity, has given me the indescribable feeling of fulfillment to my soul. 

Sharing one of the quote Mdm. Saripah wrote on one of the bookmark, my favourite:

"The miracle is not to fly in the air, or to walk on the water; 

but to walk on the earth." 

Indeed, I walked and what a privilege to have met you, Makcik.

 Thanks for the quotes. You know how much I love quotes, don't you? :)

 

PS. If I have spelled her name wrongly and any of you know the correct way of spelling it, please let me know. I will rectify it. I know she has a cartoonist nickname too. I forgot what it was. Her initial is "AL" in all her drawings.

Do support her if you pass by her. She seems to be hovering around Knightsbridge (After Paragon) and The Heeren. Merci.

An Ego Strategy to Avoid Surrender by Eckhart Tolle

A beautifully written article but a little bit dense for me that I have to pause at each sentence or paragraph to reflect. But there are so much truth in it that I gotta share with all of you. Hope you will benefit from it too. You will be surprised that you may just see some patterns in your relationships in this article.

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What is conventionally called “love” is an ego strategy to avoid surrender. You are looking to someone to give you that which can only come to you in the state of surrender. The ego uses that person as a substitute to avoid having to surrender. The Spanish language is the most honest in this respect. It uses the same verb, te quiero, for “I love you” and “I want you.” To the ego, loving and wanting are the same, whereas true love has no wanting in it, no desire to possess or for your partner to change.

The ego singles someone out and makes them special. It uses that person to cover up the constant underlying feeling of discontent, of “not enough,” of anger and hate, which are closely related. These are facets of an underlying deep seated feeling in human beings that is inseparable from the egoic state.When the ego singles something out and says “I love” this or that, it’s an unconscious attempt to cover up or remove the deep-seated feelings that always accompany the ego: the discontent, the unhappiness, the sense of insufficiency that is so familiar.

For a little while, the illusion actually works. Then inevitably, at some point, the person you singled out, or made special in your eyes, fails to function as a cover up for your pain, hate, discontent or unhappiness which all have their origin in that sense of insufficiency and incompleteness. Then, out comes the feeling that was covered up, and it gets projected onto the person that had been singled out and made special – who you thought would ultimately “save you.” Suddenly love turns to hate.

The ego doesn’t realize that the hatred is a projection of the universal pain that you feel inside. The ego believes that this person is causing the pain. It doesn’t realize that the pain is the universal feeling of not being connected with the deeper level of your being – not being at one with yourself.The object of love is interchangeable, as interchangeable as the object of egoic wanting. Some people go through many relationships. They fall in love and out of love many times. They love a person for a while until it doesn’t work anymore, because no person can permanently cover up that pain.Only surrender can give you what you were looking for in the object of your love.

The ego says surrender is not necessary because I love this person. It’s an unconscious process of course. The moment you accept completely what is, something inside you emerges that had been covered up by egoic wanting. It is an innate, indwelling peace, stillness, aliveness. It is the unconditioned, who you are in your essence. It is what you had been looking for in the love object. It is yourself. When that happens, a completely different kind of love is present which is not subject to love / hate. It doesn’t single out one thing or person as special.

--Eckhart Tolle