Little India Singapore Captured in Film Rolls

I roamed Little India Singapore today. Pointing Kodak 200 film-loaded camera at things that I found interesting. I wasn’t sure whether it would be a fruitful film photography project since I didn’t know yet whether the camera I scored two weeks earlier on eBay worked. It was a second-hand Mju. And today, in Little India, Singapore, was the first time I took it for a spin.

Capturing Little India Singapore

I have wanted to capture Little India Singapore with a film camera for the longest time during my countless visits here.

Capturing people. The locals and the tourists.

The earlier group shops in the market in the morning and hang out at neighbourhood bars in the evening. Meanwhile, the tourists add another layer to the cultural buzz of Little India; with their tank tops and shorts or dresses and hats. Some carry huge cameras, and others, selfie sticks. I am guessing in the effort to capture moments of Little India — especially when the spicy food and henna art tattoo effects eventually fade away.

Little India Happenings

If you have been reading this blog for some time, it’s not a secret that even though I chose to bid the country farewell, I do love Singapore. And now, I also have this Singapore dream. This only came into my mind when I was inside the cab on my way to give my newly used film roll to be developed at Konota in Peninsula Plaza. In this “dream”, I stay in an apartment right above Little India. I manage a cultural publication solely dedicated to Little India and spend my days writing about everything about it.

From new eating places to the time-tested-still-standing old shops. Reviewing the restaurants which adjust the spiciness level to cater to the wine-drinking tourists to the local favourites that serve moor, rasam, and payasam as the side dishes of the main meal.

Of the families who have lived here for generations and the ones who have moved recently for various reasons. From Kerbau Road to Hindoo Road. Interviewing the temple priests to the male prostitutes operating on the other side of the Mustafa centre.

Then there are the immigrants who blend in with their midnight shopping in Mustafa Centre but stand out when they arrange the shipments for many of those purchases back home.

I wonder whether my Singapore immigrant dream is too far fetch or actually only needs a few concrete steps. I guess we will only know in the future.

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