Verlocal Diaries: Jane’s Tours
Each week, “Verlocal Diaries” records the Verlocal team’s adventures to various classes conducted by our hosts. From the narration of our hosts’ stories to the thoughts of our fellow participants, we piece together everything we have experienced to create a long lasting memory in the form of a diary entry — that is both personal and shareable.
Dear Diary,
The weather forecast earlier that day (26 June 2018) stated that we should be expecting light showers. So we headed out to meet all the participants going on Jane’s Tours’ Little India heritage trail at Little India station, hoping that the weather will be in our favour.
The tour was spearheaded by Alice, the guide for the day. She is very well-experienced in heritage tours, with her expertise spanning across the various cuisines we have here in Singapore. We went through a round of introductions and got to know a little bit more about each others’ backgrounds. Almost all of the participants were females, and they mainly hailed from Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
We were soon joined by the founder of Jane’s Tours, Jane Iyer herself who equipped everyone with a portable recorder so that we could hear Alice better throughout the tour.
Just as Alice began explaining the history of the government dispensary and the Kandang Kerbau Hospital located across the street from us, the rain started pouring heavily.
We immediately scurried to the shelter in the MRT station and prepared our umbrellas and raincoats.
Despite the harsh weather, the tour still went on. It was heartening to see the participants braving the rain and willing to go on the tour nevertheless.
For our first stop, we stopped by a North Indian temple, Shree Lakshminarayan Temple over at Chander Road, where we learnt about the different stories about creation contained in the Hindu scriptures.
Following the trip to the temple, as the weather got significantly worse, we made a pit stop to a shop nearby, where the participants sipped on hot masala tea, while munching on some Indian snacks.
“ Instead of your usual tourist trails, I felt that there are an awful lot more to show and to expose people (to Singapore). It is such a tapestry of influences from different parts of the world, because a lot has actually happened here in (a) short period of time.” — Jane
Certainly enough, as Jane mentioned, even in Little India, the heart of the Singaporean Indian community, there were still influences of the other races that make up Singapore. For example, the colourful building below, called the house of Tan Teng Niah, has a calligraphic inscription of the Chinese words, Siew Song, which translates to mean “elegant pine” or “refined pine”. According to Alice and many others, it was believed that Tan built the house for his wife as an expression of his love for her, and the inscription referred to her.
After hearing such a sweet story, the participants knew they had to take a photo together at the building.
We proceeded to walk through the pathways along different shops selling products ranging from camera films, traditional Indian wear and accessories to snacks.
We then moved on to another temple, this time a South Indian temple, Sri Veeerakaliamman Temple. This temple had much more sculptures of the Gods as compared to the previous ones, and many of them were dedicated to the different Hindu Goddesses.
Although we’ve covered quite a good range of Little India, the rain was still pouring relentlessly. Jane even said that this was the “worst weather [she’s] had on a tour”.
But despite that, the participants were still enjoying the tour as they absorbed all the new information they were learning. They actively asked Alice and Jane further questions to gain a deeper understanding on Indian culture and heritage.
Apart from learning about the traditions, Alice also gave the participants several insights on Singapore’s housing system, handing them informational printouts to broaden their understanding.
We talked to Barbara Owens from Sydney, Australia
Barbara was in Singapore for a few weeks visiting her daughter who has been living here for a couple of years. Her daughter, who had been on another tour conducted by Jane decided to try this Little India heritage tour with her mother, Barbara.
“ I’ve done a Black and White Tour with Jane before and it was really good. That’s why I’m back.” — Ms Owens
Barbara too enjoyed her first Jane’s Tours experience, saying that it was “really interesting apart from the rain”.
My personal highlight of the tour was the beautiful wall murals that decorated the streets we got to see during the tour. Where else can you find such graffiti in Singapore?
Final Thoughts ☁️
Overall, the tour was certainly an eye-opener for the participants as well as for a Singaporean citizen like myself. For foreigners and locals alike, this tour serves as a great opportunity to discover a side of Singapore that not many may be familiar with.
“I think if you really want to understand (Singapore), then you really need to look at the history and the heritage in the stories that went on before Marina Bay Sands and Orchard Road became a shopping Mecca” — Jane
Whether you’re a Singaporean or a foreign friend visiting our little red dot, sign up here to the various tours Jane’s Tours have in store for you to to discover the unknown. 🎟️
