DISCOVERING LITTLE INDIA (7 MAY 2008)

The threat of catching Hand Food Mouth Disease (HFMD) has kept me away from conventional play areas. It even kept me away from school and swim classes for a week, when Ah Gong got spooked by news reports of the disease spreading exponentially. Coincidentally, a funny red rash appeared on one of my knees, arms and palms that very week. It was actually heat rash. It was as uncontagious as can be, but my parents still felt pulling me out of school was the civic thing to do.

Last Wednesday, Mommy took me for a walk through Little India, to experience a less-known side of Singapore.

Armed with a tourist map of Singapore, we started our walk at Dunlop Street. Here, we spotted quite a few old-fashioned barber shops with their trademark spiral lamps still in business. If you think S$10.00 cuts are the cheapest you can find in Singapore, you're wrong. For S$5.00, any of these barber shops can make you look like a Bollywood star! There were also quite a few old-style provisions stores along this street. Mommy said that the best time to experience Dunlop Street is on Sunday evening when these provisions stores blast Hindi hits from mega-size speakers to attract shoppers. The street would then be teeming with hundreds of Indian and Bangladeshi workers on their off-days buying groceries, and catching up with their friends.

We walked to one end of Dunlop Street, then turned right onto Serangoon Road. Komala Villas occupies several shophouses along this stretch of Serangoon Road. This is the old Komala Villas restaurant I'm talking about, not the renovated, fast-food chain look-alike. There was also a pawn shop and several goldsmith shops along Serangoon Road.

We turned right onto Upper Dickson Road. Lagnaa Barefoot Dining Restaurant occupies a shophouse at No. 6 Upper Dickson Road. It's a small, intimate Indian restaurant where you've to remove your shoes before entering. Customers sit cross-legged on the floor to dine at a low table. I'm not sure this is the custom in Indian restaurants in India, but it's an interesting concept nonetheless.

Across the road from Lagnaa, we found Khulfi Bar at No. 15 Upper Dickson Road. The signboard said: "Authentic North Indian Ice-Cream & Chaats". Indian ice-cream? This we had to sample, so we ventured inside. We were the only customers that quiet afternoon. The owner, Mr Daswani, came forth to welcome us and explained that Indian ice-cream was different from ordinary ice-cream because it contained Indian spices! Mr Daswani recommended "Mango Tango" for the kid's palate, but I wanted strawberry, so Mommy ordered "Strawberry Sizzle" instead. The ice-cream was kept in the freezer in a metal cone. When we ordered our ice-cream, it was then taken out of the metal cone, sliced up and served in a metal cup. The ice-cream was extremely sweet, and sorry to say, it wasn't too palatable. I took one mouthful and rejected the rest. Not a very well-spent S$6.90...

The ice-cream parlour doubled as a souvenir shop too (or was it the other way round?), and Mr Daswani also provides Quaballah Numerology services. Starting from S$150.00, you can have your fortune told by him. We didn't have a spare S$150.00, so we said goodbye to Mr Daswani and ventured further along Upper Dickson Road.

The rest of that street comprised of shophouses dealing in secondhand computer parts. Not terribly interesting. It was the same with the next two streets running parallel to Dickson Road i.e. Cuff Road and Veerasamy Road. No particularly striking architecture, most of the shops were closed and those which were opened were dealing in secondhand computer parts.

At the mouth of Norris Road, there was an old coffeeshop. Next to the coffeeshop sat an old Indian man in a white sarong manning a tiny, old-fashioned provisions store. He was slumped in his chair fast asleep. His store comprised of an ancient glass cabinet against the wall stocked with packets of cigarettes, Tiger balm, and other really dusty provisions. He looked like he had been manning that same stall for the last few decades, resilient to changes in the world. It's good to see that 7/11 hasn't cornered the market entirely...... or maybe they have...

We walked along Serangoon Road, browsing through the many "one-dollar shops" along that road. Serangoon Road must have the highest concentration of "one-dollar shops" in Singapore. Mommy bought 2 sets of colourful marker pens for me from one of those shops.

We turned right at Rowell Road. The Museum of Shanghai Toys (http://www.most.com.sg/), the first of its kind in the world, was in a shophouse at No. 83 Rowell Road. The entrance fee was S$8.00 for adults, and S$5.00 for children, with discounts for local bank card holders. Mommy peered through the glass entrance and didn't see a soul in sight, not even at the till. Mommy didn't think I'd be able to appreciate antique toys at my age, so we gave it a miss.


Slightly further down at No. 107 and 109 Rowell Road was an art gallery cum vegetarian cafe. The art gallery was called the Post Museum (http://www.post-museum.org/) and the cafe was called Food #03 (http://www.food03.sg/). Both opened at 5.00 pm, but we got there too early.

We continued our walk to Desker Road. Mommy said that this is Little India's Red Light District. The place didn't feel sleazy in the day though. Aside from a bunch of hardware stores, nothing else seemed opened. Too early in the day for any action I suppose. At the mouth of Desker Road, we saw an old wooden sewing machine chained to the sidewalk. If you're looking for a cheap place to alter your jeans, this could be it! The tailor doesn't have to pay rent after all!


By then, I was growing tired and grumpy. I hadn't had my nap yet. I rubbed my eyes and wanted to be carried. We quickly made our way to Mustafa Centre in search of an air-conditioned resting spot. Mustafa Centre was crammed with so much goods that there wasn't any space for a bench. We ended up sitting on a carton of A4-size paper in the stationery department. Daddy came to pick us up shortly after that. We will have to return another day to explore the rest of Little India!