Happy 42nd National Day, Singapore!

42 Years Old. Our Island Nation has come quite a way since independence on the 9th of August 1965. Come to think of it, almost as long a way as my dear Hubby. And hopefully, it will not enter into any after-40 crisis many men are prone to at this age.

OK, so I digress.

What I really meant to do is take this opportunity to congratulate my beloved Homeland on this special day. One more good year and hopefully many many more to come. Happy Birthday, Singapore!

When I said come a long way, I wasn't just trying to act smart and regurgitate from History Books about what the country has achieved in the past 4 decades. I fear that I am almost as old as the nation now and have memories of how some things used to be.

Some of my earlier memories of the past include that of the kampongs that I used to visit with my Malay Nanny. Half-naked kids running bare-footed about, no doors locked, nobody having tuition and certainly not piano lessons. I didn't have my own mother looking after me then, but I was often running free playing in the corridors of the HDB flat where my Nanny lived in and that was a freedom that not many more priviledged kids enjoy today. I adored my Mak, I spoke Malay and she forgave me when I makan babi and forgot almost everything. A testimony to the racial harmony that exists in the country. My family still visits her every year during Hari Raya.

Another memory was that of the small, dirty, cramped and probably haunted 2-bedroom rented HDB flat I grew up in in Toa Payoh. First I slept between the parents. Then I moved to the living room and slept on a mattress on the floor with my younger sister. And a little later we moved to the other room and slept on a real bed, spending many nights pretending to be campers or princesses with the help of our blankets and the (dirty) window grill. Today we think minimal is beautiful, a place for every object etc. In our flat then, in probably just 15 sq metres we managed somehow to contain a piano, an altar table, a set of sofas, coffee table, big aquarium...and at night, a few mattresses on the floor.

And dirty is something we have probably almost forgotten about today. Singapore is so clean. Not always. Now I freak out if I see moss or slime in a toilet. But I used to shower, pee etc in a dark, wet toilet/bathroom with a Turkish wc and a tap not far from it filling up a slimy bucket (matching the slimy, mossy walls of the bathroom) for our wash.

And where did my maternal grandfather cook our daily meals on? On a little gas cooker situated in a passage way between the living room and the toilet. And we would eat our meals at a small table in this passage way. To think that I keep complaining nowadays that my 20m2 kitchen today is not big enough.

Talking about food, when we said eating out we really meant it then. We ate out in the streets. My favourite Ah Pek carrying a pot of Tau Suan (Mung Beans) on one end of a pole and a crate filled with bowls on the other end. Me ordering a bowl of the good stuff and eating it on the staircase next to his make-shift stall. Many evenings Dad would bring us to the park nearby to look for the Malay Satay Pakcik. We would sit in front of his small BBQ and at the end of the meal, he would count the number of wooden sticks we've emptied of the skewered meat and he would charge us accordingly. Delicious.

Then the campaigns came. Do not eat in the streets. Do not drink unbottled water. The street vendors were moved into coffee shops and hawker centres. Not as charming as before, but well, at least now we wouldn't suffer from food poisoning. And as time went on, we would also get air-conditioning, not environment-friendly but oftentimes necessary in our hot and humid country.

I also remember the courtesy campaigns. You arrive in school and you hear jitties like "Courtesy is for me, courtesy is for you and me..." playing over the PA system. Chinese people are known for their rudeness, but look at us, aren't we just all politeness, good manners, Thank Yous, Please and Excuse-Me? :-)

And not to forget smoking. 40 years ago probably 80% of the population smoked. Nowadays, 80% doesn't. The fines, banning cigarette ads, smoke-free areas, the campaigns and the education worked. Prevention is better than cure. And kill yourself not the others. In Singapore, we take this to heart.

I am proud of my country. Not because it is modern, prosperous, safe, just and clean. But for what it did to become modern, prosperous, safe, just and clean. We have come a long way and we have an even longer way to go. Hopefully our elders' travails would be ingrained and engraved in all of us and in the future generations to come that we may not forget and would continue to take nothing for granted. That we will work and persevere to constantly adapt, to strive for more equality, harmony, prosperity, safety, justice, transparency, accountability, good manners and happiness.

No matter where I am Singapore will always be home. Home is where the heart is, and my heart is with you. And to celebrate, I'm going to make Otak Otak.