Yours Toothfully by Dr Chan Joon Yee

Anyone who has read the editorials and answers to letters from readers in the late Isaac Asimov’s magazines in his last years would have been struck by one of the world’s greatest sci fi writer’s wit, humour and sheer arrogance. He obviously received literally tons of letters - much more than he could have possibly read - let alone reply. So it would seem that he had picked out a few and replied them in the nastiest ways that only a creative genius like Asimov could have managed. Many people found him cruel and undeserving of the description of humanist he gave himself.

Controversial, but I found it highly entertaining. But Asimov was not always like that. He was one of the world most prolific writers, having at least 500 books to his name. As vice president of Mensa, he often talked openly about his reluctance to be associated with an organisation full of megalomaniacs. Asimov was often described as an approachable man who was pleased to give talks and answered thousands of letters written to him.

Then, the great Soviet-born American writer suffered a heart attack. He had to go for a major bypass in 1983 and though the surgery was a success, Asimov, very unfortunately, received HIV-tainted blood transfusions. The truth of his HIV infection was only revealed to the public recently as his family was afraid they might be ostracised.

If the internet as we know it existed when Asimov was slowly dying, he must have received a lot more electronic mail than letters. He would have been overwhelmed by all the comments, criticisms, suggestions and long, rambling stories. Would you have reacted in the same way that Asimov did? Perhaps not with the same style, but I doubt you would have a lot of patience or compassion to address every single issue, every single individual.

With the internet around, many busy people who depend on it for one reason or another will need to deal with countless comments, suggestions and questions. You may not be a dying man or woman. But what if the comments and questions start to get overwhelming? What if some of them some like a nuisance?

There is a Burmese saying that if someone cheats you once, you blame the cheater. If the same person cheats you three times, you blame yourself. Yet, there are people who insist and demand that you believe them even after they have lied to you 3 times. There may be people who have betrayed you more than 3 times and

“I thought you’re a nice guy.”

yao mo gao chor ah? Must nice guys be foolhardy guys too?

“I thought you’re a nice guy. Why can’t you help me claim from my company by making a fake record?”

“I thought you’re a nice guy. Why can’t you use my Medisave to pay for root canal. I’m sure there is something you can do.”

” I thought you’re a nice guy, why can’t you neglect your family and come do our cases at 9pm?”

It’s audacious, but once you gain some reputation as a nice guy, you keep getting challenged to uphold your reputation by bending over backwards for others. As the feedback, requests, suggestions etc overwhelm us, we will begin to empathise with Isaac Asimov in his final days. Life is never long enough for anybody. Healthy or sick, we are all living on borrowed time. There is so much to do and so much to ignore, so many nasty letters to send so that we can do as much as we would like to with the limited time that we have.

Crescent moon of the 7th month
Beams gently down
On the narrow, wavy path
To Punggol Beach

A string of amber bowls
Hanging from metal branches
Tears a winding path of brightness
Amid scrawny trees
Touched by an icy finger

The drying floor
The vapour of the woods
The cracked rubber seed pods
Under my rapid steps
Crunching in the stillness

The road rises and falls
Teasing my happy feet
Like a concrete sea
That leads to the beach

My pounding heart sinks
At the end of the road
The concrete path is growing into the sea
A natural beach is not beautiful enough
Trucks and diggers will make the cut

Turning back, I head for home
Save for the “good brothers”
I’m all alone.
A car drives past, the driver looks cold
I’m human or spirit, he never will know.

Generalisation (generalization), is usually regarded with complete negativity - especially by well-educated, sophisticated and politically correct individuals. To them, the person who generalises jumps to conclusions based on limited experience. He is also simplistic and immature. When these generalisations apply to certain cultures or peoples, he may even be branded a racist or sexist.

The Chinese have a saying that discourages generalisation too. It translates as knocking everyone overboard with the same bamboo pole.

The dictionary says that to generalise is:

1. to form (general principles or conclusions) from (detailed facts, experience, etc.); infer
2. to think or speak in generalities, esp in a prejudiced way

I suspect that even the politically correct people who condemn others for generalising are themselves guilty of it at one time or another. Is it pure coincidence that all departmental stores have their cosmetics department right at the front entrance? Or is there some unsavoury sexist generalisation involved?

“Hello sir. Congratulations, sir. You’ve just won a free ticket to the Maldives and we would like to invite you to collect your ticket at our office….”

Wow, you’ve just won a prize. But wait a minute. There’s no such thing as a free lunch (a very popular generalisation). Would you need to attend a 30-minute presentation before they give you the ticket? No harm listening, but what if they use hardsell tactics to pressure you to take up some timeshare scheme? It’s an old scam and calling it an old scam is actually another act of generalisation. You haven’t met the smooth-talking, sincere-sounding guy at the other end. You are actually jumping to conclusions if you hang up the phone or tell him to keep the ticket for himself. Would you fear being condemned for generalisation and attend the presentation? Would you give every free lunch offer a fair hearing before deciding that it isn’t a free lunch?

Not being as sophisticated and politicaly correct as some people, I’m not so averse to generalising. Life is unpredictable. But there are certain patterns of behaviour which we observe as we gain more experience. Every time we apply our instincts and experience to a new situation, we are generalizing. And the success that so many experienced people in every field of art, science and business enjoy only goes to show that the trouble with generalisations, is that they are generally true.

Another reason for generalisation has to do with age. At an age when people lament: “If only I knew…”, you know that time is not on their side. I doubt I would have another 46 years to make the same mistakes I made in the last 46 years. At this age, I find it easier and easier to understand why so many older fogies are so quick to judge. Listen to the more successful ones and you’ll find them not just very confident but also very prejudiced. I had the pleasure of meeting quite a few of them in Thailand during my younger days. At that time, my politically correct mind went diametrically against their swift, prejudiced judgement and conclusions. Fortunately for me, it didn’t take me too long to admit defeat and acknowledge their distasteful, prejudiced wisdom.

It’s a bit harsh to say that a leopard never changes its spots (another popular generalisation). It’s even harsher not to give a person a second chance, but then again, life is short. What do you lose by not giving a person with a “history” (of betrayal, dishonesty etc) a chance when the world is full of people without that “history”? Does it really benefit you to be so forgiving? Does it really benefit you to be so politically correct and non-judgemental? I may want to experiment if I have many more years to squander. Not when life is so short. Time to move on and trust my instincts and experience in dealing with new, unfamiliar things.

Recently, there was a new stall at the food court at Lucky Plaza Level 6. They sold 擂茶, a “dish” which consists of rice with an assortment of crush nuts and vegetables accompanied by a bowl of “soup” made from tea.

擂茶is clearly a Hakka dish. As for its origins, I may need to make a trip to my ancestral home to interview the Hakka people there. But as for the name, 擂茶 I know for a fact that it certainly does not mean “thunder tea”.

The Chinese word 擂 means to strike or pound. And there are many levels of 擂. When you punch someone flat in the face, you can call that 擂. When you pound on a drum with your fists, that is also called 擂. When someone massages you with his elbow or fist, that can also be called 擂. Hence, 擂茶 is called 擂茶 because it involves a lot of pounding and grinding. The ground ingredients, including tea leaves, are made into a soup. This is eaten with rice sprinkled with more ground ingredients.

擂茶is often a more or less vegetarian dish. The example you see in the picture is vegetarian except for the ikan bilis. It’s filling but not fattening - excellent for weight watchers. Just don’t call it “thunder tea”.