kela mela

DBS Bank had announced that a sure win scratch card wud be given to all users when they log in to their internet banking the first time. Once a person logs in for the first time, he is given a notice to print out and take it to the DBS branch in Orchard road, 3 days after log in. The prizes range from free trips to cash prizes to think pads and mobiles, the lowest being the DBS Exclusive Premium. On looking at the list u can be assured that most of the users wud be given the DBS Exclusive Premium on scratching the card. Also u wud assume that the DBS Exclusive Premium, might be some vouchers or some special offers when banking with DBS. It is with this thought that I literally bullied my hubby to drive me to the Orchard road branch during my lunch hour today. There was heavy traffic and we took nearly 30 mins to reach the building. Leaving my hubby to find a parking lot, I went into the bank. There was a large queue in front of the customer service desk. I looked around to see if there were any displays suggesting where we can go redeem our gifts and there was no such displays. So I stood in the queue. Shortly I saw many of those in the q being redirected to another q inside the bank. That's when I noticed a lady having the printout and going towards the same Q. So I left the q I was standing in and went to the second Q...after considerable waiting it was my turn. After all the verification processes, I was asked to choose a scratch card and as expected, I got "DBS Exclusive Premium". They asked me to sign a form declaring that I had received my gift and gave me a notebook (not the IBM one, just a plain paper notebook). The cover said, just spend a minute...so I thot the Exclusive Premium details wud be inside and eagerly opened the notebook to see wat was inside. It was again just advertisements to use the internet banking. Now I was totally confused...where was the gift? So I went and asked the lady abt the gift and she told "The DBS Exclusive Premium is actually the notebook". Imagine my disbelief...here I was, wasting more than an hour to get a notebook not even worth 2 dollars!!! I had spent more to get to their branch and I had to skip lunch as I was already late!!!

Pretty disappointed with the DBS Bank...atleast they could have renamed the gift or given something else.

A silent prayer

God,
I am not sure what was the urge in u to suddenly require thousands of souls near U...what set u to get thousands within minutes...thousands of innocent people without a clue as to what was to happen in the next few seconds...but God, please grant them eternal peace.

Also give mental and physical strength for those left suffering in this world...left without their near and dear ones...left with just the clothes on their back..give them the strength to forge ahead, to come to norms with their current situation. Give them the strength to accept what has happened.

God, please ensure that another quake or tsunami doesn't come around again. I'm sure they have had enough already.

God, please also safe guard the works of the good Samaritans from around the world from the corrupt minded officials. Let the help from various sources go directly to the affected people. Please sow a bit of compassion in the minds of the officials who would be responsible in distributing the aids. Let there be no hurdles for the NGOs, Red Cross and other organizations who come forward to help.

Merry Christmas

It's Christmas eve and holiday mood everywhere. You find throngs of people in every shopping mall...its definitely a huge change from last year. Even the rains have shown a bit of mercy :) Last year it was pretty low-key due to Sars and economic downturn. To add to this, it was raining almost every afternoon. This year the sun is shining, huge crowds of tourists (8 million already!!!), Christmas lighting extended to the bay area (my office location...one of the reasons why this year looks more festive to me...everything is happening right at our doorstep:))

I'm certainly in a jubilant and holiday mood...

Wish u all a Merry X'Mas. Have a wonderful holiday.

Surprise

Yesterday was wonderful. When my hubby and myself returned home after office, the house was beautifully decorated with a happy birthday banner and balloons. My 4 year old nephew (Rishi) is having his school holidays and being hyper active needs to be given some sort of work or the other. So, his mother assigned him the job of setting up a birthday party for his cousin (my daughter). He had blown a lot of balloons and hung it in every possible place. He had also put up a "Happy Birthday" banner with the photo of Samyu below it. Later when we returned from the temple, he got out the cake with a candle and the party began. It was fun, with both Samyu and Rishi vying to cut the cake and in the process got cake everywhere except their mouth. :)) Think this one would be the special birthday party etched in all our minds since it was small and intimate and both the kids enjoyed themselves. Don't know how she wud be on 31st as it wud be a bigger crowd and almost everyone new. Sometimes impromptu arrangements are the best!!!

Happy birthday

Today is my daughter's natchathira birthday. Planning to go to the temple in the evening. No other plans as of now. She looked gorgeous in a red pants and white tops this morning. She's a big girl now :)

little joys

I normally have my lunch in the bonsai garden next to my office...today as I was eating I heard a sweet music....I looked around for the source of music and couldn't find anything and the music had also stopped. Then again there was this sweet music and I noted that I heard the music whenever there was a slight wind. It was then, that I realized the source of music...it was not from any stereo or person. It was from the trinklets hung in the garden. They were made of hollow bamboo sticks and every time there was a wind, the bamboo sticks clashed against each other and formed the sounds like a drum and the hollow portion let out a sound like a flute... what a simple idea. Was amazed at the ingenuityy of our forefathers.

Its Friday!!!

Never have I been so happy to see its friday. This week has been very hectic with too many last minute problems at work. To couple with this, my collegue is on vacation and I had to hold the fort for two!!! Good that the week is over :))

Need to spend more time with my daughter. She has become very playful and wants us to play with her. She has learnt to take a few steps and enjoys playing bo-peep. Also she has become quite efficient in mimicking the actions of others. The other day she was busy writting something like her cousin and she reads the newspaper like her Daddy. Her best past time is making calls to 'God knows who' and she acts soo beautifully like listening to them and answering their queries.

This and that

Its been really hectic the past few days and I've been wanting to blog quite a few things...

First of all, my tribute to MS...a queen in the music world. I have admired her for years, not just for her music, but also for her charity works and of course her beauty... that beauty is not a superficial one. It comes from within..such serenity..this can come only to people who have come to peace with themselves. A unique figure. Her demise is a shock and a great loss.

Its Christmas time and the festive season is setting in...its so interesting to watch kids browse through the toys undecided on what to get for this Christmas...Orchard Road is beautifully decorated this time with themes from fairy tales. This time they have expanded the decorations upto Esplanade and around suntec city. So my office area literally glitters every evening :)

Saw the film 7/G RC. Not as good as the reviews. Its just another love story told in a different manner...and the ending was pathetic. It was like the director didn't know how to end the movie and wanted to have something different from the normal movies... The songs were very nice...

Read an article in the Streats about the infrastructure in India. The author had come down strongly on the government and how much we lack on our infrastructure. He has compared our infrastructure (or the lack of it) with that of China's and we don't seem to be any where near their level. He has also suggested we go in for municipal bonds as in US, to generate the money required for the upgrade. I personally feel that this would just become another means of making money for our politicians :(

Caesarean

Last year we were in a dilema when we had to decide whether to have the baby in Singapore or in India. Althou there were many pros and cons in each place, the main thing that made us select Singapore was that doctors prefer normal delivery over caesarean here. This is the understanding I had after speaking to quite a few friends who had delivered in Singapore. So I was shocked to learn that three in ten babies are born thro caesarean in Singapore!!! hmmm...times are changing... BTW, my doc was for normal delivery ;-)

Excellent service

Yesterday I was returning home with my husband in a cab. The Cabbie was a Chinese man. The moment we got into the cab and gave the details, he switched the radio to the tamil channel...was really amazed by his service. I usually take a cab to office and there has never been another cabbie who has done this. This is the type of service anyone wud appreciate :)