Happy 23! =P

2 days ago, the PGP gang came over to celebrate my birthday. The night before, I slept early so I could catch the WC match at 3am. When I woke up, I had a nice surprise seeing the "posters" sticked at my door by my housemates. As for the night celebration, it was a little unexpected although during the day people were occasionally dropping hints that they'll wanna overturn my house. Nice surprise. =P Hadn't had pizza for a long time so ordered 4 extra large pizzas for 10 people. There was also an initial debate on the size and number of pizzas to order. End of day, the four pizzas were cleared and plenty of "snacks" (pringles, mixed nuts and fish crackers). Thanks for the wonderful celebration! :D

Fun With Google Earth

I've just started to play with Google Earth recently and.. the world sure does look different from up there. =P
I took snapshots of some famous locations in Brunei. Enjoy!

Lo and behold, Jerudong Park! :D

Empire Hotel & Country Club (Brunei's "6 star hotel")

Shocked....

2 days ago, I met my colleague who went with me to India. She exclaimed that I looked skinnier than when she last saw me. I laughed at her remark and brushed it off as this is a common remark from people who I have not met for quite some time. They'll always say.. you look taller, you look skinnier, you look fairer (well... fairer...rarely got this remark after my stint in India).

Well, I experienced horror when I weighed myself yesterday. My weight is 56Kg! ARGH!!!! For the past 2 months I've lost a total of 6Kg! Move over Marie-France, SlimFit or any of the whatnot slimming center. What happened? I did eat as regularly as I had in India (Although I did occasionally skip breakfast...but I did that when I was studying in NUS as well). I did notice some weight loss 2 weeks after I was back from India, I dropped from 62 to 60. After 2months, I'm 56Kg now. The last time I weighed 56Kg was back in 2000.

What to do? Hmmm... gotta think positive. Maybe I should change job join the slimming consulting industry. Put my skills to good use. Anyway, I need to plan out how to regain my lost weight. Eat 6meals a day. Ensure daily intake of 120g of protein.

Pictures!

People always say that a picture speaks a thousand words. I realise that these days I'm having a mental block. I do not know what I should write about. So instead, I'll just post pictures of events that happened over the 2 months I'm back in Singapore.

Suntan Picture

No..... This picture is not about my hairy legs. Look more carefully, you'll notice that my feet has 2 different skin colors. Suntan from my travelling. 5months in India, I was very "fair" until I started to travel. I was wearing only sandals so..... you get the point. Sandals are not good for travelling. Haha...

PGP R2 Study Room
Ah..... This places brings lots of memories. Battles on both academic and social issues were planned and fought in this room.

Ken and Chai^2 looks like they are enjoying their studies. Hehehe....

Loon watches on as CY studies?!?! Hmmm... Well, I was always with a book in the study room. I took 2 weeks to complete that boring book. Hahaha... I wished I had something better to read at that time.

Everyone seriously studying.

More serious studying.... and of course, also in picture... plastic bags. Yes.... I've been away from NUS exams for 2 semesters. Study room has changed with the introduction of plastic bags containing food. It was like a fashion statement. Everyone comes in with a plastic bag. A must have item in the bag is the Famous $1.30 butter bun. I felt so out of place... Hahaha.. Oh ya, let's not forget also the "can" of Korean instant noodles.

Chennai Revisited?

This is actually the bus terminal at PGP. It was raining everyday for the month of April. I came back from India to find.... more rain. I was always thinking that Singapore doesn't have water logging problems as compared to Chennai but I was very wrong when I saw this.... tsk tsk tsk. Anyway, May was very hot and warm. Now, it's June, starting to rain everyday again.

Wallet lost and found

Earlier today I dropped my wallet at the Bukit Batok bus interchange. I panicked and searched around the station. Then, got an uncle who came over to tell me that he saw a girl took it from the floor and stared at the buses to see who is looking for the wallet. After a while, she left the station and then he saw me looking for my wallet.

Immediately I went to the Bt Batok Neighbourhood Police Centre to report my lost wallet. At the NPC, there was an officer on duty attending to a lady who was reporting her family feud.. What I understand was related to some divorce issue but who was I to bother about her problem when I had my own problems. I was still in abit of panic and on the advice of the officer, called the bank to cancel my ATM cards. So, I have to replace my cards later for a fee of $5 each card.

After the lady was done, it was my turn to report (30mins after I went). Just as the officer was about to key in my report, 2 teenagers came in, a guy and a girl. They were just about to report a wallet found. I looked at the wallet in his hand and my eyes gleamed as I recognised it as mine. I felt relieved and wanted to give him some money as a reward but he declined. I don't know who he is except if I heard correctly, his name is ChngYi whose IC number starts with 88 so.. means he's born in 1988. Thanks for finding my wallet and returning to me.

On a side note, the problem occured because of my this particular pair of 3/4pants which can't hold my bulky wallet. I dropped it once 2 years ago in PGP canteen... and now in public. This would teach me never to wear this pair of pants liao when I wanna go out. Tomorrow have to go bank because I in a "stressed" mode quickly freezed my ATM cards. Well, I should also be thankful that I got back my wallet with my 2ICs inside... else it would be more problem..... like the saying goes... po cai xiao zai

Me and My MacBook!

Picture taken with my handphone so quality not very nice (in addition to my dark room... the owner is still to fix my room lights)

I bought my FIRST Mac on Friday. I went to the PC fair searching for a new laptop after my previous one is sold. I LOVE MY MACBOOK! I got a free upgrade to 1GB RAM and bought the Apple Warranty for 3 years. The best thing about my MacBook is that I've installed WindowsXP on it. Intel-Based Macs are so cool -> getting the best of both worlds.



Here's a ngongsu image of my handphone as requested previously. This is taken with my MacBook's inbuilt iSight camera. Unfortunately iSight camera doesn't work on WindowsXP yet because the drivers are not yet stable. Hopefully the developers get it done soon then this MacBook will be perfect. Kekeke...

Unlucky laundry - Loong Way Down

Today is the 3rd time I'm doing my laundry here at my new home. Each time I do laundry, something bad happens. The first time, I forgot to put the washing machine out-hose into the bathroom. Hence, the kitchen was flooded by the time I realised what had happened (I left my clothes to wash while I went out to buy breakfast).
The next time I washed my clothes, I learnt my lesson.... but ..... after hanging it out to dry outside the window, I went out to library to "study" because it was a very hot day. 2hours later at the library, it started to rain heavily. My clothes were all soaked when I came back.
Today, I did my laundry again. I hung my pair of jeans on the pole as usual As I putting it out, the stick started to crack at the support... so I quickly retracted the pole. In my haste, my jeans fell 9 storeys down. Cursing my luck, I went downstairs to find my jeans....... and... whatdayaknow... it disappeared. Same thing happened previously when I dropped a clip. It seems that after falling 9 storeys, somehow the object will be warped into another dimension. Sienz....that was my only pair of jeans.... now I'll have to get another pair.

Updates

Short JB Trip
I went to JB for the first time on Wednesday. Although I've always passed by JB, I've never actually stopped there before. In addition, the trip to JB was abit sudden. At about 1pm I got a call from my friend and jio to go for lunch in JB then watch a movie. The trip to the border shopping center was very short - about 1hour(not including traffic jams/immgiration clearance).. which is almost the same time it would take me to reach Orchard from where I stay now. Anyway, had a nice meal there (it has been quite awhile since I last spent on these kind of food...) and then Secret Recipe Marble Cheese Cake... Yum! It is interesting that although S'pore has Secret Recipe but the price is (mathematically speaking) in absolute terms, equal. S$5.20 for the cake vs RM5.20. Anyway, after the meal, my friends went to watch Poseidon but I didn't join them because I had an event in the evening and I wasn't really keen on the show. Instead, I went to get a haircut for RM32. Quite satisfied at the service (wash and cut) which I paid extra S$4 for. Usually I would get a haircut only at S$10. After getting my haircut, I walked alone back to the border - a little scary (as I'm not very familiar with the place yet) but it was ok.

Movie & Night Rider
Yesterday went out to watch Over the Hedge at Orchard. Initially we wanted to watch DaVinci Code but because ALL the cinemas were fully booked, we settled for this. The earliest available show for DVC was at 1.45am.... Nonetheless, I'm quite happy with Over the Hedge. The characters are soooo cute. After the movie, I "experimented" with the Night Rider bus service provided by SMRT. The funny part was that I was so confident about the NR that I did not bother to double check my bus guide before leaving for Orchard earlier in the evening. It ended up, I walked from one end of Orchard to the other in search of the bus stop. By the time I found it, it was already 1245am. Although I had to travel quite far, the service was actually quite fast as there wasn't much traffic on the road and the bus doesn't stop on every stop as few people board it at that hour.
To add to my surprise, there was an old lady (60+ or 70 years old?) who boarded the bus with 2 large handcarries (one - folded cardboxes, two - empty cans but it has the rubbish bin stinky smell). It was 1am! My goodness, why is she working till so late into the night. She was having trouble carrying those as well. I helped her carry the stuff off the bus as she could not manage it alone.
Other interesting note on the bus was this group of 4 people - 2 guys, 2 girls. It seems that one of the guy was being "bullied". He was kinda anti social as initially, he sat at another seat then one of the girl asked him to sit next to the other girl. He sat next to the girl very "unwillingly". From my view, it seems that he's afraid the girl he's sitting next to, is going to eat him alive. He shifts his body towards the edge of the seat away from the girl (he could fall off the seat!). So funny.... the other 2 frens of him asked him to sit properly. He adjusted... but slowly shifts outwards again. Dunno what's the matter but quite an amuzing thing to see. Hahaha....

New Home

I finally moved to my new place at Bt Gombak yesterday. When my housemates and I chose this place, we liked it a lot because the previous tenants were girls AND SUPPOSEDLY, the apartment was very clean...... until Chin Yoong and I started to clean up the place. Everything that is visible to the eye is ... well... "ok ok clean". Everything that is under the table and behind the cupboard... is EXTREMELY dirty. You can't imagine the amount of hair they left behind.

Chin Yoong and I did a thorough clear of all the unwanted stuff that might've belong to the girls or the owner such as empty boxes, plastic bags, etc. After that, swept all the thick dust behind the cabinet and desks. Oh yea, we also bought 2nd hand vacuum cleaner from the girls at 1/2price. I should've listened and looked deeper into the meaning when they told us, "Oh, this house very easy to clean. We just buy a vacuum cleaner because we very lazy to clean up. Easy, just vacuum all the hair." When I switched on the vacuum cleaner ah, I noticed that nothing was being sucked up. As I ponder about it, I opened the "extension head" of the vacuum cleaner and found long strands of hair clogging the air passage. It was DISGUSTING..... CY took a picture of me looking very disgusted pulling out the hair from the extension head. This is very bad... I thought I'm a lazy person in cleaning houses but when compared with them, I'm definitely a lot better.

Anyway, after cleaning up the whole place, my housemates and I were very satisfied with our job and went IKEA shopping for bedroom and house accessories. Now the place looks so much brighter and cleaner.. Hehe...

Side note: My laptop spoil again. Am so sad. Lucky one of my friend is kind enough to lend his laptop for me to use over the weekend as he goes home.

Pictures from Delhi Trip!

Yesterday I got back my files which I backed up to a friend's comp. Gotta thank Audrey for lending me 3+GB of diskspace to store my stuffs.
Here's some of the pictures that I've been wanting to share:

Viewing the Main Prayer Grounds of Jama Masjid

This view reminds me of Richard Gere in the Visa advertisement

Main Building of Jama Masjid (yes yes... CY promoting AIESEC to tourists.. Hahaha)

Purana Qila (Red Fort in Delhi)

When looking at these pictures, sometimes I wonder whether the background is doctored into the picture because of the breathtaking views of the buildings and structures. There seems to be a huge obsession of many Indian architects of the past (especially during the Mughal dynasty) with the desire to build HUGE structures with perfect symmetry. The forts are actually very nice places to visit. Coming to the fort is like escaping from the hussle and bussle of the stressful city life to a very calm and peaceful place. I'll post more pictures.. Maybe in myphotoalbum but not so soon yet. Hehehe...

Short Update

Finally got back my laptop today! YEAH!!! Been a long time since I last updated my blog. This is mostly due to not having easy access to internet. Have been "leeching" internet access from my PGP friends for the past 1 month.

Well, new updates - I'm moving into my new apartment on 14th May. The place looks cosy and hopefully it is still after we moved in. It is a "short" distance walk away from the MRT (considering what I've been through in Chennai) - 600m is good for early morning exercise. Anyway, if I'm lazy, I could just catch a bus to the MRT station from my block. Muahahaha.... the convenience of Singapore life. Public transportation is just so efficient.

I haven't been doing much recently except for maybe travelling around Singapore and window shopping. I'm still searching for a pair of cufflinks for my shirt. At the moment I have eyed a pair from Takashimaya but I'm still looking for more options. Hehehe.....

Hmmm... either I'm in a very confused state or I've not been blogging for a long time; this particular post of mine feels very jumbled up and has no structure with raw thoughts just going straight to this post. As my friend says - "laptop back, no need sleep". Hahahaha... Time check - 4am.

Back In Singapore Again

It has been more than a week now since I last blogged. A lot of things has happened especially the trip to Delhi, visiting Taj Mahal, friend stuck at Delhi Airport, etc that I don't know where I should begin. Instead of my usual way of describing my visits to all the places and writing a super long essay, let me start off with the latest happening - my friend being stuck in Delhi Airport.

It happened when we were clearing immigrations. The immigration officer did not allow him through because his visa was supposedly expired. This is due to the fault of some miscommunication on my friend's side as well as BAD english on the Indian government side. It was written on the embarkation/disembarkation form that one would need not report to the immigration office if staying less than 180days. We had assume that the visa validity is for entry only - as in when we are in, we are allowed to stay for 180days. Somehow, my friend's visa was only valid for 2months (60days). We tried to plead his case with the customs officer but the guy just would not listen. It ended up we had to leave him behind and fly back first. He was left to stay in the airport visitor's lounge (like Tom Hank's Terminal). The officer treated him like as if he was a very bad criminal. Fortunately when we got back to Singapore, we informed our manager and got the staff in Delhi to help him out. It was a horrible experience for him. Fortunately he did not met up with much problem and was has returned to Singapore this morning.

As for my trip to Delhi, I'll have to say Delhi is a marvelous place. It is well-planned and not messy like in Chennai. The roads are straight and well maintained. The level of cleanliness is better and public toilets are available (well... kind of... is just an open area with running water to wash hand and a hole to pee in. At least better than peeing on the wall.) The first thing we did when we arrived in Delhi was search for Mc Donalds (the only restaurant we are confident with the pricing and food quality.. hahaha). For travelling, we have visited almost all the historical or monumental places in Delhi (both New & Old) such as Connaught's place (shopping arcade), Jama Masjid (the largest mosque in South Asia, very beautiful), Qutab Minar (the advertisement that we see often on billboards here in Singapore for visiting India), Red Fort a.ka. Lal Qila whose main entry is Lahore Gate facing Pakistan (very significant to Indian history & independence), Old Fort a.k.a Purana Qila (another fort.... nothing special after visiting like 2-3 forts before), Lotus Temple (very beautiful at night, people of any faith can go in and pray to whatever you believe in) and some other places in Delhi which I can't recall at the moment.

We went to visit Taj Mahal on Saturday as the place is closed on Friday. The Taj Mahal is magnificent. It is the symbol of Emperor Shah Jahan's love for his wife Mumtaz. My friends and I took lots of pictures at this place. Although I had a normal 5megapixel camera, the pictures taken are still breath-taking. The Taj Mahal is really amazing with so much planning put into it. I mean, if there was to be a natural disaster in Agra, the Taj Mahal would very likely be the last structure to collapse. The four minaret built are slightly tilted outwards so that if it collapse, the central building will still be unharmed. The main tomb is built on a base that is more than 100feet deep. It is quite amazing that the people who built this structure had such foresight and took 22 long years to complete it. (ps. I learnt one thing about marble - Real marble is white and translucent. If you shine a light, it will penetrate through the marble, unlike plastic)

Now that I'm back in Singapore, there seems to be so many things that I would need to settle. I'm feeling a little lost at the moment but I think is because of the bombardment of things to do. I'm sure that if I plan out the things I need to settle, it is actually very easy - haven't really sat down to do the planning yet.. still in a little holiday mood and confused by the situation around me. Is this why there is a need for reintegration?

Shopping for.... BOOKS!

Last weekend I've spent about $100 on books alone and got myself 10 new books. Hahaha... It was on special offer - buy 4 books, the cheapest book will be free! Ever since I came to India, I've been reading more and more (partially because there's nothing much I can do here except watch TV and read - TV getting boring as I'm not so keen to watch Tamil/Hindi shows, anime only 1hr every night - Every morning, will just tune to BBC). I realise that I'm spending quite a "good" amount of time "studying". It wasn't as fun when one is forced to read case studies and perform analysis for the sake of getting 15% - In fact, it was horrible - the stress to do well especially when I know that the module is "fun" and "easy".

Now I'm picking up the books again but on my own initiative. There's so many things to learn from the gurus of various disciplines. At the moment, I'm very interested in management books as well as self-help books. It has opened me to think critically about issues relating to my own life, career growth and my company's development - how it is important to be taking initiatives instead of sitting back and waiting for things to happen.

Anyway, shall not dwelve too deep into those topics. Maybe I should write an essay or research paper in the future based on what I've learnt so far and use it for MBA application... Hehehe.. but for now, it is too soon to say what I'll do in the future. I'm just planning for my future. ;)

The immediate plan is tomorrow is final day of work in Chennai and I'll be off to Delhi on Thursday morning - freaking early morning flight (555am IST).

Strange

On Sunday, my friends and I were on a bus to our usual 'fish place' (a restaurant named Cornucopia aka "Horn of Plenty"). This place serves the best cooked fish that we've had here in Chennai. Anyway, on our way there, we suddenly saw another restaurant. Benny exclaimed that it was the "Sizzler of Chennai" (Anyone heard of Sizzler restaurant at Suntec? I have not... until my these 2 colleagues told me and said that I've been missing out one of the best eating places in Singapore).

Now that we know where that restaurant was located, we decided to go there and try it out some day....... which happened to be yesterday evening. We took a bus along the same route. Got off at a bus stop that's supposedly near to the restaurant and starting walking down the road to look for it. Shockingly, we covered the entire stretch of road (it was a one-way road) and couldn't find it. Feeling a little surprised, we suspected it might have been another road. We took a bus back and started searching the other stretch of road. Again, no sign of it.... by that time we were all very baffled by the situation but too hungry to pursue on (we started our search at 630pm and it was already 8pm). At the end of the day, we settled for Mexican food...... we'll search again another day or maybe just go Sizzler at Suntec.. muahaha

By the way, I'm heading off to Delhi and then to Agra (Taj Mahal) on 30th Mar.... so watch this sapce for more stories soon. Hehehe...

Escape to Kerala

Last weekend, my friends and I went to Kochi in another state called Kerala. There are a few main towns/city in this state like Kochi, Calicut (Vasco Da Gama sounds familiar?) and Thiruvanathapuram (Tivandrum). We had a colleague who was kind enough to bring us around Kerala (his hometown). We took the sleeper train for an 11hour ride from Chennai central to Alwaye. This was my first experience being on a 'real train'. The train was freaking long. The toilets in the train are interesting because one can see the tracks....so...what goes down the bowl, goes onto the track. I think I can easily write a long essay on this trip but I shall resist and only note the key events.

Kerala
This is a very beautiful state. Quite untouched by industrial development. Chennai is definitely overcrowded and heavily polluted (although many say is still very much cleaner than Mumbai). In addition to this, the city - Kochi is 'spacious' in the sense that the buildings are properly arranged with spacious sidewalks. Chennai has roads that suddenly 'shrinks' because a building is in the way. Many people don't use the sidewalk in Chennai as well because of obstacles like sh*t (both human and animals), trees, homeless people, etc. Anyway, back to Kerala - full of coconut and palm trees. Roads are very small in the 'ulu' areas but good enough. Air is very fresh (except for a few areas where villagers still pratise open air burning)

Athirapalli Falls
This waterfall is amazing. At the base of the falls, we could feel the force of the water gushing down. No picture could do justice for what we have experienced there. It felt like rain although we were several meters away from the waterfall and the 'wind' generated by it was marvelous. In this picture, you can see me (guy in white shirt getting down the rocks). This picture was taken by our colleague's camera. I took many pictures with my camera as well but as I've mentioned before, I can't upload it to the net....
Oh ya, the visit to this waterfall was tiring because we had to 'climb' down the hill to reach the base and then climb up again. My thighs were sore after this trip but we had many place left to visit.

Elephant Ride
Dumbo? Unfortunately, this elephant does not fly. I never knew elephants are so hairy and that their hairs are super rough. It is quite uncomfortable for me to sit there because I wore shorts. It felt like I was getting my legs scrubbed by the plastic brush.
My friends and I paid about S$8 for a short ride on this elephant. In order to sit on the elephant's back, we had to get up on a ladder similar to the ones that you find at open airports. It was a scary ride. Every time the elephant moved, it felt as if we were going to fall off. (note to mom: I still have no idea why I was crying 15years ago at S'pore zoo on the pony... aih~ paiseh...other people would be so happy to ride on pony)

Fort Kochi
Fort Kochi was actually the Portugese Fort which was then taken over by the Dutch and later by the British. We are actually facing the Arabian Sea and the waters are really deep. We saw a cruise ship setting sail off the port at Fort Kochi - most probably to the Gulf.
Here is a picture of Chinese Fishing Nets with the sunset in the background. Quite a beautiful shot thanks to the 7megapixels of my friend's camera. We had our dinner at Fort Kochi where we could buy fresh fish from the fishermen and get it cooked at the stalls set up next to the beach. However, there was a catch - prices are very high because it is a tourist area. The people who come here are willing to pay for the premium cost to enjoy. We however, tried hard to bargain with them - end up our food was not properly cooked and still have to pay as much. It was quite unfortunate that it had happened but this experience teaches "Be prepared to spend, don't think about the money else suffer the consequence". The other tourist there seem to be quite comfortable as the staffs were super friendly with them.

Oklah, would've loved to write more and post more pictures but I shall stop here. I'll also try to upload pictures from my camera if possible. In the mean time, to know more about Kerala - click here

Arranged Marriage VS Love Marriage

In modern times, arranged marriage is hardly heard of in Chinese cultures. Although I do not doubt that it might still exist but such occurrences would’ve been rare especially in the city. Interestingly, there is still a large group of people (specifically, parents) practicing this age-old tradition. (Disclaimer – This post is not intended to offend anyone or cause harm. Some of the things described are exaggerated a little (CY’s Style) so please do not take everything as a fact.)

In India, most people will tell you there are 2 types of marriages – Arranged & Love. Some will tell you of the 3rd type of marriage – Hybrid marriage (a cross between Arranged & Love – not an officially recognized term but something I came up with). I’m sure everyone knows what an arranged marriage is. Love Marriage is the opposite where it is the couple’s choice to have the marriage (often, according to my friend, these marriages see the couple running away from homes because their parents do not acknowledge it). Hybrid marriage usually happens like this – after boy meets girl, girl meets boy, fall in love, report it to their parents – parents will then organize a meeting with the opposite party to discuss their terms and conditions. After that, to outsiders, it will look as if the marriage has been arranged. Hybrid is common in the city areas.

Arranged Marriage is a very long and tedious process that “ensures” the couples are fully compatible – caste, astrological compatibility, sun sign, birth sign, family sign, his sign, her sign, all sign. The whole process might take up to 1 month or more. Relatives from both families (but usually is the guy side) will examine the potential candidate. Let’s say a guy is going to get married, his parents will send out “Marriage Invitations – seeking alliances with potential families”. Parents of potential brides or sometimes the bride will send out their CV complete with photos and details of family background and all the signs. The entire family members from parents to uncles, aunties, grandparents will go through each candidate. Potential candidates are then selected from the applications for interviews. Usually it is the uncles and aunts will start drilling the candidate – It makes me wonder if there is a guide book called “Marriage Interviews for Dummies” to help the candidates prepare for the questions.

Like the job market, the matrimonial market also has “hot candidates” which are high in demand. A typical example from the matrimonial section would be – Mr. So&So (B.E. EC), Age:30, occasionally based in US earning 6 figure salary, seeking alliance with slim and fair girl of good family background.
The funny part is that in Singapore, engineers are stereotypically labeled as boring geeks who are not popular with girls. Er… I can feel all the tension and stares from engineers at this comment of mine… but not to worry! (btw, I’m also an engineer – Asst Systems Engineer). To all those engineers who feel so, forget Singapore, come to India! *hint*….. WAH! *SIAM* That flying shoe nearly got me…. =P

Anyway, let me relate two stories regarding arranged marriage of two of my colleagues. The first one is about a guy who is so keen on getting married but his parents want him to wait. This friend of mine is 24years old. His parents think that it is too early for him to get married. So, to “encourage” his parents, each time his friends get married, he would call his mother to report and ask when it would be his turn. Until now, he is still waiting but I think recently his parents agreed to marry him by the end of next year. We’ll see how. His case is the “voluntary” one.

The second case is “half-half” voluntary. Basically, the guy’s parents have decided that it is time for him to get married. His parents issued an ultimatum to him – “Find a girl by the end of November this year or else we will arrange one for you”. To me, this was a totally hilarious issue but I’m sure he does not think so. This guy is now frantically assessing every girl he comes across.

Queensland Amusement Park

Last Saturday TCS Chennai held it's Annual Day Outing for the RTSC (Retail Travel Solutions Center) office at Queensland Amusement Park. The entrance fee was heavily subsidised for TCS employees. Usually, it would cost Rs.400 per adult entry, for TCS that day, it costs only Rs25!! (with lunch, high tea and transport provided).

The amusement park is located at the outskirts of Chennai. It took us about 1hr to reach by the company bus. Interestingly, I finally understood why Wikipedia reported that Chennai is the Detroit of South Asia. The automakers are all on the outskirts. There were so many trailers carrying newly assembled cars or parts. Also, it was here, I get to see the stereotypical impression of India's roads -> cows everywhere!

Anyway, the amusement park was quite interesting but after awhile, it gets abit disappointing. I now realise how grand Jerudong Park is. The sheer size of the park and the rides available at JP was top class (well... at least it was 8years ago). The interesting/unfortunate thing about this park is that no one really care about safety especially people "customizing" the rides to get the "kick" out of it. One example is the pirate ship ride. There was this guy who slipped out of his chair so that he was standing when the boat rocks. My friends and I were so shocked to see him out of his chair. He supported himself by grabbing the bars behind him. Imagine if he lost hold of his grip, he would have been sent flying.... crazy fellow.

Another case that happened was this "Crazy Horse Ride". On first look, it did not seem dangerous or exciting to ride at all. As the name suggest, it is a "horse ride". Basically you sit on the "horse" and it will rise, shake and spin. When I saw it, I was thinking "Goodness, this kind of ride also considered fun ah? It's more like for kids only". Suddenly, when the "horse" made a 360-spin, a guy flew out of his seat and did a "breakdance" on the floor. He looked a little scratched but no serious injury. After that, I then noticed got a girl holding onto the "horse" so tightly with her eyes closed! LOL....

The biggest disappointment with this park is the famous Vertical Drop. It was my first time trying out that ride. My friends knowing that I have a great fear of height/falling dared me onto the seat. Somehow, on that particular day, I was not feeling that scared at all but I know that I would be screaming when I fall. As I went up the ride with another friend, I could feel cold sweat breaking out of my palms. Suddenly without warning, it just dropped. For the 1st "drop", I was like - "Huh?". In my thoughts were - How come I could feel my butt all throughout the ride? Shouldn't I be screaming? Where is that "fear" I was expecting? Disappointed, I took the 2nd "drop" with full of confidence. Later I checked with my friend and confirmed that the drop was slower than "normal standards". He then recommended me to try out the one in Australia, supposedly powered by gas instead of chains. Well, I think I will go try out JP drop first... =P

At the end of the day, my friends and I were all tired and tanned. Overall, it was a great day.

Food for Thought

One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree.
"Which road do I take?" she asked.
His response was a question: "Where do you want to go?"
"I don't know," Alice answered.
"Then," said the cat, "it doesn't matter."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Interesting isn't it? It struck me for awhile. I'm now a little puzzled as well as reflecting abit deeper on what this means.

An Indian Wedding Ceremony I Attended

An Indian Marriage (Engagement Ceremony)

Yesterday my friends and I had the pleasure of being invited to one of our colleague’s wedding ceremony. Actually this particular ceremony I attended was a “compact” wedding ceremony for Indians (of course, length of ceremonies varies depending on their castes). Some castes have the wedding ceremonies for a few days while other castes have it for a day. This particular one I went to was a “compact ceremony”. I did not really attend the real wedding ceremony but instead a betrothal ceremony (aka engagement). Her wedding is held a day after this betrothal reception.

Anyway, somewhat similar to Chinese wedding receptions, the guests will usually bring gifts (money is also included but instead of angpows, it is sealed in a normal envelope) for the bride and bridegroom. On a side note, I just learnt that one (from a movie) should say “Congratulations” to the bridegroom and “Best Wishes” for the bride.

The ceremony was held in a marriage hall on the 4th floor of a building quite far from office and the place I live. It’s situated near Anna International Airport (aka Chennai Airport – 40mins by taxi to where I stay). Initially my friends and I had some expectations of how the ceremony would be like and how the hall will be decorated. This is because there is also a marriage hall at Mylapore (the area where we stay). Here, almost every night this month, people hold grand wedding ceremonies there with beautiful lightings and decorations. There were so many types of food being served – buffet style. This particular ceremony I went to was not as grand but still it was a good new experience. I know the other ceremony would cost a whopping amount of money. Indian marriages are not cheap you know, usually have to spend about Rs.5lakhs if one arranges for a 3day marriage with food, accommodation all provided for friends and relatives. (1lakh = 100,000; Rs5lakh=S$25,000)

I had a colleague (ex-teacher) who was kind enough to share about the Indian culture and tradition. He emphasized a lot that during the reception, it is very important for “ensuring that all guests are well taken care of”. Usually, it is the bride’s family to make sure that all guests have enough food to eat and a comfortable place to sleep. Oh yes – dowries are paid from the bride’s family to the bridegroom’s family unlike Chinese traditions. In Chinese traditions, the groom has to pay dowries to the bride because (I don’t know whether it is true or not but… anyway) it is like paying the parents of the bride for taking good care of his wife before they are married. So, can we say this as a service charge by the bride’s family? =P

On the other hand, traditionally in Indian families, when the bride is married, the family would send money/dowries to her to “ensure she is well and have enough”. (Her husband not good enough to support her? I don’t know….) Basically, it is the parents of the bride concerned for her welfare so they give money to the bride often after marriage. Somehow, this tradition evolved into paying dowries for the marriage. Maybe because of this, most of the Indian men I met here like to spend lots of time in the toilet combing their hair, freshening up unlike in Singapore. There are also a lot more men clothes shops and perfumes being sold here than for women. Indian men who went through college and working in IT firms are hot in the market not only for their skills but their “marriageability”. Anyway, before I digress too much, I’ll return to the main topic – the ceremony I went to.

We arrived at the ceremony relatively early – 720pm when the ceremony was said to start at 730pm on the invitation card. Just like Chinese weddings, many people come late and the event started at only about 830pm. Chairs were laid out in the hall in the usual way facing the stage where a group of people were having “karaoke” session. Initially I thought it was just like Chinese dinner receptions with people having karaoke sessions except without TV. To substitute the TV, there were 3 books of lyrics which they keep swapping and a live band to perform the music. Only later I realized it was hired performers… Hahaha… At the side of the stage, two chairs were set up specially (just like Malay weddings).

When the main event began, there was a group of traditional Indian musicians to play the drums and pipe. It was starting but the bride and groom is still no where to be seen. However, at the place where the two special chairs were, the families of the bride and groom gather on each side of the chair, sitting on the floor. They had some baskets with them which I didn’t really understand what. When the basket was passed from one of the family members to the other, people started to clap. Ceremony suddenly done and we were guided downstairs to the dining hall.

Well, here is where the term – “When in Rome, do what the Romans do” is enforced. My friends and I had to eat with our hands because there are no plates, spoons or fork. Instead, we have a big pandan leaf as plate. In city marriages, food is arranged and served by the caterer onto the pandan leaves. In villages, the relatives of the bride will do the serving although the food is cooked by caterers. Here, we were served by the relatives as well (usually for 2nd servings) – because as stated earlier – very important to ensure guests are well taken care of. In addition, all food served are vegetarian irregardless. There was quite a variety of food and quite tasty also (or was it my fingers?)

After dinner, we went back up to the hall and queue to take pictures with the bride and bridegroom. (When did they get there???) After that, event was over. It felt quite sudden but I suppose it was just a betrothal ceremony. The real wedding ceremony is held the next day but I have work… so can’t attend. Overall, it was an interesting ceremony.
(I know I have written a freaking long essay here... =P ... what to do?)

Motorbike & long apparels

The other night on my way to this cyber cafe, I saw the aftermath of an accident. A woman was sitting on the road stuck to her husband's motorbike. She was holding on to a baby. Passerbys quickly went over to help her carry the baby. Her husband tried hard to free her saree from the wheels. Although nothing serious (except for maybe a painful backside), it was shocking for me as well. It could've been a worse event. I told my Indian friend about this and she replied "Yah, it's very common. Very often people die from it".

It is very common to see men driving their bikes with presumably their wifes (rarely girlfriends.. due to the culture here - oh ya, Happy Valentines Day everyone! There are some interesting stories about India's "love police". If I have time, I'll post it right after this... else some other time). The women are usually wearing traditional sarees or salwar khameez. Both are dangerous on the bikes because of the extra long cloth. It gets tangled up easily. Road safety regulations here are not sufficient. People rarely wear helmets. Most prefer to just get the headgear with a screen (to protect from the dust and other particles) rather than a sturdy helmet.

It is also quite rare for women here to dress with "western" clothes. On the streets, it is mainly sarees. At work, most wear the salwar khameez. Anyway, I have digressed... the lady did not look like she suffered much injuries. The baby did not look hurt and was not crying. I was relieved and since they were others helping the couple out, I continued to the cyber cafe.