"My Singapore Memories" Part-1 Year 2007

It's almost 6 years.Ya, Six years since I have come to Singapore.So many memories that I have shared with while being here.I came to Singapore when Arshi was 1 year old.This country has seen her grow from an infant to a toddler, to a preschooler to a P1 student now.She crawled ,walked,run here.Her life's first walk,run,speech everything happened in Singapore.Our relatives way back in India really missed all her major milestones.I was all in fears when my hubby made a  decision to migrate to another country.But all my relatives back there in India were very supportive.They told good words about Singapore and even told I can find many Indians here.The first 2 years , more time was spent on understanding our neighbourhood than going around Singapore.But we did manage to see  a few places as and when  we could.There was another reason for that-Arshi was too small.

It was the year August 2007.After I landed in Changi Airport, I was spell bound by the majestic airport which I had never seen in my life.The flight to Singapore was my first flight I took throughout my life.I was 26 then and Arshi was just 1.I thought, Arshi was luckier than me.Ok.Ok.While coming down to the immigration counter, we had  to walk thru the escalator.I was really nervous of walking  through in  a  escalator, that I carried both mine and Arshi's hand luggage and walked down the stairs all the way to the immigration counter.After coming out with my luggage and accompanying my motherinlaw and Arshi, we were greeted by my hubby who was waiting for us.We stepped out of the airport and I saw the wordings "City of possibilities" in many banners.Singapore flag was flying all around and my hubby told, the national day-the birthday day of Singapore was just over and these were hung for the celebration. The wordings itself gave  me   a strength.It gave  a me a  new hope.I though it was a   good   start.After coming home, my hubby gave me a  new phone and  a digital camera.It was the first digital camera I got in my life.Before coming  to Singapore, we were using the cameras which had film  rolls and we had   to go to any near by studio to get the film developed and had  to wait   for a  day or  two to see our pictures.From my younger days , I always had  a passion for photography.I loved to take pictures for others as well as posed to others and get me photographed.So by seeing the digital camera, I was thrilled.Now I could take pictures and instantly see the results.Wow.The next few weeks , we were touring Singapore.Everything was new and sounded great to me .As my motherinlaw who accompanied me was leaving in 2 months, we made sure, she saw most of Singapore in those months of stay in Singapore.My hubby would take us out for sight seeing almost every weekend and we were really waiting for those weekends.I took my camera to all the places we visited and tried to get some good snaps of the places.

at Esplanade

This was the place, I loved the most even before coming to Singapore . I had asked my hubby even before coming to Singapore that he  should surely take us to this place after we had come  to Singapore.I knew this was Merlion only after coming to Singapore.Till date, this is both mine as well as Arshi's favourite place.We never fail to visit this when ever we go to Marina Bay.

AT Fountain of Wealth,Suntec City

striking a pose at the Marina Bay

We were thrilled to ride on the double decker bus,MRT trains and everything around us.

Our MRT ride

roads so clean

a ride with my hubby

It was the first time we were riding on a A/c train.we didn't even heard of these stuff before.Arshi was just 1 year and she too was enjoying Singapore with us.We celebrated her first birthday just after  a  day we came  to Singapore.

It was also the year I started to cook alone without anyone's help.All that while way back in India my motherinlaw or my mother used to cook and I used to assist them.I would say, I did manage to do pretty well.I tried new dishes which I had learnt from my friends and relatives as well as through internet.I made sure, I made snacks for all religious occasions. We Indians,especially Hindus have many festivals and functions which require you make different food items as offerings to God.

Lightups was something new to me .I never knew, Singapore celebrates Deepavali this large scale.I was also surprised to see so many Hindu temples in Singapore.I witnessed lightup for the first time in Little India for Deepavali.

a closer view

night view

Our Deepavali in our  home at Tampines was a simple one.

a visit to Muneeswarar temple,Sengkang

It was also the year I got introduced to my best friend, Kavita and her family in a temple-Senbaga Vinayagar temple, where Arshi as a baby crawled towards them and our friendship started with a  friendly chat which is lasting till today and hope will continue forever.

lovely Kavita with her kids pratiksha,Ritika and hubby Nagarajan with Arshi.

A snap when they came over to our house for a dinner.

Our first visit to ECP.Arshi was just 1 yera that time.we have been to this beach several times later on.

Arshi in basket.Isn't she too cute.

I also visited some near by malls and I saw Christmas tree for the first time in my life at many malls.I was fascinated to see big Christmas trees at many malls.I remember taking photos of those trees.But again find it difficult to hunt them from my album.I remember spending evening times watching Vasantham Central then telecast-ed only during evenings apart from taking Arshi to the nearest playground.Later on over the next 2 years, it was expanded .Now, I can view Vasantham TV from afternoon itself.

I still remember, when she was small, I used to take Arshi to the playground at least 3 times a  day.Once in the morning, when I am feeding Arshi, again during the evening before my hubby came and later, in the late evenings after I had given some snacks to my hubby.Arshi used to get so excited to play in her playground.She had just learnt to walk then.Playground was not just the place where Arshi enjoyed playing her swings and slides, but it was also a place where I got  to know people from my neighborhood whom later became my friends - from whom , I got to know of neighborhood shopping places.It was also a place where Arshi and myself really got to know the really essence of being in Singapore-being racial.I met some Chinese friends too who are friends with me till now.They have introduced Chinese cultures and traditions to me by explaining the concept of hungry ghost festival,lantern festival and Chinese new year and others to me.Arshi learnt to be a  racial girl after mingling with children of all races from her younger ages .We had some Malay friends too who used to frequently come to the playground.

With her fav Dino.Unfortunately, this playground was demolished 2 years later.A new playground is at its place now.

she had just started to stand on her own......

We also visited Chinese and Japanese garden apart from visiting, Marina Bay and Little India.I tried to locate those pics in my hard disk drive(as our laptop's memory space is already over occupied by too many photos I keep on taking every now and then) but couldn't find them.Should check back the entire set of albums during my free time and hunt for the photos.I got organised when naming the photo folders only by the late 2008 when I named a file by naming it along with the year and month along with the place where I took them.We bought our first laptop by the end of 2007.Being used to a  desktop till then ,using a  laptop was a lot  more convenient in many ways.The year 2007 in Singapore was more of getting to know  a new place for me as I was adjusting to a new country along with a small  kid all alone  and it was also a phase where I got some good friends.