TS Eliot concludes his 1922 poem, “The Waste Land”, with three words: Shantih Shantih Shantih. This Sanskrit term for peace is the title of Daryl Qilin Yam’s novella that centers around the implausible idea of a quick snowfall in Singapore in the middle of the night when most people are still asleep. Yam weaves twelve interrelated stories around this snowfall, bringing together a dozen characters from various backgrounds who all find themselves awake at four in the morning.
As Yam writes in an author’s note in the beginning, the stories don’t have to be read in chronological order and will make sense in any order, but perhaps the first story—titled “You”—should be read first because it’s told from the point of view of a writer who has an idea for a book. This story gives a preview of what lies ahead.
It was an idea that had been resting in my mind for a while, but now I finally had a way of picturing it. I envisioned it would be around fifteen to twenty thousand words, which would either make it a novella or a novelette; it would be split across twelve different sections, with each section voiced by a different character.
The title is explained in the eighth story, titled “You Are a Poet”, in which an Indian man named Arman writes to a Filipina domestic helper named Marilyn and tells her about an art installation some friends will create.
Wajid told me how he and Lei were planning to set up a generator here, so that they could power up something that they have designed together. Apparently Lei had gotten his hands on an entire box of neon tubes, from a factory he once worked at, and he wanted Wajid to help twist them and connect all the wires and make the tubes say “SHANTI SHANTI SHANTI”, except with the H added at the end of every word. I don’t know why Lei wants it to be in English, and I don’t know why he needs to add the extra letter H. But I nodded my head at Wajid and wished him all the best. I’m sure the words will look beautiful, lit up on this jetty, hung and mounted on the railings here against the sea.
Some of the characters appear in more than one story. A drag queen named Dinah—after Dinah Shore—is one such character. She appears in the fourth story, “You Go”, narrated by her boyfriend, a cab driver who talks about his favorite places in Singapore, including where he likes to eat, shop, and park while he waits for his next fare. Dinah appears again in the ninth story, “You Are a Plus One”, narrated by the cab driver’s childhood friend, Jalil, who attends a wild party with Dinah on a boat. In the tenth story, “You Are a Stranger to Yourself”, a drunk man falls asleep in Dinah’s car and has a number of dreams, including one in which it’s snowing in Singapore. In this case, the snow appears in a dream, whereas in other stories it sometimes comes in the form of magical realism and in others as a metaphor.
And in a moment of pause you will see the lights, the streetlights, knowing there is one that shines directory above you; but for now all you will see is another golden star, diffused and refracted and transformed into a yellow diamond of a trillion angles, as the snow begins to land on your face and melt over your open eyes, causing your vision to blur. Buddy, you will think to yourself: this is it. This shall be the last thing you will ever get to see.
The book has been compared to Jim Jarmusch’s 1991 film, Night on Earth, five stories set in taxi cabs in five cities around the world. And Yam certainly pays tribute to Eliot’s poem, “The Waste Land”, which involves different narrators and locations. Even though there’s a compelling case for these comparisons, one need not be familiar with either the Jarmusch film or the Eliot poem to appreciate Yam’s unusual structure and thoughtful tribute to his home city of Singapore.
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