Singapore 2013 A year in the island country
A year in the island country Shortly after submitting my Master’s thesis on St. Valentine’s Day 2013, I boarded an Air India flight to Singapore for a job as a Computer Scientist. This is a memoir in a photo-journal form of my days at the beautiful island country in between Late February to the last day of December, 2013.
All the pictures and words are copyrighted by Debmalya Sinha. If you want to use any single picture in this journal, please feel free to contact me for pricing. I can be reached at: debmalya.01@gmail.com
Singapore 2013 - A year in the island country by Debmalya Sinha is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialNoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The word Goodbye has been derived from the phrase god b'w'y; which, in its more complete form, is the phrase: “God be with you�.
I realised, on 17th of February 2013, that the only thing which is going to be with me is a gaze on the dusty streets of my city; towards my way back.
Singapore is an adorable, tiny, city country between Malaysia and Indonesia. Clean at every nook, Singapore spends a lot of effort to keep itself neat.
A system with many wheels turning, Singapore rolls like a giant company. Its shipyard is the gateway between two worlds, leaving the doorman’s wife happy.
A major beautification of the city kickstarted around 2007 to make it the Los Angeles of the east. The businessmen flocked in here alongwith the tourists from around the world. They come to see the modern architecture wonder, that is, Singapore.
Clarke Que is the tourist and party district here. The western style clubs, pubs and discotheques remind expats of their distant country.
But like everywhere else, night shows you the Yin and Yang if you are not too drunk. Clarke Que, Singapore around 2:30 AM
I visited the famous Jurong Bird Park shortly after arriving in Singapore. It has a stupendous collection of beautiful birds inside a semi natural habitat.
A large part of the park is caged sky high to give the birds freedom to fly around and live life as if they are in their natural habitat. Once in a day the authorities make sure that there are freshly cut fruits, nailed to tree branches to provide the free flying birds with food.
Orchard Road is the famous shopping district of Singapore. If a brand does not have a showroom here, it is not a niche brand. Bulgari – Mont Blanc, Orchard Road
Louis Vuitton, Orchard Road
Singaporeans are nice, hardworking and honest people. Some might find them a wee bit snobbish but as you become familiar, you can see that they are not snob. They are just quiet. Prada, Orchard Road
They are people of few words; in their work, leisure and love.
Unlike the usual trend in humanity, they are peaceful people. They actually stop at the stop signs and only go at green. Seldom do they cross the line.
By fashion, Singapore can easily be called the New York of Asia. People spend a lot of their effort on dressing sharp. Be it just a 9-6 office, or a nightout; people here are conscious about their attire
Minding their own businesses most of the time, Singaporeans are tech savvy people. Newer version of anything is almost guaranteed to sell. Most of their motto is: High tech, I take. No matter what, you’ll always find everyone staring at their high tech, portable media devices.
Although like everywhere, Singapore too have a ChinaTown; Chinese is unofficially the main language here. Everyone, however, is quite proficient in English with muted ‘r’, ‘d’ and ‘t’ pronunciations.
People come here for opportunity, but I always fond afternoons that sound like chimes in the wind; or the backyard of a far away home that smells like the little flowers of mango. It’s been an eventful one year and a wonderful experience in this beautiful country and its people. I’m going back to India on February 6th, 2014. After that it’ll be another new country for me. But this year will always be special to me for I have learned to truly be alone and watch time go by. Singapore have my heartfelt gratitude for everything it gave me. Adieu, sweet place.