when the present and the past are both not here
A group of us went to watch Tan Pin Pin's Invisible City after work on Wednesday. Afterwards the Chemistry teacher said it made him want to go back to his school Chung Cheng High. It's one of the Chinese schools in the video, the one with the lake.
Actually I was surprised to see that the school is still at its original site in the Mountbatten area and that the lake is still there. I come from Dunman High, a school that used to hold an annual inter-school sports meet together with Chung Cheng High, Chung Cheng High (Branch), and Yu Hua Secondary School. This event was held at the National Stadium (recently closed and in the process of being erased). Apart from Chung Cheng High, the other three schools have lost their original buildings and locations.
Dunman High School was on Dunman Road. Next door there was another school, Dunman Secondary. Now Dunman High is at Tanjong Rhu and Dunman Secondary is in Tampines. The two schools are now separated by a sizable chunk of the east coast but their names can still thankfully be relied upon to cause some confusion. The confusion is the only thing that remains of our history as neighbours.
The first line in the Dunman High school song still holds truth, if a little stretched: "Dunman High School, here in Katong . . ." That song was probably written at a time when place names had umbilical cords to the places they named.
The Chinese pavilion near the science labs at the old site of Dunman High was re-created in the front yard of the new site. You can see it as you drive past. It's a smaller replica of the old pavilion and it looks like a toy. Every single time I've gone past the school and looked at the pavilion, it's been empty. It has an air of desperation about it. Like an unseasonal stage prop.
Some of the black and white photographs of old colonial houses in Invisible City also reminded me of toy houses. Maybe it's because the pictures were of houses and interiors without people in them. It's funny to think that these buildings used to be around, this spectral toyland. Of course it was all very concrete and real to the people who lived back then, like the photographer who took the pictures.
But as pictures in my newly-acquired memory of the city that was around before I was born they have a freshness, a newness, an alien-ness. Like the new pavilion. I cannot picture the old pavilion without hearing voices, laughing, singing, chattering - those Sec 1 afternoons come back in these sounds.
Actually I was surprised to see that the school is still at its original site in the Mountbatten area and that the lake is still there. I come from Dunman High, a school that used to hold an annual inter-school sports meet together with Chung Cheng High, Chung Cheng High (Branch), and Yu Hua Secondary School. This event was held at the National Stadium (recently closed and in the process of being erased). Apart from Chung Cheng High, the other three schools have lost their original buildings and locations.
Dunman High School was on Dunman Road. Next door there was another school, Dunman Secondary. Now Dunman High is at Tanjong Rhu and Dunman Secondary is in Tampines. The two schools are now separated by a sizable chunk of the east coast but their names can still thankfully be relied upon to cause some confusion. The confusion is the only thing that remains of our history as neighbours.
The first line in the Dunman High school song still holds truth, if a little stretched: "Dunman High School, here in Katong . . ." That song was probably written at a time when place names had umbilical cords to the places they named.
The Chinese pavilion near the science labs at the old site of Dunman High was re-created in the front yard of the new site. You can see it as you drive past. It's a smaller replica of the old pavilion and it looks like a toy. Every single time I've gone past the school and looked at the pavilion, it's been empty. It has an air of desperation about it. Like an unseasonal stage prop.
Some of the black and white photographs of old colonial houses in Invisible City also reminded me of toy houses. Maybe it's because the pictures were of houses and interiors without people in them. It's funny to think that these buildings used to be around, this spectral toyland. Of course it was all very concrete and real to the people who lived back then, like the photographer who took the pictures.
But as pictures in my newly-acquired memory of the city that was around before I was born they have a freshness, a newness, an alien-ness. Like the new pavilion. I cannot picture the old pavilion without hearing voices, laughing, singing, chattering - those Sec 1 afternoons come back in these sounds.
posted by wheyface at 4:14 AM
8 Comments:
thank you for writing and sharing.
i think there is something deeply tragic about how artificially-built-up edifices can in such a short space of time stamp out the life and vitality that has grown up organically season after season. i also think that is part of the grievous brutality of modern life.
can we change it? i so hope so.
the way we remember has been shaped by all this erasure and re-configuration. to those in stable landscapes, we are warped creatures. i guess this can't be warped to us since we live with it and don't do enough (what is/can be enough?!) to prevent it from happening.
today we were driving along farrer road and noisynotes said that this island must be among the most built-on and dug-up pieces of land in the world. i agree and i would like to nominate this island for the "honour" of being world no. 1 in this respect.
it seems to me that erasure and re-configuration has been happening throughout human history, with the rise and fall of powers and empires. some incoming powers have more of a heart for 'sensitive restoration/preservation' and respect for history than others. others are a lot more pragmatic/brutal about implementing changes. to use a truism, the world's getting a smaller place amid all the 'globalisation', and in the process, the pace and spread of all this 'change' has increased exponentially, i think.
some might say it's a part of 'evolution'...there is something very darwinian
('survival of the fittest') about it all, i do think. but whether i agree with darwin (or dawkins, for that matter) is a separate issue for another day.
i don't know about our country being the most built-on/dug-up in the world in terms of sheer quantities (quite a few other nations are into the building/digging thing - uae/dubai and china come immediately to mind, but even over here in the uk, there's a fair amount of 'erasure and re-configuration' going on, not least of all in prep for the 2012 olympics; more dear to us, the unique "oriental city" in colindale which we chinese so love to frequent is due to be 'erased' and pretty drastically 're-configured' with big chains/superstores taking up much more of the existing space),
but in terms of ratio of building/digging activity to land mass, i think yes, the island probably wins hands-down. this is a tiny island after all, although the powers-that-be appear to be trying every means possible to make it not so tiny.
i think the impact is felt all the more because there is after all so little land to dig up and build on, and they are competing with far bigger players in the field.
it seems to me that they are constantly warring against what some would say is our 'natural destiny' in terms of land mass, location and, as we're constantly told, "lack of natural resources"/hinterland. there is this somewhat entrenched idea that if anytime we stop running, we will die (i'm not sure that's true, but then, who am i to say, right?)..
yes, yes, it's the ratio - i agree.
sorry to hear that things other than spending on the arts are also going to be sacrificed for the 2012 olympics... they'd better get a nicer looking logo!
Just a little note to let you know that I found your blog by accident, and am glad I did. This post in particular gave me something to think about. The idea of how our landscape is systematically being 'erased' is something I'm dealing (read: obsessed) with, both emotionally and in my work. Anyway, I think you write well, and would love to read more of your work. Are you published?
hello there, wrkshy:
glad to hear you like how i say things. glad also to know that i'm not alone in being bugged by the loss of familiar places and becoming used to not being able to care too much about such things.
i write short stories and i am actively trying to write enough stories to make up a collection to send to a publisher.
some of them have already been published. i like my anonymity here so if you like, i shall email you the places where you can find them.
That would be great. You can email me at whoiswrkshy[at]gmail.com - Looking forward to hearing from you.
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