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It is quite easy to forget that the tiny-island state of Singapore actually began life with a relationship with India.
From its founding by Sir Stamford Raffles in 1819, the name Singapore is actually a transliteration from the Tamil word of Singam meaning lion; and pore, meaning city. Thus what is unmistakable in ordinary colloquy in the city-state is the common reference to its Lion City sobriquet.
Though historical records point to Raffles planting his stake in the country, other records point to another equally well-heeled explorer named Sang Nila Utama; known originally as Paramswara and who turned to Islam.
But now in the age of globalisation old bonds are beginning to get renewed again. Brimming with an exquisitely Indian feel its Little India town is where thousands of Indian expatriates head to; as a result of the republic’s warm embrace of Indian Information Technology (IT) professionals, to service the nation’s complex economy.
Like the immigrant society that Singapore has come to be identified and which also looks set to become her destiny, each wave of Indian or other foreign community that arrives on her shores, brings with them not only the folklore of their departed lands but also the bevies of women accompanying their husbands.
In odd ways, these adopted nations wind up become the hometowns of these immigrants, they go to collectively form today’s Singapore in Chinese, Indians and Malays — peoples’ who after having had hailed from distant shores are hardly the indigenous natives of Singapore.
But in today’s world, the phenomenon of globalisation has allowed many to move across porous borders in search of jobs and the way the Indian wives have been adapting to lives in Singapore, has also been distinctly noticeable.
Though it is almost easy for an Indian man to make his abode anywhere in the world, that does not apply to women that very easily.
First, there is the question of safety of which Singapore has an enviable record in the world. That takes a huge load off the minds of women, because that is not something that is easily seen in other parts of the globe.
Of the many professional Indian women in Singapore, none has found cause to complain of sexual harassment or bias from male colleagues as is most often the case in India.
Office atmosphere in most Singapore companies is often warm and the workload compared to India is usually manageably easy and facile.
Singapore bosses, according to most Indian women, are friendly and treat them with respect, but what is truly wholesome about a Singapore experience is that there is no occasion for bribery or other kinds of graft.
Aided by such genialities is the added comfort of transport that makes zipping in and around the country an absolute breeze.
Besides the peace in the country, the island-republic is a picture-perfect oasis of racial and religious harmony where people of all races live side by side in communal accord. To ensure and to promote racial understanding the state makes it mandatory for every Housing and Development Board (HDB) flat in the country, which is largely publicly-owned, to compel a fair mix of races represented by their respective percentage numbers in the general population.
What’s more, because of its historical and long-standing ties with the Indian mainland, the plethora of Indian shops and restaurants and movie theatres does not make it any different from being in India itself; because Singapore for Indian women provides the intangible comforts that is otherwise gravely in old Bharat Matha.
From the looks of what is happening, Singapore may just have another happy chapter to add in its evolving ties with the ancient civilisation of India.
Singapore Tourism Board and Singapore Airlines in co-ordination with Mezoon Travel LLC organised the presentation.
Maya Singh
