New York, Jana Gana Mana

I went for my first Bollywood cinema experience! It was, alas, to watch New York. It got rave reviews from people who should probably find another job other than a film critic. It was long, draggy, with gigantic plot holes and hopeless acting by John Abraham and Katrina Kaif (Irfan Khan’s acting was brilliant though).

All these possibly due to the fact that there wasn’t any English subtitles. But the person I went with, a native Urdu speaker who learnt Hindi, found it even more appalling than I had, so maybe my limited Hindi vocabulary saved the day.

Indian cinemas have their percularities. The stupidest is the censor’s notice preceding every video. Advertisements and trailers included. Which is stupid.

More interesting that the movie or the percularities of Indian entertainment law is the playing of the national anthem, Jana Gana Mana, before the movie started. Having lived my entire life in Malaysia and Singapore, well, it was different. I imagine if Negaraku or Majulah Singapura is played, nary a soul would stand.

Interesting also is that they focus on individuals singing the anthem (in this case, shown in the video, Indian artists) – as opposed to the usual showing off the country. More interesting was what I found on Wikipedia: the anthem is in Bengali, which makes one of the few anthems in the world done in a minority language.

Singapore’s and Ireland’s national anthem, too, shares that with India – albeit India’s national language has never been Bengali, unlike Malay and Irish in Singapore and Ireland presently. Indonesia’s Indonesia Raya is similar in that regard – at inception, Bahasa Indonesia was a minority, albeit national, language.

Also interesting is Sindh is mentioned as part of India, which while being accurate in 1911, isn’t really so since 1947.

Seen on a morning commute*

India photos are slowly being uploaded on Facebook

* Real context only available to those privileged enough to see my Facebook photos.

Pronounced date

On The Malaysian Insider:

Watch the caption

On the Insider as well, they have a poll that goes, “Love him or loathe him, it is impossible to be indifferent about Michael Jackson.” But, I am. Oh wait, is this an entire post about Michael Jackson? Fuck. I’m no longer casually indifferent.

To my Indian friends

To all my Indian friends whining about how I whine about the food in Bangalore: STFU.

The church I go to, the pastor’s wife is from Malaysia (Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, if I’m not mistaken). I asked here, how was the transition moving to Bangalore. She sighed, “It was really by the grace of God….”

1) I’m not saying Indian food is bad, I’m saying the options I have in Bangalore is bad. Where I work, it’s either the cafeteria (it has its moments) or a food court 1 km away. The food court has three stalls, all Indian (north, south and “Chinese”), one being entirely vegetarian, as well as McDonalds and Barista Lavaaza (some sort of crappy Starbucks knockoff – and Starbucks is overpriced crap as it is). So for breakfast and lunch, it’s pretty much crap.

Then there’s where I’m staying – the food is bad at the cafeteria. The food on Cambridge Layout, the nearest main road, is similarly limited – there is Marry Brown (craptacular place that makes McDonalds look good), a dodgy North Indian place, dozens of sweets and chaats shops, and a Coffee Cafe Day (side note: I really, really hate the name). So you could see how on a daily basis, my food options range from crap to overpriced crap.

Yes, I could go to Indiranagar or Brigade Road or the likes, but it is not something you could do everyday (its not very convenient or affordable). So for weekdays, I usually have crappy Indian food. Forgive me if I think this sucks.

2) As for the options available, I can’t believe anyone can honestly say there are as many options in Bangalore as in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. Yes, for my vegetarian Indian friends, India provides you unparallel options and varieties. I’m not vegetarian (well, these days, I’m practically am), so I don’t give a flying rat’s ass.

Yes, Indian food is diverse. South Indian food itself is diverse. But the diversity is unmatched compared to what I’m used to back home. (Also, it doesn’t help that I got food poisoning on my second day here, making me extremely wary of any place that looks dodgy).

3) And it goes beyond just the options – its the accessibility. Even when I was staying in Ipoh, a sleepy, very low-density city, there was simply far more restaurant options within walking distance from where I stayed. I used to complain in my first year how limited my options were in Pasir Panjang (the intersection between Pasir Panjang Road and South Buona Vista Road) – but I had far more to choose from compared to where I’m staying in Bangalore. And if I get the hunger pangs past 10-11pm in Bangalore, well, too bad.

And I’m not staying that far from town (5 minutes to Brigade, 10 minutes to Indiranagar, walking distance to Old Madras Road). Nobody delivers food here – I don’t think I ever lived anywhere where I couldn’t order a pizza before.

4) Stop being so prissy about Indian food. Yes, its lovely (except the shit I eat on a daily basis). But you grew up on it, and therefore love it. I didn’t. Stop being so bloody defensive when someone doesn’t appreciate Indian food as much as you do. And stop starting your first conversation with me in India as, “Oh, you must be loving the food here/Oh, you must be putting on weight here”. Uhm, no. On average, I eat less a day these days than I do in a meal back home.

5) I realize I can’t get the food I know and love from Malaysia (and to the lesser extent, Singapore) in London, Melbourne, Sydney, Vancouver and Dublin (my top five choices of cities I want to live in). But the trade offs are much better there – better quality of living, higher wages. The trades off are much better even in Singapore. But mark my words, I’ll still complain (unless I’m living in somewhere whose cuisine I feel surpasses that of Malaysia, like Thailand or Mexico).

Singapore’s the riskiest?

The Malaysian Insider:

Lim said the list could go on and even cited that Kuala Lumpur was now ranked the fourth riskiest location in the world for outsourcing according to the “Black Book of Outsourcing”, with our neighbour Singapore topping this list.

Then again, the Insider isn’t exactly known for its thorough editorial process.

Update: The study Lim Kit Siang cited is this. Looking at the numbers, I don’t see how the numbers are derived. Colombo, capital of a country that went through (and might still continue to go through) the longest civil war in Asia is safer from terrorist and rebel attacks than Delhi, Bombay, Madras and Bangalore. The survey was done in 2008 when the LTTE have yet to be defeated.

As for the idea that Malaysia’s sliding into a failed state situation–underground Ah Long prison systems, collapsing stadiums and the botched demolition of Jaya in Petaling Jaya, plus outsourcing risk is hardly indication of a decline to a failed state.

The cesspools of Singapore

This story highlights what is wrong with STOMP:

She’s a ‘troublemaker’, netizen deritz said on The Straits Times interactive website Stomp.

‘Should sue her for bringing in the virus!’ he added.

She wasn’t sick when she flew back (the reason why she wasn’t pulled out from the thermal scans at Changi), and when symptoms presented itself, she went straight to the doctors.

Of Miss Wee, shadou said on The Straits Times online forum: ‘She shouldn’t have come back to Singapore if she was feeling unwell.

‘Remember the woman who came back from China and spread Sars here? She was the first and it killed many, including her family.

‘Now this student does the same and puts us all at risk, especially those that came into contact with her during the long flight back. Totally ignorant if you ask me.’

Fellow netizen antiwisefc said Miss Wee and her schoolmates should not have travelled to the US since it has the second highest number of confirmed and suspected cases – over 6,000 to date. Ten people in the US have died from the virus.

‘Can’t imagine people here are so dumb…,’ antiwisefc said.

Yes. Smarter people like antiwisefc would cancel a fully-paid for trip to New York and bear a F on their transcripts (and their GPA) even though their school (SMU) said it’s okay.

Notwithstanding now-stupid links with SARS (the mortality rate for SARS was much, much, much higher and symptoms more distinguishable from a common illness), the New Paper took the cake by revealing the name of the poor Patient Zero. It was not necessary and would just lead to the poor girl getting harassed.

Parallels can be drawn with SARS – the poor Patient Zero in that case unwittingly spread the virus, killing several close relatives and friends. And then she kena harassed by the media.

There’s a reason why I bought a copy of the New Paper once and never again – it’s not worth the paper its printed on. And rather than naming and shaming the Patients Zero, we should name and shame Joanna Hor and Geraldine Yeo, the newsroom interns that wrote the atrocious excuse for journalism.

Hello from Bangalore

Nothing makes me miss Singapore more than doing an internship in an unfamiliar third-world city. In my second week now.

While Kuala Lumpur is infinitely better a city than Bangalore (7-Elevens, Kiosks and other knock-offs: how much I miss those), there are lessons learnt. For one, unlike cities like Singapore and Tokyo, with an air of predictability, cities like Kuala Lumpur and Bangalore and be very inaccessible to people unfamiliar to the city.

In Bangalore, you can’t flag down taxis (you have to call to book) and haggling with three-wheeler autorickshaw drivers is a necessity, especially if you can’t speak Kannada. Likewise in KL, though, hopefully with a fare increase, taxis in KL would be less annoying. Public transport is entirely inaccessible in Bangalore (routes information is only in Kannada), similar to KL. Driving for non-locals is not even a consideration.

Unlike Bangalore, tourism is a huge part of the KL economy – and therefore, KL has to deal with a lot more people entirely unfamiliar with the peculiarities of the city.

1Perak?

Signs Najib needs to hire new PR people:

PEKAN, May 10 – Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak says the Barisan Nasional (BN) government is willing to cooperate with the opposition parties to resolve the political crisis in Perak but this does not mean that it would agree to form a coalition government.

It’s pretty hard to cooperate the side that is using force instead of law to push their way in, no?

The prime minister said the cooperation should be based on the spirit of mutual respect and adherence to the country’s law.

The same “adherence to the country’s law” that led to the court deciding on the validity of the Speaker’s decision (violating the Federal constitution), having the friendly, independent Deputy Speaker chair a session when the Speaker is right there, voting on motions before the session started, insisting on being part of the assembly even though the intrusive, illegal court action didn’t even declare the 3 March sitting (where motions to ratify the Exco six was ratified), arresting lawyers wanting to represent government detainees, etc.?

The Perak coup may be legal, but clearly the Najib and Zambry administrations couldn’t give a rat’s ass about rule of law.

Najib was commenting on the statement by DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang yesterday that he (Lim) was willing to meet Najib to discuss the Perak political impasse. Najib stressed that the Perak political crisis could be avoided if all parties adhered to the law and respected one another.

Precisely, Najib.

“We don’t want the situation (in Perak) to prolong. We want to serve the people, for everyone in Perak and throughout the country,” the prime minister said.

Then have fresh elections. It is the only way to solve the impasse. If Najib wants “to serve the people”, why not have elections?

Latest from Penang

Wow, there’s loads of Gerakanians at this thing.

Lorong Selamat char kuey teow and poh piah, Campbell Street Mall dim sum (and uhm, wan than mee – it was good okay), Penang Road chendol and lor bak – presently preparing my stomach for sup torpedo of Upper Penang Road. If there is anything I should try before I leave Georgetown, let me know.

I’m continually amazed at the availability of free WiFi on this island.

On AWARE

1) I never heard of AWARE until the whole saga.

2) Not all Christians, even fundie ones, supported what Thio Su Mein and her coterie did to take over AWARE. Like me. Taking over an organization through subterfuge and conspiracy is hardly Christian. Why should it – does God need devious little minds doing his bidding in Singapore? The work of God won’t backfire so badly like this.

Lets look at the ramifications, shall we? Even if the new exco survives through the EGM, they may have won the battle but they are losing the war. Yes, many Christians support this, but they already are supportive of the message anyway. Then there are Christians like me, who used to respect the Church of Our Saviour. And then there are previously-neutral non-Christians, that start to see Christians in a bad light and discount Christian worldviews (the sort the new AWARE exco wanted to push through). And there are people who are already against this worldview – they have become more incensed against Christians and now see us as public enemy #1.

Am I the only one to see how this is so bloody hell stupid?

3) On the other hand, I don’t get how people are citing the secularism and the separation of religion and Idontreallyknow. AWARE is a private organization. Thio Su Mein could have easily created an Christian-centric women’s organization, and that would be legitimate in terms of religion in the public sphere. And why should it not? Why should civil society organizations be secular? Are churches not part of this civil society anyway? I get why people, Christians and non-Christians alike, would get upset at what’s happening in AWARE – but this isn’t the same as Christians hijacking the state.

Yes, people, especially old-guard AWARE members have every right to be upset. Their organization have been taken from them, who wouldn’t be? But lets not get ahead of ourselves and demand that religion play no role whatsoever in civil society.

P.S. I got people sending me emails to register to be an AWARE member so I can vote in the EGM. I just want to know why people think I’m female and Singaporean (being a Malaysian male, though matter how much I pay, I can’t vote).