Never judge a man by his inks
I do have friends who tattooed their bodies. They might have the physical outlook of gangsters (ahh, those stereotypes) but such kind hearts they have! On the contrary, some preppy, scholarly types turned out to be scums of society who swindled money from friends/clients, abandoned their children and committed crimes which you wouldn't have otherwise attributed to them.
Anyway, I remember, our community trip to a Native American reservation in South Dakota, USA many, many moons ago. I cheekily told the girls in the group that I looked forward to meeting some chiselled-faced Native American lads with their long locks and hot bods. Alas, was I disappointed when there were only old people and very young children living at the reservation. Suicide rate among the teens and young people was high as they battled hopelessness living in some far-forsaken, barren land. Alcoholism and incest were among the problems faced by those living in the reservation. But, that is another story for another post.
Recently, I met a grungy-looking, long-haired, more-artist-than-rocker dude. Or should I say Mat (Malay slang for guy) as he is from Asia. Let's call him Mat S, S being the state where he is from. I was explaining to a group of artists doing their artist residency in Kampong Gelam about gentrification and the mushrooming of tattoos parlours in my old neighbourhood. I later found out that Mat S is a tattoo artist. *mampuih* ("die", an expression); I felt bad as I was running my mouth off about the industry that he is in.
So I reached out to the lean Mat S (he has a preppy name). He told me to chill; he wasn't offended by my disgruntle of his profession. I said that I appreciate all forms of art, and commented that his tattoos looked good on him. What a corny, pick up line! Wait, wait, I wasn't flirting with him. I was just curious about this foreign artist with inks.
Mat S is actually shy. He told me that his English language is not so good and hence, he is rather quiet. He shared about the work he does (besides his tattoo business) with marginalised communities. He is part of Pungrok Sulap. Pangrok is a colloquial term for 'punk rock', sulap (in Dusun language) is a hut used by farmers = “Punk rock rest hut”. The collective of artists, musicians and social activists empower the rural communities through art. However, some of my stereotypes about bad boys seem to be true with Mat S. He smokes and seems a bit of a rebel. He dislikes working for people and thus, he tried out tattooing as a form of being independent and making it out on his own. Other than that, Mat S's social activism, him living the rugged life with the tribal communities and helping them is inspiring, and I must say, is quite hot.
Alas, Mat S is going home next week. But I will remember our short meetings in the rain and conversations over horlicks halia and talam ubi. See you again, dampot koruba ka'agu.
ps. Sonny Bill Williams, the former All-Blacks rugby player, has tattoos too. After becoming a Muslim, he performed the umrah in Makkah (see photo in 'The Hot Guy'). Ultimately, God looks at the heart of man and not the inks on his body.
*Image: the sexy Bret Michaels of the rock group Poison. He suffers from Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) and uses his popularity to educate people about the illness. He won Celebrity Apprentice 3 and earned $640,000 for the American Diabetes Association. Ahemm... abang Bret, did you know that I had published a children's picture book on T1D?
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