Farewell to a Grand Dame




Tanjong Pagar Railway Station

 

On 1 July 2011, the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station will become history. I understand that the building has been here for the last 79 years. It has seen Singapore through the colonial days to the days when we were a part of Malaysia and then independence.
It was not a building I frequented. In fact, I had only been there three times to catch a train. Once when I as probably about 10 years of age on a day trip to Kluang, another when I was in my early teens (11 or 12 years) on a holiday to Fraeser's Hill and the third when I was about 17, also on a holiday to Fraeser's Hill. They were all family holidays with my parents.
I recall 2 things vividly about the train ride then - the toilet was a hole in the floor and you could see the track beneath you when you had to "go". The other thing was the hypnotic rhythm the wheels made as they rolled over tracks. There was something soothing about it.
Although it was more than 30 years since my last trip on this train, I felt a call to visit the station one last time. I cannot explain why this is. Perhaps it is because of the countless times I have driven past the building and used it as a landmark, hence I feel a sense of indebtedness.
I made that last trip to Tanjong Pagar Station on 25 June 2011, armed with my camera. It was truly nostalgic. Some parts of the station did not seem to have changed in the last 30 years ! It is, in my opinion, a charming building and I hope it does not get reincarnated as another characterless office building or condominium.
After 79 years, its time had come. Once a significant station of Malayan Railway linking Singapore's harbour with the Western Malaysian states, it has since lost its relevance.
These are some photographs I took. Enjoy :)
 


Stately European Styled Clock

 


Main Hall of the Station





Ticket Office



Train pulling into the station



Interesting Lamp



When was the last time you saw this at a car park?



Wrought iron fence surrounding building

The Circle of Life

Hibiscus, Malaysia's National Flower

Peirce Reservoir

Sunset at Lower Peirce Reservoir

Peirce Reservoir will always hold a special place in my heart. It is filled with fond memories of my childhood. It was a simpler time when the family bonded over evening walks at the reservoir and having a treat of  Magnolia ice cream from the uncle on a motorcycle.

Memories are formed through the collision of one or more of our senses - sight, sound, smell, taste and feel. Personally, sight and smell seem to feature higher on my senses. Each time I pass a building or monument or see an object from my childhood, I stop for a moment to reminisce a time gone by. A sample includes:

• Buildings that I used to see as a schoolboy (Peirce Reservoir, Telecom substations, PUB sub stations, Singapore Institute of Science at Serangoon Road; War Memorial, Fullerton Building (now Fullerton Hotel), Ministry of Labour (the old one at Havelock Road), Peoples Park Complex, Tiong Bahru (the low rise flats), Peninsular Plaza (used to be the only place to buy jeans or tailor your trousers), National Theatre (demolished), Van Kleef Aquarium (demolished), National Stadium (demolished)...the list goes on and on and on in my brain.
• Bus stops which I used to frequent as a schoolboy (Victoria Street in front of the former Alson Hotel, Mountbatten Road before the junction of Joo Chiat Road, Dunearn Road in front of the Big Field (that gives away the school I attended :P), Rex Cinema (the chendol stall in the back lane....next to the mee rebus stall);
• Cinemas that I used to frequent - Odeon, Capitol, Cathay;
• Places that made my tummy happy - Jalan Leban hawkers' centre (I still frequent the fish ball noodle stall which I have eaten at since I was 12 years old ! It has fed 3 generations of our family) and Skillets at the former Supreme House (Penang Road)

Pardon the long list....you will see that I have quite a strong affinity for familiar places.....sometinmes, as I drive around Singapore running my errands, I find my mind going into a mental overload when I pass familiar places. I guess it is knd of the same thing when I bring my dog for a walk and he seems to have an urge to visit the same trees and lamp posts :p

My "smell" list brings on powerful mental triggers. When I encounter a familar smell, I am transported, for a moment, to the place and time associated with that smell. Some are the triggers include:

• Smell of fresh wall paint reminds me of school holidays;
• Smell of diesel used to clean engine parts in a workshop reminds me of stints as a trainee engineer onboard a ship and at a shipyard;
• Smell of 711 cologne and onions (yes, a concoction) remind me of times as a child when I had a fever and this concoction was applied to my forehead;
• Smell of Johnsons baby powder reminds me of my son as a baby ....... after a bath :) ;
• Smell of an aircraft ....yes, airplanes have a funny smell.... reminds me of the 20 years I spent working in an airline;
• Smell of a laundramat reminds me of my days as a student doing laundry .... drying clothes at a laundramat is almost as exciting as watching paint dry :p ;
• Smell of a pet shop reminds me of my childhood pet dog....don't know why because he did not come from a pet shop;
• Smell of disinfectant handscrub in hospitals (Hibiscus Scrub) reminds me of the time when my Dad was in hospital for about 8 months;
• Smell of leather (shoes, wallet, bags)....love it ! ... makes me happy....don't know why....maybe I was a cow in a previous life .......or a cobbler :)
• Smell of chalk dust on a blackbaord reminds me of primary school

I could go on but I think you get the drift. They say that a dog's sense of smell is a thousand times more sensitive than a human's. I think my sense of sight and smell may be more acute than that of my fellow species. Maybe that's why I get this explosion of distractions when I am near familiar surroundings.......or my excuse to be distracted.

These "distractions" are the spices in our journey through life and sets us apart from mechanical appliances and electronic devices. Speaking of electronic devices, have they become part of our lives or have we become a part of theirs?

Sadly, in the hustle and bustle of daily life, we have ignored the little things around us. We therefore complain about our mundane lives when the beauty is right in front of us, waiting to be appreciated. I am reminded of a question I came across sometime ago:

When a tree falls in a forest and nobody hears it, does it make a sound?