Singapore, Almost Twenty Years Later

 It has been years since I had heard from a colleague in Singapore. I was amazed that he was able to track me down.

“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?)

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.

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