A little late but Singapore celebrated its 39th birthday on the 9th of August.
As a kid I always like to go to watch the National Day Parade, either at Kallang National Stadium or at the Padang. The marching in of the uniform groups, the dances and the singing always brought out the goosebumps. Last but not least, the perennial crowd favourite, the fireworks right at the end of the show would bring the noise level to a max!
I was almost in the 1994 NDP as part of the Colours parade – the guys in the smart number one uniform, with the officer carrying the State or Unit flags while being escorted by a specialists with a rifle – I was a reserve for the escort role. Thankfully I was the reserved as I sprained my ankle that morning, and because it rained and also of the bad choreography, that year’s marching in of the Colours was screwed.
h6. watching the parade, the fireworks
Anyway, nowadays, I’m more an armchair participant – watching the parade from the tele, or going down to catch the fireworks, like this year. With Yann and some friends, we went down to Tanjung Rhu area to wait for the few minutes of fireworks. It was pretty fun, sort of like a picnic, sitting on the pavement by the Kallang River and as the sun went down, there were like a few hundred people sitting along waiting.
As the first shell went up, there were gasps and cheers and constant clicks of cameras as we all tried to capture the elusive photo of a blooming firework. Out of the 20 plus shots, I only managed to capture three decent shots.
Though some might think that the NDP is just a waste of our tax money, some even think that it can challenge the North Koreans’ parade in showiness, I think it serves as a gentle reminder to the younger generation what this tiny country has undergone to be where we are now. Although the program kindda stale, with the usual parachutes dropping in, big flag, fly past, singing, dancing, more singing, more dancing and then the fireworks – we should continue to celebrate National Day as it is – with this big party.
h6. our celebration
I was stuck in the jam while trying to go to Tanjung Rhu, but all along Kallang, I could see hundreds and hundreds of people, decked out in various shades of red, walking in the hot sun, towards the National Stadium.
I lamented to my friends after Greece won Euro’04 where we don’t have an opportunity to gather around the country to celebrate, and then I realised, yeah, August 9, is the day when we can do that. And we don’t need to wait every 4 years for the chance to try to achieve the win to celebrate. Every year, August 9, is that victory, of being another year older in our country’s existence. Too bad I only had a white tee, lined with red, with the word Bremen at its front.
Happy Birthday Singapore!
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Routines may seem boring but this fixture of viewing the fireworks display on National Day with you is one that I would never want to change. =)
I almost choked on my coffee at work reading that…
choke on what?