6. Three Myanmar Elephant Tales

Saturday, Sep 5, 2009, 6pm Dempsey Hills, Singapore

THREE MYANMAR ELEPHANT TALES - PART 1

Black Magic Woman (BMW) who had arranged a meeting with the general trader (GT) from Myannmar sat opposite me in the alfresco corner of this Italian Restaurant said, "Do you notice that each dining tables here display a yellow rose?"
"Yes," I gazed at the long row of dining tables, each having a yellow rose in a cup prominently positioned in the middle of the snow white table cloth. "What's the significance?"

"Giving yellow roses mean that you want to break up your relationship with your girlfriend. Red roses mean you love her. Men will not know such matters."

Were the yellow roses eliciting unhappy memories for BMW who was in the generation where relationships were fragile as glass and where divorces amongst her circle of friends were common? Such that she was not interested in ordering dinner?

"There is a waiter who kept staring at me," she announced when GT asked whether she would order her food. My back was to the waiter while she was seated opposite me at this corner. "Do you notice that?" BMZ asked the GT who was her old friend. The GT nodded.

Visual harassment can be quite distressing. "Let's go elsewhere," I consoled BMW. "Be glad that you are not a wall flower. You must have animal magnetism. Maybe you reminded the waiter of his long lost love in India. Many Singapore women would want to trade places with you."

"I am a Muslim, not an Indian," BMW corrected me vehemently. No alcohol drinks for her as she practised the Ramadan fasting and cleansing of the body through one month of alcoholic abstinence. I kept the peace and said nothing as this would inflame the tensions of racism encountered by BMW in her work. From what I read in her body language, BMW just wanted me to get down to business with the GT within an hour and we would all go home after her introduction.

Business quotations took only 10 minutes. GT quoted for 25% broken rice and terms and conditions for export. Building a relationship of trust with the busy GT whom I met for the second time needed more time, but BMW was not in a good mood for dinner and small talk.

"How about Jumbo Seafood Restaurant?" I asked BMW who was not too keen on a Mexican Restaurant. "OK," she agreed.

As GT had a sprained back (leapt upon by his 7-year-old daughter) and was wearing a corset after some treatment by an acupuncturist, I tried getting him a low seat with back rest. The waitress apologised: "Only high chairs at the corner are available." GT should be resting at home if he was an employee but he could not waste time in Singapore as he had business dealings. He climbed up onto the high and narrow chairs in some pain and great difficulty. I shifted one more chair for him to sit as he seemed to have also put on weight. "How come you put on so much weight?" BMW had enquired. "I ate 8 meals a day at home. When I woke up at 5 am. Then I ate breakfast with my daughter. Lunch, dinner and supper. Tea with friends."


To be continued in Part 2