Little India

Walk out of the Farrer Road MRT in Singapore to see the sight of men wearing Lungis' and the women draped in Sarees. Step out of the station and cross the Serangoon street under the bright dazzle of diyas' that line the street, which announce the onset of the Diwali festival. This is how we were welcomed yesterday in Little India...


Then, as we walked towards one of Singapore's oldest and premier 24-hour shopping centre, Mustafa, I noticed a variety of distinct changes in the surrounding, namely...
- The Starbucks cafe was now replaced by the Murugan Idly shop
- Restaurants like Old Chee Kaung and Thai Express are replaced by names like Sitara, Tandoori Hut and Anjappar
- And last, but not least, the large hoardings of Chinese and American models endorsing technology and health drinks, was now replaced by pictures of South superstar Surya and Kareena Kapoor, endorsing a jewellery shop and a beauty brand respectively.

We then took the little alley on the side of the shopping centre and had to pass street side shops selling Cocunuts, Kulfis, International Calling cards and Cigarrettes, before we finally headed into our destination - the Vanabhojanam restaurant, which was recommended by a colleague to have the best Andhra style food in the region.


As we sat inside and dined on some spicy biryani and cut mirchi bhajji, watching a Telugu movie on the large LCD TV, I  really respected the whole setup outside for being perfectly designed to give every visitor a feel of being in India for a short period of time..
All in all, the atmosphere outside was perfectly summed up by the punchline of the restaurant that we were sitting in. It simply said - "Every visit is a picnic!!"

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