Singapore is one of those places that invokes extreme reactions from me. I love Singapore. i truly do. I ended up not liking my solitary life there too much, but i was talking to a friend about how there are aspects of the city that i truly love. And Food is one of them. I miss hawker centers, I miss Tiong Bahru, I miss chicken rice, I miss kaya toast and teh, I miss chilly crab, i miss wonton noodles, I miss Din Tai Fung's fried rice, I miss cereal prawns and shrimp paste chicken, I miss pandan pancakes and kuehs and sambal stingray and clay pot rice. I can go on and on and on, about the things I miss about Singapore food. I'd name probably 5 people I miss from there too - but that is about it. I might head back to Singland later this year for a wedding, and I can not wait to raid a hawker center and drink 100 glasses of sugarcane juice.
It's crazy, really, because I can get very good sugarcane juice in India. But the joy of walking into Tiong Bahru market on a hot day when I have been running errands all over the place, and head to my favorite uncle for a sugarcane juice is just something nothing in India would compare to. I can do the exact same thing with a cup of filter coffee i Bangalore, which Singapore can never match up to too. Every place has it's specialness with food. And Singapore is quite high up in my list of great places to visit for food.
When I returned home from my long chat and a walk along the Thames with my friend (without my suitcase this time around), the friends I was staying with were watching Street Food. It was late and they are young parents, so they retired to bed soon after I entered. But not without showing me where the leftover sambar rice was. I freshened up, served myself a hot plate of sambar-rice and sat down on the couch. The TV was on and they were watching Street Food on Netflix. I loved Chef's Table and this had a similar look and feel, so I settled in and hit play on the Singapore episode. I soon realised, it may not have been the best thing to do that night.
I was already feeling heavy after bidding goodbye to my friend earlier and then to attack my mental self with images of Singapore's iconic hawker center culture at 11 pm was brutal. I suddenly felt immense pangs in my heart when I heard the hawkers speaking in Singlish, when they showed some of the dishes I mentioned above and also just when they showed the streets of Singapore and even the skyline! I did not miss it enough to want to move back, but I could definitely do with a visit for some spicy hot sambal dish or nasi campur and also for a sweet kaya toast.
It might seem from my previous posts, that I did not enjoy or love Singapore. But there are older posts where I mention being in love with Singapore and I do not retract those statements or the sentiment behind those statements also.
23 was my last day in London. My flight out of Heathrow was in the evening. It funny i write about Singapore today as i am leaving. I had a fever earlier in the morning. I told my friends, my body is physically protesting my impending departure from the city of my heart. As I took off and saw the aircraft leaving the lights of London far behind, I told myself and told London, I will be back, soon.
Inshallah.
I will end with this song that starts off in a tube station in Charing Cross - also a song that has been on this blog many a time - one of my favourites after all.
हीर हीर न आखों ऑडियो
मैं ते साहीबा होई
घोड़ लेके आवे ले जाए
घोड़ी लेके आवे ले जाए
ओह मैनु ले जाए मिर्ज़ा कोई
ले जाएँ मिर्ज़ा कोई
ले जाए मिर्ज़ा कोई
हीर हीर न आखों ऑडियो
मैं ते साहीबा होई
घोड़ लेके आवे ले जाए
~ Lyrics by Gulzar for Jab Tak Hain Jaan
Comments
Post a Comment