Deepavali

“Deepavali, which literally means “row of lights,” is celebrated by Hindus across the world and is the most important festival in Hinduism. In Singapore, the Festival of Lights, as it’s endearingly called, falls on 26 October 2011 and is a public holiday.” – read more at the YourSingapore.com web site.

I went to Little India yesterday, the day before Deepavali, trying to capture the festivity. I took a bus there, but the bus moves very slowly and took more than 10 min just to align to the Little India station and to turn into Serangoon Road! The road was jam packed with cars and people!. The Campbell Lane was closed and turned into ‘Deepavali Festival Village’. It was so crowded and all I can see from the outside are people’s heads! This reminds me of the flower market in Chinese New Year.

Deepavali Festival Village

Deepavali Festival Village

All the flower shops seem to be very busy too – people keep coming and going to buy stuff.

Flower shop at little india

Flower shop at little india

I’ve been wanting to draw Belilios Road for a personal reason and finally did it yesterday. The road is just next to the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple and i can hear the prayer and music from the temple while sketching.

The sketch below was drawn at the corner of Serangoon Road and Belilios Road. The festive decorations on the left are all over Serangoon Road. The white building is a coffee shop / restaurant, and the blue cover at the right bottom corner is the flower shop in above sketch.

Belilios Road

Belilios Road

This is the back alley of the coffee shop / restaurant.

Belilios Road

Belilios Road

This is another view of the coffee shop / restaurant, drew near the junction of Belilios Road and Belilios Lane.

Belilios Road

Belilios Road

This is ‘Taste of India’, a restaurant on the junction of Belilios Road and Belilios Lane.

Belilios Lane

Belilios Lane

Copyrighted Image (c) April Yip, Leafbear Studio