A large part of Singapore’s population is in the throes of celebrating Deepavali. This is a major annual Indian Hindu, Jain, Sikh and Buddhist festival/celebration. Known as the "Festival of Lights," it symbolises the victory of good over evil, light over dark, and lamps are lit as a sign of celebration and hope for mankind. We were honoured to be invited to share in the celebrations with lots of hubby’s colleagues at the invitation of some of their work contacts who hosted a large buffet dinner at the Banana Leaf Apollo restaurant in Little India.
This part of the city is busy on any Saturday night, but during Deepavali it is absolutely packed. The atmosphere is great – everybody is cheerful and excited, and as we arrived just before 7pm crowds were lining the streets to watch the annual parade go past.
Night comes suddenly in the topics: by 7.30 it’s completely dark, and the brief dusk brings little relief from the heat. Standing four or five deep along the street the crowd was a hot, noisy, constantly moving mass and we struggled to keep the kids high enough to watch what was happening. The banging of drums and gongs signalled the start of the brightly lit parade as musicians and performers slowly moved along the street beneath the brightly coloured lighting displays hung overhead.
After a short while we gave up and joined our friends in the restaurant, although I did get a few photos. Singapore is a safe place but the fear of losing one of the kids in the crowd always niggles in the back of our minds as they would be quickly lost amidst the forest of legs, and even Carl’s blond hair soon disappears in the dark.
Dinner was a tasty buffet of Indian food. I wish I could describe what we ate with any detail or give you the names of the dishes but unfortunately my knowledge of this type of food is very limited. There was a heavenly dish of creamed spinach with cubes of a type of curd, tandoori chicken, chilli-spiked fried cabbage, seared fish and plump prawns coated with a spicy red paste. All was washed down with large cups of fresh chilled lime juice, and topped of with platters of fresh tropical fruits.
Afterwards we walked slowly through the crowds enjoying the lights until we managed to flag down a taxi and headed home, with the boys exhausted, heads hanging, yet too wound up to fall straight asleep when they finally got to bed.
This part of the city is busy on any Saturday night, but during Deepavali it is absolutely packed. The atmosphere is great – everybody is cheerful and excited, and as we arrived just before 7pm crowds were lining the streets to watch the annual parade go past.
Night comes suddenly in the topics: by 7.30 it’s completely dark, and the brief dusk brings little relief from the heat. Standing four or five deep along the street the crowd was a hot, noisy, constantly moving mass and we struggled to keep the kids high enough to watch what was happening. The banging of drums and gongs signalled the start of the brightly lit parade as musicians and performers slowly moved along the street beneath the brightly coloured lighting displays hung overhead.
After a short while we gave up and joined our friends in the restaurant, although I did get a few photos. Singapore is a safe place but the fear of losing one of the kids in the crowd always niggles in the back of our minds as they would be quickly lost amidst the forest of legs, and even Carl’s blond hair soon disappears in the dark.
Dinner was a tasty buffet of Indian food. I wish I could describe what we ate with any detail or give you the names of the dishes but unfortunately my knowledge of this type of food is very limited. There was a heavenly dish of creamed spinach with cubes of a type of curd, tandoori chicken, chilli-spiked fried cabbage, seared fish and plump prawns coated with a spicy red paste. All was washed down with large cups of fresh chilled lime juice, and topped of with platters of fresh tropical fruits.Afterwards we walked slowly through the crowds enjoying the lights until we managed to flag down a taxi and headed home, with the boys exhausted, heads hanging, yet too wound up to fall straight asleep when they finally got to bed.
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