What the Modern Woman Wants

This excellent essay is from a 15 year old Singaporean girl who wrote the essay for the Commonwealth Essay Competition. Chief examiner Charles Kemp called her piece a 'powerfully moving and ironical critique of modern restlessness and its potentially cruel consequences'.The writing is fluent and assured, with excellent use of dialogue.

What the Modern Woman Wants
By Amanda Chong Wei-Zhen

The old woman sat in the backseat of the magenta convertible as it careened down the highway, clutching tightly to the plastic bag on her lap, afraid it may be kidnapped by the wind. She was not used to such speed, with trembling hands she pulled the seatbelt tighter but was careful not to touch the patent leather seats with her callused fingers, her daughter had warned her not to dirty it, 'Fingerprints show very clearly on white, Ma.'

Her daughter, Bee Choo, was driving and talking on her sleek silver mobile phone using big words the old woman could barely understand. 'Finance' 'Liquidation' 'Assets' 'Investments'... Her voice was crisp and important and had an unfamiliar lilt to it. Her Bee Choo sounded like one of those foreign girls on television. She was speaking in an American accent.

The old lady clucked her tongue in disapproval. 'I absolutely cannot have this. We have to sell!' Her daughter exclaimed agitatedly as she stepped on the accelerator; her perfectly manicured fingernails gripping onto the steering wheel in irritation.

'I can't DEAL with this anymore!' she yelled as she clicked the phone shut and hurled it angrily toward the backseat. The mobile phone hit the old woman on the forehead and nestled soundlessly into her lap. She calmly picked it up and handed it to her daughter.

'Sorry, Ma,' she said, losing the American pretence and switching to Mandarin. 'I have a big client in America. There have been a lot of problems.' The old lady nodded knowingly. Her daughter was big and important.

Bee Choo stared at her mother from the rear view window, wondering what she was thinking. Her mother's wrinkled countenance always carried the same cryptic look.

The phone began to ring again, an artificially cheerful digital tune, which broke the awkward silence. 'Hello, Beatrice! Yes, this is Elaine.' Elaine. The old woman cringed. I didn't name her Elaine. She remembered her daughter telling her, how an English name was very important for 'networking', Chinese ones being easily forgotten.

'Oh no, I can't see you for lunch today. I have to take the ancient relic to the temple for her weird daily prayer ritual.'

Ancient Relic. The old woman understood perfectly it was referring to her. Her daughter always assumed that her mother's silence meant she did not comprehend.

'Yes, I know! My car seats will be reeking of joss sticks!' The old woman pursed her lips tightly, her hands gripping her plastic bag in defence. The car curved smoothly into the temple courtyard. It looked almost garish next to the dull sheen of the ageing temple's roof. The old woman got out of the back seat, and made her unhurried way to the main hall.

Her daughter stepped out of the car in her business suit and stilettos and reapplied her lipstick as she made her brisk way to her mother's side.

'Ma, I'll wait outside. I have an important phone call to make,' she said, not bothering to hide her disgust at the pungent fumes of incense.

The old lady hobbled into the temple hall and lit a joss stick, she knelt down solemnly and whispered her now familiar daily prayer to the Gods.

Thank you God of the Sky, you have given my daughter luck all these years. Everything I prayed for, you have given her. She has everything a young woman in this world could possibly want. She has a big house with a swimming pool, a maid to help her, as she is too clumsy to sew or cook.

Her love life has been blessed; she is engaged to a rich and handsome angmoh man. Her company is now the top financial firm and even men listen to what she says. She lives the perfect life. You have given her everything except happiness. I ask that the gods be merciful to her even if she has lost her roots while reaping the harvest of success.

What you see is not true, she is a filial daughter to me. She gives me a room in her big house and provides well for me. She is rude to me only because I affect her happiness. A young woman does not want to be hindered by her old mother. It is my fault.

The old lady prayed so hard that tears welled up in her eyes. Finally, with her head bowed in reverence she planted the half-burnt joss stick into an urn of smouldering ashes.

She bowed once more. The old woman had been praying for her daughter for thirty-two years. When her stomach was round like a melon, she came to the temple and prayed that it was a son.

Then the time was ripe and the baby slipped out of her womb, bawling and adorable with fat thighs and pink cheeks, but unmistakably, a girl. Her husband had kicked and punched her for producing a useless baby who could not work or carry the family name.

Still, the woman returned to the temple with her new-born girl tied to her waist in a sarong and prayed that her daughter would grow up and have everything she ever wanted. Her husband left her and she prayed that her daughter would never have to depend on a man.

She prayed every day that her daughter would be a great woman, the woman that she, meek and uneducated, could never become. A woman with "neng kan"; the ability to do anything she set her mind to. A woman who commanded respect in the hearts of men. When she opened her mouth to speak, precious pearls would fall out and men would listen.

She will not be like me, the woman prayed as she watched her daughter grow up and drift away from her, speaking a language she scarcely understood. She watched her daughter transform from a quiet girl, to one who openly defied her, calling her "lao tu"; old-fashioned. She wanted her mother to be 'modern', a word so new there was no Chinese word for it.

Now her daughter was too clever for her and the old woman wondered why she had prayed like that. The gods had been faithful to her persistent prayer, but the wealth and success that poured forth so richly had buried the girl's roots and now she stood, faceless, with no identity, bound to the soil of her ancestors by only a string of origami banknotes.

Her daughter had forgotten her mother's values. Her wants were so ephemeral; that of a modern woman. Power, Wealth, access to the best fashion boutiques, and yet her daughter had not found true happiness. The old woman knew that you could find happiness with much less. When her daughter left the earth everything she had would count for nothing. People would look to her legacy and say that she was a great woman, but she would be forgotten once the wind blows over, like the ashes of burnt paper convertibles and mansions.

The old woman wished she could go back and erase all her big hopes and prayers for her daughter; now she had only one want: That her daughter be happy. She looked out of the temple gate. She saw her daughter speaking on the phone, her brow furrowed with anger and worry. Being at the top is not good, the woman thought, there is only one way to go from there - down.

The old woman carefully unfolded the plastic bag and spread out a packet of beehoon in front of the altar. Her daughter often mocked her for worshipping porcelain Gods. How could she pray to them so faithfully and expect pieces of ceramic to fly to her aid? But her daughter had her own gods too, idols of wealth, success and power that she was enslaved to and worshipped every day of her life.

Every day was a quest for the idols, and the idols she worshipped counted for nothing in eternity. All the wants her daughter had would slowly suck the life out of her and leave her, an empty soulless shell at the altar.

The old lady watched her joss stick. The dull heat had left a teetering grey stem that was on the danger of collapsing. Modern woman nowadays, the old lady sighed in resignation, as she bowed to the east one final time to end her ritual. Modern woman nowadays want so much that they lose their souls and wonder why they cannot find it.

Her joss stick disintegrated into a soft grey powder. She met her daughter outside the temple, the same look of worry and frustration was etched on her daughter's face. An empty expression, as if she was ploughing through the soil of her wants looking for the one thing that would sow the seeds of happiness.

They climbed into the convertible in silence and her daughter drove along the highway, this time not as fast as she had done before.

'Ma,' Bee Choo finally said. 'I don't know how to put this. Mark and I have been talking about it and we plan to move out of the big house. The property market is good now, and we managed to get a buyer willing to pay seven million for it. We decided we'd prefer a cosier penthouse apartment instead. We found a perfect one in Orchard Road. Once we move in to our apartment we plan to get rid of the maid, so we can have more space to ourselves...'

The old woman nodded knowingly. Bee Choo swallowed hard. 'We'd get someone to come in to do the housework and we can eat out - but once the maid is gone, there won't be anyone to look after you. You will be awfully lonely at home and, besides that, the apartment is rather small. There won't be space. We thought about it for a long time, and we decided the best thing for you is if you moved to a Home. There's one near Hougang - it's a Christian home, a very nice one.'

The old woman did not raise an eyebrow. 'I've been there, the matron is willing to take you in. It's beautiful with gardens and lots of old people to keep you company! I hardly have time for you, you'd be happier there.'

'You'd be happier there, really.' Her daughter repeated as if to affirm herself. This time the old woman had no plastic bag of food offerings to cling tightly to; she bit her lip and fastened her seat belt, as if it would protect her from a daughter who did not want her anymore. She sunk deep into the leather seat, letting her shoulders sag, and her fingers trace the white seat.

'Ma?' her daughter asked, searching the rear view window for her mother. 'Is everything okay?'

What had to be done, had to be done. 'Yes,' she said firmly, louder than she intended, 'if it will make you happy,' she added more quietly.

'It's for you, Ma! You'll be happier there. You can move there tomorrow, I already got the maid to pack your things.' Elaine said triumphantly, mentally ticking yet another item off her agenda.

'I knew everything would be fine.'

Elaine smiled widely; she felt liberated. Perhaps getting rid of her mother would make her happier. She had thought about it. It seemed the only hindrance in her pursuit of happiness. She was happy now. She had everything a modern woman ever wanted; Money, Status, Career, Love,Power and now, Freedom, without her mother and her old-fashioned ways to weigh her down...

Yes, she was free. Her phone buzzed urgently, she picked it up and read the message, still beaming from ear to ear. 'Stocks 10% increase!'

Yes, things were definitely beginning to look up for her... And while searching for the meaning of life in the luminance of her hand phone screen, the old woman in the backseat became invisible, and she did not see the tears.

Weekend At Malacca – Saturday Part 1

Last Saturday (27th October 2007), I went to Malacca with my 2 nieces (Ade and Eve) to visit their sister, who is working there. Ange is currently renting a house and will be moving soon to rent a room with her colleague, so before she does that, we decided to make a trip down because in future, it would be difficult for us to stay at her place.

We departed from KL around 11:30am after a breakfast of Pan Mee near my place. Then we went back to my house for a washroom visit before departing on the journey. Ade said she will NOT stop for any wee wee breaks on the way until we reach Malacca !

We reached Ange’s house around 1:30pm in the afternoon, and unloaded all our stuff from the car. Ade then parked her car at the porch, because we’d be travelling around in Ange’s car instead. Ange was hustling us out of the house because she was HUNGRY ! Boy, was she in a foul mood. We had a lot of “cat mee” from her that day and the next ! Hahaha…. So out we went in search of food.

Our first stop was for Taiwan Pork Ribs noodles. We ordered Beef Noodles, Pork Chop noodles and Pork Ribs noodles. The pork noodles were ok, but the beef noodles was tasty. However, the pork ribs and pork chops are very fresh because they are fried only when ordered. They have a branch in PJ as well, so we may be visiting there soon.

Beef noodles

Pork chop noodles

Frying the pork ribs and pork chops

We told Ange that we wanted to have ikan bakar for dinner, followed by a trip to Malacca Zoo for night safari, then back to town for satay celup. But she REFUSED our request for Malacca Zoo night safari, saying that it was far, and that it could not be better than Singapore Zooe’s night safari. Ade also wanted to visit the Crocodile Farm, which was also banned by Ange. Sigh…

After the late lunch, we stopped at Tan Kim Hock where I bought some snacks and durian cake for mom and my colleagues. After that, we went to Jonkers’ Street to jalan-jalan and also to have dessert. We went to the Jonkers’ Street Dessert and ordered 2 bowls of cendol and 2 bowls of ABC. Deeeeeelicious ! I also bought a cute little carry case there.

Around 4:00pm, we left Jonker Street and went to Mahkota Parade. We needed a nice cool place to shop around while waiting for dinner time. 1st thing we did was a pit-stop at the ladies. Then Ange said she wanted to go to MPH to look for a book. In the end, she bought a Cleo magazine and I bought 2 books ! Sigh….. bookshops are my bane !

We went to Parkson for a while, then decided to have some snacks before dinner, so to McDonalds we went. Ade ordered 2 sundae cones, 6 pieces nuggets and 1 large coke for all of us to share. After that we walked around Mahkota Parade for a bit longer before leaving for dinner.

Weekend At Malacca – Saturday Part 2

Ange said she will take us to a place near a river for our seafood dinner. Her Malacca friends took her there once, and she found the seafood fresh, tasty and affordable. The restaurant is actually beside Sg. Duyung, although I seriously doubt that any duyung (dolphin) can survive in the murky brown water !


We ordered a jug of teh limau ais at the recommendation of the waiter, who said that the coconut water on that day doesn’t taste so good. Then Ange and Ade went to choose their seafood.

They ordered cockles, fried large prawns, razor clams fried with ginger and siakap fish cooked the “Heaven & Hell” way, meaning ½ grilled with sambal, the other ½ steamed in banana leaves. I also took a packet of their nasi lemak (it was very small) to try the sambal cili and to share with my nieces.

The fish, cockles and prawns were yummy and fresh. But the razor clams, I think Chinese’s way of cooking taste much better. The cockles and fish goes very well with their cili. We also ordered a piece of otak-otak each. All of these washed down with the teh ais limau. *Buuurrrpppp* *satisfied look*

My only advice is that if you do go there, make sure to carry with you either Tiger Balm or Mopiko or any mosquito repellent. While you make a meal out of the seafood, they make a meal out of you !

Weekend At Malacca – Saturday Part 3

Our night is not over yet. We still wanted to go to Malacca Zoo for night safari but our dictator tour guide Ange refuse to go. She said if we wanted to go, she can drive us home, then we can take her car and go. Sigh….. What a tyrant. Hehehe

So she took us back to Jonker Street, where she said there is a night market on Saturday, but we told her we don’t want to go pasar malam. KL also have mah … hehehe. So we went to Tesco Malacca because she needed to buy some drinking water. We walked about in Tesco and aside from the water, we also bought Shandy, Famous Amos and a packet of Mamee Funkees.

Then she remembered that there is a nice putu piring which she liked. The putu piring is made by a Chinese Apek and his wife, and it was really tasty, with lots of coconut shreds inside. Probably the taste was enhanced by the nice gula melaka. We had a piece each.

Because we wanted to try satay celup, we found ourselves outside Capitol Satay, queing for our seats at 10:00pm. There were lots of people and while waiting, we saw a table outside with about 5-6 person. They asked for the bill, and when the girl came to calculate, she had a whole bunch of sticks in her hand ! There must have been about 70-80 sticks in there.

We waited for about 30 minutes before we got a table. Ange, Ade and Eve went to choose what to eat while I waited for the table to be cleared. For our satay celup, we had a mixture of sotong, meat balls, kangkung, prawns, foo chuk, etc.


We then ordered 3 coconuts and a can of 100 plus.

Firstly, they put a “pail” of satay sauce in the middle of the table. Then after a while, a girl came with 2 huge scoops of nuts and proceeded to mix them into the satay sauce. When the sauce began to boil, we started to put in the sticks.



Truth be told, the satay sauce has mixture of spices in them, which I don’t really fancy, but I don’t mind eating. I may visit again in the future, just for fun but it will not be in my “Must Have” list. However, both Ade and Eve didn’t like it. After the satay celup, we decided to call it the day and went back home to shower and sleep. Our makan spree is to continue the following day.

Weekend trip to Malacca

Just came back from Malacca today after a weekend there. I went to Malacca with my nieces and stayed with my eldest niece, who is working there. We reached Malacca on Saturday around 2pm, and from then onwards, it was a makan spree !

Yep, we ate from afternoon till supper , then began again today from afternoon onwards until dinner. No breakfast coz we all woke up around 10:30am, so jumped straight to lunch. Basically, these were our eating itinerary :

27th October 2007
* Beef noodles and pork ribs noodles
* Cendol and ABC at Jonker Street
* McDonalds sundae and nuggets
* Seafood dinner with nasi lemak at Sg. Duyung
* Putu piring
* Satay celup

28th October 2007
* Nyonya food
* Sabah, Pahang, Kelantan & Perak coffee with Malteses cheesecake
* Birds' nest drinks
* Pork organs soup with fried mee sua noodles, rojak buah, fried oysters, char kuey teow and satay

I have the photos of the food taken, will blog and show them later.

My Leng Chai Is BACK !

Yes ! Yes ! Yes ! My leng chai is back with me now ! Although he cost me RM115.67, it was worth it. Many told me to just change him, but I can't ! I won't ! Not my leng chai !

Hehehehe......... We'll be going to Malacca for the weekend, and he shall help me to take many beauuuuutiful photos... YES !

O.... for the uninitiated, my leng chai is my Sony Ericsson K750i..... haha.

Popeye Is Back Home !

Yep, my Popeye is back home on Sunday. It was raining cats and dogs (no pun intended !) when he arrived in the van. He was so excited that his tail was wagging non-stop the whole time, but there was no time to greet and pat him.

Mom quickly sent him back to the kennel and returned the leash to the driver. However, Popeye was not letting us off the hook so easily. He was howling loudly, probably shouting as to why we didn't go and see him, and let him sniff at us.

So I had to go out to the kennels, to see him, pat his head, etc etc. And he didn't stop howling until mom did the same. Talk about being pampered ! I pop my head next door to see how Gable was doing, and guess what, he must have thought he saw a ghost !

He was sitting in the furthest corner of the kennel, and he was shivering ! Hahahaha..... what a stupid dog ! The more Popeye howled, the more he shivered !

For the past few days, Popeye has started scratching himself again, and at certain places, the skin is turning red again. Mom just gave him a bath again yesterday. Just don't understand why is it that when he was at the vet he can actually get so much better, but back home he scratches so much again. Sigh.....

Hopefully this time round with more baths, he'll get better and better. And I think Gable's getting jealous of all the attention Popeye is getting, coz when he is let out, at times he will just stand in front of Popeye's kennel and bark at him. Naughty leh.....