Chinatown, Singapore (26^th September 2009)

As I walk through Singapore’s Chinatown, I couldn’t resist stopping by this shop which had all types of traditional wall scrolls displayed with lovely Chinese calligraphy. I just love calligraphy, an art which transforms the written word itself into an image with an aesthetic value. Whether it is cursive and free flowing English, the curvy and pattern-rich Islamic or the fine strokes of Chinese, finely written calligraphy always captivated me irrespective of what the actual words meant. Here, the calligraphist shopkeeper offered to create a customized scroll with my name on it. As I watched, he took a blank scroll, scripted my name in beautiful Chinese calligraphy with effortless strokes of his brush in no time and gave it to me. To this day, that scroll is a souvenir which I cherish and it hangs in my room back home!