singapore buddhist lodge @ kim yam road

i heard about the free vegetarian food available at the singapore buddhist lodge at kim yam road. i decided to check if it was true you could get a wholesome free meal at this place. i have passed this place before in the past but had not stepped inside the temple until today.

in true buddhist tradition, nobody is barred from helping himself to the free food served at this temple. no question is asked and nobody blinks an eye even if you are in shirt and tie queuing with the uncles and aunties for the fried beehoon, porridge or soup.

as is expected, it is self-service all the way. for crockery, you can choose to use the porcelain bowls or melamine plates. these days, because of the greater number of people who turn up for the free food, they have resorted to using disposable bowls, chopsticks and plastic spoons. those who use the porcelain bowls or melamine plates will wash them before returning them to the shelves.

a friend of mine who used to volunteer at another temple serving free meals had seen some well-to-do free-loaders. he was upset to see this well-dressed attractive woman, in her 40s, appearing every day to help herself to the food and leaving immediately after having her fill. the woman would arrive with a maid in her posh mercedes benz.

however, i explained to him that some of these people who can easily afford better food choose to eat the food prepared at the temple because they believe that the food is blessed and so it will benefit them nutritionally and spiritually.

i had thought it was just fried bee-hoon, like what we used to get when we visited leong san see or bright hill's kong ming san on certain days of the month. here it is available every day and four times a day. and it is not just bee-hoon; there is porridge, soup and stir-fried dishes.

there is even desert like cheng tng and beverages like milo or ovaltine. hot tea is also available. there is no limit to the number of helpings you can have so long as the food is finished within the temple premises. you are not allowed to tar pau or take away food from the place although i did see one person filling up his water-container with the hot milo or ovaltine.

that afternoon when i was there, i counted about 40 persons helping themselves to the free food. most of them were elderly chinese - equal number of men and women - and two who looked like malays.

i could tell that the majority of the helpers in the kitchen at the temple were volunteers. they do not have the glum look of ordinary workers; you can tell from their cheerful demeanour as they went about doing their work. guess it is not work for them but rather it is a service to the needy and hungry.

shooting of stray and unlicensed dogs

since singapore became rabies-free in 1953, dogs have not been hunted as thoroughly or as vigorously as they were in the past. in the 50s and 60s, there were men roaming the streets and kampongs (villages) of singapore, some with a shot-gun in their hands. they had the authority to shoot and kill all strays and unlicensed dogs. culling of strays was quite common in the 50s and 60s.

i can vaguely recall watching a scene where one of these captured dogs was put to sleep with a gun shot. the dog was lassoed and taken to an open area where it was killed with one shot from a shotgun.

there was another incident which made me realise that dogs are quite intelligent animals. one day - when we were still living in the kampong - we were taken aback when our neighbour's pariah dog rushed into our house and hid under our bed. it stayed quiet and did not leave until the danger was over. two strangers walked past our house, one carrying a shotgun, but the normally noisy dog did not let out a sound at all.

my neighbour was quite appreciative of our help in saving the life of her unlicensed dog. at that time, we did not quite understand why there was this persecution of dogs, even dogs that were owned but did not have a tag.

those days, as children, we were not traumatised when we witnessed the taking away of an animal's life right in front of our eyes. we did not think of it as an act of cruelty; we saw it as something that the authorities had to do.

from the 70s onwards, there were hardly any report of culling of stray dogs. but even up to 1998, shooting was one method to get rid of strays. it was only after an unfortunate incident at lorong halus where a man was killed by a stray bullet that this practice was reviewed and then discontinued.

these days, i come across stray dogs at sungei buloh wetland reserve and along certain lanes in lim chu kang. when they are in a pack, they can behave quite aggressively and they do look vicious.

which one of these is a hindu temple?

you would think the answer is obvious. the second one is definitely the hindu temple. then, what is the first one?

actually, both are hindu temples. most non-indian singaporeans are familiar with the southern indian hindu temples because there are more of them and you can find one in practically every housing estate, either within the estate or at the fringe of it.

even the more well-known temples like the sri mariamman temple on south bridge road and the sri srinivasa perumal along serangoon road are both southern indian hindu temples.

many non-indians who walk past the first building on their way to the tekka market (which reopens in three months' time) or to the indian restaurants along race course road and chander road may not realise that this is a temple until they look at the signs.

the southern indian hindu temple is characterised by a pyramid-shape tower called the gopuram. the gopuram usually features fascinating sculptures of hindu deities and foral decorations. one of the main differences between the northern and the southern architecture is the gateway. in the southern style, the gateway is large and elaborate.



the northern hindu temple is characterised by a bee-hive shaped tower called a shikhara that rises in a massive conical shape. a shikhara is a tower or a spire.

the shreelakshminarayan temple in little india (chander road) and the sri sivan temple in geylang are examples of the northern style. the sri sivan temple at geylang east actually exhibits a mix of the northern and southern architecture in its design. however, the sri sivan (now called the sri siva durga temple) at potong pasir belongs to the southern style.

what fruit is this?

flower and fruit of the monkey apple

resembling a small soursop, this fruit is native to south america. it is grown as a roadside tree along certain 'lanes' in lim chu kang. even the flower of the fruit and the seeds resemble those of the soursop.

unlike the soursop, however, the fruit changes from green, before it matures, to yellow when it is ripe.

if you want to know more about this fruit, check out this website.

this is called the monkey apple or pond apple. in some places, it is called the alligator apple.

a recent study suggests that its alcoholic seed extract contains anticancer compounds that could be used pharmaceutically.

on a related topic, someone sent me this about the cure for cancer.

as i have already given you the name of the first fruit, now it is for you to guess the name of the second fruit. what is this fruit (in the picture directly above)? clue (especially helpful to icemoon): it is not a nutmeg. may be another picture may help.

comparing rural and urban landscapes;

kampong today and kampong of yesteryear

kampong lorong buangkok is a wonderful place to take geography students on a fieldtrip. the two types of landscape - urban and rural - are within sight of each other. as you walk out of the foot path from the village, the tall, modern housing development board (hdb) blocks of flats of buangkok estate, just a few hundred metres way, come into view.

rural folks may not have access to cable tv and the internet but they still can enjoy some modern conveniences like airconditioning, as you can see in this house. the compressor unit is at the back of the house. however, you have to put up more with irritants like the mosquitoes and other insects. i remember my kampong days when the chichak (lizard) always made its appearance when the florescent light came on.

across the canal from the kampong is mugliston park pivate housing estate. you can see the difference in the lifestyle of the people living on the opposite sides of the canal. one thing that i am quite certain is: you do not find domestic helps in these kampong houses.

somehow i can sense that the character of kampongs has changed over the years. when i used to live in a kampong, the front doors were kept open all the time. the only time they would be shut was when the folks retired for the night. today, when we visited lorong buangkok, most of the doors of the houses and those which had gates were shut.



those days, we hardly grew our plants in earthern pots. we either planted them directly in the ground or we used metal tins to contain the plants. we grew plants not for decoration but for their practical utility. in our kampong plots, we grew mainly herbal plants and fruit trees but not so much flowering plants like orchids, hibiscus or bougainvillea.




at kampong lorong buangkok, we found that the villagers were either malay or chinese; we did not see any evidence - like, mango leaves - of any indian family. i find that malays are more creative and artistic when it comes to furnishing their homes. chinese homes can be identified by the red banners hung over the door or the presence of a dog in the compound.

in my former kampong, we had representation from all the four racial groups - the chinese was the biggest group, followed by the malays, then the indians and finally, the eurasians. the chinese belonged to three main dialect groups: hokkien, teochew and hainanese.

one thing which was found in my former kampong but not found at lorong buangkok is the outhouse which served as a toilet. in our kampong, the bathroom was also the toilet where you did your 'small business'. for 'big business' you used the communal latrine.