ABSTRACT

As I enter East Coast Park via the underpass that connects it with the Marine Parade area, the smell of meat on barbeque pits immediately greets me. Ahead of me is a group of Indian men busily chattering away in Tamil and checking their phones for messages. Two are lightly holding hands, showing affection as close friends, flashing bright smiles. A little further down is a group of Filipino women accompanied by neatly dressed Bangladeshi men, all clearly on a date. Closer towards the sea it is evident that most pits have been booked for the day and that the party is already in full swing at many. Punjabi music is blasting from the speakers and a group of men, still wet from their swim, are dancing and singing along to its tune. At the next pit a group of Indonesian women has gathered and are in the process of opening plastic boxes with homemade food and pouring cups of colourful soda. Smaller groups of people dot the lawns opposite the pits. My gaze is drawn to a South Indian man and his sari-clad wife resting on a small blanket with a chequered pattern. His gestures tell me that he is trying to explain something but her attention is elsewhere, her eyes restlessly following the quad cycles that carry whole families up and down the path in front, often pausing to take selfies.