Riverside Walks

Traffic-wise, Sunday mornings are noticeably better than weekdays. Hence, speeding towards the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Jakarta, somewhat light-headed, I was trying to gather my thoughts on the previous three days, which had been quite jolly and fun: MZ’s birthday on the 10th, performance by the local band in Planet Hollywood on the 11th, and the night-out in X2 on the 12th, the links above pointing to MZ’s page where we have more details. This was going to be my third visit to Singapore, for collecting my work visa for Indonesia, and possibly the last trip to take place in the foreseeable future. Just after checking in at the airport, I was stopped by a bunch of kids from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Indonesia, who mildly interrogated me on my whereabouts, expenditure statistics while I am here in Indonesia (interestingly), etc. Having asked for any suggestions I might have on the city and its infrastructure, I expressed my concerns on the surging traffic, and the need for underground or overhead trains. I also advised that there’s a need to focus more on spoken English to get into international markets. I haven’t got a clue on where this piece of paper containing my comments would eventually end up, but it was nice to meet up with this jovial bunch, with their smiles and rainbows. _____________________________________ My first destination after reaching Singapore was unplanned. It turned out to be Little India, down the neighborhood, which I had hardly explored in my previous trips. It’s a veritable Bonsai version of India. SLURRRRP ... SWEETS! UNBELIEVABLE! T'SHIRTS ROCKED WITH PICTURES OF HINDU DEITIES. Strange it was, and nostalgic too, to read the much coveted Bengali script in this faraway land, and listen to a female voice trying to promote the latest Singtel tariffs in that slight Bangladeshi accent. I started to think of the very few people from Bangladesh I’ve actually come to know in these three odd decades, even though my ancestors belonged to that land, and wondered how things would have been if outcomes from political decisions made around the late 1940s would have been different. MATRI-BHASHA, IN A STRANGE LAND. _____________________________________ My next destination was Esplanade, “theatres on the bay”, and to get there, I decided to take the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit: underground railway system commonly used to travel across Singapore). The basics are like any other metro railway system, but here they have a deposit charge which is refunded back once the destination station is reached. Traveling this way is cheap and convenient, hence, most of my subsequent hops were via the MRT. In fact, I also ended up helping a man and a woman to get back their refunded deposit: an achievement worth mentioning. WALK-WAY TO THE MRT STATION A SNAPSHOT OF THE ROUTE-CHART, COPIES OF WHICH ARE ALSO AVAILABLE AT THE INFORMATION COUNTER. It was 7 o’clock in the evening, and Esplanade was 5 minutes walk from the City Hall MRT station. The next show of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘Phantom of the Opera’ (much advertised) was at 8 PM, and I arrived at the ticket counter just to discover that all tickets were sold out three days ago. However, I witnessed a strange and beautiful form of art being exhibited in the theater lobby, called “Superstring”, which is a series of single continuous line drawings, by an engineer turned sculptor named Joshua Yang. A SUPERSTRING, DEPICTING THE CRUCIFIXION. THE CLOSE UP BELOW SHOWS THE CONTINUOUS LINE DRAWINGS. I started off to catch the next train to Clarke Quay. One has to pass through the Raffles City Shopping Centre to get to the City Hall MRT station, and I was happy to find a DVD of Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” in the HMV music store. In the distant past, I had made two futile attempts to get this video, one in Bombay, back in 2005, where I purchased a 2-VCD pack, brought it home, and opened the seal to find one CD missing. The next one was in 2006 in Bangkok, where the catalog in one of the cheap DVD outlets in Pantip Plaza had the movie listed, but later the folks came back saying the DVD is not available. DISPLAY OF THE SEASON SCHEDULE OUTSIDE THE ESPLANADE _____________________________________ Reached Clarke Quay around 9:30 PM. In a milieu of colors, voices, boats, and lovers, this place was lively as ever. Sitting by the waterfront, or walking hand in hand, you may sing along your life’s verses to your lover. Or if you happen to be there alone, like me, you can just look at the dancing red and gold molecules on the water surface, in Brownian motion, make up a love song in your mind, and then looking up at the sky sing it to the one you love. CLARKE QUAY: COLORFUL AS EVER It was getting late, and as my last destination for the day, I ventured to a Bangladeshi restaurant in Little India, and whetted my appetite with dalpuri (yet one more variation of the Indian bread) and pathar mangsho (mutton). The dalpuri was cold, but tasted so heavenly. THE RESTAURANT SERVING INDIAN, PAKISTANI, BANGLADESHI CUISINE, SOMETHING WE WOULDN'T READILY SEE IN INDIA OR THE OTHER TWO COUNTRIES. ... DINNER SERVED. The shops were closing down, and it was time for the traveling hobos to return home. Singapore was clean, dustbins boasting of turning the city litter-free, but this place was a remake of “India”, in look and feel, with known dialects coming from a distance and hundreds of paper pamphlets lying scattered in the street, unwanted, aimless, wondering where to fly next when the wind blows strong. _____________________________________ Day two: Submitted the documents needed to obtain my working visa, and returned to the hotel to learn that they would not be able to extend my stay till the evening, as all rooms were fully booked in advance. That was 12 noon, the normal time for checking out, and my flight back to Jakarta was at 9:15 PM. So I threw back my bag behind the shoulders and walked up to the nearby Fragrance hotel. Dumped my stuff, and decided to pay a surprise visit to my colleagues in Singapore. It was good to see PP after almost one and a half years. She was full of smiles as ever, and suggested I have Singaporean Chicken Rice for lunch. Thanks, PP, it was delicious! Next, we were off for a cup of coffee, and it was difficult to find a place as it seemed a common norm for all to have a post-lunch coffee session. IT WAS RAINING WHEN I VISITED THE OFFICE FOLKS. AND LATER, SPOTTED THESE SINGAPOREAN T.V. CELEBRITIES OUTSIDE THE COFFEE SHOP. _____________________________________ By now I was quite adept in traveling by the MRT, so caught one and emerged at Orchard road. The next few hours were spent in walking down the road, sneaking into shops, taking photographs, getting astounded by the saxophone player by the roadside, taking more photographs, buying some stuff which are not readily available in Jakarta, (like an oil-control face wash for men from Bioré), and eventually getting a quick massage from a Chinese masseuse at Far East Plaza. MOMENTS AT ORCHARD ROAD 'HOUSE OF CONDOM' IS A MISNOMER FOR THIS SHOP SELLING SEX ACCESSORIES, AS WE CAN SEE (PIC ON THE RIGHT), THE STUFF THEY HAVE HERE IS PRIMARILY MEANT FOR WOMEN. _____________________________________ Sunset was nearing when I decided to pay a parting visit to Clark Quay, where the lovers had not yet arrived, and the boatmen were busy cleaning up their boats for the early evening tourists. My stay in Singapore had been satisfying. I looked at my watch, then at the river again for the last time, turned back, and started to walk.