At Tekka Market, the alleys between the stalls were so narrow and fruits, eggs, seafood and spices were all on display. As the customers ask the old shop uncle about what he sell, I could feel the connection between humanity, compared to a air-conditioned supermarket, which is cold, unfeeling and has lack of human connections, the market felt so warm (both literally and figuratively). All the food there looked so fresh, the eggs as if just came out from a chicken and the seafood as if just fished out from the sea. Walking out of the market, we walked on the streets of Little India, past all the shops. The walk felt like deja vu, as some shops sold about the same items, such as flowers, clothing and statues, but each step felt so rich. The pleasant smell of the flowers fill my soul and the variety of of clothing overwhelm my eyes, I could feel the deep rooted culture from the bright, colourful flowers to the display of traditional clothes. When I enter the shops filled with statues, I talk small and careful steps to prevent myself from accidentally breaking all the statues, each of them skillfully engraved, and filled with so much meaning and history behind them. In the temple, taking of not only my shoes, but my socks too was definitely a first for me, and washing my feet felt like I was cleansing myself to prepare myself to step into the temple. In the temple, there are statues of many gods and goddesses, and even the ceilings were artistically engraved, it felt like a whole artwork was placed in front of my eyes. When I saw an Indian elderly women praying in the temple, it made me wonder whether she has done the same since young and has an unwavering belief in her god. Also, it felt very nice experiencing a new religion and I was very interested in the bells as I see many people ringing bells and many shops having bells too and I am quite curious about what they symbolise or the meaning behind ringing the bells.
During lunch, it was the first time I was eating food with my hands, other than fried food, at first it was quite hard for me to stuff all my food into my mouth, but I guess that was a good thing as it will help me have better digestion. Fortunately, I got the hang of eating with my hands and was able to eat well. I personally like Indian food like briyani and prata so I loved the lunch. Afterwards when we walked at the back alley of the shop houses, it looked extremely old and run-down and was quite surprised that some people still reside in those buildings but when I think about it, maybe they have lived in this houses for an extremely long time and has strong memories in that place.
Overall, I realised that some things I did or saw during a trip was a first for me and definitely an eye opener, so despite being called Little India, the place is actually extremely big as it houses a whole new culture and atmosphere compared to the normal city life in Singapore.
"Forgotten"- A Writing Journey 