Saturday, January 15, 2011

Little India...aka Brickfields.

Little India used to be an area of KL just off Jalan TAR,along Jalan Masjid India,an area crammed with shops selling Saris and loads of  Vegetarian Restaurants...I say "used" to be as sometime late last year it was decided to re-name and re-brand Brickfields as "Little India"
All of this was a cynical political move and culminated in a visit by the President of India to officially open the area.
So,what used to be Brickfields to everyone has undergone somewhat of a "wash-and-brush-up."
At least on the surface...but dig down a bit and move into the side streets and you can still find the original flavour of the place (illegal bottle shops,worn-out hookers and The Best Fried Kway Teow in town)
I like Brickfields...it has a more relaxed suburban feel than the city centre...and one of the really good things is that you can find Mosques,Churches,Assrams and Chinese Temples all within very close proximity to each other-and everyone seems to get along just fine in that laid-back "live and let live" kind of way. 
Opposite the huge construction site of KL Sentral,Jalan Tun Sambanthan,the main drag is now a one-way street with crazy paving and wiggly lampposts.
There is an archway at one end saying "Salamat Datang Ke Little India" and a totally over-the-top fountain complete with elephant motifs....a column of arches leads into the distance and lotus blooms mosaics are embedded into the road.
And it looks kinda nice... I believe at night that the fountain is illuminated with a light display.
And there's more to come...more arches and stuff and a food stall/hawker centre...the only sad thing is that what used to be a playing field is now covered in concrete and full of market stalls but other than that it looks allright and sort-of works.
You can now get a free walking tour of the area every 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month starting at the YMCA and taking about 2.5 hrs.

No comments:

Post a Comment