Shame on you, young bloggers

IT IRKS me that young people blog negatively about the Singapore Government. They live in an era where there is peace and harmony, they have a roof over their heads, plenty to eat and so much to enjoy. There is a need to realise that all these good things do not come naturally. Someone has to do the job and we are fortunate to have a sound and honest government to take care of this place we call our home.

We live in a small place with no natural resources but we have done well. We have good infrastructure, a clean environment, a safe place and the list goes on. Our children are free to roam the streets and return home safely. We cannot take all that we enjoy now for granted.

The Government took great pains to mould this tiny island into a place of wonder. There is no one policy that suits everyone. It is not possible to please everyone all the time. We may not always benefit from some of the policies implemented but we should be happy that others do.

Life was a struggle before but after years of persistent hard work and thrift, we managed. I travelled quite a bit but whenever I looked around, I could not help but feel blessed that I have a home called Singapore.

This is only possible because we have a government that cares to make this a better place. The question often asked is, 'What can the Government do for me?', but shouldn't it be, 'What can I do for my country?'

I am grateful to the Government, which has done a great job, and in particular Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, who has gone through so many trials and tribulations. Even now, at his age, he has not stopped caring about Singapore. My heartfelt thanks to MM Lee and I wish him happiness and health.

Juliet Chua (Ms)
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I have written many entries regarding our national security forces as well as the kind of letters Singaporeans write to our Straits Times forum. Being away from Singapore, I log on frequently to portals like STOMP and the online version of the Straits Times to remind myself what Singapore is truly like. This morning, I logged on to the forum and I see this letter:

Horrified by many profanities in matinee show on NS life

I ATTENDED the matinee show Own Time Own Target at the Drama Centre in the National Library building over the weekend. One magazine lauded it as a 'laugh out loud, rediscovery of zany side of national service'. I presumed this meant it was a family-type show and took my two teenage sons, aged 16 and 14, to the show on the premise of a MediaCorp-owned magazine review.

To my horror, I was cringing uncomfortably in my seat the whole show, highly disturbed by the language used. I do not have a problem that the language was coarse and in dialects. But it was offensive when every sentence and curse uttered by the officers (rightly or wrongly, provoked or otherwise) at the NS boys in the drama was a profanity of the female genitals.

The show was a full house, with young and old, males and females equally represented. I am sure I was not the only one who was disturbed by the excessive cursing and swearing by the officers at the recruits. My observation was that people laughed out loud not at the clumsiness of the recruits but mostly because they felt uncomfortable with the profanities.

As a mother, I find it hard to imagine that after years of sheltered school life where students are taught values, to be gentlemanly and polite and respect their elders, these boys have to do NS run by officers who do not blink an eye when they curse their mother, sister, girlfriend and the whole female population by way of conversation.

My boys were shocked to realise that NS is a rite of passage where they will be officially subjected to bullying, shouting and cursing - nothing gentlemanly at all If this is a light-hearted look at life of NS boys during basic military training, I fear to know what my boys will face in their real-life situationwhen they enlist. Please, someone, assure me this is not so.

Wee Hua Boey (Mdm)

One would think that in this current age whereby one has access to resources such as the esteemed Straits Times, in both the print and online version, as well as other reputable sources of information such as Channel News Asia (all of which provide a true and realistic depiction of Singaporean culture and lifestyle), information about "real life" could be easily obtained.

I am so shocked and horrified at the prospects. What have our society degenerated into to incorporate such lies and vulgar use of language in a play depicting NS life? NS is supposed to turn boys into GENTLEmen, not vulgarmen. Such atrocities. Perhaps I can offer Mdm Wee some consolation for her weak heart. NS life is far from what must have been shown as a total hell in the play.

For instance, upon checking in to Tekong Resorts World and Spa, the newly enlisted soldier-to-be would be shown his spanking new and spacious accomodation with exclusive sea views. Meals served there are all certified organic produce, made by a stellar cast of celebrity chefs. There are no trans fat, no gluten, no MSG, no artificial flavorings or colors and of course, the nutritional content of each serving is lovingly calculated to be optimal to the growing boys' requirements. As each soldier would have had his health checked thoroughly with our state of the art technologies, a patented in house system calculates his daily requirements within 2 nanoseconds during which he scans his 11B to collect his meal which would then have been tailored to his exquisite requirements. Its not all just for show, the psychological well being of a soldier takes into consideration all factors and hence each meal is all aesthetically composed on top quality china plate to bring out the subtle all natural flavors of the wholesome food.

Have we talked about the bedding yet? Well, the linen is not only organic, but also manufactured with green practices to reduce the carbon footprint of our regime. It boosts top thread count and is laid on a bed with yet another patented technology - one that massages the fatigued body of the soldier upon his return after every training session. This system makes use of years of research from the Traditional Chinese Medicine department of the Nanyang Technological University to direct waves of calming ulra sonic energy at select acupoints of each user.

As for the instructional and training system, it has all been certified and vetted 6 Sigma and booasts all the relevent ISO certification. It even meets HACCP standards as well other more obscure ones such STUP, ID, REDIC-KULOUS and surpasses even the most stringent Euro VII standards, although what that means remains unknown. Just know that the system takes such good care of you that it goes above and beyond all call of duty.

Each sesssion of training is preceded by an instructional video directed by none other than Steven Spielberg himself, and uses the latest 3D graphics technologies to demostrate the objective, mission and goal of each period. Trainees are free to pause, rewind or fast forward each modular session to the best of his abilities. After all, we have been emphasizing on the third generation thinking soldier haven't we?

All the instructors and officers have ungergone rigorous training programs which over qualifies them to teach the modules that are assigned to them. As each module is highly structured, there are strict rules and guidelines as how to approach the teaching of each of them. Among which, it states that "the use of uncouth language that in any way demeans a trainee" is forbidden. As such, all training are conducted in the most pleasant of environments, which of course, are air conditioned and sheltered (with the air ion-filtered and scented). To take a random example again, the instructor teaching foot drills will open his lesson according to the stipulated lesson plan as:

"Good morning gentlemen, and a very warm welcome to this lesson, Footdrills 101. In this lesson, we will incalcate the heavenly art of precision drills by way of..."

As Mdm Wee can see, there is absolutely no worrry regarding the falsehood perpetuated by evil theatre directors. She would be safe and content in the knowledge that there would be none of the unacceptable behavior shown in the foul play that she watches. Thankfully, such vile words exits only in the realm of our (censored) imagination. She should put her faith in the system and send her sons to do the only holy and right thing, knowing that in 2 years' time, they will come back as not just scholarly refined gentlemen, but also well rounded healthy individuals armed with valuable lessons that greatly increase the odds of our country's future survival.
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Ruins of the Vijayanagara empire, set in an almost desert environment with cacti growing, and the huge boulders distorting all sense of scale. Well, fortunately I was there during the monsoon, so there were more plants growing. But it also meant that I had to bike in the rain and getting all soaked.

Jumping in joy after TH and I discovered this huge temple complex (with all the Kamasutra carvings no less) behind this hill. Guess no one bothered to climb and take the extra effort to get to this set of ruins hence we were the only ones exploring the entire place.

Caught in an inpromtu moment.

Sitting in a corner camoflauged.

Adventurous/daring/foolish to climb all the way up. Can't imagine the splatter if we had fallen.

The stone chariot of Krishnan at the Vitta Temple complex, which was said to be so beautiful the Lord himself was ashamed to stay there and had to move back to his more humble abode.

Alone in temple complex.

My first attempt at motorbiking. Awesome. The ride in the rain, not so awesome.

About the boulders and how they distort scale.

More climbing.

Wild wild west styled biking.

Use of camera self timer. Left the camera baking on a rock. Ruins behind the main Virupaksha temple.

Sign behind says "Don't Take Elephant Photo".

Krishnan Temple.

Some self indulgence after climbing all the way up.

I have soooo bloody much photos of that place. UNESCO World Heritage Site indeed.
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"I opened my eyes to a day that seemed almost too close to yesterday"




One of the reasons why I left was because I wanted to escape from certain things. The way it is now, just proves and shows to me why it is possibly a wiser than wise decision to have left.

Sad.
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Pictures soon!


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444th blog post. As I begin to get into the swing of things, it feels really weird. So this is how it feels to wake up, squeeze, go to work, lunch, go home, buy groceries etc. Is this how life would be after graduation? Certainly feel so lost and unprepared for a lifestyle like that. To be truly independent and living alone, accountable only to yourself for your own food, transport, electricity, laundry, security... everything. Is this how it feels like to build your own family and home?

So... strange and such unfamiliar feelings. I spent the morning editing some photos, getting ready to print them to make into postcards. Here's a glimpse of some of them. Drop me a message if you want to get them and I'll send them to you.




Just like the photos, somehow it all feels dusty, grimy, a little bit out of place and lonely. Unreal.
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After over a week of reorganising the place and calling a million parties to get the place liveable, we managed to get the place pretty much up and running. We even began to do our own laundry from the washing machine we fixed up.

Our kitchen is pretty much up and running, with a microwave oven, kettle and running gas for cooking. And a fridge too!

Fixing the furniture and moving stuff around got us a nice living room area.

We got in someone to provide a water dispenser since the water here, even after boiling is too unpalatable to drink. Rearranging more furniture allowed us to partition a section away to put all our dirty shoes behind. The table will be used as a library as the amount of magazines and books we bought so far has increased dramatically in the absence of an internet connection.

Fixing up a call center, Indian style. Haha.

My room, with attached bathroom and some cable TV with bad reception. And balcony which is currently used to dry my laundry haha.

With like just a few more outstanding issues, we have managed to make it nice and cosy!
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Now that things are finally beginning to get settled down, I can update the world on the happenings on the past week without being too cryptic. The first week was absolutely necessary for adaptation as half the group fell sick and some had to be hospitalised. As if all the trouble we went through to get the visa was not enough, some had to endure the maze that is the Indian healthcare system. I did not visit the numerous hospitals and other facilities the others went to, but from what I heard, those places give the set of Resident Evil a run for their money.

I learnt that things we take for granted back home doesn't come easy here. The power supply here is unreliable, and we have already experienced countless power cuts so far. The tap water is far from safe, even for brushing teeth, and so on. The weather is dry and hot in the day, falling to below 20 at night.

The entire operation to search for a more permanent place to stay in was exhausting. The work needed to make the place liveable was even worse. For instance, I only got my internet connection up now, after days of calling useless parties. We had a shell of an apartment, needing work on the electrical fixtures, lights, hot water, air conditioning, gas, laundry, waste disposal... the list goes on. For 3 days, we lived almost like cavemen here. But now most of the stuff are up, and only a few more outstanding matters need to be done up before we declare this place a home. A trip to Mysore or even further will need to be postponed. I'm just glad to back connected (on wireless no less!) in time for the release of results. Will have to see about the plans for tomorrow. Perhaps an orientation trip using public transport to the workplace. Transport here is a pain in the a**.

Anyways, some pictures from the final corporate visit we did as well as the apartment searching. Checking out the neighborhood is a must.

Dirt roads and no street lights. Not good. Especially in the monsoon season, trudging around muddy paths in the dark in office attire is not a good idea.

A nicer residental neighborhood near the town centre.

We were offered this entire building. Pretty nice, but right next to a slum and dumping ground. Needs alot of work to get it up and running.

We saw some serviced apartments. Comfy.


More of another neighborhood, this one nearer my workplace. Further out of town.

There's a swimming pool for this one.

Photos not organised properly. Haha. Here we cut to the final company visit at Infosys. Impressive. Very very nice.

Something out of the Lourve?

Another geometrical building.

They call the blue glass building in the background the "Washing Machine" building. The sprawling Infosys campus is green too, with its own sewerage treatment and recycling plant, plus a whole host of other green features.

Finally, back to the apartment we selected for the 6 of us working out of town. This separates us into 2 camps, one living in a serviced apartment in town, and us, living out in the outskirts. We have a resident cow staying in the field downstairs. She's the brown/black dot in the center of the picture.

View from the bathroom attached to my room.

View of the (yellow and dirty) swimming pool from the kitchen.

Housemates checking out the neighborhood shops for supplies.

Locals buying food.

The most established fruit stall. The others are just push carts.

Selling fish. Not too sure if they are fresh, the stench and flies prevents anyone from walking nearer. Housemates pointed out several cuts of meats from unknown animals hanging around too. Mysterious.

A more commercial part 10 minutes walk away from my apartment.

Some instant chinese food at the local supermarket. Note the spelling of "Szechuan". The supermarket doesn't sell milk or water. I bought sugar and salt from the open bins, where the minimum purchase is 1kg.

Wanted to get jam for toast for breakfast, but Indians cannot live without their spices. The normal strawberry, pineapple, mango or plum all have to be partnered with various other spices.

Crosses fingers for the other outstanding matters of the apartment and also results...
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Truly a land of contrasts. The weather. The power cuts. The food. The environment. Lets just say that with regards to healthcare, the group here is having a really interesting time. India thus far has been friendly and unfriendly at the same time, making it the most challenging place I have ever visited. See the main commercial area of the city:

Many familiar brands. Levi's here have their own flagship building which has 3 stories and served by lifts. You can find Levi's x Damien Hurst here too.

More familiar brands, particularly this one which was pretty outstanding for anyone who has walked around Mongkok in Hong Kong.

Some sort of a mall...

Pizza Hut, where we had our dinner because we were desperate to get a taste of non Indian food. I think the masala lemonade claimed some casualties. And the poster is true. A meal there starts from 99Rs. 1SGD to approx 32INR. Go figure. (Laundry rates start at 15Rs for a polo shirt)


I call this buying from the street vendors flirting with certain death.



Here, God willing is never enough, because the traffic must be permitting. Here's the jam at 10pm.

So far its been really very much of an eye opener, and I am sure the days (months) to come will be even more so. Wow.


Company visit.

Spot the non local tourists taking photographs.

The masala lemonade needs to be shared.


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Am safe here. Food's great. Weather's fantastic.

Here's a preview!


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Heralding the arrival.

Your first brush with what is gonna happen to you begins with the visa application. I had to fill mine out in the dark stuffy room using handphone light because the electricity was cut. There was no internet. Everything is arbitrary.
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