Reflections on my stroll in Singapore

October 11, 2010 – Evening

I just got back from exploring Singapore a bit more. I wanted to hit Little India because Deepavali is being celebrated right now so the neighborhood is all lit up. This Hindu holiday remembers Rama’s victory of the demon king Ravana. I also walked around Clarke Quay (pronounced “key”) and Boat Quay. You see the British Colonial style strongly here and I feel like history just hits you in the face. You can imagine the dress, smells and sports of the colonial British and the clear divide with “the others.” The oldest thing I’ve seen here is from the 1880s, which made me chuckle because most tourists come to the US and say how new our sights are! There is also some interesting modern architecture so I've included samples. Don't you love the elevated ship!!!

I grabbed a cheap dinner in Little India and found out some helpful information. The toe ring I wear on my right foot (the toe next to the big one), by Indian tradition, means I am married. So I guess I’ll be sure to keep wearing it once I arrive in India! I noticed in the neighborhood how few women were out in the evening and those that were were with their families. In a beer garden area every person was a man. When I walked into the restaurant I was the only woman, but then two women came in with their families.

With this in mind, two cultural norms (in the parts of Asia I have seen so far) have stood out to me. First, the status of women is much lower than in the US and second, class divides are more rigid and the notion of a general equality is not as strongly rooted here. These conditions were true in the west until recently, but movements such as the Enlightenment of the 17^th to 18^th centuries began to change the notions about class and the equality of man. This movement inadvertently helped feed the women’s rights movements of the 19^th century and therefore also the 20^th century one. I won’t let the history teacher side of me type a thesis about the other factors that led to the movements, but because of my western bias and womanhood it pains me to see these norms. We still have our battles in the US, but equality is more within reach.

FYI, I’m leaving my laptop with my friends while I travel Indonesia so we’ll see if I go through withdrawal! My access to the internet will likely not be as convenient as it has been, but I will try to keep posting.