Kopitiam*

There is a certain solidarity among the working class that comforts me this Monday morning when my colleague is no longer here. Today I stopped by Tekka market for breakfast and sat with the Indian men and Chinese men, all of us holding our cups of kopi and teh, staring into space. Two Indian men held a conversation in Tamil above my head and the only word I caught of their conversation was this – “kopi” – the league of the Monday Morning Sufferers, the disenchanted, disfranchised, overused – the kopi drinkers. Perhaps this is what the Irish coal miners feel at the end of the day, spending their wages for the day at the local pub while their family go hungry at home. I am much too sentimental for my good. I will cheer myself up with a post on the tale of the never-ending sari. Till later.

* kopitiam - coffeeshop; kopi - coffee; teh - tea