Farhanah's Reflection

Honestly, my initial thoughts of this assignment was that it might not be useful as I have been to Little India since I was a child. I felt that I would not benefit much because I would have been to every part of Little India and experienced the “culture” of Little India.

Before the trail, I viewed Little India as a place for anyone who intends to find anything that has got to do with the Indian tradition. Literally, a little version of India.  This is because I often go to Little India to buy saris and Punjabis for occasions and also to get the best Thosai in Singapore. Furthermore, when i was in primary school, that was the perspective given to me by my own teacher when I went to Little India as a school trip. I now see that my initial thought of Little India is very superficial and on the surface. I never really took notice of the details within Little India. The different sites my group and I visited were never a topic of discussion when i was studying in school. As an educator, i feel that this trail is beneficial as it got me thinking about how others like me, view Little India. Do students understand the significance of Little India other than the saris, good food and henna? Do students realise the cultural and historical heritage left at Little India? 

The trail opened my eyes to other parts of Little India which I have never been to and never considered as part of Little India. I have always thought of the cultural aspect of Little India but not the historical significance of it.

Let me first reflect on the cultural heritage of Little India. I felt that Little India is dominantly selling “everything Indian” but I was intrigued that many of the shops were also owned by the Chinese or Malays. My group and I stopped by a shop to buy a drink halfway through the trail and to our surprise, it was a Chinese aunty who owns the shop (selling Indian spices)! This adds on to the trail whereby we visited not only the Indian temples but we also visited Chinese temples, a mosque and even a church. The proximity of these religious sites is very close but this did not exacerbate any tension on either of the different religious groups. I am impressed that even though there is a mix of ethnic and religious groups in an area dominant to the Indians, the Indian culture at Little India is not hampered. In general, Little India is still associated with the Indians and the Indian culture. I believe this is because of the numerous shops selling traditional Indian commodities and also the different ethnic groups assimilate well with the Indian culture. As a result, the Indian cultural heritage at Little India is well preserved. 

I have never taken note of the historical heritage of Little India. Only after after my group and I have done our background research on the places to visit, did I realise that some buildings in Little India has withstood through the times of the war and that even the names given to the streets at Little India holds historical meaning. I felt that the historical heritage of Little India is not known and not given enough recognition. In my opinion, this may be because the historical monuments are hidden within the depths of the shop houses. As a result, Singaporeans and foreigners alike may not truly appreciate the historical significance of the area. For example, the Shree Lakshmi Narayan Temple is hidden behind rows of shophouses and only a narrow lane leads to the temple. Furthermore, the building showed no bearings of historical significance other than the small information board provided by the National Heritage Centre. Also, the street names were very interesting but it never occurred to me why the streets were named in that manner. My grandfather stays at Race Course Road for the longest of time but it never occurred to me why the street is named in such a manner. I did not consider the historical significance of the name up till the trail. To add on, it is very difficult to picture how the street used to be like with horse races and the Europeans cheering for their favourite jockeys. It is not a common sight in present times and i feel that this is also the reason why the historical significance of Little India is not well known. 

This tells me that the historical heritage of Little India is left to the details. It may not be as publicised as other historical sites like the Singapore river where there are large monuments signifying historical achievements and commemorations of the war. However, if we look into the details of the area, there are many places that carry the historical heritage of the area. One just has to look behind the shops and take note of the information boards and street names around. Overall, I agree that the historical heritage of the area is well kept but in an undertone. I am glad that there are still signs and legacies left for the future generations to be able to picture how far Singapore has developed over the years. For example how Chinese temples, Leong San See temple, in the past were where the Chinese would go to for medical treatment and it was the temples that helped raised funds to start schools for the children of Singapore. Such significant history should be told to students so that they can visualise the progress of Singapore. I feel this is what i should do as an educator as i feel somewhat cheated for not being exposed to such information when I was younger and curious to find out more about Singapore's past. 

The trail was beneficial after all(; 

Faizal's Reflection

What was your impression of Singapore history and cultural heritage before going on the trail?

Prior to this project, I had done a Fort Canning learning journey trail where we had to plan a heritage trail for student teachers under one of my modules in Year 2. That project however reinforced my idea that heritage sites and heritage trails in Singapore have more or less been reconditioned to be more tourist friendly. 

Place boards with information and nicely done up and well maintained sites felt very fake to me. During the Fort Canning trail earlier this year, we moved from place to place, regurgitating facts and visited places that once was but now is not. The one hectare field that used to be a cemetery for European pioneers in Fort Canning is now a place where they hold concerts and gig. The ‘keramat’ or tomb of Sultan Iskandar Shah has been shifted and rebuilt so many times that one needs to question the authenticity of its existence.

I felt then that if you want to respect culture and respect history, you should preserve it as it is. A cultural heritage, to me, should be about the preservation of genuine sites. Untouched, virgin and raw. I went for the Little India trail, knowing that I would be disappointed. This is Little India, a tourist attraction in Singapore. How authentic can the experience be?

How has your experience of the trail changed your perception of Singapore history and her cultural heritage?

I drove to Little India and parked near Tekka market. The first thing that hit me when I opened my door was the smell of spices from the shops and the hawker centre. I met my group and we then went about the trail, looking at buildings and reading information on the National Heritage display boards. We took a lot of pictures and got directions from shopkeepers when we were lost. In a nutshell, the trail felt jaunty but detached.

However, what differentiated this trail from my experience in Fort Canning was the sound of temple bells, the taste of the thosai that I had with my groupmates, the touch of the silk cloths and the colours that intoxicated us as we moved around the place.

The excitement of my senses was the main medium in which I then could start to relate to the history of this place. The excitement of my senses made me feel human that moment and it got me thinking about the human history behind the place.

I realised that it was not just about buildings long gone. It was not just about names of roads that had been preserved to tell a story about the place. It was more of a realisation that people actually lived and stood where I was 100 years ago. 
Maybe they did not hear the same temple bells that I heard but the temple bells also rang during their time. Maybe they did not eat the same thosai beside the road with their friends but maybe they did. And who were they?

This to me was the most important take away of the Little India trail that day. Someone had lived here before and when you look at the trail from that humanistic perspective, you then get to appreciate the experience of the trail and empathise more with Singapore’s history.

For example, I began to see how people of different religions lived a stone’s throw away from each other. The Buddhist temple of Sakya Muni Buddha Gaya was just a few hundred meters away from the Hindu Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple. And as we passed by the restored building of Residence of Tan Teng Niang, you begin to appreciate how this was built by hand by a husband to his wife and not just a ‘building behind Tekka market’. The name ‘Buffalo Road’ also came alive as I pictured the cattle and buffalos roaming around in the field before me just as it might have in the 1800s.

As we ended the day, I was truly grateful for the experience. It changed my perspective that heritage trails were dry and staged. It made me appreciate the effort it takes in the selection and preservation of certain sites as heritage. 
A heritage trail needs to create a narrative and help those experiencing it bridge across time to another place and I found that in Little India that day.

Share some insights (if any) about Singapore’s past and the way it is represented (symbolically and physically) that you have gained from the trail.

I learnt that with a history that dates to the early 1800s, Little India began as a colony set up by Indians who came to Singapore as prisoners of the British Raj. On their release, there were those who chose to stay back and there began this little colony called Little India. There were many others who were brought from Indian villages as indentured labourers who again chose to stay back in this new colony and that was how Little India was founded.

Located near the Serangoon River, Little India was the perfect location for cattle rearing and agriculture and therefore a land that initially housed Indian convicts soon became home to many who had served their time and chose to stay back in Singapore. 

Etched onto street names like Belilios Road, Buffalo Road, Desker Road, and Kerbau Road are clues that cattle trade played a significant role in early Little India. These street names all bear legacy to the area’s former cattle trade past. Belilios Road was named after I.R. Belilios who was a cattle trader from the 1940s. Belilios recognised the importance of milk in a Hindu’s diet and saw the potential of cattle trade in Little India. The area’s natural pasture fed by the waters of Rochor River also suited cattle trade. Belilios Road is today a road flanked by the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple and leads into a small housing estate.

A deeper connection can be seen in that it was the Indian labourers and prisoners who contributed greatly in building the colony's hospitals, major buildings, churches and many of the features that Singapore has to this day. As the British left the Southeast Asian peninsular, the Indian community chose to imbibe their own cultural backgrounds. A stark indicator that stands to this day is the number of temples built by the community.

After reflecting on my experience in Little India, I think one can arrive to many understandings of heritage and what can be included in heritage forms. The physical buildings that are still present are representatives of the people who are gone and the symbolism of the names in the roads tells us a bit of what was then.

Think of the names of the roads and the buildings in the area you are at. What significance do you think they hold?

The names serves to tell us the history of the place. It serves as a starting point and an interest point for travellers and historians to preserve a certain aspect of that place. The work comes in researching the origin of the name and its significance. For example:

The etymology of place names (e.g. Tekka. In Hokkien, the market was known as Tek Kia Kha, literally meaning "foot of the small bamboos", as bamboo plants once grew on the banks of the Rochor Canal) tells us about the geography of the place before it was developed.

Obscure anecdotes that connect the site to more famous events and people (e.g. ‘Hasting Road’ is named after Warren Hastings (1732-1818) Governor-General of British India) serves to inform about the colonial roots of Singapore and how our governance has changed hands since.

Brief details of legends and folktales associated with the site (e.g. stories of Ramayana and deities on the information boards in front of the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple) serves to tell us about the religious beliefs of the community during those day.

These and many more names of roads and buildings truly helped bring some sense into what was Little India in its former.

Look at the architectural styles. How different are the buildings and what do the styles suggest to you in terms of the ages of the buildings, the conservation process etc?

As we moved along Little India, you could tell the difference between the buildings of yesteryears and the ones that were recently built.  Most of the preserved buildings that were still standing had survived because they had significant cultural or religious import. 

The different styles of the temples had deep roots to the deities they were built in honour to. The deities the temples were built for consequentially showed the geographical significance to which part of India the worshippers were from (eg. The Shree Lakshmi Narayan Temple was different from other temples because this temple was founded by the North Indian communities and the architecture resembles the North Indian architecture.)

The different types of building and temples preserved shows the rigorous task in the conservation process of choosing the buildings that showed the different ethnicity, origin and class of people that came to Singapore. The selection made by the heritage committee showed diversity in the people that made Little India. Preservation of mosques, temples and churches were purposefully done to show religious tolerance existed even then. 

Do you think the sites serve their purpose of educating the general public about the history of Singapore? At the end of the trail, did you come away with the feeling that you have learnt something or you just carried out a tourist jaunt around an area of no historical significance whatsoever?

I think heritage sites serves to inform, educate, entertain and also to encourage tourism towards places of interest. Encouraging people to visit Little India is in itself part of the education process. You cannot claim that a heritage trail is successful if no one comes to go through the heritage trail.

The challenge then is to find the balance of educating the general public without being overly informative that it becomes a turn off to them.

The digital age has made us become used to information coming in bite-sized, and varied ways. The national heritage boards that were available at the places in Little India achieves this.

Using photographs, drawings and diagrams, the information boards helped tell the stories associated with the images. In a precise format, it was interesting and generally gave trivia about people’s lives and the history of the buildings and the place.

Despite this, I think there is an underlying tension between the economic and 'social' or 'community' benefits that the trail provides. Although, as a history student, I could appreciate the narratives behind the buildings, protagonists of the ‘economic benefits’ might focus on how the trail can increase tourism and emphasize on how we can 'link the heritage trail to the local economy'. A tourist seeking only surface value of beautiful pictures and cheap shopping might overlook the education and information factor in such trails.

However a definite benefit of the heritage trail was the preservation of sites. This idea and the ability to protect sites for the future is important not only for the Indian community but the general public so that our understanding of the past are retained, and future generations are able to make their own interpretation of heritage sites. This links with ideas about education on the past, and is an integral benefit to enlightening the general public to the history of Singapore.

Amos' Reflection

Q:  What was your impression of Singapore history and cultural heritage before going on the trail?

My prior impression of Singapore History and cultural heritage was more of a theoretical understanding. In my social studies modules in year 1 and 2, I have learnt about the purpose of conserving our culture heritage and how important it is to link our Singapore history to our conservation of cultural heritage. I had a brief understanding of the history behind little India and how it served immigrants and developed as part of the Raffles town plan and in some ways how some of the people stories intertwined within Singapore History as Little India developed over time after our independence.

Most of my prior impression was limited to my childhood days of visiting Kranji war memorial and Chinatown when I was in primary and secondary school and at I would say I did not have a deep understanding of Singapore History and cultural heritage by reading dry contents from textbooks alone. Most of these impressions were brief knowledge of World War 2, Mariah Hertogh riots, life of early settlers and not much was covered on Little India.

In the past, I was not able to fully see how every site or monument had a part to play in Singapore’s History. My prior knowledge of the Little India was that it had cultural sites and sold many unique traditional Indian food and products. My impression was more of a surface value such as celebrating racial harmony day in school to promote learning of ideas from various cultures. I also had the impression that Little India was more of a tourist location more than a cultural heritage site as part of our Singapore history story and a simple visit may have been already a way to promote cultural heritage.

Q:  How has your experience of the trail changed your perception of Singapore

History and her cultural heritage?

The trail has given me a first person experience to see what was beyond these selected sites in Little India.  With the personal encounters to the various sites, such as Little India Arcade and the temples in Little India, I saw that Singapore history is actually more differently and alive that what I had used to. The Little India Arcade used to house “The Shop of P Govindasamy Pillai” His humble life story was depicted on a National Heritage infoboard and it gives insight to the remnants of history that we are all receivers today. He contributed much to the community and part of the area’s development as part of Singapore’s history, which gave me a perception that it is so important that Singapore History has also been selected for sites that stay and sites that go.

After this trail, I could better see that Singapore history is open and many facets made up of cultural heritage of different races even if it is in a localized location compared to the past. In sites within walking distance, we found different religious areas of worship for four different religions. These sites included the Abdul Gafoor Mosque (National Monument), Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple, Sakya Muni Buddha Gaya Temple (The Temple of 1000 Lights) and the Church of the True Light and the fact that these places not only filled with rich cultural heritage with the various diverse religious architecture, it was amazing to note that these places could thrive well together to be conserved till date as part of our Singapore History despite religious sites being sensitive and scared to their respective followers. In this aspect I saw that Cultural heritage was also about the openness of the people and how they took efforts to conserve the sites so that it can be part of our Singapore history.

More than just a site, life and meaning of the past, values and spirit that built a nation, not just developments of a race or a group where it was interesting to note that cultural heritage can survive the test of time and maintained like how the Sakya Muni Buddha Gaya Temple (The Temple of 1000 Lights) survived the Japanese occupation and these sites could be rebuilt to capture the essence that particular culture, point to the perception that Singapore History is not only made up of the past but also made up of modifications  where relevant parties select what parts of the temples to preserve and Singapore history is not just about the past alone.

As a historian, it struck me hard that if there was no strong effort placed into conserving places of cultural heritage and giving these places a lasting place in Singapore history, it would be possibly disappear away from our future generation.

Q: Share some insights (if any) about Singapore’s past and the way it is represented

(Symbolically and physically) that you have gained from the trail.

After experiencing the trail, it got me to think that Singapore’s past is for us to delve and textbooks do not do justice the surface knowledge that is represented in the textbooks as they have been “selected” to represent what the ministry would want her students to learn.

The temples, Little India Arcade Tekka Market and the selected sites seem to represent a special cultural identity of Little India symbolically as a special page in our Singapore History. This special slice of cultural heritage identity is only unique to Little India and its various sites adds on to this special identity with its unique architecture, sights and sounds of how the site has developed from a place with cattle bull carts to what it is today. It also embodies the symbolism of a precious culture and heritage that has been kept and preserved by pioneers as a gateway to remnants of the past in an ever-changing developing landscape we have in Singapore today.  

In terms of physical representation, one could see that the architecture has been conserved and parts of the buildings may have been modified like the Residence of Tan Teng Niang where additional colours have been added in stages during the post restoration phase. One must contend that these are physical remnants of the rich Singapore History that is set to remind us of how they can be interpreted. The bright and colourful paint adds a new-refreshed physical look to the streets.  As the building and temples stand together in Little India, it gives a new lease of life to these buildings to our future generation.

Overall I have gained the new insight that Singapore History is symbolically alive and non-static. Selected monuments have also been able to effectively paint the historical narratives of value in the Singapore History and conserved in our cultural heritage.

Although efforts have been placed in our cultural conservation in Little India, the key question is how much deeper than the surface can we explore and how much real learning is taking place by just visiting sites as cultural heritage and Singapore history is more than just visiting these places and “behavioral” levels of understanding may be more useful for learners like ourselves to deepen our understanding, though such deep levels of learning may be challenging and has to involve various stakeholders of our community.

Q: Think of the names of the roads, the buildings etc in the area you are at. What

significance do you think they hold? Remembering pioneers?

A number of the road names and buildings seen carry the names of our early pioneers. Since the original buildings may not have been there and restoration would not have made the buildings exactly the same as the original, the names carry a reminder of a legacy or special place that these particular pioneers had on Little India. Places such as “Buffalo road” where it was a place where buffaloes were kept reflect the significance of the activities that occurred in our Singapore History. As for buildings like the residence of Tan Teng Niang, it paints a valuable narrative of the love this man had for his family and wife when he built the particular buildings and personal stories of the past haven been intertwined more than just remembering these pioneers with unique stories of the Singapore History.

Q: Look at the architectural styles. How different are the buildings and what do the styles suggest to you in terms of the ages of the buildings, the conservation process etc?

Architectural styles of buildings such as Little India Arcade, residence of Tan Teng Niang and some of the places of religious worship suggest that these buildings were build considerably long ago with some close to a century old. The conservation process has been very intensive to be able to replicate the almost original outlook of the various building and conservation may have actually modified these buildings to a certain extent in terms of outlook, structure and possibly colour like in the case of the residence of Tan Teng Niang. Buildings for religious worship carry designs that represent the various deities and all these buildings have been carefully selected for conservation, just like the Abdul Gafoor Mosque where it was selected as a National Monument for its rich past.

Q: Along the trail, consider how significant, historically, are the sites that have been chosen for conservation. Did you come away with the feeling that you have learnt

something or you just carried out a tourist jaunt around an area of no historical

significance whatsoever?

After some research and reading up of the information boards around the selected sites, there is a good mix of roads, important buildings, places of religious worship that have been chosen for conservation. These sites collectively hold a rich mixture of personal and representative narratives of our early settlers forming our Singapore History. The Abdul Gafoor Mosque for example had its original mosque demolished but the new brick mosque with Saracenic and Roman influenced architecture was rebuilt between 1907 and the 1920s. These were mosques that served Tamil Muslim immigrants from South India and the Baweanese horse groomers. Religion was also an integral part of the life of many early settlers and these places of worship have been significant in building part of the rich cultural heritage of Little India and have been chosen for conservation. I had felt that these places allowed me to learn better of how we have developed as a nation, more of our early settlers and the importance of conserving our cultural heritage.

Q: Do you think the sites serve their purpose of educating the general public about the

history of Singapore?

I think that these sites do serve their purpose of education the general public about the history of Singapore. With the extra effort to properly conserve these sites and informative boards near these sites detailing the narratives and historical stories of various people, it gives the general public a good overview of what these sites entail and a physical site to see and feel the rich history of the area itself. Area Trail maps have also been provided by the National Heritage board to tie in these sites to educating the public about the history of Singapore. However, to some this may be seen as the “Concrete” level of cultural education where visits and surface understanding may not bring about a holistic manner in educating the public about Singapore’s history and our history may be more than just how these sites looked like and how they have been important in the past.

Selected sites and religious places of worship for different communities in an area usually associated with one ethnic community in Singapore also suggest that the multi cultural heritage and mutual respect and tolerance for each other’s religion has been present in the past and now. Early settlers live in communal areas and they could live harmoniously together with some form of inter religion tolerance and these ideas could also be part of educating the public on our Singapore history.

Q: Relevance and applications in the future as a teacher:

As many primary schools also have selected trails or learning journeys to these places of cultural heritage or historical significance as part of their national education or social studies curriculum, it is important to rethink and see how I can add value to these trips apart from students reading up on these places from their textbooks. Apart from ensuring that my future students have a good understanding of our rich Singapore history and cultural heritage better, it would be important for me to engage them holistically with the help of E learning. Trails that have been run with I-pad guides have also been carried out in various school learning journeys and the multidimensional learning features such as e video, geo-tagging, voice clip recordings can be harnessed to engage these future tech savvy young learners. This Little India Trail has certainly opened up my mind to show me on the many sides of little India and the deep cultural heritage that lingers within the various sites. My challenge would be to make use of these knowledge of understanding the various site narratives and present them to my future students in a much more engaging manner, possibly above the concrete level towards behavioral or symbolic long term learning and understanding. This would also come with its own set of challenges to bring about learning beyond the classrooms, such as learning of other languages and practices of peers of other religion more than just celebrating racial harmony day by playing games or just tasting different types of food. It would possibly require the partnership of various stakeholders, parents, students, the community and community partners to build a deeper “symbolic” understanding of various cultures and heritage, adding onto the better appreciation of our Singapore History.