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.

Glory days have come - Part I

Katy Kat asked me if I had a blogger's block the other day. I think the question itself pushed me to attempt to break out of it. So this blog consists of bits and pieces which were typed out and saved on my phone while commuting, emailed to self later and then copied and edited on Blogger. My struggles with work life balance led to what I suspect a temporary mental aversion to blogging. To make matters worse, my computer started acting up - the keyboard in particular. It works on some days and not on others, with no explainable patterns. A keyboard is like a pen to any blogger. So the frustration of not having a pen when you want to write something down badly (assuming in both cases that no phones were available) is understandable.

In my search for a solution, I read up and tried various fixtures. Frustrations aside, one learns new tech-related things going through a crisis like this. The "one before the last" attempt was to restore the computer to factory settings. That didn't make the problem go away completely, but it seems to have improved the situation by extending the time that the keyboard remains functional. The last attempt is of course to replace this computer which I bought over 2.5 years ago with a new one, but this is not an option for another 6-10 weeks.

Sometimes when I can't recall dates of special events in my life (like the purchase of a new computer, for example), I often search my blog. Just now while referring back, I found this amusing line in a post I made in January 2011: 

No Shuri, you CAN'T have the X-box Kinect. But your glory days with Dance Central will come, be patient now.

Shuri is immensely patient. She waited two years to make it happen. Perhaps I'll blog about my secret dancing sessions on another day.

My boss gave me some chocolates after his return from his home town in South Africa. He tells me that the ripe Marula fruit in the wild attracts a lot of wildlife. When the fruit is overly ripe, it has a slightly elevated alcohol level making some of its consumers (like the monkeys) slightly tipsy!

Earlier this month, Katy and I went to a two-day camp organised by the Singapore Zoo. It was a lot of fun! We spotted nocturnal animals during a night walk (I learnt that Katy has well developed vision for spotting animals even in low light conditions! And projecting these observations skills of hers a little further, I don't think her kids will ever get away with any sneaky business without their mama knowing!), got VIP tours of the animal hospital and central kitchen and got to sleep inside sleeping bags. The zoo feels like an entirely different place after all the visitors have left and it closes for the night.

There were also awkward ice-breakers and an alpha male participant who volunteered to take the lead ALL the time. At times we were happy to sit back and observe him with amusement and at times I wanted to hit him over the head. 

This was the list distributed to the camp participants. Katy and I pondered a lot on what "1 set of undergarment" meant. Did it mean a two-pieced set for the girls? Then, what about the boys? Or was it one piece, like the confusing term "a pair of shorts" which actually means one piece? And do they still call them "undergarments" these days?

 

This is what "undergarments" initially brought to mind. I can't fathom why women of the 1960's wore cone bras, except maybe for self defence. I'm happy about the evolutionary path that underwear has taken since. Well, somewhat. It would be good if it can stop evolving right about now.

   

Our packed bags, waiting in swollen anticipation to go to the camp

A little frog used to for educating purposes which was duly returned to its resting place afterwards

 

The Animal Hospital. (left) X-ray room and (right) Operating Theatre 

 

Large food store feeding a majority of the 10,000+ specimens distributed at the Singapore Zoo, Night Safari and the River Safari

Food in various forms, catering to specialised diets. These are carrots and yams to be boiled.

The sleepover at the zoo included watching "Despicable Me" just before bedtime. It was an excellent choice for a movie! After a restless night sleeping in noisy, unfamiliar sleeping bags and with back pains from sleeping on safari beds, the next day, we left the zoo feeling extremely thrilled about the wild experience that Wildlife Reserves Singapore gave us.

Cake and other random bits

It's July! We turned late twenty last week.

Growing up is not all bad, actually. The turbulence of the younger years seems to have subsided. The workings of the world makes more sense.

Some extremely thoughtful presents given by Shu's dear friends. Thanks guys, for these and the cake! 

A beautiful Royal Python introduced to us by one of the Keepers after zoo duty last Sunday

A photo taken at Harbourfront, Singapore. 

And finally, a one of Pitbull's songs guaranteed to lift the spirits:

June ends

The haze situation is stable for now. Ginger was gone for a week and I thought the worst. Then, day before yesterday, I was never happier to see two orange paws sticking out of my neighbour's shoe rack.

Singapore enjoyed non-hazardous air all of last week. The Indonesian government has been taking measures to control the situation, mostly in response to pressure from the international community. Singapore, meanwhile, is busy implementing emergency preparedness measures in schools, hospitals, offices, etc, in case the haze comes back. Often, we lack the drive to take preventative measures (which we perceive as taking up more of our time, effort and costs) and instead focus on tackling immediate problems as and when they arise. Taking shortcuts can cost much more sometimes.

I have a very small but surely growing collection of books. So whenever, I need a book fix and I feel too lazy to hit the library, I end up re-reading my favourite books. It's kind of like how I tend to order the same things at restaurants, despite resolutions to be more adventurous in trying out new things, because I know for a fact that it is going to taste great. So I picked up Quiet again and it's been really hard to let the book down.

The book also got me in trouble TWICE today.

Scene #1: This morning, I honestly missed a text message from my colleague, who was in the next carriage, saying "Good Morning Shu, I just saw you step into the train." because I was wrapped up in the book. And she said she didn't walk over to me to say hello because she saw that I was very engrossed. She is thoughtful like that. Had I seen the message, I would have been forced to go socialise with her instead getting some valuable reading time so I was glad about the way things turned out [Shu, you are going to hell!]. It is possible she thought that I saw her message and chose to ignore it.

Scene#2: Evening time, again in the train after we've (she's) talked a lot and I've listened more, she asked casually what I am reading. I told her it's an interesting Psychology book and pulled out the book to show it to her without much thought and shortly after that, I regretted showing it. It read "Quiet. The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking". I should have been more careful. I hope she didn't feel like it was a metaphorical slap in her face because I thought I saw her blush. I felt terrible. I'd rather she assumed I was a forelorn introvert reading a self-help book to gain self confidence than take it the wrong way.

I try not to over-use labels, but it's impossible not to, in this case. Sure, there are exceptions; introversion and extroversion lie on a spectrum rather than being two fixed states and some people are harder to pick out as they have mastered qualities and skills that don't come naturally to them. But the more I understand the psychology behind this phenomenon and observe social situations, it appears that the majority of introverts and extroverts are as unmistakable as males and females of a particular species.

My colleague is a nice extrovert who is very thoughtful, kind, smart and has a big conscience (but she will stop being nice to me if she found out I was using her as a case study on my blog!). Being happily married to her college sweetheart who she admits is an introvert, she seems to know well how to draw us out of our shell in a pleasant and non-threatening way. The most successful couples I have met are pairings of the opposite type, provided that they each have a good understanding of their partners' strengths and limitations. My parents are such a couple. Though not the most romantic couple on Earth, they do make a good team that can work in synergy. They celebrated their 38th wedding anniversary two days ago, and *gasp*, Shu and her sister forgot to wish them, until they reminded us! We assume they know that we love them very much regardless of temporary flashes of memory impairment.

Here's a timeless tune that's always a hit at weddings:

The Haze-o-calypse

The end of June has plagued Singapore with "The Haze", affecting the air quality of every breathing living thing here. It has caught international attention and put the tiny island of Singapore back on the map. There seems to be a temporary improvement in the quality of air but we are not out of the blue yet even as I write this post. I do hope the situation does not worsen again because I like to have a fighting chance to achieve my future dreams and ambitions, and that too, in good health.

                                                Singapore's experience of the haze of 2013

Last Friday when air pollution levels hit the highest record of 401 PSI (borderline hazardous levels are capped at 300 PSI), it felt like the end of the world was here. There was much panic and fear around, not knowing when or if the levels will go down or continue to rise. While monitoring hourly PSI levels on the internet and smelling smoke everywhere, I kept imagining that we were going to be another statistic like the survivors of Chernobyl. My parents were worried sick and kept asking me to fly back home to Sri Lanka escape the haze of Singapore.

Today is a significant improvement from Friday the 21st of June, when PSI levels hit 401 (screen shot taken from www.nea.gov.sg/psi)

The outdoors are filled with people in face masks. The parks are empty as we have been advised to keep strenuous physical activity outdoors to a minimum. The indoors offer some security but when the situation was at its worst last week, we woke up in houses filled with smoke and worked in offices (without our masks on) where the smell of burning wood still got through the central air conditioning systems. People we hardly knew made small talk of the haze in buses and trains. Some time last week, stores everywhere ran out of face masks. When a store received new stocks of face masks, people queued up and it sold out in minutes like hotcakes. People even rushed to buy air purifiers and there just weren't enough stocks in the stores to fulfill the demand. 

Ordinary paper masks offer no protection from the hazardous particles in the air but it was a few days before the general population got access to special N95 type masks. Plenty of people in vulnerable states like the elderly, children, pregnant mothers and those with existing respiratory problems were using the ordinary face masks until they found effective N95 masks. Business, including in construction sectors, went on as usual and low income construction workers continued to work outside when PSI levels soared past 300.

One type of N95 mask

Indonesia is the largest producer of palm oil - besides countries like Malaysia, Nigeria and Thailand - supplying the global demand for palm oil. Palm oil is an essential ingredient in a lot of things we use and can't do without now. Every year during the dry season, Indonesia (our neighbour) burns a large area of their palm oil plantations, preparing the land for the next round of the oil palm crop. It's far easier and cheaper to set fire and let it burn away the area than clean up debris with hired labour, plus the charred remains make the soil fertile. 

The problem is that these fires are often illegal and uncontrolled, spreading into natural forests, destroying everything in its path. A lot of the time, these regular activities go unnoticed and ignored on an international level because it's just another nagging ear sore caused by scientists or a conservationist group. And many people maintain the attitude "if it doesn't affect me or my loved ones directly, why should I care?". But this year it changed in Singapore. It noticeably affected people past international borders. The government became actively engaged because the haze was adversely affecting the health of its people and the country's economy. 

This image shows the source of the smoke - fires originating in the oil plantations of Sumatra in Indonesia

Either we have an incredible ability to forget and move on with crisis situations or we may have become numb to media coverage and cries on environmental pollution. I can vouch for that because we here in Singapore are going on about life as usual, while taking recommended preventative measures to get past this haze. Maybe we don't want to add up the math of the climate crisis happening in other parts of the world or analyse deeper into what lessons this haze can teach us. After all, the governments of Singapore and Indonesia are taking measures to improve air quality in the area, protect the people and bring culprits of this haze to justice. We don't know yet what diseases and long term effects on health this extended exposure will bring. Perhaps, being resilient creatures of years of evolutionary success, we may not be affected much. But for now, the general attitude is "We feel fine and therefore don't particularly feel motivated to change our lifestyles or become more environmentally friendly".

What about the animals, plants and their habitats that are getting destroyed by the fires? What of the animals that live outdoors and have no protection whatsoever from what they breathe in? No one can afford to care because the truth is, no matter what, it is a game of priorities and survival of the fittest. This incident should really be a wake up call or it will be a wasted lesson on us all. This is a snapshot of the fate that we are bringing upon ourselves and the planet at large with the lifestyles and desires we have acquired over the years. Conscientious people can take small measures to stall the untimely death of the planet, but the real power lies with the governments. We are well past the point where measures like optimistic recycling efforts of a few individuals will reverse the situation (but that doesn't mean we should stop trying!). Only international environmental policies and tough measures to control consumerism taken by proactive governments with good leadership can offer a glimmer of hope.

But otherwise, our future generations are pretty much doomed.

Midway through 2013

It's 33 degrees Celsius in sunny Singapore!

Today I met a whiny cab driver on my way to work early on a Sunday morning. I don't know the nature of his issues, but he was far, far away from things like contentment, gratitude or hope. He grumbled all the way about his general dissatisfaction of external circumstances that he could not change. What we don't realise after we've worked ourselves to such a state of mind, is that we also bring down everyone else around us. It becomes far more easier to complain and wallow in self pity than to kick oneself and take control. I tried, mostly in vain, to give him a bit of perspective, to help him see beyond his convictions to conditions of those who are far worse. It's hard to convince people who think that the grass is greener on the other side, or in his case, that he was living in the worst country in the world.

I wonder if this image would have helped

I stumbled on a terrific website called diagram.ly to draw process flow charts. I went from being a "noob" to an "expert" in half an hour, thanks to its little video tutorial in the help section. It doesn't require any installation, it's very user-friendly and it's free! All it takes is dragging and dropping shapes and arrows, giving some colour, typing the text and saving to a file format of choice. I had a minor heart attack midway into the assignment wondering how I'll edit the flow chart later after I've closed the browser. Thankfully, they had it covered too.

Here's further proof that flow charts of any type now no longer require expert services. It's not the best example for a flow chart, but if I post work files here, I may get fired.

Look at that! My whole life in a simple flow chart.

There and back again

Last month, I went home to see the parents for five days. I contemplated on crossing off an exotic destination from my list of new countries to visit. But then I had a startling reminder that my remaining time with the family, realistically speaking, is limited to x number of moments and that pretty much settled where I wanted to be for my holiday.

I was told there was also going to be a family wedding we'd be attending. Crowds, making conversations and finding a dress! Bother. Thankfully, my helpful elder sister with a sophisticated sense of fashion came to the rescue (what will I ever do without her!). So I was saved the trouble and trauma of hunting for a perfect dress. More on that later.

The long weekend also found me celebrating Vesak with a large population of Buddhists in the country. By "celebrations", I mean doing things like visiting the temples, making Vesak lanterns with my adopted brother, driving in town with family and neighbours to watch creative displays of colourful lanterns and finally, eating from dansal.

Dansal are stalls set up by groups of volunteers offering food and drinks to anyone and everyone passing by (no questions asked) free of charge in the spirit of the occasion. Food ranges from good full course meals to ice cream and the queues can be pretty long for ones famed at having delicious meals. It's not really about fighting the crowds to get a free meal. The idea is for one party to organise, spend, cook and offer food with generous thoughts to others, while the receivers leave behind any pride and in turn enjoy the meal and offer their gratitude and appreciation for the other party's efforts. These days they have to operate on government licenses to ensure that food provided meets health and hygiene standards. Revisiting traditions and the culture back home with the family brought much me joy.

The Dalada Maligawa - an iconic palace turned temple in my hometown that attracts thousands of devotees and tourists every year

A recent addition to the main shrine 

The start of a large project that eventually took us a whole day to complete. My brother had already made the "skeletons" of the lanterns out of bamboo sticks when I arrived home, but there was much cutting and pasting to do!

The lantern slowly takes shape with coloured paper

The largest lantern of the lot. They look their best at night, when the light from inside the lantern radiates through translucent paper.

We had a total of four lanterns. My brother did the hard work of pulling electrical cables over the trees in the garden and fixing the lights and lanterns. I was his helpful aid.

Vesak lanterns can take various shapes, sizes, colours and designs. It takes considerable skill and time to make artistic ones like the one above (a photo which I borrowed from http://vesaksrilanka.blogspot.com/). Ours were of course amateur attempts. 

In addition to being able to show off his new driving license, my brother had a new member in his fleet of vehicles (the other being a bicycle). I also had enough time to look at all the plants my Dad and brother had planted, eat some of the fruits fresh off the trees and visit my favourite river.

A curious looking "three-wheeler". Its ability to squeeze through small spaces makes it an efficient mode of transport during traffic hours in Sri Lanka. We drove to the nearest playground where he gave me a crash course on driving it and I raced to my heart's content (mostly in circles), only having to dodge a few grazing cows and their dung piles.

Kitty - another privileged member of the family

Homegrown bananas and (a little harder to spot) Kitty about to do a death-defying stunt from the roof to the ground

I never miss the 3-minute walk down to the river whenever I visit home. This is where I spent a good deal of time growing up. It may explain my hydrophilic tendencies.

Reminiscing the past...

The wedding turned out a lot better than I imagined. I could tell my parents were filled with warm, parental pride to have atleast one of their offspring present at this social event. I believe they miss us very much. Social awkwardness aside, seeing them happy made me happy. It was actually fun to meet up with the cousins, aunties, uncles, nieces and nephews and others after what seemed like ages. Thankfully, I didn't meet any nosy and pushy relatives who tried to convince me to let my parents arrange a husband for me (I even went prepared with some sharp comebacks that these situations require, but it's a shame I didn't get to exercise any of those lines!).

The awkward/ simple Shu was transformed into an elegant lady with the help of her sister's choice of attire and a professional makeup artist. Photos that surfaced a few weeks later on Facebook, proved to be a hit (going by the positive comments). Initially, when the photos turned up and drew a bit of attention, I felt like a slug that crawled ignorantly out from under a rock only to be stunned by the flashing photos of the slug paparazzi. I was even told off by a couple of close friends when I gave due credit to the lighting technicians, the photographer, his sophisticated camera and the make up artist for tastefully enhancing my features. But I learned quickly to graciously thank everyone else for their compliments.

And just like that, it was time to leave back to Singapore.

The scenic drive from my hometown in Kandy to the Airport (took us nearly 3.5hours, the same time it takes me to fly from Singapore to Sri Lanka, actually) through mountainous terrain. In the background is the "Bible Rock" overlooking Kadugannawa

More lanterns on the roadsides!

Why, look at the time! It's almost time to start getting ready for work *nervous laugh*