The Tourist

Having caught two episodes of Cosmos just before bed and learning that Edmund Halley and Isaac Newton had an interesting history together, I woke up this Sunday morning with a thirst for an adventure! If not for Halley's encouragement, Newton may not have published his work on Gravity and history as we now have it would have taken a very different route! Anyway, Halley's comet passes Earth's orbit again in July 2061 when I'll be in my late 70's. If I'm alive and with passable eyesight and consciousness, maybe I'll catch it.

I decided to be a tourist today and visit the world's largest oceanarium - the S.E.A Aquarium at Resorts World Sentosa. Although the park opened about two years ago and I even had the privilege to interview for a position of Marine Mammal Specialist there, I was yet to explore it! I was overwhelmed with the sights of marine life in the enormous tanks. The park made it possible for visitors to see the enchanting beauty of worlds underwater, just like a scuba diver would. I sincerely hope that a good proportion of visitors leave with an idea of what it is that we are slowly destroying with our collective demands on the planet and be a little more environmentally conscious. 

Sri Lanka's Port of Galle was a key location on the Silk Route as displayed in the Maritime Museum...

..where exports included precious gems and pearls, resin, wood, spices, beeswax, coconuts, turmeric, sesame and even corals and Hawksbill turtles.

The journey begins!

Unbelievably graceful, delicate and evolved to resemble seaweed - the Leafy sea dragons

Jellyfish are made of about 95% water! 

Coral reefs teeming with life

No, there were no blue whales at the park, but this poster made me wonder how fortunate we are to live in the time of the largest animal to have EVER lived on Earth! 

After making a quick detour to the Universal Studios Singapore (it pays to have a 6-month unlimited pass since I play the the role of tour guide quite often) to go on the Transformers and the Mummy rides and watch a few shows I hadn't before, I headed home to catch the T20 Cricket World Cup final between India and Sri Lanka.

Cricket: An Obsession

Far away from home, a lot of us who have migrated to other corners of the globe still feel roughly the same about cricket as we did when we were children. The word "cricket" to me can instantly trigger warm and happy memories of sitting long hours in front of the television with family and friends watching 50-over matches, snacking on fried peanuts or murukku, occasionally having turn the antenna manually to catch better TV signals, staying up nights, religiously watching and critiquing the outcomes of nearly every ball, feeling despair when things don't look too good, leaping with joy when sixes are hit or wickets are taken, sometimes biting away nails in nervousness, ears saturated with the loud music of papare bands or feeling the urge to play a game of cricket in the backyard.

This year, I followed the finals with my primary/secondary school mates on Whatsapp (an instant messaging service on phones). It's almost like sitting in my old and familiar classroom - only we are nearly in our 30's now! It didn't matter we were watching and discussing a match happening Bangladesh from all the way in Sri Lanka, Singapore, USA, UK, Norway, Switzerland or UAE at the same time, we were eagerly hoping for a win.

Luckily for us, Sri Lanka emerged the T20 World Cup Cricket champions of 2014!

The best men that day!

Image source: ESPNCricinfo

Wait, did I mention Sri Lanka is a cricket-obsessed nation?

It was a very memorable and exhilarating day since it took 18 years to win a glorious title such as this for a second time. And during those 18 long years, Sri Lanka not only lost four Cricket World Cup finals, but the country itself overcame a civil war that spanned over two decades causing insufferable damage to human lives, trust, respect, property and more. In a way, the country is still struggling to heal from the aftermath of that war. Which is why this victory was a pleasant diversion from racial tensions.

The last time I had this feeling was in 1996 when I was 11 years old and Sri Lanka won the Cricket World Cup for the first time. Sadly, this game is probably the only thing that unites the people of different ages, religions, races, genders, occupations and social status on this island under one flag. It's only during a tense cricket match will all these people forget their differences and sit together in front of a television with great concentration to support the same cause without distinction. At other times, there still is much distrust, dissatisfaction, fear and hate bubbling just beneath the surface.

Kumar Sangakkara, who some regard as Sri Lanka's best cricketer of all time (also known for being an eloquent, talented and grounded leader), said it better in his MCC Spirit of Cricket Lecture back in 2011:

".....But, while these would all be interesting topics, deep down inside me I wanted to share with you a story, the story of Sri Lanka's cricket, a journey that I am sure Colin would have enjoyed greatly because I don't believe any cricket-playing nation in the world today better highlights the potential of cricket to be more than just a game.

This lecture is all about the Spirit of the Game and in this regard the story of cricket in Sri Lanka is fascinating. Cricket in Sri Lanka is no longer just a sport: it is a shared passion that is a source of fun and a force for unity. It is a treasured sport that occupies a celebrated place in our society.

It is remarkable that in a very short period an alien game has become our national obsession, played and followed with almost fanatical passion and love. A game that brings the nation to a standstill; a sport so powerful it is capable of transcending war and politics. I therefore decided that tonight I would like to talk about the Spirit of Sri Lanka's cricket."

Another highlight to this match was that Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene - two of my favourite ex-captains/ cricket legends retired from the world of T20 cricket in style, despite being in good form. It was a good decision that'll make way for the younger generation of talent to move up the ranks.

The human race has engaged in various sports from the beginning of time. A sport has a great ability to merge human competitiveness with discipline and harmony. In an ideal world, instead of hate and violence, it builds character, unity and respect among the players. Often this constructive model projects outwards from the players in the field down to their supporters. Of course, we don't live in an ideal world and factors like human greed, corruption and political/financial interests have also fused itself with modern day sports.

While different sports bear significance to different countries, over time, this has often driven social change within its culture and its people. In some cases, it may have driven human rights reforms (or is it vice versa?) and we can now see non-discriminate participation from different races, genders and levels of physical abilities which in the distant past wasn't possible.

Internal circuits

I am now passing the phase of my life where I want to consciously categorise and stick a label on everything, including myself.

Impaired hearing, sneezes that don't manifest without some encouragement, a nose subjected to too much friction from tissues, suspicious fevers that one can't tell apart from freezing office temperatures, questioning the efficacy of age-old herbal cures while drinking them  - not great places to be, BUT,

My interest in cricket has been re-sparked by the Commonwealth Series. Of course, it has everything to do with watching the Sri Lankan team - my personal favourites - play some good cricket as a team under what is obviously good leadership. Looking forward to a good game tomorrow [Afternote: it was supposed to be day after tomorrow. I woke up very early to watch said match and was disappointed to find out I had got the days mixed up] between the Sri Lankans and the Australians! We've (watch how I take some ownership for all the hard work the team put in) won 4 out of 6 matches with the Australians in this series already. I don't see the need to prove anything more than what the numbers tell.

I have stumbled on a website with plenty of talks made by various people on various topics. All you need is to know what you want to hear about and you'll most likely find it here at www.ted.com. On a similar note, www.bookboon.com is another good one-stop place for a variety of free e-textbooks.

I heard someone talk about introverted personalities in positive light today and that's a first. I struggled with having to conform and gain acceptance in a society that favoured extroverts. It never felt right or easy being in the spot light, socialising at parties, making a fool of oneself, performing solo, hanging out with people for long periods of time or making small talk. So I grew up thinking for a very long time that there was something innately wrong with me - I even went as far as finding a little comfort in thinking of myself as 'a special child' as my mother told me quite often and never questioned it because I knew the theory would fall apart. As I out-grow the phase of desperately wanting to be accepted in society, I slowly become more comfortable with my ways and spend more time doing things the way I prefer them. There's much room for improvement, however.

Turns out introverts are wired this way and if they don't spend enough time alone with their thoughts, they'll go nuts (and start blogs)!

The pen IS mightier than the sword

I overheard an interesting conversation about alcohol back on my way from work yesterday...... It started with two of them comparing notes on how much alcohol they could hold before they got wasted, with one saying 10 shots of cocktails or 6 shots of either whiskey or tequila. The other one who obviously could not hold that much, was in awe and tipped his hat off to her.Then the talk goes on to favourite types of alcoholic beverages. One said beer is the best. Another said wine tastes better. But all of them were in agreement that most other types taste like lighter fluid or gasoline. Then they spoke of what happens to people who didn't know their limits and tolerance levels. The most common thing was of course throwing up large quantities of gut contents (and one experienced person even mentioned it was not fun to be in the viscinity of someone throwing up). Another possibility is falling asleep or passing out and not remembering anything afterwards. Some others might giggle hysterically or get overly emotional. Then, there are the ones who loose their inhibitions and might try, for example, taking off clothes or harassing other folk.

Nuff said about that. o_O

I have figured 5 simple things that together, hypothetically, keeps me in perpetual state of contentment
1. Socialising (online and offline) with my closest friends
2. Tending to interests; music (even just listening to it), reading (inspirational things mostly) and blogging
3. Given responsibilities that will lead to beneficial outcomes for many and and afterwards being appreciated/ existence acknowledged (notice the high level of expectations)
4. Traveling to new places, preferably natural habitats like the sea, forests, mountains, etc
5. Knowing that I am safe around family

So there is really no wonder I can't jumpstart my engines these days to work towards long term goals and aspirations. And then I am a big fat lazy ball of cotton. *sigh*

Off I go to work, it's gonna be a shit busy day! BUT it's the last day of the week!

Here's a Gem, among the masses... a human being I deeply respect and idolise, especially after that speech. The write up of his lecture is totally worth the read.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/srilanka/content/story/522183.html