When we met Subramaniam s/o Rajoo on Thursday afternoon at Kranji Depot, the spritely 60-year-old was lugging a big bag containing a tub of chicken curry, a huge container of steamed basmati rice, and another box of mixed vegetables.

These were for us, the bus captain said, with a smile even warmer than the food he had brought — a completely unsolicited or needed gesture (we were just meeting for a chat, after all) — that stirred our hearts just from our introductions.

Bus captain for 25 years

Subramaniam has been driving buses since 1995.

"I enjoy driving a lot," he said, adding that before he was a bus driver, he used to drive his own car.

And for 25 years, Subramaniam has been driving a variety of trunk and feeder services.

"When I started in 1995 as a bus captain, I used to drive service 103 from Jalan Kayu to SGH."

He then went on to drive service 852 from Yishun to Bukit Batok before moving on to feeder services 804, 812, 811, and 855.

Today, Subramaniam drives service 985 which plies a route spanning Choa Chu Kang and Kallang.

A bus driver's schedule is not easy.

Subramaniam starts his shift at 3pm every day. Most days, he ends work around 1:30am.

Loves cooking with his family

Despite his late hours, he makes the time to cook with his family.

Every day after work, Subramaniam heads to a 24-hour NTUC FairPrice to shop for groceries.

Back home, he prepares the ingredients — chops whatever he needs to chop and marinates whatever needs to be marinated — before he goes to bed.

The next day, he wakes up at 10am and spends two hours cooking up a storm with the help of his wife, Varsagi, and his daughter, Vithya.

Vithya, by the way, is a sous chef at a restaurant at Marina Bay Sands, said Subramaniam, with a proud twinkle in his eye.

Shares his food with colleagues

Most of the food that Subramaniam eats is home-cooked. "Very (rare) I buy outside food," he said.

"Home-cooked food is the best lah," he added with a smile. And of course, his favourite dish is his wife's briyani.

"So [when] I cook my food and bring to workplace makan, I will take extra one packet (to work) every day."

This packet of food is not an extra serving for himself, though.

Subramaniam loves to share his food with his colleagues, especially those who don't have time to buy their own lunch.

"Come," Subramaniam would tell them. "You take this food go makan."

If any of his fellow bus captains are hungry, they are also welcome to share his food.

"If any of my bus captains ask me, I'll give it to them! So many of them have tasted my home-cooked food."

And then the Malaysia lockdown happened — and is still happening

And so when Malaysia announced a nationwide lockdown on March 16, Subramaniam's generosity became an unexpected godsend.

The lockdown, which originally was set for March 18 to 31 (and since extended to April 28), meant that Malaysians working in Singapore could not return to their country.

SMRT bus captain Santiran A/L Sukumaran is one of them.

The 36-year-old, who hails from Taman Perling in Johor, told Mothership that of course he misses his family — his parents and six siblings — having not seen them for a month now.

"Miss lah, a lot. One month already. I miss my family."

And while he is still able to call his mother every day over WhatsApp ("She calls me every day and asks me, 'Got wear mask or not?'"), he misses her food, especially her fish curry.

Speaking to Santiran, it's clear that this lockdown has not been easy.

Going back to Malaysia and staying there for its duration — which could be extended even further, who knows — meant he would have no income for an indiscernible length of time.

Staying in Singapore was the more practical decision, but it also meant giving up the little comforts of family time and home-cooked food.

Spent S$2,400 cooking for his colleagues

Enter our hero-uncle Subramaniam, who was roped in to help his bus captains from across the Causeway.

"So 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," said Subramaniam.

"I said no problem! I can cook! So 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.

Fish curry, chicken curry with vegetables, appom, papadum, chicken briyani, and mutton briyani — just some of the dishes he and his family prepared for them.

And do his colleagues request particular dishes? No, said Subramaniam, laughing.

"They say as long as you can give me home-cooked food, I happy already."

Compared to Subramaniam, Santiran is a relatively new bus driver, having only driven for seven years, but it's clear that he looks up to and respects the former; he even calls him Uncle Subramaniam.

"Uncle Subramaniam's food is very nice leh," Santiran quipped, adding that he loves Subramaniam's fish curry, which reminds him of his mother's.

"I feel happy eating this home-made food. Don't need to go the shop to buy."

Cooking for 16 to 20 people is extremely costly.

Subramaniam spends about S$80 cooking for his colleagues every day. Over one month, this has cost him about S$2,400, a not-unsubstantial chunk of his salary.

Despite being such a costly (and tiring) endeavour, he dismisses the sacrifices with a simple "I enjoy doing it".

"I like to serve those who are hungry," he chuckles. "I like to give people food!"

After our conversation, Subramaniam invited us to lunch together and as he ladled heaps of rice and piquant chicken curry onto our plates, I marvelled at how something as simple as food could bring so much joy to someone.

It's a reminder that especially in this time of uncertainty, it's worth reaching out and supporting the people around us — our colleagues, friends, and neighbours — in whatever little ways we can.

You can read more about SMRT's efforts to fight Covid-19 here.

Stories of Us is a series about ordinary people in Singapore and the unique ways they’re living their lives. Be it breaking away from conventions, pursuing an atypical passion, or the struggles they are facing, these stories remind us both of our individual uniqueness and our collective humanity.

Top images by James Spencer. Quotes were edited for clarity.