I thought it was called Purple Toast Kopitiam because of the purple sofas. But no... There's purple toast... Made from purple corn flour, which is apparently awash with antioxidants. Who knows if this is true? But the eggy bread cheese sandwich was nice, and so was the (non-purple) three-layer tea.

Purple is also the colour of certain movies, I feel. I guess the connection is purple prose. But I don't mean it disparagingly. Purple is exotic, larger than life, the opposite of under-stated. At times, you need purple movies.

One such was Suamiku, Encik Perfect 10. We saw this at the cinema at Quill (which is our brand new local mall, just two stops down on the monorail, and therefore very exciting). The people in the box-office said there would be subtitles, but there weren't. And we were sat next to Mr and Mrs Wrigglebottom. And the film broke down in the middle, necessitating the rebooting of the kit.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed it. A glimpse into a different cultural perspective: the terrible things that can happen in the big city (London this time); the anguished dilemma about whether the heroine should marry the guy who date-raped her (like, what...?); the scheming, conniving parents (who seem out for heirs or big-ticket daughters-in-law, as opposed to the happiness of their families); but also the ultimate niceness of an awful lot of people.

And it was another wake-up call. Improve your language, Prudence. Improve your Bahasas. Both of them. It can't be that hard.

The previous week we saw Shankar's I.

This is being advertised everywhere at the moment. And it's definitely purple.



It's the usual (incongruous but mesmerizing) mix of violence and romance, slapstick and chases. Whenever a character smokes or drinks, a little advert pops up in the bottom left-hand corner, explaining that this is a bad idea. (Interestingly, there are no little adverts warning you against fighting or climbing on top of trains to chase each other.) And, to an even greater degree than usual, it tramples on any ideas of political correctness. The vengeance is big and purple, and the audience loved it.

But it was visually stunning, with all kinds of gorgeous backdrops and extraordinary effects. And there were some belting good songs.

Purple... We'd all be poorer without it.