I moved to Singapore from the Philippines a few months ago
and have been happily settling in a wonderful neighborhood outside of what
locals call “the city.”
I come from Manila – and I always say this as if it’s a
self-explanatory point. I had to
travel across four cities every friggin day to get from my house to my
university in public friggin transport where you could get knifed, oh yes
knifed, on any given Tuesday. But
I digress. When you say “city” to
me, for most of my growing up life, it meant scary, unsafe, and on-alert places all the time. Here in Singapore,
when they say you’re not in the “city” it means buildings don’t get higher than
7 storeys and there are more trees.
Now Singapore is a country and a city. It’s tiny. I live on one end (the East) and my Capoiera place is on the
other end (the West) and it takes me all of 30 mins to get from one end to
another – no lie. It used to take
me 45 mins to an hour to get to work everyday, each way. 30 mins does not a width of a country
make.
Which is why I always thought, quite optimistically, that
when I come here, it wouldn’t take me long to find the soul of the city. I was in for a little challenge.
Now I may be over-generalizing here but this country has
been run like a corporation for the most part of its nearly half a century
life. And because of that, some
trade-offs have had to be made for the pursuit of prosperity -- income for spontaneity,
competition for play, wealth for adventure, achievement for art. And altogether, being the awesomely
successful and freakishly clean country it is today, that’s not too bad. But because of all these aggregate
trade-offs, folks who come from other places – and apparently we comprise 25%
of the population, find it strange and “soul-less.” A colleague of mine who used to live in Boston and London
before that told me, having moved here just 4 months ahead of me, that he has
yet to find the soul of Singapore.
He’s gone to all the places you’re “supposed” to go to, Tanjong Beach
Club, Kudeta, Pangaea, but he hasn’t found it yet.
I was intrigued.
I too wanted to find it.
But to find it, I had to figure out what it was. I had just the thing. I remember traveling around the world –
I haven’t been every where but I’ve been to a fair few places – and I always
try to leave with a key visual or a specific feeling in my head to take with me
as I go.
For Melbourne it was the taste of hot chocolate while watching
uni students lounge on the lawn in front of the library soaking up the rays on
a sunny day that will soon turn into a freezing fall afternoon. For San Francisco it was the smell of
coffee while I walked around Mission taking photo after photo of the graffiti cats
and gryphons and llamas colorfully parading down the narrow sunlit
alleyway. For Hong Kong it was the
perpetual smell of food that was vaguely dimsum and somewhat duck that hung in
the air everywhere and people rushing to, I like to think, find a place
to eat.
For Singapore, what was it? What was the scene, the smell, the taste?
When I made up my mind to pay attention, I knew I had to put
away my iPhone. It was a
distraction. I realized, everyone
was on his or her smartphone, like ALL THE TIME. Nope, it wasn’t here, not on the train. I walk around the commercial districts
and folks are strolling around rushing from store to store, just like they
would in the high-end shopping districts in Manila. Nope, it wasn’t here, not on Orchard. Then, while walking towards the
wonderful smell of popcorn (it may be in Garrett’s, hey, I’m open), I catch a
few strains of music.
A blind man is busking in the tunnel in between two
malls. He sounds sad, he looks sad
– but he’s straining to be heard.
Straining, hey, that may be it.
I look around more, and I
see more bits and pieces of chaos straining to be seen past the very very
ordered stoicism of Singapore.
A young couple cupping each others’ butts on the train ever
so discreetly yet obvious to anyone who realizes that, sweetie, that barrier is
CLEAR PLASTIC. There. The edges of
tattoos peeking out of shirtsleeves and pants. I realize that Singapore probably has the most number of
tattooed folks I’d ever seen in any city I’d spent an extended amount of time
in – more than NY, more than LA. There. I see an old man, maybe 60, sporting
White Beats by Dr. Dre earphones/headphones on the train. Two days later, I see another oldie
sporting Red ones. There. My colleague at work who comes in
every couple of months to make videos for us changes hair color every time I
see her. First time it was blonde
dashed with fuchsia, last February it was platinum white with chunks of teal
and purple. She said the platinum
hurt like hell to get, but it was all worth it. There. Even in
the most corporate of companies, the soul of Singapore strains through.
It’s there, I know.
I see it sometimes shyly toe-ing its way into the mainstream. It won’t get there yet, not in this
generation. But for anyone who’s
willing to look, it’s there. In
the kid with the sketchbook instead of an smartphone on the train. In the boy with a huge cello case
instead of PSP. In the grampa with
Beats instead of the Straits Times.
It’s there. I found it. I
don’t wanna yell it though, I might get caned.
(photo from Flickr)