Yesterday, I spent the whole afternoon in Bras Basah Complex.
What would you relate to Bras Basah? To me, it was 书城. It was where my father brought us when we were young. He would spend hours at the bookshops or if there was a stamp fair, we’ll be there. Both my parents, being Chinese Educated were avid readers of chinese novels and history.
I remembered a lot of things about Bras Basah Complex.
Once, my mother told me that because 书城 sounded like “Losing Town” in Mandarin, it was renamed as 百胜楼!! Besides books, Bras Basah Complex also houses Sports shops who specialises in Badminton and Table Tennis.
I remembered my brother had his foot caught in one of the escalators. Luckily, his shoes saved him.
I remembered the bare concrete screed on Popular bookstore on the 4th floor where now it became POP@Central.
As a teenager, I remember spending time at the Macdonalds next to Bras Basah Compex, a gathering place before we embark on our outings, and at times a place where books were spread across the table.
As I grew up and started work, I remembered going Bras Basah to get my work task completed, getting to the namecard printers, marketing materials, etc.
I once had a boss who lives in the HDB flat above the complex. He always joked “I lived next to Raffles Hotel.”
I had a lot of fond memory of this place. Though the place had a makeover, the tenant mix had become more tech savvy, the overall infrastructure had remained. Its a place you think of when you think of books, particularly chinese books, and art supplies. Nostalgia still lingers….somehow, tranquility tagged along.
I managed to find what I wanted in POP@Central, not after the staff there spend rounds of inquiries and running around the place, locating what I wanted. And I must applaud the staff, she really makes an effort to locate it. Then I spend sometime in Art Friend. Still the same old Art Friend, and I got my supplies.
I then went to Awareness Place. It is a place where they conduct workshops, talks on buddhism. It also conducts meditation classes, yoga classes, etc. It also has a book cum CD store. I was introduced by a friend on a CD called Chants of Metta by Imee Ooi. The music provided some solace during my down times. So, after searching through titles, I got another title by Imee Ooi, called Mantra of the Green Tara.
And before hopping out of the store, I browse through their book collection and chanced upon this.
Daily Buddhist Devotions.
Buddhist Devotions are pretty much similar to Prayers to God. These devotions are written in Pali language but comes with English translation. Typically, the first thing that comes to mind about buddhist are burning incense in temples, asking the Buddha for something, be it wealth, health or anything else. But one does not associate dedications or devotions to the Buddha, or to others, or showing gratitude, etc.
This book has a collection of verses and recitals such as “Sharing of Merits with Others”, “Meditation on Death”, “Reflection on the Loss of Loved Ones”, etc. With its compact size, I can bring along during my travels.
Coming back to Bras Basah. While walking around, I realised 2 upcoming building projects, one being an extension of Carlton Hotel, the other being a new mall opposite Bugis Junction, called Illuma, which cost $160 million! As Bras Basah / Bugis area are being benchmarked by URA to be the Arts/Culture/Learning Hub of Singapore, we see SMU, NAFA, Lasalle, Raffles Design Institute, Dance Ensemble Singapore, Chinese Calligraphy Of Singapore, National Museum, etc….all congregating in the area. Looks like its going to get more vibrant!!
