Block2Blog

(to read article click: thenavalbase.blogspot.com) Born in 1949, Mejar Singh Gill alias Major Singh Gill arrived in Singapore as a 6 year- old in 1955, from a very humble family background.  His father, without any formal educational, came to Singapore in 1950 where he joined the British Naval Police Force as a Police Constable. Mejar grew up with his large family of 7 siblings in the Naval Base, among the large community of over 400 Sikh families then constituting the Naval Police Force.  He was the third eldest in his family, with two sisters older than him. His father, being rather conservative and having plans then of eventually returning to Punjab, chose not to send his elder two daughters to school, being quite content with them mastering Gurmukhi (Punjabi script) and being proficient in the Guru Granth Sahib (Sikh Scripture) but quite happy to send Mejar to an English School, followed by the other siblings later. This was the period of significant changes in the reg...

The Past is Present (Written by Alfred Dass and Cynthia Anne Pragasam) Fifty years after leaving HM Naval Base, many of us are now living in an age where technology and artificial intelligence add a touch of convenience in our daily activities. We are also in the midst of grappling issues we never imagined we would face, such as food wastage, environmental degradation, identity crisis, spread of falsehoods and fake news, climate change, and of course, the ever uncertain Covid-19 pandemic. Children Pulling Punches Environment degradation is such an intractable mess that youth and children have involved themselves in the cause - perhaps they feel it is regarded as child's play. Their enthusiastic activism is a stark contrast to our 'tidak apa'  carefree  attitude during our  childhood in Naval Base. However, Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg believes ‘no one is too small to create an impact and change the world’ . She is hopeful that ‘climate chaos’ can be rev...

  Naval Base Never Left Irene ( 1941 -2021) My dearest sister left for England on 23 February 1967. Today, it is with profound sadness that I pen the passing of Irene Cecilia Dass-Danabalan on 21 September 2021. She grew up in Naval Base and attended Admiralty Asian School. Over the years, she never forgot Naval Base and the people from there whom she knew, especially her contemporaries, including Gopinathan S, Hilda Das, Joan Pereira, Kalaimagal, Kewal Singh (Dr), Muthiar Singh (Dr), Rajamani and Quah Kim Siak. She would inquire about them and visit neighbours like Aunty Nambiar, relatives, friends and practically anyone she remembered. She was always grateful for the little things that she had, which brought a lot of fun and joy into the lives of many others. Like my mother, she was a minimalist with plenty of empathy, giving even when she had little.   Which makes it all the more difficult for us to accept how she was deceived by some, including her own.   But she...

A tribute to the late Mr Sankara Das, the only race rider and driver from Sembawang Naval Base. By Suresh Nair I was asked by Gajandran Das to write a tribute for his late father, who passed away on September 27. I had no qualms about it although it would be the first time I’m penning a few words for someone I never met! Rather embarrassing, personally, I must say, considering I’m a journalist and never heard of Sitharam Sankara Das, probably among the first Indians to participate in motor racing in Singapore and the only Indian in the Singapore Motor and Sports Club (SMSC), way back in 1956 (two years after I was born!). Sankara Das is even possibly a regional racing-legend, too, as he raced in both cars and motorcycles. He was also dubbed the "most successful champion combination" together with his partner Frank Bradshaw at the Shell Malayan Motor Rally in 1957. Sankara Das admires the nostalgic photos of his racing feats in the 1950s. The elder brother of former Member of ...

By Victor S.G. Pragasam Edited by Cynthia Anne Victor Pragasam As someone who grew up in “Naval Base”, I share similar sentiments and fond memories with many of you who, like me, were former residents of the Old Sembawang township. In candid conversations with taxi drivers, I take pride in saying that I was from the old Sembawang area. There is a sense of identity and belonging that I would say is deeply embedded in my soul. Etched to this feeling are bountiful memories that I have had as a child, a son, a student, a friend, a neighbour, a colleague and as a member of the wonderful Sembawang community. The way we communicated with residents and even the shopkeepers were as if we were closely knitted. Nowadays, it is very different as I hardly know anyone. But whenever I bump into someone from my past, a loud cheerful roar and a joyful exchange often follows. A year ago, I had a pleasant reunion with Chan Peew Wan, whom you may know as the Co-admin of Block2Blog. We lost contact w...