Little India: a Microcosm of Singapore's Ethnic Diversity

Little India is the hub of the local South Asian community, and is one of the most popular tourist spots. It is the place to go in Singapore for unique architecture and building design - from colourful shophouses to modern "artsy" buildings - one thing for sure is that Little India is no short of beauty.

the inner roof dome of the sole shopping mall The Verge

From the pictures above, we can see that the streets of Little India hold many eye-catching shophouses and buildings, some of them maintaining its very traditional outlook - almost like a blast from the past. The place almost seem unimpeded by modern life, as we see the sole shopping mall in the area is never to be more crowded than any of the tiny eateries lining the streets and alleys. In spite of many of these old buildings being given new life with restaurants, jewellers and the like, one can almost imagine a bustling Little India of the past.

A little known fact about Little India is that it houses several arts groups in one of its streets, Kerbau Road. In 2001, the National Arts Council (NAC) bought over 10 shophouses along Kerbau Road, what is known today as the Little India Arts Belt. Along this row of shophouses, there is Bhaskar's Arts Academy and Sri Warisan Som Said, two of Singapore's foremost Indian and Malay ethnic arts groups. The contemporary performance group, Wild Rice Ltd, is also located here.

Bhaskar's Arts Academy!

This particular Arts Belt is culturally diverse and the art forms vary from the traditional to the avant-garde. The diversity of the arts groups housed here presents a good opportunity for the exchange of ideas and also learning from each other. The placement of an Arts Belt in Little India is also strategic as it adds to the vibrancy of the place, while drawing from the already culturally-rich environment.

There are several themes that come up when it comes to Little India: cultural diversity, foreigners in Singapore, identity, cultural erosion/preservation, urbanisation, and even racial harmony. For starters, "Little India" is actually a misnomer, for the population there is perhaps more usefully described as South Asian, because there are nationals from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Nepal and even Afghanistan!

To end off, a sense of Little India is nicely presented in the following poem written by Singaporean, Thoephilius Kwek, for a national campaign Text in the City. 

Little India

Theophilius Kwek

Smiles are not returned in Little India,

where dreams are stolen rather than softly scribbled

and shophouses shrink from each other. Their varied
letterings,
mango lassi-gold,
dissolve into dirty puddles.

The young bachelor
of commerce selling phonecards on the corner
will tell you
that citizenship
means more to him than most citizens
(and a life off the streets)

while the awkward Chinese couple wedged
in the quaint souvenir shop
between the pawnshop and the chilli-man will say
it took them longer to find this space
than they are allowed to keep it.

You round the corner to the five-sided square
between Lembu Road and Desker, hoping
to find solace in the tick of carom boards
or the fluttering of many pigeons. It is an open space

where memories are flicked and mixed, where
we disappear into ourselves. Where we become strangers
treading the dirty puddles

____________

References

(Photograph) Little India Arts Belt http://www.straitstimes.com/sites/straitstimes.com/files/20131218/fjLittleIndia18122013e.jpg

Arts Housing Scheme, National Arts Council. Last accessed 30 October 2014. https://www.nac.gov.sg/arts-spaces/arts-housing-scheme/little-india-arts-belt

A little bit of Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indians_in_Singapore

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_India,_Singapore

"Little India" by Theophilius Kwek

http://textinthecity.sg/poems/389