Sunday, October 29, 2006 . 4:15 AM

Okay, now that things or more or less settled, i can now post more serious stuff, like Nigel ><

Firstly, I'll like to forewarn that this post is not racist or sexist, but in fact encourages a better relationship and bonding in the society. This is not a post of critism, but how to deal with or help the current situation in Singapore and many parts of the world.

Tonight, I went to little India with my family for dinner. We first stopped at the outskirts of little India, so that my dad could change some spare parts for the shower, maybe rubber rings. Anyway, I decided to check out the unofficial flea market in the area. It is quite popular, and you can recognise it instantly as u drive past it. There were plenty of items: indian comics, an electone,pirated VCDs, and not to mention a porn photo in a picture frame, and some other porn VCDs as well. Apparently the area is not checked by the police, so all these can be found. You can also find discarded or stolen Nike shoes that still look pretty new. One thing that struck me: a few couples of Indian men holding hands. We'll come to that later.

Put off by the items they were selling just on the outer area of the flea market, I returned to my family to arrive at the hearts of Little India. We decided to explore Dunlop street, a pretty crowded area in the afternoon. You find many kinds of shops selling vegetables on the roads, which sometimes block vehicles way, causing traffic problems. We asked around for opinions, and found a restaurant called Apolo banana leaf restaurant. The food prices were reasonable fr the stsandard of the food (which was excellent), and the service was 5 star too. The place also had the ambience, and it is hard to find such a place in the middle of Little India.

As we stepped out, we could see a sea of Indians hanging about, just sitting outside the shops and talking a lot. And again I saw many more couples off men holding hands. I suddenly foudn myself and fello schoolmates disgusting: a fter making all those racist jokes in school, are we really racist at heart? We might not make those jokes, but laughing at it is bad enough. What is the Indians' position in the society?

Yes, it is true that it is the Indian New Year period, therefore many more people than normal would hang out in the alleys of Little India, but in these streets, you can see the images of homosexual men, who are tolerable in such a street. Singapore is now more or less tolerable towards homosexuality, but we never encourage it either, and infact indirectly discourage it (does public talks of having a higher birth rate sound familiar?).

Our jokes came from the misunderstood side of the way we see things. Have we, the majority in the society, have forced many of these Indian men to work as construction workers, or deemed them as lustful and looking for women, only to turn to men when they can't find any? Do we still have that color-prejudice sense in us that gives us more unannounced previleges than us?

I am not saying that I encourage homosexuality or that all Indians are not lustful. For gays, I think that we should give them a chance to accept them, becasue it is their own prefrence, and is only immoral to them if it goes against their religon. It is their own choice, and that does not affect us, thus we should not interfere with their actions either.

For the issue of indians being seen as a inferior and sinful, it is somewhat similar to the Indian caste system, and also the high racism in other western countries. You may think that it is not serious in Singapore, but observe: do you notice the large group of indians (espcially the poorer ones) who hang out together regardless of any festivities? They do not interact with locals much! We have decided to keep away from them, because they are not as worthy as us!

Many of them are from overseas, as immigrants, to come and work and earn money for their families. We, as Singapore are looking for 'external talent', but these people, we feel, are not, thus many of us look down upon them, and thus the common stereotypes arise, a nd as mentioned before, pushed them to this state, and really become the 'common stereotype' that we fear.

Is there any way to reverse the situation? No, it's not that easy, but I believe that if we take action and have more activities to improve the unity between races, it just migh happen.

This articles is also dedicated to my maid, who has worked with my family for 8 years, and is leaving for her home this November, and never coming back.

Signing off...