Thursday, December 13, 2018

How Singapore Moved Hindu Temples, Built Pioneer HDB Houses - stories in the Heritage Trail - Toa Payoh Temple heritage trail - Sri Vairavimada Kaliamman Temple


Singapore flag.

Singapore has a Chinese majority but also Malay and Indian (Tamil speaking) minorities. The four national languages are Chinese (Mandarin) English, Malay, and Tamil. You can see Indian temples in Little India but also a couple of other notable examples. Her's one in Toa Payoh South.

The Toa Payoh South temple looks as if it has been there forever. It's a surprise to discover that the temple was shifted around two or three times due to redevelopment of the land where it was first sited. Temples and heritage trails, as always,  a delight for the eye and the inner eye, one's mind.

Toa Payoh South Temple
http://singaporehindutemples.com/templelist/SriVairavimadaKaliamman/gallery.html

The Little India Temple
Not to be confused with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Veeramakaliamman_Temple near Farrer Park MRT on Serangoon Road.

Toa Payoh History
The Heritage trail booklet has fascinating accounts of life in the days before the first HDB (housing development board) blocks were built by the government. Doors were left open. Chickens were kept outside ground floor flats. Meat was for special occasions. 
When the housing was pioneered in the Sixties, the young man doing the town planning was told that twice as many people as he had expected were to be housed!
https://www.nhb.gov.sg/~/media/nhb/files/places/trails/toa%20payoh%20trail%20booklet%20full%20set-low%

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