A Sketch for a Smile

I was looking around for an empty table laden with my tray of lei cha fan (Thunder Tea Rice, a Hakka dish of rice with vegetables, anchovies, tofu, peanuts and a green tea mix of spices and herbs), and the middle aged Chinese man (whom I think was in his early 50s) seated at the table nearest to the stall, said cheerily to me, you can sit if you want. It was in Suntec City so the people were all largely office workers or people attending the conventions nearby.

His accent was not local. It didn't sound mainland Chinese either although I could be wrong, so he was either more cosmopolitan than I thought or someone from Taiwan, Hong Kong or China who had spent some time in the US and learned his English from US teachers as the accent had just that hint of the American.

Now, if you've lived in Singapore for any length of time, you'll realise that Singaporeans are not given to showing much cheery politeness to passing strangers. They're a kind hearted lot, but rather gruff. So I was surprised and of course accepted. It would have been terribly rude not to under the circumstances.

I sat there, wolfing down my lei cha fan, but politely trying not to meet his eye which meant I had to keep my eyes lowered since he was directly across me. I'm not the sort who's much into small talk and while he seemed nice enough, I didn't feel I should oblige him to making conversation when he'd already been so kind as to offer me a seat at his table in a semi-crowded food court.

As I was halfway through, I finally looked up and he and I made some conversation about the food we were eating since we had both chosen the same dish from the same stall. Then he reached into his black bag on the table next to his empty bowl, and he took out a piece of rough paper, (obviously recycled from a printer with one side printed and two holes punched in the side) and a black felt tipped pen. He proceeded to start sketching.

I could not at first tell whom he was sketching and asked if he was an artist. It turned out he was an engineer, apparently a mechanical and structural one (presumably he meant just mechanical). He said he was sketching the girl behind as she looked sad and he wanted to make her smile.

I glanced behind me, while trying to make it look casual, and yes, there was a young woman seated behind, Chinese Singaporean no doubt with long hair and dark rimmed glasses and pale skin. She looked serious and intent on her food.

He said he would give her the sketch when he was done and it would make her happy. She was so sad, according to him. As she was finishing, he hurried his sketch and in the meantime, while his pen was flying across the paper, he said that I should give it to her since then not just he and the girl would be happy but I would too. I was intrigued and amused. The thought did cross my mind that he might be trying to pick her up but as it was a fairly imaginative way of getting a girl's attention, and he did not seem pushy, I agreed. I became his wingman, in a sense.

I took his sketch, got up and sat in the chair across from her and put the sketch on the table in front of her, saying, this is for you. It's a portrait of you. I waited a short while for that to sink in and as she took up the piece of paper, said with a wave in the direction of the artist, and here is the man who drew it for you. He said he wanted to make you happy as you looked sad so he drew this for you.

She was surprised at first and took the paper up and took a closer look. At first she said, it doesn't look like me, which was somewhat discouraging for the hapless artist, but after staring at it for a few more minutes, a shy smile spread across her face and she looked up to the artist and asked if she could keep it. Naturally he said she could. And to those who were wondering, at no point did he try and give or ask for either of our contact numbers or elicit any personal information, so I think he really was doing it out of a desire to make us smile and nothing more.

I have to say he was right, he made three people happy. It kinda lit up my day and I'm sure it did hers too. It set me at ease and maybe that's why he did it. A gesture of grace and artistry stretched across an ordinary day and suddenly it was filled with light and laughter again. From the kindness of a stranger with whom I had the luck to share a table.