Little India

‘Little India’ is the Indian cultural capital in Singapore known for its brilliant shops that sell anything available in India – textiles to groceries to medicinal powders to the religious sundries – everything is available. You can’t help feeling a ‘T-Nagar’ in Little India. The only difference is it is a cleaner T-Nagar.

Any visit to Little India is not complete without a visit to one of its restaurants. Whatever you get to eat in India, south or north, is available in Little India. And my favorite is ‘Komala Vilas’. Established in 1947, it still continues its majestic journey. There are other restaurants with several variations to this name. But Komala Vilas stands out for its un-flinching quality of food and service. The best food you can have there is the ‘South Indian Thali’ – an assortment of rice, sambar, rasam, and different combinations of koottu and porial and the famous appalam.

Does the list end ? The other thing that is available in abundance is ‘service’. The ever-smiling staff and the soft spoken cashiers steal a march over the quality of food. This restaurant makes you come again and again, every time you visit Little India.

Then comes the fruit and vegetable sellers. You get reminded of the on-coming festivals by looking at those shops. The Ganesh Chathurthi is marked by a sudden appearance of lots of ‘Ganesh’ idols of all hues and kinds. You get to see Ganesh that is reclined watching an i-pad, another Ganesh who is fiddling with his smartphone, Ganesh with a laptop and a mouse of the electronic kind and the traditional Ganesh idols with a mouse of the animal kind.

Come ‘Navarathri’ – the nine day festival, Little India begins to have Goddess Durga in her various forms and actions. And other Gods do make their presence felt. Come Deepavali- also called Diwali by Northern Indians – the place goes on fire, with decorations abounding all over. A visit to Little India during Deepavali would make even the most depressed minds recover from the disease.

‘Jothy Store’ is another landmark in Little India that leaves you with nostalgic memories of India. Any puja ( worship) related sundry item from the vessels to the traditional lamps to the agarbaththis ( incense sticks ) – every one of them is available at Jothy Store. Today I saw some religious books being sold. I don’t remember seeing them earlier there.

Here are some pictures I had clicked today. I see that Navarathri and Deepavali are arriving in a short while and Little India has that look again. Shall post more pictures of Little India on the festive occasion as well.

Author: Amaruvi's Aphorisms

Banker by day, blogger by night and a reader throughout. View all posts by Amaruvi's Aphorisms