Happy Birthday India and Singapore

This is as usual a belated post - I was supposed to write about Singapore's National Day last week, but as usual didn't!

Well, Singapore celebrated it's 42nd National Day last Thursday and it was day of pomp, pagentry and celebration. This year was the first there was a parade on a floating platform - a world's first. I have always loved a parade - the sense of nationalism it invokes in me always brings up goosebumps! And since I consider Singapore my home (even though I am not a Singaporean), Majulah Singapura brings up the same awe that Saare Jahan Se Accha or Vande Mataram does to me.

Today India celebrates 60 years of freedom and at this time I am proud to be an Indian! In fact I am proud of both my countries - India, which is the country of my birth and therefore my motherland and Singapore, where I moved to live my life after marriage. So in a sense India is my maika and Singapore my sasural. I am proud that in the last 42 years Singapore has come up from being a country filled with villages to a first world country and India which has grown so much in the last 60 years that it is a world Superpower now.

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY INDIA and BELATED BIRTHDDAY WISHES SINGAPORE!! Keep prospering like this!

School's Out

For the past few days there has been a debate going on in the newspapers here regarding the amount of work that kids have to do in school these days and the lack of a proper childhood for them. So I thought I should weigh in my two cents worth on this topic, seeing that it is something I have pretty strong views on!

It is true that the school system here in Singapore is akin to being in a pressure cooker - both for parents as well as children. With an aim to provide a first-class education to its children, the government, no doubt started out with noble intentions, but somewhere along the line, perhaps the distinction between a world class education and too much education got blurred! At almost four years of age, in addition to their Nursery class, the Pilot and the Princess also go to Ballet (the Princess) and Piano (both) classes. Come January, I am planning to get them started with Hindi classes (both) every Saturday morning for three hours as they will be taking Hindi as their Mother Tongue language in Primary school, plus Kumon for Maths for both and Speech and Drama classes. If there is time, I also want to enrol them in Art classes.

I know this is too much for a four year old to do, but like all Kiasu (which means the fear of losing out and is a Singlish slang. For more click here)Singapore parents, I am scared that if I don't do atleast this much, they will be much behind their peers!

In my heart I know that they will never experience the kind of childhood I had, where school studies started seriously only from grade 3 and holidays were meant to be enjoyed to the fullest either staying at home or travelling. My kids will never experience that as most schools here have some sort of holiday programme on - both in June and December (when the school semester ends) and holiday homework!

That's quite sad, especially when we as parents - who should be encouraging them to let their imagination take flight, make them rein it in so that we (and they) can conform to what society expects us to do!

Aww well, this is a never-ending thing and I guess and the kids keep growing there will be more rants by me on this topic! So have a great weekend everybody!

Singapore National Service

Aagh, it's been a week now since I posted. It's not that there is nothing to write about, but it's just that I've been so tired and sleepy these days that I am just not able to garner the enthusiasm to actually sit down and write about things.

This year marks the fortieth anniversary of the National Service in Singapore. All male citizens aged 18 have to mandatorily do their National Service (NS) to fulfil their citizenship obligations to the country. The papers were full of the history of the NS and the Sunday paper even had a special supplement with articles and musings about the NS.

The NS is one big equaliser where people coming from different strata of society, from different races as well as different educational backgrounds will have to learn to live and work together with the common purpose of defending the country, should the need so arise! Now since the pilot was born I was prepared mentally for this, but I had thought this was the perfect time to let him know what he is supposed to do once he reaches the magic age. This is supposed to be a rite of passage or as someone put it, "they enter as boys and come out as men". Theoritically I am not opposed to it, and in fact even welcome something like this, but what I am opposed to is the disruption it causes to their studies is what makes me have any reservations.

Ah well, there is no point in grumbling about it since the Pilot has to just do it and there is no way out of it. I just hope he gets what he is passionate about (the airforce perhaps?) and then the two years will just fly past him.

Triple Seven

First things first, you must have noticed that I have been putting up images for the last few posts. Well the only reason is that I was playing around with Blogger and saw this. So I decided to upload the snaps I take of things around me. It's a conscious decision that I will only put up pictures which do not have any people in it so that I can maintain mine and other people's privacy! This one is a picture of a cracker going off in honour of all those people getting married tomorrow. For more, read on...

So what is this triple seven? Well it's a a play on tomorrow's date - 07-07-07! Since this is a which will come probably once every hundred years, it's a date most people (especially couples) are making full use of. I read in the papers recently that about 700 couples are planning to get married tomorrow - come to think of it, we also have an invite for a wedding tomorrow - and so hotels, caterers, photographers, make-up artists and other people servicing the wedding industry would probably be inundated with orders. Phew! I do not wish to be in the shoes of a wedding guest who has to hop all around town moving from one wedding reception to the next!

There's also the Live Earth concert across the world tomorrow. My piece on saving the earth is fodder for another post, so I'll end this post here.Happy weekend people and see you real soon!

Bits and Pieces

Hmm, what should I write this warm and nice Friday evening. I know - this post will be about the little bits and pieces that I was thinking of today but didn't think would make a full post.

First - today is my baby sister's birthday! Happy Birthday sweetie. Although she is not little any more - but I always think of her like that! Since she moved away far away, I've been missing her a lot. We just spoke on the phone and this brought back loads of memories. Have a great day sweatheart and a fabulous year ahead!!

We are off to a long weekend ahead! Singapore and parts of Southeast Asia will be celebrating the Chinese New Year from tomorrow onwards. To anyone who does celebrate this and happens to see this post, Gong Xi Fa Cai to you and your family. This year will be the year of the Pig and apparently this pig year is supposed to be very auspicious - something that comes only once in 60 odd years according to some Korean experts. So expect to see a lot of little piglets as the year goes on. Thank God the Princess and the Pilot were not born in some very auspicious year like say the year of the Dragon as that would mean a bumper crop that year and lots of competition when it comes to school admissions. As it is I have nightmares about the ballot process and what would happen if one of them gets in and the other doesnt. More about this in another post.

I better stock up on essentials and groceries today and tomorrow as from about afternoon tomorrow, all shops and services will be closed as people gather for the Reunion Dinner. Then the first two days of the New Year are traditionally for visiting family and friends and we get to some sort of normalcy only from Tuesday onwards. Guess I could go to Little India if I was desperate but the thought of driving there really puts me off. I'd rather just stock-up.

I have nothing else to add (probably a first in my life!), so I'll end this here....

Have a great weekend everyone and see you tomorrow...