A Happening Place (but what is happening?)

Met this elderly Singaporean couple during my China trip who owns a few boutiques in Singapore one of which is located around Haji Lane/Arab Street area. She said I must go and recce this part of town to see for myself the changes. "It is a Happening Place," she remarked with hip boutiques, home furnishings, curios and cafes. It has apparently earned a name among the tourists as one of the places to see in Singapore.

Now if you drive into Sentosa and marvel at all the development taking place there (not the least Sentosa Cove and One Degree Club) and then drive home from Sentosa taking the ECP whilst feasting at the sight of Marina Bay Sand, Singapore Flyer, Garden at the Bay (not mentioning the Pinnacle at Duxton, the Sail etc) you certainly will feel you don't know your country well enough. Indeed you need the youngsters to enlighten you or bring you to see what's happening at Dempsey Hill, Robertson Quay, Mohd Sultan and more. Yes Singapore is full of "Happening" places.

Today in the Sunday Times there is an article written by Sharon Loh whom I think used to be a ST journalist now residing in the US. In the article she described how during her home visit she could not recognise Clementi and Holland V and noticed the changes even in HDB neighbourhood like Queenstown and Ghim Moh. She also described how sometimes driving through a familiar place "her memory will catch her offguard" and expressed how "That yearning for the places of my youth will always stay with me". Let me tell you if a relatively young person (braced for changes) like her feels that way how much intense that feeling is in a person of my age. That may account for my constant yearning to revisit KL over and over again just to walk the street where my flat remains in shabbiness even after half a century.

Yesterday in the ST there was an article which tried to analyse why Singaporeans are increasingly short tempered and seem to see red quite easily. The writer ascribed it to the jostle for living space, for foothold in train, for a place in university, for a seat in the food court etc. He observed that Singaporeans seem to be angrier and he asked "What is happening?" May I offer another probable reason. Perhaps there is in us a subconscious feeling of standing on shifting sand; and the helpless inability to recognise or hold on to your country of birth. Such loss and sadness when not resolved may also turn to anger. This may not be unusual with city living but in cities of countries with large hinterland the pain is lessened by that mountain, that river or that forest that stand there forever. For us there is only that hill that is fast turning into another hot spot for alfresco dining where lighted cabins hanging on cables swayed in and out like huge fire flies in the night.

Fortunately for me, there is an exit after a short stretch of the ECP that leads to the KPE. Once you enter it you drive inside a long tunnel. I live somewhere near the end of the tunnel which is called the Tampines exit. A 5 minutes drive from this exit lands me home at Hougang, the opposition ward where upgrading is painfully slow. Although some condos are also sprouting, the wet market is still there together with a row of shophouse still standing more than half a century. I used to lament having to move into this "kampong" area as my husband was a kampong boy. Only now I begin to appreciate this area as one of the last unchanging faces in the skillful act of 变脸 (bian lian) that is happening in our country.