Culture Vulture

I'm Peranakan, and proud to be so. I was in the you-know-where doing you-know-what and reading the Today papers, when I happened to come across a little column featuring PERANAKANS, sparked by the recent opening of the Peranakan Museum at Armenian Street. So a little background history of me. Both my mum (confirmed, double confirmed) and my dad (as far as he knows, he's kinda sure, but it's a bit too shady cos' he was brought up by his aunt) are Peranakans, and so is my brother (duh), cousins, grandparents (except one grandma I think), and so on. We are the quintessential Peranakan family, all except one thing, we don't eat Peranakan food at home. Now my mum is Peranakan Chinese-Malay; my Grandpa has Peranakan blood but is considered Malay, while my Grandma is the Peranakan exception. Unfortunately my mum only cooks Western, and I do really mean only. So all we eat (under her) is pasta, and the likes. My dad on the other hand is like so traditionally Chinese, and he cooks pretty good Chinese, though he mainly only cooks Chili Crab because he's quite lazy to cook. So till now, no Peranakan food (except occasional eat outs, and surprisingly my maternal Grandma's cooking. We have good belachan though). How sad is that right?

But anyway, I found the article really cool cos' it rang so so true. Cos of the foodie thing, I always felt not-very Peranakan even though I really do wear it loudly on my sleeve. But the article is so awesome, cos' it spelt out some common characteristics and behaviors of Peranakans and I felt like I was looking at a literary mirror.

1. "But some say Peranakans have unique features, such as bigger eyes, sharper facial features and a darker complexion that most Chinese". So a general no to the first and third, but a loud yes to the second. While I'm obviously sorely lacking in the anime-eyes department, my eyes can be extended to quite a large proportion, so we could count that as a half? As for the second feature, well, I myself think I have quite sharp features and in this case especially my eyes and cheeks. And I guess it's true cos' I remember a few years back when I told this older lady that I was Peranakan, she replied that she had thought so because of my sharp features. As for the third, I'm so freaking white la. But I think this is probably due to my Grandma cos' she, my mum, closest cousin and closest uncle are like almost albino la and contrastingly, my dad, brother and Grandpa are pretty dark. So fair is fair eh?

2."babas are truly mama's boys""They are all spoilt""Until today, all Peranakan men are lazy. They behave like kings." True.

3."Behind the veneer of propriety and solid work ethic, the Peranakans of yore were genuine party animals". Kinda parallels how guai and law-abiding I am in school, and like doing so much work in the SC, and yet to an extent being able to party still. (Not that I party la, but I mean have like loads of crazy fun)

4. "Young descendants speaks Singlish, English and a smattering of Mandarin (a totally-alien language to them)". SO so true. SO if you think you had it hard for Chinese, think about me! I guess my mum was still part of the older generation, cos she and my dad both speak "baba patois" (which is a Malay-based language that includes a bit of Hokkien) and so Mandarin was so totally "alien" for me. It was like my mum had no basic idea, that when I went to kindergarten, she had to pick up Mandarin along the way so that she could teach me. Even my stupid Chinese name which is so like a girl's, was given by my mum's ex (who became a really good friend)'s grandfather, who like took my name out of the dictionary based on nice meanings. Thanks a lot genius. Haha, anyway I got an E for Chinese! YAY!

5. "Their tendency to speak fast and their uncanny ability to swiftly change topics when they talk." Check. I guess if you know me, you would have probably encountered instances where I just mumble at lightspeed where no one understands me. And proving the second point, I would then change the topic. Haha. Love this point. Allows me to talk to myself without looking crazy. Haha.

6. "Occasionally, one has to mind-read as well". This is due to our tendency to think that the people we are talking to can hear or know our thoughts and then we talk to them on this assumption. Haha, especially in KI, WC always says that I tend to jump my thoughts; like when I was talking about Point 1, then I would think of counters and alternate views, then jump to like point 5 where I reach a conclusion on my part, and start talking about it like everyone knew the in-betweens. I must admit this is quite funny, cos' I had no idea that I was doing that at all till he told me. Haha, but I think my ability to mind-read is pretty poor as compared to my parents, cos' they love to say things out of a sudden like " You know the one that I met the other day when I was coming home..." and I would be like "what one"? But somehow like everyone else except my brother and I can like totally communicate seamlessly without asking "who is that". I'm like !  each time that happens.

 

Well I guess this was pretty boring for most other people, but I think I had fun doing it and analyzing myself as a Peranakan. And at the end of it all, I guess I do feel and behave like a Peranakan. Woohoo to us!