Uniquely Singapore....No Durian Please

- It's a country! It's a city! It's an island!

- It's just not funny how well they dress up and how much they eat out!!! The food - it's the best part of Singapore. Plenty, Diverse and Everywhere!

- Somehow, I don't remember being given a napkin in any restaurant.

- And how much they travel!!!....i mean, Singapore is just this big!!!

- Their English is so Singlish lah. Ya!

- It's not that much of a party place...I know, there's Clarke Quay, Boat Quay and all. The govt is pushing but its not enough:) After all its modeled after Switzerland which has never been a party place.

- Its not that much of a creative place either. They could name their food creatively rather than literally. Fish Head Curry, Pig organ soup ...what is THAT!!

- Singapore is so organized. There is the business district, there is the mall area, the residential area....like each is area is separate and specialized.

- Its probably the safest place in the world....Ya!

- Landscaping is a serious profession here..every bit of Singapore is landscaped. Their govt sure must have loads of money.

- If there is something like goodest governance, it's here...it's here...it's here

- Singapore is squeaky clean....like antiseptic!

- Then there is the durian fruit stench...smells like our jackfruit only several times stronger. It's so pungent, it is banned on the subway and at hotels. Even buses have signs that warn: No smoking, No eating or drinking, No flammable goods and No durians! Really!

- Mangosteen, Rambutan, Longaan are some of the fruits you get here.

- There is a part of India wherever you go. Singapore is no different. They have little India and you would know when you're there!

- Ya and there's a rather popular train station called Dhobi Ghaut...i'm not sure of the history of the name though

- Traffic is so well behaved and civil....cars look brand new - not a dent, not even a scratch!

- It's a strict place...no littering, no jaywalking etc etc. Elevators claim there is a urination detection device installed!!! Yes! And as most of us know, it's illegal to chew gum in the country. Prostitution, however, i think is legal. Please don't chew gum while at it:)

- All in all, it's a fine country...it's into laws and fines:)

Iniside The Mind Of the Man In The Mirror

I’ve always been curious about Micheal Jackson’s life. I wondered how long he could go on the way he did. I mean the fall from fame, the fall from grace and the numerous cosmetic surgeries, several ailments, the craving for anonymity, the eccentricities, the loneliness…

At one level, I know, it does sounds like he brought it upon himself but think about it….he was a celebrity who grew to be iconic. He was a child prodigy…a musical genius. His music was catchy and popular. His dance complicated and a treat to the eyes. He was extraordinary and successful - millions of record sales worldwide, the worlds best selling album of all time, thirteen grammy awards, super entertainer, genius artist and quite a business man. Almost everyone everywhere in the world across generations knows who MJ is. In my house everyone from my mother-in-law to my daughter know who Michael Jackson is. My daughter also knows his music. He was at his height of popularity when I was in college. College kids used to practice the moonwalk outside college corridors and just about anywhere. All young boys tried their hands at break dance at the risk of damaging their bones. Popular, he still is! The extent of his fame is unsurpassed. After Elvis, it will have be MJ.
I don’t think MJ ever knew what ordinary was. He was a performer at the tender age of 6 which means it probably took away his childhood. In his growing years and for a long time thereon he was the King of Pop. Think about this - fans almost worshipping you, thousands drawing inspiration, millions and millions of fans from all over the world screaming for you, rooting for you and loving your music, imitating you…the whole nine yards. When celebrity hood reaches these levels, it is extremely difficult to be grounded. You don’t deal with normal everyday people with commonplace problems on a daily basis. You are so far away and disconnected from the ‘real’ world (real here meaning the ordinary life majority of us lead), making so much money that you can’t manage. You deal with people with their own agendas almost all the time - financial advisors wanting a huge share of your money, record labels cashing in your name, producers wanting a sell out album, girlfriends wanting to use your name to make it big, spouses wanting more than half your money and so on and so on. These people will, when you have the money and fame, be prepared to do anything for you, rarely defy you and make you believe you are GOD.

With all the attention and global limelight, it’s easy to get confused by who you are versus the larger than life media image. Think about it enough, and you will realize that the mind and thoughts of these mega super celebrities will alter dramatically. It is perhaps this alteration of the mind that made MJ do things he did - the bizzare personal life, the multiple cosmetic surgeries, huge shopping sprees for toys and antiques, the lavish lifestyle. It also kind of explains his eccentricities – the chimp friend, the child in him, the belief that he is Peter Pan, showing up in a burqa in Bahrain, appearing in LA with his three children, their faces masked, his own covered with a handkerchief. And then the fall…I cannot imagine how his fall from fame must have affected him. When you have all the adulation for years and then suddenly realize that you don’t have any of that, you want to try all it takes to get it back. No one but MJ will know the turmoil that went through in the mind and body when trying to deal with, first the extreme adulation and an equally extreme downfall. MJ perhaps believed that he could get it all back….and he tried. He explored almost every option possible or even impossible - looking like a white man, changing his religion, marrying white women, a reclusive existence, settling someplace faraway in Bahrain, creating a fantasy land, trying to resurrect his career. That mind! It must be some kind of hell to live out that mind and be judged by millions!!!

In death, the mind must have calmed! May it rest in peace!

Everyone has a story

If you think about it you'll realize that everyone has a story. At least everyone I know has a story. A story, which if you read in the books, you might think of it as fiction. But it’s real and it’s out there. Some people have had difficult or impoverished childhood and have gone ahead and made it big in their prime years. Some have battled serious illness and come out trumps. Some are climbing the ladder real fast and getting dizzy in the head. Some have gone through bitter divorces and are still holding grudge. Some are unhappy in their own skin and want to be someone else. Some have resigned to their fate and believe in existentialism. Some have been through intense relationships and break-up thereafter resulting in permanent un-doable damage. Some are about to marry and not sure whether they still love the person and whether marriage is the right thing to do after all. Some have got babies and trying every day to be the man they need to be. Some are single and will probably remain single for as long as forever. Some are in the hospital not knowing when they will breathe their last. Some are married to someone in paper but someone else in mind. Some are unfortunately caught in legal battles not knowing which way the verdict will swing. Some are pursuing the wrong subject and flunking year after year after year resulting in low self esteem only to be at the receiving end of disappointed parents. Some have topped their class and made their parents proud. Some are stuck in jobs they don’t like and can’t change. Some have given it their all to the companies they work for only to be shown the door very coldly when they weren’t performing. Some have parents who have given up on them. Some have moved out of their parents to make it on their own.

Every person you meet or come across - the waitress taking your order , the counter staff tendering change, the driver in the car overtaking you, the milkman, the garbage guy – they all have compelling stories. The actor in front of the camera enacting a story has his own away from the arch lights. Even the dead have stories. When you realize that everyone has a story, it might just change the way you think about people and treat people.

What a Life (A Dog's Life, that is)!

Oprah Winfrey is leaving $30 million (Rs 120 crore) to her dogs in her will. The billionaire celebrity talkshow host has four pets pooches and has already set up a trust fund to take care of them should anything happen to her.

A source told Australia’s Woman’s Day magazine, “Oprah has a menagerie of animals and she wants them to be pampered for the rest of their lives if she were to die first. “She has four dogs, plus various other pets, so she rewrote her will to include millions for their care”

She has two Cocker Spaniels, Sophie and Soloman, and two Golden Retrievers.

Every dog indeed has his day!

Rahul Done-it

Yes, he done it. He stepped down. Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. Except in this case, Humpty Dumpty was ‘the wall’ and of course, he didn’t fall. He stepped down.

I don’t watch cricket. I have little knowledge about the game which is a religion in the country. But I have an opinion, a pretty strong one in that, about the leadership issue. In my opinion, to begin with, Rahul Dravid wasn’t the suitable captain. I think it’s because of the kind of person that he is. He looks like the nice-boy-topper-in-class year after year, who does that ‘one’ thing predicably well – studies, batting and the like. You could argue that for the longest time he kept the wickets as well as batted and did both well. But then, that’s just two (not that it’s easy). Captaincy, however, is a different ball game altogether. It requires multi-tasking. Stress got the better of Dravid. He tried his best while he was at it but couldn’t take it anymore. Dravid also looks like the kind of person who needs to be right all the time and having a good image is very important to him. Such people take criticism personally. Captaincy, however, is a different ball game altogether:) You can’t let criticism get to you. Of late, the criticisms started coming Dravid's way. Especially the declaration decision at the test match last month. Things started getting difficult for him.

Dravid’s problem was that he played too safe, kept a distance from the team, didn’t bring a distinct ‘Dravid’ personality to the team. He finally ended up quitting. There’s no shame in that. To be fair to him, he was responsible for quite a few wins for Team India.

It is not easy being the skipper of a cricket team. Much harder being the skipper of a South Asian cricket team. Compound that for the Indian cricket team. There’s the BCCI, the team politics, the coach-captain relationship, the camps to contend with. The most difficult part however, is the mega expectations of the one-billion-one-hundred-twenty-nine-million-eight- hundred-sixty-six-thousand-one- hundred-and-fifty- four people with no other sport (except in the movies lately) taking even a fraction of the responsibility. Imagine the pressure! As if all this wasn’t enough, there’s the media .

Now, we have no captain. We also don’t have a coach. We may soon have no cricket. It’s like the 3 C’s of the game (Damn, the mba classes are getting to me!). I like Sourav Ganguly for captain. He has the most important quality required to be the Indian Cricket Team Captain. A super thick skin. He also has the resilience. He fell down, brushed off the dust, let the wound heal and got right back into action. He was very successful in his stint as captain. He led India in 49 Test Matches, winning 21 of those, including 12 of them outside India. All three figures are records for Indian Test captains. Despite the dip in his batting performance, he still has an average to be proud of (his average never dipped below 40 runs per innings for his entire Test career) and a number of centuries to his credit. He is an aggressive player. Get him back. In any case, there’s no one else. Sachin is no captain material, Dhoni too inexperienced, besides, it may damage his game, Yuvraj, I don’t know, Sehwag’s not predicable. I say once again, bring Sourav on. Expect him to lead well. Don’t expect him to play very well – that responsibility can be given to Sachin, Dravid, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Uttappa. The only problem is that, this cannot be a long-term plan. So what!

The thing about new books...

that makes me want to buy them...what is it? I love book stores. I love the smell of new books. I have seldom returned from a book store without buying a book. The sad truth, however, is that most times I end up NOT reading them or only half reading them. The only explanation I have for this is that i'll buy the books now when I have the money but no time to read them so that I can read them later when i have the time but no money!

I wonder how many people read all the books they buy.

Some of the reasons why people buy books

- they buy books for "intellectual credibility" of the Bookshelf" and have no intention of actually reading them

- far too often people are buying books because they think they will be good for them, rather than because they think they'll enjoy them

- there are certain books that everyone buys because the whole world has read them

- half of the top 10 non-fiction books people buy but don't read are autobiographies

So, what are your reasons for buying a book?

The newspapers need a diet

Circa nineteen ninety-six. My first travel outside the country (second, if Nepal counts). The U S of A. It’s the little things that get your attention. Among many such little things, it was the size of the newspaper that drew my attention. Big, fat USA today. Too heavy to hold in one hand. Back then in India all we had, if i remember right, was a few pages of Times of India (yes, I read the Times of India and am not ashamed of it. Well, I’m not proud of it either:-p). BT wasn't even born. Page 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 didn't even exist.

Cut to today! India is seen going the US way. We are inundated with fatter and fatter newspapers. Too much junk is being shoved into them. Too many topics and too many words. Too many special sections. They have no respect for our busy lives. I wonder how they come up with all this news. I can’t come up with a decent 250 words to blog, for crying out loud. I think the future of newspapers is to compact compelling new information (news behind the news). When are they going to learn?

The biggest side effect of this obesity is raddhi disposal. These raddhi disposal cycles are getting shorter and shorter. Which means almost every second weekend I have to remember to call the raddhi wala. This, among the zillion other weekend-end activities that are competing for time.

I am suffering RDS or Raddhi Disposal Syndrome. New age illness this! Our newspapers need to go on a diet . That's the only cure!