serangoon road

44 years living here

and not once have I yet just chilled and relaxed in serangoon road

my daughter comes for drama class here now

and I have an hour and half to my leisure here 

and what a pleasure it is! 

the scents, of sambrani and oodhupathi, the tamil film songs a different one every few shops, the shops selling flowers, bangles, pottu,

the vegetables laid out array after array of leafy greens, pinks of pomergranates, bags of onion, ripe red tomatoes... 

I buy some vegetables and the vegetable seller adds a generous sprig of coriander leaves ans curry leaves and makes me smile

I feel home and happy here. 

Tamil lettering for the shops

smiling faces at every turn

the saree donning mannequins s in window glasses 

I can't believe I'm describing my home like a tourist 

but I've always seem serangoon road functionally 

a place together things and then leave

but now I am soaking it in here

and loving in

today I stepped into the first shop I thought would sell matchboxes which I needed badly for my altar at home. The good man had no change for my 50 so I left to get flowers at the next shop

then I step back in and realise I have stumbled into a bookshop! imagine my delight 

there are shelves and shelves of books, mostly in tamil. I can read the titles and I probably can read the text but I don't. I just drink innthe titles and then pick a few books in English and an assessment in tamil for my eldest! 

but what a joy.

I step into the Indian heritage centre to wait the remaining hour and I love the pictures here of thaipusam and deepavali and ponggal display and so much more...

like I said it's like I'm discovering home despite having lived here all my life.