Giving A Smile
I would like to share this true incidence of mine that I had encountered in the year 2005.
One afternoon, about two months (May 2006) ago, I boarded the mrt train from Kranji mrt station. I had just returned from Johor Baru and I was going back to my flat at Yishun. Immediately, after I had boarded the train, I was looking around for a seat. When I glanced to my left, I saw a couple of empty seats and I also saw a few commuters were standing nearby the seats. I went directly to those seats available and immediately I sat down. While I was sitting down, I looked at those passengers standing at the train entrance/exit to the left front of me and I was wondering why they did not grab the empty seats that were still available to them on my left and on my right. If I could recall, to my left, there was an empty seat and to my right there were two or three seats still vacant. I also noticed that they did look at the direction that I was sitting and those passengers that were sitting down oppositely in front of me, some were staring straight, some were looking down and some were closing their eyes. Well, the passengers behaviour did not really bothered me until suddenly my nostril picked up a strong pungent aroma near me. It was like uric acid. Of course I was puzzled, so I tried to detect whether the foul smell was from my armpits. It was very hot on that particular day. I secretly bended my head to my left and to my right to smell. Well, it seemed like it was from there but I was not so sure and I remembered that I had applied some deodorant. I remained silent and just ignored the pungent smell. Without thinking anything, I glanced to my left and then I saw her.
Just one seat away from me, there was a female wearing purple clothing. She was sitting in the same row of seats at the corner end next to the glass safety panel that was separating the seats from the train entrance/exit door. What I saw really shocked me. From side view, I saw a normal short and neat cut hair style but her face was nearly flat except for her protruding eyelids and mouth. Forgive me for saying this but at that moment when I saw her face from that angle, in my mind I was telling myself, "She look like a frog." And I also realized that the pungent smell was strongly coming from her too and the slight air-conditioning breeze was wafting within the train as it moved.
While looking at her for that few seconds, she suddenly glanced at me and I was caught off guard. It was ugly and frightening to look at her. She has a small nose, mouth and a protruding eyelids with sad eyes. Her face was deformed. I could not determine her age but by looking at her hands, it was a young woman, maybe in her twenties.
To avoid her and myself feeling embarrassed, I just gave a smile. She quickly looked away and she scratched her head with her right hand. I too glanced away and I also realized why the other commuters were not looking at that direction or at her, especially the females passengers. A couple of times she glanced at me and I gave a smile. Just before she alighted at Woodlands mrt station, she took a glanced at me and again I gave a smile. Then the train stopped at Woodlands mrt station, she got up and exited from the train.
There were no pungent smell anymore after the train left Woodlands mrt station but those same standing passengers did not dare sit on the two vacant seats on my left.
I think, my former occupation as an Operating Theatre Technical Assistant had taught me to handle that kind of situation well.
With Love,
Zulkifli Mahmood
One afternoon, about two months (May 2006) ago, I boarded the mrt train from Kranji mrt station. I had just returned from Johor Baru and I was going back to my flat at Yishun. Immediately, after I had boarded the train, I was looking around for a seat. When I glanced to my left, I saw a couple of empty seats and I also saw a few commuters were standing nearby the seats. I went directly to those seats available and immediately I sat down. While I was sitting down, I looked at those passengers standing at the train entrance/exit to the left front of me and I was wondering why they did not grab the empty seats that were still available to them on my left and on my right. If I could recall, to my left, there was an empty seat and to my right there were two or three seats still vacant. I also noticed that they did look at the direction that I was sitting and those passengers that were sitting down oppositely in front of me, some were staring straight, some were looking down and some were closing their eyes. Well, the passengers behaviour did not really bothered me until suddenly my nostril picked up a strong pungent aroma near me. It was like uric acid. Of course I was puzzled, so I tried to detect whether the foul smell was from my armpits. It was very hot on that particular day. I secretly bended my head to my left and to my right to smell. Well, it seemed like it was from there but I was not so sure and I remembered that I had applied some deodorant. I remained silent and just ignored the pungent smell. Without thinking anything, I glanced to my left and then I saw her.
Just one seat away from me, there was a female wearing purple clothing. She was sitting in the same row of seats at the corner end next to the glass safety panel that was separating the seats from the train entrance/exit door. What I saw really shocked me. From side view, I saw a normal short and neat cut hair style but her face was nearly flat except for her protruding eyelids and mouth. Forgive me for saying this but at that moment when I saw her face from that angle, in my mind I was telling myself, "She look like a frog." And I also realized that the pungent smell was strongly coming from her too and the slight air-conditioning breeze was wafting within the train as it moved.
While looking at her for that few seconds, she suddenly glanced at me and I was caught off guard. It was ugly and frightening to look at her. She has a small nose, mouth and a protruding eyelids with sad eyes. Her face was deformed. I could not determine her age but by looking at her hands, it was a young woman, maybe in her twenties.
To avoid her and myself feeling embarrassed, I just gave a smile. She quickly looked away and she scratched her head with her right hand. I too glanced away and I also realized why the other commuters were not looking at that direction or at her, especially the females passengers. A couple of times she glanced at me and I gave a smile. Just before she alighted at Woodlands mrt station, she took a glanced at me and again I gave a smile. Then the train stopped at Woodlands mrt station, she got up and exited from the train.
There were no pungent smell anymore after the train left Woodlands mrt station but those same standing passengers did not dare sit on the two vacant seats on my left.
I think, my former occupation as an Operating Theatre Technical Assistant had taught me to handle that kind of situation well.
With Love,
Zulkifli Mahmood
posted by Zulkifli at 10:59 PM
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