Wednesday, January 28, 2009

祈福

马六甲的青云亭其实是观音庙,历史悠久,是马来亚第一座寺庙,建庙日期可追溯到中国明朝年间。四百年风风雨雨,庙宇文化为许多当地华人造福(http://navalants.blogspot.com/2008/12/blog-post_27.html)。

四马路观音庙也属于“百年老店”,有125年的历史。建于1884年的观音庙是出了名的灵验,香火常年鼎盛,香客熙熙攘攘。观音庙门口的香架上摆放着礼佛的香客随喜的细香,随取任拿。男女老少,上班路过庙门的信徒都会停下来上香祈告,求个平安。是否真的如此灵验呢?心诚则灵嘛!


自小外婆便住在小坡马尼拉街七层楼组屋,楼下拐个弯便是奎因街(Queen Street,三马路)菜市场,再过一条马路便是四马路观音庙了。弟妹们跟着表哥在英校念书(实利基小学,Selegie School。Selegie Road 俗称七马路),为了方便上学,周日他们和母亲都住在外婆家,周末才是属于我们共处的时光。

每逢观音诞,总听到外婆和母亲说到观音庙上香求平安。观音诞似乎特别多,一年有好几回。她们说观音神通广大,所以诞辰也与众生不同。后来我才搞明白民间所谓的观音诞,其实是二月十九的观音诞、六月十九观音修道日及九月十九的观音成道日。

农历新年除夕夜,我们从新加坡河畔附近的老家和左邻右舍一块儿散步到观音庙,再“借”了大香一块儿走回家。半夜三更,路上人少车马稀,闪闪香火,缕缕青烟,这段路走得格外悠闲。欠债不欠过年,心结也不拖过年,平时同屋共住所引起的摩擦与不快都在这一夜的说说笑笑声中消除了。咱们街坊邻里,一走就走了十多年。


农历正月二十六是另一个特别的日子,四马路观音庙大开“财库”和“富房”,让善男信女借红包还红包。借红包是讨个财运,但也有人是为了讨个吉祥与平安。到了隔年同日,借红包的人必须加倍奉还。

四马路观音庙在1895年重修,1984年重修扩建。1941年12月8日,太平洋战争爆发,日本空袭新加坡,四马路也不可幸免。当时观音庙隔邻的几间房屋都被炸毁,四马路几乎被炸为平地,唯独观音显灵,庙宇安然无损,为观音庙增添不少神秘的色彩。

观音庙主殿内的主神像是十八手观音圣像。这座金碧辉煌的观音圣像,每十年镀金一次。在大年除夕的旺日,信徒有插头柱香的习俗。午夜十二时一到,等候多时的香客抢着把一柱虔心馨香插在庙前的大香炉上。他们相信能赶在大年初一第一时间插上头柱香,合家大小都会得到菩萨保佑,万事如意。



四马路地方小,不能跟牛车水比拟,但胜于“旧”,属于本地人,而非游客。多年来的除夕夜,我已习惯和太太两人在四马路感染一份温馨。去年今日此门中,人面桃花相映红。人面不知何处去,桃花依旧笑春风。百年如一日的观音庙,香火依然,不过奎因街菜市场没了,马尼拉街七层楼组屋早在1977年便落幕了,当年河畔的街坊们也各散西东,有些已经作古。一代新人换旧人,继承着除夕夜的传统,生生不息。





观音庙旁康和堂的龟苓膏已经成为太太和我这些年来团圆饭消化后的甜品,虽然食味比不上尖沙咀的海天堂,但已经足以让我们愉快入梦。

Sunday, January 18, 2009

投奔怒海 Boat People

子贡问政,孔子说国家要安定只需三个条件:“足兵、足食、民信之矣。” 战争扭曲人性,摧毁家园。我们花大钱建立国防,就是为了避免战争。

26年前的农历新年除夕夜你在做什么?

首先为什么26?广东话26谐音“易禄”,福建话谐音“易luck”,都是好兆头,在经济不景的年头,特别动听。

1983年,除夕夜,奥迪安戏院。赐福、健茂和我赶半夜场,为了投奔怒海,也为了许鞍华、林子祥、缪骞人。看过戏后才认识新扎的马斯晨和二十岁的刘德华。26年后,奥迪安戏院落幕了,曲终人散了,林子祥和刘德华还是娱乐界的常青树,依旧活跃歌坛。


投奔怒海在百部经典港片中名列第五,故事追溯到1975年越共解放越南,日本记者芥川在岘港现场采访当时实况。三年后芥川重游旧地,认识了琴娘一家,并拍摄了不少珍贵照片。当地唯一被留下来的酒吧,由一位过气妈妈生主理。祖明既是她的情人,也是常客,正设法逃离越南。为了筹钱他袭击芥川,想抢去他的相机而被捕。后来芥川与祖明成了朋友,芥川获得特许送祖明到新经济区挖地雷,然而在那里,每天都有人遇上爆炸而无辜死去。芥川决定尽一切努力安排琴娘及二弟逃离越南,祖明也决意登上难民船,投奔怒海。芥川则在码头被焚,倒了下去…..。

当年军训长途行军,每当经过三巴旺的越南难民营,心头便会一酸。难民站在铁丝网篱笆内,带着形形色色的眼光与表情目送我们静悄悄地走过那道篱笆,那段短短的路似乎没有尽头。

1963年Bob Dylan的反战歌曲Blowin' in the Wind强烈反映了人们反战的心态:

How many roads must a man walk down, before you call him a man? Yes and how many seas must the white dove sail, before she sleeps in the sand? Yes and how many times must the cannon balls fly, before they’re forever banned? The answer my friend is blowing in the wind, the answer is blowing in the wind.

摄影师Nick Ut (Ut Cong Huynh) 的越战照片,在1972年获得Pulitzer新闻照片奖。当时南越军机轰炸被越共占领的展鹏地区,一群平民和南越军人躲藏的寺庙被空投炸弹击中,众人跑到街上逃生。有个九岁大的女童严重烧伤,裸着身体边跑边哭叫着“烫啊!烫啊!”



Nick Ut把女童送到医院。女童留医14个月,动了17次手术,奇迹般生还。女童名叫潘金福Kim Phuc,1986年获准到古巴留学,Nick Ut 也找到古巴來,探望他当年救过的小女童。在那里潘金福遇到越南青年Bui Huy Tuan,1992年兩人在古巴共结连理。潘金福在1996年美国越战退伍軍人紀念日发表演说,訴说那段痛苦的战争经历,她说往者已往,来日可追,现在不会怪罪任何人。

越战退伍軍人John Plummer已成为一名牧师,公开承认当年有份策划空袭,要求与她见面,请求宽恕。

1997年潘金福成为加拿大公民、联合国亲善大使; 2000年,潘金福在加拿大成立了Kim Phuc Foundation International,致力帮助世界上受战争创伤的儿童。2008年6月30日,她在加拿大国家电台发表演说 "The Long Road to Forgiveness"。从痛苦到接受,从释怀到宽恕是一段漫长的心路历程。


How many times must a man look up before he can see the sky? Yes and how many ears must one man have before he can hear people cry? Yes and how many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people have died?

How many years can a mountain exist before it is washed to the sea? Yes and how many years can some people exist before they’re allowed to be free? Yes and how many times can a man turn his head pretending that he just doesn’t see? The answer my friend is blowing in the wind, the answer is blowing in the wind.

这就是26年后重看投奔怒海的震撼。在人类发展史上,战争并没有平息。农历新年将至,还是那句藏在心头多年的老话,我们要和平不要战争,愿国泰民安。

Sunday, January 11, 2009

黑暗尽头有曙光 At the end of the tunnel

到马六甲去不会错过鸡场街的和记鸡饭,这一趟马六甲妯娌们也随行,一伙人三辆车,倒也热热闹闹的。



为什么和记鸡饭?

早年新加坡密驼路的瑞记鸡饭名声响当当,牛车水戏院街两摊路边海南鸡饭, 其中一摊叫荣记,另一摊叫什么的,只在晚间营业,远近驰名,与今天的文东记不遑多让。想起来我的老家河畔芳园咖啡店的海南鸡饭也不赖,午饭时间人山人海,把小小的咖啡店都塞满了。

记得当年年纪小,吃海南鸡饭最享受那层皮,鸡皮不肥不好吃,皮和肉之间那一层胶汁最上乘。当时不知道什么叫胆固醇,也不管污染不污染,吃鸡的皮,吸鸡骨中的骨髓,那一顿大乐也。那一碟鸡杂,有鸡心、鸡肝、鸡肾、鸡肠等,蘸着姜戎酱油吃,极品!简直是“天下佳肴无觅处,不辞常作狮城人”!

同事令伟在海南琼海岳母家住了一个月,才刚回来,对海南岛的海南鸡饭倒没什么回味。可见本地的海南鸡饭已经乡土化,成为十足的本地佳肴了。

海南鸡饭起源自海南“文昌鸡”。顾名思义,文昌鸡因海南省文昌县(现已撤县设市)而得名。传统做法以 “白斩鸡”为主,至于 “鸡饭”,是农村家庭在逢年过节杀鸡还神时,用烫鸡的鸡汤煮成,再趁热把饭捏成鱼丸般大小的饭糰。

新加坡最早販卖海南鸡饭的是王义元。王义元从海南島琼海县南來謀生,因为年轻时曾在家乡学得“毓葵鸡饭店”的养鸡及烫鸡技术,因此初到新加坡時(1920年代)就手提兩个竹箩在小坡海南街以沿街叫卖白斩鸡及鸡饭为生,鸡饭团用香蕉叶包着,每包一分钱。

后来存到些钱,王义元便在海南二街的桃园咖啡店卖起鸡饭。1949年新中国成立,老先生思乡情切,把招牌取名为“王共产鸡肉”,名噪一时,大家只管叫他“王共产”,他所卖的鸡便称为“共产鸡”了。

王义元有个助手叫莫履瑞,在王义元结束了桃园咖啡店的生意后,便自己开了间瑞記,生意大好,成为新加坡海南鸡饭业的領头人。

回到和记鸡饭。陈老太太是一个普通的家庭主妇,丈夫以捕鱼为生。40多年前,丈夫捕鱼时被印尼海关拘捕,一去不复返。失去经济支柱的陈老太太为了养活五个孩子,灵机一动,把海南农村家庭祭祖的饭团拿到码头兜售,方便码头工人解决午餐。


沿街叫卖的日子渐入佳境,陈老太太改在咖啡店租个小摊位,继续卖鸡饭。苦拼了三年多,1970年,陈老太太开了和记鸡饭。从挑着一根扁担风雨无阻的日子到三个店面的和记鸡饭,就跟许多不向生活低头,勤劳刻苦,力求翻身的人们一样。陈老太太一家子还是过着淳朴的生活。




新加坡的王义元和马六甲的陈老太太隔了四十年。年代不同,大环境中的个人生活经历与搏斗的故事却有理念相似之处。成功对每个人的定义不同。回首来时路,在漫漫人生路上打了一场胜仗自然能笑得开心,笑得坦然。

到马六甲去不会错过鸡场街的和记鸡饭,主要是吃一道文化,吃一段历史,吃一顿回味,吃一个温馨。

Sunday, January 04, 2009

When we met

When northeast meets southwest, what spark could it create?

When east meets west, what spark could it create?

In the article ‘ 季候风’, Sufen described the opportunities generated by the northeast and southwest monsoons at this part of the world. Such changes in wind direction brought prosperity and wealth into Southeast Asia, including Singapore. In 1861, sailed from Hong Kong to Singapore took about 7 days.

Through technology advancement, the travelling time had been shortened. In 1949, my father took 5 days to reach Singapore.

In the article‘赤道北纬一度的一颗红点’, Moses elaborated the monsoon seasons brought in different people, culture, religion, political system to a common destination and developed a place called Singapore. The uniqueness of Singapore lies in its one degree north of equator. This geographical location is where northeast meets southwest and east meets west.

I still remember my first few geography lessons in Primary 5. Teacher said Singapore was only 85 miles away from the equator. I asked what an equator was, could I feel it and touch it. Teacher asked me to go to Clifford Pier and face the sea. I would see a red line in the horizon far away which labeled ‘equator’. My classmates were laughing.

Walking to Clifford Pier from home took me about 20 minutes. That evening, I walked to Clifford Pier, facing the sea as what Teacher had directed me to do. No matter how hard I looked, there wasn’t such a red line. I was rather confuse but dared not to challenge my teacher the next day.

Nowadays travelling time is much shortened. Once upon a time, a group of us took less than 24 hours from different parts of the globe to meet at a foreign land. We were still young men and women then. Apart from our few England friends such as John, Jonathan and Rose who were brought up in the various counties of England, the rest of us were rooted in different soils. Greg and Peter from Canada, Jose, Maria and Celso from Portugal, Melanie from South Africa and migrated to Canada, Salim from Malaysia. There were others who came from Greece, Spain, Italy and Korea. My immediate neighbours were Swedish and Nigerian. In the research labs, I met people from Iran, Pakistan, India, Brazil and China.

(Picture: our destiny)

On a particular evening, these pair of Swedish couple walked to Sainsbury with us. They said the toilet paper provided by the hostel was too rough. They suffered from buttock pain. Oops, that was interesting.

My Nigeria friend and I spent our summer evening outside the hostel cafeteria under the breeze. Nigeria was a poor and a crime nation. He was pursuing a master degree in humanities. He said he would like to go back to Nigeria immediately after the course despite that many of his friends had decided to stay in England instead. He wanted to contribute back to his nation and the unlucky folks. He wanted to change their lives.

(picture: our flat in Camden Town)

(picture: our shared garden behind our flat in Camden Town)

In this international gala, the greatest divide among us was soccer matches. Our Canadian friends had not demonstrated much interest. As for the rest of us, well, we switched our roles between friends and foes for every 90 minutes. This is like the stories written by 古龙, ‘没有永远的敌人,没有永远的朋友’.

On a particular evening, we gathered at Greg’s home at Ealing Broadway, the last Underground Central Line station. Travelling in London underground was a unique experience. During the rush hour there wasn’t any private space between us. We could hear each other’s breathing, and feel each other’s body smell. More fascinatingly was the 60 over international languages that could be found in one train.

This grand finale was the only gala (apart from soccer matches) that we celebrated together. The best recollection for me was the exchanges with Melanie. She had super memory. She could remember every single family members from all of us after the brief introduction. Later I found out that she was serving as a hotel front desk officer in Cape Town. She attracted many returned customers simply because she could address them by name after their first met. And she could still remember their preferences when they met again years later.

She was quite confused between Singapore and China. Wasn’t Singapore a city of China? What language did Singaporean speak? What were the differences between Chinese Singaporean and Chinese in China? Tons of questions. My night had never been bored.

Years passed. After all the promotion effort such as Formula One, Olympic and WTO conferences, I hope Singapore is no longer a strange name in the international stage, and is no longer perceived as a province of China or a small town in Malaysia. Of course we could not change the history that modern Singapore was rooted from the China migrants since 1800s and Singapore and Malaya were inseparable.

(picture: Greg, melanie, Eugenia and I)

Food was a common subject that interested us. I told Melanie the cruel way of eating monkey’s brain. The monkey should be kept alive while breaking its skull, digging its brain and sucking its brain juice. People also ate dog meat by boiling the dog alive. In my childhood day, I saw hawkers killing python and giant turtle in China Town (Terengganu Street). Live. During my two-and-a-half years in the Army, I witnessed another way of killing and skinning a python. 7 inches from the snake head, chopped. The head surged ahead like a power-charged rocket. All were over within seconds. I also tasted the cold blood as part of the jungle survival training. It was really cold. No body temperature.

Melanie said that were disgusting. She would never eat such animals. In Africa, She ate elephant, giraffe, lion, zebra and hippo. Wow!

The grand finale gala dinner ended with ice cream. It was the best international serving and satisfied the whole world without controversy.

How about the mess after the long night? Greg and Melanie took care. By the way, Greg and Melanie were husband and wife. They still live in Vancouver, Canada.

Thursday, January 01, 2009

Desaru Fruit Farm 百果园

雨后的果园巧妙地融合了雨露的清新与泥土的芬芳,神清气爽。导览员Irene对植物非常熟悉,通过华语一路生动地介绍各种植物水果的特性,原产地来自暹罗、巴西、澳大利亚等等,如数家珍,教我不能不打从心底深深佩服。



趁着年底长假,人在旅途,迪沙鲁果园是一个驿站。回到阔别经年的老地方,像是探望似曾相识的老朋友。Irene作为一位优秀的导览员,的确为我的旅途孕育了一道彩虹。

原来远在天边、近在眼前,出色的导览员不只局限在澳洲、中台、欧美等地;在我眼中,长堤彼岸迪沙鲁果园并不逊色。2006年12月一场百年水灾淹没哥打丁宜一大片土地,把果园远近驰名的蜜柑树毁了。今天的果园就像再生的凤凰,整装后又重新出发。

冬雨(热带没有冬天,但想象无罪)红了殷桃也绿了芭蕉。园内还有一个小小的旧日农村博物馆和农场,除了可以把大地作为课堂,还可以娱乐触摸,难怪年轻的朋友会乐翻了天。










Irene为我们介绍了百香果,她说百香果其貌不扬,不过奇妙不已。客人嚐过之后反应各异,有人说它像龙眼,有人说它像红毛榴櫣,还有苹果、荔枝、芒果、龙珠果、柠檬、番茄等,莫衷一是。

一路上心头怎么也抹不去的是新加坡博物馆。新加坡博物馆也是一个精心营造的课堂,也可以娱乐触摸。此外,新加坡博物馆有历史、有文化、有故事、有回忆;新加坡博物馆还有一群出色的华文义务导览员(不是因为我加入了这个团队才卖花赞花香,而是有目共睹的),可就不像中台的故宫或巴黎的罗浮宫,一旦踏上哪个城市,就非得造访不可的旅游胜地。

一步一脚印,这条路还是要走下去。资深义工这番话至少已经听过五回,停在耳中,是勉励、是心血、是体会,是百感交集。唔......就像百香果。


我想到怎么跟Irene分享了(其实是抬杠吧)!我说百香果的味道其实取决于心情,果园再好百香果再香甜,游兴欠佳,一切都是枉然。现代人有太多选择,要把好料献给游人,首先必须学会包装,吸引人到此一游;讲得难听点,这叫做请君入瓮,不过绝对是善意的。口碑一传开,游兴自然来。

谢谢Irene给我一个崭新的果园经验。