Erasing History

Last weekend, I was waiting for the bus at the bus stop just outside of the old kallang Airport main gate at Geylang Lor 1. For some reason, I couldn't stop myself from drawing out my camera from my bag and started walking towards the Gate of the Airport.

I have been living around Geylang and Kallang area for a good thirty odd years and I'm very familiar with the Architecture and landscape of this area. So what I saw at the entrance of the gate was a sad sight.

What was once a regal symbol of High end travel in the 1930's to the 50's has been relegated to a skeletal structure and is barely recognisable as the former main gate of the airport. 

Standing alone, all the buildings and walls that use to connect to the gate was gone. The guard room for the gate, the wall to the right side and even the mosque behind the guard room was totally demolished. Pieces of history erased permanently from our land.

The Art Deco Design style popular in the 1920's to 30's was the chosen style for the Airport and what was left of the gate showed off that style unmistakably. Battered by rain, dirt and dust kicked up by cars passing it over the years, its once majestic white surface reduced to a ruin like appearance. Sad.

I don't want to sound like an old man but it seems that I'm finding the country I'm living in, more and more alien. I don't feel at "home" anymore, like I don't belong here. All my childhood landscapes are disappearing, replaced by soul-less badly designed Architecture and landscapes. Signs of getting old I guess.

So if you have time or happened to pass by Kallang next time, drop by the Gates of the Old Kallang Airport and reminisce about the good old times of the glamourous early air travel age before it's gone forever.