Little India: Revisited

In preparation for my trip I decided to revisit little India after about 2 years to "train". I did these images and the write-up as if I was a mock tourist. How often do Singaporeans visit our tourist destinations anyway, I probably know less about the place than some tourists. Heh.

[B][U]Little India[/U][/B]

Little India was a quaint little location where colours abound and life bustles. The most notable thing about the area's shops is that they seem chiefly to be made up of flower-garland shops, grocers and jewellery shops. The odd periodical or Hindi music shop can be found here and there but a good 80-90% of the shops seem to be made up of these three types of businesses. As I jostled past the crowd in the narrow five-foot walkways, which were mostly blocked by various paraphernalia such as the grocers' baskets and upturned flower bins and only allowed throughfare for a single person at once, I noticed the proprietor of one of the garland shops giving me a curious look as I was photographing one of the garlands.

[B]Garlands[/B]


She asked if I was on a school project, so I explained to her that I was on a personal enjoyment project instead. I took the opportunity to satisfy my curiousity about the purpose of the garlands as I watched her man her stall. The garlands are apparently used for just about any Hindu ceremony and are hence an important part of Indian culture. She keeps the garlands out of the sun to make sure they don't dry out and splash water on them every 5 minutes to keep them looking fresh and appealing.

[B]Watering the Garlands[/B]


After saying farewell, I passed numerous jewellery and textile stores. The proprietors all seemed to be in nice afternoon conversations so I left them alone and concentrated on making photos of their wares.

[B]Cloth[/B]


[B]Textile Shop[/B]


[B]Jewellery shop[/B]


What I noticed as well was that there seemed to be a fairly large Indian muslim community in Little India. I could see them almost everywhere, shopping for groceries

[B]Two Indian Muslim ladies purchasing Tomatoes[/B]


As I roamed around, I stumbled into a backlane where I saw a small cloud of pigeons nesting on one of the shophouses. I promptly snapped a photo.

[B]Taking Flight[/B]




I also saw some, well, mops hanging out to dry. They were lit beautifully in the light and I couldn't resist.

[B]Mops[/B]



I then crossed the road to Tekka Market, one of the oldest and most famous markets in Singapore. As I made my way across the junction, I was surprised by a sudden convoy of Japanese tourists on trishaws. I noticed these two adorable old ladies on a really funky trishaw, much to my delight.

[B]Japanese Tourists[/B]




[B]Tekka Market[/B]



Stepping into Tekka Market, it was easy to see why it is one of the most famous markets in Singapore. The range of seafood available at this market was much wider than what I'd ever seen elsewhere. There was seafood here that I could not even identify. The smell of fresh seafood hung in the air as I passed trays after trays of iced and live produce.

[B]Big Head Prawn[/B]


The proprietors of the stalls were also friendly in general, obviously curious about the camera toting person that had entered their domain. A mutton seller who was on a break promptly grabbed his friends and insisted I take their photo, I happily obliged.

[B]Mutton Sellers[/B]




Unfortunately, I left out another of his friends, but that was soon rectified. His friend was more rheumy-eyed from a tad too many cigarettes, but was cheerful nonetheless.

[B]Mutton Seller, again[/B]



Around the market, I also found a lady shucking cockles, or "hum". It seemed like child's play in her hands, but having tried it myself before, I knew how terribly difficult it was. Hey, why else would people buy it shucked?!

[B]Shucking Cockles[/B]



Before I left Tekka Market, I also passed by a live crab stall, where the proprietor was conducting a roaring trade. He good naturedly asked me not to photograph his customers, so I photographed him instead.

[B]Crab Stall[/B]



Had a lot of fun down there. Would recommend you to go down to the Little India area to take a good look at it, there's much to see!

Other Random images

The Arts lane


A quaint cafe where the charge $1.50 for a puny cup of sugar cane. Avoid.


Bangles


Alleyway


Another Alleyway


Decorations



After Little India, I went down to orchard to meet Joan for makan at Pepper Lunch, I still love the place. As Ken Rockwell says, whereever you are at blue hour, make photos, so I did.

Wisma Atria



I also noticed the light-up was pretty nice, but having missed blue hour, I got a pretty shitty photo, but you can see what it looks like at least.