There’s a li’l India everywhere, no?

As per legend Sang Nila Utama the Sanskritspeaking prince of Srivijayan empire was sailing past a relatively barren island in the mid1200sHe thought he spotted a lion and therefore named these flatlands SinghPur or Lion City Thatrsquos how we now know SingaporeNo there are no elephants in Denmarkmdashthere are no lions in Singapore either Let alone halflion halffish mythical Merlion Which is the Asian lsquotigerrsquo economyrsquos official symbolldquoSuch scars from an ancient hallucination is why drugban is so strongly enforced in Singaporerdquo my friend Jacob jokes as we dig into superauthentic Mallu lunch at Swaadhisht restaurant in Little India neighbourhoodFor all political censorship surely yoursquore allowed to joke about drugsSignage of public toilet in HindiOr maybe notmdashfor a citystate that hangs you until death Irsquom told if found with even eight grams of cocaine Lesser quantities of marijuana send you straight to prison Genesis of this paranoia lies in Singaporersquos history of substanceabuseRight from the early 1900s when the British were the regionrsquos drugdealersmdashpeddling opium to China growing it in Bengal processing it in Singapore Latter became opium den with drugproblem of its ownNo such clampdown on alcohol though Unless yoursquore in Little India Itrsquos the ldquoliquor control zonerdquomdash you canrsquot drink in public between 1030 pm and 7 am MondayFriday 7 am to 7 pm SaturdayMonday 7 am to 7 am beforeafter public holidayshellipOh Why Because drunk desis caused a riot around Race Course Road on December 8 2013 Fellow construction worker one Sakthivel Kumarvaelu 33 from Tamil Nadu literally got thrown under a busmdashthe same one hersquod been thrown out of for being intoxicatedHe died instantly that rainy night What ensued is known as the Little India Riots First such in four decades for Singapore whose residents foremost take pride in the ldquosafetyrdquo the citystate promises and providesmdashtake any pollAnd rightly so Even when you barely see cops on streets Theyrsquore known to suddenly emerge before you sense something shady CCTVs ensure thisLittle India Riots Singaporersquos deepest recent scar lasted hardly a couple of hours Investigations followed Offenders fixed Communal angles of any sort consciously avoidedRiots starred desi labourers with work permits on a rampage Theyrsquore called migrants As against rich expatsmdashwhom they subsidise apart from wealthy citizens Ayahsdomestichelps are still relatively affordable in Singapore This is rarest for a First World megapolisI watch this lowerdeck desi population collectively descend on Little India on their Sunday off Many of them Irsquom told are adorably out on datesmdashshopping eating jalebis jaywalking jostling on packed streetshellipMaking Serangoon Road look quite distinct from the rest of Singaporemdashthat could pass for a smoothsailing sanitised Legoland insteadYes I can see a mandir not far from a masjid Quite typical of big Indian neighbourhoods Mustafa Centre is however the main templeAs in a fourlevel 24x7 desi budget shopping centre that Irsquom told began as makeshift carts also selling food items including icecreamBecause the owners originally from India had to pay for electricityrefrigeration for dairybreadice creams throughout the night anywaymdashthey decided to keep the shop open as wellThe current supermarket on Syed Alvi Road swiftly expanded sideways taking over all other shops Itrsquos essentially Delhirsquos SarojiniLajpat Nagar only ACindoorsWell therersquos a Little India in practically every megapolis in the world Only the one in Singapore is explicitly named so Like a ChinatownIt began with desi cattle farmerstraders working with Europeans Area stopped being conducive for this business Europeans left Indians stayed onWhat separates this Little India from similarly crowded colourful West Londonrsquos Southall or Jackson Heights in Queens NYCFirstly that itrsquos not an Indian neighbourhoodAbout 80 per cent of Singapore lives in governmentsubsidised skyscrapers Each home is allotted in proportion to ethnic populationHence 75 per cent of Little India is Chineseorigin Many of whom Irsquom told having grown up in Little India have taken to Indian classical musicdance gold jewellery the worksThis is apart from lsquoChindiansrsquo of mixed parentage in Singapore Such as the SingaporeChinese hero of the comedy show Asian Billionaires shitty version of Schittrsquos Creek that I just sleptwatched This popular starrsquos name is Gurmit SinghThis is as per Singaporersquos modernist founder Lee Kuan Yewrsquos desire to build an inclusive multiculti citystate investing wholly on human resourcesmdashwhether local or importedIndians comprise 9 per cent of Singapore As in citizens with the worldrsquos strongest passport who can enter both China and the US without a visaMany first came over to service the imperial Brits Some opened lucrative businesses such as the Tamil Chettiars back in early 1800sIndiarsquos engagement apparently even dates to Chola Dynastyrsquos reign in Singaporemdashonce they defeated the Sanskritspeaking Srivijayan empire circa 1025 Dodgysounding details of this syllabus seems somewhat limited to WhatsApp University thoughMore recent Indians are expatsmigrants of course English as a central language enforced by the state unites allWhich is why I find it strange to spot a public restroom sign in Little Indiamdashwith PurushMahilayein in HindiDevnagri written besides MaleFemale in English including their stickfigures at the doorWhat Okay thatrsquos for Indian tourists And no you donrsquot take chances with the Indian touristAnywhere EverMayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture He tweets mayankw14Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper