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Tekka Centre
This is one of Little India's "shopping centre". You will find a
bustling market of stalls sellings fruits and vegetables, meat and
fish, some of which are displayed for sale on make-shift cloths laid
on the market floor! You will also find clothing, brassware, antique
stalls selling items from bedspreads to tailor-made dresses. This is
a good opportunity for you to buy a sari, a traditional Indian
clothing for women, as a souvenir.
 Jewellery
Shops
The Indians are fond of gold jewellery and Little India is dotted
with shops selling traditional Indian jewellery. You will find these
jewellery are unlike the ones which you can buy in Tiffany & Co.
These jewellery are carefully crafted by expert Indian goldsmiths in
ancient Indian patterns. You will also find the navarethinam, which
is a ring encrusted with nine different gems representing the nine
visit planets. You may even find some jewellery are embedded with
elephant hair (thought to bring good luck) and small silver
jewellery that looks like body parts. Buy one of these silver
jewellery, and bring it to a Hindu temple as an offering to heal the
pain in that afflicted body part.
Little India Arcade
This is a cluster of shopshophouses, selling everything ethnic
such as traditional Indian fabrics laced with real gold and silver
threads, Indian sweets and snacks, Indian spices, and Indian crafts,
carvings and sculptures. One of the shops will, at a small fee, do a
henna body art for you. Henna is a type of leaf that is dried,
grounded and used as a natural dye which fades naturally with time.
You can choose to do a simple henna body art just on your palms or
choose to be really adventurous.
The Cultural Corner is also located here. After, visit any
restaurants along the Arcade and have a teh tarik, which is tea
prepared by pouring from one container to another. This prepartion
method is thought to mix the tea well and also cools it for
drinking.
Abdul Gaffoor Mosqu
This is a Muslim temple and is also one of Singapore's gazetted
national monuments. While most Indians are Hindus, some follow the
Muslim faith and this is the temple that these Muslim Indians go to.
Spend some time to visit this temple and see its glass cupola.
Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple
 This
is one of 2 Hindu temple that you should visit in Little India. It
is built in 1881 and dedicated to the Hindu Goddess Kali, also known
as the Goddess of Power.
The name, “Veeramakaliamman” actually means “Kali the
Courageous”. The temple was built by Tamil laborers who worked at
the lime kilns that lined Kampong Kapor in the mid-to late-19th
Century. In fact, the original name of the temple was “Sunnambu
Kambam Kovil” or “Temple at the Village of Lime”.
The Temple also has an intriguing past as it was here that
during World War II that local devotees sheltered from the Japanese
bombs raining from the sky. Those that sheltered in the Temple
believed that Kali, being
 the
Goddess of Power, would be able to protect them. She did, and
miraculously the temple, its statues and all the people inside
emerged unscathed from the bombardment while buildings all around
were destroyed.
The main shrine contains a jet black statue of Kali with her sons
Ganesha and Murugan on each side. Notice also the gopuram or tower
over the temple entrance. You will see sculptures of gods and
goddesses, and mythological beasts in various poses.
Also remember to dress appropriately in long pants and shirts
that cover your shoulders to be ensured entry.
Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple
This is the 2nd Hindu temple that you should stop by when in
Little India. Built in 1855, this temple is dedicated to the Hindu
deity Sri Srinivasa Perumal or
Vishnu the Preserver. The temple is easy to recognize by its
60-ft-high monumental gopuram, with tiers of intricate sculptures
depicting Vishnu in the nine forms in which he has appeared on
earth. Especially vivid are the depictions of Vishnu's
manifestations as Rama, on his seventh visit, and as Krishna, on his
eighth. Rama is thought to be the personification of the ideal man;
Krishna was brought up with peasants and, therefore, was a
manifestation popular with laborers in the early days of Singapore.
In the compound, you will see a chariot that is meant to carry the
deities. You will also see a thulasi plant, which is am auspicious
symbol of faith and womanhood. Indian women would encircle this
plant and pray when they visit the temple.
You will also find devotees making offerings of fruit by
handing coconuts or bananas, along with a slip of paper with their
names on it to a temple official, who will chant the appropriate
prayers to the deity and place holy ash on their heads. Or try
walking clockwise while praying, coconut in hand, around one of the
shrines a certain number of times, then breaking the coconut (a
successful break
 symbolizes
that Vishnu has been receptive to the incantation).
Sakya Muni Buddha Gaya Temple
This is a Buddhist temple decorated with hundreds of light bulbs
surrounding a huge seated Buddha statue. At the base of the status,
look out for the diorama of the life of Buddha. Also visit the
chamber at the back of the status. You will see the reclining statue
of Buddha. Before you leave, have your fortune told on a wheel on
the left of prayer hall.
CK Collection
This is an antique shop selling the largest collection of antique
fans n the region, including some of the oldest fans dating back to
1886. Of special interest is the "Thomas Edison" fan, which is
recognized by the Antique Fan Collectors' Association as the most
expensive fan in the world. This fan was specially design and
presented as a gift to Thomas Edison.
Mustafa Centre
 Looking
for affordable souvenirs or for a real bargain? Stop by Mustafa
Centre, a three-storey shopping complex selling a wide variety of
items from computer games, clothing, electronic equipment to
luggages. It is a department store, supermarket, pharmacy, jeweller,
money changer, hotelier, travel agency, cafe and post office
all rolled into one building. You can get almost anything you want
here from over 90,000 items displayed on four levels, commanding a
total retail space of 70,000 square feet. With a wealth of offering
at some of the lowest prices in Singapore, it's no wonder that this
outlet is popular with tourists and locals looking for the best
bargains, especially for electronic items.
Other things to do
Try out some Indian food, such as "roti prata" and "dhosai", in
any of the restaurants that you will come across. Watch how flower
garlands are weaved together along the shophouses, and have your
fortune told by a parrot at an Indian fortune-teller.
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iscover one of the Ethnic races in Singapore as you explore the rich cultural heritage of the Indians: body-painting, clothing, food and jewellery. Take a stroll through this little Gem of India, try out the ethnic food and take in the sights and sounds of Little India.
