From his collection of 12 short stories titled 'Corridor', Alfian Sa'at explores a place so ingrained in our HDB flat lifestyles that we take them for granted. In the titular short story 'Corridor' - the corridor becomes a symbol of the harmony/distrust dichotomy between neighbours in HDB flats. Corridors which have been officially lauded as 'common spaces' for Singaporeans to share and connect as taught to us in our Social Studies textbooks, are painted with a tinge of cynicism in Alfian's story. In fact in the short story, the tainted reality manifests itself through a murder that takes place in the corridor. For my creative interpretation post, I have decided to look at these cherished corridors and see what is it that makes them such apt symbols of our lives in Singapore.
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| A typical corridor in a HDB flat. Narrow and concrete floors. |
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| Prison corridors. Narrow and concrete floors |
Whilst the comparison may be too exaggerated the similarities in the picture do not lie. Whilst HDB dwellers are in no way imprisoned, we ARE allocated our own cubes of space. Albeit, it comes with many more amenities and with the newer 'Design & Build' flats - WE MIGHT EVEN GET IT FULLY FURNISHED (!!!)... But in principle, the space we are allocated isnt that much different from prisons. HDB corridors provide a common space for residents but the reality is far from the idealistic picture potrayed by the HDB website. (see below)
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| Ideal neighbours in an ideal neighbourhood |
I for one, have never played with my neighbours along my corridor. In fact, the reality potrayed in Alfian's story is more familiar. "Along our corridor there was a lot of screaming" Yes, that's more like it. The proximity of our houses just meant the corridor acted like a walkway of echoes. Fights in a neighbouring household was broadcasted through the floor whether anyone liked it or not. In this respect,I do lean towards Alfian's potrayal of corridors.
However, I do appreciate when residents make their corridors look like this :-
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| A very beautiful oasis - too bad it's a corridor. |
These corridors just like Alfian's creative work push boundaries with what falls within the 'regulations' of HDB with regards to corridor use. In fact, STOMP (thrashy citizen journalism) is forever rampant with pictures posted by citize-razzis (part time citizen part time paparazzi) of corridors that they feel are treated like (and I quote) 'like they own the place' In a way,branching our private spaces into corridors signify a breaking out of our 'cubes' of life. However instead of signifying a 'shared community life' it lends itself to a more cynical view of how fixed and rigid Singaporean life is.Furthermore, instead of the perfect "My neighbour and I are the bestest of friends" picture that is painted by HDB, we get these pictures instead :-
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| "noisy machinery too much in corridor" - stomp |
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| "inconsiderate neighbour treat commonspace like they own it" - stomp |
In my opinion, corridors are only a necessary evil. They're needed but definitely not wanted. If Singapore was gifted with more land, then I would want a fenced yard of my own. I do not want a 5m long slab or concrete that I have to share with my next door neighbours. But reality is Singapore is land scarce and the majority of us have no choice but to retreat back to our cubes and hope to be amicable enough with our neighbours so they will help us water our plants when we're away on holiday. We cant let them die now can we?
