What's So Alluring – Kali Sri Sivanantham

What’s So Alluring

By Kali Sri Sivanantham

There’s something so alluring 
about You.
Your grandeur and magnificence
that bespeak your iconic features and charm.

Your first waterfall
a sprinkling rain shower in a rhythmic flow,
soft and steady,
befitting the times back in the days
when locals and travellers stopped to pose and
the people on the escalator in the background
strutting in their denims, high-waisted or baggy,
for the must-have snapshot.
You were a buzzing global village,
Your kampong spirit so strong.

The world was advancing — going green. 
You had to up your game!
So, you got a facelift.
Out with the old, in with the new
Kinetic raindrops it became.
The brass beauts rising and falling
in a lulling but endless waltz,
moving with the mundane, bustling times.
Work was harmony. Harmony was work.

With the earth, you kept rotating —  you wouldn’t stop.
You gotta keep abreast with the times.
And the in-thing was sustainability.
Plastic surgery was necessary.
The outdoors brought indoors.
Now, you are a sanctuary; 
a ‘concrete jungle’ in every sense.
A sight to behold. 
Beneath the blue skies peeking 
through a kaleidoscopic glass dome,
the rush of a mammoth shower 
cascading down into a manmade vortex.
A resplendent selfie paradise 
for avid photographers and globetrotters.
Water sloshing, you are a symphony,
Your scent, sweet and subtle.
You, bold and beautiful, 
powerful and tranquil,
mimicking the spirited and self-nurturing Singaporeans.  

Now, in a world of digital natives,
You have to be trending
And authentic too.
No more cosmetic surgery; 
Just screen, high-tech no less
But you are not YOU without your waterfalls,
so you have become my Wonderfall.
Vibing with a world that 
eased into remote working and blended learning.

So much progress in mere decades.
No wonder all speak so well of you.
They say: You are the GOAT¹.
But do you know what makes you YOU?
It’s the simplest of things that make you captivating.
The faith of families huddled together in a prayer,
The welcoming embrace and goodbye kisses,
Sometimes a teardrop or two.
Not forgetting your viewing gallery
overlooking the vast expanse of blue,
now and then, 
one of Man’s marvellous inventions soaring past.
The handsome old school charm you evoke
Teleporting me into a portal of nostalgia,
and a feeling of home.

Your splendour and ambience
that echo many wanderlust chronicles and memories.
That, about You,
is so alluring.

¹Greatest of All Time