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Re–Inventing Spaces I

Explore a writer's reflections on change, memory, and family ties, sparked by the shophouses of Keong Saik. See how reinvention can mean staying the same, yet becoming different.

Last updated 8 September 2026
White-framed window with vertical bars reflecting a street and showing a dimly lit interior with warm lights.

The vertical lines, the bars on the windows remind me of Cuppage Terrace.  It is “Where I’m From” all over again.  The design and the materials used to construct these shop-houses are the same.  Back then at Cuppage Terrace, the bars were painted green and they were set into yellow walls.  Now, these here at Keong Saik are mostly painted white.  One trait that these shop-houses share is that both locations are now overrun by F&B outlets.

I was asked what re-invention meant to me at the beginning of today’s writing marathon.  I had responded with ‘Same, Same but Different’.  Sometimes, I wonder what it would be like if things had remained the same.  What if Uncle and Dad hadn’t gone bankrupt?  What if the bicycle shop was still around?  Would I still have chosen to become a teacher?  Would I now be a shop towkay instead?  I guess the towkay outcome would not have materialised.  I am not the sort who is smart enough or creative and innovative enough to re-invent the business.

I wonder how many businesses which were thriving back then are still around today.  They are definitely not at Cuppage Terrace but would they have found their niche in specialised industrial sites or malls?  The antique shop at the corner?  The lighting and furniture shop at the other corner?  The electrical appliance shop?  The atas jewellery shop?  Where are they now?

The bicycle shop had so much potential.  I believe it was the very thing that held the whole family together: Uncle’s and Dad’s.

Now, the families feel so far apart.  We relate only when something happens to Granny.  What will happen when Granny eventually gets called home?  Actually, I don’t dare ask this question as it calls for me to be the answer.  Will I be committed to be the one to take action, be pro-active in bringing the families together?  Even if I commit myself to such a task, I am afraid my efforts will be rebuffed.  Maybe, maybe not.  After all, it is kinship and family ties that I will be dealing with.  Maybe, I’m the one who must re-invent: to be ‘same, same but different’.