Highlights from In Transit: An Anthology
IN TRANSIT: An Anthology is a collection of short stories and poems about airports and air travel.
I was at one of the numerous branches of national libraries when I came across this book. It was placed among a selection of recommended books (Singapore collection) next to the borrowing machines and it caught my eye as I was on the way out.
I am not, by any means, a literary expert but I just wanted to share my thoughts on a few of the passages that I could appreciate (some of the poetry are too abstract for me). Most of the passages originate from Singapore and our famous world-class Changi Airport.
Pocket cities (JY Yang)
This piece is a fantasy, about a young woman travelling abroad on exchange, who discovers that she has a miniature version of Singapore kept in her pocket. Later she realises that her other exchange counterparts also has miniature versions of their own countries. I feel that this is a metaphor, of how when we or our fellow countrymen leave / represent our home country, we always carry a piece of it with us. Sometimes it's almost like we feel responsible for the representation that we are for our country, in the eyes of others. And when our protagonist returns to Singapore, the miniature mysteriously disappears, and that's like returning a small part to the whole again.
Ramblings of a trolley uncle (Ng Seow Hwee)
This is fashioned much like a blog post, in the viewpoint of a trolley uncle working in Changi Airport and his observations of the travellers around him. He constantly links his daily thoughts and life experiences to his discoveries from the people-watching, which is a dissection of happens inside our minds when we all people-watch but don't ever say aloud.
The looker (Jon Gresham)
A story from the viewpoint of screening officers, the people who scan through our luggage as we pass immigration or before we board a flight to elsewhere. This story strikes a chord in me as I realise these people have a very important job but in the airport (or any airport, really) they are just like a background amidst the numerous security screenings and immigration gates. It provides a peep at the thoughts of the people who work day and night in the airport, ensuring our safety against terrorism or other dangerous things, what they are thinking when they are scanning our baggages and bodies for prohibited items.
Watchman (Karen Kwek)
A story of an air stewardess and her younger brother, and their relationship as siblings. For those sisters amongst us who have younger brothers, aren't they sometimes our protectors (and therefore watchmen)? This is their story.
Meat bone tea (Stephanie Ye)
I never knew there was a job as a dining companion. Does it really exist? Anyway, here is a story from the viewpoint of a dining companion, whose job is to provide company and interesting conversation for people who pay her to dine (only dine) with them.
Sometimes, we meet people, only to see them next after a decade or more, and we wonder, will he / she recognize me? A similar rendezvous in Chin Chin (Yeo Wei Wei).
Veera (Kirat Kaur)
The thoughts and experiences of a foreign worker going back to his home country after a worksite tragedy that killed his friend.
Travelling light (Yeoh Jo-Ann)
I don't know about you, but I'm really not keen on airplane conversations with strangers. Hours and hours on a flight, trapped in that small space between the seats, having no choice but to carry on some awkward conversation. At least that is how I imagined it, from what others have told me. This piece is about such a conversation, and how it becomes another's story, to tell other strangers. It is almost as if in the actual life, there is nothing interesting to look forward to or that in front of strangers, we could have an opportunity to have an escape from our usual mundane, disappointing lives.
The poems of Horvalla (Daryl Qilin Yam)
A man travels for the first time in his life after his wife divorces him. He struggles to grasp the reasons, trying hard to discern from the signs of the previous days and his memories of their marriage, while coping with the experience of his first flight and encounters in a foreign country.
Between stations (Boey Kim Cheng)
This piece is about the emotional struggle and conflicts of an emigrant returning to Singapore for a visit. It could not have been more aptly put, as the author mentions, "...you have become a tourist in your own country..." and "...move on a raft of recollections."
This would strike a chord in those returning to their home country, fresh from a prolonged stay in a foreign country, be it work or studies or just life in general.
Public Libraries Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/publiclibrarysg/
In Transit: Anthology
I was at one of the numerous branches of national libraries when I came across this book. It was placed among a selection of recommended books (Singapore collection) next to the borrowing machines and it caught my eye as I was on the way out.
I am not, by any means, a literary expert but I just wanted to share my thoughts on a few of the passages that I could appreciate (some of the poetry are too abstract for me). Most of the passages originate from Singapore and our famous world-class Changi Airport.
Pocket cities (JY Yang)
This piece is a fantasy, about a young woman travelling abroad on exchange, who discovers that she has a miniature version of Singapore kept in her pocket. Later she realises that her other exchange counterparts also has miniature versions of their own countries. I feel that this is a metaphor, of how when we or our fellow countrymen leave / represent our home country, we always carry a piece of it with us. Sometimes it's almost like we feel responsible for the representation that we are for our country, in the eyes of others. And when our protagonist returns to Singapore, the miniature mysteriously disappears, and that's like returning a small part to the whole again.
Ramblings of a trolley uncle (Ng Seow Hwee)
This is fashioned much like a blog post, in the viewpoint of a trolley uncle working in Changi Airport and his observations of the travellers around him. He constantly links his daily thoughts and life experiences to his discoveries from the people-watching, which is a dissection of happens inside our minds when we all people-watch but don't ever say aloud.
The looker (Jon Gresham)
A story from the viewpoint of screening officers, the people who scan through our luggage as we pass immigration or before we board a flight to elsewhere. This story strikes a chord in me as I realise these people have a very important job but in the airport (or any airport, really) they are just like a background amidst the numerous security screenings and immigration gates. It provides a peep at the thoughts of the people who work day and night in the airport, ensuring our safety against terrorism or other dangerous things, what they are thinking when they are scanning our baggages and bodies for prohibited items.
Watchman (Karen Kwek)
A story of an air stewardess and her younger brother, and their relationship as siblings. For those sisters amongst us who have younger brothers, aren't they sometimes our protectors (and therefore watchmen)? This is their story.
Meat bone tea (Stephanie Ye)
I never knew there was a job as a dining companion. Does it really exist? Anyway, here is a story from the viewpoint of a dining companion, whose job is to provide company and interesting conversation for people who pay her to dine (only dine) with them.
Sometimes, we meet people, only to see them next after a decade or more, and we wonder, will he / she recognize me? A similar rendezvous in Chin Chin (Yeo Wei Wei).
Veera (Kirat Kaur)
The thoughts and experiences of a foreign worker going back to his home country after a worksite tragedy that killed his friend.
Travelling light (Yeoh Jo-Ann)
I don't know about you, but I'm really not keen on airplane conversations with strangers. Hours and hours on a flight, trapped in that small space between the seats, having no choice but to carry on some awkward conversation. At least that is how I imagined it, from what others have told me. This piece is about such a conversation, and how it becomes another's story, to tell other strangers. It is almost as if in the actual life, there is nothing interesting to look forward to or that in front of strangers, we could have an opportunity to have an escape from our usual mundane, disappointing lives.
The poems of Horvalla (Daryl Qilin Yam)
A man travels for the first time in his life after his wife divorces him. He struggles to grasp the reasons, trying hard to discern from the signs of the previous days and his memories of their marriage, while coping with the experience of his first flight and encounters in a foreign country.
Between stations (Boey Kim Cheng)
This piece is about the emotional struggle and conflicts of an emigrant returning to Singapore for a visit. It could not have been more aptly put, as the author mentions, "...you have become a tourist in your own country..." and "...move on a raft of recollections."
This would strike a chord in those returning to their home country, fresh from a prolonged stay in a foreign country, be it work or studies or just life in general.
Public Libraries Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/publiclibrarysg/
In Transit: Anthology
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