Rosni Tan, 52
Homemaker
Alice Kurian, 55
Church Worker
Josephine Tan, 53
Accounts Officer
The 1960s was a period of racial unrest in Singapore. Yet, that did little to stop Alice, Rosni, and Josephine - neighbours of different races - from mixing and playing together as children.
Today, the three friends have moved away from their single block homes at Margaret Drive. But, if they had a choice, they would all live close to each other again.
"Then, our houses were back to back, so we saw each other when we come out," said 55-year-old Alice.
"There is no such thing as this or that group of friends. We all play together and that is how we become friends."
It didn't matter that the three friends came from different races. Alice is Indian, Rosni is Malay-Chinese and Josephine is Chinese. While they spoke different mother tongues, language was never a problem for them.
"When we are young we mixed around, so I learnt to speak Hokkien, Teochew and Cantonese," said 52-year-old Rosni. "It was very easy to blend in because we were all very friendly and open."
"Nowadays you ask the youngsters to speak, they can't because they don't have that type of bond."
Josephine, 53, added, "We never close our house doors. It is always open, from the front door to the back door, upstairs and downstairs."
Margaret Drive holds particularly special memories for Rosni. This was where she met her husband and is still the place where her children live today.
She said, "I was in a band and we called ourselves ‘Four Difference' because there were people of different races - Chinese, Malay, Eurasian and Indian - in the band. I was the female vocalist and my husband was the bass player."
Coincidently, her husband turned out to be Josephine's brother.
The three friends talked fondly about the community spirit that was always present in their old neighbourhood.
"Last time, we were happy because the community was there," said Alice.
"We give and take. We don't quarrel over small things."
She recalled how everyone in the neighbourhood would shout out whenever it rained, then help each other keep the clothes that were hung outside their homes.
"We always look out for each other," said Josephine.
The three friends remembered how festive seasons were big noisy events that saw everyone joining in, regardless of whether it was their festival.
"It was very noisy during Chinese New Year because of the firecrackers but we never complained. We just become part of the festivities even though I didn't celebrate Chinese New Year," said Alice.
"In fact, someone even threw a firecracker on my sister's head by accident, but we didn't make a big issue out of it."
"During Hari Raya, our house would be an open house, and we cook a lot of dishes. All our neighbours would chip in to help, whether it was frying the chicken wings or washing dishes," said Rosni.
"This is something that we don't see now," said Alice, "the community spirit of sharing things."
Alice, who moved away from Margaret Drive in 1979, lamented on how she does not even know her neighbours now.
"There's no sense of sharing and no communication. If something happens to me at home, I think nobody will know because to each his own. You do your own thing, I do my own thing," she said.
"When we ran out of rice or salt, we would borrow it from our neighbours. But today, neighbours want privacy. If you go and give or borrow things, they will think you are being intrusive," said Rosni.
"So we really treasure the bond we have. It's very precious as we don't see it happening to our children today," said Alice.
Life was simple in the 1960s and this is what the three friends miss.
"We don't have telephone, we don't have television, so we met at the community centre," said Alice.
During their free time, they played homemade games using whatever they had, from rubber bands to saga seeds to stones because they had no money to buy toys.
Rosni added, "My mother even taught us how to use rags to make into dolls."
"Now we don't get to play all these stuff. My children are more city folks and they don't enjoy this type of things."
"The structure of our house was such that we put chairs outside and we talk in the evenings after dinner. And that's how we spent our time," said Alice.
In 1989, their houses were slated for tearing down and the families had to move.
Prior to that, Rosni had shifted out of Margaret Drive after she gave birth to her eldest daughter in 1982.
"I shifted to Jurong for a while but I could not take it because it was so far from my mother-in-law. So I bought a resale flat back in the area."
Today, her three daughters, one son and grandson still stay in the area while Rosni and husband stay in Bedok Reservoir.
"All my children were born in Margaret Drive. Even after my mother-in-law passed away, my children continued to stay with Josephine. They refused to move because they're so used to this place," she said.
Contrary to Rosni, Josephine has never moved out of Margaret Drive.
"I was born here, and now I live with my sister, nieces, nephew and grand nephew," she said.
She has never thought about moving away from the area.
"I'm so used to this place - the bond and friendliness of the neighbours," she said.
"We have four households living here and up till today, we still greet each other and all the people staying around. Everybody knows each other here."
Alice added, "We miss the place very much."
Photographed by Tay Kay Chin, and interviewed by Adeline Ong/Little Red Ants, at Dawson Place, on 4 Oct 2009.