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Several cleaners went above and beyond to make Deepavali a more festive occasion for residents at a condominium complex in Choa Chu Kang.
iNz Residence's cleaning team
The cleaning team from iNz Residence, a condominium in Choa Chu Kang, includes Hafidah, Suliyati, Yan, Noah, Kamsiah, Fitri, Norliana, Ellin, Sharifah Yusri, Rahman, Suhaimi and Fazilan.
Image courtesy of Ida and Seto Lek Keong.
Together, they crafted and put up handmade decorations in the condominium's common spaces to commemorate the upcoming festival of lights.
This included stringing lantern decorations along the walls of all the lift lobbies, as well as a peacock structure at the corner near the condominium's main clubhouse.
They made all these themselves, according to Shirley Cai, a resident at the condominium.
Image courtesy of Ida and Seto Lek Keong.
Image courtesy of Ida and Seto Lek Keong.
Handmade decorations
While the peacock structure may be situated in a corner of the condominium, it is vibrantly coloured and hard to miss.
Based on the photos and video, the structure appears to be taller than an adult person.
Fitted with glowing fairy lights, the cleaners' efforts have paid off as the handiwork is every bit as majestic as its real life animal counterpart.
Video courtesy of Ida and Seto Lek Keong.
The cleaners also paid extra attention to the details on the peacock structure.
The peacock's "feathers", for instance, were made by stacking smaller leaf-shaped pieces onto larger ones with contrasting colours, where each layer has to be adhered to the previous using a hot glue gun.
Upon closer inspection, one of the leaf-shape's edges has even been shredded to closely resemble a feather's wispy tendrils.
Image courtesy of Ida and Seto Lek Keong.
Image courtesy of Ida and Seto Lek Keong.
The peacock structure is made of multiple individually constructed parts, such as the bigger individual feathers in the background, the peacock's tail, its body, and the stand on which the structure was placed.
Image courtesy of Ida and Seto Lek Keong.
Image courtesy of Ida and Seto Lek Keong.
Image courtesy of Ida and Seto Lek Keong.
Image courtesy of Ida and Seto Lek Keong.
Creating the peacock structure was no easy task and required plenty of materials and resources.
However, the team got creative by collecting waste materials, such as cardboard boxes, which they reused for the structure.
According to Cai, the peacock structure consists around 20 to 30 per cent of recycled waste materials.
Image courtesy of Ida and Seto Lek Keong.
Image courtesy of Ida and Seto Lek Keong.
Image courtesy of Ida and Seto Lek Keong.
Two-month-long process
Constructing and putting all these pieces together was also an involved and laborious process.
Cai said the cleaners voluntarily sacrificed their breaks and stayed back after work to toil over these Deepavali decorations.
The process from start to finish took the cleaning team two whole months.
Image courtesy of Ida and Seto Lek Keong.
Image courtesy of Ida and Seto Lek Keong.
Image courtesy of Ida and Seto Lek Keong.
According to Cai, this is the cleaning team's biggest project yet.
They started decorating the common spaces around the condominium from as early as 2021, during Christmas.
Their handiwork was well received by the residents, and they continued putting up decorations from then on.
Cai said the last time they did so was on National Day in 2022.
Peacock's significance to Deepavali
The cleaning team also made placards, which were put up beside the structure, explaining the peacock structure and its significance to Deepavali.
The peacock is the national bird of India and its feathers are an auspicious symbol of Hinduism.
Decorations and ornaments related to the bird and its imagery is often seen during Deepavali celebrations as a sign of good luck and prosperity.
In another placard, they conveyed their well wishes to the residents and signed off with their own names.
Image courtesy of Seto Lek Keong.
Image courtesy of Seto Lek Keong.
Gone beyond job scope
Cai told Mothership that she was moved by the cleaners' thoughtful and kind gestures and describing them as friendly and hardworking people.
She praised their beautiful handwork, saying: "If there’s a competition for the best Diwali celebration, I would think that our estate would win the top prize. 😀"
"Apart from keeping our estate clean, they had even gone beyond their job scope in beautifying the place that they worked in. Kudos to them!"
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Top image courtesy of Ida and Seto Lek Keong