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Serangoon Road

Serangoon Road is a major thoroughfare, cutting through Singapore's Little India. It serves as the centre of commercial, cultural and religious activities for both the local and foreign Indian community in Singapore. It one of the earliest road built in Singapore, serving as a highway between the settlement in town and the Serangoon harbour in the northeast.

History
Little India was not planned as a designated area for Indian community unlike Chinatown and Kampong Glam that had been set aside for the Chinese and Malay community respectively. However, it was the life around Serangoon Road that had led to the Indian community growing around it. Serangoon Road was described in an 1828 map of Singapore as "The Road Leading across the Island". It was built to serve as a link between the settlements in town and the Serangoon harbour, an important northeast harbour on the Johor Straits. The harbour provided access to the once lucrative lumbering and quarrying business in Pulau Ubin and Johor.

During the 1820s, the area became an industrial area for brick kiln business and cattle farming which were run by mostly Indians. By 1826, thousands of Indians had come to Serangoon Road to work as construction workers and farmers. The majority of the Indians who came were either South Indian Muslims or middle caste Hindus. The first recorded brick kiln business in Singapore was said to have been established by an Indian, Narayana Pillai, who had come to Singapore in 1819. Cattle farmers were attracted to the area due to the presence of abundant water and grassland that made it suitable for cattle farming.

Subsequently, the kiln business and cattle farming was discontinued in the 1860s and in 1936 respectively by the government. Despite the closure of these industries, most of the Indians who came to work at Serangoon Road continued to reside there. By 1880, the Indian population had grown to a large number making the area recognisable as an enclave for the Indian community in Singapore.

Key Features
One of the unique features along this road is the architecture consisting mostly of terrace shophouses with highly decorative facades. They have features that reflect the period they were built, from early 1840s to 1960s. Another unique feature found on some of these buildings are its smooth surfaces. They were created using a traditional technique of external plasterwork: the Madras chunam, made of egg-white, shell, lime and sugar. This mixture was mixed together with coconut husks and water and plastered on the surface of buildings. Upon hardening, the surface was polished with crystal stones, creating a smooth finish.

One of Singapore's earliest Hindu temples, the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple, is located at 397 Serangoon Road. The temple was built in 1885 by Narasingham, who purchased the plot of land from the East India Company.

Modern
Serangoon Road is now part of a conservation area that was gazetted on 7 July 1989 by the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore. The area still continues to be the hub for Indian community activities. It would become lively during the weekends and during religious festivals such as Thaipusam and Deepavali, when both tourists and locals would throng the street.

Variant Names
Chinese name: Hou Gang Lu or Ow Kung, "Back of the Port Road." It is referred to as Au-Kang in Hokkien and Hau-kong in Cantonese which means "Back creek."
Malay name: It is also said to be name after "Ranggong" a Malay name for a bird of the stork species called the adjutant bird or small marsh bird. Others suggest, that it was derived from the Malay phrase di-serang dengan gong  which means "to surround with gongs", a possible reference to the use of gongs to scare away animals from the forested area of Serangoon.



Author
Heirwin Mohd Nasir



References 
Durai Raja Singam S. [1939]. Malayan street names: What they mean and whom they commemorate (p. 138). Ipoh: Mercantile Press.
(Call no.: RSING 959.5 RAJ)

Edwards, N., & Peter K. (1996). Singapore: A Guide to Buildings, Streets, Places (pp. 111-115). Singapore: Times Books International.
(Call no.: RSING 915.957 EDW)

Little India: Historic district. (1995). Singapore: Urban Redevelopment Authority.
(Call no.: SING q363.69095957 LIT)

Firmstone, H. W. (1905, January). Chinese names of streets and places in Singapore and the Malay Peninsula. Journal of Straits Branch Royal Asiatic Society, 4, 128-129.
(Call no.: RSING 959.5 FIR-[IC])

Singapore Tourism Board. (2000). Little India. Retrieved December 23, 2004, from http://www.littleindia.com.sg/stb/stb_tour_ie.htm


Further Readings
Sharon, S., & Nirmala, S. (Ed.). (1983). Serangoon Road: A pictorial history. Singapore: Educational Publications Bureau.
(Call no.: RSING 779.995957 SER)

Tyers, R. (1993). Ray Tyers' Singapore: Then & now. Singapore: Landmark Books.
(Call no.: RSING 959.57 TYE) 

Caldecott Productions International. (1994). Restoring the Singapore shophouse: The "top-down" approach [Videotape]. Singapore: Urban Redevelopment Authority.
(Call no.: RAV 711.4095957 RES) 

Kamble, J. R. (1984). Serangoon Road [Videotape]. Singapore: J. R. Kamble.
(Call no.: RSING 959.57 KAM) 

Singapore Broadcasting Corporation. (1988, April 13). Changing landscapes: Serangoon [Videotape]. Singapore: Singapore Broadcasting Corporation.
(Call no.: RSING 959.57 CHA)

Singapore Broadcasting Corporation. (1992, August 16). Changing times: Serangoon [Videotape]. Singapore: Singapore Broadcasting Corporation.
(Call no.: RSING 959.57 CHA) 

Subject
Architecture and Landscape>>Streets and Places
Street names--Singapore
Historic sites--Singapore
People and communities>>Social groups and communities
Arts>>Architecture>>Religious buildings

Librarian Recommendations
>> Little India
>> Naraina Pillai
>> Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple


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