It was Christmas 2015 and also the 19th birthday of this Christmas baby. We were having a year-end party at the pavilion near their home, like we usually do. Dheena saw me with the camera and decided to dance on the parapet.

Months later, when the Housing Development Board (HDB) got wind of this image, when it was used for publicity for an exhibition, they made angry calls to Mel demanding an answer as to why she allowed her son up there. Mel got angrier and lambasted them back for being rude and unreasonable, and they never called back again. But... after this episode, HDB installed grills so no-one could climb over again.

When I first met Dheena, it was a few days to Valentines Day (2014) and being the cheeky bastard that he is, he decided to call me his Valentine the entire week. He probably does that to all the other girls he meets but I didn't give him too much attention anyway. As our friendship evolved, so too the kind of photographs I could make of him. He enjoyed performing for the camera whether it was dancing flirtatiously or puffing rings out like a dragon. 

Few weeks before Dheena was to enter RTC, we set him up for fighting sessions to pick up defensive moves so he could fend for himself when he serves time.

Practices were held at the lift landing right outside their flat in Ang Mo Kio, and he would be instructed by two other ex-convicts, Kenji (second from left) and Whye Kee (second from right) who are familiar with the ways of the institution having spend years inside. 

Dheena got this tattoo, "One Queen, Six Princess" as a tribute to his mother and sisters. Few weeks before going in to RTC, he also inked "loyal to family" on his right forearm. 

Back in late 2014, Dheena with his then-girlfriend, Eva, at Giant supermarket in Teck Ghee. With the supermarket being a 3 minutes walk from their home in Ang Mo Kio, it became a convenient place they frequented and shoplifted at.     

RTC inmates are allowed to write and send two letters per month, on the other hand, there is no cap to the number of letters they can receive inside. Letters to Dheena are far and few with everyone busy with life outside. 

Despite all the grief and misunderstandings between them, Mel said that she feels the closest to her son.

She shared that both of them had gone through a lot together, including sleeping at a factory roof top when she ran away from her then-abusive partner (15 years back), scavenging for food together and how she eventually had to fight with and prove herself worthy as a mother to the Ministry to regain the custody of her son after she was released from prison. 

Dheena is part of a dance group, Pluspoint, run by his mother, Mel. This group was founded in 2012 and has accepted mostly youths with similar background. They had their first big break when they achieved third runner up at the acclaimed Drool V competition in 2013. In this jodi (couple) competition, Dheena partnered Melvinder to perform an old-school dance. 

As the only brother to six younger sisters, Dheena play fights with them all the time. Despite the constant bullying, the sisters still affectionately calls him "annei" (brother) and respects him a lot. 

In July 2015, I received a call from Mel asking me for advice because Dheena had been arrested for theft in Sheng Shiong supermarket. It was his 21st compounded case and needed $10,000 in cash to be bailed out. 

We discussed about it and she shared that Dheena pleaded to be out for Hari Raya. It was a risk we decided to take; any wrong doing and not only would the money be forfeited, but items/property at home would be confiscated.

Fast forward - managed to raise the cash for Dheena and we went two days later to Prison Link Centre to receive him. 

Note from Mother to son. Each visit, Mel stresses over whether she should share her problems with her son. She remembers the helpless feeling of not being able to do anything when she herself was incarcerated years back, and does not want to put Dheena through that.   

Even after moving in to a new rental unit in Yishun, Mel keeps posters of Dheena up on the wall at home.