Glory days have come - Part II

Public transport in Sri Lanka is (or used to be) plagued with sexually repressed predators who lay in wait to feel up unsuspecting women in crowded buses and trains. They take their chances - at the risk of getting beaten up, humiliated in public or worse reprimanded by the authorities (which rarely happens though) - in hopes of getting away with an anti-climatic sexual experience at the expense of hurting another human being. My thoughts often get tangled in twists trying to understand the psychology behind such acts.

Singapore, thankfully, is a more civilised and safe society. The general attitude is that you cant take what is not yours to take and if you do, there will be serious consequences. It also appears to be a fairly open and indifferent society, where consensual sex is not viewed as something taboo, evil or sinful (unless it is a case of being unfaithful). The government has strategically made it legal for sex workers to carry out "the world's oldest profession" as safely as possible under the law. I found this rather shocking when I first arrived here, but my opinions on the matter have since changed. The bigger picture is that when safe and legal sexual services are available freely for those who need it and it comes without a society's damnation, a lot of innocent and unwilling women and children will be safe from sexual harassment. It won't solve all the problems in that category out there, but it will certainly help.

That bit of serious talk was the build up to relate a rather amusing story. My mother who hails from a family of cops is the polar opposite of my dad and me. Her sense of self preservation and diplomacy is quite numb compared to ours. Where we would stop to analyse the most peaceful and dignified solution, her first reaction to injustice is spontaneous action involving verbal abuse and even violence. And that's a good thing sometimes, which I admire with envy because I find it hard to fly into a fit of rage even when my life depends on it. Once a sexual predator (half her age) did the grave mistake of trying to touch her in a bus. In the events that followed, he was badly beaten up by her and kicked out of the bus. He didn't even stop to pick up the ring he was wearing, which he dropped in the scuffle. She is my hero for this and for many other battles she has gladly fought for me!

I hope I have not turned off potential tourists from visiting the beautiful and culturally rich country that is Sri Lanka. It is definitely a place worth visiting and with appropriate precautions, it can be a pleasant experience.

Singapore has banned chewing gum (except in rare cases where a doctor can prescribe it as a dental aid). Eating chewing gum in public can even carry a fine. It may seem rather extreme but with a "remarkably clean city" reputation to maintain, it does not come as a big surprise. I miss chewing gum and the other day while putting up some posters at work, I caught myself looking longingly at a wad of blu tack.

Lately, my clothes have been shouting out telling me that I'm getting bigger and that my metabolism is not as fast as it once used to be. As I found out playing on Dance Central, it is so much harder to lose fifty kilocalories than to gain it by eating something nice. Also fat does not accumulate evenly like a nice layer of blubber in whales and seals, instead, it collects unevenly in places that are hard to miss. Maybe that's a good warning sign. I don't think whales and seals ever realise it is time to do something about obesity. Then again, they lead active lifestyles, unlike me.

Speaking of fatties, some time ago, I watched a Japanese animated movie called My Neighbour Totoro with English dubs. Ryuu and I had initial doubts over whether I'll be able to appreciate Japanese animation, which is strikingly different in its art, style, dialogue and feel from the English ones I am more accustomed to and the intended audience being children. The story felt a bit slow initially but it picked up once the background was established. I enjoyed it for its thoughtfulness and the story being portrayed from the refreshing point of view of a child, which also felt vaguely familiar.

Totoro turns out to be a cute and enormously loved character in Japan and a lot of us didn't know this until the re-released movie of 2006

And speaking of more fatties, we end this post with an honourable mention of the Suzuran High website that Ryuu, who is self-taught in Kanji, single handedly designed and came up with (I had to say honourable mention of the site and not Ryuu, or she might bite my head off). She passionately maintains and moderates the site voluntarily and in a little over an year, the forum for fans of the Crows and Worst series of manga has grown to have about 450 registered members from all over the world (not forgetting the unregistered lurkers) who have collectively posted over 9000 posts! I think that's really impressive.