A Saturday morning’s stroll through Old Singapore

Starting at the centre of the Padang where Raffles had once proudly stood, a leisurely morning’s stroll around the Padang with Pugalenthii Ramakrishnan and the National Library Board on Saturday through familiar territory did throw up a few surprises. Moving to the Esplanade towards where the Tan Kim Seng Fountain stands, the sight of a snake charmer with his python on the grass probably caught not just me, but the others on the walk by surprise. For me snake charmers were something that I had somehow always associated the Esplanade with, along with the Satay Club, Chendol at the semi-circular hawker centre, and the colourful balloon and windmill sellers who would support their air filled balloons not with sticks as we do these days but with long skinny balloons. Over at the Tan Kim Seng Fountain, I was pleasantly surprised to hear that among the participants was the great great grand daughter of Tan Kim Seng, who is herself the author of a book “Seven Generations and Counting”.

Pugalenthii Ramakrishnan, guide for the Stroll through Old Singapore.

A snake charmer with his python on the grass.

The Tan Kim Seng Fountain - among the participants on the walk was the great great grand daughter of Tan Kim Seng.

Moving back towards where the Cenotaph stands, we were to discover one that maybe shouldn’t have surprised me: that the Cenotaph had actually once been right by the sea, with the shoreline just by the bottom of its seaward steps, knowing that quite a lot of reclamation work had gone on int the area around the Esplanade way before the much of the shoreline in the area moved much further south in the extensive land reclamation project that provided the land for the Marina Square complex. We were also to learn that the leader of the Indian National Army, Subhas Chandra Bose, had stood on the very steps of the Cenotaph to rally support for the Indian Independence movement during the Japanese Occupation in World War II.

The Cenotaph had once been right by the shoreline.

Photograph in the National Archives Collection showing the Esplanade in 1926 (note the position of the Cenotaph relative to the sea (source: http://picas.nhb.gov.sg).

The other parts we passed on the walk included the site of the Indian Army Memorial which was erected at the Esplanade by Bose and destroyed by the British upon their return at the end of the war. Down the pedestrian tunnel to Empress Place, where we encountered the Dalhousie Obelisk and the grass cutters of the modern day (in contrast to the grass cutters of the days gone by which Pugalentii had highlighted through the use of a photograph in the National Archives that had once been commonly seen in the Padang).

At the bottom of the Obelisk in Empress Place.

The grass cutters of old seen on the Padang in 1946 (source: http://www.picas.nhb.gov.sg).

By contrast the modern grass cutters ...

From Empress Place, it was past the old Supreme Court and City Hall (both soon to be transformed to the National Art Gallery) where we had the opportunity to chat on its famous steps, before moving on to our final stop – St. Andrew’s Cathedral which I had finally stepped into for the very first time in my life.

St. Andrew's Cathedral.

Cathedral window.

Inside the Cathedral for the very first time ...

More views inside the Cathedral.

The Cathedral has some wonderful stained glass.

Stained glass panels at the main entrance.

Close-ups of the Stained Glass.

Books of Prayer.

Pews.