NATIONAL DAY a-coming - of pratas, teh tariks and joss-sticks.
On occasion, you must have come across some very heartwarming vignettes of Singapore life. I have.
I moan just as loudly as the next Singaporean about all things that mark out the ungenerous and unkind Singaporean but with the Middle East conflict blasting away on our TV screens and it being a few weeks away from Singapore's National Day - it might not be such a bad idea to reflect on what makes Singapore tick.
I have one. You know the famous Roti Prata at Jalan Kayu, where (as your grandma would say) very soon you will get pratas the size of fifty-cent coins? Did you know that the owners of Thasevi have Hainanese and Cantonese old hands to pull their teh tariks? It is a bi-racial restaurant. Evidently, the owner thinks there is some add-value of the Chinese coffee-shop experience. I don't think anyone in the restaurant speaks much English. But the orders are executed without much trouble and occasionally, when there is a lull in a weekday morning, you can hear a few grunts between a Chinese old man and an Indian old man - just some comforting attempts from one asking the other if he "sudah makan" (already eaten).
I have another. You know the famous Kwan Yin Temple on Waterloo Street? Right next to it is the Sri Krishnan Temple. Did you know that Chinese devotees of the Kwan Yin temple regularly cross over to the urn in front of the Sri Krishnan temple to light a few joss-sticks and drop some donations for the Indian temple? Out of respect and regard, most of them pray from entrance and do not enter the premises. On the other side, nobody even blinks if they see Indian devotees in Kwan Yin temple. The Sri Krishnan temple must be supported by some very hip public relations professionals because there is a banner put up in front of the temple during the Chinese Lunar New Year that wishes all Chinese devotees a Happy New Year!
In both these instances, instead of a sense of intrusion, there is a healty overlapping of spaces used and shared. Meanwhile, you are allowed to retain your identity (like the old coffee hands in the prata place and the provision of joss-sticks in front of the Indian temple). The whole place is richer for it.
No need to figure - Singapore is a very comforting place in this respect.
I moan just as loudly as the next Singaporean about all things that mark out the ungenerous and unkind Singaporean but with the Middle East conflict blasting away on our TV screens and it being a few weeks away from Singapore's National Day - it might not be such a bad idea to reflect on what makes Singapore tick.
I have one. You know the famous Roti Prata at Jalan Kayu, where (as your grandma would say) very soon you will get pratas the size of fifty-cent coins? Did you know that the owners of Thasevi have Hainanese and Cantonese old hands to pull their teh tariks? It is a bi-racial restaurant. Evidently, the owner thinks there is some add-value of the Chinese coffee-shop experience. I don't think anyone in the restaurant speaks much English. But the orders are executed without much trouble and occasionally, when there is a lull in a weekday morning, you can hear a few grunts between a Chinese old man and an Indian old man - just some comforting attempts from one asking the other if he "sudah makan" (already eaten).
I have another. You know the famous Kwan Yin Temple on Waterloo Street? Right next to it is the Sri Krishnan Temple. Did you know that Chinese devotees of the Kwan Yin temple regularly cross over to the urn in front of the Sri Krishnan temple to light a few joss-sticks and drop some donations for the Indian temple? Out of respect and regard, most of them pray from entrance and do not enter the premises. On the other side, nobody even blinks if they see Indian devotees in Kwan Yin temple. The Sri Krishnan temple must be supported by some very hip public relations professionals because there is a banner put up in front of the temple during the Chinese Lunar New Year that wishes all Chinese devotees a Happy New Year!
In both these instances, instead of a sense of intrusion, there is a healty overlapping of spaces used and shared. Meanwhile, you are allowed to retain your identity (like the old coffee hands in the prata place and the provision of joss-sticks in front of the Indian temple). The whole place is richer for it.
No need to figure - Singapore is a very comforting place in this respect.
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