I would never in my entire life thought I would choke back tears while yelling:
“Uncle tapau, please!”
Ever.
The Millions of Tapau
It was a sentence I had repeated thousands of times, almost daily, during my years in Singapore. But I was, in the middle of a buzzing hawker centre, unable to say these words without feeling emotional. Then, finally, I realized that I wouldn’t be using them anymore, at least not as a local, since I am leaving Singapore for good in a few days.
Tapau or Tau Pao, or Ta Bao is a Malaysian slang (that has widely spilled over to Singapore and therefore is a part of Sing-lish), deriving from the Cantonese word Da Bao which means takeaway. Eating out and getting takeaways for breakfast, lunch, and dinner is a quintessential Singapore food culture, making “tapau” a part of the local’s daily life.
Reflecting back, yelling “tapau” was a rite of passage in my life in Singapore. It was the first slang word I learned only days after I migrated there – long before I mastered Teh O, Teh Si, Teh Si Kosong, Teh O Ais Nipis Kurang Manis, Teh Peng (yep, Singapore has a vast vocab for Teh/tea), Meh and Wa La Oh. Looking at it that way, I guess, justifies the emotional breakdown, which was completely ignored by the food stall uncle who shoved the packaged food onto my face in exchange for the crisp five-dollar bill I gave him.
Ta Ta (for now) Tapau
The tau pau of the day was a packet of chicken rice from the same stall in the Pek Kio Market, which I used to eat to cure my hangover during my first year living here seven years ago. I took it back and ate it in the bedroom alone to close off my Tapau ritual one last time.
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