Singaporean Subramaniam Rajoo has been driving buses since 1995. He adores his job, but he also has another passion, cooking.
The 60 year old has now gone above and beyond his duty, by cooking daily for 16 to 20 of his Malaysian colleagues since the movement control order (MCO) began.
When Malaysia announced our MCO on March 17th, Singapore’s public transport operators, including SMRT Corporation, booked hotel accommodation for their Malaysian bus drivers on short notice.
SMRT bus captain Santiran Sukumaran is one of them. The 36-year-old, who hails from Taman Perling in Johor, misses his family dearly, but is persevering.
Things are not easy for Santiran. He does not have the luxury of working from home like many of us do.
Subramaniam, however, rose to the occasion. “With this sudden crisis, two of my bus captains — Saraswathy and Dhanabalan — they approached me to say that a few of our bus captains require home-cooked food,” he said. “I said no problem, I can cook! I told them I can cook for 16 to 20 persons every day.”
And so for over a month, Subramaniam and his family have been cooking for his Malaysian colleagues every single day. The menu includes fish curry, chicken curry with vegetables, appam, papadum, chicken briyani, and mutton briyani,all prepared by himself and his family.
Santiran is grateful for Subramaniam’s kindness, adding that Subramaniam’s fish curry reminds him of his mother’s. “I feel happy eating this home-made food. Don’t need to go the shop to buy.” he said.
Cooking for 16 to 20 people is extremely costly. Subramaniam spends about S$80 (RM246) cooking for his colleagues every day. This eats up a large chunk of his salary. In spite of that, he shows no signs of slowing down. “I like to serve those who are hungry,” he chuckles. “I like to give people food!”
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