Singapore Indian

US VPN service!

2012-01-30T21:26:00.001-08:00

I would like to share this VPN service with you. This will ideally help those who have bought a kindle from the use. The more recent one is Kindle Fire which is pretty good and comparable to the galaxy tab. But the problem is we can only purchase the books if you are from US. For those who are residing outside the US, there is no way of doing these purchases.

That’s when SuperVPN can help. All you have to do s enable the VPN support in the kindle and just connect to any wifi connection. the kindle will connect to supervpn and emulate a US IP address. With the IP address you can go ahead to purchase books from amazon. This is not illegal. It is completely safe and it will also protect your identity.
You can get SuperVPN from the following link: www.supervpn.net

Teach a man to fish VS Teach a fish to beg?

2011-11-10T08:45:00.001-08:00

Many of us would have read about the quote, Give a man a fish he eats for a day and teach a man to fish he eats for a lifetime.
Now Resorts world Singapore is doing the opposite. They capture a healthy fish who knows how to find food for itself in the wild to do silly stuns to beg for food!
The dolphin would be kept hungry, and each time it does what its told it gets food. Has anyone taught how the dolphin would feel?
Dolphins have a lifespan of 45 years in the wild and just averaging 25 in captivity, excluding those who die shorty after they have been captured.
Is our entertainment really worth their freedom?

Teach a man to fish VS Teach a fish to beg?

2011-11-10T08:45:00.000-08:00

Langkawi Trip

2010-05-03T08:54:00.000-07:00

After my India trip my colleagues and I planned to go to Langkawi. The plan came after someone discovered very cheap flight tickets to Langkawi. Budget flight of course. Initially the plan was for 12 of us to go, but then as the dates drew closer many had their business trips and meetings that only 7 could go in the end.

But despite the changes the trip was undoubtedly an unforgettable one for the right reasons. Basically Langkawi is an island off Malaysia, which is also known to be a duty free island. Everything you buy at langkawi is duty free, from chocolates to liquor everything is duty free. Being an island off Malaysia, it is famous for its very clean beaches and excellent diving spots.

I was the only diver in the group so we did snorkeling instead. So those who think snorkeling is only for those who can swim, you are wrong. Even if you cannot swim, you can snorkel, because you will be issued with life vest which will enable you to float no matter how deep. But I don’t want to send the wrong message across, if you do not know how to swim, have a good swimmer around guarding you just in case.

The highlight of snorkeling in Langkawi is that there are sharks! Yes I didn’t spell it wrong . You can swim along with small sharks , which are also harmless towards humans. If you want to know more about Langkawi you can wiki it. we didn't just go to Langkawi, we also went to Kuala Lumpur. In KL we went to the Famous Batu Caves, Kuala Selangor to watch Fire Flies and also the twin towers. i will write about it in my later posts.

Time out from Werk!

2010-04-10T03:51:00.001-07:00

Just last week I was in India to Bangalore on business trip. Work work just from Monday to Thursday. Since Friday was a holiday I decided to head to Chennai to meet my friends whom I have known when I was in Chennai doing my Cisco certifications. To tell the truth I was feeling like I was in a rut, going to work week in week out and the same old thing followed. I needed a break and Chennai certainly provided it. I needed a change in mood.
The weather was definitely difference. It was burning hot during the days, I had experienced I before but then it still feels surprising how cruel god is to Chennai people. But the people are one of the most nicest people I have come across in all my traveling. Compared to Bangalore and Chennai, the Chennai people are more nice, to visitors and less likely that you will be cheated (except for the auto drivers :P).

During this trip I also managed to finally meet up with Shalini, a blogging friend whom, the only times I have seen her was once during indiblogger, blogger's meet and once by coincidence at spenders. I am thankful that she actually made time to meet me along with her other friends. I now have 4 more friends to visit when I come to Chennai the next time.

The time of my trip was also good since another friend of mine, Imran, who was currently studying in the UK came back to Chennai for the Easter holidays. That made way for a big gathering at “skywalk” the new shopping mall in Chennai. We took that chance to update each other on the troubles we have got into during the time we were away.

For the first time in a long time I was not troubled by work, and deadlines. And lucky enough I also didn't received calls from work. It seemed like everyone knew I was having a holiday and they probably should not be calling me.

This trip was one I didn't go sight seeing at all, just meeting friends and it felt much better than a tour trip.

I will be going on another trip soon, this Wednesday to be exact, that to Langkawi, Malaysia. That will be a trip with my colleagues and a mini getaway. I urge my readers, to take little breaks from their daily routine, it helps to focus and get the groove back.

Its time for me to restart my engine room

2010-03-24T20:32:00.000-07:00

it has been a long time since i have been in the blog world. i somehow lost the inspiration to write.
i love writing and i put all my imagination, humor and knowledge juices to write a good blog entry. It gives me pride and happiness when i write a good article. i had lost this touch and it is sleeping inside. i am now trying to revive that feeling.

Currently my company is trying to help the chinese staff in my company who are from mainland china and there english is not up to par, many times we get problems comunicating. i have been selected by my boss to conduct English lessons in the office once a week, to teach them how to write good e-mails, how to talk to customers and basic communication technique. I am now looking for methods to make these lessons entertaining at the same time enriching.
last week we had a session on e-mailing and i know it sucked big time, cos it was boring. For me to present it as well. At the end of the day what matters is that they take back something and use it, and it should have a positive improvement. please my readers give me sum suggestions to teach English.

1 Week In Beijing!

2010-02-07T01:11:00.000-08:00

As many would already know that i work for an MNC based in China. It is the company custom to have a annual meeting and Dinner and Dance in Beijing. For this event all the overseas colleagues will gather in Beijing. This was the first year for me , attending such meeting. i was really excited because of all the hype that was created by my other colleagues who have gone before.

this time the Beijing office had organized a visit to the great wall of china for the new staff who have joined this year. As for all out staff they had organized a winter Olympics in the Beijing Olympic stadium. that was the first time i had every seen snow.and first time i ever skied!

This trip also showed me another side of china that i never knew.Beijing is a very united city, the people are very concerned about the well being of the country, it showed in how clean the city was. not a single piece of little was to be seen. i could hardly find dustbins too but still the city was spanking clean. like all cities the central business district has a busy traffic during the peak periods. that brought me to wonder how they dealt with the traffic during the Beijing Olympics. when the whole world's eye was looking at Beijing. I did get an answer to that question. DUring the Olympics not all the cars were allowed to be on the road. on alternate days odd number and even numbered vehicles were allowed to be on the road. that reduced the number of vehicles bu 50%. And most importantly the rule was diligently followed by the citizens. for the well being of the nation. the Chinese won my respect with that one.
everywhere i went, for food or for shopping, i used my little mandarin that i knew and they were very appreciative of my interest in their language that they addresses me as their brother and gave me discounts. it pays to know Chinese in Beijing.

Many of us are still skeptical of going to china, but through experience i tell you. there is a whole new world in china that we don know of. a civilization that have grown maturely and has a lesson or two to teach the rest of the world about the love for their motherland. My advice to all is this, make Beijing a holiday destination this season and i bet you won't regret it.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2009-12-23T18:08:00.001-08:00

Finally I have stored up enough strength to make this post. Initially it was work stress that I had not been blogging, then it transformed to my laziness. Today is the eve of Christmas and I am sitting on my office desk writing this post. I am part of the office committee to organize the Christmas party. It is an annual thing that we all exchange gifts by drawing lots , and the receiving person does not have to know from whom the present came from. As much as I am tired of all the shopping for the food and drinks, I am very excited to know what my present is. My Customer y gift is waiting for me at the office Christmas tree, but apart from that some of my colleagues have passed me gifts. Anca , a girl from the office, gave me one on Monday. I have not opened it and waiting to open it today only. But that present has prevented me from working all week. So on Tuesday I faked a medical leave , got an MC from the doctor and went shopping for gifts for my department. Then I realized how hard it is to buy a gift for a guy, girls are easy, just something cute will do, but men you can't get cute and it has to be useful and it has to be cheap!
I guess this is the festive mood in the office, everyone is passing secret messages on who they are buying gifts for and planning on funny gifts like a bikini or some thing funny. I hope my present does not have it.

I am back , and I am not sure for how long. It feels good to be back blogging again. I would like to use the opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. And maybe if I don't get the bikini, I'll post my present here! Opps that reminds me , I have to go collect the turkey!!

Does it matter how rich you are?

2009-08-28T22:37:00.001-07:00

After watching this video , just think again.

Sorry guys for not posting for so long.

2009-08-03T07:58:00.000-07:00

Hi to all my readers, and i apologize for not posting anything for so long. it has been and still is hectic period for me. with oversea trips packed together with lots of projects to be completed.

i am the IT engineer for my company's international business team. i am the one and only IT engineer for 4 offices and i can't divide my time well. everyone needs their stuff done quick and there is little time to plan. luckily for me i have been blessed with the bosses that are very forgiving and encouraging in every decision i make. if all other departments are earning money for the company, i am the one spending them. to make the lives easier and efficient for the company of course but, for them to have so much believe in my gives me the pressure and i am fired up to give my best and nothing less.
because of that , many of my "Me time" have been sacrificed.
amist all that we even had time to go to Sichuan , China and Melacca, Malaysia for our quarterly and yearly holiday trips. even planing for those trips got us all busy.

i will post pictures and some valuable history and interesting pictures from those trips in my later posts. please look out for this space, cos its gonna get interesting.
but first let me get some breather.

Rest in Peace Michael Jackson, you are not a chapter, not a novel you are a genre.

2009-07-10T20:26:00.000-07:00

I have been waiting to write this post for a long time. But I wanted it to be perfect cos this post is for a performer who gave nothing less than perfect each time he performed. His dance moves were NEVER in complete. He did them with gusto and with every bid of energy he had in his body.
I know no other entertainer who can give that much to their fans. The dance moves in “Billy Jean” just came like an asteroid that hit earth and a new style of dance was born. And for “Thriller” every fan watched eagerly for the short video in which all his dance moves were memorized and became a craze at every dance floor.
The man was not only a singer, dancer but also a scientist. He invented the gravity defying shoes for “smooth criminal” and he patented that invention. Just take a moment to think which other star have gone this far for entertainment? NONE. “Smooth criminal” is my all time favorite song, and it is the songs that when it’s played in the clubs, everyone will come to the dance floor and just show off any Michael’s moves they know.
The number one hit for 2 months in the billboard was “you are not alone”, a song which he wrote and sang for his wife. From pop he sang a really lovely number.
And my favorite and the song and the song that sold the most “earth song” the music video made a lot of change and influence on why we should save mother earth, and how much we ignored mother earth.
But the song that reached the most audience was “Black or White”, for the record he didn’t bleach his skin because he wanted to look white, he has the rare condition that did it for him. Instead of looking 50-50 he chose to speed it up. And like his song says it doesn’t matter if he is black or white cos everyone welcomed the song and the song told the few uninformed fans who Michael was.
There is only one king of pop; no one else comes even close. Then there was controversy on his interest for children and some kids even made money out of those false accusation. I know from the very beginning that he is still a child in his heart. He started performing from the age of 5. His dad was just money minded. Michael didn’t get the childhood he wanted. He was busy performing from state to state. Because of this he missed his childhood he wanted to have it in his later years. I don’t see any wrong in that. “Neverland” is an example of his childhood fantasy. We all know about his shopping spree – whatever Michael wants Michael gets! He should because he deserves everything.
I hope I have done justice in this post. When I talk about Michael I can go on and on but I have kept it short this time, despite the wall-of-text. Thanks for reading.

and finally annie are u ok??

ABC tags

2009-06-28T02:36:00.000-07:00

A - Age
25

B - Bed size
Super Single

C - Chore you hate
Washing the toilet. i used to pray when i was in the army so that i don't get selected for the Toilet cleaning.

D - Dog's name
Ramu and Somu

E - Essential start-your-day item
the minty fresh feeling after brushing my teeth.

F - Favorite color
Red.

G - Gold or Silver
Gold or silver to me is in the medals, silver is the first looser. so gold or nothing.

H - Height
173cm

I - Instruments you played
i played with a lot of them. just Play play, nothing musical came out of it.

J - Job title
IT Engineer.

K- Kid(s)
All my little cousins are like my own kids.

L - Living arrangements
Currently with Parents

M - Mum's name
Poongothai

N - Nicknames
Vas - for many people i know they think this is my full name.

O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth
Food poisoning ,5 days

P - Pet Peeve
Discus

Q - Quote from a movie
With Great power comes Great responsibility - Spiderman

R - Right or left handed
Right handed, and right master eye.

S - Siblings
2 younger brothers

T - Time you wake up
6.30 am chop chop.

U- Underwear
no , Boxers.

V - Vegetable you dislike
cabbage, but if it is prepared chinese style with oyster sause, any vegetable is fine.

W - what makes you run late
Traffic

X-rays you've had
Full frontal x-ray for air force medical.

Y- Yummy food you make
pasta.

Z- Zombies are attacking, what do you do?
a headshot with a shotgun man. every gamer knows that's the best weapon for zombies.

any one who read this till the end, u have been tagged.

Last workday of the week.

2009-06-11T20:38:00.001-07:00

i am typing this post while waiting for lunch time to come on a Friday afternoon.
I am the IT engineer in my company, the only man in-charge for IT. currently we are in the process of opening another office.My current project is to provide all the IT necessities , support and maintain them.

i have got various vendors for the services and my current work is just to supervise them. quite frankly, i have nothing to do for the day. my agenda today is a meeting with the cable guys. that went briefly in the morning for 45 minutes and now i am staring at my screen with nothing to do.

Fridays are days that the only work is before lunch time. and after that nothing really gets done. everyone is already in informal clothes and the mood is really good. everyone seems a little laid back. I have no pressure, i know my planning has been good and my contingencies are well in place.

Its the great Singapore Sale now as well as the IT show. all my attention is on the page that has all the price list and i am already planning my shopping list.
- 1 X DDR2 Ram
- Asus EEPC 1002HA
- a mouse for that eepc (razor / logitech)
- 1 Tera Byte HDD for my home
- some fun peripherals maybe.

fingers crossed the crowd does not squeeze me too much.

THIS IS HOW WE MISS OUT SOMETHING CALLED "LIFE"

2009-06-03T02:49:00.001-07:00

A boy was born to a couple after eleven years of marriage. They were a loving couple and the boy was the gem of their eyes. When the boy was around two years old, one morning the husband saw a medicine bottle open. He was late for office so he asked his wife to cap the bottle and keep it in the cupboard. His wife, preoccupied in the kitchen totally forgot the matter. The boy saw the bottle and playfully went to the
bottle fascinated by its color and drank it all. It happened to be a poisonous medicine meant for adults in small dosages. When the child
collapsed the mother hurried him to the hospital, where he died. The mother was stunned. She was terrified how to face her husband. When the distraught father came to the hospital and saw the dead child, he looked at his wife and uttered just five words.

QUESTIONS :
1. What were the five words ?
2. What is the implication of this story?

ANSWER :
The husband just said "I am with you Darling"
The husband's totally unexpected reaction is a proactive behavior. The child is dead. He can never be brought back to life. There is no point
in finding fault with the mother. Besides, if only he had taken time to keep the bottle away, this would not have happened.. No one is to be blamed. She had also lost her only child. What she needed at that moment was consolation and sympathy from the husband. That is what he gave her.
If everyone can look at life with this kind of perspective, there would be much fewer problems in the world. "A journey of a thousand miles
begins with a single step". Take off all your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness, and fears. And you will find things are
actually not as difficult as you think.

MORAL OF THE STORY:
This story is really worth reading. ..... Sometimes we spend time in asking who is responsible or whom to blame, whether in a relationship,
in a job or with the people we know. By this way we miss out something called L...I.F.E

Story to live by

2009-05-26T18:24:00.000-07:00

This came in an e-mail, which i found interesting.

There was a blind girl who hated herself because she was blind. She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He was always
there for her. She told her boyfriend, 'If I could only see
the world, I will marry you.'

One day,
someone donated a pair of eyes to her. When the bandages
came off, she was able to see everything, including her
boyfriend.

He asked her, 'Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?' The
girl looked at her boyfriend and saw that he was blind. The
sight of his closed eyelids shocked her. She hadn't expected
that. The thought of looking at them the rest of her life
led her to refuse to marry him.

Her boyfriend left in tears and days later wrote a note to her
saying: 'Take good care of your eyes, my dear, for before
they were yours, they were mine.'

This is how the human brain often works when our status changes.
Only a very few remember what life was like before, and who
was always by their side in the most painful situations.

Life Is a
Gift

Today
before you say an unkind word - Think of someone who can't speak.

Before
you complain about the taste of your food - Think of someone
who has nothing to eat.

Before
you complain about your husband or wife - Think of someone
who's crying out to GOD for a companion.

Today
before you complain about life - Think of someone who died
too early on this earth.

Before
you complain about your children - Think of someone who
desires children but they're barren.

Before
you argue about your dirty house someone didn't clean or
sweep - Think of the people who are living in the streets.

Before
whining about the distance you drive Think of someone who
walks the same distance with their feet.

And when
you are tired and complain about your job - Think of the
unemployed, the disabled, and those who wish they had your
job.

But
before you think of pointing the finger or condemning
another - Remember that not one of us is without sin.

And when
depressing thoughts seem to get you down - Put a smile on
your face and think: you're alive and still
around.

Life to a huge twist.

2009-05-23T20:47:00.000-07:00

Last week I was unemployed, with nothing to do. On Monday I attended an interview. I passed the interview and I started work on Wednesday. The same day I realized I have to go to Beijing the following week to meet with the IT team in Beijing. I was the only IT guy in Singapore branch who will be in charge of all IT requirements of the current Singapore branch, a new branch which is about to open and also in India, Indonesia and France. The Beijing Office with highest number of workers has the biggest team.
The next day the ticket was booked and I flew on Monday to Beijing. That explains why I have not updated my blog for so long. For some reasons blogger.com could not be reached from both my hotel internet as well as the company internet. It was like the Internet service provider in china blocks Blogging!
Is this for real? Really, it seems too good to be true. Never in my wildest dreams did I even dream of such. Quite simply put: God is indeed great!

This is a story of a boy

2009-05-09T21:39:00.000-07:00

This is a story of a boy and his mom.
One day tom was walking home with a note from his teacher to his mom.
It read “this boy is stupid I can’t teach him.”
Tom gave it to his mom who got furious and went to his school and said to his teacher “my son is not stupid, he does not have to study in this school. I’ll teach him at home.”
From then tom started home school.
Many years later the world would switch off their lights on their homes on March 28 at 8.30pm for an hour. And they call it “Edison Hour”.
Yes, our Tom is non-other than Thomas Alva Edison, the school reject to invented the light bulb and many other inventions that separate us from the cavemen.

Edison said he did so much for his mom because he did not want to disappoint her.
Some say it was pure genius that Edison invented so much. But to me it was the most powerful power in the world that fueled him to excel – A mother’s Love

HAPPY MOTHER’S Day to all MOMs!!!!

3 Answers Men Are Afraid of

2009-05-03T11:18:00.000-07:00

1. (Whatever)
Men: What to have for dinner?
Women: Whatever...

Men: Why don't we have steamboat?
Women: Don't want, once i ate steamboat and later got pimples on my face.

Men: Alright, why don't we have Si Chuan cuisine?
Women: Yesterday we ate Si Chuan, why eat it today again?

Men: Hm..... I suggest we have seafood
Women: Seafood is no good, i ate it once, then later I got diarrhea.

Men: Then what you suggest?
Women: Whatever..

2. (Anything)
Men: So what should we do now?
Women: Anything

Men: How about watching movie? It's been a Long time since we
watched movie.
Women: Watching movie is no good, it's waste time.

Men: How about bowling, or do some exercises?
Women: Exercise in such hot day?

Men: Then let's find a cafe and have coffee.
Women: Drinking coffee will affect my sleep

Men: Then what you suggest?
Women: Anything

3. (You decide)

Men: Then we just go home
Women: You decide

Men: Let take bus, I will accompany you
Women: Bus is dirty and crowded. I don't want.

Men: Ok we will take a Taxi
Women: Not worth it... for such a short distance

Men: Alright, then we walk.
Women: What! Walk with an empty stomach?

Men: Then what you suggest?
Women: You decide

If a girl were to say : "why not we go home watch the Football Game that Manchester United is Playing, order pizza for food and "I'LL PAY for the Pizza!"

I WOULD MARRY HER! That will be heaven on earth.

PS: i know its a far shot, but worth a try.

Sparks Of Wisdom

2009-04-23T23:09:00.001-07:00

No problem can be solved from the same consciousness that created it.

- Einstein

Simply Amazing!

2009-04-19T22:45:00.000-07:00

This is Cleopatra Stratan: a 3 year old singer who earns 1000€ per song.

Clepotra was born October 6, 2002 in Chisinau, Moldova and is the daughter of Moldovan-Romanian singer, Pavel Stratan. She is the youngest person ever to score commercial success as a singer, with her 2006 album La vârsta de trei ani ("At the age of 3"). She holds the record for being the youngest artist that performed live for two hours in front of a large audience, the highest paid young artist, the youngest artist to receive an MTV award and the youngest artist to score a #1 hit in a country ("Ghita" in Romanian Singles Chart).
Here is a song she sang. i could just watch this all day..

Sparks of Wisdom

2009-04-16T21:35:00.000-07:00

It is harder to crack a prejudice than an atom.
- Albert Einstein

Wealth, Sucess and Love!

2009-04-06T22:01:00.000-07:00

A woman came out of her house and saw 3 old men with long white beards sitting in her front yard. She did not recognize them. She said "I don't think I know you, but you must be hungry. Please come in and have something to eat."

"Is the man of the house home?", they asked.
"No", she replied. "He's out."
"Then we cannot come in", they replied.
In the evening when her husband came home, she told him what had happened.
"Go tell them I am home and invite them in!"
The woman went out and invited the men in"
" We do not go into a House together," they replied.
"Why is that?" she asked.

One of the old men explained: "His name is Wealth," he said pointing to one of his friends, and said pointing to another one, "He is Success, and I am Love." Then he added, "Now go in and discuss with your husband which one of us you want in your home."

The woman went in and told her husband what was said. Her husband was overjoyed. "How nice!!", he said. "Since that is the case, let us invite Wealth. Let him come and fill our home with wealth!"
His wife disagreed. "My dear, why don't we invite Success?"

Their daughter was listening from the other corner of the house. She jumped in with her own suggestion: "Would it not be better to invite Love? Our home will then be filled with love!"
"Let us head our daughter's advice," said the husband to his wife.
"Go out and invite Love to be our guest ."

The woman went out and asked the 3 old men, "Which one of you is Love? Please come in and be our guest."
Love got up and started walking toward the house. The other 2 also got up and followed him. Surprised, the lady asked Wealth and Success: "I only invited Love, Why are you coming in?"

The old men replied together: "If you had invited Wealth or Success, the other two of us would've stayed out, but since you invited Love, wherever He goes, we go with him. Wherever there is Love, there is also Wealth and Success."

A piece of History - Singapore in the year 1938

2009-04-01T22:41:00.000-07:00

This Video is the video image that my grandfathers have described to me.
The Sri Mariamman temple which still stands today as both as a place of worship as well as a monument of the history of the Hindus in Singapore. *Note the statue of British soldiers on the temple doom, to look like temple guards. That statue is now gone.
I knew the raffles hotel was old, but i didn't know this old!

The Singapore population then was mainly made of migrants from China, India and Malays who were already there and of course the British. But the point to note is that the traditional Muslims, Chineses and Indians have the culture of sending their women to work, but in the video i could see Chinese ladies working as hair dressers.
Although the Indians and Malays in the video, i see no reason why they would not have followed suit, since the society has no objections or discriminations.To know that Singapore was never a sexist country is a proud feeling.

i am happy to share this video with my readers and to spread some history of Singapore.

I am 48% Indian!

2009-03-29T06:17:00.000-07:00

[ ] you were born in India
[x] both your parents are Indian
[ ] your parents expect your spouse to be Indian
[x] your career choices are narrowed down to doctor, lawyer and/or architect
[ ] you have one sibling (no, I have 2 )
[ ] your aunt, uncle, parents and several relatives you have never met in your life have befriended you on Facebook.

X's so far: 2

[x] You have dhaal at least once a day( : O )
[x] Your mother at this very moment is under the unfortunate impression that you are doing homework
[x] You have black hair
[ ] You are a veggie
[ ] Zee TV is (at least one of) your favorite channel(s)
[x] you have recently listened to 96.8FM
[x] you and your best friend both have watched and discussed the latest Shahrukh Khan movie

X's so far: 7

[x] you have a circle of Indian friends, separate from your normal ones
[x] you speak in violent Tamilish with the above
[ ] you have a tendency to resent Britain's existence
[ ] more than half your wardrobe is salwars, churidars, patiallas/kurtas,sherwanis.( I have zero Indian clothing.)
[ ] a cricket ball has the power to obtain and control your full undivided attention
[ ] you are aware of and have visited BharatMatrimonials.com
[x] your surname is your father's first name.

X's so far: 10

[ ] you are a proud member of Sports-India.com
[x] you have bookmarked Cricinfo.com on your computer. (my father watches it)
[ ] Neither of your parents could care less about phys ed, as long as your academic grades are intact
(they forced me to learn Tennis)
[ ] if you are Hindu, you go to the temple at least once a week
[ ] if you are Muslim you perform namaaz five times a day
[x] you have no issues with either of the above
[x] you do, however, have issues with the bombings of the Indian Embassy in Kabul and the 26/11 Taj and Oberoi hotel bombings in Mumbai.
(The terror attacks have no relation to religion, god didn’t ask those faggots to do it, they stupidity did.)
[ ] you own a Nokia phone
[ ] this phone at least once has displayed something Desi as its wallpaper
[x] you are familiar with the term 'Desi'

X's so far: 14

[x] your iPod is teeming with Bollywood & Kollywood
[x] you could bite into a red chili and honestly enjoy it
[x] you are a fan of and are infuriated at the fact that Thumbs Up is not sold beyond Indian borders.
(My friend Christopher introduced it to me in India, and I have been an addict since)
[ ] you use the word 'arre' or 'accha' at least twice a day
[ ] your non-Indian friends have picked up on hindi words like 'yaar' or 'blah blah blah, NA?'
[ ] you have Bollywood posters in your room
[x] you have never called an elder by only their first name, you instead add or use alone 'auntie' or 'uncle'
[ ] you have read A Suitable Boy (Is it a book? I don’t do books)
[ ] you play an instrument
[ ] you are able to play a Bollywood song on the above instrument -

X's so far: 18

[x] your fridge has at least one Haldiram's box in it
[ ] your mother claims you were born as fair as the moon, but you have lately begun to doubt it
[ ] you own a Bose sound system
[x] you use fans whenever possible as opposed to aircon
[x] regardless of whether you are Buddhist or not you have a Buddha statue in your living room.
(We believe in him)
[x] you know what pani puri is
[ ] you are unable to handle chopsticks.
(I learnt how to use it since I was 8, how else to eat my favourite “mee poh”?
[x] Your TV remote is covered in plastic (I don’t want to explain it.)
[x] You are genuinely afraid of the Indian Gossip Circuit

X's in total: 24

Multiply by 2 to get your Indian-y percentage: 48%
after this test i am not sure to be happy or sad to have failed this test.

Now repost with the title "I am __% Indian!" and tag all the Indians you know
I am tagging Arvind, Shalini , Lemonade and all other Indian bloggers who are reading this.

Earth Hour!

2009-03-24T04:24:00.000-07:00

This coming Saturday is polling day! This is the biggest election in which only one party can win, that is mother earth. To help curb Global warming all around the world everyone will switch off their lights and electrical equipment to safe energy and to vote for earth.
Know more about Earth hour here!

The past, the present and future

2009-03-18T21:05:00.000-07:00

we can't change the past
we can change the future..
so there is no point pondering over the past.
think about the changes you can do in your present to change your future

-Vasanthan

AIG execs should quit or commit suicide!

2009-03-18T02:26:00.000-07:00

The economic crisis is rocking the foundation of many companies in the world today. Due to poor judgments by top banks and financial institutions now the governments of many countries are suffering a huge deficit.

The American government, led by President Obama has decided to use Tax payers’ money to bail out American companies to prevent further damage to the country’s financial situation. $165 million bail out money was given to AIG and Merrill lynch was bought over by “Bank of America”.

What does AIG do with the money? Instead of trying to clear out the mess, they are using the money to pay Bonuses as huge as 1 million to selected senior members in the company.

This people are the very reason why the economy slumped.
What the meaning of Bonus? I checked in the online Webster dictionary, it says “something in addition to what is expected or strictly due”.
For a company which is performing below expectations, they are paying out above expected money to the culprits.

This does not make any sense at all? No wonder President Obama is Furious.

AIG has shown lack of gratitude to the US government and their investors. Like senator Charles Grassley said “AIG execs should quit or commit suicide”. As I heard in the news later, that he took back the later part of his statement.
Imagine I am a football player, I would have scored 3 goals in the game and created many, but if my team lost, there is no room for glory. Similarly, the bonus idea is unjustified; this shows your lack of intelligence in management of money. With that why you any one want invest their life savings with you?

Time to ask my mom to try salvage the 21 year saving plan she has with AIG. Although it is still premature, why risk losing it all?

2009-03-09T09:46:00.000-07:00

I am currently jobless and still in the job hunt. I have gone 1 month without a job. I understand that the cause is not that I am under qualified; the problem also lies in the world’s economic situation right now. (At least that’s what I am telling myself to get myself going.) I am not going to whine about my problem, but shine with enthusiasm.
There are many others like me right now, unemployed, recently fired or recently graduated.

My word for you guys is, “Never lose hope or confidence in yourself” it’s not us that is the problem; it’s the world’s situation that is to blame.

Here is a story of a famous person who refused to give up even in difficult times.

1816 – His family was forced out of their home.

1818 – His mother passed away.

1831 – His business failed.

1932 – He was defeated in legislature. Lost his job and could not get admission into a law school.

1838 – He borrowed money from a friend and failed again in business. He later spent the next 17 years of his life paying off his debts.

1835 – He was engaged to be married but his sweetheart died.

1836 – Suffered a nervous breakdown and spend 6 months in bed.

1838 – Defeated in the contest for a speaker position.

1840 – Defeated for elector.

1843 – Defeated for Congress.

1846 – Elected for congress.

1848 – Defeated for Congress.

1849 – Rejected for a job as a land officer in his home state.

1855 – Defeated for Senate.

1856 – Defeated for vice presidential nomination, getting less than 100 votes.

1858 – Defeated for Senate.

1860 – Elected President of the United States of America.

It is none other than Abraham Lincoln.

For a person to be mauled by defeat and failure all his life he endured all and emerged the biggest victor. The point to note is that he didn’t change his path regardless to how many defeats he faced. Perseverance paid off.

All of us have goals in life, and would have seen a lot of setbacks. But every defeat should not make us weaker but stronger and still stand up right for the next hit. We will brave all insults and defeats to emerge the hero of our dreams.

To all of us to go through these hard times:
“Amen- Shanthi - Insha Allah – who ever, however we pray to. God bless us all!”

Sparks of wisdom

2009-03-06T00:51:00.000-08:00

i Don't know Why people say
"Life or Death"
as if life is the opposite of death.
Birth is the opposite of death. Life has no opposite.
does it?

The 81st Oscars

2009-02-24T11:04:00.000-08:00

Hugh Jackman did justice to the show with 10/10 performance in the show. Mind you this is wolverine we are talking about, jumping around dancing and singing along. The Oscars this year was one to remember. 2009 is the year of the underdogs.
The look on Brad Pitt told me he was expecting a big sweep for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", and the odds were also looking his way. But it was not meant to be, the underdog “ Slumdog millionaire” beat all odd and became the top dog, winning 8 of 10 nominations. Where Of Benjamin Button won three Oscars and has tied the record for the most nominated film not to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.

After watching the Oscars I knew I had to watch the movie (yeah lazy me have not watched it till then). I can say the movie totally deserved to win in every department it was nominated for.

My man AR Rahman has done it for India with 2 Oscars. Although the credit for best soundtrack will be shared by M.I.A as well for her “paper planes” song which was mixed with the award winning “O.. Saya”.

Nonetheless India bagged 3 Oscars for Best original Score and best original Song by AR Rahman and best sound mixing by Resul Pookutty
AR Rahman made all Hindi speaking Indians and Tamil Speaking Indians proud by mentioning versus in both languages. I only understood “ Yella Puzhalum Erivanukae!” which means “ All fame to god him alone”. The Speech that I found most memorable was from the first Oscar that was presented to India. Which was to Resul Pookutty, and he said
"I dedicate this award to my country. This is not just a sound award but a piece of history that has been handed over to me," a beaming and emotional Pookutty said while dedicating the trophy to a billion Indians.
"I come from a country and civilization that gave the world the word that precedes silence and is followed by more silence. That word is 'Om'. So I dedicate this award to my country,
That one really touched my heart.

Sparks of Wisdom : Finish Strong

2009-02-22T10:01:00.000-08:00

This video is shot but it told me a message that i will never forget.
Nick Vujicic is a hero, he may not have limbs he has more strength than any of us.
so my readers, felling down is not failure, staying there is.

Tsunami Houses

2009-02-19T06:31:00.000-08:00

As many of my readers would have known that I have spent much of2008 in India to finish my Cisco certifications in CCNA and CCVP. Having lived there for so long also gave me the opportunity to visit my relatives.
My relatives live near the coastal which was hit by the Tsunami. I took this opportunity to so look at the tsunami hit areas and what is being done for the victims. I was surprised to see how much the Indian government was doing to aid the community that live close to the sea.
The tsunami might have hit the world in 2004, and still 4 years on tsunami houses are being built. All the financial aid that India received is being transformed into housing with proper sanitation facilities, water supply, Disaster Shelters, even a building to provide free medical care.. I took some pictures to show my readers and potentially the world that the money they donated has been put into good use.

This street which holds all the Tsunami Houses is called the "Tsunami Street", Many generations later they will not forget the impact of the tsunami.

Below are pictures i took to show you guys.

The tsunami houses

This is the Information Center, Should there be a tsunami threat, this center will inform the public.

Medical Center where immunizations will be provided.

The Multipurpose disaster shelter.

The tsunami street

Sparks of Wisdom

2009-02-17T08:27:00.000-08:00

Growing Old is Compulsory.
Growing Up is Optional.

- Unknown writer.

Happy Valentines day!

2009-02-13T09:32:00.000-08:00

Happy valentines day to all my readers!

Sparks Of Wisdom

2009-02-10T20:31:00.000-08:00

If you fail to plan,
You plan to fail

Its Tag time again!

2009-02-06T07:24:00.000-08:00

Rules:
It's harder than it looks! Copy to your own note, erase my answers, enter yours, and tag ten people.
Use the first letter of your name to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real...nothing made up! If the person before you had the same first initial, you must use different answers. You cannot use any word twice and you can't use your name for the boy/girl name question.

1. What is your name : Vasanthan

2. A four Letter Word : Vase

3. A boy's Name : Vikram

4. A girl's Name : Veronica

5. An occupation : Vet

6. A color : Violet

7. Something you'll wear : Vest

8. A food: Vegetable Biriyani

9. Something found in the bathroom: Veet (it’s not in mine, this was a tough one)

10. A place: Venice

11. A reason for being late : Very slow bus.

12. Something you'd shout : Vaa! (come in tamil)

13. A movie title : V for Vendetta

14. Something you drink : Vodka

15. A musical group : Velvet Underground

16. An animal : Viper

17. A street name : Valley Road

18. A type of motor : Volvo

19. The title of a song : Viva Las Vegas – Elvis Presley

I'll like to tag, Simha, Arvind and Shalini.

Sparks Of Wisdom

2009-02-01T23:10:00.000-08:00

Success

"Great results are achieved only by Great patience, great courage and Great attempts."

- Swami Vivekananda

My Best Friends's wedding

2009-02-01T23:09:00.000-08:00

I took a huge break between my last posts and now I have 2 posts is quick succession. I have been out of ideas on what to post. Then I decided to post on what I have been out to. I just arrived from a lengthy stay in Chennai. I had to rush my arrival to Singapore to attend the wedding of my 2 best friends. Avtar Singh and Simha Jastol.

Their wedding fell on the first day of the Lunar New Year, and also Republic day of India, the 26th of January. Just before I decided to come back to Singapore, I got a pleasant surprise. I had won a 7 day hotel stay in Goa for 2. Although the validity if for a year, I will not have enough time to go to Goa for the getaway and make it for my friends’ wedding. I gave away the price to my friends in Chennai and decided the wedding was most important. I can go to Goa anytime.

It was the first Sikh wedding I have ever been to. It was simple and short, unlike the Hindu wedding. It was held in their temple prayer area in front of the “Guru Granth Sahib” , as the priest sang the marriage mantras , a projector was set up with translations in English of what is being performed. That made the wedding more meaningful. This was the first wedding I knew what was happening. I have attended countless weddings without understanding what the mantras meant.

In short wedding was the most beautiful wedding I ever attended. I wish the newly weds a very happy married life ahead.

Quotes i share.

2009-01-23T11:37:00.001-08:00

Inspired my Shalini's Monday morning inspirations i am going to introduce "Weekly Quote".
i will share quotes that i find very meaningful.
During my O'Level examinations i used to write down notes on small notebooks so that i could refer to them, on the way to school. then i got the idea to write motivational quotes on the back of those notebooks to encourage me to do better. now i have lost that habit and find myself lacking the motivation i had those days. i am going to bring back old times by sharing the quotes that changed my mood and got me inspired.

to day i start with something about love, i got this from my friend's facebook profile.

It takes no time to fall in love,
but it takes you years to know what love is.
It takes your fears to make you trust,
it takes some tears to make it rust

i haven officially named this segment, but i welcome suggestions. please help me out here. creativity has not been my forte.

India - pakistan. Is War a solution?

2009-01-03T12:39:00.000-08:00

This is my first post of 2009 and I want it to be on a matter that is important. One matter that has been the talk of the town in India right now or at least the northern part of India is the aftermath of the terror attack. 179 people died in that massacre and the authority have interrogated one captured terrorist who claim to be a Pakistani. India now wants answers. And the situation between the 2 countries is at flashpoint. India is ready for war with Pakistan.
But the way I see it, a war is not a solution. Just because the terrorists were from Pakistan does not say that they are promoting terror. They (Pakistan) have also been hit by a terror attack, example the Marriott hotel blast and the assignation of ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Being geographically located next to Afghanistan, the influence of terrorism is spreading easily in Pakistan. In my view terrorist choose the path of terror out of their own will and are not forced into anything. They might have been some propaganda and Psyching going on. Under these circumstances it is really very hard to spot and catch terrorist, worst then searching for a needle in a hay stack, it is very difficult to find the hay stack, let alone finding the needle.
Instead of keeping their differences aside and bringing their heads together and eliminate terrorism, they are preparing for war. Let’s be more practical terrorist claimed the lived of 179 people. And if there is a war, more than 179 people will die. So you tell me who has been more successful in man slaughter the army or the terrorist? Even if they nuked each other out still will not kill all terrorist, instead the kids whose parents have been killed in the war will then be the next generation terrorist. There will be no end to this with violence.
India is the proud child of Mahatma Gandhi. He lived by his believe that nothing can be achieved with violence, which I strongly agree. “An eye for an eye makes us all blind” a quote by the great Gandhi. It would be disrespectful to him if India chooses the path of war in reaction to the terror attack in Mumbai. Instead both country should be patient and avoid making hasty decisions which they would regret later.
The Indian media has not been too helpful in this matter. Instead of giving unbiased news of this matter, they are reacting and seem to encourage the rift between Pakistan and India. I would like to quote the part when one TV station interviewed “Imran khan” an ex-cricketer and now a politician and asked pressured him into giving testimony on the nationality and if Pakistan would take some responsibility in the Mumbai attack. Imran Khan replied that “Media Trial should not be the way this matter should be handled”. Which I think make perfect since. It seems to me that the media wants a war and with a war they will get more things to report on, thus increasing their TRP rating.
Not every piece of evidence and discussion should be leaked to the media. The Indian media is not on behaving like they are “on the ball” but they are behaving more like ahead of the ball.
I am not writing this under any political influence nor under the influence of alcohol. I believe that peace is possible between India and Pakistan. And together they can fight terrorism.
“War is never the way” both countries are ruled by smart people I hope they come to a peaceful solution.

How do I say goodbye.

2008-12-30T22:37:00.000-08:00

Its just hours to the new year. And I still can't come to terms that a year is over.
It seemed like only a few days ago that I last wrote my resolutions for 2008. How do I say goodbye to this wonderful year.
It began when I was still in Australia, and its ending when I am still in Chennai. I was supposed to go back to Singapore on the 28th of December. I didn't cos I still have some unfinished business in India.

This was the year I completed my Cisco certifications. Yes people! I have officially completed all exams required to be a CCVP [Cisco Certified Voice Professional] .I am now part of the “Human network” as the Cisco ad goes.

2008 gave me a new home, a new group of friends, new environment [Chennai]. I came to Chennai planned for just a 2 month trip, but stayed for more than 6 months for my certification as well as for the love of Chennai. Chennai is a big city , and amidst all the crowd I still managed to bump onto my blog friend Shalini. How cool is that?

It is this year that I graduated from my university.
It is 2008 that gave me the longest time I had ever spent with my grandmother. Though she died this year , I am satisfied, I got all I could ask for.

In 2008 that me and my brother finally spoke heart to heart. The brotherhood which was lost due to simple quarrels a few years back has been rekindled.

So how do I say good bye, to this wonderful year. Who ever wished me a happy new year last year, Please to it again, cos it worked and I hoped it worked out well again, in 2009

To my Friends, Readers, Strangers, family and all lonely soles. I Wish you a Happy New YEAR! May 2009 be the Year we remember for all the good reasons! May it be more prosperous and with overwhelming happiness to all.

God speed, Full Speed ahead to 2009. you better be a good year, or else I will complain to 2010!

I dedicate this song to all my readers.

That 16 days...

2008-12-19T23:39:00.000-08:00

I am so sorry for not posting for a long time. I had been busy with exams and prayers to attend in my native place for my grandmother. But during my absence online a lot of interesting things happened.
It was one of those days that I had to go to spencers plaza to get my routine fix for money at IOB bank. While I was there I bumped onto a blogging friend, Shalini. It was totally out of the blue. We have never really met and talked, if you don’t consider the bloggers meet organized by Indi blogger, in which we never spoke nor had eye contact. We were planning on meeting up before but our commitments would never let us. And I guess I was lucky.
But my luck didn’t stop there. In that week I had to clear 2 more of my exam for CCVP. I was literally studying at every minute I got. For the first time after a really long time I was studying diligently cos I have a deadline to meet. I will tell you more about the deadline later. As Cisco exams can be taken from any testing centers at any time any day. So my plan was to write 2 in 3days. I scored full marks for both exams!! Its multiple choice questions, but they were tough. I still don’t know how on earth I pulled that off.
Then I stated to wonder, what have I done to deserve this luck? I have not been praying to god nor visit temples as I am not allowed to for 16 days after the death of my grandmother. During these 16 days I have to be vegetarian. Is all the Sambar (a gravy made of vegetables and lentils) I eat almost 3 times a day. Is it the good nutrition that I have been getting these days giving me more memory power? Or is it my grandmother smiling at me from above? I seriously don’t know. During this time that I am vegetarian, I tended to get hungrier all the time. I had to keep my mouth munching on samosas and tidbits. I have this endless craving. By the time I reached the 10th day dogs in the street started to look like lamb shanks. I just could not wait for the 16th day to be over and I could feats on just meat. How to vegetarians control that desire? Do they tell themselves “killing is bad and cruel”? I take my hats off to them for such self control. To me the hardest thing is to walk pass KFC, smell then chicken and to leave without hunting the chicken inside.
Whatever that is these 16 days were memorable, hard, tested my control and gave me lots of rewards.
If it all it took was just to stay vegetarian, maybe I will start by taking baby steps. Maybe starting from next year I will take short vegetarian fast.
About the deadline, I have a return ticket to Singapore on the 28th December, if I didn’t had to attend a funeral, I would have comfortably finished my CCVP by this date and head back. Now it is close to a near impossible climb to finish the final 2 exams by that day.

Rest In Peace Grandma

2008-12-08T20:53:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since I last came posted anything; read any blogs or rather even come online. That is because I had taken a week off from my daily routines to see my grandmother in her last moments. She died peacefully on a Sunday night (30 of November).
(Readers please note: this was the period at which most of Tamil Nadu was flooded)
I received a call on Sunday morning from my uncle who was with her at the hospital at Pondicherry, since Sunday morning she had stopped talking and the only thing she could do is just lie and stare at the people around her. Just a day before she was cheerful, and talking and able to sit up and talk. Overnight her health took a plunge.
[1PM]
The doctors declared that her organs are failing one by one and she has only hours left. Her last wishes were to die in her home were her husband died. Uncle booked an ambulance and preparations to bring her back to her house and my native at Sirkali began.
[3PM]
Upon my uncles call I just packed quickly and set off for Sirkali. The only way I could now go to Sirkali is to catch up with the ambulance and my uncle’s car which would be bringing my cousins to Sirkali. Due to heavy floods on the paths to Sirkali buses were not available.
[7pm]
I was on the way to Pondicherry, when met with a problem. The locals in some town just 30 minutes before Pondicherry had blocked to roads in protest for the loss of electricity. The Tamil Nadu government has deliberately shut down the power supply to prevent accidents, due to the flood. The protestors’ demands were that they will not clear the roads if they didn’t receive their power supply.
[7.30 PM]
Still no change in my status. I was really stressed out, and decision was made that my cousins and the ambulance leave without me. Plan B was that another uncle will wait for me to arrive in Pondicherry and we would make our way by bike. The ambulance set off, with my grandmother breathing heavily. Fears were that I would not make it to see her alive again. The memory of her asking me to do her final rituals for her came repeating itself in my mind. My uncle in the ambulance had just set of for Sirkali; it will take him 3 hours at least. I could have caught the ambulance and followed my grandmother in the ambulance if not for the road blockage.
[8.30PM]
I arrived in Pondicherry, immediately me and my uncle speed off in the bike towards Sirkali. As we went pass Chidambaram (a city on the way to Sirkali) we experiences flooded roads. A water level was around knee level. The roads which were not flooded didn’t have proper roads; they were washed off by the flood waters leaving huge potholes on the roads. The roads and the water didn’t matter to us; all that mattered was us making it to our house in Sirkali. Every time the bike went pass a temple, I prayed.
[10.50PM]
I arrived at the house in Sirkali. My grandmother was still alive. But it is the scariest moments of my life. My grandmother was breathing very heavily. The sound of her breath filled the whole house. Her eyes were rolling about, but it didn’t seem like she was there. Her heart was breathing with whatever energy it had. All other bodily functions had shut down.
[11PM]
I held her hand and I prayed that she die with little pain. I held that hand gently in hope that she would feel I was there. Her breath became weaker, and 5 minutes later she let out her last breath, with me by her side.
She had died 15 minutes after I arrived. It seemed as if she was waiting for me to arrive. As tears filled my eyes, I taught, she must have loved me so much. I could have spent more time with her. I spent most of my life in Singapore, and I didn’t bother to make calls to her.
I wrote this post, to off load the burden in my heart.

a quote that caught my eye.

2008-11-29T22:22:00.000-08:00

i came across this quote on TV and decided it should be shared.

“The tragedy of life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach. It isn't a calamity to die with dreams unfilled, but it is a calamity not to dream. It is not disgrace to reach the stars, but it is a disgrace to have no stars to reach for”

-Benjamin E. Mays

Vaaranam Aayiram Review

2008-11-19T09:03:00.000-08:00

After a long time away from the internet I am back. I spent my last week with my family who are here in India to visit my ailing grandmother. My grandmother is feeling better, although it is not possible for her to be of full health, she and all of us have accepted the facts and the fate. Thanks to all who wished me for the good health of my grandmother and my exams. That prayers and wishes helped as I pass my first CCVP exam, with a score to be proud off too.
I managed to catch the movie I have been waiting for a long time. And this time the movie didn’t disappoint like the previous ones. Varanam Ariram is the movie. I am not going to give u any spoilers but just neutral comments, so carry on reading. I know how a spoiler changes the prospective one watch a movie. I enjoyed this movie and I want all others to enjoy it the same way.

Gautham Menon wrote and directed this movie. Like most Tamil movie it does not have a complicated storyline. The director kept it simple and paid attention to the details. The details made the movie long, but at the same time very interesting. I loved the avant garde approach and style to tell the story that Gautham used in this movie. There was some rumors that Gautham got inspirations from Forest Gump, but after watching the movie, I don’t think anything was copied from “Forest Gump” this movie is about a man’s growth to adulthood, his challenges and how his father was there for him in every part of his life.
In short it is a beautiful story; girls who dream of their prince in shining armor will love this movie. This is not an action film, although there are some fight sequences, they were not filmed in a manner to show how superhero the hero is; instead they were realistic and needed in the movie. No unbelievable stunts or graphics in these ones. I should say the fights were just sufficient, nothing more nothing less.
The second half was a little drag and as I heard from my friend who watched it the second time, he says some scenes were cut off. But still it didn’t affect the feel of the movie. But the Drag was also interesting, not like Kuruvi which was a pain.
My rating for the movie is 4 out of 5 stars. And on a personal front as a Surya fan I would have given 5 out of 5. This movie was not filmed to give actor Surya the “MASS” effect; it didn’t give that image either. Instead it brought out his acting talent showing the many faces of his acting. This fitness regime and muscles really sells Sarath Kumar to the butcher for free. It shows, he is the Salman khan of Tamil Cinema, undoubtedly.
So people go catch the movie in the cinemas, and be entertained and be content that the money and time spent was worthwhile.

The Liver, The bad informer.

2008-11-09T21:12:00.000-08:00

I just learnt that my grandmother has cancer, one who is staying in India. Doctors have informed us that she has cancer in her liver. Due to her old age she will not be strong to take any more surgeries, thus there is no more treatment for her. Just 6 months ago when I came to visit her, she was her healthy self, doing her daily chores herself and never expecting anyone to do anything for her. As we closed near to 2009 she health took a plummet and now she isn’t walking and the only thing she eats is liquid food, even that too.
Throughout my life this is the longest time I am in the same country as my paternal grandmother. 6 months. Although they existed circumstances kept us apart. And because of that the memories I have of my grandmother would be the time her health deteriorated. We found the cancer at a very late stage, it is told that is very little symptoms for liver cancer, and its symptoms are also the same symptoms for common illnesses. That’s why it was never found out earlier. Doctors have told she does not have a lot of time. The liver is a bad informer when it is not doing well, and it just stops function when it is unwell. The only way one can check is through CT scans and a biopsy to confirm it. A CT scan and a biopsy aren’t standard “Medical Checkup” stations right?
Living all alone in Chennai and doing my courses. I have an exam coming and I can’t find the concentration to study, cos every time my phone rings I get all shivers that it is the news I don’t want to hear. I saw myself loggin into facebook, Friendster, and more often and staring at friends’ profiles, commenting playing games, everything but to study. Tomorrow would be the first exam out of 5 required for my CCVP certification.
God save my grandmother, God safe my brother who is having his all important, o’level public examination and God safe my CCVP Exams.
After writing this post I somehow felt a spark to study, cos that exam does cost 150 US dollars. I will cya later guys, while I make a flame out of this spark.

Its tag time again!

2008-11-02T12:01:00.000-08:00

RULE #1 People who have been tagged must write their answers on their blogs and replace any question that they dislike with a new question formulated by themselves. RULE #2 Tag 6 people to do this quiz and those who are tagged cannot refuse. These people must state who they were tagged by and cannot tag the person whom they were tagged by continue this game by sending it to other people.
Note: 8 is the one I introduced.

1. If your lover betrayed you, what will your reaction be?
OK, now we are even. (Just a creative answer)

2. If you can have a dream come true, what would it be?
To propose to my girlfriend underwater and going down on my knees and presenting her the engagement ring, better if it was along the Great Barrier Reef .

3. Why do you blog?
Fight my loneliness.

4. Will you fall in love with your best friend?
Yes, my girlfriend will become my best friend.

5. Which is more blessed: loving someone or being loved by someone?
The one who is providing the love is more blessed.

6. How long do you intend to wait for someone you love?
3 years, 2 months, 3 weeks, 2 days, 3 hours, 2 minutes and 3 seconds, after that I am marrying the next Miss world, if she disagrees, I will restart.

7. If the person you secretly like is attached, what will you do?
Feel happy for that person, sincerely .Tell myself that it is a big pond.

8. What do you want to be known for when you die?
A good citizen, a revolutionary business man, a hard worker, a filial son, a cool brother, a Loving husband, a responsible father and a witty grandfather.

9. What takes you down the fastest?
My bed.

10. What resurrects you the fastest?
Good food.

11. What’s your fear?
The feeling of Fear.

12. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is?
m.Flower = a very creative artist

13. Would you rather be single and rich or married and poor?
Rich but with a poor look and Married but available.;P

14. Whats the purpose of such Tags?
To bring out the creative self.

15. If you fall in love with two people simultaneously who will you pick?
Dicky Dicky Donkey
Father bought a Donkey
Donkey Died, Father cried
Dicky Dicky Donkey!
Viola!

16. Would you give all in a relationship?
Don’t put all your eggs in the same basket. Thus,I will share the love with all my relationships, parents, siblings and friend and most on my Girl.

17. Would you forgive and forget someone no matter how horrible a thing he has done?
Yes. I only remember the good times.

18. Do you prefer being single or in a relationship?
Being in a single relationship.

19. Who/what inspired you to start blogging?
Loneliness.

20. Tag 6 people.
Arvind, Anju,Shalini,Lemonade , Lena and Sansmerci

Happy Deepavali!

2008-10-24T06:45:00.000-07:00

Hi readers, from 25th till the 30th of October I will be going to my native to celebrate Deepavali. It would be a Deepavali that I had stored for 2 years. Last Deepavali was in Australia, this one with my grandmother. I would like to use this opportunity to wish, Arvind, Anju, lemonade, Shalini and all who celebrate Deepavali, “A very happy Deepavali! May this Deepavali be the best Deepavali to all of you?”

I will be offline till 30th so I will not be around to read your blogs, but keep posting and I will read them when I am back.
This is the Deepavali light up in Singapore. I took this picture when I was in Singapore for 2 weeks. All the streets in Little India have been lit up for this grand festival for the Hindu’s in Singapore!

A Chance to be a hero is someone's life

2008-10-14T22:27:00.000-07:00

first an formost i apolagise for the "wall-of -text", i urge you to carry on.

It is time for me to do a post as a responsible citizen of Singapore. Although I am not in Singapore at the moment I do keep myself updated with the news and happenings in Singapore. While reading a piece of news actually caught my attention. And I feel more people have to know about this and something as to be done.

It is about a leukemia patient Sebha Punnen, 34, who needs a bone marrow transplant. The chances of her getting a match are 1 in 8 trillion - that's 8 followed by 12 zeroes. From the local Bone Marrow Donor Programme (BMDP) and its international network, she found 3 matches, one from the US and one from Singapore itself and one from Germany. The ones from US and Singapore declined to donate. (We don’t know their reasons why so we shall not accuse them of anything). But luckily the match from Germany agreed to carry on with the transplant.

Madam Sebha, is also a senior staff nurse at KK Women's and Children's Hospital. For someone who dedicated her life to help others, she got her reward with the possible match.

The Bone Marrow Donor Programme (BMDP) was started in 1993 in Singapore, from then till now he registry only has 43,000 people on its registry, that is less than 1 per cent of Singapore’s population.
Of which, less than 1 percent come from the minority ethnic groups. There are only 3,500 Malay and Indian registered potential donors.
Shocking? Right.

From now on I am not going to bother making monetary donations to charitable organizations; instead I’ll donate my marrow and blood.

This is a chance for a common man to become a hero, to make a change in someone’s life. Sebha was lucky she found a match in Germany, but not many people are as lucky as her. Just 1 present for a first world country is embarrassing. We are all educated to understand the need and what need to be done. I think it is the failure of the health board in raising awareness for this illness. Now lots of media coverage for the kidney foundation and for blood donation drives, why not bone marrow? If we get our self tested and make ourselves available and make up the numbers, somewhere in another corner of the world we will create hope. For some who are waiting for a suitable donor, hope is all that is left in them, so let’s do our part. I am going to help out in this by making myself available once I go back to Singapore.
This is not only for Singapore but for the whole world. My readers take up this chance to be a hero in someone’s life. Many of you might not be Singaporeans, but you could also make a difference by contacting the medical authorities in your region.

References:
http://tnp.sg/news/story/0,4136,179661,00.html
want to know more about bone marrow donation, procedures and side effects go here:
http://www.marrow.org/DONOR/When_You_re_Asked_to_Donate_fo/Donation_FAQs/index.html

Tag time again

2008-10-09T10:33:00.000-07:00

I got this tag from Shalini’s blog.

What have you realized recently?
i became a sithapa! my cousin just gave birth to a beautiful baby girl!

Have you given your first kiss away?
Yeah I was Casanova from birth, I have kissed all the women in my family when I was just 1, and flew a few at you, if u haven caught one, I am willing to offer one with tongue , only if you are a female.

If you were to be stranded on a deserted island, who are the 11 blog buddies you would take?
I would bring:
Arvind – He will give me a lot of motivation and optimism
Bryan – Since I have experience being stranded in Thailand forest with him during my army days.
Shalini – she was the one who came up with this tag thingy, so she cannot be spared.
Lemonade- she is very creative and she could be of some help, for the escape plan.
Gunj- she is good with writing, so she can document my heroics.
Chinmayi- I want her to just sing for me.
Sansmerci - she seems to know a lot about food, so she is in for obvious reasons.

Since I have just 7 out of 11, I am allowing people at a first come first serve basis. And guys who are already in, NO you can’t sell your tickets.

With all these people I think I can govern and declare it my own country.

Where is the place you want to go the most?
Other states in India to fully know about my roots.
New Zealand – for my honeymoon
Australia – to dive the Great Barrier Reef

If you have one dream to come true, what would it be?
To be a Cisco Certified Voice Professional.

Do you believe in seeing the rainbow after the rain?
Yeah saw it often, and in rainbow beach in Australia, it is always there.

What are you afraid of losing the most now?
Quite frankly, the electricity, since Chennai and parts of Tamil Nadu is experiencing power cuts.

If you win $1 million, what would you do?
Setup my own VOIP solutions company.

If you meet someone that you love, would you confess to him/her?
confess?
No I will not confess all my secrets yet, I would propose first, and then I will confess.

List out 3 good points about the person who tagged you
She is an interesting blogger.
She is very motivated towards achieving her goals.
She cares for the people around her.

What are the requirements that you wish from your other half?
Since i am not handsome, i don't have a preference for her to be very beautiful.Someone whom I can have intellectual conversations with smart and a lot of respect for traditions. Someone who is good with money, I will give her my pay and let her manage the family finances; I don’t know how to save money.

What type of people do you hate the most?
Terrorist, who kill innocent lives.

What is the one thing you can’t live without?
My friends and family.

If you have faults, would you rather the people around you point out to you or would you rather they keep quiet?
Tell it straight to my face in whatever manner they like.

Are you a shopaholic or not?
Yes, very much.

Find a word to describe the person who tagged you
Inspired. (Monday morning inspirations)

If you have a chance, which part of your character you would like to change?
Procrastination

what’s the last shocking thing you’ve seen or heard?
150 People killed in a temple stampede in Rajasthan

Would you rather have love but no money or money but no love?
I want all the love in the world and no money. Money is the root of all evil.

I tag Arvind specifically and all others who read this post.

A child’s mind

2008-10-05T12:32:00.000-07:00

My favorite hobby is to just watch kids. I have quite fair share of babysitting experiences . Although I found it quite a mouthful, I never complained. I have spent more money on kids when I am babysitting then on a lousy date. If you watch closely, kids aren’t afraid to try new things; generally they don’t bother what others might say when they attempt something. Through experimenting they learn the hardest skills at their level, walking, talking ect.
My favorite hobby is to just watch kids play, watch the innocence in their faces and how they played. Quite recently I went to city center (in Chennai) with my friends; the food court was situated just next to the children’s play area. I immediately grabbed a seat closed to the play area and as I sipped on my kiwi juice I was fully entertained by the kids. I find it more entertaining than “Kuruvi” movie. Kids there were learning how to take turns, share and to be considerate to others.
It was amazing how much children were learning each day, as we grow older we have to admit that we are learning lesser stuff. Or at least the pace of our learning has slowed down. Studies show that an average human being only utilizes 10% of his brain. And Albert Einstein use 50% of his. I am pretty sure much of the 10% was achieved in our early years when were kids.
Sadly we life in a society in which not all kids get the same amount of privileges. As I walked out of city centre I was greeted by sight of kids who were living in the slums nearby. Such difference from happy kids in the play ground to kids who had to work, beg for food. Just minutes ago I was entertained by kids in the play area, now I was saddened by the living conditions of these kids.
With so much years of civilization behind us, we are still not able to safely say that every human kid on earth will have food to eat and a decent education.

Wat – doing – Me – Singapore!

2008-09-25T12:22:00.000-07:00

This is probably my last post before I head back to Chennai this Sunday. I had come back to attend my parent’s wedding anniversary as well as my brother’s commissioning as an artillery officer in the Singapore armed forces. It was my dream once to become an officer, but despite all my efforts I could only make it to be a specialist.

My brother and I didn’t quite get along we always had something to fight about. But when it was my brothers turn to enter the army I had only one advice for him, and surprisingly he listened. “you might not have the best scores in your studies, but what we have is our fitness, if you can channel all that into making in to OCS (officer cadet school) then you prove that it is not all just brawn but brains too.”
1 year on, he made it. And after rigorous training in Brunei and Thailand he is now an officer. Now during my reservist if I were to see him in uniform I have to salute him. (Yes I have to salute and greet my younger brother, cos when we are in uniform, we are not civilians.

More pictures in my picassa

I dedicate this post to my brother, and my proud parents and relatives. 2008 saw me graduate, my younger brother an officer and my last brother is taking is O’level exams (10th public exam) this year, as the papers will be sent to Cambridge university in the UK to be marked, results will only be known next year. Hopefully the three brothers can score a hat-trick.

Whole of Singapore is gearing up for the first eva night F1 Race. But I am not bothered. Maybe when I watch it on TV I might like it. Maybe because of the huge price tag for the tickets to watch it. $1000 for the seats and $300 to stand around the tracks.

Its Tag Time!

2008-09-17T08:40:00.000-07:00

It has been quite a few serious posts of late. So its time to take the foot of the pedal a little.

I am back in Singapore by the way. I had taken time off from my course to attend my younger brother’s commissioning as an artillery officer in the Singapore armed forces. I have posted some pictures from the parade in my picassa. I will talk more about it in the next post.

This post is all about just fun. I take this tag from a blog I came across. And I would like to tag all those who are in my blog roll, and ones who like reading this post.

Answer the questions below and do a Google image search on your answer, pick a picture from the results on the first page, with minimal explanation.

1.) The age you will be in your next birthday: 26

2.) A place you’d like to travel to: The Great Barrier Reef

3.) Your Favorite place: bed

4.) Your favorite food/drink: tiramisu cake , pepsi

5.) Your Favorite pet : oriental red discus

6.) Your favorite color combination: Red and

7.) Your favorite piece of clothing: Adidas

8.) Your all time favorite song: You and Me –lifehouse

9.) Your favorite TV show: Prison break

10.) Full name of your significant other: Rachel Bilson

11.) The town in which you live in : Choa Chu Kang

12.) Your screen name/nickname: Villain

13.) Your First job: testing engineer – HP

14.) Your Dream job: Project Manager – Networking

15.) Bad Habit you have: procrastination

16.) Your worst fear: my friend’s fart.

17.) The one thing you’ll like to do before you die: Sky dive (I don’t mind if I die trying)

18.) The first thing you’ll buy if you get $1,000,000: Bugatti veyron

It Pains me.

2008-09-03T13:41:00.001-07:00

I have been staying in Chennai since mid May. I had plans that if a good job offer came my way in Chennai I would settle down in Chennai. Chennai looked very inviting when I came.
It is a fun place to live in. it is very high tech when technology and facilities are concerned.
But the reason why I can’t make Chennai my home is because; I am a person with a soft heart. I can’t bear to see children suffering. I have the urge to do something about it.

Last week I was drinking juice at an eatery near my institute, that’s when I came to see 2 kids, age around 4 and 7. They looked like brothers and they were sharing a meal of curd rice. The quantities of food look too little for them. They were not wearing any footwear, and their clothes seem to be very dirty and torn. It could be that they could only afford just one plate of curd rice. It was a morning and I think they should be at school, but instead they are out, probably working.
When I saw that I felt very sorry, but I still left. My mind was filled with memories of that scene. Then I regretted, I could have paid for their meal. But if I did that I would make them beggars.
Speaking of beggars, a few weeks back when I was coming back to Chennai after attending a funeral at my native place, the bus stopped at Chidambram. I saw little children ages from 4 up, were begging for money. I was seated in the bus watching the scene of the children saying “please donate; I have no money to eat”. Then one girl made her way up the bus and even touched my feet asking for donation. I could not resist and I donated her 10Rs, then a few others crowded around me and I had to spend about 100Rs total. Then as my bus started to leave I saw the first girl again, she was crying. When I looked around, there was her brother, he had beaten her and took the 10Rs from her. Could this be the same scene at their home when the parents would beat them and take the daily collection from them?

when i used to watch India from my cable TV channel prospective from Singapore, i see all the movie celebrities talking about hungry kids in Somalia. In India we need not look any further, just step in to some restaurants in Chennai, most table cleaners are these education deprived kids.

Lets clear the mess in our country before we show compassion towards the more under privileged.

I support actor Surya for his efforts with Agaram Foundation.

Dham Dhoom Review

2008-09-01T11:30:00.000-07:00

Spoiler alert: People, who intend to watch Dham Dhoom, please don’t proceed.

Dham Doom was a movie with lots of hype with its movie trailer coming out long before it is officially released. The suspense was mounted so much that I decided to camp every night till the wee hours on the nights when rumors spread that Dham Dhoom was releasing. My homework paid off and I managed to get tickets to Dham Dhoom on the day it was being released and I did the booking at 3.30am about 4 days before it was released.

Dham Dhoom’s story was a masterpiece of Jeeva. Should he have been alive to finish the movie; the movie would have come up much better. Honestly I was disappointed with the movie. All the hype just turned out to be just hot air. During the first half of the movie a lot of build-up cues were given (this is probably Jeeva’s work”. In the second half not all the cues were answered. The movie somehow ended, and the ending was not very well supported and justified. And they all lived happily ever after. My verdict is, watch it for Jeeva and if you are a movie lover like I am you would understand the big master plan Jeeva had for the movie, he was a class above and the ones who took the job to finish the movie were not up to the mark. It isn’t their fault, they did their best. Every actor did their level best and it is not their fault that this movie didn’t score 10/10.

My verdict 7/10(all 7 points goes to Jeeva). The 3 was lost because of, 1 for the lack of some realism in the stuns and 2 for poor storyline in the second half.

This movie will tell us why the death if director Jeeva’s death is a loss to the Tamil movie industry, cos this movie showed great vision and master-class of telling a movie the second half will tell us why there can only be one Jeeva.

Kiki please come back.

2008-08-31T07:02:00.001-07:00

It was just a post before that I was congratulating Kiki (my friend Bryan’s pet parrot) for winning the third price in parrot trick competition. And I am very shocked to know that Kiki is now lost. Due to carelessness Kiki flew out of my friend’s 10th story flat. She would not have died in the fell cos she knows how to fly, but due to her clipped flight feathers she would not be able to fly high. It has been a week since she was lost. She does not know how to find food nor identify its predators. I keep my fingers crossed that she is no dead and pray that Kiki would be fine.
If you guys happen to follow up on all the tricks that Kiki has mastered you can feel how much effort and dedication Bryan must have put on his pet, and how dear, Kiki must be to him. No words can comprehend his lost and I can’t find the words to console him.
I felt similar sadness when my pet oriental red Discus died after 2 years being with me. But to me my fish never spoke no responded to my commands. I am sure many of my readers must have pets which they are very attached to, if you do please post your comments.

Happy Birthday Mother!

2008-08-26T08:38:00.000-07:00

Today is Mother Theresa’s Birthday. If one could call a lady who was the mother to the world is Mother Theresa. Mother Theresa would be 98 years old if she had not died. But she lives in my heart and in the hearts of many. She was not known for her missionary work, but for her humanitarian work.
I am proud to have lived to know about her and after me I will make sure the generations after me would remember her. Angels do exist and she was one of such angels sent from god.

i changed my template

2008-08-23T15:59:00.000-07:00

I have changed my log template. It was not pre-planed, I just happen to fiddle with the template function and I lost my blog roll and the awards I got form my blogging friends.
Instead of just reverting back to the old template I have decided to change it. I didn’t make this new template though, cos I and designing are planets apart. I got my template from this site http://www.bloggerbuster.com. All credits to them.

I would also like to congratulate Bryan and his pet parakeet Kiki for winning the bronze medal in the “Best parrot trick” competition. I have been following up with the progress of kiki for a long time since he started keeping a parrot. I am glad his and Kiki’s efforts have been rewarded. Watch kiki in action @ Bryan’s Angels.

I wish I was a fish in the sea.

2008-08-11T11:19:00.000-07:00

When went to Australia, I planned to do one dare devil stunt. That was to do sky diving. Both my parents refused to let me do it, thus refused to fund me for it. My compromise was if I can’t sky dive, I must do scuba dive (even this my parents refused but I managed to convince my mother).
To scuba dive was just a compromise, but once I have done my PADI open water dive I realized that this was my calling. My initial fears was, what will happen if I were to drown in the sea. The sea, which I was so much afraid of, changed my fear into my passion with its mesmerizing beauty.
If there was one Quote that I can describe about the sea is this “LIFE GOES ON! “. This is how the fishes live their life:
When a big thing (Shark, whale, any predator) comes by, the ones who can hide will hide, the ones who can swim will swim, the ones are meant to be hunted will get hunted, and when the predator is gone, the fishes will all come back and continue with what they were doing. This happens just seconds after the tragedy that happened a while ago. The sea recovers faster than anything, and “LIFE GOES ON!”
For a fish its playground is bigger than its imagination, because in its lifetime it will never swim finish the ocean. There is always something there to explore. Every day is special. Tomorrow or the day after it might die, but it lives its life happily with no regrets, no thoughts about the future. The sea provides everything, entertainment, food, sanitation and relationships.
As a fish you can choose to live a life in a big school of sardines, or a Rambo like the great white, or be a gang of desperados like the whales, a gang of fun friends like dolphins, fighting with sharks for fun and saving distressed human divers. Or you could choose to sit there like an oyster for years getting irritated all your life to produce a discharge called Perl which the female human specimen will crave for.
Whatever choice you make the sea has something for you. Too bad I am human, but I can’t resist the sea’s calling. This is my future plan
I will involve my life partner into diving, and when every possible we will explore the various seas in the world together. I am not interested in the 7 or the 8 wonders, just she and I in the sea floating weightlessly with no cares of tomorrow.(but with care for the amount of air left in my tank for the next minute!)

Wouldn’t it been easier if I god has put me in the fish basket and not the human basket?

Celebrating the Singapore Spirit

2008-08-08T07:56:00.000-07:00

On the 9th August 6, 2008 my motherland Singapore celebrates her 43rd birthday. Singapore is a first world country right now. And during these 43 years of its growth there is mastermind behind its growth, the genius is none other than minister mentor Lee Kwan yew. From a fishing village to a first world country Singapore’s growth is phenomenal .Today I thank that man to have given me the proud feeling that I get when I tell someone that I am a Singaporean.

When I was in primary school (elementary school) the school’s annual sports day and the national day would be on the same day. Every child in Singapore will receive a gift from the education minister. It would be a stationary set, a bag or something very useful. I used to look forward to that day because whether or not I win something in the games, I would still go home with a prize.

Sadly as I am in Chennai I would be missing the celebrations. Although I might be in India, my heart is in Singapore. I feel proud to be a Singaporean.
With great respect, pride and camaraderie I recite my nation’s pledge for my Singapore:

We, the citizens of Singapore,
pledge ourselves as one united people,
regardless of race, language or religion,
to build a democratic society
based on justice and equality
so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and
progress for our nation.

Here is a link to a song that describes the growth of Singapore.

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=piF_2PQSkBM&feature=related

One People, One Nation, One Singapore

Batman is back…

2008-08-06T10:15:00.000-07:00

I managed to catch “The Dark Knight” at satyam today. Don’t worry guys no spoilers here, only promos. Initially I did not want to watch it because I didn’t like the previous installment of the movie, thinking that it would be boring just like the previous one I decided to give it a pass. But after reading Arvind’s post about the movie I decided to give it a chance. And I am glad I did. The action sequences in the movie were mind blowing.
I would compare it with a James bond movie. Christian bale should replace Daniel Craig as the next James bond. His acting was charismatic and he fit the role beautifully. I might even watch the movie again.
Truly the batman series have evolved, and being a kid who grew up watching batman on TV with the fight sequences described with “pow!” and “bang!” captions flashed on the screen, I can tell this move has done justice for the superhero I once idolized.
This movie brought back memories of me and my brother playing batman and robin when I was young. I was batman and he was Robin, my bed was the bat-mobile and all our toy guns were arranged on the bed. We were the dynamic duo for just 30 minutes, after which we will end up fighting over a toy and some furniture will break in the house. Mum will show up and take his side, since he is younger I should let him win and all those standard crap.
Readers: Please treat yourself to this movie and I assure you that you will not be disappointed. You might want to treat me to a fancy dinner, for making your watch it. I am waiting….

Happy Friendship Day

2008-08-02T21:57:00.000-07:00

I would like to dedicate this poem to all my blogging friends. I read this poem when I was still in high school and thanks to another friend “Google” I found it. I am not a poet, nor am I good with words so I am using someone else’s poem to wish you guys “Happy friendship Day”

When trouble come your soul to try
You love the friend who just "stands by."
Perhaps there's nothing he can do-
The thing is strictly up to you;
For there are troubles all your own,
And paths the soul must tread alone;
Times when love cannot smooth the road
Nor friendship lift the heavy load,
Bust just to know you have a friend
Who will "stand by" until the end,
Whose sympathy through all endures,
Whose warm handclasp is always yours-
It helps, someday, to pull you through,
Although there's nothing he can do,
And so with fervent heart you cry,
"God bless the friend who just 'stands by' !"

B. Y. WILLIAMS
Dedicated specially to : Arvind, Anju , Bryan Xie , Gunj , Lena , Lemonade , Shalini , Ponnarasi Kothandaraman and many more readers.

My witty Grandfather

2008-07-27T01:19:00.000-07:00

I recall my late grandfather today. Somehow I have been flooded by his memory in recent days. And I would like to share with you guys, one of many memories I have of him,a trick my grandfather played on me.
This happened when I was 4 years old.
It was one morning when my grandfather was getting ready to go to the bank. He didn’t want to go alone and asked me if I wanted to come along.( His plan was to give my grandmother a break from all the mess I make at home. ) I initially refused, but grandpa managed to buy me over by suggesting that he would buy me KFC fried chicken, if I came with him. For that friend chicken, I was sold.
It seemed like a good idea cos if I came late I can miss school which is at noon. My plan was to delay the trip so that I can miss school as well. Two birds with one stone.
So we went to the bank. I went with lots of hope. As our turn arrived at the bank, my grandfather made transactions. Has he was getting finished I reminded my grandfather that he has to buy me that friend chicken to uphold his end of the bargain.
My grandfather told me “there is no more chicken! If you don’t belief me ask this aunty”, as he pointed to the very puzzled bank teller. He asked the teller “do you have chicken?” and the lady replied with a “no! “. (An Obvious answer, since banks don’t sell chicken and poor Little Vas didn’t know where those KFC chickens were sold.)
My grandfather knew it and tricked me into believing that banks also sold chicken. Since there was no stock for the chicken I returned home. When I returned home, grandmother was waiting for me with my ironed set of uniform, that very moment it struck me that it was time for school and I have failed my mission to miss school and feast on that KFC chicken.
My readers: You must have similar tricked that had been played by your parents on you. Please recall and share it with me, I am sure it will being a chuckle and bring back nice memories.

My silver jubilee

2008-07-24T09:36:00.000-07:00

I was my 25th birthday yesterday, this is the second time in a row I am not celebrating my birthday with my family. Year was in Brisbane, and this year in Chennai. I would like to thank all my friends who appreciated my invitation to celebrate my birthday with me at Casa Piccola. Although I sent a lot of invitations due to circumstances only 6 did show up, but nonetheless the day was one of the best birthdays I had cos. everything went on as planned.
Birthday started at 10.30 Indian-time when it was midnight in Singapore. My buddy Rafeek surprised me with a call and wished me. I didn’t know he remembered my birthday; it’s during these times that I understand how much my friends cherish my company and my existence.
Then it was Indian time 12 and my friends, relatives started calling and wished me. I must say this birthday was the one I felt like a movie star cos, my phone kept on ringing from calls from Australia, Singapore and India.
My day began with a trip to the temple as per my mother’s wishes. Every year with or without me around my mother would visit a Vinayak Temple and pray for me. This year I made it a point to pray for her instead.
In the afternoon, I booked movie tickets for myself and 3 other friends to watch “Subramaniyapuram”. It had nice avant garde storyline with little of the customary Indian movie style which I liked. If u haven watched it yet, just catch it in the cinemas before it’s gone.
After the movie I still had time to kill before my dinner treat in the evening so, I gathered some more people who are” vetti “at that time to go play pool at Anna Nagar. Due to my birthday luck I had made some spectacular shots on the table, the balls just went in against my initial plan.
At 6 all who had promised to come showed up at Casa Piccola, a restaurant that served decent Italian cuisine Nungambakkam, Chennai. I had picked the restaurant because of its pleasant ambiance. It had 2 floors. Level one with a standard restaurant look, and the open top floor was open roof with weak lighting, which made the ambiance perfect. We had our Italian dinner on the first floor and went upstairs for the cake cutting and trash-talking. After 50% of my company had started yawning, we called it a day and headed home.
It turned out to be a perfect birthday and I couldn’t have wished for anything better, thanks to all who wished me and the ones who help make my day a best one.
It is from now on that I stop counting my birthdays.

You are a Tamilian Only if .......

2008-07-17T07:03:00.000-07:00

i got this from a forwarded mail that my sister sent me:
i think many of my readers can relate to it. and the non indians, just enjoy it.

1- You arrive one hour late to a party and find
out you are the first one to arrive.

2- You think it's perfectly normal to call someone who's 30 years younger than you 'anna' just because he's behind a counter.

3- You wear a suit to a wedding... and you are
only 3 years old.
(most of my childhood pictures are like this!)

4- The wedding takes an hour and the group
pictures take five hours.

5- Your mom and sister together own more
jewelery than a Chinese jewelery store.
(my mom alone can take care of this)

6- Your parents' idea of a vacation is to
go down to the temples in India .
(yep my father asked me to visit some, but i have only gone to my neighbourhood Vinayanagar temple)

7- You talk for an hour at the front door when
leaving someone's house.

8-The second your guests leave the house, your
parents start talking about them.

9- You rent a cassette from the grocery store,
it's been dubbed 6 times... & you return it 3
months later.
PPL borrow dvds from me and they NEVER return.

10- You go to a Tamil Cultural program only to
find one barathanatyam and six hip hop shows.

11- You are somehow related to every new friend
you meet.

12- Your remote control is still in its plastic
packet.
( In my new apartment the landlord kept it this way.)

13-You get a 95% on a test and your parents ask
What happened to the other 5%?!'
(This never happened for me. cos i have never scored 95%)

14-You stare at Tamil people when they walk by.
(in Australia, yes! because its quite rare to find one in Brisbane)

15-You see married couples kissing on TV but
have never your Mom & Dad get within 3 feet of each another.

16-Your parents never address each other by
name.
(My dad does. i Don't care, my wife should call me by name)

17- When you get your first part-time job, your
parents expect you to give them half.
(They took full)

18- Your mother has a minor dispute with her
sister-in law and doesn't talk to her for 10 years.
(My mom left the country!)

19- Your parents say Swiss instead of
Switzerland, Germany is German and England is London.

20- you go to a party and your aunt comments on
how your skin color has changed.
(Yes , and they ask why i go out in the sun that much)

21- You watch a Tamil wedding tape and all the
songs from Roja are dubbed in it.

22- When the teacher took attendance and there
was a sudden pause, you put your hand up and said
'here.'
(Vaa...saann ten...yes i am here! Australia was the worst! i cursed my grandparents for giving me that name. My name is Vas now.)

23-You shortened your name to make it sound Anglo.
(:[ as above...)

24-You have dinner at 10pm.
(nope in singapore its at 11pm and supper at 3am. breakfast at 12noon, earliest)

25- When your parents say 'BBC' they
don't mean the news station but your uncle Nathan or
aunty Kamala.

26-It's normal for all the relatives to
bathe the groom on his wedding day.

27-You KNOW that your promiscuous second cousin
on your father's side is pregnant even before she does.
i am sure what they meant was rumors that is being spread. Not something i did.

28- Your aunties tease you about a particularly
eligible cousin... & you like it!!!
yeah makes me feel like an alpha male. but Not gonna happen. I don't let then choose my clothes, a bride?? not in this life.

29- You serve all your guests tea with milk and
5 spoons of sugar.

30- You only stop putting more rice on your
guest's dinner plate 7 times after they tell you to
stop.
(Its fun to see them beg you to stop!)

31- Anytime you speak back to your parents, you
get: 'I toiled my life for you, and this is how you
repay me?!' - 'Naanga eppadi khasta pattathukku nee
ithuvum solluvae ithukku melayum solluvae!'
i am sure both my parent's ears and mine are numb to these emotional blackmail.

32- If you are a girl, you are expected to come
home before dark - however if it's a son, 'OK rasa,
jaakirathaa poitu vaa...'
(they don't give me the green signal, they just give me the customary nag in the morning, its just my alarm clock.)

33-Halfway through your shower you realize that
your Head and Shoulders shampoo is gone and has been
replaced by Siyakkai shampoo.
(Never, i only use herbal essences shampoo and i get it myself.)

34-You walk in to another Tamil family's
house and they have the same furniture and dining set as
yours.
(i blame dad for his tacky ideas.)

Back to the village!

2008-07-11T13:23:00.001-07:00

Last week I got week off from my daily routine in the institute. One week break to go visit my grandmother and my cousin sisters in a village very close to Sirkali. I must say it was a break that I needed badly. I was starting to be in a rut with my daily routine.

In the village everything was pretty much primitive, but my life was like a king. I no longer had to go and find lunch and dinner, but my aunt brought everything to me. I was served like a king. They cooked whatever I wanted and whenever I wanted. Don’t get me wrong that I took them for granted but that’s the way they treated me. My cousin sister had never used the internet before and so I introduced them to the internet. But with the data card that I had I could only access the internet from the top floor open balcony of the house. Thanks to me grandfather for building the tallest building in the area and I got a clear line of sight to the towers.
Life in the village had a lot of difference to the life in Chennai. Life did go very slowly in the village and it was more peaceful. But in Chennai, the life and the pace is pretty similar to the life I had in Singapore, hectic, fast, crowded and tiring.

Basically my whole trip back was just about eating and sleeping. Just like in a holiday resort, minus the cost.

During my trip in Sirkali, I had to attend a Valaikapu (bangle ceremony at my neighbor’s house). I took special interest to attend the function because a lot of people whom I used to know attended that function. I have seen them when I was like 4-5 years old. So many people came to me and asked “do you remember me?” seriously I was clueless, but trying my best to not offend them, I was apologetic and told them that I am a suffering from “ghajini” fever, they laughed and understood.
After the ceremony I helped in serving the food for the guest, when I was the joke of the eating area, cos apparently there is a code on where each food item has to be placed. I put where every on the banana leave that I found space. It was lot of fun forcing people with more food and their reaction.
All these years I have missed this cheap fun by staying in Singapore all these while.

I miss Singapore, but I am loving every minute of India at the moment.

Its TAG time!!

2008-07-11T12:39:00.000-07:00

I have been tagged by Shalini, and here i am with my version and my turn to tag someone else

The rules are:
1. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
2. Using only the first page of results, and pick one image.
3. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into Big Huge Lab’s Mosaic Maker to create a mosaic of the picture answers.

The questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food? right now?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. What is your favorite drink?
7. What is your dream vacation?
8. What is your favorite dessert?
9. What do you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. What is one word that describes you?
12. What is your user name?
And i would like to tag Arvind, Bryan and gunj and any blogger that sees this post.

I am sorry for the late post. i have been busy preparing for my CCNA exam which was on the 10th of July, which i have have passed with a 960/1000 score. My handwork paid its dividends. Thanks Arvind for wishing me in your blog.

Readers i need your help

2008-06-30T10:38:00.000-07:00

Singaporeans readers gather and vote for my friend for Best Designed blog. This is a very close friend of mine and I am doing my best to get him to win this.

Bryan’s Angels http://bryansangels.ohitsuji.com/

This is my friend’s blog and it has been nominated for best design. His blog is about his 2 pet parrots which he teaches tricks and the videos of those tricks are updated in this blog

Please vote for him here : http://sgblogawards.omy.sg/finalists/?blogCat=design

But sadly the voting is only for Singaporeans as it will require your IC number (identification card number). But in any case please visit Bryan’s blog.

One interesting fact I have learned this competition site is that there are 7 bloggers for every 10 internet users in Singapore.

PS: I am not doing for the treat he promised if he wins. But because voters also stand to win travel packages to Bangkok, Vietnam and luxurious resort accommodation package in Puket. it is a win- win so please vote

Dasavatharam!

2008-06-21T09:18:00.000-07:00

This is not a spoiler and if you had not watched the movie you can still go ahead and read. It is my trailer about the movie.
The movie lived up to all the hype it created. The performance exceeded the expectations. I now know why Kamal uses KS Ravikumar to direct the movies that he has attempted something special eg. avai Shanmugi. The screen play was more than perfect and I enjoyed the camera angles that were used. I would say it was the kind even Steven Spielberg would have been proud of.
All actors in the movie did their roles with no over-acting everything was perfect.
The graphics effects were the kind would expect in a Hollywood film.
And the universal hero Kamal gave an Oscar deserving performance. I have no other words to express his performance, simply the greatest actor in the Indian movie industry.
My rating for the movie: 11/10

My good and bad luck – thank god, I am alive.

2008-06-14T10:19:00.000-07:00

Since young I always taught that my death is on the roads. Today I went very close to that.
After our lesson at our institute my classmates and I decided to go to Spencer’s for dinner. We were 4 people and we had 2 bikes. So the plan was to go there by bike. All of us were not wearing helmets, I know it is a hazard but I didn’t make a big fuss about it.
Soon the bikes set off with me sitting in the back seat of one of the bikes. With one bike trailing another we set off to Spencer’s which was not to far away. As we approached Spencer’s there was a group of police rallied on the road catching road offenders. Having seen that the bike in front knew that he was not wearing a helmet and going is a prohibited speed. With little consideration for the bike behind the front rider made a quick deceleration. Caught by surprise my friend,bonny, did his level best to come to a quick stop but it was not enough.
As a result our bike skied out of control and throwing both of us backwards. Wearing a haversack with my laptop I was unable to roll and break the fall. I fell face first but used my arms and looked up to prevent any injury to my face. During my fall I somehow found the confidence that I will not be badly injured and tried my best to hamper my fall with my hands. With my face looking up my chin graze on the road.
Soon I came to a stop and got up by myself. My initial taught was about bonny, had a big scratch on his arm and knee. Soon the police rushed to the scene. Both bonny and the police man gave me a bloodshot stare. Suddenly I came to my senses that I was bleeding profusely from my chin. The police called for an auto and asked to be rushed to the nearest hospital. My head was spinning. All that was in my mind was bonny and how he was. He was not in the auto, he was coming in his bike. As I went to the hospital I was sent to the emergency ward.
My first question was, please give me a mirror I want to see if I have disfigured my face. Thankfully nothing on my face but an awfully big cut on the underside of my chin. It took a number of stitches and I was done. The scratches on my legs and arm were superficial. Just as I ws done with the stitches bonny showed up. He gave me an assurance that he was alright and that gave me a peace of mind, thankfully he was not badly injured.
Although this was a tragedy, I thank bonny for his presence of mind to do what was right and prevented, what could have been a far worst unthinkable tragedy. Thank fully for us there was no speeding vehicles behind us, if not we would have been on the news.
I know my mother does not read my blogs, and bro if u are reading this please keep it away from mom, dad and most importantly grandmother.
Just as I am finishing this post my Anastasia is running out and I the pain is kicking in please god give me the strength.

Bloggers meet

2008-06-14T10:16:00.000-07:00

Firstly, I am very sorry for the late post. The bloggers meet was last week and it was my first. I must say it is something that I will remember for a long time. It was a fun experience seeing so many people gathered to make new friends and finally meet the owners of those interesting post.

There was only a few who I could recognize, they were namely Anju and Shalini. All thanks to indiblogger team to organize such an event which went on entertainingly from the beginning till the end.

Chennai climate

2008-06-07T22:32:00.000-07:00

When I first arrived at Chennai on the first of May it was the beginning of the “agni Nathchatiram” aka heat wave. Officially the heat wave ended a week ago but there was not a distinctive change the Chennai heat. Each afternoon when I come out of my institute for lunch I would be greeted by gusts of hot air coming from streets. But I didn’t experience this heat in my uncle’s place in Pondicherry and Sirkali, even during the heat wave the other parts of India was relatively cooler then Chennai (just my observation.)
Why is Chennai so hot?
Based on my observation, I would say it is the lack of trees. In the village areas there are more trees then houses. Every house has a few mango trees and some other trees to provide shade. But in Chennai were the price of land is very high, it is more economical for the landlords to rent out the little piece of land they had to tea stalls rather than to plant a tree which would pay no rent. The buildings get heated and they themselves radiate heat. The wind that flows through the buildings is converted to waves of heat.
Due to the busy life in Chennai no one got the time to plant trees and maintain them. The government cannot just stop at instructing their people to plant trees, they should take the matter in their own hands. First they should convert the little bush they have on the road dividers to trees. How much difference is the little bush gonna make in beautifying the roads?

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my blogging friend Shalini for aiding me with information about Chennai. Your advice came at the time when I was in the verge of abandoning my Chennai trip. Thanks. Thanks to all my friends in HBFites (my institute) , for making me feel more at home and showing me around Chennai.
Minus the heat, Chennai is a fun place to live in. I will be attending the IndiBlogger bloggers meet in Chennai later and hope to make more friends. If you are attending please don’t feel shy to say hi to me!

Marina beach

2008-06-01T00:44:00.000-07:00

Last week I went to Marina beach. I went there in the evening when the summer sun would not be so scorching. I was really surprised to see so many people there. The place was buzzing with mobile nuts stall and ginger coffee stalls and little toy stalls. In Singapore I have drank “Teh Aliah” which is milk tea with ginger. But coffee with ginger I have hot tried before. I am not a huge fan of coffee but this one was remarkably good. I loved the atmosphere and the coffee. One game stall that attracted me was the air gun shooting stalls. The balloons were so closely packed and the shooting distance was so short. How hard can it be to shoot a balloon? I guess they have to make provisions for the range of the air guns. But in any case I am sure it will entertain the kids.

As of now I have not been bargaining with the auto drivers. Whatever they ask I pay. How should I bargain? Reduce 10Rs? 20Rs? In Thailand 50% works but here I have no clue!

First post from Chennai

2008-05-24T03:42:00.000-07:00

Although I arrived in sunny India on May first it took me 20 days to get my internet service up. Please don’t ask why the hold up, I don’t want to start off with a sour note.

I have moved into my home and started my course. Things are smooth. I live in a guest house which is situated just behind my landlord’s house. I have my bathroom and toilet. Luckily my room is fully furnished with a TV and importantly Air conditioning.

As for food there are plenty of restaurants in royapettah. Plenty of cinemas nearby and the streets are always buzzing with people, unlike Brisbane where even the city becomes a ghost town after 5.

I was told that satyam theatre is the best in Chennai by my classmates. So yesterday I went there to catch “Kuruvi”. Being a Vijay (actor) fan I was raring to watch the movie. Sadly the movie didn’t live up to the expectations. The first half was ok but the second half was a pain to watch. But the cinema was very posh and comfortable and the sound systems were comparable to cinemas in Singapore.

Chennai has taken me with open arms, I don’t get the stares and I feel that I fit in with the Chennai people. Tomorrow I am going to the much talked about “Marina beach”!

What I have been doing

2008-04-24T11:27:00.000-07:00

I arrived from Brisbane on 31 January. From then till April 31 is has been 3 months. To look at these 3 months productively, I have done nothing. I did was to meet up and catch up with all the friends that I missed. But still I haven met all of them. A lot of appointments were made but little were kept.
Repairing computer for friends and relatives has been my hobby , and upon my arrival a lot of computer repair projects came up. All my relatives who have a computer at their homes were build by my. Thus I am the life-time warranty. I don treat it as a chore but something I enjoy. And of course I do it for free. Many of my friends in the IT field would tell me, to earn some buck from this service. I just can’t take money from my friends and family, its just not me.
Mid-way I had a job interview to attend. I had plans to goto India but this job offer was just too good to refuse. I did well in the interview and had high hopes that I would get in, but the boss who was supposed to call me in a week didn't call. I took it as a rejection and confirmed on my India trip. Days later the company called me asking me for a second interview. With the tickets confirmed I had to refuse.
Then came another surprise, my ex colleague called me , and offered me another job. All paid trip and a 1 month project in Qatar. Again I had to refuse, all for the CCNA and CCNP course in Chennai.
This is one of the biggest decision I have made, that is to standby one decision no matter what. Now all I hope and pray for is that this was a right decision.
I recall a military advice given in my SISPEC [School of infantry Specialist] – a leader is one that makes quick and solid decision and sticks to it till the end. It is better to have a decision made than to have many ideas.( I know it is a little hard to understand)

Less than a week to Chennai…. No hesitation! Just Determination.

A Good story

2008-04-22T22:42:00.001-07:00

I read a similar story in Shalini's Monday Morning inspirations and got inspired to post this here. i would also like to give full credits to the author of this book , " Parents and children Key to sucess". The author is a buddist monk from Srilanka, Ven Weragoda Sarada Maha Thero

Quickpost this image to Myspace, Digg, Facebook, and others!

Graduation!

2008-04-13T11:42:00.001-07:00

This week is a memorable week for me. Because I officially graduated and collected my certificate form the chief chancellor. Although I finished my degree last year, I had opted for my graduation ceremony to be held in Singapore where many of my relatives can attend.

Some of my friends did their ceremony in Australia, but to me it is more meaningful as my parents, grandmother and uncles and aunties can attend it in Singapore.

My educational path was not a smooth one. I was not the brightest boy in class. During my primary school days I was not staying with my parents, I was under my grandmother’s care and my uncles and aunts were the ones who supervised. I went to school just to meet my friends and play. I knew what was happening in class and I understood everything but didn’t apply. Somehow I would scrape through everything. When I was in primary four my parents took over, but still no improvement. I never tasted failure cos I would do just enough to clear.

I ran out of luck and I didn’t do well in my O’ levels, not enough to proceed to any course in polytechnic. That was the wake up call. My aunt called me up and gave me a good lecture so did my, but my parents didn’t scold me at all; all they said was “learn from your mistake and bounce back!”

I didn’t’ give up I went back to school and I repeated my O’levels with my juniors. Embarrassing….But I channeled my embarrassment into motivation to do well. My relatives have been the best support. I did well in my O’Levels and easily entered my dream course “ diploma in Information Technology”, then with the results I got accepted into Queensland university of technology to pursue my bachelor of IT.

Now I am a graduate. It would not have been possible if not for these guys.

With dedication nothing is impossible!

More pictures here! and more to be added

Chennai , here i come !!!

2008-04-04T10:08:00.001-07:00

To my friends in India, my trip to Chennai has been finalized! If everything goes smoothly I would smell Chennai on the 1^st of May. I cannot describe how excited I am to see Chennai.

This is my plan; I will spend the first week of May in Pondicherry or Sirkazhi where my uncles are. After which I will be in Chennai staying in a hotel for a week while I search for a suitable accommodation. I don’t have a awful lot of money to spent thus, I have to select the cheapest and best that suits my budget.

After which my CCNA course starts on 15^th of May followed by CCNP. The institution is in mount road. I hope there is plenty to see and experience.

Special thanks to my blog friend Shalini for making this planning smoother by giving me lots of advice.

Since many of you bloggers from Chennai would have a frequent internet service. Could you guys suggest the best service?

Currently I am considering the Airtel unlimited surf plan, the one that uses the data-card and EDGE and EGPRS for internet connectivity. Do they have the plan in prepaid?

So far:

Flight to Chennai -Check

Indian visa – Check

Bank account – Check

Course enrollment – more or less done deal

Internet – Pending

Accom in Chennai – Pending

(I have helped many of my student friends get accommodation in Brisbane; I hope karma works well for me)

National Service - Pleasure Serving you Singapore!

2008-03-27T10:59:00.000-07:00

Just few years back, a distant aunt gave birth to a baby boy in Singapore. My aunt is Singaporean but her husband is an Indian national. But they have refused Singapore citizenship for their son. Their reason was that they did not want their son to serve national service.

[For the readers who do not know what national service: in Singapore Men at the age of 18 have to serve in the Singapore Armed forces (navy/army/air-force), Civil defense force (firemen) or the Police force. The Bulk of us would be sent to the army. ]

I guess their reason for them to refuse the citizenship for their son was probably because of the deaths of some servicemen during their service. Don’t get me wrong, death in national service is extremely rare. I unfortunately have seen a once platoon mate die. His death had nothing to do with the training; he just had a cardiac arrest and died. But since it was in camp premises he was given a military funeral.
Having gone through national service and seen death itself. I would still encourage my fellow Singaporean brothers that national service is not bad as some people have thought to be.
I have seen boys turn to men. We are force to behave like a gentleman, and taught how to make decisions under both physical and mental stress. We are taught how to lead and taught how to take punishments and pain head-on. I am sure many who have served National service would agree with me.
I am going to convince my aunt that national service is not too bad. My brother is currently serving his national service as an Officer Cadet. He is soon to be an Artillery officer.
I have truly benefited from national service, I urge my readers to explain the true experience of National service to the few ignorant Singaporeans.
“What we lack in size, we make up for in numbers.” ,Lee Kwan Yew (minister mentor) and whom I call “Father of Singapore”.

This post is dedicated to 3rd sergeant Perry, a true hero. Although we knew each other too little, enough to earn a permanent place in my heart.
To those who say National service is a waste of time, i tell you. Stop saying that cos, his death was not a waste.

Relationships and trust issues

2008-03-04T23:23:00.000-08:00

It happened when I was in the army and it was one of those exercises which would require us to be in some hilltop in a forest. The exercise was planed for 5 days but then got extended indefinitely. We were supposed to go back home on Friday, but it was Saturday we were still on some hill on a rainy thunder storm night trying to establish radio communication. We have had to move about with our radio set with a huge antenna. We need radio communication before first light. It would be too rush to do it in the morning so I and my buddy had to do right there and then. We were on a hill top with an antenna which was like a lightning probe. We knew it was a hazard but we had to take the risk.

My buddy and I were specialist who had 2 other men under us. This job required just 2 people and here was no requirement for the rest to get wet. We made our men take shelter in our vehicle, while we establish radio communication. My buddy and I were totally drenched to make things worst, I slipped and fell into a mud pond. That’s when tragedy struck. (Don’t worry… Nothing serious)

My buddy’s girlfriend called! She was mad at him because he had not come to visit her that week end nor call her. His excuse to her was that there was no phone reception and we had very little of battery power on our phones that we had to conserve for emergency.

My buddy was going to cut the call and carry on with the communication with me, but I signaled to him to carry on with the call and I would carry on with the mission myself. Why I did that was because

Her argument was, “how can you pick up this call then? Why are you lying to me? You promised to see me this weekend and you didn’t inform me!” Basically she was shooting her machine gun at my defenseless buddy. The bombardment lasted for 2 hours, with my friend returning fire with “sorry…sorry…sorry”.

By then radio communications was established. That night my buddy told me with sincere heart. “Vas, don’t get a girlfriend man. Don’t suffer like me. I can't break off with her cos i am afraid she might do something silly. I still love her man.. but i am suffering”

Not all Girlfriends are like this. Maybe not all the time.But why do women sometimes behave like this?

(You guys might be wondering why we were looking for communication when we could use our hand phones. That’s because military communications cannot me made using the GSM network. Security is first priority.)

What should i do?

2008-02-20T08:31:00.001-08:00

I hate making decisions in my life. How I wish everything would have been laid out for me?

As many of my readers would have known, I have just graduated from my bachelor degree from Australia and I am back in Singapore. It has been about 2 weeks, my fellow classmates and housemates are in full force job hunting. For me I just haven got the grove yet.

I used to work for a networking firm before I went to peruse my degree; I know for sure I can join back there for a higher position. But work there is hectic but challenging. I still have friends there who are tempting me to join with all their new projects.
I also have offers from my working friends to join their company and be part of their team, 2 in total.
I now have 3 job offers.
But the problem is not about where to work. It is weather or not I would like to start working right now.
I had planed to go to India (Chennai/ Hyderabad / Bangalore) to peruse my CCNP (Cisco certified network professional) certification. I could also do it in Singapore, but I want something different, like a challenge. Reading a lot from my bogging friends, the temptations are high.

So do I go to India or shall I stay and start working?

Ps god: can I take a peek at my fate please?

Happy Valentine's day!

2008-02-13T08:05:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine’s Day to all my readers especially Shalini, Lena, gunj and many more friends. Have a wonderful valentines day and may you get lots of roses and chocolates and feel very loved on this day. These chocolates are for all my readers!

Love and Hate

2008-02-11T09:42:00.000-08:00

Thanks Shalini for tagging me once again. Although I this is a simple question it has took me along time to think about the answers

I love:

- My pet discus (which died, sadly after 2 years)

- Tiramisu cake

- Diving

- Watching tv

- Watching Manchester united play

- Making my mother mad

- Playing with babies

- Dark chocolates

- Waking up to find that is raining outside and I have plenty of sleep time left.

- Getting a call from a friend, who wants to “just talk”.

- Cooking for friends and family

and many many more....

I hate:

- The teams that score first against Manchester united.

- My dad when he gives instructions (he kinda dictates like Hitler)

- When someone brings food into my room (I don like bits and pieces of food lying around)

- When my mom asks me to clean my room

- Shopping with a female company (ask me to run a marathon, I would gladly do it but not shopping)

I tag who ever has read this post!

Five Links!

2008-02-05T03:22:00.000-08:00

i was tagged by shalini long time ago, and sorry for the delay. i have now moved back to singapore from a 1 year stay in Brisbane.And my links as follows

1. iGoogle
This is my homepage. I have wigets such as news feeds, Gmail preview and jokes in the page where I can be updated of breaking news.

2. Facebook / Friendster
I keep in touch with my friends and fool around with my the applications in and games. When I am bored I can spend hours in this sites.

3. Queensland University of Technology (My Uni Website )

4. Soccernet
I keep in touch with football news from this ESPN site. It also has a live score section where I can check the scores of the games I missed.

5.Networking-Forum
i read about the networking problems that others face and occationaly post my suggestions and learning from others experiences.

i tag Simha

My diving experience part 3 of 3.

2008-01-18T22:47:00.000-08:00

This is the final part of my diving trip. After day one of our dive trip we went to a restaurant facing the sea for a well deserved meal and a couple of drinks to celebrate our conquering of Amity Point, for most, it was an early bed time in preparation for another even earlier start in the morning.
We woke to some good weather and were all pumped for some great diving. After putting our gear together and loading the boat everyone made their way down to the beach where the boat would launch us into the ocean. After a fun ride out bounding over the waves we discovered that the conditions were going to let us get out to Manta Bommie to where the Manta Rays Play. On the trip to our diving point, we saw a school of dolphins swimming pass us. Then there was a sudden change in the tide so we had to change our dive spot to Shag Rock. During our first dive all of us completed our skills. Skills involve us swimming with the aid of just a compass, clearing our mask and showing expertise in our buoyancy control.

After the 3^rd dive, when we went up to change our tanks for our final dive, most of us became sea sick. I even considered giving up then. But I felt that I would feel better in the sea then on boat. It was true. My sea sickness was over once I re-entered the water. I even puked while on the sea bed! It requires skills to vomit in the sea cos you don’t want to suck any water in. The 4^th dive was just like a tour trip, we floated around looking at the marine life. If I were to describe the feeling it is like floating in outer space! Many of us might not have a chance to experience zero gravity, and to me this is the closest one can get to that.

My only regret is that I didn’t see any manta rays. I heard Mauritius has a nice diving spot where I could dive with the mantas, hopefully that dream materialize in 2008.

Wobbegong sharks.

2008-01-17T04:53:00.000-08:00

Before i post the final part of my diving trip here is some interesting information.

During my first dive in the sea tom was showing us some of the marine life in the sea. It was a wonder to see a school of fishes not swimming but just stationary facing the currents. it looked like a paused underwater video.That was because none of the fishes seemed like they were swimming. They just stood there against the currents.

That was when tom was showing us an octopus which was hiding beneath some corals.

I was just ½ a meter away from Tom when a Wobbegong shark swamps pass us. It was less than a meter away from me. Its length was slightly bigger then ½ a meter. Initially I thought it was a cat fish but looking at its dorsal fins I confirmed it was a shark. Initially I was not afraid because the way it look it ought it was one of those sharks which don have teeth I even wanted to touch it. Good thing I didn’t, cos I was wrong!

This is the jaw structure of a Wobbegong shark. I think the picture explains everything. For more details read about it in Wikipedia Here.

My diving experience part 2 of 3.

2008-01-17T04:28:00.000-08:00

It was an hour drive to the jetty. We had to take a special ferry for vehicles. The boat trip to straddie (Stradbroke Island) was 45 minutes we were off to Manta lodge to get our accommodation then down to the beach to hang out in the sun and wait for the tide to slow. The tide was high and the currents were very strong. We planned to just walk along the beach. Waves and the water was so clear that Cameron and Susanna could not resist. They just got down to their undergarments and entered the water. Cameron then started teasing me if i was shy. How can i resist? I went in as well. The currents were so strong we were pushed around 30 away from where we started within seconds. We frolicked in the surf for a while and enjoyed the sun before heading down to Amity Point to start diving. Amity point was the abandoned jetty that we were going to start our dive.
Now was the time for us to meet our challenges and see their dreams by gliding weightless in the sea. So with everyone being geared up and buddy checked we waded into the beautiful, uncharacteristically clear water of Amity Point. I faced my first problem, i could not sink! We had weights attached to me to sink but it was not enough, matt kept adding more and finally with 27Kg attached to me I sank! We all cruised comfortably around the pylons enjoying the company of Wobbegong* sharks, a Moray Eel, Stonefish, puffer fish and many other fish. Under the watchful eye of Matt on the surface, we completed the first dive with ease and proceeded to do all our surface skills, 20 minutes later we were out of the water and thinking about the 2nd dive. With the tide turning and the current picking back up we needed to hurry back into the water so we didn’t have to battle too much. Unfortunately the tide caught us and we had a bit of a battle in the water for the 2nd dive. The visibility dropped and we had to hang onto whatever we could find to stay in one place. I found a rope sticking out from the bottom of the sea bed and i held on to it and signaled the rest to hold on to me. There was a chain of us all holding onto one another! When it was my turn to do the skill I had to let go of the rope the moment i lost my grip of the rope, all of us were swept away by a few meters! We battled the current together and got back to the rope. What fun! Next 3^rd and 4^th dive, to dismount from a boat and go up to 18meters deep!

My diving experience part 1 of 3.

2008-01-16T20:41:00.000-08:00

I told you guys that I have just done my PADI open water diving licence . I was thinking I could describe my experience and encourage you guys to dive too. Rather than a very long post i have decided to put it into a 3 part

PADI diving licence, involves first day of theory, 2^nd day in the swimming pool with basic skills on the water. Then we have to perform all these skills in open water, either in the river or in the sea. 2 dismount from shore and 2 from a boat.

For my last 2 parts of my diving licence I decided to do it in Stradbroke Island. I was teamed with

Susanna - a Chinese event planner from the UK,,

Cameron - a Spanish tour guide, who was in Australia to study English),

Brooke - her Boyfriend was a experienced diver who wanted her to learn diving, he accompanied her for the dive. Brooke was my assigned dive buddy.

Gavin - An IT administrator for an e-commerce site.)

Mark – A professor who is doing on the medical and social effects of drinking, smoking and drugs.

Tom – my diving instructor

Matt – Dive master (the one who monitors our weights and air levels.

I met these guys on a Saturday morning at 5.30, Matt was a lively guy who broke the ice and everyone became good friends and we joked about everything under sun.

Next post: Shore Dive!

New year resolutions , and their progress

2008-01-14T23:38:00.006-08:00

Although I have already been tagged earlier by Shalini on New Year resolutions. Pooranasi have tagged me again. And I would like to use this opportunity to define and describe the steps taken so far to achieve the goals.
1.) Get my six packs in my abdominals.
To get the toned abdominals I have to watch my diet and not too much calories. To reduce my calorie I have taken the first step
Diet  when I fill my drinks in subway I would fill half the cup with diet coke and the rest with normal coke. That is 50% less sugar!

click me for six pack abs

and also following the instructions in the link above.

2.) Go to India and make a significant difference in an orphan child’s life.
When I come to Chennai in May 2008 I would visit one of the orphanages. Seriously as long as there is one alive human there are no orphans, we should all work towards closing them down and encouraging adoption. The first thing I would ask my future wife is if she would approve adoption.

3.) Spend more time with my family.
My youngest brother will be taking is Cambridge O’ level examinations in 2008. I have planned to be his tuition teacher and a study mentor to him constantly keeping tabs on his progress.

4.) Get my driving license.
My cousin in India promised me that he will buy one for me!

5.) Save money -> it’s very complicated! I have the burning desire on using my money in a good restaurant. At least one month I would be eating in a posh restaurant.

New year resolutions , and their progress

2008-01-14T23:38:00.002-08:00

Although I have already been tagged earlier by Shalini on New Year resolutions. Pooranasi have tagged me again. And I would like to use this opportunity to define and describe the steps taken so far to achieve the goals.
1.) Get my six packs in my abdominals.
To get the toned abdominals I have to watch my diet and not too much calories. To reduce my calorie I have taken the first step
Diet  when I fill my drinks in subway I would fill half the cup with diet coke and the rest with normal cock. That is 50% less sugar!

click me for six pack abs

and also following the instructions in the link above.

2.) Go to India and make a significant difference in an orphan child’s life.
When I come to Chennai in May 2008 I would visit one of the orphanages. Seriously as long as there is one alive human there are no orphans, we should all work towards closing them down and encouraging adoption. The first thing I would ask my future wife is if she would approve adoption.

3.) Spend more time with my family.
My youngest brother will be taking is Cambridge O’ level examinations in 2008. I have planned to be his tuition teacher and a study mentor to him constantly keeping tabs on his progress.

4.) Get my driving license.
My cousin in India promised me that he will buy one for me!

5.) Save money -> it’s very complicated! I have the burning desire on using my money in a good restaurant. At least one month I would be eating in a posh restaurant.

Songs for my readers!

2008-01-07T18:28:00.000-08:00

i will constantly play songs that i like. some of them are my all time favorite. if u don like a song you can select the skip button to switch to the next song. Readers can also comment on their all time favorite song. if somehow just hate the song being played ,you can also tell me if a song in the list just irritates you, i will remove it from the list.

Currently playing:
Aahaa -Mudhan Mudhalil,
Thaalam -Kalai Maane,
Guru - Tere Bina,
Aaja Nachle - Aaja Nachle,
Azhagiya Tamil Magan - Valayapatti

Fire! Fire ! Fire!

2008-01-05T19:53:00.000-08:00

As you guys know that I have now moved to my friend’s apartment. the apartment that i am staying is like a student hostel with around 200 people staying.

Yesterday I was woken up by a strange alarm. It was so loud that I knew it was for the whole building. I went into my buddy’s groggily and asked him what it was. He replied with his eyes still closed that it was the fire alarm and went back to sleep. I took a peek downstairs from my window, but there was no one there. If there was a fire at least someone would have run downstairs. Within minutes the fire engine came. Feeling sleepy I went back to sleep even after the fire engine Later that day went I woke up I realized if it was a real fire I could have died!

Every apartment in that building are equipped with an internal smoke sensor, it will sound off if there was smoke. That one will only trigger the alarm in the apartment only. But there is another one in the corridors which will immediately trigger the fire alarm for the whole building and call the fire department automatically.

If the fire department was called in for a false alarm, it copes an $800 dollar fine. I guess someone just got a very expensive morning present that day!

A new year and a new home.

2008-01-01T02:24:00.000-08:00

On the 31^st of December was the day my lease in my rented house ended in Australia. I had lived in the house for 10 months and I must say i am going to miss it. I am living away from my family and i was living independently with my 3 friends in this house. In this post I will describe my old house with pictures.
This is the front view of the house. “ Grande Terrace” is its name and my house is the first one of the five. The bottom floor is the garage which has been converted to a bedroom for my house mate. The 2^nd floor is the kitchen and the living room. The third floor is where there are 3 bedrooms one with attached toilet and a balcony for itself. My room is the 3^rd floor, extreme left on the picture and i share the balcony with one other housemate. (The balcony is linked to 2 rooms.) The house has 4 balconies, 2 on either side of the house.

This is the living room, where countless parties were held, most ending in people getting too tired to go home and in the end becoming their bedroom.

The kitchen which i did most of my scientific experiments in the name of cooking and my lab rats were my house mates, whom i made to test the food. i was always the last to eat the food that i have cooked. None of them noticed!

Me cooking chapathi for my house mates. See mom its round! unlike yours!

This is the view of the girl next door. she moved in weeks after i did and still continue to live there. She like to wear black and have a party at her house on a Friday each month ,with the basement as the dance floor. Beer bottles filled up her 3 rubbish bins and she had to sneak some boxed full of them to my bin, thinking that i was not looking.

Finally my room. The place where i studied, watched movies, had friends over and pretty much some days where spent entirely in this room. although it was small it was a whole world to me.

Good bye house....

I will post the rest of the pictures, in my Picassa site and post the link for you guys to see all my pictures in Australia. Most of these pictures were taken after i have moved all my stuff and done a very intense cleaning.

For those who born in the 70s and 80s in Singapore.

2007-12-19T21:57:00.000-08:00

I read this in an e-mail and decided to post it with some of my experience.
for readers who are non Singaporean, it i hope its interesting and you could recall yo your experience..
i was born in 1983 so i am the 80's guy!

1. You grew up watching He-man, MASK, Transformers, Silver Hawk and
Mickey Mouse. Not to forget Ninja Turtles, My Little Pony and Smurfs too...

2. You grew up brushing your teeth with a mug in Primary school during
recess time. You will squat by a drain with all your classmates beside
you, and brush your teeth with a coloured mug. The teachers said you must
brush each side 10 times too.
( there was a dental nurse in my school and my appointments came during my music class , which is awesome. i would rather have my teeth pulled then asked to play the recorder!)

3. You know what SBC stands for.
(Singapore Broadcasting Corporation)

4. You pay 40 cents for Chocolate or Strawberry MILK every week in
class.
(The brand of the milk was magnolia, and we had to drink it in class!)

5. You watch a very popular Malay dubbed Japanese drama on RTM1 about
schoolgirls who possess powerful skills in volleyball called Meoro
Attack.

6. You find your friends with pagers and hand phone cool in Secondary
school.
(The IN thing was to have the pager clip at the side of the pocket to show off)

7. SBS buses used to be non-air-conditioned. The bus seats are made of
wood and the cushion is red. The big red bell gives a loud BEEP! When
pressed. There are colourful tickets forTIBS buses. The conductor will check for
tickets by using a machine which punches a hole in the ticket.

(We used to fold hearts with the ticket pass it to girls we have crush on.)

8. Envelopes given to us to donate to Sharity Elephant every Children's
Day.
(I donated $2 every year)

9. You've probably read Young Generation magazine. You know who's Vinny
the little vampire and Acai the constable.

(that was the only magazine for kids)

10. You were there when they first introduced MRT here. You went for
the first ride with your parents and you would kneel on the seat , facing the window to see the scenery.

11. Movie tickets used to cost only $3.50.

12. Gals are fascinated by Strawberry Short Cake and Barbie Dolls.

13. You learn to laugh like The Count in Sesame Street .

14. You longed to buy tibits called Kaka (20 cents per pack), and Ding
Dang (50 cents per box), that had a toy in it and it changes every
week. Not forgetting the 15 cents animal crackers and the ring pop, where the
lollipop is the diamond on the ring.

15. You watched TV2 (also known as Channel 10) cartoons because Channel
5 never had enough cartoons for you.

16. Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, The Three Investigators, Famous Five and
Secret Seven are probably the thickest story books you ever thought you
have read. Even Sweet Valley High and Malory Towers.

17. KFC used to be a high class restaurant that serve food in plates
and let you use metal forks and knives.

18. The most vulgar thing you said was asshole and idiot and THE MOST
EXTREME WAS 'super white'... you just couldn't bring yourself to say
the hokkien relative.

19. Catching was the IN thing and twist as the magic word. (in-case you don’t understand, it is a game of police and thief and twist was immunity)

20. Your English workbooks was made of some damn poor quality paper
that was smooth and yellow.

21. CDIS were your bestfriend.
( It is TV shows that are telecasted in national TV for school purposes, teachers have to record it and then use it in class)

22. The only computer lessons in school involved funny pixellised
characters in 16 colours walking about trying to teach you maths.

23. Waterbottles were slinged around your neck and a must everywhere
you go.
(The common drink was ribena!)

24. Boys loved to play soccer with small plastic balls in the
basketball court.
(we even had a league, if we didn’t have a ball we would use the pong-pong fruit to play. )

25. Five stones, chapteh, hentam bola and zero point were
all the rage with the girls and boys too...

26. Science was fun with the balsam and the angsana being the most
important plants of our lives, guppies and swordtail being the most
important fish.

27. Who can forget Ahmad, Bala, Sumei and John, eternalized in our
minds from the textbooks. Even Mr Wally & Mr. Yakki. What abt Miss Lala???
And Zaki and Tini in Malay Textbooks?

28. We carry out experiments of our own to get ourself badges for being
a Young Zoologist/Botanist etc.
( I had a young environmentalist badge!)

29. Every Children's day and National day you either get pins or pens
with 'Happy Children's Day 1993' or dumb files with 'Happy National Day
1994'.
(Children’s day was all about what gifts the teachers had for us)

30. In Primary six you had to play buddy for the younger kids like big
sister and brother.
( so that the primary one kids can adapt better in school)

31. We wear BM2000, BATA, or Pallas shoes.
(They were all white canvas shoes that we had to polish)

32. Your form teacher taught you Maths, Science and English.

33. The worksheets were made of brown rough paper of poor quality.

34. You went to school in slippers and a raincoat when it rained, and
you find a dry spot in the school to sit down, dry your feet, and wear your
dry and warm socks and shoes.

35. School dismissal time was normally around 1 pm.
(we would all play till 3Pm then think about going home then, that too was to catch CDIS and cartoons on TV)

36. There would be spelling tests and mental sums to do almost
every day.

37. Your friends considered you lucky and rich if your parents gave you
$3 or more for pocket money every day.
( i used to get extra money from my grandfather on top of what my parents gave me)

38. You see Wee Kim Wee's face in the school hall.
(Our president then)

39. You freak out when the teacher tells you to line up according to
height and hold hands with the corresponding boy or girl.
(I didn’t really freak out, i still remember my partner, her name was “pei shan ,Christina”) she is married now. I know this thanks to friend ster.

40. Boys like to catch fighting spiders.
( Not forgetting grasshoppers, we would break one of its legs to prevent it from jumping off)

41. Collecting and battling erasers was a pastime for boys.
(Erasers with country flags on them, winner gets to keep the other’s eraser, we even modified its shape for “ better performance!”)

42. Autograph books were loaded with 'Best Wishes', 'Forget Me Not',
and small poems like 'Bird fly high, hard catch. Friend like you, hard to
forget'.

43. Class monitors and prefects loved to say 'You talk some more, I
write your name ah!'
(I was a perfect and the 2 names on my book are Siva- for climbing the school fence and Arul for singing in class)

44. There were at least 40 people in one class.
( Now kids this days are lucky to have just 20!)

45. Large, colourful schoolbags were carried.
(I got a new bag for every academic year!)

50. You brought every single book to school, even though there was one
thing called the timetable.
(I admit I was the worst! I was simply lazy to pack my bag, kids now get lockers to keep their books in school!)

Completed PADI Open water diving licence!

2007-12-15T23:43:00.000-08:00

I have made a New Year resolution on getting a proper driving licence. My resolution for 2007 was to get a Australian driving licence. Since that was impossible, I decided to get a dirving licence instead. I signed up for the course on Monday 10^th December and finished the course on the 16^th. Just before 2007 is up.

My housemate Andrew was the first to sign up and he tempted me to join as well. But due to unforeseen circumstances Andrew could not continue with the course. I had to do it myself.

The whole licence course was in 4 phases.

Phase 1 – Theory

Phase 2 – Familiarization in the swimming pool

Phase 3 – Shore dive (Stradbroke Island)

Phase 4 – Mid sea boat dive. (Stradbroke Island)

The dive at Stradbroke was simply mesmerising. Fished was everywhere. Catching them was so easy. Those who fish with a rod I suggest get a diving licence and start sphere fishing instead. You will have better luck that way. I am a bad swimmer. But diving does not involve goo swimming skills, just confidence. Unlike my initial thoughts you don’t have to control your breathing. Just breath like you would, out of the water.

If you are interested in diving, search for the nearest PADI diving school from “www.padi.com”. You can also travel to the country that offers it and take the lesson and get certified within a week! And the licence is internationally recognised!

I have been tagged by Shalini - My New Year resolutions

2007-12-09T22:40:00.000-08:00

My New Year resolutions

I have not made New Year resolutions for a long period now. I think I stopped making then because I can’t remember them, let alone achieve them.

Any way this time I am going to post it here and then try my very best to achieve them as soon as I can in 2008

Get my six packs in my abdominals. I have been working hard in the gym but I still can’t get my abdominals toned. It is still a continent; I need to split them to 6 islands.
Go to India and make a significant difference in a orphan child’s life. Maybe volunteer in a orphanage. Not monetary contributions but to do something else. I am a sinner I need lots a good karma!
Spend more time with my family. I have spent 10 months out of 2007 away from my family in Australia. Although I might spent much of 2008 in India I plan to spend some quality time with them first.
Get my driving license. Although I have a military driving license, it does not allow me to drive civilian cars. I will have to get it soon. (May be I could take it first in India.)
Save money (copied this from Shalini), it’s a good habit and the money could help me someday.

This is all that I could think off, at the moment. More will be added, hopefully none deleted.

Brisbane now . Where next? Chennai ? Hyderbad?

2007-12-06T02:23:00.000-08:00

Can a Singaporean guy life in chennai?

I am studying in Queensland Australia, Queensland University of Technology. I just finish my last semester and , by god's grace is have passed and Going to graduate soon!

i am thinking of going to India to study CCNP ( Cisco certified network Professional) i have 2 options Hyderabad and Chennai. my parents and relatives encourage Hyderabad for the better standard of living and the cleanliness. I don't really care , i just want to make friends and enjoy my little time i spend in India.

i have a slight preference towards Chennai, that was due to the friends i made from blogging. could you guys suggest which is the more fun play to stay? if chennai can you guys suggest the exact place? i belief chennai is a huge city.

EGO

2007-11-27T07:41:00.000-08:00

I belief the downfall of a man is in his Ego. I grew up in a family in which my father and his father (my grandfather) stopped talking to each other because of some argument. Few years later my grandfather passed on but the problem between my grandfather and father didn’t get solved at all. The point is not the argument, but it’s the Ego of 2 men that prevented them from talking to each other. When the old man died my father was around to do his last rites, as respect but the fact remained that they never spoke.

That was an example I saw in my family, among friends I do see ego problems. It is because of ego that men would sever 10 year friendship, brotherhood and other significant relationships. The argument could be over reasons that someone owes another an apology and the other refuses to apologise. Whatever the reason is it that difficult to apologise?

Sorry seems to be the hardest word for many to say. It doesn’t matter who is right and who is wrong. My understanding is if you are in a problem, just apologise even if it is not you who is supposed to apologise. Rather lose face than lose the friend or brother, for that matter.

“Mandarin speaking preferred”

2007-09-22T06:16:00.000-07:00

If you flip through the classified ads for jobs in the Straits times, or any other publications. You can easily see that many jobs in Singapore would require the employee to able to speak mandarin. I am not sure if the job scope would require mandarin or the preferred language used in the working environment was mandarin. Either way, the non mandarin speaking community is disadvantaged.

Many Indian or Malay job searchers would sometimes brand it as biasness towards the Chinese community. English is the working language in Singapore, So why mandarin is preferred? I would say this is every employers own preference.

This issue has been around for a long time. But from the people’s front nothing has been done. When i was in polytechnic [Ngee Ann polytechnic], which was during 2001 to 2004. The polytechnic had a program called inter-disciplinary studies. The idea of this project was to diversify the study scope of the students so that they are better skilled in all trades. One of the elements of this program was “live skills”. Under “live skills” a students were taught various languages such as French, Japanese and Spanish.

Now i begin to wonder why, was not “mandarin” taught. If i look at it from jobs prospective mandarin would be the most useful language that the student can learn. In fact its in the papers, that mandarin is preferred.

Politically incorrect ?

If the polytechnic would have mandarin taught then, the public might get the wrong idea that the polytechnic was promoting mandarin to be the working language, or sending the wrong message. To solve that ,why not also include Malay and Tamil in the language program in the live skills portion.

this is not to please the other races, but with a cause.

I think it would promote racial harmony in one aspect. Knowing basic language of the other race would be good for cultural bonding in Singapore.
I don’t think there would be shortage of Tamil or Malay teachers.

This would be my plan for a more unified Singapore.

National service for Singapore women

2007-08-29T21:50:00.001-07:00

Any Singaporean guy that read this title would have understood what I meant. Every Singaporean male has to go through 2 years of national service in the Singapore armed forces as a soldier. Judging from his leadership skills and fitness they are placed in different units. Some of these guy would have enjoyed their NS life. But for many it is 2 years of their time wasted.

I have heard many prospective about NS, but today’s topic is not about weather national service was a waste of time or not. It is why Singaporean males FEEL that their time was wasted.

Firstly is a matter of comparison, when they finally finish their National service and look into going to university their female counterparts would have already finished their degree. They would already be in the workforce by then.

To add things worst there are many foreigners who would be fighting for their position to the university. If they are lucky they would have got a place in the local University, if their grades aren’t that top notch they would have to settle for a University overseas, like me. For some of my buddies in NS that 2 years totally took away the study intention they had.

To me education comes in a feat. It is not easy to pause it and resume it later like a DVD. Once the flow is gone it is hard to get back to studying. Because of that some of the guys who go to university after NS fell behind, because they have lost touch with their study method.

What is my solution?

If our girls also have to do national service it would even us out. I am not expecting them to join the army. There are other ways that they can offer their help. One way is in the nursing industry in Singapore or in the community service industry.

We read the news about Singaporean hospitals lacking nurses and nurses have to come from Philippines and Indonesia. Why don’t we put our women to the job? One year to train them and one year of service. They would be paid allowances of like $500 per month, approximately the pay of national service men.

Due to the low pay for the nurses the medical expanse would decrease. This national service nurses can work in our poly clinics. Instead of making out citizens pay the small amount for medical help. We can make it totally free!

This will reduce the medical expense for Singaporeans

This is just a suggestion. Hitting 2 birds with one stone