“One of your books popped up from under the pile of
papers on my desk” he said. “I thought I should see how you are doing old bloke.”
.. I was in Singapore first in 2001 working with the
Ministry of Health in restructuring the delivery of medical services. I was
amazed to realize that there were no suburbs, no mountains, and no outdoors.
The entire country was just a city, that of Singapore.
“Many of the colleagues you knew are still here and
working on old topics,” he wrote. “Before I decided to write to you I let them
know and they send their hello. We also talked about when you were here at the outbreak
of SARS in 2003. You remember?”
Of course I do. As an epidemiologist it was quite an
experience. Every morning I went to a special center to get my temperature
taken. Then I got a sticker, valid for the next 24 hours, stating that I did
not have a fever. I had to wear that sticker on my shirt visibly, if not I
would have been pulled off the street for test and observation!
The surveillance was not on individuals as such, but
truly the entire population as it was at risk for the Severe Acute Respiratory
Syndrome (SARS). Given the small size of the city (and the entire country being
only a city) a clever approach was adopted for immediate surveillance. Indeed, all
the large screens on Orchard Road were transformed to heat seeking tactical
display centers. The thousands of people that walked that main artery were
scanned for body heat, and one could see a red spot on the large screen (like
the ones in Times Square, NYC) indicating a person with possibly high
temperature.
It was a very active screening by the Ministry of
Health and the potential spread and ravage of SARS was contained very
effectively.
“Yes, I do,” I replied. “I visited Singapore possibly
ten times till 2008, and have many fond memories of your country, the research
we did together and your hospitality.”
“You will not recognize Singapore if you return,” he
continued, “We are expanding the city into the ocean by building new land.
People are different too – I think they are more cautious. But I recall you
fancied Emerald Hill Road, and that has not changed much” he ended.
… Of course all this made me wonder if there are
photos on those rolls of film that I have not printed. I know there are because
I have printed only the better shots over the years.
But now, perhaps I have some that captured the “old”
Singapore! So, I went to look for 35mm negatives from almost 20 years ago.
I know I have more in other shoe boxes, somewhere.
But I did find a few strips with frames I vaguely recall taking and for sure of
not having seen them printed on paper.
So, decided to take a trip on memory lane in the
darkness of my darkroom.
The
Armenian Apostolic Church of St. Gregory the Illuminator (circa 1839) and its
cemetery: The first time I visited Singapore I was surprised
by the Armenian immigrants’ story to this tiny country. In short, Armenians
arrived in Singapore in 1819 with Sir Stamford Raffles who made Singapore a prominent
commerce port.
I have taken many photos of the church, gravestones
and cemetery statues. Perhaps one day I will get the courage to print all the
negatives I have instead of picking one or two shots that are well composed. I
have posted some here (https://liveingray.blogspot.com/2017/01/aesthetics-that-tell-story-fluidity-of.html)
and here (https://liveingray.blogspot.com/2017/11/armenian-diaspora-salmon-syndrome.html).
But there are many others, mostly taken with an OM-1, which
are less than perfect. So, now I decided to publish them in this entry as they
may perhaps show some change over the past 20 years.
Here is one I like – the cemetery and a young woman bent
over a grave stone. The light flare due to the unhooded lens (I presume) makes
it actually quite charming.
In the above links I had already written about Agnes Joaquim
(Hovakimian), born in Singapore on April 7 1853, and who hybridized an orchid
which in 1981 was designated the national flower of Singapore now called Vanda
Miss Joaquim. Looking through my
negatives I believe that I have her father’s gravestone:
I can only partially read the writing since the stone and
its carved face have sank into the dirt. It is inscribed in Armenian and what I
can read states:
“Gravestone of Mr. Parsegh Hovakimian, a merchant of good reputation who
at age 54…”
I assume he is the father of Agnes as she is also buried
there. And, as the stones slowly sink into the ground, at some point in the future they would be engulfed in dirt and no one will know who was buried there....
The passage of time also affects the statues, especially my favorite limestone statue in the cemetery.
Time and the tropical rains have already taken a toll on the stone, but I
visited it on every trip I took to Singapore as if it were a memorial statue upon the grave of a family member. There is grace, charm, pain and
hope in her posture and face.
This time, I found a poorly focused shot of the statue where
the inscription on the pedestal is showing.
Unfortunately I can hardly read the first two lines, and I thought the inscription was from the Bible. I sent the photo to a friend who was able to read the entire inscription as:
“Our loss is infinite
More dear than life itself
And life without him (her?)
More dear than life itself
And life without him (her?)
Is akin to a thousand deaths”
He also specified that these lines are about the person buried under the statue and not borrowed from the Bible.
Also, while the statue shows a woman in mourning, it is not possible without knowing the name of the deceased to know if it was a man or a woman since Armenian language is gender neutral.
Also, while the statue shows a woman in mourning, it is not possible without knowing the name of the deceased to know if it was a man or a woman since Armenian language is gender neutral.
The crowded streets
of Singapore: I am not sure if this is Orchard, but I like the reflections
in the glass captured by this shot. Of course I was laughing at the “House of
Condom” sign next to the MC Donald….
This photo made me smile. I assume I took it as a play on the relationship between the Registries of Marriage sign and the young men and women who are walking away from it.
And then I found a frame of classy lady window shopping. For me,
the attitude and attire of this woman is typically Singaporean, as I have not
seen it in Malaysia, China, Taiwan, Indonesia or Japan.
And, I believe that it was maybe around 2001 when
French cheese and bread shops opened in Singapore. I may be wrong, but I recall
that on a trip in 2002 I was told that now I can have French bread instead of
noodles..!! My friends knew about my inclination to favor French bread over
other forms and sources of starch...
So, I was delighted to see this frame which of
course I do not recall shooting:
So, I chose these frames to print with my enlarger
in my darkroom. It was a trip back in time, but delightful as always. There are
of course many more on those negatives’ strips that I may tackle one day.
But I cannot wrap up this entry without this shot:
Truly, I have no idea, but I think these are three
roasted piglets in trays given the anatomical features of the one at the far right.
And I recalled, after almost 20 years of not
thinking about it, that, at each visit, I used to go to a fish eatery with a
friend to eat fish head. Yes, only the heads of very large fish that made a
delightful dinner. I recall ordering these with Indian, Chinese or Malaysian
spices and picking the meat, skin and connective tissue with chopsticks.
What a delight it was to cool our mouth with Tiger
beer during dinner.
August 26, 2019
© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2019
