NDP @ Tampines 2005!

As promised, here is the report from the celebrations at Tampines!
There are lots of pics here, so it may take a while to load, so hang in there!

I seriously though I'd be watching the celebrations from home as I've done every year prior to this. Armed with a tub of Rocky Road ice-cream in hand, I'd sing and dance along in the comfort of my room. But all that has changed this year!
When the CC asked if we were interested in becoming community drummers for the event, we jumped at the chance (Iskandar and I). And thus, began our journey...

I had to report at Tampines Sunrise RC at 2:15pm and by 2:30pm, I realised Tampines Central had quite a number of community drummers. And then we made our way over to the celebration grounds and saw the motivators teaching the audience the Dance No. 40.


NDP@Tampines 2005!

The back was still empty at around 240-ish when we took this picture.

Still full of energy...

But look what happened 15 minutes later!

Crowd at 3pm

And soon enough, we were armed with our "drums", which in truth, are rebanas. Honestly, no complains on our side. We saw others with far worse instruments!

Youths of the Tampines Central YEC

That guy in the middle was the conductor of our community druming spectacle.

Community Drumming Conductor

This guy's like Sheikh Haikel minus the voice! He seemed quite happy to be there but not in motivating us!

Our Section Leader

And we used the rebanas

The crowd rehearsing for the Singapore Wave, which was done very nicely the first few times until the actual live transmission!!!!!
It appeared as if Tampines screwed it up on TV but we didn't! The moment Yishun was done with theirs, our hosts got word and immediately got us to do it. By the time the cameras were back on us, we were halfway through already!

The Singapore Wave

Our hosts for the evening. They did a good job but it could've been better! Mingle with crowd more! We were that close to the stage luckily enough...

Hosts: (From L-R)Guo Liang, Michelle Chia, Aaron Aziz

And do we spot then? This Auntie having her lunch, using the base of the rebana as a support!

The Ingenious Auntie

Lokman took this picture. So nice right!

Tampines Central!!!

And I took this one, not at nice, but might look good on the next issue of Tampines Central's newsletter!! Hehehe...The flags were strategically placed and the sun was just perfect lah at that moment. And the Tampines Central contingent kept shouting and screaming! Woohoo!

Where We Belong

And when night fell, Fiona Xie bhangra-ed her way on stage with members of the Singapore Soka Association. Ooh boy! She's the one in red on the left. This was as good an angle that I could get! But boy can she dance!

Fiona Xie dancing!!!!!!

Before the night was over, we all had a chance to do the community dance again.

Everyone doing Dance No. 40

And then, for the first time ever in Tampines and the other heartlands of course, the celebrations culminated with a fantastic fireworks display! Damn it, these fireworks were very very close that everyone was cheering while in awe!

It started small...

Tiu Tiu Tiu anyone?

Many stars arising...

More stars arising...

Woot!

Piece De' Resistance!

Of course I missed out on snapping the final fireworks which were just gorgeous! We were dancing along and suddenly, the encore just happend and by the time I took out my camera again, it was gone! Grrrr!

Anyhow, the celebrations continued with more performances as everyone awaited the mobile column. A number of roads were blocked off for the mobile column display. Sadly, I don't have the pictures as I didn't stay to watch them. I was already too tired by then and reeling in hunger that I went home. And when I got home it was already 915pm!

My thoughts on the celebrations?

I had major fun! I've never been to Kallang or the Padang to celebrate before and I did mention last year, that I would love to celebrate the nation's 40th. Nice number mah!
And I must say that the organisers have really outdone themselves this year.
I'm impressed by the actual scale of the event.
Padang, Marina, Jurong East, Yishun and Tampines celebrating the event simultaneously and sharing moments together via satellite. How cool was that?

While everyone has their grievances or a vendetta against the government, this was a day to celebrate the nation's birthday. People should learn to put aside their unhappiness and differences for this day at least. I was proud to be there, to be drumming away and celebrating with everyone else. I'm sure those who were at the actual celebration grounds truly enjoyed themselves, while others may just want to lament at how boring it was for them sitting at home and stuff. I made a whole lot of new friends with people sitting around me and what made it great was that we were all from the same vicinty!

The highlights of my evening were the fireworks display, Fiona Xie dancing (oops!), the F-16s roaring over us, drumming away and most importantly, belting out the National Anthem to my heart's content!

Would I join in the celebrations again next year?
Absolutely!

Till then....

Majulah Singapura!

Happy 40th Birthday Singapore!