2,000-miles

At Borders the other day, I was reading an essay by a woman writer, about how she undertook a 2,000-mile hike across America - and how she thought she would have plenty of time for reflection, for being one with nature and so on, but ended up so hungry that all she could think about was food.

I cannot even remember her name or the name of the book, I think it was Fork in the Road. Yet she must have been famous enough to have been invited to contribute. A few of the other contributors certainly were famous. M K F Fischer, oneof the best known food writers of all time, was among them.

I thoroughly enjoyed her essay. She told about a most extraordinary experience. And I thought to myself, “My experiences are not even half as extraordinary. In fact, they are quite ordinary. Would anyone want to read?”

Such thoughts are not very uplifting for a writer who is about one-quarter way through his first collection of essays.

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Hookers and buskers

That was why my thoughts drifted to hookers and buskers.

I know many of you are curious to read about hookers, so let me hold your suspense for a while more and talk first about buskers.

This is a test of my writing ability, whether I can hold your attention long enough.

I have been an editorial consultant with a newspaper lately and just the other day, I told a group of young reporters, “Never assume that the reader will read beyond the third paragraph. Never even assume they will read beyond the first paragraph. Not even beyond the headline.”

So I am pushing my luck here, rambling and deviating, allowing my thoughts to drift and hoping you would drift along with me. I better not push too far.

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Buskers

So back to the buskers.... and later, the hookers.

I thought about the buskers because most of them don’t sing well. At least, most of those we get in Singapore don’t. They are more beggars than entertainers. They sing and play a musical instrument more to attract attention and pity, than to share their good voices and musicianship.

As I write, I think of one blind busker along the underpass that leads to the Orchard MRT, one of Singapore’s busiest underground train stations at the tourist belt of Orchard Road.

He was singing somewhat out of tune. His voice often broke. Often enough, he pressed the wrong keys of his keyboard. All this was amplified by a portable amplifier and loudspeaker, and by the underground tunnel. The effect was not at all pleasing.

It occurred to me there and then that the busker sang because he had to. At least he felt he had to. He needed money and this was probably a good way of getting some, probably more effective than sitting silently with outstretched hands and putting on a look of despair - which would have gotten him arrested and put away in a charity home, since begging is illegal in Singapore.

To quote the Nike sports shoe slogan, the busker “Just do it”.

He did not think about whether he was suitably qualified, nor about whether he would attract an appreciative audience. He did not even consider if his broken voice and missed notes could prove to be more annoying than entertaining.

Not all buskers are like him, of course. I have come across some who performed remarkably well. In Europe and the US, I have come across conservatory students raising money for their music studies, I have come across recording artistes promoting their CDs and just sharing their art.

Even in the category of beggar / busker, I have come across a few who sing quite well, whose songs actually touched my heart.

This essay is not a criticism of their bad performances. It is an admiration of their “Just do it” spirit.

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Hookers

The same with hookers. I cannot comment on their “performances” in this case but I see them often enough. Sometimes when I felt bored, lonely or restless, I would go to the pubs and discos at Orchard Towers where they gather.

Ipanema, one of the more crowded discos there, describes itself as “World Music Bar”. The hooker community there is truly global. There are girls from Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Mongolia, Russia....

Of late, because of the economic recession across Asia, hookers have been appearing at several other places as well, especially in the red light districts where the legalised prostitutes are in brothels away from public view, while the freelance hookers are out on the streets, even in the broad daylight of mid-afternoon.

Of course, I have ever found some of these girls to be attractive. But what really struck me was that the majority actually look quite ugly. Not plain and ordinary - which some men might find appealing - but downright ugly. Some are obese, some are rough looking, some have distorted facial features, some are old and wrinkled, some others are young but also wrinkled and aged.

Like the buskers, they are in the profession because of financial need, not because they consider themselves suitably qualified.

Again, they “Just do it”.

Come to think of it, there are lots of people in lots of professions who are not suitably qualified. There are restaurant chefs who cook lousy food, sales staff who are downright rude, school teachers (I’ve had some) who cannot teach....

Which brings me back to this book...

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Inspiration

I am suitably qualified! In fact, I am gifted as a writer.

I am writing this book not because I have to but because I want to. I do have something to share. What I offer may not be the most extraordinary stories in the world but I do have the gift of seeing - and conveying - the extraordinary beneath ordinary, everyday events. Not many people have this gift.

So why do I agonise about whether my book will make the best-seller list or fall into obscurity? Why do I get discouraged by the existence of a few hundred million other titles? Why do I get depressed simply by thinking about the possibility of non-success?

Why can’t I “Just do it”?

If you are finally reading this, don’t just thank Nike for their slogan.

Thank also the buskers and the hookers for their inspiration.