A man, presumably Singaporean, is angered/ saddened/ disappointed enough to open his word processor/ email, and pound out a letter to The Straits Times forum page.

[quip float="pqright"]Different letter, same type of gripe: I see young people get tattoos, I cannot take it, must write letter[/quip]

His lamentation?

He cannot take it that Little India is not the same as Chinatown.

Here is his magnum opus of a gripe:

Little India needs sprucing up

Little India is not as organised as Chinatown. Most of the shops in the small lanes feature businesses that have no relevance to tourism at all, such as shops selling automobile spare parts, and food caterers.

More can be done to spice up the area to attract more visitors, such as having food and beverage outlets with reasonable standards, and outdoor performances.

Currently, apart from Mustafa Centre, only the Indian Heritage Centre is an attraction in the area, but I see few visitors dropping by.

Also, walking along Serangoon Road is truly a safety hazard. Visitors are forced to squeeze and walk along the five-foot way.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority and Singapore Tourism Board need to go back to the drawing board to work out how we can fully capitalise on this precious tourist belt and put Little India and Serangoon Road back on the tourism map.

Roy Goh Hin Soon

Here are the reactions to his piece, culled from this Facebook post:

If you enjoy formulaic forum letters like this, do check out this piece about how an ST forum letter writer cannot take it that young people in Singapore don't fit into his world view by having tattoos.

And this other one too, arguing that dogs should not be kept by flat dwellers, owing to small shared spaces and how it complicates matters, making life difficult.

Top photos via William Cho Flickr here & here

If you like what you read, follow us on Facebook and Twitter to get the latest updates.