The land of the lion.

There are different ways in which people react to places. The mumbaikers I meet, for instance, either hate bombay vehemently or love it passionately, I havent met a neutral bombayite so far. Bangaloreans are different. They dont mind being neutral (if you choose to ignore the traffic aspect). But whoever I've met before going to Singapore had one of two things to tell me

1. Four months, what ever will you do there for that long? It takes just 4 days to see the place!

2. Singapore..There's nothing to do there but for the excellent food! And yes, the work culture isnt all that great, you'll end up being in office most of the time.

And with that notion in mind, I had embarked on a journey expecting to find a miniscule manhattan, full of skyscrapers, zombie-like office goers. That does indeed sum-up the whole city-country, but there's more to it than just skyscrapers. There is lush greenery around most of the areas. It is even one of the very few cities in the world, that has a rainforest right in the heart of the city. There are zombie office goers ofcourse, but they turn into normal people during the weekends, representing a molecule of whichever country they are originally from. Singapore made me feel at home even in the ultra modern underground tubes because one could hear the familiar "pazhanigal ..." announcements in tamil that I could rattle away by-heart after my year's stint in chennai. India is known for its diversity, where regardless of state or language, people celebrate festivals together. In Singapore, they are one step ahead; it is even beyond your race. You can see the ethnic chinese children dressed up in kurtis celebrating Deepavali, the ethnic Indian's eating mooncakes during the Autumn festival because for them dark-skinned or not, they are all singaporeans all speaking the same language - Singlish(which interestingly is very much like English. You just have to gulp down the last letters of most words and replace all harsh sounds with an "ah").

But beyond all, I loved the city for something else. Something that I would never be able to experience had i not accepted the trip. The feeling of being safe. That is inherent in the place. One can raise humanitarian concerns over the punishments dealt out to law offenders there, but ultimately the effect is the feeling of complete security. That which lets me go for a walk to the nearby lake on a moonlit night all by myself.. that makes it possible for me to walk back home with my roommate at 2.00 am in the morning after a late night show, kicking the stones along the pavement.. that makes me take lonely roads without being struck with the paranoia of encountering a creep in the next lane. So, the next time someone gets all whiny, blaming Singapore for being a nothing city, one without a heritage or a history, I'll think twice before nodding my head. For it was the city that made me experience all those things I wanted to do, but could never do before just because I was a lady. And "its never safe for ladies".

Majulah Singapura!

The view across the esplanade on National Day



Fort Canning