Imperial Treatment

Just found that my previous un-conventional entry earned me some flak, and somehow a connection was made to dear ol’ Japan. (In low-pitched voice) “It’s okay ma…”

Anyway, coming to the topic I actually wanted to talk about –

Tokyo is a very densely-constructed place. Imagine the compactness of Shenton Way or Robinson Road, multiplied by 100. It seems to be the true place where you can witness the “apocalyptic” post-modern (let’s not get into a hair-splitting debate on the term) noir feeling of a futuristic city setting into decrepit rust. I say this because the infrastructure is admirable; the architecture is cutting-edge; but maintenance is somewhat lacking.

The hotel we’re staying in right now is a far cry from the multi-syllable and absurdly-named Okura Frontier Hotel Tsukuba Epochal. The Imperial Hotel is a world class hotel, boasting a royal history that started in 1890. Then, it was constructed with a neo-Renaissance façade by architect Yazuru Watanabe, to quell the demand from the increasing number of distinguished foreign visitors to Japan, who were accustomed to the lavish and posh hotels of Europe and America.

So the current Imperial, built in 1970, is an exercise in luxury and indulgence. I must say that the service is the best I’ve experienced so far than in any other hotel, and the facilities are first-rate. The room is spacious, and breakfast can be a confusing time as there are 4 restaurants to choose from.

Unfortunately, I’ve not had the time to visit the Imperial Palace which is a stone’s throw from the hotel, and many other spots. But I’ve managed to sample Japan, its people’s warmth and its food quite a fair bit. The next trip, Insha Allah, will include wife and Zayed, both of whom I’ll meet soon :)

The other issue is that the weekend after I touchdown, I have to attend three wedding receptions (two for the same dude) and a tajweed class. I don’t know how it’s going to work out, but let’s hope everything goes smoothly. And I have that trip report to write… which I might start in the flight…

Shooting Stars

I don't normally watch cheerleading performances - I use to have this idea that it was meaningless and just an opportunity to see pretty girls in minimal clothing.

As I watched ESPN at the luxurious Imperial Hotel (more on this in another post) a while ago, I came across the most amazing cheerleading performance I have ever watched. This was the International Cheerleading Championships 2008, and I happened to watch the winners, who had also won the previous year.

It was an amazing performance. 36 girls did a wonderful job of synchronisation, gymnastics, and some dance in a thrilling 2-minute plus performance.

You have to watch it to appreciate it. This is cheerleading!

World Cup Shooting Stars:

Lalaport

Today was such a wonderful day at Tsukuba.

In true essence of the conference, in the morning I took a 45-minute brisk walk down the park connector just outside the hotel, covering about 5km. I didn’t bring my sports shoes, so I had to walk in my office shoes and office pants, and t-shirt. So it would have looked as if I was hurriedly walking towards a place to do some tai chi.

The park connector was cool, and had both a walking and cycling trail. I went all the way to this park known as Doho park, which, in its heyday in the 70s was probably like botanic gardens. It now remains in neglect, with creepers all over the place and untrimmed plants growing out of crevices. In fact, this sense of neglect and “old-great-civilisation” is what I get throughout Tsukuba. It’s cool.

Once that was done, and once we ended off a some conference lectures and a policy meeting at 2pm, our delegation leader told us that we were off for the day! The other VIP decided to organise a trip to a shopping centre a few stations down for shopping and dinner, and we did just that.

It was a really immersive experience. I had long thought of going to Japan ever since I was smitten with anime on TV six years back. But it was just a “good-to-have”, not a “I’ll die without it!”. Fate had it that I would visit Japan. I breathed in the spirit of the people, environment, their noir technology and “kawa-eeneh” (cuteness) as much as I could. Although I very much missed my wife and son back home, today it felt as if it were a tryst between me and Japan. I have tried to capture as much of this spirit as I could through my photos, which I will put up once I return to Singapore, Insha Allah.

We went to Kashiwanoha station, just 9 stops from Tsukuba station. The train is at least 50% faster than MRTs in Singapore, probably due to the need to cover greater distances.

At Kashiwanoha station, I saw a big fat McDonalds’, and about 20 metres from the station, we saw the place we had come to visit: Lalaport. I have no idea why they named it such, but some of the shops inside gave me a clue – a lot of them were baby/toddler shops. [Just a footnote here: except for Zayed, Japanese babies are the CUTEST creatures on this planet. For a people who just love cuteness, God has blessed them with the cutest of children! Alhamdulillah!]

Lalaport was fantastic – everything Japanese was there, and so were many things from the West. They had really cool mini posters for The Dark Knight, Ironman, Wanted which people could just take. For free.

We had dinner at a restaurant that served only one dish – Japanese eel (unagi). The restaurant had two dedicated waiters and presumably one Master chef, whose sole reason for existence was to make the finest unagi for his customers. A first-time unagi eater, I was pleasantly surprised at its tenderness (tastes just like fish!) and tangy taste of the sauce.

Tomorrow is the final day of the conference, and day 1 of a 2.5-day study trip in Tokyo. The day where I will see my wife and son is coming soon, Insha Allah…

Warm

Mornings are really bright here. I almost got a heart attack when I saw the bright day outside - I thought I was late and the conference had started. Then I checked the time - it was only 6.30 am.

Conferences could be a drag - especially if they recap things you already know. Like that it takes a "multi-sectorial approach to promoting physical activity on a national level". Duh.

The language problem here is worse than I thought. The Japanese don't speak ANY English at all. Nil. So I had to resort to getting my requests written down in Japanese by an English-speaking person to ask for services at other places where they did not know English.

The Japanese, even though they don't know English, are extremely warm people. They are so sincere they they feel bad they can't help, and try to communicate in Japanese. And they really love it when you speak any Japanese you know, like "Arigato".

When in Japan, bring your 3G phone. Only 3G works here. And the phones here are cool. But big.

Nippon

Reached Tsukuba a few hours back, for the World Congress on Ageing and Physical Activity.

Looks like a pretty cool place, but doubtful that I'll get to sightsee much. Only 3G phones work around here, so my phone's a no-go. Things here are tsu-per expensive...

And check this - fajr is at 3am! How am I going to wake up at my Okura Frontier Hotel Tsukuba Epochal (bloody mouthful of a name)?

Internet at the hotel is free baby!

One

Everyone has their own perspectives, their own versions of events, their own truths. These are measured against personal judgements, biases, opinions and so on - mostly relative to one another.

But surely, there is one truth that exists on its own, which is the real Truth, which is measured against absolute qualities. It is the Absolute Truth.

Does this mean that relative truths are not truths? No - there can be a multiplicity of truths, and variations of Reality. But there can only be one truth that strings all others together. If not, surely, reality will be impenetrable, incoherent, and quite frankly, intolerable. So there is an Absolute Truth.

And seek it we must.

Telecommute

Working from home can be a blessing - and a curse.

Blessing because you can be with your family while you work... and curse because ofthe same reason.

But after all that is said - it's really a blessing, because the physical journey between work and home is reduced to nothing.

Origin of Me - Part 2

As I looked at a very good friend's wedding photos from India, Ifelt many things.

This friend, whom I've known for over a decade, decided to opt for an arranged marriage and went to his hometown in India to get married. The girl is a France-based lass whose roots are in India, like my friend who is a Singapore-based dude with roots in India, like me.

Indian-Muslim marriages in India are grand affairs - they are colourful, very bright, very long and massive.

My parents had mooted the idea of me marrying one of my relations in India, when I was a bachelor. A major reason for my refusal was that a girl from India would not fit in with my worldview and the country, and also, I thought getting married in India was extremely "obiang". After all, I'm a modern, cosmopolitan, uber-cool Singaporean who is forward-thinking and progressive. Hmm.

But looking at my friend's wedding photos, I realised that one cannot get away from what one is. If I have roots in India, it means I have roots in India. Ooru will always be where I have my family background. And there is a reason and value in the customs and practices of "ooru" (roughly translated - "countryside" or "India").

So the wedding photos do not remind me of an "obiang" setting. They reflect the colours and traditions of my roots. They may not be in sync with what is practiced in seemingly modern settings such as Singapore - but they are there for many reasons and people of my ancestry are proud of it.

So "ooru" is a part of me, and I embrace it.

Return to Tajweed

When I learn tarannum, my Ustad kept on pointing out the fact that even though tarannum is important, tajweed was more important than anything else. Since then, I've been torn apart between perfecting my tajweed and building on my tarannum.

However, after many conversations with many persons, I realised that there is so much more to learn for tajweed, and that I should put my tarannum on hold for the time being.

Last Saturday, I was fortunate enough to attend a "advanced" tajweed class by an established and well-respected Ustad in the recitation of the Qur'an. In those amazing 2 hours, I learnt 5 new things about tajweed which I had not known before all these years!

What does it tell me? There's always, always something you don't know.

Damage

"A videotape of a detainee being questioned at the US prison camp in Guantanamo Bay has been released for the first time.

It shows 16-year-old Omar Khadr being asked by Canadian officials in 2003 about events leading up to his capture by US forces, Canadian media have said." Read more here and here.

Now Omar Khadr is 21 years old. That's five years in captivity. I don't want to imagine how psychologically damaged the kid is. But I do know that this is the type of things that breeds more hatred.

He could be guilty or not guilty for the crime he is accused of. But I do know that the system in place to treat him does not follow the rule of law that democratic and free nations espouse.

For an equally disturbing reality check, you should take some time to watch Road to Guantanamo.

Vimaana Thittam

Flightplan was fantastic – even as I watched the Tamil translation of it.

The infamous SunTV regularly shows Hollywood movies dubbed fully in Tamil, but it’s not the slack kind where you still hear the original language, mind you – the background sounds, effects, scores are all intact in these Tamil versions. Only the voice track is professionally replaced with the Tamil voice actors'.

And these actors are veterans in their own right – they provide dubbing voices for Tamil actors in Tamil movies! That’s right – unlike in Hollywood where Peirce Brosnan dubs his own voice for Pierce Brosnan, in Tamil movies, Muthu might dub for the popular actor Karuppu, simply because Karuppu is busy with other shoots and has no time for things like dubbing.

Anyway – the thing about Tamil translated movies is that the Tamil colloquial language is strangely adapted to the movie’s context. In Flightplan, the lip-syncing is fabulous, to even the grunts and so on. I have a strong feeling the voice actors really enjoy themselves when they do a doofy, stupid voice for, say, a fat dude.

There was once they showed Shanghai Noon, and man, Owen Wilson and Jackie Chan were rip-roaring hilarious in working-class Madrasi accent.

No wonder Hollywood movies are popular – many blockbuster movies are dubbed in Tamil, because the masses understand them.

Now… I wonder how Hancock will be translated…

Martyr

"Then the Caliph was beheaded."

When the sentence was flashed on the screen, my throat knotted and I could feel my hands turning cold. A sense of loss and despair descended on me. I controlled from tears rolling as it was a classroom setting.

The immensity
The class "Legacies of the Four Righteous Caliphs" reached a milestone with the lesson on Hazrat 'Uthman ibn Affan r.a. The four righteous Caliphs were promised Paradise by the Prophet s.a.w. himself, and examining their lives in details, they almost matched the Prophet in good character, piety and love for humanity.

The four righteous Caliphs were the successors of the Prophet himself, to lead the Muslim people. Hazrat 'Uthman was the third successor, who ruled the Muslim empire for 12 years. He was kind, just, soft-hearted, pious, and the son-in-law of the Prophet s.a.w. himself.

Which is why the method of his murder, orchestrated by a shadowy rebellious force of Muslim, is unbelievable and heart-wrenching. For a head of state to be murdered in such a way by a fellow Muslim is indeed a travesty by all counts.

Turning point
I'm not sure if this was the historical turning point of Muslim history, but it sure seems like it. Later on, generations of Muslim leaders managed to keep the empire together, but they mostly did not follow the footsteps of the Prophet s.a.w. Most ruled with iron fists and had harems and what nots. And today, the empire ceases to exist.

Prayer
Let us include the four Righteous Caliphs in our daily supplications, for Allah to reward them for their good deeds and for their sacrifices for future generations.

If it has to be

The Prophet s.a.w. said:

The son of Adam has not filled any container worse than his belly. If it has to be, then a third of it has to be for food, a third of it has to be for drink and a third for the breath.

(Ibn Hanbal, at-Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah)

Freedom

Something happened and my bicycle tire didn't want to inflate. So I ended up jogging. I marvelled at the fact that you can maneuver much better around places when you jog... no need to think of lugging a big monster with wheels. But jogging's deathly boring.

~~~

Over lunch today with the colleagues, the topic of political apathy came about. I was having lunch with a group of 4 folks who had all studied or were studying in the UK. They merrily shared tidbits of information about Hyde Park, Khan's, King's Road and all other lovely British things. I was thinking that Kadayanalloor Street was cooler than all those places combined. The topic then shifted to the feeling of Singaporean-ness when living abroad, as opposed to being totally bloody apathetic among local affairs when living in Singapore.

Fareed Zakaria gave an interview in the Straits Times last weekend, where he said that Singapore lacks a "fully functioning multi-party democracy", and that younger Singaporeans felt frustrated at the autocratic leadership (that has been around for as long as most young people could remember). The topic then further shifted to whether young men and women at the University really felt strongly about politics and "freedom", while older folks in the early 30s did not feel as much passion and preferred the peace and status quo.

Thinking about it, the recent changes in my lifestyle have really lessened the time I took to think about and feel about things like politics, freedom of speech and the Sedition Act, and those stupid lousy Western countries that did not lift a finger to stop genocides. We used to debate about these things in class those days (3 years ago), and I felt that the Government and Singaporeans all just wanted to play safe, have secure jobs, watch TV and forget about everything else.

Now, a marriage, a HDB flat and a kid later, what MM said once rings true in my year (not his exact words): give a person the basic necessities in life, like shelter, food (as in the Maslow hierarchy of needs) and you can lead the nation quite successfully, as people will be content with the leadership.

But it's not as if I don't care about politics, and everything else. I do - but I also know that we in Singapore have a lot more things that millions around the world don't. These things are, in no ranking order, freedom to express yourself, freedom to practice your religion, freedom to walk at night without fear, freedom to do anything you want that is legal... and so on. Of course, the breadth and depth of the freedoms vary, as we all live in a society of many different types of people. But we have so much freedom to be thankful for.

If one really wants to change the world, there is a certain method to it. We are a group of people who made things happen with pragmatism, not drama and conflict. And this shows in the way things work today. There's no drama - drama is ridiculed (recall Chee Soon Juan's court case and him as a "political juvenile" and "near psychopath"), and conflict is curbed. So for things to change, pragmatism should be the approach.

But for now, let me pragmatically enjoy that ice-cold glass of Mug root beer which is waiting for me... ah, freedom.

So much of potential

Photo credit: Sony Pictures Entertainment

It could have been so much more... but Will Smith's Hancock left a very incomplete feeling in me.

The trailer showed what seemed to be the premise of the movie. This premise does pan out, rather well but too quickly. We then see why such a pace was required, when we see the "shocker" which no one is quite ready for (not covered in trailer, not covered in any article, nothing). From then on... it becomes a movie that could have become the biggest non-Marvel/DC superhero franchise ever created but fades out like a torn underwear which gets further shredded with every scene. Sorry for the lack of an alternate metaphor.

I'm not sure what happened to the script. So much of promise. Good CGI. Great actors. Charlize Theron never looked this good. Will Smith - we all know he's The Man. A great premise of a drunken superhero. Somewhere along the line, something got messed up.

Whoever watches the movie, we can have a chat over some tea on how else the movie could've turned out.

Sorry Will - it didn't work out this time.

Nice but safe

The Taj Mahal topic is one that's been kind of beaten to death, at least in the Indian/Tamil drama and film world. The romanticism associated with the whole episode of Shah Jahan, the 17th century Moghul Emperor, building the (at that time) massive Taj Mahal in rememberance of his favourite wife, Mumtaj, is well-known and epitomised for undying love. Indian pop culture makes frequent reference to the Taj Mahal symbolism.

So when I heard that the Ravindran Drama Group (RDG) was staging its "magnus opus" (nowadays everyone's doing their MAGNUS OPUS!) entitled Taj Mahal, I heaved a sigh of boredom and was skeptical at what more could be done with that theme. For the sake of my own Mumtaj-equivalent, I went to see it at the Drama Centre yesterday.

I was quite pleasantly surprised at the great trouble RDG went to dramatise the events that led to the creation of the Taj Mahal. It was RDG's interpretation with original songs, dance choregraphy and a script that was presumably drafted from scratch, the sources being history books. The scriptwriter, whose previous works I'm familiar, must indeed be lauded for coming up with a script that stayed true to the Muslim social fabric of the Mughal times (but not neccessarily mentioning all the facts, some of which aren't too pretty). But I thought the script could've been more polished - there could have been references peppered throughout the play that Shah Jahan had a penchance for building beautiful structures. The theme of love could have also been played around with more, rather than confining it to the Shah Jahan-Mumtaj relationship.

The actors did a tremendous job. The lead pair was convincing enough, and the rest of the cast was sufficient to keep the production together.

However, for an RDG production, it can be considered a relatively "safe" production. No trademark shockers, no throught-provoking sentiments, no genre-bending. I guess that was the point of this magnus opus - a simple romantic story, captured in song and dance. But for some audience, this could've been off-putting, especially the song bits - there is only so long can you watch two people frolicking in a bedroom scene with slow music in the background.

But the comedy sequences, inspired from the Tamil film genre, may have helped to sustain attention to an extent.

In all, the production was a representation of the effort and hardwork that went into making the real Taj Mahal, but which may not have been reflective of RDG's trademark boldness.

Enter the Chi

When I was younger, I used to snigger at those ah peks and ah sohs who did their morning tai chi and qi gong routines. Wagging their arms. Squatting repeatedly. Doing all kinds of funny movements that would induce bowel movement in any sane individual.

Many moons and bowels later (ugh), this tai chi and qi gong have come back to haunt me. Due to my work on policy-making for seniors, I know more about tai chi now, including its clinically-tested benefits. Tai chi, sometimes called tai chi chuan, is a noncompetitive, self-paced system of gentle physical exercise and stretching. To do tai chi, you perform a series of postures or movements in a slow, graceful manner.

Tai chi is actually a “soft” form of martial arts, originating from China in the 12th century. It’s more of a meditative nature – the slow movements and concentration needed focus the mind and heart.

The benefits of tai chi include:
- Reducing anxiety and depression
- Improving balance and coordination
- Reducing the number of falls
- Improving sleep quality, such as staying asleep longer at night and feeling more alert during the day
- Slowing bone loss in women after menopause
- Lowering blood pressure
- Improving cardiovascular fitness
- Relieving chronic pain
- Improving everyday physical functioning

So the ah peks and ah sohs KNEW about the good stuff...

I went for my first tai chi session today. Does this mean I'm an ah pek? No. Tai chi is for everyone.

The session was quite awesome actually. Led by an experienced tai chi Master, we learnt two very simple steps of a 12-step modified Sun style.

The deliberate movement of the routine had a very peaceful and calming effect on me. The Master said the chi energy flows through the body at the various postures, thus balancing the body’s energy flows. Whatever that means.

I’m no expert at chi energy, but I believe all of us have some sort of energy field around us that affect our mood and behaviour. The movements in our five daily prayers have this exact calming effect when done properly. In fact, I think our daily prayers combines both tai chi and yoga postures, with some spa treatment added in for good measure (our wudhu or ablution cools down the strategic parts of our bodies, such as the forearms and face, calming us down).

It will indeed be an exciting journey to learn all 12 steps of tai chi and teaching it to any willing test subj- sorry -friends. And in the process, I hope to apply the lessons learnt in slow, deliberate movements in my prayers, to achieve the purpose of uninhibited communication with God.

Mango

I love mangoes. I love them because they're nice and sweet. At least most of the time. I love the lassie, the fruit, ice-cream, cake, biscuit, pudding - just name it. If it has mango in it, you'll find me next to it.

From Wiki:

"Mangoes have been cultivated in the Indian Subcontinent for thousands of years and reached East Asia between the 5th-4th century BC. By the 10th century AD, they were transported to East Africa and subsequently introduced to Brazil, West Indies and Mexico, where climate allows its appropriate growth.

The origins of mango are thought to have been from a plant from Malaysia, India and Indonesia. It probably was grown in southeast Asia before the seventh century, although the only references found are from Cambodia. The 14th century Muslim traveler, Ibn Battuta, reported it at Mogadishu."

I had recently gotten my hands on a Pakistani mango - as I eat it now, I think they're better than the ones I get from India. So big! So sweet!

But it's a heaty fruit - so don't eat too much of it.

Another ICS

The Indian Cultural Society, or ICS, is an integral part of many Singaporean Indian students’ lives. At various stages of one’s life, one might be totally involved in it, or totally condemn it. The ICS becomes an aggregate voice of Indians in the school, and how much support one gave it depended on how well the ICS reflected your idea of how Indians should be perceived.

There are many types of ICSes – some are the "high-cultured" ones that are known to exude a sense a professionalism and high class. Then there are the "uncouth types", which prefer to base programmes on the preference of a vocal few, and end up with the name “kuppai” (trash) or “tharuthalai” (hooligan?). Then there are the mass appeal types which hit the right note by appealing to a diverse range of tastes, and supported by the electorate (so to speak).

What to ICSes do? Contrary to popular belief, they are not all that useless. Although a major KPI might be to organise that Totally Wonderfully Extragavant ICS Show (TWEICSS), they do other social functions, like volunteering at old folks’ homes or raising funds for the disabled. ICSes, depending on their financial clout and the Tamil teachers’ networks, also organise inter-school competitions involving essay-writing, debating, singing, acting or dancing.

I used to gauge the strength of an ICS through its TWEICSS. A well-organised, enjoyable show went to show the talents of the Indians in the school, the ability of good leadership of the ICS to pull together the talents, and the standing of the ICS among its own members.

Through some fluke, when I was elected as the President of my JC’s ICS, the Executive Committee (Exco) used to go for other TWEICSSes and drool and crave to have our own. You see, during my days, the ICS was seen as a expressway to academic doom in my apparently high-performance JC. More time spent on ICS = less time for studies = fail common tests = fail A levels = die lor. Mind you, clubs like the Computer Club and Chess Club thrived. But not the ICS.

But we tried in our small ways to raise our profile, through performances at major assembly concerts, and by inviting a multi-racial mix of members. We participated in Tamil Debates (we were champions in '98). We also wanted to prove we were not woosies by also trying to participate in singing, acting and dance competitions. But the invitation letters, we learnt later, which had been addressed to “The Indian Cultural Society” had been withheld from us, and destroyed! Bloody hell. This resulted in we being unable to participate in anything, and other ICSes thinking that we were all too nerdy and up in the ivory towers studying to get into the Ivy League and not bothering about the Indian cultural scene.

However, things have changed. When I recently spoke to a member in the current ICS of my JC (class of 08!), I was heartened to know that they had a TWEICSS 3 weeks ago. That’s good… with new teachers comes new ways of doing things. The ICS has indeed come a long way.

We had also done up an ICS t-shirt during our year, an unprecedented first. The logo that was printed is the one that you see above, designed by our fabulous artist, Denise. We also put up a website - which still exists! What a flood of memories... as you would see, the language the website uses is like some testosterone-packed action-mama brotherhood of the Bedok 42nd parang-wielding battalion. Enjoy the website here.