Coming together and sharing to watch World Cup
On the upper storey of a shophouse in Little India last night, 20 workers from Bangladesh sat around a television set, waiting for the start of the World Cup football match between Costa Rica and Serbia.
One of them fiddled with the TV, using his mobile phone to create a hotspot to set up the streaming broadcast. As they waited, the others played the harmonium and tabla drums, singing songs from home.
It was a good end to the festive weekend, said Mr Gias Uddin, 36, a painting supervisor at Sembawang shipyard.
Many migrant workers spent the weekend with colleagues and friends, their "family away from home", shipyard foreman Kalidash Halder, 34, said. "I'm Hindu, but I celebrate Hari Raya with my Muslim friends."
Muslim migrant workers said they started Hari Raya celebrations by going to the mosque on Friday for morning prayers.
Mr Hossain, who goes by one name, said he celebrated Hari Raya at his dormitory, eating with other workers and talking about their families back home.
This is the first year that Mr Hossain, 32, who is married with a daughter, has celebrated the festival away from home.
"It's hard to be away during this time because I miss my wife, my daughter and my parents a lot," he said.
For some, watching the World Cup games made the homesickness easier to bear.
But getting to watch the games has not been easy, said Mr A.K.M. Mohsin, a permanent resident from Bangladesh, who runs Dibashram, an arts space where the workers gathered.
"We use our phones (to stream the matches) to share the cost," said Mr Mohsin, adding that each match needs about one gigabyte of data.
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