Kumbabhishegam

This is the second Kumbabhishegam I'm attending, the first one was at my sister's village temple...It was a wonderful experience. Just like in a story or film...the village, temple, instant shops, crowds , santhai (fair), etc. A memorable one.

The current one was in Singapore...It was the kumbabhishegam of the Murugan temple at Jurong East. It was pretty crowded. We thought there was a queue and got down at the end of the queue so that we can join it, while my bro-in-law went to park the car...he couldn't find a place to park, since there were road blocks everywhere (and u thought this was an Indian trait? )

It had rained the previous night and hence the grass near the pavement was muddy and slushy...There was no place on the pavement as people were standing there to watch the kumbabhishegam...We had to walk in the slush to get near the temple and we had removed our shoes in the car itself :( There was no queue and the crowd was not moving and to top it all the sun was shining to glory...

The kumbabhishegam was finally done and the Pooja and Mudhal mariyathai started...Then they announced that the temple would be opened shortly for dharshan....and no one knew where was a queue or entrance, since the normal entrance was blocked. Suddenly there was a mad rush in the crowd and all started moving to a side road near the temple. This road had been divided horizontally using barricades and each block had a group of people waiting. Each block was opened randomly and the people there allowed into the temple. So whenever a block was opened, there was a mad rush to that block!!! Think each block was representing one of the temples in Singapore and they were calling each temple one by one...but the best thing was that no one knew which block belonged to which temple and people were just rushing from one block to the other!!! Since we had the kids with us, we thought it was best to wait in one block until it was opened...It was more than an hour and the block was not opened. Then a small fight started between the volunteers monitoring the barricade and those inside the block...since it was looking like the barricades would not be opened anytime soon and the kids could take it no more, we decided to return and come back to the temple in the evening.

Good thing that we returned...since within 1/2 hr it started pouring. (That's Singapore for u....there's thunder showers and sun alternating with no warning!!!). Evening we returned to the temple and this time the crowd was limited to the temple premises. Again there was no queue and the crowd was not moving as there was some pooja going on inside. We waited outside the temple for about 1/2 hr and then inside the temple for 1/2hr and finally managed to get dharshan!!!

Here, I have to mention about the temple managements arrangement for annadhanam and distribution of theertham from the kumbabhishegam....there was an organized queue for the annadhanam (atlast some orderliness!!!) and the management had poured the theertham into small bottles and there was a group distributing this to each family...this was particularly good, since we were really disappointed that we couldn't enter the temple in the morning to receive the theertham.

Now, doesn't the whole episode sound like something happening in India? :))

There was a farewell dinner couple of days back for one of our collegues who would be leaving for Japan shortly. He had opted for a transfer to Japan...the main catch here is that he had just acquired Singapore citizenship and had bought a house here. Now he wud be relocating with his family to Tokyo.

During the dinner, we had an interesting discussions on the pros and cons of moving to Tokyo...the main point being that Tokyo was expensive than Singapore. Then it continued to the culture and workplace.

Training....oh...no!!!

I had to attend a training program this morning from 8.45 to 12.30. Since I was in early shift, I quickly finished some of the daily jobs so that my team mate would not be overloaded and was all set to go at 8:30. Then came the production bomb-shell and we were all at it until 9.30 when it was solved finally. So now, here I was, late by 45 mins and wondering whether to attend or not... Finally thought I'll just give a try and went to the training room. The training was in full swing and I just peeped in to see what was going on and if I could just slip in. To my shock I noted that there was no one in, whom I knew and the training also seemed to differ from what I was expecting....

I was standing near the door clueless, wondering if I had come to the wrong training room, when a guy came by. I asked him what was going in and came to know that it was a different program and has been going on for the past couple of days...so off I went in search of the person responsible for the training and demanded her what was happening...before she could reply I had told her I was late as I had a production support to do and blah blah (to show off that I had other better things to do and not get chided for being late!!)....the person listened to all that I had to tell and coolly replied "Your training program is on next friday and I think you have not read your mail properly!!!" and to make matters worse she showed me a copy of the mail I had sent her asking her to add my name in the training!!! It clearly stated in highlighted text that the training was on 3rd Dec 2004. Oh dear!!! Felt so embarrassed...me and my big mouth!!! ....Mogatha enga vaikurathunu theriyala!!!

Gajendra

Saw the film "Gajendra"...dont know how many more tamil films are going to be produced based on "Baasha".

The film is not worth spending 2+ hrs of your time. The most idiotic scene in the movie was the scenes supposed to be taken in Hyderabad...there's not a soul who speaks telugu....right from the little boy who polishes the shoe, to the priest at the temple...everone speaks Tamil. "Kaathula poo koodaiyae thooki vachitaanga!!!"

Monday...

Have u ever wondered why India is not a hotspot for tourism inspite of having all the attractions boasted by the other favorites and more? I have always wondered about this whenever I visit a new place or country. What have we done...A lot has been discussed and digested burning down to the poor governance in our country and the infrastructure. But its really heart warming to see that India is gaining its rightful place in the tourism industry, especially due to the "Incredible India" advertisements globally. But we still have a long way to go in achieving our target... Tourism could easily become the highest foreign exchange earner for India.

I think we should focus on the following for us to achieve this:
1. Better Infrastructure
2. Good hotels
3. Promoting India globally as a tourist destination
4. Opening the skies (get more airlines and hence more tourists)

These are just a few for starters...We can improve on the others as we go on....

Misses

How would it be to live some 80 plus years? How would it be to have half a dozen kids and a dozen grandchilren and great-grand children? How would it be to know that your days are numbered and still not get to see all your loved ones? I know not any of these and I dont think I would get an opportunity...as my grandfather is no more....but I do know that its hell being in a far off land when ur grandfather dies :(

I do miss him....

kuzhal inithu yaal inithu

Got reminded about a Thirukkural (Tamil couplets) this morning "Kuzhal inithu yaal inthu enbar tham makkal kural kaelaathavar" meaning "The flute is sweet, the harp is sweet," say those who have not heard the prattle of their own children. The past four days my daughter is saying "Amma" when she sees me :) (althou not everytime) She does babble quite a lot and its only recently that she is saying "Amma" as a single word...

A break spoils the mood ;)

Had quite a few holidays last week and am really struggling to get back to the working mode :( ah...was I working earlier? ;)

Have hell lot of things to do, but not in the mood to do it... Home looks more inviting ;)

Yesterday saw a program on Vasantham Central (more like our Doordarshan). The programme was "Vasantha maligai" and it was about identifying a real "vasantha maligai". I was astonished to see the way the houses were decorated....more like something out of the books....a very interesting programme

Hari Raya

Today is Hari Raya (Ramzan as we know it ;)) and I'm in office... :( thats wat u pay for being in the support line... but not too bad as I wud get a day off on some other day :)

Economy is certainly gaining momentum in Singapore. The property market is picking up...have been looking for a house to rent and v have had no luck so far. Yesterday we saw a penthouse and it was really good...but the rent was way too high and the house is 7 years old (here the rent depends largely on how new the house is and its proximity to the MRT station (railway station)). Dont think they wud get a tenant for such a high price...so we are holding off for now, hoping they wud contact us again ;) In the meantime our hunt continues...

Saturday had been to the beach at ECP. Thot we wud be seeing very few people as it had been raining when we started, but Singaporeans are persistant :0 The paid parking lot near McDonald's was almost full when we reached ECP. We had a nice get-together with a couple of other families to celebrate diwali...the kids had a nice time with firecrackers.

Aftermath...

This Diwali was quite different...one thing was that I prepared the sweets and savouries (God save those who are unfortunate enof to taste it...;))

Prepared Athirasam, Pumpkin Halwa, 7 cups sweet, mixture and paruppu villai. All were reasonably good...even tasted as good as my mom's :)

Diwali was similar to that in India, except for the noise of fire crackers....went to the temple, had good food, exchanged sweets with friends, had friends come home for lunch and finally able to keep a few sparklers (the only ones allowed in Singapore)... The only thing missing here was going to relatives houses and distributing sweets....

Diwali wishes

My day has been relatively ok...so not bad :)

Wishing u all a VERY HAPPY DIWALI...will blog again after diwali.

Good start for the day

Had two mails with good news this morning...so the day has started well and hope it maintains thro the day :)

Some things when happens to your friend, makes you more happy than if it was to happen to you. So am very happy for my friend and wish her & her family the very best. Nice things do happen to nice people :)

Things are happening around the world!! US $ is going down marked by a forecast of large American trade deficits...means better exchange rates for Sing $ against the Indian rupees. Arafat's health looks down the hill...think another power struggle is on the way. MM Lee backs retiring late...good... it is really astonishing to see that people here are rejected becos of age at job interviews, thought you wud be a more sort after person as u grow old due to the experience u have, but here it is different. They prefer younger people!!!

Diwali in Singapore

This is the second time I'm in Singapore for Diwali...the first time was my thalai diwali and this one is the first diwali for my daughter!!!

Its so different to celebrate diwali in foreign country and yet have all the settings as in India, which includes holidays, sweets, fireworks (althou this is very limited!!!), decorations, fair, etc.

There are quite a few things that are even better than in India, for example the decorations in Little India....whole streets are decorated with cut-outs and lights for a whole month and this is sponsored by the Government (dont think u can find something like this back home) and all taxis, buses and common display screens have Diwali wishes. Its like the whole country is celebrating.

Another interesting feature is the Diwali santhai (fair)....you have huge ground that is converted into a santhai with loads and loads of Indian things like chudidhars, sweets, fireworks, bags, accessories, cds, flowers and most importantly the mehendi artists....and this is much cheaper than in most cities inIndia...its jst S$5 per hand!!! So to have both ur hands decorated with mehendi on both sides, it wud cost only S$20 which wud come around Rs.500!!

Second Attempt

This is the second blog I'm creating as I've forgotten the pwd for the first one ;-) Its almost a year since I created the first one..and I've never updated it after that!!! So hope I get to update this more often.

Looking foward to more blogging.. :)