Just yesterday, I experienced a most delightful night of
essentially, intercultural communication. Let me give you an overview. In my
church, there is a community of Telugu believers, and many among them are construction workers. My friends from
church organised this special event to show our brotherly and sisterly
love for them, and I was there to help out. They were the VIPs for the night;
we Singaporeans barbequed food, served them and mingled with them.
That's us singing an action song! I'm in black on the left. My new Telugu friend, Aqulla, in orange, is behind the white table.
I observed that several Telugu stood in close proximity and had
no qualms about physical contact when chatting with us. This was definitely not
our usual mode of interaction. Once, when we took a photo together, Aqulla, my
new Telugu friend, asked me to shift closer to him, which I did gladly, and we
put our arms around each other’s shoulders. I deliberately reciprocated his warm gestures
so as to show him that I value him just as any other friend. Aqulla and I
exchanged numbers at the end of the night, and even shared with me some of the struggles
he faces at work. I was really touched by the warm-hearted Telugu, and also
surprised by how rapidly our relationships developed. It was not just between Aqulla
and I; my other Singaporean friends also had similarly wonderful though
unfamiliar experiences last night.
“No one in Singapore treats us so kindly. Some are even
afraid of us.” I quote this line from a Telugu representative during our closing
speech. It gave me mixed feelings. Though glad that they were blessed that
night, it pained my heart to know that this was an exceedingly rare occasion
for them, and that the next day, they would return to a harsh world. Therefore,
we should spread the word - to apply our understanding of cultural differences
and have an open, non-judgmental attitude towards the various ‘strange’
cultures.
