Singapore: Religions

This week has been largely based around planning for our intended trip to Penang over the Easter Long Weekend. It turns out that most Singaporeans seem to have had the same idea, and all buses there and back are sold out

Instead I've bookended (unintentionally) the week with trips to religious places of worship.

Gurdwara Visit
Last weekend (Sat 19th) I joined Kiran, Kavitha and their friends at the local Sikh Gurdwara (the Guru's abode) for a temple visit. We listened to a lecture about the Sikh faith, and heard about the community aspects of this particular Gurdwara. Apparently the temple has been criticised by some (and hailed by others) for being too community oriented.

Sikhism remains a small religion around the world, with around 20 million followers. It is relatively young (~500 years), and believes in the search for Chardhi Kala (unbounded optimism) through Truth. For more info, visit www.sikhnet.com.

The temple visit was fascinating, although I must admit to being a bit unwary at first - after all, I was one of two non-Indians in the group. However this trepidation was soon lost when I got to know people, and realised that these experiences are the ones I will remember most - the ones where I challenge myself. There is a Sikh Gurdwara two streets away in Turramurra, however I have never once been there! I guess it takes being out of one's comfort zone already to do these things.

Besides all that, I got to cook Chappati's in the langar (communal kitchen)!!! See Mum - I cooked in Singapore! Hahahah...

DIAL Lecture
The next day Noah, Lenny & I went to Tampines (near Changi) to the Fifth Daisaku Ikeda Annual Lecture (DIAL), organised by the Singapore Soka Association (a Buddhist Institute in Singapore). The lecture was given by Dr. Majid Tehranian, a Professor at the University of Hawaii, on the topic of "Cosmopolis: Civilisation, Communication and Terror in the Global Village". It was quite an interesting lecture, discussing religion, societal structure, and development insofar as they affect peace and cause war. Dr. Tehranian, however, had a very egotistical lecturing style - and made sure ample time was left to promote his book and research. I hate it when people do that. Mention it once, fine, but don't answer every question with "as can be seen in my book..."!

Holi
Yesterday, Shirley, Aruni, Arvind, Kavitha, Jae Sern, Kristin and I joined many others at Holi (Holikotsava) - the Hindu festival of colours. It marks the New Year, and is meant as a celebration of good harvest and fertility of the land. It's also associated with the immortal love of Krishna and Radha.

It's funny because in Singapore, unless you knew it was going on, you'd never see or hear about it. As we walked along the road to the place, we thought we'd been tricked. There was no sign that anything was going on until you entered the building and went out the back to the football field. Within about 30 seconds we were all wet and covered in coloured powder (known as gulal)! We all had a lot of fun dancing along to cheesy Bhangra music and randomly attacking strangers with colour - its really therapeutic!

Apparently its quite big in Darling Harbour, and is used as a pick-up joint for young Indian males, so if you're in the area the day after the full moon in March, head along!