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Friday, June 29, 2007

[[ Serangoon Road - the spine of Little India ]]

The Sri Veeramakaliamamman temple is one of the oldest temples in Singapore that took 3 years to build.

We didn't know we had to remove our shoes before entering and when we didn't, we were stopped by this old man (whom I think is the priest) dressed with two pieces of cloth folded in a very peculiar way.

We apologised telling him we didn't know and he kept shaking his head saying it was "no problem". Then he applied a small red-coloured dot of turmeric power on our foreheads. He said it represents the third eye of spiritual sight, which sees things the physical eyes cannot see. Mauro & I kept exchanging looks to one another and when the man left, we didn't think much about the "third eye" and just continued our tour in the temple.

Next, it was to the Sri Vadapathira Kaliamman temple (below), dedicated to the deity Kaliamman - the protective motherly spirit from the north which is as pure as fire.

From both Hindu temples, we encountered a multitude of emotions and sights - a man weeping to his God nearby, a yogi in silent meditation & a group of devotees chanting prayers to their Lord. All happening in the same space, same time. Very interesting, indeed.

Next, we went to a Buddhist temple. We weren't sure whether or not to remove our footwear but we did it anyway at the entrance....and guess what?

We were stopped - again.

This time, it was different...an old uncle, with the biggest toothless smile, went

"no need to remove, no need to remove..just come in...welcome!..welcome!..."

We nodded, smiled back at him and entered.

Apart from the temples, we also made our way to Abdul Gaffoor Mosque that testifies to the thriving Indian-Muslim community living in the Serangoon Road area.

After spending hours at these places of worship, we headed to the nearest café (reminder: Italians love coffee). At the same time, we ran our fingers along the "Places to Go" list, striking out those we've visited.

Mauro enjoys a "Doppio" (mixed with sugar, of course) but commented that the ones at Coffee Bean & Starbucks were not "strong" enough..oh well...like I said, Italians love coffee, it's no secret. And for this Italiano, the love of coffee, is like the love of everything in life.

Why of course, Italians drink 70 million cups of coffee everyday and 79.9% of them would actually PAY EXTRA just to know where the coffee they're drinking comes from and what blend it is!!

..hahaha..pay extra just for that???!....that is so not Singaporean.

Labels: Buddhist temple, Hindu temples

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| 4:03 PM |
This is not the end.
This is not even the beginning of the end.
It is, instead, the end of the beginning..
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