Little India 
From Singapore Hotels & Singapore Lifestyle
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Little India will look like another world, especially if you've been spending your time on Orchard Road and in the Colonial District. Abandon all thoughts of sterile Singapore here; this colourful enclave of the Indian community is anything but organised and clean.
Step into Serangoon Road today and the same ambience of the long past sitll persists. Indeed, the visitor is plunged into the sub-continent, with undulating music punctuated by car horns and bicycle bells, women drifting gracefully along in vivid saris and the pungent nose-tickling aroma of spices. Fruit and vegetable shops crowd the grubby five-foot ways with their boxes of eggplants, okra and tomatoes, jostling for space with the goldsmiths and raucous stores selling Electronics and cheap CDs from India.
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The sights, sounds and smells of India are unmistakeable. Everywhere is the smell of incense and spices, wafting from the merchants' shops and countless eateries, offering some of Singapore's best Food. At street corner stalls, jasmine flowers perfume the air as they deftly strung into garlands for use in Hindu Temples in the neighbourhood. In Restaurants, amid the hubbub of crowds of people eating curried rice off banana leaves with their fingers, is the Roti Prata man, twirling flour pancakes in the air and then cooking them on a griddle. The Roti Prata is dipped into curry gravy and makes a delicious meal - be it breakfast, lunch or dinner.
It's a fascinating area to wander around, shopping, browsing, eating and, in traditional Indian style, being stared at by groups of men. The Tekka Centre, with its pungent, bustling wet market, Hawker Centre and clothes stalls is a must-see, and for shopping there probably isn't anywhere in Singapore to match the 24-hour Mustafa Centre for sheer chaotic variety.
History of Little India
Little India was a suburb that grew up around a camp for Indian convict workers. It was never intended to be an enclave for Indian migrants who had Kampong Chulia (an area now marked by Chulia Street and Market Street in the Central Business District (CBD)) designated to them by Stamford Raffles. But the abundant grass and water that had made the Serangoon area an attractive place for cattle-breeding attracted both Indian proprietors and labourers in the 1840s. Some of the cattle owners even brought labourers from their hometown in India to work for them. One of them was I.R. Belilios, a Venetian Jew from Calcutta who brought nearly all his Bengali staff with him.
Cattle trading soon took place. Cattle were also used for driving machines and for transportation. This spawned a myriad of economic activities such as wheat grinding and pineapple-preserving and pulled in even more Indians to the area. Retail and commercial activities developed to cater to the burgeoning population's ethnic needs. By the turn of the 20th century, the area began to take on the character of an Indian neighbourhood.
Orientation
Teeming Serangoon Road forms the spine of Little India, but many of the more interesting parts of the neighbourhood are the narrow streets branching off this central artery. Little India's borders are roughly marked by Lavender Street to the north, Bukit Timah Road and Sungei Road to the south, Race Course Road to the east and Jalan Besar to the west. Following Serangoon Road south, you will eventually hit the eastern end of Orchard Road.
Top Few Things-To-Do
- Indulging in a bargain vegetarian pig-out at Ananda Bhavan
- Browsing the grimy, bustling food and clothing stalls at the Tekka Market and Food Centre
- Walking the side streets of Serangoon Road
Tourist Attractions
Places of Worship
Little India is chock-a-block with interesting religious sights, not just Hindu Temples, but shrines representing the entire spectrum of Singapore faith.
Abdul Gaffoor Mosque, Central Sikh Temple, Kampung Kapor Methodist Church, Khalsa Dharmak Sabha Temple, Leong San See Temple, Sakaya Muni Buddha Gaya Temple, Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple, Sri Vadapathira Kaliamman Temple, Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple
Notable Streets
Most of the streets, such as Dickson Street, Dunlop Street and Clive Street, once led to the private residences of Europeans who settled near the Race Course when it was completed in the 1840s, while those like Belilios Street and Desker Street reflected the names of Indian cattle owners.
Belilios Street, Bugis Street, Campbell Lane, Clive Street, Desker Street, Dickson Street, Dunlop Street, Petain Road, Race Course Road, Serangoon Road, Syed Alwi Road
Notable Buildings
Shopping
A wander around Little India and Kampong Glam is a browser's delight - and a thoroughly different experience from the air-conditioned order of Orchard Road and the Colonial District. The ramshackle streets are a treasure-trove of art, antiques, textiles, food, music and the infamous cut-price palace of Mustafa Centre. You'll also find a concentration of goldsmith shops in Little India and along Serangoon Road, where the shops teem with Indians from all over the diaspora stocking up on jewellery, often for weddings and other special events. Keen bargainers might find the discounted electronics that were once abundant in Singapore, while computer enthusiasts will make a beeline for Sim Lim Square.
Thereafter, head down to the Kampong Glam at Bussorah Street, where you'll find a newly resurgent pedestrian strip filled with Arts, Crafts, Antiques and Cafes.
- Art: Ansa Store, Bhaskar's Art Academy, Plastique Kinetic Worms, Shoma Studio
- Dance: Samra
- Food: A Jaffar Spices Centre, Khan Mohamed Bhoy & Sons
- I.T., Computers & Electronics: Mustafa Centre, Sim Lim Square, Sim Lim Tower
- Music: Indian Classical Music Centre
- Shopping: Bugis Village, Little India Arcade, Mustafa Centre, PARCO Bugis Junction, Sungei Road Thieves Market, Tekka Mall
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Visitors' Information
- Nearest MRT: Little India MRT Station
