Woah... It has already been six weeks since I first set foot on Chennai. I don't know whether it is a good thing or not that I am always counting the number of weeks and using them as my blog titles. Anyway...
Today I'm so happy that we don't need to go to office. This was because our lab coordinator decided that the lab was very simple and that we could do it within one hour. He gave us the chance to choose whether we want to come back today to do the lab or stay back till late last night. Most people chose the later because they wanted to take the weekends off to go home. Another reason I think he allowed that is because this morning there was a "big" cricket match between India and South Africa (I think....). So, everyone "MUST" stay in and watch the match. Did I ever mentiont that cricket is religion here in India? :P
For this post, I'll cut down on what I want to say about my labs and the rain. Think my blog readers will get bored soon with all the mention of frustrating labs and irritating rainy weather here. I think I shall talk about some culture shocks that I have experience here so far. I can't list all of them but I'll just briefly mention some of the more obvious ones in point form below.
1. No proper public toilet & ESPECIALLY NO Tissue!!
This is might seem like a joke but this is the biggest shock and problem. I'm so used to the clean and well-equipped toilets in Singapore. People laugh when they see that Singapore has a World Toilet Organisation but I think it is good that they have such an organization to ensure QC. At least in Brunei and M'sia, even though there is bad public toilets but can still buy tissue from shops easily. Packet tissue is like a foreign item here. I can find them but only in "Guardian Pharmacy" (A shop with guardian's colours but different name and logo) but it is being sold at quite an expensive price. Not worth buying.... When I go back to Singapore, I'll need to stock up more packet tissues before I come over. :S
2. Poor people and their living conditions
I mentioned this briefly previously. Each time I see them I feel quite sad. I don't know what I should do. People will come up to me and the first thing they do is make eye contact. Although they don't say anything, their actions tell you what they want. They'll clasp their hand and then extend it to you. They'll then repeatingly move their hands that they want you to give them food. Some of them are very persistent even if you say no. Most of them in fact, would because we are foreigners. Some of them are really in need of support while there are also some beggars who I think are healthy and strong enough to do something else rather than begging.
On TV, there is this advertisement about the "Kuwait Fund". The advertisement goes along the line of "If you give a hungry man food, you feed him for a day. If you teach him to fish, grow crops, rear animals, educate his children then you have taken care of him for a lifetime." Actually I do think that many people who have access to education has taken it for granted. Experiencing the condition here, it is very easy to notice the poverty gap between the rich and the poor.
3. Political Issues - The power of the fourth state
I follow the local news channel - NDTV 24/7 every morning. This is the only local news channel in English that I get on my TV (I do have BBC and DW-TV for world and sports news as well :P). The first time I got a shock from this news channel was when a reporter was reporting about the flooding problems in Bangalore. She was talking about the bad conditions that people in Bangalore were facing during the floods late last month and how the authorities were slow in taking action. At first when she was reporting it, I sensed that the news was getting abit too personal as her expression was that she was quite angry with the situation. At the end of her report, I quote her: "The politicians are just good at what they are doing. Political posing". Instantaneously, my friends and I were like "What!?! Did she just say what we heard her say?" Then we started to laugh and of course, compared it with our home countries.
Another show that they have on NDTV 24/7 is a puppet show called Double Take. The puppets are designed to look like the ministers. In this show, they'll use the puppets to tell stories and act out how incompetent the minister is in his post. I was like "woah..." then I found out from a friend that this concept was adopted from Germany. They sent 20+ people to train in Germany on this puppetry criticism.
4. Matrimonials in newspaper
This is very interesting. You know in newspapers, we always get classifieds where people sell/buy products/services,etc. Here, there's another section - Matrimonial. One section which writes - Looking for brides and the other Looking for bridegroom. I was laughing when I first saw the section in the newspaper. Advertisements were like "Looking for fair,slim,beautiful girl from good family background". Some were like "The parents of So&So who is in US working now is looking for an alliance with the family of a girl who is etc etc etc". Alliance? The most interesting one I think was "So&So with MBA degree, earning six-figure salary looking for MBBS etc etc". He's only looking for a doctor wife huh? Oh ya, some others have astrology requirements and locations.
In addition to these requirements, people have to send in their "applications". Most of the people in my class talk about "applications" instead of "proposals". So, I suppose one must first send application, get approval stamp then can continue. hahaha..... I suppose it is still a practice here that continues where some parents still arrange the marriage of their children.
5. Girls one side, guys one side
Although it is not an explicitly written rule on the bus but this seems to be the case. It must have been a horrifying experience for those ladies that some weird guy (ie. my friends and I) sit next to them. Even on a packed bus where there are not enough seats, guys would prefer to stand rather than sit next to the women. I don't know if we are offending their culture or not. This one I'll have to check. My cultural sensitivity is getting abit low these days ^_^.... Making plenty of assumptions or thinking that I will be forgiven because I'm a foreigner.
About culture, people here like to address each other as Sir/Madam especially when it comes to people of higher rank. Hierarchy is a very important concept here. However, for those of us from Singapore, we seem to be different. We would address them by their names and treat them more equally. (I'll blog more about this next time... my surfing time is up again)
Sunday, November 27, 2005
Friday, November 25, 2005
Tedious labs & unpredictable weather
After a whole week of continuous labs we were finally "entitled" to a few days break. The reason it is "entitled" is because our basic assembler training is over. Now comes the advance stuff, TPF -> my bread and butter for the next few years...... The theory classes no longer seem simple and easy as it was one month ago. The concepts taught are quite abstract as in I think it will take me quite some time before I can understand what it all means. Assembler was to be like CS1101 and now TPF is like 1102. Also, next week will be another week of labs or should I say, two weeks of continuous labs.... scary but hey, half the training is over. :P
As for the weather here in Chennai, there is another depression over this region. On a day, it can be sunny and extremely hot. Suddenly without warning, sky gets dark and it will be a heavy downpour. Cyclonic rains are very different from the ones which we have in SEA. You can actually see the rain being blown hard by the wind and umbrella is no protection against such a storm. My friend describes the weather as "Mother nature is having her PMS". Heavy rain here is not good especially for office goers. Unlike the schools and colleges here, we don't get a day off due to the flooding of roads or homes. A few hours rain can easily flood some parts of the road. These would make travelling very inconvenient to and from work. Fortunately an idea struck my head that we could easily take a bus to cross the flooded areas. :D
Few weeks ago, I was already predicting that my leather shoes would be worn out soon. Well, now the sole has started to tear open and I can see my socks from the tip of the shoe. :S My poor leather shoes, badly damaged by the weather here. In addition, twice I was splashed by dirty water due to inconciderate drivers. The first time was not very serious, the second time I was very pissed off. I kept cursing that guy for driving so fast. I mean, the road is already "halfed" because one section of it is flooded but he still drives onto the flooded part and I ended up as the victim. *grrrr*
Anywayway, this weekend should be quite a relaxing weekend. My friends and I are trying to get tickets to watch Harry Potter here but are quite unsuccessful because the normal timings are all fully booked. Think we'll have to try again next week. Oh yes, if any of you do get the chance, I'd recommend to watch the Hindi movie "Taj Mahal". I've not watched the movie yet BUT the trailer and behind the scenes look good. Although I could not understand a word they are saying but the body language speaks for itself - the vibrant colors and the very chio Pakistani-French actress.... It's suppose to be the most expensive movie ever made in Bollywood and they spent 3years filming it. Darn, if only they have English subtitles here.
As for the weather here in Chennai, there is another depression over this region. On a day, it can be sunny and extremely hot. Suddenly without warning, sky gets dark and it will be a heavy downpour. Cyclonic rains are very different from the ones which we have in SEA. You can actually see the rain being blown hard by the wind and umbrella is no protection against such a storm. My friend describes the weather as "Mother nature is having her PMS". Heavy rain here is not good especially for office goers. Unlike the schools and colleges here, we don't get a day off due to the flooding of roads or homes. A few hours rain can easily flood some parts of the road. These would make travelling very inconvenient to and from work. Fortunately an idea struck my head that we could easily take a bus to cross the flooded areas. :D
Few weeks ago, I was already predicting that my leather shoes would be worn out soon. Well, now the sole has started to tear open and I can see my socks from the tip of the shoe. :S My poor leather shoes, badly damaged by the weather here. In addition, twice I was splashed by dirty water due to inconciderate drivers. The first time was not very serious, the second time I was very pissed off. I kept cursing that guy for driving so fast. I mean, the road is already "halfed" because one section of it is flooded but he still drives onto the flooded part and I ended up as the victim. *grrrr*
Anywayway, this weekend should be quite a relaxing weekend. My friends and I are trying to get tickets to watch Harry Potter here but are quite unsuccessful because the normal timings are all fully booked. Think we'll have to try again next week. Oh yes, if any of you do get the chance, I'd recommend to watch the Hindi movie "Taj Mahal". I've not watched the movie yet BUT the trailer and behind the scenes look good. Although I could not understand a word they are saying but the body language speaks for itself - the vibrant colors and the very chio Pakistani-French actress.... It's suppose to be the most expensive movie ever made in Bollywood and they spent 3years filming it. Darn, if only they have English subtitles here.
Sunday, November 20, 2005
Summary of Week 5
5 weeks have passed and I am still surviving........ barely...... My feat for the first lab was just luck? Nah...partly because I had experience doing something similar when I was in NUS. Lab2 nearly suffocated me. The lab was suppose to start on Wednesaday afternoon, I slacked the afternoon away not doing it because I was too tired to think (....due to Risk). Note to self - never play Risk the night before a lab session.
I freaked out when I didn't do much by the end of Thursday morning. In the afternoon fortunately, I started to understand more of what I was trying to do and slowly managed to finish on time. However, my code was very bad in terms of efficiency but can't complain much. Actually, my colleagues aren't that strong in programming especially when it comes to assembly. Many of them stayed overnight just to finish up their work. I can tell that they are quite stressed out by it. It doesn't help also that their other friends in TCS are not subjected to the same level of intensive training as they are getting. I just realised that I've been working 7 days straight with no break. Get up at 7, start work from 9am to night 845pm(last train) with a 1 hr lunch break. By the time I finish dinner, it is already 1030pm. Take a shower and sleep.. Next morning repeat the process.....
Other than work.... well.. there's a Sri Ramakrishna Maths Publications company. I told YC previously about that. Today I just saw what is behind this publications company - "Sri Ramakrishna Universal Maths Temple" O_O .... .I was like "WAH LAO eh..." ... Universal Maths Temple? They worship the god of maths? hmmm.. I really got to explore more to see what it is about. Btw, Indians are very religious people. It doesn't matter which religion they belong to, they are very expressive about it? I mean, I switch on tv, at least 2-3 channels preaching hinduism 24/7 and another 2-3 channels preaching christianity 24/7....
ok.. time's up. .gotta go
I freaked out when I didn't do much by the end of Thursday morning. In the afternoon fortunately, I started to understand more of what I was trying to do and slowly managed to finish on time. However, my code was very bad in terms of efficiency but can't complain much. Actually, my colleagues aren't that strong in programming especially when it comes to assembly. Many of them stayed overnight just to finish up their work. I can tell that they are quite stressed out by it. It doesn't help also that their other friends in TCS are not subjected to the same level of intensive training as they are getting. I just realised that I've been working 7 days straight with no break. Get up at 7, start work from 9am to night 845pm(last train) with a 1 hr lunch break. By the time I finish dinner, it is already 1030pm. Take a shower and sleep.. Next morning repeat the process.....
Other than work.... well.. there's a Sri Ramakrishna Maths Publications company. I told YC previously about that. Today I just saw what is behind this publications company - "Sri Ramakrishna Universal Maths Temple" O_O .... .I was like "WAH LAO eh..." ... Universal Maths Temple? They worship the god of maths? hmmm.. I really got to explore more to see what it is about. Btw, Indians are very religious people. It doesn't matter which religion they belong to, they are very expressive about it? I mean, I switch on tv, at least 2-3 channels preaching hinduism 24/7 and another 2-3 channels preaching christianity 24/7....
ok.. time's up. .gotta go
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Long Sunday and more labs for the week
Working on Sunday was bad enough. Playing Risk till 3am the night before is worse. My friends and I went to Spencer Plaza (the super huge shopping complex in Chennai) for shopping on Saturday. We ended up buying Risk together to fill our free time (very hard to get any these days). It was very addictive that we didn't want to stop playing until we finally gave up because we know that the game would not end so soon and we have work the next day.
Good thing that this place we are staying provides morning calls. I am really pampered alot here in Chennai. The caretaker of the place would just give a ring to the phone in my room to wake me up. After I have finish preparing then I'll just give them a ring and ask them to bring breakfast up. Anyway, on Sunday morning, I had to drag myself out of bed. Well, my friends and I actually arrived at office late. Supposed to reach before 9am but we arrived at around 10. We had to 'drink tea' with the HR the next day and I expect our score card has some marks deducted liao.
Sunday was just a lab session very much like my first year in SoC. Really dejavu... Aaron Tan's (my CS1104 lecturer) words keep ringing in my head. At times I could suddenly recall facts that I don't even remember when doing my CS1104 exams :S ... This lab session was supposedly an easy lab because when I saw the question, I had the algorithm roughly planned out in my head. I thought that it would be simple and not as tough as how the rest of my classmates felt. (Actually when the question was given, they were all complaining on how it should be done. I felt like shutting them up for whinning so much at that time.)
....However, when I started work on the lab, I realised that it was not as easy as I first thought that it would be. The way to solve the problem would have been very easy if I was asked to write in Java. Unfortunately, it was assemble language... The horror of the tedious branchings and comparing of registers..... argh... the whole day I spent trying to solve the problem ended up in frustrations. I stared at the computer screen for hours on from 10am till lunch and from 2pm till about 5pm... It was only then I realised WTH!! ... I've forgotten the most fundamental rule of programming ->When you are stuck and tired, just leave the program and not think about it. That's what I did and went home to sleep. The next morning my mind was clearer and I realised the silly mistakes that I made in my code which made my program to run in an unexpected way.
In addition, the funny thing was that on Sunday I thought my friends had finished half the lab assignments. It wasn't the case.. I ended up being the first one (or maybe 2nd to that VIT gold medalist.. not very sure because she seemed to be coding furiously even after I finished mine...) to complete followed by the other 3 of us from Singapore. The others were so shocked and one was frustrated by us. He was frustrated because he started to work on the lab 1 day before my friends and I did. He said something like "What the heck am I working so hard for?"... yah.. poor thing... He stayed overnight on Saturday, Sunday and Monday as well trying to finish up the lab. This is one example that hardwork not necessarily equates to success....
Anyway, today they just gave us another lab assignment. My brain was in a deadlock again and I felt super sleepy that I actually took a nap. After that, my friends and I rushed back to our TQ so that we could take a good rest then work on the labs tomorrow. The labs are really tiring. I wonder how long will this 3rd lab take..... Not only that, my brain is becoming more and more like a computer. Java was already making my brain to think in a very systematic way... Assembly language is the ultimate so far... think in numbers... when I no longer look at "The Matrix" in the same way again because I have taken the red pill and understand how to read Hexadecimal operation codes for IBM ESA/390 like 1A 23 means add register 2 and register 3....... goodness... :S
Good thing that this place we are staying provides morning calls. I am really pampered alot here in Chennai. The caretaker of the place would just give a ring to the phone in my room to wake me up. After I have finish preparing then I'll just give them a ring and ask them to bring breakfast up. Anyway, on Sunday morning, I had to drag myself out of bed. Well, my friends and I actually arrived at office late. Supposed to reach before 9am but we arrived at around 10. We had to 'drink tea' with the HR the next day and I expect our score card has some marks deducted liao.
Sunday was just a lab session very much like my first year in SoC. Really dejavu... Aaron Tan's (my CS1104 lecturer) words keep ringing in my head. At times I could suddenly recall facts that I don't even remember when doing my CS1104 exams :S ... This lab session was supposedly an easy lab because when I saw the question, I had the algorithm roughly planned out in my head. I thought that it would be simple and not as tough as how the rest of my classmates felt. (Actually when the question was given, they were all complaining on how it should be done. I felt like shutting them up for whinning so much at that time.)
....However, when I started work on the lab, I realised that it was not as easy as I first thought that it would be. The way to solve the problem would have been very easy if I was asked to write in Java. Unfortunately, it was assemble language... The horror of the tedious branchings and comparing of registers..... argh... the whole day I spent trying to solve the problem ended up in frustrations. I stared at the computer screen for hours on from 10am till lunch and from 2pm till about 5pm... It was only then I realised WTH!! ... I've forgotten the most fundamental rule of programming ->When you are stuck and tired, just leave the program and not think about it. That's what I did and went home to sleep. The next morning my mind was clearer and I realised the silly mistakes that I made in my code which made my program to run in an unexpected way.
In addition, the funny thing was that on Sunday I thought my friends had finished half the lab assignments. It wasn't the case.. I ended up being the first one (or maybe 2nd to that VIT gold medalist.. not very sure because she seemed to be coding furiously even after I finished mine...) to complete followed by the other 3 of us from Singapore. The others were so shocked and one was frustrated by us. He was frustrated because he started to work on the lab 1 day before my friends and I did. He said something like "What the heck am I working so hard for?"... yah.. poor thing... He stayed overnight on Saturday, Sunday and Monday as well trying to finish up the lab. This is one example that hardwork not necessarily equates to success....
Anyway, today they just gave us another lab assignment. My brain was in a deadlock again and I felt super sleepy that I actually took a nap. After that, my friends and I rushed back to our TQ so that we could take a good rest then work on the labs tomorrow. The labs are really tiring. I wonder how long will this 3rd lab take..... Not only that, my brain is becoming more and more like a computer. Java was already making my brain to think in a very systematic way... Assembly language is the ultimate so far... think in numbers... when I no longer look at "The Matrix" in the same way again because I have taken the red pill and understand how to read Hexadecimal operation codes for IBM ESA/390 like 1A 23 means add register 2 and register 3....... goodness... :S
Saturday, November 12, 2005
Week 4 ending....
After today, it would mark the end of my fourth week here in Chennai. It has already been 1 month! Wow..... 5 and a 1/2 more months to go before I leave India. Time seem to be passing quite fast now that I have a lot of homework to do. There are lots of assignments and lab work. It feels just like my first year in NUS again. Not only that, the things they are teaching us is very much similiar to what I've learnt before.
All throughout the lessons so far, I was trying hard to recall what was taught by my lecturers in my first year. Concepts taught in 2nd year and 3rd year are rarely used. Now I can follow all the other working ppl who always say that only take the basics out of uni, the rest of the stuff taught is useless. Ironically, the two modules which I was quite weak in my first year - CS1102 (Data structures & Algo) and CS1104 (Computer Organization). A lot of concepts about computer memory access, how computers work and all the binary and hexadecimal numbers are coming back to haunt me. It has turned from my weakness to something that I must conquer else I will have to start looking for another company liao.
Class is starting to become less noisy. I think my classmates have become less enthusiastic about asking redundant questions. This is because the more questions they ask, although make them look impressive but our working hours would be extended until we can complete the sessions. We are on a very tight schedule and must complete by Dec 26th. I think they are having some projects that urgently need people so they want to make sure we grasp all the concepts quickly and can work immediately after that.
AIESEC Chennai's Diwali Night
Yesterday I finally met up with the AIESECers and trainee in Chennai. AIESEC in Chennai had organized a Diwali night for the trainees. I was so happy to meet them. The feeling was like I know these people very well and not strangers. The setting was so familiar. It made me feel quite at home. AIESECers here talk about the same thing - welfare of trainees. The Financial Controller going around getting money from the AIESECers and helping to assign a trainee buddy to the newly arrived trainee, etc. After the normal AIESEC event, trainees have their own trainee party gathering nearby to send off another trainee. It was very very nice to be with people of the same group again.
I met a Taiwan guy who was so happy to see me. His first reaction was like "Do you speak Chinese?". I replied in Mandarin and he was overjoyed. He exclaimed that in his 7months here I'm the 2nd guy from "The Far East" that he met in Chennai. Anyway, other than that I "interviewed" the trainees on their weekend activities. They travel alot during weekends - leave from work on Friday evening, take overnight bus/train and go straight to work on Monday morning. It is very tiring but they say it is worth the trip. I'm looking forward to joining them once my trainings are over. Muahahaha.....
Anyway, think this will be all for my summary of this week although I have more to say but my surfing time is almost up. I'll update again another time. By the way, I have work tomorrow (>_<).... it's a Sunday.... gosh.....
All throughout the lessons so far, I was trying hard to recall what was taught by my lecturers in my first year. Concepts taught in 2nd year and 3rd year are rarely used. Now I can follow all the other working ppl who always say that only take the basics out of uni, the rest of the stuff taught is useless. Ironically, the two modules which I was quite weak in my first year - CS1102 (Data structures & Algo) and CS1104 (Computer Organization). A lot of concepts about computer memory access, how computers work and all the binary and hexadecimal numbers are coming back to haunt me. It has turned from my weakness to something that I must conquer else I will have to start looking for another company liao.
Class is starting to become less noisy. I think my classmates have become less enthusiastic about asking redundant questions. This is because the more questions they ask, although make them look impressive but our working hours would be extended until we can complete the sessions. We are on a very tight schedule and must complete by Dec 26th. I think they are having some projects that urgently need people so they want to make sure we grasp all the concepts quickly and can work immediately after that.
AIESEC Chennai's Diwali Night
Yesterday I finally met up with the AIESECers and trainee in Chennai. AIESEC in Chennai had organized a Diwali night for the trainees. I was so happy to meet them. The feeling was like I know these people very well and not strangers. The setting was so familiar. It made me feel quite at home. AIESECers here talk about the same thing - welfare of trainees. The Financial Controller going around getting money from the AIESECers and helping to assign a trainee buddy to the newly arrived trainee, etc. After the normal AIESEC event, trainees have their own trainee party gathering nearby to send off another trainee. It was very very nice to be with people of the same group again.
I met a Taiwan guy who was so happy to see me. His first reaction was like "Do you speak Chinese?". I replied in Mandarin and he was overjoyed. He exclaimed that in his 7months here I'm the 2nd guy from "The Far East" that he met in Chennai. Anyway, other than that I "interviewed" the trainees on their weekend activities. They travel alot during weekends - leave from work on Friday evening, take overnight bus/train and go straight to work on Monday morning. It is very tiring but they say it is worth the trip. I'm looking forward to joining them once my trainings are over. Muahahaha.....
Anyway, think this will be all for my summary of this week although I have more to say but my surfing time is almost up. I'll update again another time. By the way, I have work tomorrow (>_<).... it's a Sunday.... gosh.....
Thursday, November 10, 2005
IT and India (Chennai)
At almost every corner here in Chennai, one can easily find posters or advertisements about private schools teaching J2EE, .Net, Java, C++, C and the other popular programming languages. Newspaper advertisements also. IT jobs make up a large portion of the classified ads compared to business-related jobs here in Singapore.
The place where I'm working now is at a city/town or whatever you call it (in Tamil, it is Nagar), Thiruvanmiyur has a lot of developments going on. Currently, there are 3 big buildings there. Tidel Park, El-Net Software City (where I work) and Ascendas. There are a few more buildings coming up. The place is supposed to be called "IT-corridor". The roads at the moment are narrow and with certain sections flooded. It makes me wonder how this place will be 10years from now. Clean, good roads, proper shelters and street lights? Only time will tell.... My friend thinks that it won't be as nice as we would expect it to be. The people contracting this development might just drop the project halfway. Who knows?
Anyway, everyday I walk from my office to Tidel Park (about 10mins walk) for lunch. It is quite a hassle but I have no choice because there is a lousy canteen at my office. Tidel Park has a better food court and more variety. Not only that there's also a money changer, a bookshop, a pharmacy and plenty of ATM machines. This place is not as nice as Raffle's City but this is a good place. I can't complain much. :P
The place where I'm working now is at a city/town or whatever you call it (in Tamil, it is Nagar), Thiruvanmiyur has a lot of developments going on. Currently, there are 3 big buildings there. Tidel Park, El-Net Software City (where I work) and Ascendas. There are a few more buildings coming up. The place is supposed to be called "IT-corridor". The roads at the moment are narrow and with certain sections flooded. It makes me wonder how this place will be 10years from now. Clean, good roads, proper shelters and street lights? Only time will tell.... My friend thinks that it won't be as nice as we would expect it to be. The people contracting this development might just drop the project halfway. Who knows?
Anyway, everyday I walk from my office to Tidel Park (about 10mins walk) for lunch. It is quite a hassle but I have no choice because there is a lousy canteen at my office. Tidel Park has a better food court and more variety. Not only that there's also a money changer, a bookshop, a pharmacy and plenty of ATM machines. This place is not as nice as Raffle's City but this is a good place. I can't complain much. :P
Sunday, November 06, 2005
Summary of week 3
My trainings have officially started on Wednesday. Day 1 was just introduction by the HR manager on the purpose of the course and the need to adhere strictly to the timings. We were not allowed to take leaves and our Saturdays were taken away from us. In addition, we were told that Sunday holiday is optional because most of us will still go back to office anyway because we might not be able to complete our homework fast enough. One of my friends calculated the number of hours that we have to work and the pay that we are getting and concluded that we are earning the same amount or even less than Mc Donalds' part time job. Can I have your order? Egg Mc Muffin? Big Breakfast?
My classmates are.... interesting.. as in typical top-class students? They love class participation. They love to try and silence whoever is trying to answer the question and propose their own solution. Most of all, they love to "help complete the sentence of the teacher". All 3 of us from NUS were ... well... typical NUS students - keeping quiet. Hahaha... of course at the end of the day, we were just amazed at how they were so enthusiastic to answer even if what they say have no relevance to the question. -.-"
Some of them just say something extra or ask chiem questions which is of no help to the course or will be better explained next time when we learn more. It is as if they are trying to show that they are very capable and very intelligent which I think I shall not comment on. I think if I find out their grades in high school and uni, I'll have to cover my face and hide in one corner. :P
But.. I'm not intimidated by them. They maybe very smart but I doubt that it would matter a lot. Hahaha.. Don't know lah, 6months down the road see how.... where will I be then?
My classmates are.... interesting.. as in typical top-class students? They love class participation. They love to try and silence whoever is trying to answer the question and propose their own solution. Most of all, they love to "help complete the sentence of the teacher". All 3 of us from NUS were ... well... typical NUS students - keeping quiet. Hahaha... of course at the end of the day, we were just amazed at how they were so enthusiastic to answer even if what they say have no relevance to the question. -.-"
Some of them just say something extra or ask chiem questions which is of no help to the course or will be better explained next time when we learn more. It is as if they are trying to show that they are very capable and very intelligent which I think I shall not comment on. I think if I find out their grades in high school and uni, I'll have to cover my face and hide in one corner. :P
But.. I'm not intimidated by them. They maybe very smart but I doubt that it would matter a lot. Hahaha.. Don't know lah, 6months down the road see how.... where will I be then?
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Happy Diwali
Today is Diwali Holiday. Diwali here feels like Chinese New Year in Brunei. The people have been playing firecrackers non stop since Friday night (after the cyclone). Nothing much to do today except stay in and watch tv.
It is very scary to be walking along the streets during Diwali season. Suddenly someone might just set a firecracker in front of you. Very dangerous. It is worse when I saw a bunch of kids with firecrackers. Who knows one of them might just be "happy" enough to try blowing up a firecracker at Chinese man just for the kick of it?
Unlike S'pore or Brunei, there are no "sales" during Diwali season. I thought it would be similar. Shopping is not the same here. No special Diwali offers. Prices are just the same or even more expensive to take advantage of consumers. Ok lah, that'll be all from me this time. I realise that I have been writing super long essays. This is not good. In A Levels, my GP teacher told me to KISS (Keep it short and simple) my work. In University, my communications lecturer said to KISS (Keep it short stupid!). People hate reading essays. I bow down to all those who finished reading my long winded talk below... Hahahaa
It is very scary to be walking along the streets during Diwali season. Suddenly someone might just set a firecracker in front of you. Very dangerous. It is worse when I saw a bunch of kids with firecrackers. Who knows one of them might just be "happy" enough to try blowing up a firecracker at Chinese man just for the kick of it?
Unlike S'pore or Brunei, there are no "sales" during Diwali season. I thought it would be similar. Shopping is not the same here. No special Diwali offers. Prices are just the same or even more expensive to take advantage of consumers. Ok lah, that'll be all from me this time. I realise that I have been writing super long essays. This is not good. In A Levels, my GP teacher told me to KISS (Keep it short and simple) my work. In University, my communications lecturer said to KISS (Keep it short stupid!). People hate reading essays. I bow down to all those who finished reading my long winded talk below... Hahahaa
Sunday, October 30, 2005
2nd week over
After 2 weeks, let me summarize abit of my daily activities other than the heavy rains and floods. By the way, the weather is very clear right now, afternoons are hot and sunny as how Chennai should be. I think I'm getting a tan because of the sunlight here :S
Anyway, every night for the past week, my friends and I have upgraded from normal non-vegetarian restaurants to high-class restaurants for dinner. We are living an expats life here in Chennai. Like how the expats in S'pore are, this is how we are treating ourselves as well. Lunch at the food courts and canteens at our work place costs about Rs.30-40. Dinner starts at Rs.100 and averages around Rs200-Rs250. The most expensive meal I've had so far is today's buffet lunch at a 5-star hotel. It cost me Rs350 (abt $12) but quite cheap I think when one compares it with the buffet offers in Singapore hotels ($25?). However, most reasonable price is when we had lunch at Zara, a Spanish restaurant (not the clothes shop). A full set meal that costs only Rs209 (about $8) which would've cost $12-$15 in Singapore. The place is also very nice and posh. The only downside is that some of the customers smoke.
I have also been trying to contact people from AIESEC in Chennai. So far, I've only managed to sms Vikas, LCP of @Chennai. He gave me one guy's contact who called me once and that's it. I tried calling him back but I think he changed phone number liao. So, Vikas gave me another number. This guy called me today and promised to meet me tomorrow or at least Friday. They are quite busy these days because of Diwali celebrations. Friday is gathering for trainees to explain/expose them to Diwali and what it is about. I can't wait to meet up with them. At the moment, it is very boring here in Chennai because my friends and I don't know where to go. We don't know any local people here.
Marina Beach
I think I talked about Marina beach in a previous post. This is one of the longest beach in the world. It is just a ten minute walk from where I stay. This morning, my friends and I got up early to catch the SUNRISE!! ..... Unfortunately....... we were 15minutes too late and the clouds were very thick. See no sun .. hai~ ...We were there at about 610am. The surprise I got was that there were so many people at the beach at that time. In fact, I found out that people start going to the beach at 430am. This is because they are there for their morning exercises. So many people jogging, a group of people playing soccer (finally found football in India!), a group of people doing laughter exercise??, etc. The laughter exercise group is weird. They bend to their left, stretch their arms and start giving out a mild laugh. Repeat on the right. Repeat a few times. Then they move on to "heavier" exercise. Laugh loudly and in a deep voice like santa claus.
Anyway, my friends and I had a morning jog on the beach then played soccer with the bunch of people. There was this 89year old man who I think is the coach of these people. He has an album that collects newspaper clippings of him during his younger years I think in the Indian national team back in the 50s?? This guy is still very active. It shames me that at my age, I am not as fit as this 89 year old guy. He may not run as fast as I can but he definitely can jog a longer distance. His footwork on the ball is quite good. If I do reach 89years old, I would want to be as fit as he is... but before that, I need to work on how I am now. Shame CY, shame... in this 6months here in India, I will try to build up my stamina and football skills by playing with these people. Hahaha.... .. hopefully. Will come back here more often. Next time MUST see sun rise from the horizon. :P
Btw, "football in Chennai is for 'poor' people and cricket which is a religion in India is for the better off" quote from the people I met at the beach. We found out about this because my friends and I are looking for places to watch football on tv. Unfortunately, there isn't any place to watch football. Football is cheap and you can share the ball with everyone. Cricket is expensive because of the equipment. Oh yes, talking about expensive. I was expecting Chennai to have plenty of cheap stuff like cheap Nike shoes, cheap clothings, etc... Ended up the prices are no different from S'pore and there are also many which are more expensive. I guess I assume Chennai to be similar to China. Of course, cheapest thing here is food.
Work
So far, I've yet to receive official training. Training only starts on Nov 2nd. At the moment, my friends and I are just slacking in the office. Read abit on OS, read abit on Assembly language, program abit on the Intel 8086 emulator (hear of Intel 486? This is the predecessor.. ancient dinosaur.) Hopefully when training starts, it will be interesting and I can feel useful. I've just found out the price of the place I'm staying at as well. TCS is paying Rs800/night (about $32) for each room. No wonder we are getting such good service and complimentary breakfast... Of course, they're still trying to move us out but they've yet to find an apartment for us.
Anyway, every night for the past week, my friends and I have upgraded from normal non-vegetarian restaurants to high-class restaurants for dinner. We are living an expats life here in Chennai. Like how the expats in S'pore are, this is how we are treating ourselves as well. Lunch at the food courts and canteens at our work place costs about Rs.30-40. Dinner starts at Rs.100 and averages around Rs200-Rs250. The most expensive meal I've had so far is today's buffet lunch at a 5-star hotel. It cost me Rs350 (abt $12) but quite cheap I think when one compares it with the buffet offers in Singapore hotels ($25?). However, most reasonable price is when we had lunch at Zara, a Spanish restaurant (not the clothes shop). A full set meal that costs only Rs209 (about $8) which would've cost $12-$15 in Singapore. The place is also very nice and posh. The only downside is that some of the customers smoke.
I have also been trying to contact people from AIESEC in Chennai. So far, I've only managed to sms Vikas, LCP of @Chennai. He gave me one guy's contact who called me once and that's it. I tried calling him back but I think he changed phone number liao. So, Vikas gave me another number. This guy called me today and promised to meet me tomorrow or at least Friday. They are quite busy these days because of Diwali celebrations. Friday is gathering for trainees to explain/expose them to Diwali and what it is about. I can't wait to meet up with them. At the moment, it is very boring here in Chennai because my friends and I don't know where to go. We don't know any local people here.
Marina Beach
I think I talked about Marina beach in a previous post. This is one of the longest beach in the world. It is just a ten minute walk from where I stay. This morning, my friends and I got up early to catch the SUNRISE!! ..... Unfortunately....... we were 15minutes too late and the clouds were very thick. See no sun .. hai~ ...We were there at about 610am. The surprise I got was that there were so many people at the beach at that time. In fact, I found out that people start going to the beach at 430am. This is because they are there for their morning exercises. So many people jogging, a group of people playing soccer (finally found football in India!), a group of people doing laughter exercise??, etc. The laughter exercise group is weird. They bend to their left, stretch their arms and start giving out a mild laugh. Repeat on the right. Repeat a few times. Then they move on to "heavier" exercise. Laugh loudly and in a deep voice like santa claus.
Anyway, my friends and I had a morning jog on the beach then played soccer with the bunch of people. There was this 89year old man who I think is the coach of these people. He has an album that collects newspaper clippings of him during his younger years I think in the Indian national team back in the 50s?? This guy is still very active. It shames me that at my age, I am not as fit as this 89 year old guy. He may not run as fast as I can but he definitely can jog a longer distance. His footwork on the ball is quite good. If I do reach 89years old, I would want to be as fit as he is... but before that, I need to work on how I am now. Shame CY, shame... in this 6months here in India, I will try to build up my stamina and football skills by playing with these people. Hahaha.... .. hopefully. Will come back here more often. Next time MUST see sun rise from the horizon. :P
Btw, "football in Chennai is for 'poor' people and cricket which is a religion in India is for the better off" quote from the people I met at the beach. We found out about this because my friends and I are looking for places to watch football on tv. Unfortunately, there isn't any place to watch football. Football is cheap and you can share the ball with everyone. Cricket is expensive because of the equipment. Oh yes, talking about expensive. I was expecting Chennai to have plenty of cheap stuff like cheap Nike shoes, cheap clothings, etc... Ended up the prices are no different from S'pore and there are also many which are more expensive. I guess I assume Chennai to be similar to China. Of course, cheapest thing here is food.
Work
So far, I've yet to receive official training. Training only starts on Nov 2nd. At the moment, my friends and I are just slacking in the office. Read abit on OS, read abit on Assembly language, program abit on the Intel 8086 emulator (hear of Intel 486? This is the predecessor.. ancient dinosaur.) Hopefully when training starts, it will be interesting and I can feel useful. I've just found out the price of the place I'm staying at as well. TCS is paying Rs800/night (about $32) for each room. No wonder we are getting such good service and complimentary breakfast... Of course, they're still trying to move us out but they've yet to find an apartment for us.
Friday, October 28, 2005
Heavy Rains in Chennai
It was raining heavily continously in Chennai for the past few days. This was due to the high concentration of low pressures off the Bay of Bengal (east of Chennai). The news reported that a cyclone was forming. Winds of up to 60km/h were expected to hit Chennai. I didn't really know whether it is considered serious or not except that due to this heavy rain, I caught a cold because I was always under the rain. I do have umbrella but what's the use in Chennai where there are so many low electric cables around. I could easily grab one of the power cables and *bzzzt* ....Fried CY.
Previously I said that monsoon season is over but I realise that the information is not correct for Chennai. Chennai will experience monsoon till end of this month. Also, this heavy rain has not occured for more than 3years. It flooded most of the outskirts of the city. Between where I stay and my place of work, it is relatively dry but there are some areas which is heavily flooded. People have to wade through waters that are at waist level. Gov't officials are concerned of the diseases that might spread because the water is mixed with drainage water. *Eeew*... but what to do? On Thursday, my friends and I went to work quite late because we were stuck as the road to the train station was flooded till waist level. We took an auto (the yellow tuk-tuk as they are called in Thailand) who has strong bargaining power due to the floods around. A ride that would normally cost Rs10, he charged us Rs30. No choice but to pay because we still have to go to work right?
The interesting thing was that due to the heavy rains, the train station's counter was not open so we had FREE train ride. hahaha.... to make up for the expensive auto. When we reached our office, the main road to the office was flooded as well. We had to take off our shoes to get in. It was very 'jialat'... Umbrellas don't really work in this kind of situation. It would've been better if we had raincoats and PCK boots. Reaching the office, we found out that many others have not arrived despite us being 2hours late. The director was so happy to see us in office that he wrote an email to show off the quality of his S'pore recruited trainees. The rain continued to pour heavily and we started to wonder what would happen when the cyclone hits Chennai.
Abuthen, we should've just stayed at home that day because at 3pm, the director declared that everyone can leave. This was because Tamil Nadu was in a state of emergency, 550 bus routes were stranded due to the floods, power was cut in many parts of Chennai and the trains were not operational. Because we could not take the train back, my friends and I boarded the company van to a nearby public bus stop. Winds were blowing strongly and the rain was torturous. We were all freezing cold because of the rain. The once traffic jam prone street has a few cars on the road. We witnessed a tree branch break and falling on the car. Fortunately, the branch was not heavy enough to damage the car. The driver drove off as if nothing happened. Lucky him...
After we managed to take the bus, we were only able to alight at a stop about 2km from where we stay because of the route. We tried to walk back to our place of stay until we reached a "dead end"... Floods that were up to waist level on the main road. Autos could not pass. We tried to flag down an auto to get us back. It took us about 1/2 hr before we managed to get a guy. In such a situation, he tried to get us to pay Rs30. We agreed if he brought us across the flood. When he reached, he realised that he can't drive his auto across and apologized. Told us that he can bring us if we pay Rs50. We tried to bargain for Rs40 because it was way too expensive. He was reluctant. He stared at my friend who was doing all the bargaining. My friend stared back hard. The situation felt abit tense. Ended up, we tried to get off his auto, he demanded for us to pay Rs10 for the short distance. My friend was pissed and did not want to pay. An argument broke out and lasted for about 10mins I suppose before the autodriver finally agreed to Rs40.
Once back in VR Home, we quickly took a shower and enjoyed the comfort of the place. For dinner, because of the heavy rain, we ordered pizza from Dominos. It was super cheap Rs117 (about $5) for 2 personal pizza and free delivery. When the pizza guy arrived, he was shivering because of the heavy rain. I pity him but didn't think of tipping him... which I think I should've because he battled through the cyclonic rains to bring our pizza. That night, we just glued to the TV news channel getting updates on the cyclone's situation. It was reported that the cyclone was suppose to hit early Friday morning. The winds were still blowing very strongly that night.
However, when day broke, it was strange... No strong winds, no rains. The sun was bright and sunny. My friends and I stayed... ponteng work until about 10am. Realising that no cyclone will hit today, we left for work and reached at 12pm... Just in time for lunch. Hahaha....
Previously I said that monsoon season is over but I realise that the information is not correct for Chennai. Chennai will experience monsoon till end of this month. Also, this heavy rain has not occured for more than 3years. It flooded most of the outskirts of the city. Between where I stay and my place of work, it is relatively dry but there are some areas which is heavily flooded. People have to wade through waters that are at waist level. Gov't officials are concerned of the diseases that might spread because the water is mixed with drainage water. *Eeew*... but what to do? On Thursday, my friends and I went to work quite late because we were stuck as the road to the train station was flooded till waist level. We took an auto (the yellow tuk-tuk as they are called in Thailand) who has strong bargaining power due to the floods around. A ride that would normally cost Rs10, he charged us Rs30. No choice but to pay because we still have to go to work right?
The interesting thing was that due to the heavy rains, the train station's counter was not open so we had FREE train ride. hahaha.... to make up for the expensive auto. When we reached our office, the main road to the office was flooded as well. We had to take off our shoes to get in. It was very 'jialat'... Umbrellas don't really work in this kind of situation. It would've been better if we had raincoats and PCK boots. Reaching the office, we found out that many others have not arrived despite us being 2hours late. The director was so happy to see us in office that he wrote an email to show off the quality of his S'pore recruited trainees. The rain continued to pour heavily and we started to wonder what would happen when the cyclone hits Chennai.
Abuthen, we should've just stayed at home that day because at 3pm, the director declared that everyone can leave. This was because Tamil Nadu was in a state of emergency, 550 bus routes were stranded due to the floods, power was cut in many parts of Chennai and the trains were not operational. Because we could not take the train back, my friends and I boarded the company van to a nearby public bus stop. Winds were blowing strongly and the rain was torturous. We were all freezing cold because of the rain. The once traffic jam prone street has a few cars on the road. We witnessed a tree branch break and falling on the car. Fortunately, the branch was not heavy enough to damage the car. The driver drove off as if nothing happened. Lucky him...
After we managed to take the bus, we were only able to alight at a stop about 2km from where we stay because of the route. We tried to walk back to our place of stay until we reached a "dead end"... Floods that were up to waist level on the main road. Autos could not pass. We tried to flag down an auto to get us back. It took us about 1/2 hr before we managed to get a guy. In such a situation, he tried to get us to pay Rs30. We agreed if he brought us across the flood. When he reached, he realised that he can't drive his auto across and apologized. Told us that he can bring us if we pay Rs50. We tried to bargain for Rs40 because it was way too expensive. He was reluctant. He stared at my friend who was doing all the bargaining. My friend stared back hard. The situation felt abit tense. Ended up, we tried to get off his auto, he demanded for us to pay Rs10 for the short distance. My friend was pissed and did not want to pay. An argument broke out and lasted for about 10mins I suppose before the autodriver finally agreed to Rs40.
Once back in VR Home, we quickly took a shower and enjoyed the comfort of the place. For dinner, because of the heavy rain, we ordered pizza from Dominos. It was super cheap Rs117 (about $5) for 2 personal pizza and free delivery. When the pizza guy arrived, he was shivering because of the heavy rain. I pity him but didn't think of tipping him... which I think I should've because he battled through the cyclonic rains to bring our pizza. That night, we just glued to the TV news channel getting updates on the cyclone's situation. It was reported that the cyclone was suppose to hit early Friday morning. The winds were still blowing very strongly that night.
However, when day broke, it was strange... No strong winds, no rains. The sun was bright and sunny. My friends and I stayed... ponteng work until about 10am. Realising that no cyclone will hit today, we left for work and reached at 12pm... Just in time for lunch. Hahaha....
Monday, October 24, 2005
Pondicherry
Pondicherry is the name of the former French Colony town situated about 130km South of Chennai. My friends and I went to Pondicherry on Sunday. We were actually planning to go there on Saturday but was not very sure how to go or whether we should or not. So, Saturday we ended up shopping at Spencer Plaza all afternoon (doesn't it sound like expensive plaza as in x-spencer to you? coz one of my friend heard it as expensive plaza instead of Spencers).
We took a bus at 8am yesterday morning. It was raining quite heavily but when compared to SEA, the "heavy" rain are just mild. Weather these days have been quite unpredictable. Chennai is suppose to be hot all year round but we are experiencing rain every day eventhough monsoon season is over. I don't really like the rain in Chennai eventhough it is considered a blessing here as Chennai has been experiencing drought for the past 3 years. The rain makes the road very difficult to walk and it damages my shoes. Some of the roads are very muddy and puddles are everywhere. So... we took the public bus near our place of stay. Strangely, whenever we try to flag down the bus we want to take, the bus driver ignores us and drive off. Due to this, there was one Indian guy running after the bus. My friends and I were in awe seeing how fast he could run and he grabbed the rails on the bus climbing as the bus moved. We continued to wait patiently before a bus finally stopped for us.
Buses here are interesting. The conductor always sits 2nd from the back and by the window. This is so that he could see whoever boards the bus and ensures that he collects the fares from them. He has a whistle - 1 blow means stop, 2 blows on the whistle means go. I also had the experience of seeing the conductor chasing a guy out of the bus because he couldn't pay the fare. They argued and the conductor of course managed to get him off.
Ok.. sidetracked a little from the main points of my trip. The bus ride to Pondicherry was 3 hours. We changed bus to an ECR (East Coast Road) bus. The bus was full and we had to stand. We stood for about an hour before we managed to get seats. My legs were already feeling very tired. Upon reaching Pondicherry, we realised that we don't know where we are supposed to go. We don't actually know where the remains of the French Colony was located. All we knew was that we wanted to go see the beach. We didn't want to take the auto because we know we'll be cheated as we are not familiar with the prices.
We asked around and found out that the beach was 2km from where we were. As we walked along the road, the scenery became more and more "organized". Suddenly, we saw a French lady (or maybe just another ang moh). My friend Benny got more and more excited. Moving on, French schools (mostly Catholic? All of them had the Virgin Mary statue situated just below the roof of the main building.), French library, police post with a French sign, etc. It was almost as good as being in France... almost. The roads were very straight and traffic was low. There is also a heritage walk where the path is paved with stones. This place is more suitable for tourist. There are many foreigners around here. Many of those street pedlars selling 'exotic' stuff like sandalwood necklaces, drums, etc.. I didn't buy any because of phobia. I have enough of being cheated.. Buy only next time if I do go back :P
The beach, well, wasn't really a beach. The sandy beach was 10km away (according to one of the auto guys). We settled for the dangerous rocky beach. Of course, I didn't went into the water. Only our friend, the Indian girl went in. Along the beach was a giant statue of Gandhi and a small Nehru statue opposite it. I realise that there are many statues along Marina beach in Chennai and Pondicherry. Oh yes, there was also Notre Dame here but we didn't have the time to visit it. There is also a very famous and big Hindu temple but due to lack of time.... And not forgeting, we saw the Joan of Arc statue but only her back because it was fenced up and we can get to it unless we walk a long way round to enter from the church. But we went to the house of one of the famous Indian Philosopher, Sri Aurobindo. We had to take off our shoes and walk in. There was a tomb with flowers over it and people meditating beside it. No one was allowed to talk. The place was sacred. I didn't really understand who he was so just walk walk, see see inside. All I know from that trip was that his wife was called "The Mother" and she played tennis.
Oh ya, FINALLY SAW AN ELEPHANT IN INDIA :P ... India is supposedly the land of the elephants and they are sacred creatures here. Hahaha.. I've seen elephants before but that was so loooong ago. Also, at Pondicherry, I had my first 'Banana Flambe'. It was too sweet but quite interesting. I mean.. ice-cream on top of a hotsauce with some liqour - new experience.
So far I've been blogging about my good experiences at Pondicherry but it also left me with some 'bad'/sad experience. It is here that I saw a man foraging for food from the garbage. Beggars came up to me, one even had a baby on her arms. Although I was very sympathetic of them but I did not give them any. I felt bad but it can't be helped because if I were to help one, the rest will come chasing. After this experience when I returned to Chennai, I got abit of phobia when I see kids running up to me. I have this anticipating feeling they'll extend their hand and ask me for something then I realise they ran past me and they are dressed quite well. I am abit lost when I see these people... makes me feel really appreciative of what I have.
Anyway, last night reached Chennai at about 9am. Quickly showered and went to sleep because of work today. It didn't really feel like a vacation. I would love to go back to Pondicherry next time but will stay there overnight. 1 day is definitely not enough to enjoy.
We took a bus at 8am yesterday morning. It was raining quite heavily but when compared to SEA, the "heavy" rain are just mild. Weather these days have been quite unpredictable. Chennai is suppose to be hot all year round but we are experiencing rain every day eventhough monsoon season is over. I don't really like the rain in Chennai eventhough it is considered a blessing here as Chennai has been experiencing drought for the past 3 years. The rain makes the road very difficult to walk and it damages my shoes. Some of the roads are very muddy and puddles are everywhere. So... we took the public bus near our place of stay. Strangely, whenever we try to flag down the bus we want to take, the bus driver ignores us and drive off. Due to this, there was one Indian guy running after the bus. My friends and I were in awe seeing how fast he could run and he grabbed the rails on the bus climbing as the bus moved. We continued to wait patiently before a bus finally stopped for us.
Buses here are interesting. The conductor always sits 2nd from the back and by the window. This is so that he could see whoever boards the bus and ensures that he collects the fares from them. He has a whistle - 1 blow means stop, 2 blows on the whistle means go. I also had the experience of seeing the conductor chasing a guy out of the bus because he couldn't pay the fare. They argued and the conductor of course managed to get him off.
Ok.. sidetracked a little from the main points of my trip. The bus ride to Pondicherry was 3 hours. We changed bus to an ECR (East Coast Road) bus. The bus was full and we had to stand. We stood for about an hour before we managed to get seats. My legs were already feeling very tired. Upon reaching Pondicherry, we realised that we don't know where we are supposed to go. We don't actually know where the remains of the French Colony was located. All we knew was that we wanted to go see the beach. We didn't want to take the auto because we know we'll be cheated as we are not familiar with the prices.
We asked around and found out that the beach was 2km from where we were. As we walked along the road, the scenery became more and more "organized". Suddenly, we saw a French lady (or maybe just another ang moh). My friend Benny got more and more excited. Moving on, French schools (mostly Catholic? All of them had the Virgin Mary statue situated just below the roof of the main building.), French library, police post with a French sign, etc. It was almost as good as being in France... almost. The roads were very straight and traffic was low. There is also a heritage walk where the path is paved with stones. This place is more suitable for tourist. There are many foreigners around here. Many of those street pedlars selling 'exotic' stuff like sandalwood necklaces, drums, etc.. I didn't buy any because of phobia. I have enough of being cheated.. Buy only next time if I do go back :P
The beach, well, wasn't really a beach. The sandy beach was 10km away (according to one of the auto guys). We settled for the dangerous rocky beach. Of course, I didn't went into the water. Only our friend, the Indian girl went in. Along the beach was a giant statue of Gandhi and a small Nehru statue opposite it. I realise that there are many statues along Marina beach in Chennai and Pondicherry. Oh yes, there was also Notre Dame here but we didn't have the time to visit it. There is also a very famous and big Hindu temple but due to lack of time.... And not forgeting, we saw the Joan of Arc statue but only her back because it was fenced up and we can get to it unless we walk a long way round to enter from the church. But we went to the house of one of the famous Indian Philosopher, Sri Aurobindo. We had to take off our shoes and walk in. There was a tomb with flowers over it and people meditating beside it. No one was allowed to talk. The place was sacred. I didn't really understand who he was so just walk walk, see see inside. All I know from that trip was that his wife was called "The Mother" and she played tennis.
Oh ya, FINALLY SAW AN ELEPHANT IN INDIA :P ... India is supposedly the land of the elephants and they are sacred creatures here. Hahaha.. I've seen elephants before but that was so loooong ago. Also, at Pondicherry, I had my first 'Banana Flambe'. It was too sweet but quite interesting. I mean.. ice-cream on top of a hotsauce with some liqour - new experience.
So far I've been blogging about my good experiences at Pondicherry but it also left me with some 'bad'/sad experience. It is here that I saw a man foraging for food from the garbage. Beggars came up to me, one even had a baby on her arms. Although I was very sympathetic of them but I did not give them any. I felt bad but it can't be helped because if I were to help one, the rest will come chasing. After this experience when I returned to Chennai, I got abit of phobia when I see kids running up to me. I have this anticipating feeling they'll extend their hand and ask me for something then I realise they ran past me and they are dressed quite well. I am abit lost when I see these people... makes me feel really appreciative of what I have.
Anyway, last night reached Chennai at about 9am. Quickly showered and went to sleep because of work today. It didn't really feel like a vacation. I would love to go back to Pondicherry next time but will stay there overnight. 1 day is definitely not enough to enjoy.
Saturday, October 22, 2005
Summary of what has happened so far
I find myself very tempted to blog ALL of my daily activities. It is so good that I wanted to share with everyone. BUT of course, this is not feasible and damn boring. Hahaha... Anyway, things are starting to slow down for me (so fast u might ask? I don't know :P). Let me describe abit of my experience in Chennai in the sections below.
People
I think more than 98% of the population here are Indians if not all! The Indians I met so far in restaurants, VR Home, at office are extremely friendly and "trustworthy". As in I don't get the feeling that they want to eat me up. Very different from what I would find in KL. During my KL trip, that was horrible! Everyone looked dangerous and ready to pounce on you. I would prefer to walk alone at night in Chennai than in KL. There seem to be also some form of mutual understanding and respect between people here especially when driving.
Traffic
Ironically, on the way to Changi that day, the taxi driver who drove me was having a fight with another taxi driver. This was because the other driver was flashing his headlights at him for no reason. He drove dangerously to show his anger at that guy. I was abit frigthened by it... 6hrs later in Chennai.... heh... EVEN WORSE! But the driver was not in a rage. He was just going around as if normal. Everyone sound their horns, everyone flashes their headlights. It is very important to sound your horn in Chennai as traffic is damn messy. But then again, I find that despite the messy traffic, people seem to know when to let others pass and when not to. It is weird. I would be stuck in a junction if you ask me to drive here.
In addition, trucks have "Sound Horn" notices written at the back to warn drivers to sound horn if they can read. An interesting fact is that during normal hours, one can hardly shift into 4th gear on the street. At most, just 3rd gear and you might have to start shifting down to 2nd liao.
Food
Idly, poori, sumber, chutney, chappati, dosa, uttapam, lassi, and so on.... are well... acceptable. Some are delicious while others are just plain not suitable for me to eat. The worst was the sour pickle. It was way too sour. The food overall was not as bad as how the reception package I read described it. I suppose it is only relevant to people who can't handle spicy food. A meal in TCS caffeteria for worth Rs30 would leave me so full that I could barely move. Restaurants however are abit costlier. Minimum of Rs100 for a complete meal. Quite worth it though.
Although..... I would like to note that it is quite hard to find a restaurant selling meat here. The other day, my friends and I were hunting for chicken at restaurants near our place of stay. We walked for quite a distance.. like pgp to bizad canteen before we finally found a "KFC" like fast food restaurant which is situated in the middle of nowhere. The shops beside it was all closed. If I was alone, I would NOT go there. Quite scary...
Last night, we went to a restaurant in the hotel near VR Home. The chef was so delighted to see us because we were "different". First he asked where we were from and of course we said Singapore. He immediately boasted his culinary skills which were not included in the menu. Singapore fried rice, ee mian, etc... He was like "You want S'pore food? I can cook for you. Make you feel at home."
Shopping
Ok.. First of all, I'll have to admit I have poor bargaining skills. Full stop. I shall not elaborate further as my friends here have been reminding me over and over on something I've bought. Other than that, I went to this place called Spencer's Plaza, supposedly the biggest shopping center here in Chennai. Here, we are able to see various types of people... as more like S'pore except with majority Indians rather than Chinese.. Hahaha.. I'll continue to say that I've spent quite heavily recently and will eat idly and dosa (maybe vada once in a while) for the next few months to save up.
Autorickshaw (just 'auto')
Today just had the experience of bargaining hard with an auto driver. These drivers would drive up prices so high to cheat us. I mean .. a short trip which was suppose to cost Rs40, they tried to charge Rs120 for the ride. Fortunately, there was another auto driver who came a little later, offered to give us the ride at that cost. The first auto driver was abit unhappy because the other guy wanted to try and take his business. They were arguing abit in Tamil. We were bargaining with the first guy. So when we requested the price, the 2nd driver laughed at the first guy and would gladly accept our offer. Unwillingly, the first guy accepted our offer, the 2nd guy just laughed and drove off. We were also smiling at this incident. :P
People
I think more than 98% of the population here are Indians if not all! The Indians I met so far in restaurants, VR Home, at office are extremely friendly and "trustworthy". As in I don't get the feeling that they want to eat me up. Very different from what I would find in KL. During my KL trip, that was horrible! Everyone looked dangerous and ready to pounce on you. I would prefer to walk alone at night in Chennai than in KL. There seem to be also some form of mutual understanding and respect between people here especially when driving.
Traffic
Ironically, on the way to Changi that day, the taxi driver who drove me was having a fight with another taxi driver. This was because the other driver was flashing his headlights at him for no reason. He drove dangerously to show his anger at that guy. I was abit frigthened by it... 6hrs later in Chennai.... heh... EVEN WORSE! But the driver was not in a rage. He was just going around as if normal. Everyone sound their horns, everyone flashes their headlights. It is very important to sound your horn in Chennai as traffic is damn messy. But then again, I find that despite the messy traffic, people seem to know when to let others pass and when not to. It is weird. I would be stuck in a junction if you ask me to drive here.
In addition, trucks have "Sound Horn" notices written at the back to warn drivers to sound horn if they can read. An interesting fact is that during normal hours, one can hardly shift into 4th gear on the street. At most, just 3rd gear and you might have to start shifting down to 2nd liao.
Food
Idly, poori, sumber, chutney, chappati, dosa, uttapam, lassi, and so on.... are well... acceptable. Some are delicious while others are just plain not suitable for me to eat. The worst was the sour pickle. It was way too sour. The food overall was not as bad as how the reception package I read described it. I suppose it is only relevant to people who can't handle spicy food. A meal in TCS caffeteria for worth Rs30 would leave me so full that I could barely move. Restaurants however are abit costlier. Minimum of Rs100 for a complete meal. Quite worth it though.
Although..... I would like to note that it is quite hard to find a restaurant selling meat here. The other day, my friends and I were hunting for chicken at restaurants near our place of stay. We walked for quite a distance.. like pgp to bizad canteen before we finally found a "KFC" like fast food restaurant which is situated in the middle of nowhere. The shops beside it was all closed. If I was alone, I would NOT go there. Quite scary...
Last night, we went to a restaurant in the hotel near VR Home. The chef was so delighted to see us because we were "different". First he asked where we were from and of course we said Singapore. He immediately boasted his culinary skills which were not included in the menu. Singapore fried rice, ee mian, etc... He was like "You want S'pore food? I can cook for you. Make you feel at home."
Shopping
Ok.. First of all, I'll have to admit I have poor bargaining skills. Full stop. I shall not elaborate further as my friends here have been reminding me over and over on something I've bought. Other than that, I went to this place called Spencer's Plaza, supposedly the biggest shopping center here in Chennai. Here, we are able to see various types of people... as more like S'pore except with majority Indians rather than Chinese.. Hahaha.. I'll continue to say that I've spent quite heavily recently and will eat idly and dosa (maybe vada once in a while) for the next few months to save up.
Autorickshaw (just 'auto')
Today just had the experience of bargaining hard with an auto driver. These drivers would drive up prices so high to cheat us. I mean .. a short trip which was suppose to cost Rs40, they tried to charge Rs120 for the ride. Fortunately, there was another auto driver who came a little later, offered to give us the ride at that cost. The first auto driver was abit unhappy because the other guy wanted to try and take his business. They were arguing abit in Tamil. We were bargaining with the first guy. So when we requested the price, the 2nd driver laughed at the first guy and would gladly accept our offer. Unwillingly, the first guy accepted our offer, the 2nd guy just laughed and drove off. We were also smiling at this incident. :P
Friday, October 21, 2005
Airline adventure
It has been quite some time since I last blogged. It is not easy to find time to come out to this internet cafe to blog because I get off quite late from work and my friends aren't keen on going online.
To the topic! -> to continue from where I left off previously, Changi Airport is marvelous. It has proper airconditioning and very clean... all very comfortable. When my friend and I boarded the plane, the first thing we noticed was how "un-SIA girls" they were. ^_^ ... Next, the interior of the plane was abit warm and stuffy. I was getting abit nervous because I fear that would be the condition all throughout the flight. The size of the plane was also very small - an Airbus A320. Only 2 toilets for the 4hr flight with 150ppl sitting. When we boarded, everyone inside was staring at us curiously. There were only 3 Chinese man on the flight and we are 2 of them! Next problem I faced on the flight was the storage of my hand luggage. Most of the compartments were already packed. It was here that I realised the need to go through Channel B(read below). These people bring a lot of stuff! In the end, my luggage was stowed away in a compartment a little further from where I sat.
During the flight, I noticed that the passengers like to walk around the plane often. It was very busy. People would walk from the front to the back, back to the front and chat around. It feels as if they do know each other that well. However, I don't know if they do or not. But then ar..... the aisle is so sempit! that they are blocking the path. At one point, the air-stewardess was pissed and she firmly requested that they be seated down. (yah! coz they were blocking our food!!!)
On arrival at Chennai Airport, I was already prepared for how it would be like. As expected but also not as expected.... very much the opposite of Changi..... of course, this is a bad comparison. I mean, Changi is the world's top 3. Oh ya..... at immigrations, I was held up awhile because I was.........*TADA*.... STATELESS! (Why am I not surprised?) I was just sniggering all the way at the poor officer who looked stunned and wanting to throw me out of India. I smiled as the poor guy had to walk over to his colleague to seek advice on what to do with me. Well, of course at the end, I was allowed to pass.
At baggage claims, I had the "wonderful" opportunity to experience power trips at the airport. The whole airport power was cut suddenly when the luggage conveyor belt was running. The belt operated smoothly for awhile before it tripped again. They had to manually switch on the belt each time. This occured 3-4 times before I finally manage to get my luggage. My first feeling as I stepped out of the aiport was "WAH! So many people! Why is it also very humid!?" When I rubbed my palms, I can feel some sort of wet and yet dry sensation. This is not the same as sweat. I began to fear what it would be like everyday here in Chennai. Anyway, after our contact person picked us, we were brought to our accomodation at VR home. It is situated very near the world's 2nd longest beach! Also... where the tsunami hit India last year. The house was better than expected -> Friendly service, personal double room, ac, clean water, hot water... It was magnificient! I took a shower and went to bed straight.. very tiring day....
Update: This place I'm staying at the moment is suppose to be for associate consultants/clients/big shot people. As accomodation was not properly settled, they chucked us in there. Next week I might be staying in some run down apartment :( ... Hopefully they settle something good for us...
To the topic! -> to continue from where I left off previously, Changi Airport is marvelous. It has proper airconditioning and very clean... all very comfortable. When my friend and I boarded the plane, the first thing we noticed was how "un-SIA girls" they were. ^_^ ... Next, the interior of the plane was abit warm and stuffy. I was getting abit nervous because I fear that would be the condition all throughout the flight. The size of the plane was also very small - an Airbus A320. Only 2 toilets for the 4hr flight with 150ppl sitting. When we boarded, everyone inside was staring at us curiously. There were only 3 Chinese man on the flight and we are 2 of them! Next problem I faced on the flight was the storage of my hand luggage. Most of the compartments were already packed. It was here that I realised the need to go through Channel B(read below). These people bring a lot of stuff! In the end, my luggage was stowed away in a compartment a little further from where I sat.
During the flight, I noticed that the passengers like to walk around the plane often. It was very busy. People would walk from the front to the back, back to the front and chat around. It feels as if they do know each other that well. However, I don't know if they do or not. But then ar..... the aisle is so sempit! that they are blocking the path. At one point, the air-stewardess was pissed and she firmly requested that they be seated down. (yah! coz they were blocking our food!!!)
On arrival at Chennai Airport, I was already prepared for how it would be like. As expected but also not as expected.... very much the opposite of Changi..... of course, this is a bad comparison. I mean, Changi is the world's top 3. Oh ya..... at immigrations, I was held up awhile because I was.........*TADA*.... STATELESS! (Why am I not surprised?) I was just sniggering all the way at the poor officer who looked stunned and wanting to throw me out of India. I smiled as the poor guy had to walk over to his colleague to seek advice on what to do with me. Well, of course at the end, I was allowed to pass.
At baggage claims, I had the "wonderful" opportunity to experience power trips at the airport. The whole airport power was cut suddenly when the luggage conveyor belt was running. The belt operated smoothly for awhile before it tripped again. They had to manually switch on the belt each time. This occured 3-4 times before I finally manage to get my luggage. My first feeling as I stepped out of the aiport was "WAH! So many people! Why is it also very humid!?" When I rubbed my palms, I can feel some sort of wet and yet dry sensation. This is not the same as sweat. I began to fear what it would be like everyday here in Chennai. Anyway, after our contact person picked us, we were brought to our accomodation at VR home. It is situated very near the world's 2nd longest beach! Also... where the tsunami hit India last year. The house was better than expected -> Friendly service, personal double room, ac, clean water, hot water... It was magnificient! I took a shower and went to bed straight.. very tiring day....
Update: This place I'm staying at the moment is suppose to be for associate consultants/clients/big shot people. As accomodation was not properly settled, they chucked us in there. Next week I might be staying in some run down apartment :( ... Hopefully they settle something good for us...
Monday, October 17, 2005
Airport Adventure
Changi Airport was filled with Indians the day I was flying off to Chennai. It was not because they were there to fly to Chennai. They were there to send off their friends/relatives. When I arrived at the airport, I was quite shocked. In addition, at the immigrations section, there was a special section for those flying to India to be cleared first. I was directed to "Channel B" where the authorities there weigh my hand luggage. I didn't understand why they needed to do that until much later.
I was actually quite late when I started to queue at the immigrations. My flight was supposed to be 9:05pm but I entered the immigrations at only 840pm. Queue was super long and I started to feel panic. Various thoughts ran through my mind like "Oh no.. miss flight...Benny is going to fly to India without me." "Doris is gonna kill me." "My friends are gonna laugh at me." ... Before my queue was over, I saw my friend just coming in to join the queue. I was like "WOAH!" and felt reliefed. I'm not going to be the only one left out... hahaha... if anything goes wrong, both of us will just get it from Doris or our HR manager... Hehehe...
Anyway, when we cleared immigrations, we both ran like mad to the gates. I was carrying a 11kg bag and boy it was damn heavy. I ran out of breath before I even reached C Gates. My friend was already far ahead of me. I couldn't see where he was. All I know was that I have to reach Gate C21. When I arrived at C21, I was so shocked to see that the lights were all off and there was not even a single soul there. I started to swear and ran around panicking even more. When my fear started to subside a little, I remembered and checked my ticket. The gate is NOT C21 but actually C15. WAH!!! THen I continued to run a little further to the gate. I arrived at the gate at about 9pm which is 5mins before the actual flight time. The gate was supposed to be closed 10mins before boarding but it didn't. Lucky man.... Anyway, I want to blog a little more on why this is.... But i guess my prepaid limit is out... will blog again another day.
I was actually quite late when I started to queue at the immigrations. My flight was supposed to be 9:05pm but I entered the immigrations at only 840pm. Queue was super long and I started to feel panic. Various thoughts ran through my mind like "Oh no.. miss flight...Benny is going to fly to India without me." "Doris is gonna kill me." "My friends are gonna laugh at me." ... Before my queue was over, I saw my friend just coming in to join the queue. I was like "WOAH!" and felt reliefed. I'm not going to be the only one left out... hahaha... if anything goes wrong, both of us will just get it from Doris or our HR manager... Hehehe...
Anyway, when we cleared immigrations, we both ran like mad to the gates. I was carrying a 11kg bag and boy it was damn heavy. I ran out of breath before I even reached C Gates. My friend was already far ahead of me. I couldn't see where he was. All I know was that I have to reach Gate C21. When I arrived at C21, I was so shocked to see that the lights were all off and there was not even a single soul there. I started to swear and ran around panicking even more. When my fear started to subside a little, I remembered and checked my ticket. The gate is NOT C21 but actually C15. WAH!!! THen I continued to run a little further to the gate. I arrived at the gate at about 9pm which is 5mins before the actual flight time. The gate was supposed to be closed 10mins before boarding but it didn't. Lucky man.... Anyway, I want to blog a little more on why this is.... But i guess my prepaid limit is out... will blog again another day.
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Chennai Trip Postponed Again
My trip to Chennai is now postponed to 15th October instead of this Friday 14th. So, 1 extra day for me to spend in Singapore. My friends are already 'bu2 nai4 fan3', all ready to kick me out of this country. This is for the crime of DoTAing daily and sleeping like a pig. Sorry lah ppl, I have no choice but to hang around a little longer. LOL!
Also, initially there was some problem with my Indian visa application. My visa took quite a long time to be approved. I suppose it was because I'm stateless. It is so difficult to travel with a passport like mine. I can only travel to East Malaysia and Singapore without the need of a visa. Anyway, fortunately visa application is handled by my company's admin officer. I didn't know that there was such a problem until my colleagues told me. Also, not a problem for me as long as I don't get fired because I can't fly to India :P
Chennai in 2 days (for sure this time)~
Also, initially there was some problem with my Indian visa application. My visa took quite a long time to be approved. I suppose it was because I'm stateless. It is so difficult to travel with a passport like mine. I can only travel to East Malaysia and Singapore without the need of a visa. Anyway, fortunately visa application is handled by my company's admin officer. I didn't know that there was such a problem until my colleagues told me. Also, not a problem for me as long as I don't get fired because I can't fly to India :P
Chennai in 2 days (for sure this time)~
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Packing Up = Thrashing Out
It is weird that when I pack up stuff, I find a lot of unwanted stuff as well. I kept some of the stuff in the box previously because I thought that it still had some value in the future. When I look at these stuffs again, I realise that it was just thrash. I should've cleared all these loooong time ago. Hahaha... But I suppose it was because I spent so much time reading and studying those lecture notes and tutorials that I very 'bu4 se3 de diu1'. Now.... just anyhow lar.... into the bin. Halfway through packing up. Another half to go. Furthermore, I've settled most of my other stuffs as well. Hahaha... Lighter responsibility liao (I've just been questioned by my colleagues why I'm still so involved in student societies. Who knows?)
3 days to Chennai~ I've just got news from my friend who already in Chennai that the lodging is quite good.
3 days to Chennai~ I've just got news from my friend who already in Chennai that the lodging is quite good.
Monday, October 10, 2005
Luggage Bag Shopping Experience
Yesterday I went out hunting for a good and cheap luggage trolley bag. I know that Mustafa Center is selling relatively good quality bags at cheap prices of $20-$30 for a 25" to 28" bag. However, the prices are too cheap to convince me that they would last wear and tear. This is weird but quite true. Anyway, I saw in the newspaper Robinsons having a sales for travellers bag few days ago. I went out straight to Centrepoint Atrium at Somerset to have a look at the sales. When I saw the prices of the bag, I was abit shocked. The luggage bags were very expensive. I hesistated whether to buy or not. Since it was still early, I decided to go down to Orchard and walk around first. At Orchard, I went to check out the prices of the bags as well, still quite expensive. I then remembered that Seiyu and Carrefour had better offers. So I thought, "Oklah.... don't want buy from here liao. Too expensive."
I went to the nearest Carrefour which is located at Dhoby Ghaut. When I arrived, I found out that Carrefour was also having a luggage bag exhibition at the open space in Plaza Singapura. Furthermore, the prices of the bags was what I was looking for. I got a 3-in-1 bag for just $49.90. Lucky I didn't go get that $89 bag at Robinsons. Feeling satisfied that I have achieved my target, I went back. Now, it is time to start packing up. 4 Days To Chennai~.
I went to the nearest Carrefour which is located at Dhoby Ghaut. When I arrived, I found out that Carrefour was also having a luggage bag exhibition at the open space in Plaza Singapura. Furthermore, the prices of the bags was what I was looking for. I got a 3-in-1 bag for just $49.90. Lucky I didn't go get that $89 bag at Robinsons. Feeling satisfied that I have achieved my target, I went back. Now, it is time to start packing up. 4 Days To Chennai~.
Sunday, October 09, 2005
A little limerick
There was a young man named Chin Yun,
Who got bored gaming ev'ry noon,
He told the interviewer:
"I am a fast learner!"
And they'll ship him off to India quite soon.
By Hooi Ying (posted with permission)
My comments:
Very power... I don't think I could come out with that rhymes like this. Thanks HY for this cool limerick.
Who got bored gaming ev'ry noon,
He told the interviewer:
"I am a fast learner!"
And they'll ship him off to India quite soon.
By Hooi Ying (posted with permission)
My comments:
Very power... I don't think I could come out with that rhymes like this. Thanks HY for this cool limerick.
Thursday, October 06, 2005
... and some more to add on...
Actually, I didn't expect my title when I first posted that I would be confirmed to leave for India. However, I did remember previously that the HR manager wanted us to be there on the 15th October. Now I know why it was postponed. The formal training starts on Nov 1st. My colleagues and I are sent 2 weeks earlier supposedly to allow us to spend some time to get use to life in Chennai. However, the main objective though is actually the resources are in Chennai and we have 2 weeks to self-study and ensuring that our Assembly Language are on-par with the 20 other recruits from India. (unrealistic though...I feel very scared... will be an embarassment if I can't learn fast enough... I'm pitting myself against the best of the best from India.. a scary thought.... I think expectations from NUS would be quite high also since NUS is 18th in the world....)
In addition, as my other colleagues put it, we received another bomb today. Training is for 3 months but actually there's another 3-5 months work on a smaller scale project before we are shifted to the more critical project in Taiwan's ASDC or Singapore's SIA. So... instead of being away for 3 months, it will now be 6 to 9months. My colleagues being abit "pessimistic" set it as 1year in India. Anyway, we are already starting to plan our trips around India - Plan to leave as soon as work is off at Friday then come back only on Monday morning (Travelling in India takes a loooooong time. Chennai is nearer to Singapore than to New Delhi in terms of travelling time). Then can blame all on Monday Blues for our lack of productivity on Monday. Hahaha.....
In addition, as my other colleagues put it, we received another bomb today. Training is for 3 months but actually there's another 3-5 months work on a smaller scale project before we are shifted to the more critical project in Taiwan's ASDC or Singapore's SIA. So... instead of being away for 3 months, it will now be 6 to 9months. My colleagues being abit "pessimistic" set it as 1year in India. Anyway, we are already starting to plan our trips around India - Plan to leave as soon as work is off at Friday then come back only on Monday morning (Travelling in India takes a loooooong time. Chennai is nearer to Singapore than to New Delhi in terms of travelling time). Then can blame all on Monday Blues for our lack of productivity on Monday. Hahaha.....
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
........or maybe not....
Today I've just received an email from the HR manager saying that I won't be flying this Sunday. Instead, the date has been postponed to 14th October. So, I have another 5 days of slacking before I fly off. *phew* I was panicking as I start to pack my stuff today. There seemed to be a lot and I don't know where to start. Now that it has been postponed, I'm relieved. I have more time to settle some of the unfinished stuff else ar..... I'll be constantly sneezing in India just because people would be scolding me for tossing all the work down. hahaha....
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