The Oppressed Labourer

The Oppressed Labourer     Young Bala came from Afghanistan when he was a kid. His father started a tailoring shop in Singapore before World War II. Bala who was small in size was always looked upon as the pigmy of the class. He completed his primary education in an English medium school. He used to try very hard to join the primary school football team and his training in other games and athletic events were persistent. After trying hard and failed to be selected for any team to represent his school, he diverted his attention to something else. He made himself the Sports Officer of the Singapore Association of Youths. Expensive dance tickets were sold every month. One Saturday morning, a student knocked on David's door. " Good morning, Sir. Would you like to buy a dance ticket?" In order to please this innocent girl, David bought one even though he knew it meant more drink and smoke for the organizer. The following month, David's door was knocked again. This time, a man with two Form 5 girls were there. "Mr. David, would you like to contribute to the National Disaster Fund?" Bala asked. " I'll donate only if you show me the official permit from the government," David answered. Bala apologized and hurried off. The two girls thought they met another nasty guy. " Don't you think he had been rude?" Carol whispered when they reached the car. " Yes, indeed he was very rude. We should not see him again," Bala answered. " Why didn't you bring the letter from the O.C.P.D.?" Carol enquired ignorantly. " I forgot it." Many months passed. No one knew about the fund raising incident. During a cricket match, Bala met David, who was the bowler from the education team. When the ball went too far from the sticks, Bala would deliberately boo sarcastically. " David. Go back to Pulau Ubin. It's your best place," Bala commented half jokingly. " Why didn't you remain in Afghanistan eating tapioca?" David began to show his temper. At 12 pm, the match ended not too happily. All the players, went as usual, to the recreation club which was just next to the field. David ordered a roast chicken and some rice. The steaming fowl made saliva poured and the more intelligent ones started to sip their tea. That was why I didn't enjoy going to restaurants where the service was slow. Bala, whose salivary gland was most activated, made himself invited. " Pull a chair and sit down, " David invited him as he was standing by the side of the table, and pulled a drum stick for the guest who devoured it straight away. Sweat rolled down from his forehead and his face was wet. David sympathized with this unpleasant personality. After all, every living being must have the Buddha nature too. " Would you like to have a dance ticket?" Bala murmured. "Why ? You should give me one free of charge, for that drum stick." " I didn't say you must pay for this ticket?" Bala took that ticket from the table and went away. He knew that it was too obvious he had to move to another locality. This young man shifted over to JB ( in Malaysia) and made himself the chairman of the hockey association there. Unpaid position sometimes are more lucrative than the salaried position He was able to make some money by marking up the articles for the association which he volunteered to purchase. After spending the life of a tramp, Bala eventually decided he should take a wife. He came back to Punggol and talk to his mother about it. Singapore was not a good hunting ground for him though there were more marriageable females than males. "Son. They were saying to find a wife was as easy as getting a pebble on the road," the mother comforted him. " But mother, I don't like those silly girls here. For example, they laughed at us. They said our atap house was built of palm leaves and baku wood, and that it was standing on another person's land." " Son, if you don't want to be hurt, no one will be successful in hurting you. Roger may be able to introduce you one from Malaysia." " Won't he laugh at me?" "No. I'll tell him Bala refused to get married because they were no eligible girls here. For example, your horoscope and their horoscope cannot match." " Excellent, Mother," Bala's face brightened. He knew Roger would not fail him. Roger, a young teacher was then invited to the humble hut of this family. " Your mother told me you had not found a suitable partner in Singapore?" "Oh, those silly girls. How could I ever settle down with any of them?" Roger went to spend his Easter holiday in Malaysia. He was wondering if he should recommend a Chinese, Malay, or Indian? Malaysians were materialistic. It was a fact that if a non-Chinese wanted to marry a Chinese girl, he must be rich. Malay girls adored only gallant knights. Poor Bala would never have a chance. Roger eventually concluded that an Indian girl was the answer. Roger went to JB to hunt for the suitable girl who would accept the photo of Bala. " I can recommend you a sexy one from my estate," Joe studied hard on that teacher. "How much can you offer ? My share and her mother's ?" " Doesn't she have a father?" " Her father was involved in flying a small plane to smuggle in heroin from Thailand to Malaysia. He escaped a few trips but one day as the plane was landing on a beach during low tide, it ran over a boulder and he was killed. You can take her if you offer me RM 2000 and another RM 2000 for her mother. I can easily persuade her since I'm the boss here. Her employment is at my pleasure." The sum was paid. " She is yours by tonight. Have a good time, my dear friend." At the Tanjong Pagar to welcome Joan and Roger were Bala and his mother. " Look, mother, that's the girl," Bala pointed at Roger and Joan. " Yes, son. Roger is surely a good fellow." Roger went his way after handing over the girl to the waiting man. Bala hired a taxi to return to Punggol with Joan and his mother. " Joan, how do you like our small house?" Bala asked. " I'm not suppose to comment, mum told me before I left JB." " This place will be very prosperous within a few years. The government had planned to build a MRT here. I 'm sure by then the huge shopping malls, schools, and others would be constructed. We are very lucky to be living at this location." In the evening, the family went to have dinner at the food court. They dined silently. Joan adapted herself well, though inwardly she was very worried. A thousand and one questions struck her. Bala, with a new tie on his neck, looked proud. Every now and then, he liked to look aside, as if posing for a cameraman. His shirt sleeves were too long for him. He strolled slowly but elegantly along the street. They came to a bench under a tree. He cleaned it for the lady to sit down. " Singapore is a wonderful place. Before I arrived, I thought you had pick-pockets rushing about the town." The crescent moon hang at about 40 degrees on the sky. On the water surface, the moonlight beams were wavering. Cars speeded by behind the bench, just about three feet away. " You fellows drive as fast as those in JB." " Any fool can drive fast," Bala told her. They returned home by the last bus that night. The poor mother who left earlier walked home as that was her method of saving some money. The marriage was fine and Joan did enjoyed it as a lady should. Unfortunately, Bala began to get frustrated. First off all, he could not find more money to lead a better life. Fate was deadly against him. He strived hard but was only able to make ends meet. Joan helped the family by doing laundry work. This meant better foods and clothes. Bala's drinking habit got worse. Years passed. Bala's mother died of old age, just like his father. Nothing in this universe remains unchanged. The family consisted of only husband and wife. The family went to a temple to supplicate, thinking that Joan was not fertile. Surprisingly, Joan conceived after the temple visit and nine months later, a daughter was born. The devas do help us at times, don’t they ? They named her Sheila. Bala had been a construction worker and only started to have problem with the daughter when she was nine years old. " Why don't you teach in school like Mr. Chung and Mr. George ?" the inquisitive daughter asked him. " Why? Am I not doing a honourable job?" " But teachers said all labourers were uneducated. They said if we didn't work hard we would be labourers one day." " Who said so?" the furious father clenched his fists. " Mr. Chung and Mr. George." The agitated father rushed to the quarters of Mr. Chung and Mr. George, both were bachelors. "You're Chung and George? Why did you tell my daughter labourers were uneducated?" " I'm sorry. I said that to encourage my students to work harder. I didn't mean to insult anybody," George replied. " Didn't you infer at me?" " No, I didn't even know you." " I'm Bala, Sheila's father." "Glad to know you Bala. She is a smart girl." "Next time you insult me again, I'll knock some teeth out of your bloody big mouth." " There is nothing wrong in being labourers. My father was one and so was Mr. George's father," Chung who was impatient joined in. " You bloody Chinaman. You think you're smart because you 're a teacher?" Bala wheeled and walked off. He came home very much relieved. Sheila was waiting for him at the gate which was in front of the house. " Where did you go, papa?" " I went to see your stupid teachers." The tired man went to sleep after dinner. At 11 o'clock that night he had to work again but the overtime pay was good so Bala did not mind at all. Joan filled his metal can with black coffee and got ready the basket and the safety hat in case he woke up late and started shouting again. The next morning he came home mentally and physically exhausted as the engine noise at the construction site nearly deafened him. He spent the whole morning in bed. In the afternoon he went off to work again. That afternoon, the Exploration Society of Punggol Primary School organized a trip to visit a building site. It was a coincident that Sheila was in the group and the site was where Bala worked. This construction site occupied about 100 acres and was the then biggest construction site in Singapore. Mr.Tan the general manager took the group of the students and the teacher Mr. Matai to the various places of interest. On the way Bala was seen carrying two bags of cement on his back. He stopped to call his daughter Sheila. Sheila ignored him and moved on with the group. The man's eyes were filled with tears and he took the two bags on his back again. The engines seemed to roar louder. No one noticed him. The hurt father came home that night, storming the daughter and the mother. "You donkey. Why didn't you answer me?" he pulled the girl by the hair, her face thus tilted up. "Let her go. What had she done?" the wife yelled at him. " Why? She was ashamed of her own father." "Does that matter?" "I struggled and sweated hoping to bring up a good family and here I'm, rejected by my own daughter." The building project was near completion. Bala was transferred to work at the wharf. He loved his new place as he could have a lung-full of fresh air. Moreover, there were the roaring waves which he enjoyed watching. The terrible heat from the fierce hot sun was not felt as much as at the construction site. He remained a labourer here for several years mainly because all foremen he worked for used to write very bad reports about him, accusing him of not safety conscious, stealing company articles from the incoming cargoes, laziness, not able to corporate with the colleages etc. In actual fact, the company properties were stolen by the foremen and the security guards. Some people say good people die young. Perhaps they were right. Joan died at the age of 29, when Sheila was only 13. Sheila had to leave school and grew up overnight taking over the mother's place of housekeeping. Bala did not seem to miss his wife. He went on with his job as usual and was probably much happier now because there was no one to complain about his drinking habit. Every day he would spend half of what he received on beer, all the time taking it with his cronies at the local cafeteria at about 6 pm. before he came home to rest. One stormy night, Bala came home after loading a ship that was leaving at midnight. Lightning flashed and thunders banked in the sky. Torrential rain poured as if the earth must be flooded. Bala was soaking wet when he reached home. He bathed, took a light meal and went to sleep. There being only one room in the hut, he slept in the sitting room on a canvas bed. Sheila's room was forced open by the wind. This adolescent had the body of a matured lady. Bala's sexual desire was aroused when he saw the sleeping girl. He did not have enough money to frequent the brothels. There was no solution. He entered the room and undressed her. The lightning was followed by a big bank. The rain poured more heavily. Sheila woke up and asked. " What do you want, Papa?" " Not anything." Sheila tried to put on her dress but Bala took it and threw it away. He jumped on her and had his tension released., leaving the girl crying. From that day onward she had to submit. In order to help the family expenses, Sheila worked in a coffee bar. This hard working and frugal beauty attracted the owner who threatened to expel her if she refused his advances. So she had to entertain whenever the owner wished. She grew up that way, seeing nothing in these scoundrels except their sexual greed, which grew more and more intense every day. What else could the country men understand except the temporal enjoyment? At the age of 18, there were many young men who wanted to marry her. She rejected all partly because her father was still living and partly because men were only vicious brutes to her. She found more happiness in solitude. One limping gentleman came in to introduce himself as a Construction Company owner from Luyang Offshore Supply Base. He was Chinese and he wanted Sheila to be his second wife. He thought his income could attract her but didn't know the lady had no greed for his money. Sheila refused to offer her body for money and begged the man to invite other girls instead. But this rich man said he was in love with her and he offered his condo keys and the key to his BMW telling her to make use of the BMW and the condo whenever she wanted to. All her colleagues said she was stupid to turn down such a good offer. Was she ? "You will be rich if your marry him, Sheila" one of the senior colleagues advised her. " No, I don't like his behaviour. The first time he met me in this shop he asked me how much I would charge him for one shot (meaning to have one sexual session with him). I have no respect for people like this and I don't need much money in this life. Let me wait for a better man." One Friday night, Sheila was personally informed that her father was knocked down by a lorry at a pedestrians crossing. He died on the spot, leaving Sheila to start her own life. The police report said that the traffic light was green and the lorry driver was running at only 50 km per hour. The driver had another passenger on the front seat to be the witness. Dead man cannot talk.   End 2810 words