Simulated Terror

I'm back! It's been almost a month since the last entry, and it's been a simple case of "I'm going to write about this but wait let me do that first!". So like that lah. No entries. Anyway, happy holidays to everyone. I spent the last weekend watching Khabi Khushi, Khabi Ghum, a fantastically melodrama-mama story of family love, brotherly love, fatherly love, motherly love, parents-in-lawly love, plain old couplely love and housemaidy love. Any other day I would've laughed at the over-drive in sentiments, but for the sake of Shah Rukh, Amitabh and Kajol, I relaxed a bit and managed to shed some tears at the end. Next week, on New Year's Day, catch Aamir Khan's 1857: The Rising, a critically-acclaimed show but commercially lacklustre (which perhaps explains why Central was able to buy it off so early).

I heard last night and read today morning about the Surprise Simulated Attacks on MRT and Buses. It's a surprise that the Surprise Attacks have been announced on TV, radio and newspapers. But moving on. It's so remarkable that a country that's been able to escape any serious affliction (like riots, or natural calamities) in recent times has to resort to simulating agony to wake up its soft-legged, lily-livered and often spoilt citizenry into preparedness. While there are folks out there in the world who are battling grenades, explosions, famine, floods, earthquakes, rapes and riots on a literally daily basis, some of us whine about not being given access to toilets in country clubs (ST, 28 Dec, pg H7) and are generally too comfortable with our iPodified lifestyles where the only thing that comes to 'scary' is a Pooh bear. Or Barney.

But hey, you can't discount the fact that we're what we are today through the years of hardwork and determination and CPF. True, absolutely. But I wonder at the proportion of young Singaporeans who truly understand the meaning of pain and suffering. NS helps a bit for the guys, but for the girls, not even that. It's not anyone's fault that we're well off and dandy, and watching Kabhi Gushi, Kabhi Ghum. It's just so that one great scenario leads to another, and here we are now, taking time off from our capitalist excesses to get ready to face Simulated Terror. Let's see how it all goes next year on one of the weekends.