Hitching A Local DJ | Contentment Is Great Gain

Intro

Since January of 2021, I've been fetching my children to school, almost 20km away.

I have only decided to be a hitch driver on April of 2022. Not familiar with roads; having to take a stranger in the car, especially during the pandemic; etc contributed to the procrastination.

It must have been the realisation that one can never be ready for anything at anytime, that I jumped in and just do it.

Here are stories from one of these journeys...

Hitching A Local DJ | Contentment Is Great Gain

I have arrived early to school that morning, 19th day of the ninth month of 2023, that I managed to accept an ideal booking that would take me home just in time for my Skype call appointment.

At first, looking at the name of the rider, I thought it might be him, but then I rationalised a public figure probably would not book a hitch ride (and why not???). The name looked feminine anyway, so I was to expect a young and energetic lady.

Having not arrived early and trying to buy time with messaging, the rider finally appeared in my rear view mirror, walking hurriedly towards my vehicle, with the thick, unkempt hair moving to the same rhythm.  Though the person had quite a pretty face, the moment I concluded he was a man, I knew it was him- the DJ of the radio station I tuned in daily with my mother.

He got into the car with that voice I knew quite well, unassuming, very courteous (and I would discover later in the journey, no airs at all.).

I greeted him the same and stayed cool and quiet for the first few seconds of driving off.

He might be wondering then, umm…is this guy from earth or what.

I finally commented, “If I let you in my car and I gotta be tuning in to FM 9-.- station!”, I said candidly. He replied responsively with a burst of enthusiastic honesty, “No, no, no, sometimes it’s good to listen to….(he went on to name a few other competitor stations)...for a change...”

We ended up talking the whole way, much like his professional radio persona, ranting endlessly with his co-host or listener. Yet he was genuinely attentive to what I would say and equally responsive. This makes the conversation so unexpectedly pleasing, thinking I might be dominated by his ideals. This, I must say, left a great impression on me.

In one of our conversations, he commented that he's just another common resident. I replied that to me, he is considered a local celebrity. He reacted, "I am just a (打工仔) salaryman."

We talked about food and recommended him a restaraunt I frequent recently for north eastern Chinese cuisine. To my surprise, he googled for it as we talked and noted it down on his mobile. "I have not ben there before." he replied. But he has been to the other more popular one. I told him that I found this shop because of the excessive long in that famous one! He joked that we should each try the other shop we have not been!

He concluded that I must love to eat meat skewers. I replied that I go there mostly for the beer!
"Meat with alcohol! A man's great pastime!, he replied calmly. "I love to drink too.", he said. "I only do beer", I replied. He say he likes all types, beer, wine, whiskey. But since he works the late evening shift, a little tough to find an appropriate time and friends to drink with.

I asked him if he had gotten local citizenship since he's been here for 10 years. He said he had his PR application rejected once and as we spoke, is waiting for his re-application to be approved.

"Will you be considering for citizenship?" I asked.

"The fact that I've been here longer than I should, suggest that I have already decided to do that.", he replied.

He said every country has her good and bad. Weighing them, he found Singapore to have more of the former. And why not, one of the most valuable passport in the world!

He hope to have a property to his name, since he is now renting. To this he felt two steps behind.
I told that which ever state we are in, we need to be contented. He exclaimed, "Easy for you to say, you have a family, and house and a car!!!"

I liken his renting status to someone I know, who is very successful in his line of work, very much an influencer, he probably can purchase a Good Class Bungalow if he choose to, but decided to not own any property. He now lives on rented property with his family.

That is his life choice, but I just want to say this, even to myself, that at any stage of life we are in, whatever financial, estate, career status we are in. Whether you have less than ten dollars in your bank account or a hundred million, we need to be contented in life.

As we approached the end of his journey, I put it to him, "Sometimes the desires of our heart, or the desired income level we are chasing, even as we see them in advertisements, are they really our heart desire or are we living another person's dream? Do we really know what we really want?"

After these words left my mouth, I can almost feel, at the back seat of my car, this public figure of a rider, this diligent DJ, this man of great eloquence, was left silence for a moment, as if a deep revelation hit him. A light so bright, that allowed him a brief window to see what a real life is to him.

I know that happened to him, because no rider has ever alighted my car, turn back on purpose to bid me farewell. For a moment, he allowed me to feel something royal about me. I cannot remember the bowing action he did, but I will remember the aura around him, his eyes widened slighly, as if to relive the bright experience he did moments ago.

His parting words were, "感恩“ (grateful), of which I am more so, for this awesome thirty minutes of a hitch ride.

P.S. The soothing instrumental music playing from my car audio, never got distracted by that radio station. "Sometimes it feels really good to listen to such music." he said with his sleepy eyes closed, halfway in the journey.