Often, I would verbally declare my envy of those who stay in the eastside -- They have all sorts of conveniences over there not found in the west, I grumbled. If you suddenly long to feel the salty ocean breeze upon your face, you could drop by the beaches at Pasir Ris or East Coast within mere minutes; If your tummy growled impatiently in the middle of the night, you could easily hop into a cab and head down to the sempang Bedok eateries or the infamous Changi nasi lemak stalls for a sumptuous late-night snack; If you're too lazy to go to Orchard to shop, then the malls at Tampines are almost the perfect alternative; And I've always wondered what it would be like to sip a hot cup of cocoa at Changi airport's Coffee Bean outlet after midnight or simply sit down in the viewing gallery and watch airplanes take off in the night. Seriously, I had thought, these eastside folks are truly fortunate.
However, the earthquake scare, which happened in the wee hours of the morning (or night, if you prefer) a day ago, had me silently thanking God that my parents did not set up roots in the east afterall. I can't imagine what it might be like for the hundreds in Toa Payoh, Sengkang or Rochor who had to evacuate their flats for fear that an earthquake had finally struck Singapore. I also can't imagine what it might be like for those who had hurriedly drove their cars out of multi-storey carparks amidst the confusion... In the event of a real earthquake, do they really have the time to save their Protons, nissans, toyotas, mercs, etc etc???
We in Singapore have it pretty easy; There are no volcanoes, no landslides, no catastrophic floods, no tsunamis, and no earthquakes. All we get are some measley tremors and a few hours of deprived sleep. Ala Taufik Batisah, perhaps it's time I start counting my blessings and be grateful for the little things in life, such as where my parents decided to stay when they decided to upgrade from kampong to flat many eons ago...
(In a nasal drone) I dream... I can run... like the wind... and be strong...~
