iskandar jalil.
the mrt took a sudden brake and the guy next to me bump into me a little bit almost losing his balance. i look up from my book and saw a familiar side view. hmmmmm…i tried to pretend not to be looking at him so obviously. i remembered he got on at kembangan station..so that make me doubly sure he was who i think he was.
yeah…he’s one of singapore’s most highly regarded potter or ceramist. iskandar jalil. i first heard and met him when i was still in design school. he was still teaching pottery at that time. unfortunately i didn’t get to take his class, even though i have long heard that he’s a brutal old man. for the good of his students and keeping the standards…that’s how i see it. but i can truly understand how it feels like to have your piece of work (which you probably spent days and nights on) pushed down the ledge 3 stories high. and that’s it..start all over again…
he is a physically fit old man (68 years old now). i have heard that he will do runs from his house in kembangan to the changi airport and back. i have personally see him at the fitness corner of east coast park doing pull-ups and sit-ups. amazing…and i remember his little scooter which has a shelter over. nice..
back then he just to have his own kiln in his own backyard of the house. but he eventually had to give it up because of complaints from his neighbours. it was with that much used kiln that he produced many pieces of great work. he then moved to mandai where they have workshops with the longest kiln in singapore, for sculptors and potters like himself. it’s one of those things like hawker center food…the taste is always different if they move to a new location or a new place….i remember him saying that nothing beats the good old personal one at home he had for the longest time…the new one just doesn’t produce the same result anymore.
he actually offered me a seat when somebody got up in the mrt. i just smiled to him and said i was getting off the next stop. (he sure is quite a gentleman as he offered another lady another seat just before this) he nodded and return a smile to me before getting off at bugis station.
somehow i was happy to see him again..partly because i remember i had friends who were in his class and he will call them cockroach and monkeys in hokkien…haha..
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