Saturdays with BK Uncle

Edit 1: This is something I wrote a long time ago. repurposing for entertainment purposes. any harm thus caused isn't intentional; it happens to be a byproduct.

Nobody knows how old BK Uncle is. Some say he's 60; some say he's awaiting his 80th birthday next month. He's been around for a long time. "Long time" might not seem so long, but for this young flat, it feels like an eternity. Old BK seemed nice; he'd converse with anyone he encountered. The four W's never mattered until they came out of him. People got used to his habits, like any obedient student would in an assembly. Well, most people. My interactions with BK Uncle have been quite amusing on my end and irritating on his.

Incidentally, most of my interactions with BK Uncle happen on Saturdays. Probably because that's when I'm home, and I take a stroll in the lobby. Not so long ago, I'd play with my friends in the same lobby—it didn't matter what day of the week it was. Times have changed, but BK hasn't.

There are a few things about BK Uncle that I find interesting. His ability to seamlessly poke into matters that don’t concern him. That's how we had our first interaction, to be honest. His irrevocable need to exhibit his linguistic skills. And his craving for controlling the flat's association.

I try my best to steer clear of his way. Yet I find myself facing him every time. Since I represent my family at community meetings, one could say it’s quite normal. But here’s the thing—we disagree over a lot of things. And somehow, the conversations tend to take a turn towards language more often than I'd like.

There’s a highly disturbing circular that's been pasted on the walls of all the blocks here. It was about garbage disposal and people’s disregard for separating their waste. The bigger pain is the circular’s disregard for sentence structure. So that day, I began what I’d like to call the “red pen,” except my mom forbade me from using an actual red pen. Whenever I find a circular that disturbs me, I correct it.

Edit 2: It’s been 8 months since I started doing this, and they’re pasting new circulars with corrections made over the ones I write on. It’s been fun playing the game.