Sembawang: A Novel

by Anitha Devi Pillai (Translator), Kamaladevi Aravindan

A historical fiction novel set in Singapore in the 1960s spanning a period of five decades.

Sembawang is home away from home for a tightly-knit community of bachelors and families who work at Her Majesty’s Naval Base.

Behind closed doors, a matriarch controls her daughters-in-law’s movements. A bachelor from Kerala pines by his window for his forbidden lover. A maid from a rubber estate across the border aches to hold her young son once more. An inter-racial love between a conservative Tamil woman and a worldly Chinese man wreaks havoc in the life of an innocent bystander.

The idyllic village life is shaken when two midwives are viciously attacked at the maternity clinic, and again when one of their own beloved residents meets with an unnatural death. As catastrophes strike, the village comes together as one.

A dramatic sweeping saga of Sembawang families across five decades.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical

328 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2020

About the author

Anitha Devi Pillai (Ph.D.) wears many hats. She's an author, academic, translator and poet. She currently teaches writing pedagogy and writing at the National Institute of Education (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore).

Some of her 2020 publications are an English translation of Kamaladevi Aravindan’s historical Tamil novel, titled ‘Sembawang' (Marshall Cavendish International Asia), an anthology of short stories titled 'A View of Stars: Stories of Love' (Marshall Cavendish International Asia) which she co-edited with Felix Cheong and a non-fiction book titled 'The Story of Onam' (Indian Heritage Centre, National Heritage Board, Singapore).

She is currently working on her own collection of short stories and editing an anthology of short stories for young adults. Both books are slated to be released in the latter half of 2021.

Reviews

[Manogaran Suppiah]

This is the first Tamil novel I have read. But I read the translated version. Will try to get the Tamil version next.

I am not able to provide the sophisticated analysis that literary critics are so adept at.

All I can say is that I enjoyed the book - the historical backdrop, the themes explored, the characters portrayed and the enduring value systems of a community.

The story begins in a rubber estate in Johor but most of the narrative is set in Sembawang, a neighbourhood that appeared to be rather distinct from the rest of Singapore then.

I could resonate with the story at 3 levels. Firstly, as a historian, having studied Malayan, Southeast Asian and Indian history, the historical setting jogged all other political, economic and cultural memories I had of the regions as a student. The big difference when reading Sembawang is that you can empathise with the lives of the rubber tappers. Unbeknownst to them, as they worked for the pittance they received from the estate owners, was the important role rubber played in the economic growth of Malaya under the British.

Secondly, having grown up in Penang island, a relatively urban setting compared to the rubber estates in other parts of Malaysia, I can be excused for not having a first hand experience of what’s it like to live in a rubber estate. However, I was fortunate to have an experience of living in a rubber estate for a week when I was about 11 years old. This was not an immersion programme. My mama (uncle) and athe (aunty) who were my mother’s elder brother and my father’s younger sister respectively lived in an estate in Serdang, Kedah. My parents allowed my nephew and I to spend a week of our holidays with them. As I look back, the one week stay was full of lovely memories - using the well, walking around the rubber estate, watching the tappers at work, visits to the smoke house where rubber sheets were made and dried (I can still remember the distinct smell of rubber as the sheets were dried on a clothes line). I also remember we were not supposed to leave the house after 12 midnight as the curfew was still in place from 12 midnight to 5 am daily. The Malayan Communist Party was still active in some of the jungles of Malaysia. So when I read about Munusamy and Kaali in Sembawang, these rich memories were evoked.

Finally, my wife and her family lived in Sembawang in the same period the story is set. My Father in Law, who worked at the Sembawang Shipyard, often talks about his life at the Naval Base and the places and people mentioned in the novel. The issues and challenges faced by the Tamil and Malayalee community in Sembawang resonates with what I have heard over the last 40 years 😊.

Sembawang will be another addition to the growing literature in Singapore. The story is engaging enough for me to want to read till the end.

[Mercy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sembawang was a time machine into 1960s Singapore. The cast of characters were authentic, down-to-earth and relatable. A strength of this novel was in its drive to foreground and present the lives, thoughts and feelings of the everyday person who lived at that time. There was no grand personage or narrative in this book - each individual character was fleshed out and stood out for the reader. The author expertly weaved the life histories, thoughts and feelings of characters without overwhelm. I enjoyed the fact that women were foregrounded and these women were not ashamed to speak their minds and take action, no matter what. They did not stand in corners, wringing their saree ends and rail at their fates and husbands or lovers. Instead, they grabbed at any opportunity to become who they thought they needed to be. It is not to say that such decisions did not have consequences but these women faced these head-on. I felt that the author expertly presented the interior lives of her characters, men and women alike and in doing so was able to draw on the context of that time- the culture, politics and economics of a new era that was emerging in the roaring 60s. I only wished that there was more description of the spaces of that time. I grew up in 1970s Singapore in Sembawang - I wished to experience more of what was just before i grew up. Overall, I enjoyed the book. Kudos to the author and translator. Tamil is not an easy language to translate - its nuances are complex and its tempering spicy. Such words do not translate easily into English. Yet, I felt the translator, Anitha Devi Pillai expertly made the characters speak most eloquently in another tongue. Congratulations. I am looking forward to the next book.

[Patorikku · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s not much to comment on the plot of Sembawang: A Novel (there isn’t a lot of it). What I want to share is what impression I had while reading the book: the impression of an authentic account of what it must have felt like to be a migrant worker from South India in mid-twentieth century Singapore. There aren’t too many of these accounts, either, and perhaps this has something to do with Singapore’s historiography and literature scene.

One does no harm to Singapore’s official historiography by describing it as shallow. The year before last, 2019, Singapore celebrated the Singapore Bicentennial, a commemoration of the two hundredth anniversary of the arrival of Sir Stamford Raffles, founder of ‘modern’ Singapore. No one cared. After all, there was nothing else on the programme than just the same old spiel about the usual two or three British actors and their grandiose accomplishments that every Singaporean knows inside out (and doesn’t believe). Not even official Singapore made much effort to conceal their disinterest. Perhaps because the celebration didn’t feature any real people?

Nor does it say anything untoward about Singapore’s literature scene to find it does not exactly celebrate or even love its city (say, the way Dublin celebrates itself in literature or Carlos Ruiz Zafón loves his Barcelona).

Against this backdrop, one welcomes every book relating to Singapore’s history that’s authentic, solemn and full of love for its subject, and subjects. Sembawang: A Novel is such a rare gem.

It’s not so much a book about certain events or developments in the year dot than about individuals making a living in Singapore. These characters – their efforts, follies, moments of happiness and strokes of fate – are painted profoundly (but not thoughtfully), poetically (but not flowery), affectionately (but seldom lovingly). We get to know them like they were our neighbours, and thus we theirs.

I hear this work has been nominated for a few awards. I can well understand why.

[Marcus Ng · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is a dire lack of stories from the 'underclass' of local (Malaysian/Singaporean) society – perhaps because few survive to tell of their struggles, or even want to – compared to tales from the high polloi. Anitha Devi Pillai and Kamaladevi Aravindran now redress this with 'Sembawang', a novel that spans Malaya's rubber estates and Singapore's northern frontier in the 1960s, seen through the eyes of the people who came to these parts (by force or faith, perhaps both) and the passions (and compassions) that drove them into each other's arms (and to arms). Still in the early chapters, but the book doesn't slack and neither does it hold back in baring the brutality of life on the fringes of more familiar grandeur, and the naked emotions of those who bore the brunt of it. The writing (in translation too) is layered, unforced and infused with a sense of place and personhood (the novel centres the people who made up Singapore's 'Little Kerala', but the characters are far more than their colours) – there is drama (and danger) already in the opening chapters, and it cuts close for these anxieties are all too real in a time when there is little (or too much) at stake to keep emotions away from the edge.

[Mohamed Nazirudeen · Rating 5 out of 5]

My takeaways from this brilliant book?

The good ol’ days had some bad ol’ times.

You have to accept the past as it is, warts and all and not just indulge in nostalgic views through rose -tinted glasses. You don’t get to pick and choose the past.

Yes, they were simple times. But simpler times often came at the expense of convenience, health care and even the right of some people to be treated as people.

Overbearing and cold mothers-in-law, the rumour-mongering, the thieving, the dishonest, the lustful, the drunken wife-beaters, all existed amongst the good-natured people and people who believed in the communal spirit. And even among these good-natured people, there were deep seated cultural prejudices.

Think of a Tamil tv drama series without all the notorious air-time filling fluff but with well-developed and complex characters and relationships

Sembawang is a time-travelling experience. Rich historical details of Singapore and Malaysia flesh out and give context to the environment the characters operate in.

The historical exactitude of the environment and the day to day life of its characters make this one of the select few local books worth your time.

[Gopalkrishna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have finally finished reading your book, Dr. Anitha. Tugged at the heartstrings and evoked delightful memories of my growing up in Naval Base. This book is a kaleidoscope of Sembawang memories and a beautiful marriage between fiction and reality.

Rgds, Gopalkrishna
(Devadas as in Sembawang days)

[Shoba · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rare peek into the surprising lives of ordinary people, set in a place in Singapore not many talk about. Sembawang: A Novel is strangely familiar in more ways than one for me.

[Sharmili Pillai · Rating 5 out of 5]

I truly enjoyed the book and I am truly glad this was written - I never really knew Sembawang as how my grandparents had understood it and there was so much heart and soul poured into the description of emotions and setting that I really felt truly immersed in the story. The weaving of history into a narrative was done brilliantly and could have not been done better! Loved it

[Sangeeta · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an AMAZING novel! Love the storyline 😊👍🏽

[Siva Kumar]

good characterisation. warm story line.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deftly interweaves fiction and non-fiction while illuminating a community often forgotten by Singapore history. The flow of the story is also quite different from most novels and takes unexpected turns. Highly recommended.

[Fazzyla · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have written my review bites at
Instagram @kopi.o_writings: https://www.instagram.com/kopi.o_writ...

Hope to consolidate my review in full here after my crunch time in school! Happy reading the quick thoughts for now :)

[Sandeep Krishna · Rating 5 out of 5]

The journey between right and wrong and how your emotions fluctuates with each event. Loved the book.

[Sofya Swang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book as it has almost all the memories of my childhood in Sembawang & Naval Base! I can identify the with the people , incidents & places too, it opens up the nostalgia lane to Sembawang where I grew up.
I also learn more about the Malayalee festivals like
Onam etc.
U need a good chair, quiet moment & be alone to really enjoy the novel!:-)

[Debasree Diya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sembawang is a novel which enthralls and engages the reader from the start to the end. The narrative is analogous to a time-machine which draws us in and transports back to the lost pages of a quiet history. A history of men, women and children, rescued from the margins of time, and placed under a sensitive literary microscope. What's most compelling about Sembawang is how beautifully it shows us that history does not comprise of cold facts trapped in the pages of text-books. Every person contributes to its writing, and the characters live and breathe into this literary landscape. Kamaladevi Aravindan's strong writing and Anitha Devi Pillai's wonderful translation shows us how personal stories defy time and the limits of language, as they dissolve into the reader's consciousness. With excellent characterization, a layered plot, a nuanced way of approaching the past and vividly lucid imagery, this has to be one of the best books I have read, and will always find pride of place in my heart.

[Richard Ho · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel, translated from Tamil to English, is a profoundly sobering read. But I may add profoundly enlightening as well, for shining a light on the oft untold stories of rubber plantation workers in southern Peninsular Malaysia, and their transplanted lives in late pre and very early independent Singapore. The main narrative centers on the life story of Kaali, originally a plantation worker in Malaysia's southern Johor state. By some unexpected twists and turns, Kaali ends up in Sembawang and the bulk of the story revolves around a community of southern Indian migrant workers who live there, a stone's throw from the then British naval base and shipyard operating in the area. This book can be read and enjoyed by any compassionate individual who has ever wondered what life was like for the earlier generation of migrant workers, who left their homeland of India and travelled to places like British Malaya and colonial Singapore to earn a living. The main pleasure of the book for me is the powerful portrayal of the lives of ordinary folks, people who are confined to a 'micro sphere' of either a remote rubber plantation or a tiny communal village of sorts. The socio-economic and cultural strictures entwine and shape the lives of the women in particular, leaving a trail of persecution, violent abuse, suffering, tragedy and death in its wake. While I have never personally known any rubber plantation workers nor heard their account of plantation life first hand, this book offers keen insights on why some of the women have chosen the taboo paths of suicide or adulterous elopement, as an escape from a hellish existence and plight. The protagonist Kaali survives to tell the tale, and her life story could be read as a metaphor of just about anyone's life, with its lion's share of travails and struggles, milestones of rash and flawed decisions, unanticipated life-changing outcomes tinted with moments of hope, catharsis, and finally acceptance. Kaali's story can also be read as representative of the lives of countless Asian women, who lived amidst the roiling flux of a mid-20th century transitional society, where traditional values and the strong pull of ancient mindsets infuse and collide with the onslaught of the new. If this genre of narrative interests you, then this book is a recommended read. If however you not only find this genre interesting, but would love to delve deeper into the origins of the Indian diaspora in the context of late colonial to newly independent Malaysia and Singapore, then I would say it is almost required reading. Beyond entertainment, great historical fiction often teaches a lot (albeit subtly) to the perceptive and thinking reader. From this book, you will learn quite a bit more about what lies beneath the surface, about the groups of Indian migrant and plantation workers in Malaysia and Singapore, who subsequently settled to form a significant minority in both these multicultural countries today. You will encounter interesting details that actually differentiate the (Kerala) Malayalee and Tamil cultures, languages, and even cuisines that originated in southern India. It is a literary exploration (in microcosm) of how ancient linguistic-cultural roots can both anchor and unite, but also divide a southern Indian community transplanted on distant shores. And an affirmation of how these old values and nostalgic bonds to the ancestral motherland, despite their seeming invincibility, tyranny and overarching influence, inevitably fade off as society progresses, consigned finally to the foxprinted pages of memories as time flies and the decades roll by. An easy, satisfyingly evocative and worthwhile read!!

[Arunaa (IG: rebelbooksta) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sheer nostalgia. A tender chronicling of the charming, post colonial and post Japanese occupation days of the yore in Singapore. The story journeys through Sembawang, with brief sojourns in Malaya and Burma. Culminates smoothly back in Sembawang. Sembawang was once populated by the Malayalee community and hence colloquially called Kochu Keralam. (The former Sembawang Naval Base is today’s Sembcorp Marine Admiralty Yard.)

The story was written in Tamil by #KamaladeviPillai. And her daughter #AnithaDeviPillai translated it to the English. How amazing is that! I had to buy a copy for myself because of the joy this book gave me. As soon as the written word ends, the archived photographs convey the unsaid ones. Assoc Prof #ChitraSankaran ‘s critical review stresses on the importance of knowing the subaltern histories of our country’s past. Really glad I came across this book.

Although the narratives of multitudes of characters span the premise, the central figure who connects them all is Kaali. The characters adapt and evolve along the journey. This transitioning led to a critical generation of immigrants, especially the women characters in being independent, asserting their identities and forming a microcosm, eventually the greater picture of contributing to nation building.

The story begins with Kaali, a Tamil rubber tapper from India who worked in the rubber plantations of Malaysia eloped with an alcoholic loafer to Singapore, leaving behind her husband and son. She then found a place in the housing quarters in the Malayalee town of Sembawang. The various socio economic, class and cultural narratives began unfolding when Kaali interacts with those around her. Many were stories of pain and despair. But the women actually exercised their agency in making their own choices or facing the consequences.

#SembwangANovel is a passionate story about the Malayalees and their lives progressively becoming a significant part of our local history. They are entrepreneurial leaders even today.

The special mention on K N Unnithan the founder of the famous #HouseBrand mills put a smile on my face. Mainly because my mother gets all her dried masala freshly ground from scratch in that mill factory the last 25 years ever since the mill relocated from Jalan Kedai to Senoko.

Holy Tree Sri Balasubramniar Temple, Sree Narayana Mission and the famous Sembawang Hot Springs also make cameo appearances!

#marshallcavendish #singlit#bookstagram #asianliterature #sgbookstagram #igreads #bookstagram #subalternhistory
#readersofinstagram #bibliophile #book #bookstagrammalaysia #bookreviewersofinstagram #bookrecommendation #read #readersofinstagram
#PublicLibrarySG

[Nandini Sivakumar]

An excellent read indeed! The ‘Sembawang’ novel very beautifully encapsulates everything from the history of Sembawang, to the lives of Indian women living during that period of time. I really admire the writer’s ability to weave a narrative with excellent characterisation, while documenting the important events, at the same time. The extensive research done for this is so evident while reading. While there are other novels with narratives related to how Indians were brought to malaysia as coolies, the sufferings they had undergone etc, I must say this novel does have its own uniqueness amidst those. It definitely has told the untold of Sembawang. Especially, for me as a person who has been living in Sembawang all my live, it has indeed enlightened me a lot about the legacy of the place that I have been living in. My most favourite part of this novel is definitely the aspect of female empowerment. I loved the rawness of the female characters. I believe this is something that goes unsaid in many history based narratives. All in all, I definitely enjoyed reading the book. I couldn’t even keep it down as I was reading!

[Vidhya Nair · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book’s redeeming quality is its historical reference of Sembawang, a place in Singapore where Indians lived. There are multiple characters who intercross and new characters are constantly introduced but you are not inclined to bother to find out how they are connected or what happens to any of them. Alarming considering how experienced the authors claim to be. The best part of the book are the references at the back, the story itself is mostly underwhelming and only features a small cross section of the old residents of Sembawang. Poor Tamils. The Malayalees of the area are passingly mentioned and the resentment to them is part of the primary narrative. The book plays into the stereotype of Tamil Singaporeans - drunk, wife beating, promiscuous, poorly educated and lowest levels of society. The photographs features mostly the author and again it doesn’t add to the story except give you a feel of how people dressed in the 70s. Sembawang itself should have had a more comprehensive look back, this book offers you only a sliver.

[Kes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Increased rating by one star because it’s about Singapore.

25 chapters about Indian migrants living in Sembawang, vaguely 1940s - 1970s. The novel is light on dates, but events like the Japanese occupation, British exit from Sembawang are mentioned.

There are a few characters that recur, but it’s a huge cast of characters and their lives and interactions. Feels like village life; people drop in and out of homes and narratives. We see some characters change and grow over time, especially Kaali who starts the novel eloping from India with an affair partner and ends it living with her husband at over seventy . Though it’s not really structured like novel (aka there’s not much plot).

Great if you like reading a slice of history.

[Marissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interested in reading "Sing-lit" from different perspectives and I liked that this was about the Indian community. However, the story didn't have much plot and I had trouble keeping all the characters straight (even though there was a character list at the front of the novel). In the "about the author" I saw that the author has written some short story collections and felt like this book would have been better as a collection of loosely related short stories about the Sembawang community rather than sort of being centered around Kaali since, besides leaving her husband at the beginning, she didn't really do anything? Also would have like the ending about the transition from the Sembawang "kampong" into the modern day Sembawang to have been a bit longer and to have more detail about how the characters dealt with the changes/loss of their community.

[Syamily S Madhu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hi Anitha Devi Pillai
Firstofall thankyou for your book.
I had read your book sembawang ..
But its so too late,since i read it 1 month before( there had been some issues with myself,so today i thot,why not today?, i have to just type the text).

Anyway, coming to the point
I did read your book, but i didnt understand somewhere to be honest. But the intresting thing, your book made me googling more on singpore, how singpore became singpore, history of the peoples who made current well develeped nation. For that, credits n thanks goes to you.

I was jus familiar with singapore nation through videos of nas daily n others, but you made me curious on other aspect also.😘😘
A warm huggy from maa side..
Thanks for the book.
First i should thanks, brother in laws mom ( @Santha Ramachandran ) ,since i got the oppurtunity of reading sembawang from her,i borrowed it and read.

All thanks to all hardwork behind the book..