A typical BBQ, Singaporean-style, but right smack in Punggol East with grassroots volunteers helping the Punggol East MP. Chronology: 6pm advance party proceeds to BBQ pit to start fire and set up, and the usual expert suspects are doing the fire fanning and the pengkang-ing 630pm left to go get extra supplies from provision shop at void deck, wah young guy at counter English very good and super polite, not just any neighbourhood provision shop! 650pm people start to stream in, some good ol regulars laughing away, some havent seen a while because busy but so good to see them, some newish faces to inject fresh spirit to the party 7pm theres green tea, chrysanthemum tea, liang teh (our own inside term for beer) and someone brought a bottle of wine with a fancy aerating pourer and soon the chatter gets louder 715pm food still not ready, crowd grows to 30 hungry people, the pengkang experts are sweating and furiously turning the meats, my son gets the first sausage from uncle Azman and he is happily eating while the rest of us wait 725pm someone brings a big tray of home cooked spaghetti and within 10 minutes all finished, with two guys cleaning up the sauce with their spoons, and she is super proud and happy, luckily the satays start to flow 750pm Li Lian arrives with Jacky and their baby daughter, no fanfare for the MP, as she and Jacky blend into the crowd like one of us because she is one of us, he is one of us, laughing, being silly or just catching up, Karys is yawning a lot though :) 815pm another volunteer arrives with his son, and there are now three toddlers and one golden retriever in circulation, many photos are taken with them, the cuties that liven up the party, and they inspire us to take a group photo jammed into a small BBQ pavilion 845pm hunger and thirst now satisfied, the party settles into a collective hum of groups of 3-5 people huddling around and talking about silly and serious topics in turn, the groups always changing members as people move from one group to another, a merry go round 9pm the two topmost topics are GE and the Seng Kang West columbarium issue, and the former elicits jibes and jokes and the latter severe shaking of heads and cynical anger, now which one is more deadly serious? 910pm the energy level is going down, the 40+ people are less huddled now, dispersing to sit around in the pavilions and stone benches, the fire is dying, but there is a revival when Amy brought down more beers and her pup to join the gang 920pm Qiqi and Cat fire up sparklers, and they create more smoke than the BBQ smoke, everyone smiles, Cat is most happy! 935pm come come eat the sambal stingray and otah, everyone is full but there is the food at the bottom of the box the pengkang kings are now cooking up, and the stingrays are going faster than the otah, a funny sight of people digging into hot aluminum foils they are holding with their finger tips 10pm time to pack up, and everyone moves to clear up what needs to be cleared up, no need central command, all chipping in when they see something to be done, lots of communicating, no ordering or wayang-ing, we are the grassroots, we are the swarm, and we had fun!
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 15:43:17 +0000
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