This year marked the end of a chapter for my son. He passed out of high school in Calcutta (Kolkata) and went to college in America. My wife and I went to America with him. We enjoyed every bit of our American journey. Now she is back in Calcutta, I am in Singapore, and our son in America. A family of three living in three different countries.
Of course, we miss each other. I just spoke to my wife. Earlier in the day, I called my son on my mobile, when I also rang up my wife on the cordless so she could speak to him at the same time. That's hardly enough on a day like this when families should spend time together. Actually, families should be close together all their lives. I am very much of a homebody and my idea of heaven is a weekend with my wife and my son. Maybe, that's because we spend so little time together. My wife and my son used to live together all these years in Calcutta, but now he is in college, they too are living apart.
I know it's hard for both of them. But I do believe the education he is getting in his liberal arts college in America, he would have got nowhere else. There are fine institutions elsewhere too. But a liberal arts college is different. He knows what he wants to major in, but he will also learn other things. God bless him and my wife. May the new year be good for all of us.
Saturday, December 31, 2005
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
The tsunami and the bloggers
Yesterday was a day of remembrance for one of the greatest tragedies in recent history and the rise of an alternative media. The Guardian's News Blog recalls how blogs became one of the main sources of information when the Indian Ocean tsunami hit on Dec 26 last year. (The coming of age of citizen media). Many of the bloggers who collaborated in spreading the information are still around, from Peter Griffin and Dina Mehta, both based in Mumbai, to Bala Pitchandi, in the US, and Neha Viswanathan, in Britain. The information portals they created are still there: Tsunmai Help and the South-east Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog.
The enormous toll of the disaster, which claimed more than 200,000 lives in 12 countries, brought a flood of international relief. More than $13 billion was pledged, more than enough to cover the estimated $10 million in damages. But "donors have been slower to spend the money than to raise it", says The Economist. "Of the $2 billion or so in promised aid that the government of Sri Lanka is tracking, only $1 billion has actually been handed over, and only $141m of that has been spent." "Most of the $13 billion available to bring salvation to the devastated populations of the Indian Ocean rim has been stuck in the bank. Unless things are speeded up, it may never be disbursed," says Malaysia's New Sunday Times.
Governments and aid agencies were quick to provide emergency relief, but reconstruction has been slow. Former US president Bill Clinton, as the UN Secretary General's Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery, says in his report that "nearly 78,000 people continue to live in tents in Aceh and Nias (in Indonesia) and hundreds of thousands more across the region continue to live in difficult conditions in barracks or with host families. The pace of permanent housing reconstruction has been slow and is not meeting the expectations of the tsunami’s survivors".
But the World Bank in a report on Indonesia said reconstruction was proceeding faster compared with previous disasters. It took seven years for a city as rich as Kobe in Japan to recover in terms of population, income and industrial activity after its earthquake in 1995, it said.
That is no consolation to the victims, of course, who are being remembered by the bloggers this Remembrance Week. But the tragedy also set new trends, a blog, Tsunami Help became a clearing house for information, putting volunteers in touch with relief agencies, reuniting families by matching posts about missing people, as journalist Ashok Malik noted in We, The Media. This was something new and it was started by Indians. As says the Guardian News Blog:
"The blog also turned on its head the stereotype that all web innovations trickle down from the US to the rest of the world. Although the team of volunteers who staffed the blog were from everywhere you can think of, its three founders were all based in India.* As journalist Ashok Malik put it, the traditional pattern was reversed: 'An Indian media product, if that be the word, was the prototype for an American one.'
"Perhaps most importantly of all, the TsunamiHelp blog has left a lasting legacy. The model of communication it forged has set the standard for web coverage of subsequent disasters, including Hurricane Katrina".
* Rohit Gupta was the third blogger based in Mumbai who collaborated with Griffin and Mehta but he doesn't seem to be blogging regularly though his profile can be found on Blogger.
The enormous toll of the disaster, which claimed more than 200,000 lives in 12 countries, brought a flood of international relief. More than $13 billion was pledged, more than enough to cover the estimated $10 million in damages. But "donors have been slower to spend the money than to raise it", says The Economist. "Of the $2 billion or so in promised aid that the government of Sri Lanka is tracking, only $1 billion has actually been handed over, and only $141m of that has been spent." "Most of the $13 billion available to bring salvation to the devastated populations of the Indian Ocean rim has been stuck in the bank. Unless things are speeded up, it may never be disbursed," says Malaysia's New Sunday Times.
Governments and aid agencies were quick to provide emergency relief, but reconstruction has been slow. Former US president Bill Clinton, as the UN Secretary General's Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery, says in his report that "nearly 78,000 people continue to live in tents in Aceh and Nias (in Indonesia) and hundreds of thousands more across the region continue to live in difficult conditions in barracks or with host families. The pace of permanent housing reconstruction has been slow and is not meeting the expectations of the tsunami’s survivors".
But the World Bank in a report on Indonesia said reconstruction was proceeding faster compared with previous disasters. It took seven years for a city as rich as Kobe in Japan to recover in terms of population, income and industrial activity after its earthquake in 1995, it said.
That is no consolation to the victims, of course, who are being remembered by the bloggers this Remembrance Week. But the tragedy also set new trends, a blog, Tsunami Help became a clearing house for information, putting volunteers in touch with relief agencies, reuniting families by matching posts about missing people, as journalist Ashok Malik noted in We, The Media. This was something new and it was started by Indians. As says the Guardian News Blog:
"The blog also turned on its head the stereotype that all web innovations trickle down from the US to the rest of the world. Although the team of volunteers who staffed the blog were from everywhere you can think of, its three founders were all based in India.* As journalist Ashok Malik put it, the traditional pattern was reversed: 'An Indian media product, if that be the word, was the prototype for an American one.'
"Perhaps most importantly of all, the TsunamiHelp blog has left a lasting legacy. The model of communication it forged has set the standard for web coverage of subsequent disasters, including Hurricane Katrina".
* Rohit Gupta was the third blogger based in Mumbai who collaborated with Griffin and Mehta but he doesn't seem to be blogging regularly though his profile can be found on Blogger.
Monday, December 26, 2005
Gifts from Santa
My son used to believe in Santa Claus when he was a little boy. He used to get all excited on Christmas Eve wondering what Santa might bring him. He would try to stay up, hoping to see Santa, but inevitably he would fall asleep. When he woke up on Christmas morning, the gifts, beautifully wrapped and beribboned, would be nestling against his pillow.
We had no Christmas tree. The gifts would be left on his bed. There would be teddy bears and Duplo toys, later Lego sets and radio-controlled cars, once even a Subbuteo, and God knows what else.
His mummy would help him unwrap the parcels and he would be thrilled when he discovered that Santa had brought just the things he wished for.
He made sure he slept with the windows open so Santa could come in to drop the gifts. That's what we told him -- Santa liked to slip in through the windows because there was no chimney in our apartment.
As he grew up, other kids began to tell him that there was no such person as Santa Claus, that it was we -- his parents -- who left the presents on his bed while he slept. But he refused to believe them because we told him those were naughty kids who never got gifts from Santa and that's why they thought there was no such person.
Still, with the years, he began to have doubts about Santa. So he would go to sleep on Christmas Eve holding his mother's hands to make sure she didn't get up to fetch the presents herself. But then he would fall asleep and behold the presents next morning.
We told him Santa gave presents only up to a certain age, and sure enough there came a time when the presents stopped landing on his bed. By then, he was convinced there was no Santa Claus. He threatened to tell other kids still young enough to believe in Santa that there was no such person, but we told him not to reveal the secret and let them find it out on their own, and he happily agreed with a smile. By then, he knew it was fun for the kids to get gifts from Santa and fun for the adults, too, to keep them under that illusion.
My wife in Calcutta (Kolkata) recalled the story when I called her from Singapore yesterday and her voice choked with emotion. She is missing our son, who couldn't come home for Christmas. He would have had to fly back to his college in America immediately after New Year, so he is staying with one of our friends who lives in a town about six hours by bus from his college.
We wife reminded our son how he used to believe in Santa Claus when we wished him Merry Christmas a few hours ago. It was already Boxing Day here in Singapore, almost an hour past midnight. But it was still Christmas night in Calcuta, with more than an hour to go before midnight. And it was nearly noon in America, the noon of Christmas day.
My wife and I spoke to our son at the same time. She fondly told him how he used to expect gifts from Santa as a child. In typical teenager fashion, he responded in a monosyllable or two -- but he had other things to tell.
He had just had his first haircut in America yesterday. He had not had a haircut since going to college to avoid the expense, so we asked our friend to take him to a barbershop. Our friend told us he had taken photographs of our son after the haircut and would email them to us. We are looking forward to that.
We had no Christmas tree. The gifts would be left on his bed. There would be teddy bears and Duplo toys, later Lego sets and radio-controlled cars, once even a Subbuteo, and God knows what else.
His mummy would help him unwrap the parcels and he would be thrilled when he discovered that Santa had brought just the things he wished for.
He made sure he slept with the windows open so Santa could come in to drop the gifts. That's what we told him -- Santa liked to slip in through the windows because there was no chimney in our apartment.
As he grew up, other kids began to tell him that there was no such person as Santa Claus, that it was we -- his parents -- who left the presents on his bed while he slept. But he refused to believe them because we told him those were naughty kids who never got gifts from Santa and that's why they thought there was no such person.
Still, with the years, he began to have doubts about Santa. So he would go to sleep on Christmas Eve holding his mother's hands to make sure she didn't get up to fetch the presents herself. But then he would fall asleep and behold the presents next morning.
We told him Santa gave presents only up to a certain age, and sure enough there came a time when the presents stopped landing on his bed. By then, he was convinced there was no Santa Claus. He threatened to tell other kids still young enough to believe in Santa that there was no such person, but we told him not to reveal the secret and let them find it out on their own, and he happily agreed with a smile. By then, he knew it was fun for the kids to get gifts from Santa and fun for the adults, too, to keep them under that illusion.
My wife in Calcutta (Kolkata) recalled the story when I called her from Singapore yesterday and her voice choked with emotion. She is missing our son, who couldn't come home for Christmas. He would have had to fly back to his college in America immediately after New Year, so he is staying with one of our friends who lives in a town about six hours by bus from his college.
We wife reminded our son how he used to believe in Santa Claus when we wished him Merry Christmas a few hours ago. It was already Boxing Day here in Singapore, almost an hour past midnight. But it was still Christmas night in Calcuta, with more than an hour to go before midnight. And it was nearly noon in America, the noon of Christmas day.
My wife and I spoke to our son at the same time. She fondly told him how he used to expect gifts from Santa as a child. In typical teenager fashion, he responded in a monosyllable or two -- but he had other things to tell.
He had just had his first haircut in America yesterday. He had not had a haircut since going to college to avoid the expense, so we asked our friend to take him to a barbershop. Our friend told us he had taken photographs of our son after the haircut and would email them to us. We are looking forward to that.
Sunday, December 25, 2005
A lonely Christmas
Merry Christmas -- and a solitary one for me. I am spending a lonely Christmas in Singapore for the second year in a row. And for the first time my wife and my son are not spending the holidays together. She is in Calcutta (Kolkata), he couldn't fly home from America. His college reopens soon after New Year, so instead of flying home, he travelled by bus all alone to spend Christmas with a friend of ours. Flying home to Calcutta and then going back to his college in America would have taken nearly four days, and air tickets don't come cheap. The price wouldn't have mattered if I earned more, but I don't, so he stayed back. He is so understanding that he didn't even once complain about not coming home. But I do feel bad and my wife misses him.
We just spoke to him. I called my son on my mobile and my wife on the cordless and held the two phones close together, with the loudspeakers on, so they could hear each other and speak to me as well. He is all right, he said. He visited a shopping mall yesterday with our friend and his wife but didn't buy anything.
My wife asked him if she could send him anything. Two boys from his college who are senior to him have flown home to Calcutta because they get a longer break. They agreed when she asked them if they could carry a few things she wants to send him. My son, of course, didn't want anything when she asked him if he needed anything. But then he said the leather gloves she had sent him earlier were too big. He didn't want a new pair, he said, he had his woollen gloves.
However, when she pressed him, he relented and said he could use a new pair of leather gloves.
It's amazing how he is coping with the freezing cold. He has never known such weather before. Calcutta has only a mild winter and he and his mum usually used to spend their Christmas and New Year holidays here with me in Singapore, where there is no winter at all. But they couldn't come last year because it was his final year in high school. He had to prepare for his school-leaving examinations.
And this year all three of us are far apart, in three different countries. My wife couldn't visit me because her college, like all the others in Calcutta, hardly has any winter vacation these days.
She used to take leave to visit me, but this time we used up all our leave going to America when our son enrolled in college in August.
She misses him very much. She told me should have asked him to come home for Christmas, never mind the air fare. But then she said he should be fine, our friend would take good care of him, and he would have to get used to being on his own since he went to college in America. I know she was just consoling herself.
We just spoke to him. I called my son on my mobile and my wife on the cordless and held the two phones close together, with the loudspeakers on, so they could hear each other and speak to me as well. He is all right, he said. He visited a shopping mall yesterday with our friend and his wife but didn't buy anything.
My wife asked him if she could send him anything. Two boys from his college who are senior to him have flown home to Calcutta because they get a longer break. They agreed when she asked them if they could carry a few things she wants to send him. My son, of course, didn't want anything when she asked him if he needed anything. But then he said the leather gloves she had sent him earlier were too big. He didn't want a new pair, he said, he had his woollen gloves.
However, when she pressed him, he relented and said he could use a new pair of leather gloves.
It's amazing how he is coping with the freezing cold. He has never known such weather before. Calcutta has only a mild winter and he and his mum usually used to spend their Christmas and New Year holidays here with me in Singapore, where there is no winter at all. But they couldn't come last year because it was his final year in high school. He had to prepare for his school-leaving examinations.
And this year all three of us are far apart, in three different countries. My wife couldn't visit me because her college, like all the others in Calcutta, hardly has any winter vacation these days.
She used to take leave to visit me, but this time we used up all our leave going to America when our son enrolled in college in August.
She misses him very much. She told me should have asked him to come home for Christmas, never mind the air fare. But then she said he should be fine, our friend would take good care of him, and he would have to get used to being on his own since he went to college in America. I know she was just consoling herself.
Friday, December 23, 2005
My straight-A son: His mother's boy
Yoohoo! My son's scored all As and A minuses -- two each -- in his first semester! He just saw his results had been posted on his college web site. And my wife got an A too!
She had to take this course which teachers are encouraged to take at her college in Calcutta (Kolkata) and she scored an A. Both of them got their results at the same time.
I was whooping with joy as I held my cell phone and the cordless phone close to each other, with the loudspeakers on, so the two of them could share the good news and yak away -- my wife in Calcutta and my son in America.
My wife broke the good news as soon as I called her from Singapore, she's never one for beating about the bush. My son was more casual, slipping in the good news after a word or two.
Of course, he was delighted. He was fairly burbling away on the phone. He usually answers in monosyllables, we have to wring out words from him, he tries to keep the calls short and sweet, mindful of my phone bills, but this time he was volunteering information on his own!
I am so proud of him, and so is his mum. Living on his own, far from home, he has still done so well. I nearly swooned when I heard his GPA! He is a chip of the old block all right -- I mean he is his mum's son.
My wife has always been good at studies -- she can quote Shakespeare! And Wordsworth! And Keats! Oh yes, she is wonderful and beautiful, too, or I wouldn't have married her. But her biggest pride and joy -- apart from her son -- is her excellent record as a student and a teacher. She still recalls the prizes she won at school, how well she did in college. And she has lost none of her aptitude, as she proved by getting an A in this course she had to take in ripe middle age. She had to take classes as usual and do other things in college, she was busy at home too, and yet she got an A. I am so proud of my two achievers, God bless them.
She had to take this course which teachers are encouraged to take at her college in Calcutta (Kolkata) and she scored an A. Both of them got their results at the same time.
I was whooping with joy as I held my cell phone and the cordless phone close to each other, with the loudspeakers on, so the two of them could share the good news and yak away -- my wife in Calcutta and my son in America.
My wife broke the good news as soon as I called her from Singapore, she's never one for beating about the bush. My son was more casual, slipping in the good news after a word or two.
Of course, he was delighted. He was fairly burbling away on the phone. He usually answers in monosyllables, we have to wring out words from him, he tries to keep the calls short and sweet, mindful of my phone bills, but this time he was volunteering information on his own!
I am so proud of him, and so is his mum. Living on his own, far from home, he has still done so well. I nearly swooned when I heard his GPA! He is a chip of the old block all right -- I mean he is his mum's son.
My wife has always been good at studies -- she can quote Shakespeare! And Wordsworth! And Keats! Oh yes, she is wonderful and beautiful, too, or I wouldn't have married her. But her biggest pride and joy -- apart from her son -- is her excellent record as a student and a teacher. She still recalls the prizes she won at school, how well she did in college. And she has lost none of her aptitude, as she proved by getting an A in this course she had to take in ripe middle age. She had to take classes as usual and do other things in college, she was busy at home too, and yet she got an A. I am so proud of my two achievers, God bless them.
Thursday, December 22, 2005
Elton John still unmarried
To my mind, marriage is a sacrament. My wife and I literally tied the knot, fastening together her sari and my dhoti as we exchanged our vows in front of a priest and a holy fire in a traditional Hindu wedding ceremony. It is one of my most beautiful memories comparable only to the birth of our son and on both occasions we said our prayers to God. A Hindu wedding is marked by religious rituals so deeply respected that couples traditionally did not even have to go though a civil marriage to be considered lawfully married -- but they had to exchange their vows in front of a priest.
It is not all that different in modern-day Britain, it seems.
Elton John may have just sealed his relationship with his long-time partner David Furnish at a ceremony in London. Tony Blair was among the first to congratulate them, welcoming the new law which allows same-sex unions. "I think it is a modern, progressive step forward for the country and I am proud we did it," he said.
But it's interesting how the British media reported the event. "Sir Elton John and his partner David Furnish have 'married' in a quiet Windsor ceremony," reported the Daily Telegraph. "The private ceremony happened just hours after Britain's civil partnership law allowed gay couples to 'marry' for the first time across England and Wales," reported The Times. Note the quote marks around the words "married" and "marry", as if there was some doubt whether those words could be used. The BBC took pains to explain that the couple was entering into a "civil partnership", which is not the same thing as marriage. They will enjoy the same rights as a married couple, but a "civil partnership" does not follow the same procedure as a civil marriage. The differences are explained on the BBC web site. More significantly, it added:
"Another important distinction is that marriage as a word has religious connotations, even if a ceremony is only civil. Marriages can be conducted by Church of England clergy without any civil preliminaries being required. Civil partnerships are only conducted by registrars."
Therefore, Sir Elton, in the eyes of the law, is still an unmarried man.
It is not all that different in modern-day Britain, it seems.
Elton John may have just sealed his relationship with his long-time partner David Furnish at a ceremony in London. Tony Blair was among the first to congratulate them, welcoming the new law which allows same-sex unions. "I think it is a modern, progressive step forward for the country and I am proud we did it," he said.
But it's interesting how the British media reported the event. "Sir Elton John and his partner David Furnish have 'married' in a quiet Windsor ceremony," reported the Daily Telegraph. "The private ceremony happened just hours after Britain's civil partnership law allowed gay couples to 'marry' for the first time across England and Wales," reported The Times. Note the quote marks around the words "married" and "marry", as if there was some doubt whether those words could be used. The BBC took pains to explain that the couple was entering into a "civil partnership", which is not the same thing as marriage. They will enjoy the same rights as a married couple, but a "civil partnership" does not follow the same procedure as a civil marriage. The differences are explained on the BBC web site. More significantly, it added:
"Another important distinction is that marriage as a word has religious connotations, even if a ceremony is only civil. Marriages can be conducted by Church of England clergy without any civil preliminaries being required. Civil partnerships are only conducted by registrars."
Therefore, Sir Elton, in the eyes of the law, is still an unmarried man.
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Singapore's superbloggers
Singapore a superpower? Certainly in the blogosphere. The competition for the Best Asian Blog award ended up as a two-horse race, as Xiaxue and mrbrown swept far ahead of the rest of the field before Xiaxue beat mrbrown into second place. Ladies first! It was a pretty convincing victory, too, as Xiaxue led by more than 3,000 votes to retain the title she had won last year as well. She and mrbrown were the only ones to get more than 10,000 votes each and they are both Singaporeans. The only other contender to get more than 1,000 votes was a Singaporean too.
A lot of those votes must have come from Singaporeans. Singaporeans just love their bloggers. This is not to knock Xiaxue's or mrbrown's considerable "bloggabilities", for there are plenty of other Singaporeans posting away in the blogosphere, but there is only one mrbrown, only one Xiaxue -- and between them they have created a bipolar world, like Adidas and Nike, Coke and Pepsi, which when it came to the Weblog Awards split into two solid camps: the mrbrownites and the Xiaxueites. My congratulations to mrbrown that he posed any competition at all. Xiaxue is certainly easier on the eye!
A lot of those votes must have come from Singaporeans. Singaporeans just love their bloggers. This is not to knock Xiaxue's or mrbrown's considerable "bloggabilities", for there are plenty of other Singaporeans posting away in the blogosphere, but there is only one mrbrown, only one Xiaxue -- and between them they have created a bipolar world, like Adidas and Nike, Coke and Pepsi, which when it came to the Weblog Awards split into two solid camps: the mrbrownites and the Xiaxueites. My congratulations to mrbrown that he posed any competition at all. Xiaxue is certainly easier on the eye!
Bushwhacked in two continents?
President Bush is confident of ultimate victory in Iraq, but is he losing influence over large parts of Asia and Latin America? Bolivia's newly elected president Evo Morales has openly called his Movement Towards Socialism a "nightmare" for America. The former leader of coca farmers has pledged to legalise the production of the coca leaf -- which has traditional medicinal uses for the indigenous people -- though not the cocaine manufactured from it. Still, that flies in the face of the US campaign to wipe out the coca plant. As it is, Bolivia is the third-biggest cocaine producer after Colombia and Peru. The socialist former union leader has also vowed to nationalise the natural gas industry and use the wealth to lift the poor.
Washington makes no secret of its feelings against him. The US ambassador in Bolivia warned US aid might be cut off if he was elected president during the 2002 elections. He didn't win then, but he has this time.
As Reuters says: "The election of Evo Morales as Bolivia's president poses new challenges to the Bush administration in Latin America, where its unpopularity is growing and the left is on the ascendancy."
There is not just Fidel Castro in Cuba and Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. Two of the biggest Latin American countries also have leftist leaders: President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil and President Néstor Kirchner of Argentina.
Not every leftist leader poses a challenge for Washington. Lula "follows a conservative economic policy and has a respectful relationship with Washington," says Reuters.
But Morales admires Chavez and opposes free trade. That can't be good news for Washington.
Washington was also sidelined in Asia recently. For the first time it could not take part in a major Asian dialogue when it had to sit out the East Asia Summit. It could say, of course, it chose not to take part. But it didn't really have a choice. The organisers insisted only those who promised not to interfere in the affairs of other countries would be allowed to participate. Washington could not agree to that because of its various security agreements and other commitments in the region. Not that the meeting was an anti-American clique. It was attended by several old American allies including Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, friendly Asean countries and India which, thank goodness, is at last getting closer to America. But the USA itself was unrepresented.
That would have been unthinkable in the past, said some commentators. The region is heavily dependent on the US. But now another power is emerging: China. And it was present at the meeting. It was not China that kept America out, but the fact that China attended a meeting and America could not in what used to be an American stronghold was not lost on political commentators. Trade and business between China and other East Asian and South-east Asian countries is growing. That makes them less dependent on American and Japanese trade and investment.
It is no coincidence perhaps that the Chinese presence is increasing in Latin America, too, where anti-American sentiments are rising. That does not mean the Chinese are spreading anti-American sentiments; those feelings existed in the past as well. But, whatever the public feeling, foreign governments usually heeded American wishes -- unless they were pro-Soviet. Now, the Soviet Union has collapsed, but America has to reckon with the growing Chinese presence in its own backyard. And it is making some American observers quite uneasy. The Foreign Policy web site addresses the issue. One of the pieces is even called Clash of the Titans. Former president Jimmy Carter's national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski does not think China can push America out of East Asia, but still he worries about tensions over Taiwan.
Washington makes no secret of its feelings against him. The US ambassador in Bolivia warned US aid might be cut off if he was elected president during the 2002 elections. He didn't win then, but he has this time.
As Reuters says: "The election of Evo Morales as Bolivia's president poses new challenges to the Bush administration in Latin America, where its unpopularity is growing and the left is on the ascendancy."
There is not just Fidel Castro in Cuba and Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. Two of the biggest Latin American countries also have leftist leaders: President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil and President Néstor Kirchner of Argentina.
Not every leftist leader poses a challenge for Washington. Lula "follows a conservative economic policy and has a respectful relationship with Washington," says Reuters.
But Morales admires Chavez and opposes free trade. That can't be good news for Washington.
Washington was also sidelined in Asia recently. For the first time it could not take part in a major Asian dialogue when it had to sit out the East Asia Summit. It could say, of course, it chose not to take part. But it didn't really have a choice. The organisers insisted only those who promised not to interfere in the affairs of other countries would be allowed to participate. Washington could not agree to that because of its various security agreements and other commitments in the region. Not that the meeting was an anti-American clique. It was attended by several old American allies including Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, friendly Asean countries and India which, thank goodness, is at last getting closer to America. But the USA itself was unrepresented.
That would have been unthinkable in the past, said some commentators. The region is heavily dependent on the US. But now another power is emerging: China. And it was present at the meeting. It was not China that kept America out, but the fact that China attended a meeting and America could not in what used to be an American stronghold was not lost on political commentators. Trade and business between China and other East Asian and South-east Asian countries is growing. That makes them less dependent on American and Japanese trade and investment.
It is no coincidence perhaps that the Chinese presence is increasing in Latin America, too, where anti-American sentiments are rising. That does not mean the Chinese are spreading anti-American sentiments; those feelings existed in the past as well. But, whatever the public feeling, foreign governments usually heeded American wishes -- unless they were pro-Soviet. Now, the Soviet Union has collapsed, but America has to reckon with the growing Chinese presence in its own backyard. And it is making some American observers quite uneasy. The Foreign Policy web site addresses the issue. One of the pieces is even called Clash of the Titans. Former president Jimmy Carter's national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski does not think China can push America out of East Asia, but still he worries about tensions over Taiwan.
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
A three-way conversation
It started off as a three-way conversation but ended up as two-way, with neither speaker having to call the other. I was holding two phones close together so they could hear each other. Nothing could be simpler, of course. But my wife and my son had to wait for four days before I made the connection.
Ever since my son went to stay with a friend of ours since his college closed for Christmas four days ago, my wife and I haven't been able to chat with him on the Net since he didn't take his laptop with him. So I have been calling him in America on my cell phone and ringing up my wife in Calcutta (Kolkata) on the landline. Then I would press the speaker button on the fixed-line phone so my son and I could listen to her at the same time. But she couldn't hear him speak, I would have to repeat his words to her. Obviously, she wished to hear his voice. But how? I just couldn't figure it out until I accidentally pressed a button and chanced upon the word "loudspeaker" on the display panel. Beep! it went at the touch of another button. And so finally the missus and the kid got to hear each other today. I ended up holding the two phones close together while they had a heart-to-heart. My wife got her wish, after all. I just hope I remember which button to press next time.
Ever since my son went to stay with a friend of ours since his college closed for Christmas four days ago, my wife and I haven't been able to chat with him on the Net since he didn't take his laptop with him. So I have been calling him in America on my cell phone and ringing up my wife in Calcutta (Kolkata) on the landline. Then I would press the speaker button on the fixed-line phone so my son and I could listen to her at the same time. But she couldn't hear him speak, I would have to repeat his words to her. Obviously, she wished to hear his voice. But how? I just couldn't figure it out until I accidentally pressed a button and chanced upon the word "loudspeaker" on the display panel. Beep! it went at the touch of another button. And so finally the missus and the kid got to hear each other today. I ended up holding the two phones close together while they had a heart-to-heart. My wife got her wish, after all. I just hope I remember which button to press next time.
Monday, December 19, 2005
Serendip* in Singapore
Call it serendipity. When I called my wife in Calcutta (Kolkata) this morning, the first thing she asked me was whether I had gone anywhere earlier in the morning. It was her way of asking if I had been to the temple today. She has been taking a course which teachers at her college are encouraged to take, and today was D-Day. I had told her last night that I had been to the church and the temple yesterday but wouldn't be going today because I had to go to work. But still she asked me when I called her today. She had gone to the Kali temple at Kalighat in the morning, she said. I then realised she had been expecting me to go even though I had told her I couldn't. And then, by a stroke of luck, it turned out it was my day off. So, of course, I visited the church and the temple and let her know.
What is it if not a miracle almost? She wished I would go, I thought I couldn't, but then I could. Because it turned out to be my day off. I believe in God and hope He answers our prayers.
There's so little my wife asks of me, but then it turns out she expects me to do certain things though she wouldn't say so. And, of course, I try to do what she wants. The fact that I work in Singapore and she teaches in Calcutta makes us feel all the more concerned for each other. After all, we can't see each other and help each other like couples living together. Not that I would advise anyone to live like us. But I don't think it has created a distance between us. Far from it. There are times when I can almost imagine I am walking with my wife and my son, who is studying in America. One may call it wishful thinking or daydreaming. But it makes me feel less lonely. I would rather be happy than sad.
What is it if not a miracle almost? She wished I would go, I thought I couldn't, but then I could. Because it turned out to be my day off. I believe in God and hope He answers our prayers.
There's so little my wife asks of me, but then it turns out she expects me to do certain things though she wouldn't say so. And, of course, I try to do what she wants. The fact that I work in Singapore and she teaches in Calcutta makes us feel all the more concerned for each other. After all, we can't see each other and help each other like couples living together. Not that I would advise anyone to live like us. But I don't think it has created a distance between us. Far from it. There are times when I can almost imagine I am walking with my wife and my son, who is studying in America. One may call it wishful thinking or daydreaming. But it makes me feel less lonely. I would rather be happy than sad.
Hart of Gutenberg
One of the Guardian blogs recently carried the rumour that Google might buy the Opera browser. It duly noted that both Google and Opera denied any such deal, but still it ran the story. Anything that Google does is news, even when it is only copying others.
Reams have been written about Google and Yahoo's grand plans to digitise entire libraries, but they are not likely to allow whole books to be downloaded for free. One can already do that -- download the classics for free -- from Project Gutenberg, the great online free library. The Wall Street Journal caught up with the man who made it possible -- Michael Hart. Unlike Project Gutenberg, however, the Wall Street Journal doesn't give away anything for free. So thanks to Anil Dash who posted a link to the interview.
Hart, who started Project Gutenberg way back in 1971 creating electronic books for storage in bulky university computers, feels shabbily treated by Google. They approached him before going public with their project last year, he said, but then "they sort of talked us out the door". "It's not that we don't want to work with them. Google didn't want to have anything to do with us," he said.
Project Gutenberg is different from what Google is doing, he added. "From the consumer's point of view, if you're trying to get a quotation from a book, you could get the book from Project Gutenberg and cut and paste, say, the whole "Hamlet" soliloquy. On Google, you can't. Also, ours is totally non-commercial. You won't find advertising on any of our pages."
Hart feels overshadowed by Google. "Google certainly got a billion dollars worth of publicity last December(when it announced its plans to digitise books). I think we should have at least been mentioned. If you watched the whole media explosion, Project Gutenberg wasn't even mentioned. Anybody watching that would think that Google had just invented e-books."
It's all so true. But people know where to go for free books.
"In a typical week, there are at least a million downloads,'' he said. "We get a lot of Thackeray downloads, a lot of James Joyce, a lot of Dickens. Pride and Prejudice is always up there. Sherlock Holmes is always up there."
As for his favourite authors, "Alice in Wonderland was a family classic for us, and my dad was a Shakespeare professor. I do love Shakespeare."
Enough quoted from the Wall Street Journal interview. The picture incidentally is from Hart's own home page.
Sunday, December 18, 2005
Missing the kid studying abroad
I went to the church late this afternoon between services. People were kneeling at the pews or sitting on the benches in quiet contemplation as organ music rang through the half-empty hall. The strains of Silent Night filled the room. It was a late afternoon in sunny Singapore, where winter never comes. But something stirred in my heart; my eyes misted over. I was looking at Mother Mary and Baby Jesus, but I was thinking of my wife and my son.
This is the first Christmas they won't be spending together, as I wrote yesterday, and it's partly because of me. Had I been a better provider, of course, he would have flown home -- never mind the plane fare -- even though he would have had to return to college almost immediately after the New Year. Instead, he has stayed back in America, visiting a friend of ours while his college is closed for Christmas.
My wife in Calcutta (Kolkata) keeps worrying about him. She says I encouraged him to go to America. I certainly did not discourage him when he, like some of his schoolmates, applied to American colleges. So I am responsible.
The knowledge troubles me. God knows I have been an absentee husband and an absentee father. Where other men try to hold their families together, I let my wife carry on teaching in Calcutta while I came to work in Singapore, and now our son -- our only child -- has left her behind to study in America. She misses him deeply. We talk to him as often as we can, but we can't be there for him. That makes me feel so helpless as a parent. Like every parent, I only wanted the best for my son, but I didn't know how helpless one feels when the children go overseas to study. Of course, I am proud of him, but I am also counting the days till I see him again. And that seems such a long way off.
This is the first Christmas they won't be spending together, as I wrote yesterday, and it's partly because of me. Had I been a better provider, of course, he would have flown home -- never mind the plane fare -- even though he would have had to return to college almost immediately after the New Year. Instead, he has stayed back in America, visiting a friend of ours while his college is closed for Christmas.
My wife in Calcutta (Kolkata) keeps worrying about him. She says I encouraged him to go to America. I certainly did not discourage him when he, like some of his schoolmates, applied to American colleges. So I am responsible.
The knowledge troubles me. God knows I have been an absentee husband and an absentee father. Where other men try to hold their families together, I let my wife carry on teaching in Calcutta while I came to work in Singapore, and now our son -- our only child -- has left her behind to study in America. She misses him deeply. We talk to him as often as we can, but we can't be there for him. That makes me feel so helpless as a parent. Like every parent, I only wanted the best for my son, but I didn't know how helpless one feels when the children go overseas to study. Of course, I am proud of him, but I am also counting the days till I see him again. And that seems such a long way off.
The elusive Indian bloggers
I grumbled four days ago that the Best Asian Blog category of the Weblog Awards should be renamed the Best East Asian Blog because all the nominees were from Singapore, Hong Kong, Philippines, Korea and Vietnam. Why no Indian blogs, I wondered.
It seemed all the more surprising when I read that Indian blogs had been growing by leaps and bounds. There are 1.2 million Indian blogs, according to MSN India's head of programming who should know all about blogs because of MSN Spaces. His article appeared in India's Financial Express and was then picked up by a blog about blogs. I can't recall which one it was, but it also linked to an Indian blogger who doubted the figure was as high as that. That was how I came across Sambhar Mafia, a blog written by an Indian who also lives in Singapore like me. Kaps, the blogger, thought the figure was too high because even the most popular Indian sites don't get that kind of traffic. And bloggers, as we know, read other bloggers. Surfing the Net means jumping from one page to another, and along the way, making new discoveries. I wouldn't have even known about Kaps unless another blog linked to him.
But just as we make new discoveries on the Net, we can also easily get lost. Indian blogs certainly can be hard to find. There are well-known Indian bloggers, of course, like Amit Varma of India Uncut, Carthik Sharma of WordPress fame and Atanu Dey of Deesha. And let's not forget Anil Dash of Six Apart who must be an ethnic Indian too. And Om Malik on Broadband. But one has to search for the rest -- and search really hard. One could check the blog directory, BlogStreet India. It lists the most popular sites and links to others as well, but who has the time to go through all of them, looking for hidden gems? Then there is Desi Pundit, which links to interesting posts from various India blogs. But apart from them, there is very little. And what there is, is hard to find. I know -- just google for "Indian bloggers". It is a pity that with all the IT talent India has, there are so few Indian blog directories which can be easily found by search engines.
In fact, my best source was not a blog directory at all but a blog maintained by a lady in Bombay (Mumbai). Indianwriting is an interesting blog about arts and culture which also linked to several good writers, some of whom I linked to myself. But when I checked that site this morning, the links were no longer there!
It seemed all the more surprising when I read that Indian blogs had been growing by leaps and bounds. There are 1.2 million Indian blogs, according to MSN India's head of programming who should know all about blogs because of MSN Spaces. His article appeared in India's Financial Express and was then picked up by a blog about blogs. I can't recall which one it was, but it also linked to an Indian blogger who doubted the figure was as high as that. That was how I came across Sambhar Mafia, a blog written by an Indian who also lives in Singapore like me. Kaps, the blogger, thought the figure was too high because even the most popular Indian sites don't get that kind of traffic. And bloggers, as we know, read other bloggers. Surfing the Net means jumping from one page to another, and along the way, making new discoveries. I wouldn't have even known about Kaps unless another blog linked to him.
But just as we make new discoveries on the Net, we can also easily get lost. Indian blogs certainly can be hard to find. There are well-known Indian bloggers, of course, like Amit Varma of India Uncut, Carthik Sharma of WordPress fame and Atanu Dey of Deesha. And let's not forget Anil Dash of Six Apart who must be an ethnic Indian too. And Om Malik on Broadband. But one has to search for the rest -- and search really hard. One could check the blog directory, BlogStreet India. It lists the most popular sites and links to others as well, but who has the time to go through all of them, looking for hidden gems? Then there is Desi Pundit, which links to interesting posts from various India blogs. But apart from them, there is very little. And what there is, is hard to find. I know -- just google for "Indian bloggers". It is a pity that with all the IT talent India has, there are so few Indian blog directories which can be easily found by search engines.
In fact, my best source was not a blog directory at all but a blog maintained by a lady in Bombay (Mumbai). Indianwriting is an interesting blog about arts and culture which also linked to several good writers, some of whom I linked to myself. But when I checked that site this morning, the links were no longer there!
Saturday, December 17, 2005
An American Christmas for my son
My son's college has closed for the holidays. But he can't fly home from America like some of his former schoolmates who are winging back to Calcutta (Kolkata). Unlike them, freshmen at his college get only a short break. Flying back and forth would have taken the best part of four days because he would have had to change planes and then spend long hours in transit lounges, perhaps in London or Frankfurt and then again in Bombay (Mumbai); so he would not have been able to spend much time in Calcutta. Instead, he is visiting a couple we know in America.
We miss him very much. Not that I would have been able to see him even if he had gone to Calcutta -- I am in Singapore, having used up all my leave to accompany him and my wife to America when he enrolled in college. But he would have been with his mother if he had gone to Calcutta. This is the first time they have not spent Christmas together. Usually they come to Singapore to spend Christmas and New Year with me, but they could not do so last year because he was preparing for his school-leaving exams. And this year, my wife is in Calcutta, my son in America and I am in Singapore. She could not come here either because she had also used up her leave for the trip to America.
She and I were all the more worried because our son had to travel alone. He had spent Thanksgiving with a friend. This time, too, he was hoping to travel with a friend, but then the friend had to go somewhere else instead of going directly home. So he had to travel alone.
Another friend drove him from the college to the bus station, from where he had to travel six hours by bus to our friend's place. Our friend was supposed to pick him up from the bus station. But then he needed an operation the very day our son was arriving at his place. So the friend asked him to take a taxi. But he has never been to that city before and our friend lives a long way from the bus station. Our son could not stay on campus till our friend got better. The dorms and cafeterias would be closed.
We were so upset. That is why I could not blog on Thursday. Luckily, my wife had another friend in another city who knew someone else living near the town our son was going to. She asked me to get in touch with her friend, who then spoke to our son and arranged to have him picked up at the bus station. He did not have to take a taxi, after all; a very nice lady drove him to the friend's place. My friend's mother let him in. The friend and his wife returned from the hospital a little later.
My son said he helped my friend's wife clear the snow so she could drive up to the door. He travelled through a blizzard during the long bus ride, he said.
I have not heard the full details yet. My wife and I spoke to our son and our friend's wife only for a few minutes this morning while it was still yesterday evening in America. I called them on the cell phone, calling my wife at the same time on the land line so she could speak to them simultaneously. They must be sleeping now. My wife and I will be staying up late tonight so we can speak to them when they can wake up in the morning. America is so far away. It's morning there when it's night here.
I just hope my wife and I can speak to our son as often as we do when he is in college. We miss him so much. But I can see him whenever I like. I only have to close this window to see him with my wife on the desktop wallpaper. It's a lovely picture. It warms my heart every time I see them.
We miss him very much. Not that I would have been able to see him even if he had gone to Calcutta -- I am in Singapore, having used up all my leave to accompany him and my wife to America when he enrolled in college. But he would have been with his mother if he had gone to Calcutta. This is the first time they have not spent Christmas together. Usually they come to Singapore to spend Christmas and New Year with me, but they could not do so last year because he was preparing for his school-leaving exams. And this year, my wife is in Calcutta, my son in America and I am in Singapore. She could not come here either because she had also used up her leave for the trip to America.
She and I were all the more worried because our son had to travel alone. He had spent Thanksgiving with a friend. This time, too, he was hoping to travel with a friend, but then the friend had to go somewhere else instead of going directly home. So he had to travel alone.
Another friend drove him from the college to the bus station, from where he had to travel six hours by bus to our friend's place. Our friend was supposed to pick him up from the bus station. But then he needed an operation the very day our son was arriving at his place. So the friend asked him to take a taxi. But he has never been to that city before and our friend lives a long way from the bus station. Our son could not stay on campus till our friend got better. The dorms and cafeterias would be closed.
We were so upset. That is why I could not blog on Thursday. Luckily, my wife had another friend in another city who knew someone else living near the town our son was going to. She asked me to get in touch with her friend, who then spoke to our son and arranged to have him picked up at the bus station. He did not have to take a taxi, after all; a very nice lady drove him to the friend's place. My friend's mother let him in. The friend and his wife returned from the hospital a little later.
My son said he helped my friend's wife clear the snow so she could drive up to the door. He travelled through a blizzard during the long bus ride, he said.
I have not heard the full details yet. My wife and I spoke to our son and our friend's wife only for a few minutes this morning while it was still yesterday evening in America. I called them on the cell phone, calling my wife at the same time on the land line so she could speak to them simultaneously. They must be sleeping now. My wife and I will be staying up late tonight so we can speak to them when they can wake up in the morning. America is so far away. It's morning there when it's night here.
I just hope my wife and I can speak to our son as often as we do when he is in college. We miss him so much. But I can see him whenever I like. I only have to close this window to see him with my wife on the desktop wallpaper. It's a lovely picture. It warms my heart every time I see them.
Friday, December 16, 2005
Votes and passports for Indians abroad
Indians now send more money home than any other people in the world. Indians abroad sent home $21.7 billion in officially recorded remittances in 2005, beating the Chinese who sent $21.3 billion into second place, according to a World Bank study. Mexicans ranked third with $18.1 billion, followed by the French ($12.7 billion), and the Filipinos ($11.6 billion), said the report, Global Economic Prospects for 2006.
The contributions of the non-resident Indians (NRIs) -- as Indians abroad are called -- are not going unnoticed. Indian nationals abroad may soon be able to vote, said a news report. That's great news. Americans overseas can vote. So do Singaporeans. Why not Indians too? That will give the NRIs a greater sense of involvement.
The problem may be the sheer number of Indians abroad. An estimated 22 million people of Indian origin are spread across the globe in 136 different countries. Many of them have lost ties with the mother country, but there are still millions who remain Indian nationals. An estimated 3.5 million are living in the Gulf region. Most of them must be Indian nationals still, and the same must be true of Indian professionals working abroad on work permits. Since they are likely to buy property and send money home, they should have a chance to vote. Those living in cities where there is an Indian embassy or consulate could vote there while others should have a chance to cast postal ballots. India already runs a huge, sophisticated electoral machinery which includes computer voting; it has the expertise and now I believe the resources, too, to give Indians abroad a chance to vote.
It's amazing how India is changing. The government has announced it will start giving out dual citizenships from Jan 7, 2006. No doubt, only ethnic Indian nationals of countries which accept dual nationality will be free to take up the offer. But it's a significant U-turn -- India did not allow dual citizenships in the past. One reason must be India now wants Indians abroad to invest back home. But it also shows India now has the confidence to believe it has enough to offer for Indians abroad not to turn their backs on the mother country simply because they hold foreign passports. Come to think of it, this puts India in the same league as America and Britain!
The contributions of the non-resident Indians (NRIs) -- as Indians abroad are called -- are not going unnoticed. Indian nationals abroad may soon be able to vote, said a news report. That's great news. Americans overseas can vote. So do Singaporeans. Why not Indians too? That will give the NRIs a greater sense of involvement.
The problem may be the sheer number of Indians abroad. An estimated 22 million people of Indian origin are spread across the globe in 136 different countries. Many of them have lost ties with the mother country, but there are still millions who remain Indian nationals. An estimated 3.5 million are living in the Gulf region. Most of them must be Indian nationals still, and the same must be true of Indian professionals working abroad on work permits. Since they are likely to buy property and send money home, they should have a chance to vote. Those living in cities where there is an Indian embassy or consulate could vote there while others should have a chance to cast postal ballots. India already runs a huge, sophisticated electoral machinery which includes computer voting; it has the expertise and now I believe the resources, too, to give Indians abroad a chance to vote.
It's amazing how India is changing. The government has announced it will start giving out dual citizenships from Jan 7, 2006. No doubt, only ethnic Indian nationals of countries which accept dual nationality will be free to take up the offer. But it's a significant U-turn -- India did not allow dual citizenships in the past. One reason must be India now wants Indians abroad to invest back home. But it also shows India now has the confidence to believe it has enough to offer for Indians abroad not to turn their backs on the mother country simply because they hold foreign passports. Come to think of it, this puts India in the same league as America and Britain!
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Cheating at Weblog Awards!
How I wish I had been following the voting for the Weblog Awards 2005 for it is getting as exciting as a general election, at least for the Best Asian Blog. There has been cheating! says the site. And thousands of votes for xiaxue and mrbrown have been rejected. If they still go on to win, it will show just how popular they are. Voting ends tomorrow. This is what the site says:
"Sunday and Monday were consumed with geo-politics at The Weblog Awards.
"First the Best Asian Blog was hit by repeated voting due to a device used at a Singapore ISP. The device is not intended for use in The Weblog Awards, if just so happens to make a nice jump point for cheating. Votes skyrocketed, addresses were banned, votes were removed, etc. Thing are back to working again, but it leaves us with a dilemma. Banning the device leaves a large section of Singapore users unable to vote. That's a problem that I'm working on.
"In other news, we had no idea banning IP addresses could be so controversial. Previously we'd made a point of identifying IP addresses banned, but a helpful reader pointed out that in some parts of the world with repressive regimes such information could be used to identify and punish individuals. In some of those countries you most assuredly do not want to run afoul of the government.
"Needless to say publication of IP addresses that have been banned won't be occurring anymore. The IP addresses will still be banned, but the individual addresses banned will not be published."
The site adds: "The total votes for Xiaxue have been reduced by 5048 votes for for excessive voting from the ... subnet. Nine individual IP addresses have been banned.
"The total votes for Mr. Brown have been reduced by 9944 votes for for excessive voting from the ... subnet. Three individual IP addresses have been banned."
I just read Asiapundit, who is also one of the contenders, joking about the thing.
"AsiaPundit has had several beers with mr brown and can assure readers that mr brown would not engage in mass cheating"
Mr Brown's response: " Myrick of Asiapundit concludes that I was not in any way involved in the Weblog Awards cheating because I don't have the smarts or the time to rig a contest (thanks for the vote of confidence, dude! Haha!). Of course, I need not remind you that, just like the NKF still needs money, I still need votes, people!"
"Sunday and Monday were consumed with geo-politics at The Weblog Awards.
"First the Best Asian Blog was hit by repeated voting due to a device used at a Singapore ISP. The device is not intended for use in The Weblog Awards, if just so happens to make a nice jump point for cheating. Votes skyrocketed, addresses were banned, votes were removed, etc. Thing are back to working again, but it leaves us with a dilemma. Banning the device leaves a large section of Singapore users unable to vote. That's a problem that I'm working on.
"In other news, we had no idea banning IP addresses could be so controversial. Previously we'd made a point of identifying IP addresses banned, but a helpful reader pointed out that in some parts of the world with repressive regimes such information could be used to identify and punish individuals. In some of those countries you most assuredly do not want to run afoul of the government.
"Needless to say publication of IP addresses that have been banned won't be occurring anymore. The IP addresses will still be banned, but the individual addresses banned will not be published."
The site adds: "The total votes for Xiaxue have been reduced by 5048 votes for for excessive voting from the ... subnet. Nine individual IP addresses have been banned.
"The total votes for Mr. Brown have been reduced by 9944 votes for for excessive voting from the ... subnet. Three individual IP addresses have been banned."
I just read Asiapundit, who is also one of the contenders, joking about the thing.
"AsiaPundit has had several beers with mr brown and can assure readers that mr brown would not engage in mass cheating"
Mr Brown's response: " Myrick of Asiapundit concludes that I was not in any way involved in the Weblog Awards cheating because I don't have the smarts or the time to rig a contest (thanks for the vote of confidence, dude! Haha!). Of course, I need not remind you that, just like the NKF still needs money, I still need votes, people!"
Weblog awards run by neocons?
I have never read Our Man in Hanoi until he was shortlisted for the Weblog Awards 2005. He clearly knows the shortlisting will bring him a fair number of visitors and here is what he has to say. He doesn't seem to think very much of the awards nor of the people behind them.
"I appreciate that many of you will be here at this blog for the first time, having been sent here by a blog awards things.
"I also appreciate that some good people out there have been good enough to support my nomination and have suggested people vote for me. Thank-you.
"However, there'll be no links from this website to the awards and no requests for your vote.
"The simple reason is this: I am not supporting the awards. It seems to me, that for the most part, awards are run in order to create traffic to one site. Namely that of the organisers. These types of popularity contests just require everyone to encourage all their web visitors to go and vote for them.
"However, I won't be doing that. The reason I am not supporting the awards is that it is run by a far right US pro-war, neo-con website."
I don't know about Pete Holiday, the guy credited with doing the "Poll Programming" -- whatever that is -- on the Weblog Awards 2005 web site. But it is certainly true that NZ Bear or The Truth Laid Bear (the name of the Bear's home page), who is credited with the "ecosystem help" -- whatver that is -- runs a conservative site. However, the weblog awards also include a category called the Best Liberal Blog. Nice of them.
"I appreciate that many of you will be here at this blog for the first time, having been sent here by a blog awards things.
"I also appreciate that some good people out there have been good enough to support my nomination and have suggested people vote for me. Thank-you.
"However, there'll be no links from this website to the awards and no requests for your vote.
"The simple reason is this: I am not supporting the awards. It seems to me, that for the most part, awards are run in order to create traffic to one site. Namely that of the organisers. These types of popularity contests just require everyone to encourage all their web visitors to go and vote for them.
"However, I won't be doing that. The reason I am not supporting the awards is that it is run by a far right US pro-war, neo-con website."
I don't know about Pete Holiday, the guy credited with doing the "Poll Programming" -- whatever that is -- on the Weblog Awards 2005 web site. But it is certainly true that NZ Bear or The Truth Laid Bear (the name of the Bear's home page), who is credited with the "ecosystem help" -- whatver that is -- runs a conservative site. However, the weblog awards also include a category called the Best Liberal Blog. Nice of them.
Weblog Awards 2005
Voting for the Weblog Awards 2005 ends tomorrow. And I didn't even know that until The Straits Times reported that three Singapore blogs -- mrbrown, xiaxue and Mr Miyagi -- are up again for the Best Asian Blog award.
Gee, I thought, and surfed over to mrbrown, and there was the banner, The Weblog Awards Finalist 2005. Clicking on the banner led me to the full list of 15 contenders for the Best Asian Blog.
Actually, it should be called the Best East Asian Blog. Apart from the Singapore three, there were several from Hong Kong as well as blogs from China, Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines -- but none from India, Japan or Malaysia.
My uninformed guess: Maybe Indians in India, at least, don't follow one another's blogs as loyally as Singaporeans. For going by the quality of writing alone, some Indian blogs deserve far more attention and ought to be running for the weblog awards.
But I am surprised that Screenshots, the Malaysian blog which is quoted even by the mainstream press in the region, does not rank among the Asian finalists.
I don't know how the finalists are chosen -- for there is a selection process. The Weblog Awards 2005 web site says:
"To understand how 15 finalists were picked in each category you first have to understand how they were nominated. There was a call for nominations early in November for all of the categories. There were on the order of 3000 nominations for the various categories. The list of nominees was pared down to 15 by me and a team volunteers. For the most part if a site was not nominated it wasn't even considered as a finalist..."
Maybe some of the blogs I like were not even nominated. I, for one, didn't even know about the awards -- which apparently are different from the Bloggies -- until that report in The Straits Times.
I like mrbrown though I don't have the time to read it as often as I would like. But only one of the Asian finalists is currently listed in Technorati's Top 100 Blogs -- xiaxue. The only other Asian English-language blog in the Technorati Top 100 is Kennysia.com. The Technorati list is based on the number of links to each blog, so that gives a fair measure of popularity.
Maybe the Weblog Awards folks use their own criteria to shortlist the finalists, after which they throw open the vote to the public. Fair enough. Most of the blogs one usually reads about in the international media are up there in the various best blog categories -- there are 37 in all. And I discovered two new blogs on the Best Asian list which I really liked -- Frog in a Well and Our Man in Hanoi. Asiapundit, Simon World, and some of the rest are old familiars.
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Questiongate
Gotcha! Eleven Indian legislators have been exposed on television accepting bribes for raising questions in parliament. Journalists caught them in a sting, offering them money, pretending to be lobbyists, and secretly filmed them in the act.
Six of the members of Parliament exposed in the Questiongate scandal belong to the opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. Only one belongs to the ruling Congress party. Three others are from the regional Bahujan Samaj Party and one represents another regional party -- the Rashtriya Janata Dal.
What, only one from the ruling Congress party and six from the opposition Hindu nationalists! That's news.
And how come all those exposed are from the northern, western or eastern states -- and none from the south? And not a single communist in the lot!
The communist Speaker of Parliament Somnath Chatterjee, who holds the office by virtue of being a Congress party ally, must be rubbing his hands in satisfaction. Yes, the communists have emerged cleaner than some of the other parties.
Kudos to the journalists who pulled off Questiongate. But does it really give an accurate picture of political corruption in India?
The Congress has never had a reputation for being particularly clean. Millions of dollars are alleged to have been paid to the party by the KGB during the time of Indira Gandhi. A senior minister, Natwar Singh, had to resign recently, dogged by the scandal. Maybe things have changed in the party. Maybe the journalists did not look hard enough.
Whatever it is, it is bad news for the Hindu nationalists. Either their party men are more corrupt or less smart. Neither is good for their image.
Six of the members of Parliament exposed in the Questiongate scandal belong to the opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. Only one belongs to the ruling Congress party. Three others are from the regional Bahujan Samaj Party and one represents another regional party -- the Rashtriya Janata Dal.
What, only one from the ruling Congress party and six from the opposition Hindu nationalists! That's news.
And how come all those exposed are from the northern, western or eastern states -- and none from the south? And not a single communist in the lot!
The communist Speaker of Parliament Somnath Chatterjee, who holds the office by virtue of being a Congress party ally, must be rubbing his hands in satisfaction. Yes, the communists have emerged cleaner than some of the other parties.
Kudos to the journalists who pulled off Questiongate. But does it really give an accurate picture of political corruption in India?
The Congress has never had a reputation for being particularly clean. Millions of dollars are alleged to have been paid to the party by the KGB during the time of Indira Gandhi. A senior minister, Natwar Singh, had to resign recently, dogged by the scandal. Maybe things have changed in the party. Maybe the journalists did not look hard enough.
Whatever it is, it is bad news for the Hindu nationalists. Either their party men are more corrupt or less smart. Neither is good for their image.
Monday, December 12, 2005
Lonely weekend
I had the whole weekend to myself and spent the time surfing the Net, blogging, finishing one novel and wading into another. But it was lonely. I did chat online with my son in America when I also rang up my wife in Calcutta (Kolkata) so she could speak to us at the same time. But we could chat only briefly.
I couldn't chat with my son till it was Saturday night here in Singapore because he woke up late that morning -- it was nearing midday in America when we spoke on the Net. He had gone out with friends on Friday evening for dinner at an Indian restaurant a long way from his college. They had driven there -- luckily it wasn't snowing at the time. His campus is covered in snow. My wife and I cannot even imagine what it's like living in subzero temperatures. He tells us not to worry but admitted it can be tough trudging through the snow battling against a strong wind when it's snowing and the snowflakes are blowing into the face.
We spoke last night as well. I called my wife at the same time. Actually, I managed to speak to her a little longer yesterday. She was busy all day on Saturday. There was a birthday party and a wedding to attend, and before that she had some work to do at her college. She is supposed to be free on weekends but she had to go to college on Saturday as well as Sunday. Frankly, college teachers in Calcutta these days are overworked. My wife loves her job and does not complain but it's a lot of work.
I couldn't chat with my son till it was Saturday night here in Singapore because he woke up late that morning -- it was nearing midday in America when we spoke on the Net. He had gone out with friends on Friday evening for dinner at an Indian restaurant a long way from his college. They had driven there -- luckily it wasn't snowing at the time. His campus is covered in snow. My wife and I cannot even imagine what it's like living in subzero temperatures. He tells us not to worry but admitted it can be tough trudging through the snow battling against a strong wind when it's snowing and the snowflakes are blowing into the face.
We spoke last night as well. I called my wife at the same time. Actually, I managed to speak to her a little longer yesterday. She was busy all day on Saturday. There was a birthday party and a wedding to attend, and before that she had some work to do at her college. She is supposed to be free on weekends but she had to go to college on Saturday as well as Sunday. Frankly, college teachers in Calcutta these days are overworked. My wife loves her job and does not complain but it's a lot of work.
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Eugene McCarthy
So Eugene McCarthy has died at the age of 89. I wonder how many people remember him. In fact, when I first saw the headline, I momentarily confused him with George McGovern, another dove who lost to Richard Nixon in the 1972 election in the biggest landslide ever suffered by a Democrat.
McCarthy never won his party's support to run for president. Democrats must have mixed feelings about him because he took a leading role in the protests against the Vietnam War which forced President Johnson not to seek re-election in 1968. Johnson, despite stepping up the war, was not a bad president on the home front. His vision of a Great Society, though denigrated now, did show concern for the welfare of the poor and the underprivileged.
McCarthy was, of course, a liberal and an intellectual. But he failed to win the Democratic nomination in the 1968 election as the peace candidate supported by students and anti-war activists much like Howard Dean in the 2004 election. The Democrats had others to choose from -- Robert Kennedy and Johnson's vice-president Hubert Humphrey. But Kennedy was shot dead by an Arab gunman, Sirhan Sirhan, during the primaries. Humphrey eventually ran for president after winning the infamous 1968 Democratic Chicago convention, where police beat up anti-war protesters, but he lost to the Republican challenger Nixon, who then became president.
Nixon went on to win a second term, defeating McGovern. The Democrats did not return to power until 1977 under Jimmy Carter, who was blown away after just one term by Ronald Reagan.
Bill Clinton is the only Democrat to win a second term as president in the past 50 years, while four Republicans have been re-elected president -- Dwight Eisenhower (1953-61), Richard Nixon (1969-74), Ronald Reagan (1981-89) and George Bush (2001 till date).
McCarthy must share some of the blame for preventing Johnson from running a second time. According to the New York Times, he also endorsed Reagan against Carter in the 1980 election. But there can be no question about his liberalism and patriotism -- the Vietnam War hurt America and not just Vietnam.
Interestingly both McCarthy and Humphrey served as senators from Minnesota, which voted Democrat -- for John Kerry -- in 2004. Minnesota naturally voted for Humphrey against Nixon in the 1968 presidential race but I wonder who was its choice at the Chicago convention -- Humphrey or McCarthy. Humphrey won the convention handily but I couldn't find any reference as to who won the Minnesota delegates. I am intrigued because seldom do two candidates come from the same state. But it was possible in 1968 because Humphrey was the vice-president and McCarthy the senator from Minnesota.
Stumbled upon StumbleUpon
I just discovered StumbleUpon through Firefox and it's really great. One stumbles upon web sites one might not have even known about. And some of them were so good I bookmarked them. The discoveries are not all that accidental really. " StumbleUpon is an intelligent browsing tool for sharing and discovering great websites," as its home page says. "As you click Stumble!, you'll get high-quality pages matched to your personal preferences."
To start with, one can make one's personal preferences from suggested topics such as Arts, Books, Internet, Journalism, Science/Tech and Alternative News. Then clicking on the Stumble Upon icon on the Firefox browser leads to web sites belonging to the categories selected as personal preferences. "These pages have been explicitly recommended (rated 'I like it' by friends and other SU members with similar interests."
As the pages appear on the screen, one can rate them oneself. Rating a page "I like it" will add it to the My Pages list.
One can also rate a page "No more like this" and one won't come across it again, according to StumbleUpon.
It adds: "Rating these sites shares them with your friends and peers -- you will automatically 'stumble upon' each other's favorite sites.
"StumbleUpon uses ratings to form collaborative opinions on website quality. When you stumble, you will only see pages which friends and like-minded stumblers have liked. Unlike search engines or static directories, this allows for a true 'democracy of the web' –- all SU members have a say as to whether a page should be passed on."
In other words, it's very Web 2.0. Like Flickr and Technorati and del.icio.us and Bloglines and all such online file-sharing community sites.
To start with, one can make one's personal preferences from suggested topics such as Arts, Books, Internet, Journalism, Science/Tech and Alternative News. Then clicking on the Stumble Upon icon on the Firefox browser leads to web sites belonging to the categories selected as personal preferences. "These pages have been explicitly recommended (rated 'I like it' by friends and other SU members with similar interests."
As the pages appear on the screen, one can rate them oneself. Rating a page "I like it" will add it to the My Pages list.
One can also rate a page "No more like this" and one won't come across it again, according to StumbleUpon.
It adds: "Rating these sites shares them with your friends and peers -- you will automatically 'stumble upon' each other's favorite sites.
"StumbleUpon uses ratings to form collaborative opinions on website quality. When you stumble, you will only see pages which friends and like-minded stumblers have liked. Unlike search engines or static directories, this allows for a true 'democracy of the web' –- all SU members have a say as to whether a page should be passed on."
In other words, it's very Web 2.0. Like Flickr and Technorati and del.icio.us and Bloglines and all such online file-sharing community sites.
Google and Yahoo: del.icio.us
Google is the search engine of choice of richer, more Net-savvy Americans, reports Infoworld quoting a survey of 1,000 US Internet users conducted by investment banking and research firm S.G. Cowen. But it's not just the choice of the rich. More than half the American Internet users favour Google -- 52 per cent, according to the survey. Yahoo is second with 22 per cent, MSN and AOL tie for third place with 9 per cent and Ask Jeeves rounds out the top five with 5 per cent. I think the results will be similar if people in other countries were surveyed as well.
But Yahoo is getting to be as exciting as Google now -- not as a search engine but for various other features. The My Yahoo feeds offer more choice than Google News. And Yahoo will be taking on Skype, offering telephone service through its instant-messaging system that will let users dial regular phone numbers using their computers or receive calls from conventional phones. Yahoo already has the best online digital photo-sharing service: Flickr.com. And now it is letting readers answer each other's questions on Yahoo!Answers, which is unlike anything Google has to offer.
Google has a better blogsearch engine, Yahoo!Search with News isn't as specialised as that.
But Yahoo is finding other ways to feel the pulse of the bloggers. I am not talking of Yahoo 360 (is that what it's called?) but its acquisition of del.icio.us. This social bookmarks site, which claims to have more than 300,000 users, will be providing Yahoo with the same kind of information that is publicised by Technorati and Bloglines -- which was recently acquired by Ask Jeeves.
I love Bloglines and My Yahoo. I only wish del.icio.us had a better/simpler help page and was a little more organised. Maybe Yahoo will make it better.
PS: Salon nicely explains why Yahoo bought del.icio.us in an piece called: Yahoo Bets On The Group Mind. It says: "Del.icio.us describes itself as a 'collection of favorites -- yours and everyone else's'. Perhaps the simplest way to explain it is as a way for people to share their online bookmarks with each other. And maybe the most complicated way to describe it is to say that it is an example of the collective intelligence, the group mind, of the Internet in action. Yahoo's purchase of the site is an intriguing sign that tapping the grass-roots-driven power of online 'communities' is a key strategy for the search giant's future growth.''
But Yahoo is getting to be as exciting as Google now -- not as a search engine but for various other features. The My Yahoo feeds offer more choice than Google News. And Yahoo will be taking on Skype, offering telephone service through its instant-messaging system that will let users dial regular phone numbers using their computers or receive calls from conventional phones. Yahoo already has the best online digital photo-sharing service: Flickr.com. And now it is letting readers answer each other's questions on Yahoo!Answers, which is unlike anything Google has to offer.
Google has a better blogsearch engine, Yahoo!Search with News isn't as specialised as that.
But Yahoo is finding other ways to feel the pulse of the bloggers. I am not talking of Yahoo 360 (is that what it's called?) but its acquisition of del.icio.us. This social bookmarks site, which claims to have more than 300,000 users, will be providing Yahoo with the same kind of information that is publicised by Technorati and Bloglines -- which was recently acquired by Ask Jeeves.
I love Bloglines and My Yahoo. I only wish del.icio.us had a better/simpler help page and was a little more organised. Maybe Yahoo will make it better.
PS: Salon nicely explains why Yahoo bought del.icio.us in an piece called: Yahoo Bets On The Group Mind. It says: "Del.icio.us describes itself as a 'collection of favorites -- yours and everyone else's'. Perhaps the simplest way to explain it is as a way for people to share their online bookmarks with each other. And maybe the most complicated way to describe it is to say that it is an example of the collective intelligence, the group mind, of the Internet in action. Yahoo's purchase of the site is an intriguing sign that tapping the grass-roots-driven power of online 'communities' is a key strategy for the search giant's future growth.''
Saturday, December 10, 2005
About A Boy
Warm and funny, About A Boy is one of the most enjoyable books I have read this year. Nick Hornby is one of the most popular British novelists today. And almost page bears shining proof of his gifts of comedy and empathy as he tells the story of two lovable boys-- 12-year-old Marcus, who knows his mum needs a man to be happy, and Will, who is 36 years old but acts like a teenager.
Living off his father's music royalties and dead set against marriage and children, Will only wants a good time and great sex. A brief fling with a young mother estranged from her husband persuades him the ideal partner is a single mum who no longer expects lifelong commitment. But where to find single mums? Will joins an association of single parents, pretending to be the father of a two-year-old boy.
That's how he meets Marcus. The boy joins the group for a picnic one day, brought along by his mum's friend, Suzie, a single mum highly desired by Will. But before Will can hop into bed with Suzie, they have to return Marcus to his mum. Unfortunately, when they take him home, she is lying unconscious, having overdosed herself in a suicide attempt.
The three of them take her to hospital, and she recovers quickly, but that brings new complications. Marcus is drawn to Will and wants him to hook up with his mum, Fiona. But Will positively recoils from Fiona, an earnest vegetarian in the habit of singing Joni Mitchell songs with her eyes closed. Nor does Fiona care for Will, whom she finds too selfish and irresponsible.
But a 12-year-old can be so hard to resist, especially a boy as determined as Marcus. And, from the boy's point of view, there is even a good fairy in the story -- another woman whom Will fancies very much, but who has other ideas.
This is not exactly a fairy story. No one reaches the "happily ever after" stage. We don't even know who will be bonking whom. But Suzie, Fiona, Rachel the good fairy, Will, Fiona's ex-husband -- Marcus' father -- and his current girlfriend are all drawn into a close circle which looks likely to remain friends. All thanks to a 12-year-old boy who, meanwhile, has acquired a 15-year-old girlfriend, about whom he is beginning to have doubts, however. He is no longer sure she is right for him.
Microsoft, India and Seattle
Having lived under the reign of Indira Gandhi, I never thought India would one day become a foreign investors' darling. Yet there it is: India is now the most attractive country in the world for foreign direct investment after China, beating even the USA, according to management consultants AT Kearney, a report picked up not just by the Indian papers but London's Financial Times as well.
True, India trails a long way behind China. The $5.3 billion invested in India in 2004 was only one-twelfth the $60.6 billion ploughed into China.
But India's success is all the more remarkable because, unlike China, there is still considerable resistance -- notably from the communists -- to the growing foreign presence.
Typical is the attitude of the leftist government of West Bengal state, centred around Calcutta (Kolkata), which welcomes American technology, but protested when Americans held a joint exercise with the Indian air force at an air base in the state. West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, a man of culture and usually good sense, even said he would have welcomed a military exercise with the Russians or any other country but not with the Americans. That the protesters gathered outside the air base dropped their placards and rushed to see the action when the exercise got under way is a different story, of course.
The point is India is attracting not just any old foreign investor but the leaders in technology, top names like Intel and Microsoft.
Bill Gates promised to invest $1.7 billion in India over the coming years. Indians following the news will know that, of course, but they should go online and read the reaction in Redmond and Seattle. Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports the concern there about more jobs going to Indians than to Americans.
Microsoft officials are quoted trying to soothe those fears but such fears are very real in today's global economy. Indian engineers can be employed for only one-sixth the cost of Americans. The relentless logic of globalisation dictates the obvious. Microsoft is an American company -- yes, but it is competing in a global market.
We look for value for money, the best bargain, when we go shopping -- not whether the product was made in our country. If we as consumers judge products by their price and quality, and not by the country where they are made, how can we expect the producers and manufacturers to run their businesses on patriotic ideals or simply in the national interest?
The Economist magazine used to mock Euopean governments for trying to prop up "national champions". I myself had a go at the communists earlier in this post. But what if their fears about foreigners are not entirely unfounded? Americans in Seattle also are expressing the same fears.
True, India trails a long way behind China. The $5.3 billion invested in India in 2004 was only one-twelfth the $60.6 billion ploughed into China.
But India's success is all the more remarkable because, unlike China, there is still considerable resistance -- notably from the communists -- to the growing foreign presence.
Typical is the attitude of the leftist government of West Bengal state, centred around Calcutta (Kolkata), which welcomes American technology, but protested when Americans held a joint exercise with the Indian air force at an air base in the state. West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, a man of culture and usually good sense, even said he would have welcomed a military exercise with the Russians or any other country but not with the Americans. That the protesters gathered outside the air base dropped their placards and rushed to see the action when the exercise got under way is a different story, of course.
The point is India is attracting not just any old foreign investor but the leaders in technology, top names like Intel and Microsoft.
Bill Gates promised to invest $1.7 billion in India over the coming years. Indians following the news will know that, of course, but they should go online and read the reaction in Redmond and Seattle. Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports the concern there about more jobs going to Indians than to Americans.
Microsoft officials are quoted trying to soothe those fears but such fears are very real in today's global economy. Indian engineers can be employed for only one-sixth the cost of Americans. The relentless logic of globalisation dictates the obvious. Microsoft is an American company -- yes, but it is competing in a global market.
We look for value for money, the best bargain, when we go shopping -- not whether the product was made in our country. If we as consumers judge products by their price and quality, and not by the country where they are made, how can we expect the producers and manufacturers to run their businesses on patriotic ideals or simply in the national interest?
The Economist magazine used to mock Euopean governments for trying to prop up "national champions". I myself had a go at the communists earlier in this post. But what if their fears about foreigners are not entirely unfounded? Americans in Seattle also are expressing the same fears.
Friday, December 09, 2005
Devan Nair
I have seen the places in Little India where he spent his early years -- Roberts Lane, where he once lived, Rangoon Road where he went to school. I remember the plaque at the Owen Road post office which said it was opened by his wife. I was intrigued by the Indian name, I didn't know that Singapore had had an Indian president. But Malaysian-born CV Devan Nair was very much a man of these parts and held a unique distinction -- he was the only leader of Singapore's ruling People's Action Party (PAP) who was also elected to the Malaysian parliament when the two countries merged briefly in the early 1960s. He formed the Malaysian opposition Democratic Action Party and stayed on in Malaysia after the two countries separated in 1965 but returned to Singapore in 1969. He was elected to parliament in 1979 and became Singapore's third president in 1981. But he resigned in 1985 under highly unusual circumstances, almost unparalleled in recent history.
Singapore newspapers yesterday paid fulsome tribute to him following his death on Tuesday at the age of 82 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, where he had taken up residency in 1993. People recalled his excellent command of English, his work as a trade union leader and how he helped Lee Kuan Yew and the PAP fight back the communists.
Yet, as Answers.com said when I searched for Devan Nair, "On March 28, 1985, Nair resigned in unclear circumstances. (The then) Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew stated in parliament that Nair resigned to get treatment for alcoholism, a charge Nair hotly denies (sic). According to Nair's counterclaim, he resigned under pressure when their political views came into conflict and Lee threatened to seek a motion in parliament to oust him as president."
"The government maintained it had to make known medical records of Mr Nair's medical condition, as the health of the president was a public matter," said the Straits Times.
Nair was not the only Singapore president who ran into problems. Ong Teng Cheong, another PAP leader who was elected president in 1993, fell out with the government over access to information about Singapore's financial reserves and did not run for a second term in 1999. He died in 2002.
But Nair's case was far more unusual. I cannot recall any other leader having to resign for alcoholism. The closest parallel that comes to mind was the Republican attempt to impeach Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky affair. It was extremely unedifying to read day after day about what the president did or didn't do with the young White House intern, but Clinton managed to survive that. Boris Yeltsin, elected Russian president in 1991, managed to be re-elected in 1996 despite health problems and rumours of heavy drinking, according to Answers.com, though he abruptly resigned on December 31, 1991, saying: "Russia must enter the new millennium with new politicians." He was succeeded by Vladimir Putin.
Nair's fate was different. He left Singapore, moved to America and later settled in Canada with his wife, who died in April. His last words, according to his daughter, were: "Your mother's gone." She must have had to make immense sacrifices during their marriage. Nair, unlike Lee Kuan Yew, started as a communist and was jailed during British rule like many other post-colonial leaders from Nehru to Jomo Kenyatta. There are differences between Lee, the lawyer who entered politics, and Nair, a school teacher and trade unionist, and yet Lee won him over in his fight against the communists.
Nair was no longer in the news when he died of cancer on Tuesday. He was reading War and Peace at the time, said a news report. Lee, meanwhile, is on the cover of this week's Asian edition of Time magazine. The headline says: "The Man Who Saw It All."
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Remembering John Lennon
"Former Beatle John Lennon has been shot dead by an unknown gunman who opened fire outside the musician's New York apartment.
"The 40-year-old was shot several times as he entered the Dakota, his luxury apartment building on Manhattan's Upper West Side, opposite Central Park, at 2300 local time."
Those were the words used by the BBC to report the death of John Lennon on December 8, 1980 -- exactly 25 years ago.
"He was rushed in a police car to St Luke's Roosevelt Hospital Center, where he died.
"His wife, Yoko Ono, who is understood to have witnessed the attack, was with him.
"A police spokesman said a suspect was in custody, but he had no other details of the shooting.
'This was no robbery,' the spokesman said, adding that Mr Lennon was probably shot by a 'deranged' person. "
The complete report can be read on the BBC web site dedicated to Lennon. Any Lennon fan will love it. I wonder what he would have been like had he been alive today. I am sure he would have loved the Internet. He might have started his own blog. What would he have called it? Imagine? Give Peace A Chance? Come Together? He would have been right at home on the Internet.
Pinter on Pinter
"I have often been asked how my plays come about. I cannot say. Nor can I ever sum up my plays, except to say that this is what happened. That is what they said. That is what they did.
"Most of the plays are engendered by a line, a word or an image. The given word is often shortly followed by the image. I shall give two examples of two lines which came right out of the blue into my head, followed by an image, followed by me.
"The plays are The Homecoming and Old Times. The first line of The Homecoming is 'What have you done with the scissors?' The first line of Old Times is 'Dark.'
"In each case I had no further information..."
Those are the words with which playwright Harold Pinter (above) begins his speech accepting the Nobel prize for literature this year.
Forbidden by doctors from going to Stockholm to receive the 10 million crown ($1.2 million) literature prize, 75-year-old Pinter, who has been battling cancer for years, sent a video recording showing him in a wheelchair with his legs under a red blanket, reports Reuters.
His frailty and hoarse voice added to the drama of a speech peppered with the potent silences of his plays like The Birthday Party and The Caretaker, which gave rise to the term "Pinteresque", it adds.
It turns into a savage attack on the US, and I don't like that at all, but the early parts are interesting where he talks about his writings. Anyone interested can read the complete text on the Guardian web site.
My favourite speech by a Nobel literature prize winner was delivered by VS Naipaul in Stockholm on Dec 7, 2001. In his speech, titled Two Worlds, he spoke about growing up in Trinidad, his Indian ancestry, and his moving to Britain and his writer's life. It will be appreciated by anyone interested in writers or the colonial influence.
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
The maids of Singapore
I see them every day, taking children to school, shopping for provisions, hanging out the washing, chatting among themselves when free. They are women who come to Singapore to work as maids -- not all that different from men like me who also came here looking for better opportunities.
Of course, we have to take the rough with the smooth and some of the maids seem happy enough, despite being far from home, cut off from their families. But life can be tough, and some are cruelly abused by their employers. We have come across horrific accounts in the press: one maid was abused -- kicked, punched, scratched -- 79 times in 10 months; another maid was put to work as a prostitute by her employer, who also expected her to do the house work and look after the children.
The courts are quick to punish abusers and the government is trying to protect the maids.
But now that an international human rights group has taken up the issue, the government is accusing it of gross exaggeration.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch does not mince its words in its report, Maid to Order: Ending Abuses against Migrant Domestic Workers in Singapore. "Between 1999 and 2005, at least 147 migrant domestic workers died from workplace accidents or suicide, most by jumping or falling from residential buildings," it says.
Maids have to work "16 hours a day", "seven days a week", "for pitifully low wages", it says, and are not protected by the Employment Act. The government disputes that. "Foreign domestic workers receive full protection under Singapore’s laws, including the Employment of Foreign Workers Act," says the Ministry of Manpower in an online statement.
It is a fact, however, that wages are low and maids are not entitled to any days off. There is a move to encourage employers to give them one day off a month, but there is no law to that effect.
One in seven Singapore households has a maid, says the BBC, and the government wants to let them decide whether the maid should have a day off. But Human Rights Watch says the maids should be entitled to a weekly day off, same as in Hong Kong.
There are maids in Singapore who already get Sundays off. They can be seen shopping, chatting and having a good time with their friends. But there are also people who worry about their maids falling into "bad company" if allowed to go out and have a day off.
Still, more than 80 per cent of the maids are happy, says the Ministry of Manpower -- MOM, for short -- quoting a survey made by a local media group two years ago.
Whatever may be the case, Singaporeans are not likely to run short of maids. About 150,000 women -- mainly from Indonesia, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka -- work as maids in Singapore, says Reuters. They need the money. Don't we all?
Of course, we have to take the rough with the smooth and some of the maids seem happy enough, despite being far from home, cut off from their families. But life can be tough, and some are cruelly abused by their employers. We have come across horrific accounts in the press: one maid was abused -- kicked, punched, scratched -- 79 times in 10 months; another maid was put to work as a prostitute by her employer, who also expected her to do the house work and look after the children.
The courts are quick to punish abusers and the government is trying to protect the maids.
But now that an international human rights group has taken up the issue, the government is accusing it of gross exaggeration.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch does not mince its words in its report, Maid to Order: Ending Abuses against Migrant Domestic Workers in Singapore. "Between 1999 and 2005, at least 147 migrant domestic workers died from workplace accidents or suicide, most by jumping or falling from residential buildings," it says.
Maids have to work "16 hours a day", "seven days a week", "for pitifully low wages", it says, and are not protected by the Employment Act. The government disputes that. "Foreign domestic workers receive full protection under Singapore’s laws, including the Employment of Foreign Workers Act," says the Ministry of Manpower in an online statement.
It is a fact, however, that wages are low and maids are not entitled to any days off. There is a move to encourage employers to give them one day off a month, but there is no law to that effect.
One in seven Singapore households has a maid, says the BBC, and the government wants to let them decide whether the maid should have a day off. But Human Rights Watch says the maids should be entitled to a weekly day off, same as in Hong Kong.
There are maids in Singapore who already get Sundays off. They can be seen shopping, chatting and having a good time with their friends. But there are also people who worry about their maids falling into "bad company" if allowed to go out and have a day off.
Still, more than 80 per cent of the maids are happy, says the Ministry of Manpower -- MOM, for short -- quoting a survey made by a local media group two years ago.
Whatever may be the case, Singaporeans are not likely to run short of maids. About 150,000 women -- mainly from Indonesia, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka -- work as maids in Singapore, says Reuters. They need the money. Don't we all?
The man who's reading Don Quixote
We seldom get such an intimate portrait of Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore. So I could not resist copying wholesale these introductory paragraphs of this week's Time Asia cover story headlined The Man Who Saw It All. This is writing, blending background, analysis and observation beautifully:
"In years past, Lee Kuan Yew's office was famous among visitors for its arctic air conditioning and Spartan furnishing. A few Chinese scrolls apart, there was little decoration and sometimes barely a sheet of paper to be seen. Singapore's founding father first moved into the office on the second floor of the former British governor-general's residence in 1971, having already served six years as Prime Minister. He retired in 1990 to become Senior Minister and later Minister Mentor, but still works out of the same rooms.
"The L-shaped office may have changed little over the years, but at a recent meeting there were small but telling signs that the formidable 82-year-old leader has mellowed—a little. For one thing, the temperature has crept up noticeably. And while most surfaces are still bare, the table behind Lee's computer is covered with untidy piles of books. Lee says that his current favorite isn't one of the stacked tomes on terrorism or economics but the sprawling 17th-century Spanish novel Don Quixote. "A new translation," he enthuses. "Very good." It's something of a shock that the man best known for his cold-eyed pragmatism is reveling in a book whose hero spent his time tilting at windmills and gave his name to an English adjective meaning impractical and idealistic.
"Still, despite his more relaxed demeanor, when Time spoke to him for nearly five hours over two days this fall, it was clear that neither age nor heart surgery 10 years ago have changed Lee's basic personality: sharp intelligence allied with an unsentimental, almost clinical rationality and supreme confidence in his own judgment."
Not educated enough
Singapore Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's words made me smile. "Couldn't you have been lighter on the opposition -- not sue?" he was asked in an interview published in Time magazine this week. "No," he said. "If you don't sue, repetition of the lie (makes it credible)," Time quoted him as saying. And then came the bit that made me smile. "When we have a large enough educated population like America, able to make independent judgments, we will loosen up."
Singapore has more than two million Internet users in a four-million-plus population, two universities ranked among the top 50 in the world by the Times Higher Education Supplement, Singapore consistently ranks among the best in the world in maths and science at the secondary school level, almost everyone in Singapore can speak at least one foreign language -- usually English -- and yet Mr Lee says, "When we have a large enough educated population like America..."
So, in his opinion, Singapore still does not have a large enough educated population.
But a man with his sharp intellect -- and a son like Singapore's current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who has a first from Cambridge -- is bound to have high standards.
He looks up to America and admires China as well. But which country does he admire more?
Singapore has more than two million Internet users in a four-million-plus population, two universities ranked among the top 50 in the world by the Times Higher Education Supplement, Singapore consistently ranks among the best in the world in maths and science at the secondary school level, almost everyone in Singapore can speak at least one foreign language -- usually English -- and yet Mr Lee says, "When we have a large enough educated population like America..."
So, in his opinion, Singapore still does not have a large enough educated population.
But a man with his sharp intellect -- and a son like Singapore's current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who has a first from Cambridge -- is bound to have high standards.
He looks up to America and admires China as well. But which country does he admire more?
Monday, December 05, 2005
Who says blogs fry brains?
The messenger can distort the message. Professor Naomi Baron did not say a word against blogging or about the "shallow nature of reading online" -- the Register was putting words in her mouth. I had a look at her own column which appeared in the Los Angeles Times where she did complain about students' reluctance to read complete texts and asked, "Has written culture recently taken a nose dive?"
But there was no mention of blogging at all though the Register reported how her article "provoked an outpouring of empathy" from bloggers who moaned their online activity was sapping their patience to think deeply or read complex novels.
Baron's complaint was not about the quality of reading or writing on the Net, but a reluctance among students to read at all. "Many of this generation are aliterate -- they know how to read but don't choose to,'' she wrote.
And she blamed the search engines, not the blogs, for this. Students used to doing a quick search on the Net don't want to plough through whole books, she wrote. Her generation too preferred short cuts and used Cliff's Notes, she said, but Google, Amazon etc have made things too easy for students today.
"Will effortless random access erode our collective respect for writing as a logical, linear process?" she asked. "Reading successive pages and chapters teaches us how to follow a sustained line of reasoning.
"If we approach the written word primarily through search-and-seizure rather than sustained encounter-and-contemplation, we risk losing a critical element of what it means to be an educated, literate society."
It is a serious complaint and the Register quoted that last paragraph. But it twisted the professor's words into a dig at blogs by getting bloggers to moan about their own deficiencies.
The thing was cleverly done. The Register report did not actually say the professor criticised blogs. But it gave that impression by linking her words to what the bloggers had to say. It grabbed my attention and I blogged about it. But that was not what the professor said.
But there was no mention of blogging at all though the Register reported how her article "provoked an outpouring of empathy" from bloggers who moaned their online activity was sapping their patience to think deeply or read complex novels.
Baron's complaint was not about the quality of reading or writing on the Net, but a reluctance among students to read at all. "Many of this generation are aliterate -- they know how to read but don't choose to,'' she wrote.
And she blamed the search engines, not the blogs, for this. Students used to doing a quick search on the Net don't want to plough through whole books, she wrote. Her generation too preferred short cuts and used Cliff's Notes, she said, but Google, Amazon etc have made things too easy for students today.
"Will effortless random access erode our collective respect for writing as a logical, linear process?" she asked. "Reading successive pages and chapters teaches us how to follow a sustained line of reasoning.
"If we approach the written word primarily through search-and-seizure rather than sustained encounter-and-contemplation, we risk losing a critical element of what it means to be an educated, literate society."
It is a serious complaint and the Register quoted that last paragraph. But it twisted the professor's words into a dig at blogs by getting bloggers to moan about their own deficiencies.
The thing was cleverly done. The Register report did not actually say the professor criticised blogs. But it gave that impression by linking her words to what the bloggers had to say. It grabbed my attention and I blogged about it. But that was not what the professor said.
Sunday, December 04, 2005
Poetry reading web site
Anyone in the mood to hear poetry readings should explore Poetry Archive. It contains recordings of poets reading their own poems. It's a virtual who's who of modern English and American poetry, ranging from Allen Ginsberg to Roger McGough. I even heard a scratchy recording of Tennyson reading The Charge of the Light Brigade.
Immigrants anywhere might appreciate Margaret Atwood's The Immigrants. As an Indian, and a Hindu, I could easily relate to Sujata Bhatta (above) reading her poem, A Different History:
Great Pan is not dead;
he simply emigrated
to India.
Here, the gods roam freely,
disguised as snakes or monkeys;
every tree is sacred
and it is a sin
to be rude to a book.
It is a sin to shove a book aside
with your foot,
a sin to slam books down
hard on a table,
a sin to toss one carelessly
across a room.
You must learn how to turn the pages gently
without disturbing Sarasvati,
without offending the tree
from whose wood the paper was made.
The poem ends with the Indians' love for the English language.
There are also poems anyone could enjoy. For example, John Betjeman reading A Subaltern's Love Song. He reads it with relish in his beautiful voice with a posh accent, and both he and his audience enjoy the humorous love poem. He jokes before the reading and there is laughter at the end. It begins:
Miss J.Hunter Dunn, Miss J.Hunter Dunn,
Furnish'd and burnish'd by Aldershot sun,
What strenuous singles we played after tea,
We in the tournament - you against me.
Love-thirty, love-forty, oh! weakness of joy,
The speed of a swallow, the grace of a boy,
With carefullest carelessness, gaily you won,
I am weak from your loveliness, Joan Hunter Dunn
The young man gracefully loses the tennis match and they drive to dance at the golf club. The dance has already begun when they reach the club, but instead of hurrying inside, they sit in the car and love takes its course.
And the scent of her wrap, and the words never said,
And the ominous, ominous dancing ahead.
We sat in the car park till twenty to one
And now I'm engaged to Miss Joan Hunter Dunn.
I love this poem, it is one of my favourites. It reminds me of my wife and our wedding though it was a traditional Hindu ceremony preceded by no sitting in the car -- still, it was, as we call it, a love marriage. We were classmates who went to the library and the movies. Oh well, those were the days.
The weather for my son
My son sent me this picture from his college town in America. It's freezing sub-zero weather, the temperature dropped to minus centigrades. I cannot even imagine how cold it is, writing this from Singapore. The temperature here currently is 30 degrees centigrade. There is no winter here at all. My son, while he was with my wife in Calcutta (Kolkata), had experienced only mild winters; the temperature there rarely drops below double digits. It's currently 18 deg C and at at its lowest today was 15 deg C. This is the first time our son, a freshman, is living in sub-zero temperatures. But he can cope, he says. God bless him.
Blog frying my brain?
Blogs have been rubbished for ranting, venting, blathering, wool-gathering, navel-gazing and various other reasons, but now they are alleged to fry brains as well.
The Register, in a report "10 per cent of US Net users addicted, needing therapy", zooms in on the mighty fuss kicked by a professor of linguistics, who claimed that "the shallow nature of reading on the web diminished her students ability to reason".
The professor, Naomi Baron, "isn't the first to observe this", said the Register. "Academic researchers have found that net use creates a problem-solving deficit disorder among children, and cognitive scientists have discovered the bombardment of email depletes IQ faster than marijuana."
It then quoted from Baron: " If we approach the written word primarily through search-and-seizure rather than sustained encounter-and-contemplation, we risk losing a critical element of what it means to be an educated, literate society."
And some Netties agreed. "Her column (in the Los Angeles Times) provoked an outpouring of empathy", said the Register, and went on to quote a blogger:
"It actually destroys brain cells or something, because if I've been doing too much online reading, I lose the patience for following a sustained or subtle argument, or reading a complex novel."
My goodness, even jocks and couch potatoes may not care for books, so why blame overexposure to the Net for any loss of patience to follow "a sustained or subtle argument" or read "a complex novel"?
It's true most writing on the Net is not in a scholarly style, but nor are the stories in the daily newspaper. Even most books, for that matter, are not scholarly treatises -- and for a very good reason. There is only so much the brain can absorb.
It may not be a bad thing that most blog templates and web pages are designed for short pieces. That reduces the risk of information overload. However, that can result not just from online but offline reading too. After all, what can be more mind-numbing than a legal document?
That is why many good writers -- unlike wily lawyers -- strive for clarity and simplicity. It was not a blogger who wrote: "Jesus wept."
Saturday, December 03, 2005
I saw my wife and my son
I saw my son and my wife on the Internet today. This was the first time I had seen her on the Net.
I see my son on the webcam often when we chat. He bought a webcam at our insistence so we could see him in his college dorm in America.
But my wife does not even have a computer at our home in Calcutta (Kolkata). Although she learnt how to use a computer when she spent a month with me in Singapore while her college was closed for the Puja holidays, she has not bought one yet.
So when we have our famous three-way chats, my son and I chat on the Net while I hold the phone close to my computer speaker so my wife can listen to our son.
Today, however, she dropped by at her sister's place so she could chat with us on the Net. Our niece, her sister's daughter, has a computer and has just got a broadband connection so she can chat with our son. And she has a webcam too.
That's how I got to see my wife today. I was seeing her for the first time since she flew back to Calcutta. It was so nice seeing her sweet face and hearing her gentle voice at the same time. She does not use MMS on her mobile phone because it costs more. She wants to save as much as she can for our son. He persuaded her to use MMS for a while in Calcutta while he was there, but then he went off to college, and she gave it up.
I got to see her sister and her parents and my brother-in-law and our niece as well. Everyone had got around the computer so they could chat with my son and me. Not that they could see me. I don't have a webcam. But we could chat. It was great. I wish we could do it more often.
I see my son on the webcam often when we chat. He bought a webcam at our insistence so we could see him in his college dorm in America.
But my wife does not even have a computer at our home in Calcutta (Kolkata). Although she learnt how to use a computer when she spent a month with me in Singapore while her college was closed for the Puja holidays, she has not bought one yet.
So when we have our famous three-way chats, my son and I chat on the Net while I hold the phone close to my computer speaker so my wife can listen to our son.
Today, however, she dropped by at her sister's place so she could chat with us on the Net. Our niece, her sister's daughter, has a computer and has just got a broadband connection so she can chat with our son. And she has a webcam too.
That's how I got to see my wife today. I was seeing her for the first time since she flew back to Calcutta. It was so nice seeing her sweet face and hearing her gentle voice at the same time. She does not use MMS on her mobile phone because it costs more. She wants to save as much as she can for our son. He persuaded her to use MMS for a while in Calcutta while he was there, but then he went off to college, and she gave it up.
I got to see her sister and her parents and my brother-in-law and our niece as well. Everyone had got around the computer so they could chat with my son and me. Not that they could see me. I don't have a webcam. But we could chat. It was great. I wish we could do it more often.
The Fortune of War and The Glass Palace
The Fortune of War was a great read -- typical Patrick O'Brian. There are setpiece naval battles, intrigue, romance, all that is a typical of an adventure involving Royal Navy Captain Jack Aubrey and his friend -- surgeon and British secret agent Stephen Maturin. They are caught up in the War of 1812 and brought as prisoners of war to Boston. But not all Americans like the war -- not the rich Bostonian merchants at least whose trade suffers as a result of the British naval blockade. Maturin meets Diana Villiers again, and this time she is his. She leaves the wicked, rich Southern plantation owner, who also happens to be an American secret agent thick as thieves with the evil Frenchmen, and joins Aubrey and Maturin as they escape from detention and are picked up by a British man-of-war. This synopsis makes it sound like a typical action adventure but O'Brian's deft characterisation and period details make it a compelling story.
I have just started reading The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh. I earlier tried reading his The Calcutta Chromosome, attracted by the title because Calcutta (Kolkata) is my home town, but gave up -- science fiction usually leaves me cold. The Glass Palace, on the other hand, deals with history. It starts with the British colonisation of Burma and, says the blurb, "presents... a band of memorable characters, spread across Burma, Malaya and India". I have only read the first few pages where an Indian boy, just arrived in Mandalay, sees the British invade the royal capital and depose King Thebaw. The story beginning in the 1880s continues through subsequent generations till Burmese independence and its aftermath.
I am interested in the colonial experience and expect to spend some agreeable hours reading about the era. Coming from India and living in Singapore, I want to know more about the region and its history, especially as seen through the eyes of immigrants. A lot of Indians, like a lot of Chinese, settled in South-east Asia during British rule. Life for the local population also changed under the British. This book deals with the experience.
Hanging and after
The silence was deafening. There was not a word on the Singapore blogger bulletin, Tomorrow, which was grieving for one of its own -- a local blogger who died of illness -- nor, as far as I could see, on local "alternative" news and commentary sites such as Little Speck and New Sintercom. It was left to the mainstream media to report the news.
"Nguyen Tuong Van was hanged at the city-state's Changi prison just before dawn," reported Reuters."Within minutes, a large church bell in Nguyen's home city of Melbourne tolled 25 times -- once for every year of his life", mourning his execution. But it must have been lonely for the Vietnamese-born Australian drug trafficker's family and friends who came to Singapore. His twin brother -- to pay off whose debts he claimed to have been smuggling heroin when he was caught at Changi airport while flying back from Cambodia to Australia in 2002 -- was at the prison with a lawyer, though they could not witness the execution, while his mother prayed with friends at a Singapore chapel. "Singapore activists moved in pairs overnight to light candles at the prison," added Reuters. "Public gatherings of more than four people require a police permit in the tightly controlled city-state."
But for most of us here in Singapore, life went on as usual. There was no reason why it should not have been like any other day. We all have to get along as best as we can.
Besides, as Reuters noted, "Some 420 people have been hanged in Singapore since 1991, mostly for drug trafficking, an Amnesty International 2004 report said. That gives the country of 4.4 million people the highest execution rate in the world relative to population." According to the BBC, "The rate is three times that of Saudi Arabia, the next country on the list."
But statistics don't tell the whole story. Singapore is not like Saudi Arabia. It is a small, beautiful country with law and order, where people are safe. Those who wanted to pray and hold a candlelight vigil did do so.
Even in Australia, according to reports, opinions were divided. Nguyen was caught with 400 grams of heroin, enough to supply 26,000 doses of the deadly drug, carrying a street value of $768,000, reported Singapore's Channel NewsAsia television channel. The death penalty is mandatory in such cases in Singapore, and the government saw no reason not to let the law take its course.
Yes, Singapore is beautiful and inviting but tough, as a blogger wrote from Holland who knows Singapore. "If you want to see the heart and soul of Singapore, wander not through (glitzy) Millenia Walk or Suntec City, but through the narrow roads of China Town or Little India,'' says Dutch Diary. It's an interesting blog. I found it by following a link from Tomorrow. A local blogger obviously found the blog interesting enough to post a link to it for other local bloggers to read. Singaporeans sometimes let others speak for them.
"Nguyen Tuong Van was hanged at the city-state's Changi prison just before dawn," reported Reuters."Within minutes, a large church bell in Nguyen's home city of Melbourne tolled 25 times -- once for every year of his life", mourning his execution. But it must have been lonely for the Vietnamese-born Australian drug trafficker's family and friends who came to Singapore. His twin brother -- to pay off whose debts he claimed to have been smuggling heroin when he was caught at Changi airport while flying back from Cambodia to Australia in 2002 -- was at the prison with a lawyer, though they could not witness the execution, while his mother prayed with friends at a Singapore chapel. "Singapore activists moved in pairs overnight to light candles at the prison," added Reuters. "Public gatherings of more than four people require a police permit in the tightly controlled city-state."
But for most of us here in Singapore, life went on as usual. There was no reason why it should not have been like any other day. We all have to get along as best as we can.
Besides, as Reuters noted, "Some 420 people have been hanged in Singapore since 1991, mostly for drug trafficking, an Amnesty International 2004 report said. That gives the country of 4.4 million people the highest execution rate in the world relative to population." According to the BBC, "The rate is three times that of Saudi Arabia, the next country on the list."
But statistics don't tell the whole story. Singapore is not like Saudi Arabia. It is a small, beautiful country with law and order, where people are safe. Those who wanted to pray and hold a candlelight vigil did do so.
Even in Australia, according to reports, opinions were divided. Nguyen was caught with 400 grams of heroin, enough to supply 26,000 doses of the deadly drug, carrying a street value of $768,000, reported Singapore's Channel NewsAsia television channel. The death penalty is mandatory in such cases in Singapore, and the government saw no reason not to let the law take its course.
Yes, Singapore is beautiful and inviting but tough, as a blogger wrote from Holland who knows Singapore. "If you want to see the heart and soul of Singapore, wander not through (glitzy) Millenia Walk or Suntec City, but through the narrow roads of China Town or Little India,'' says Dutch Diary. It's an interesting blog. I found it by following a link from Tomorrow. A local blogger obviously found the blog interesting enough to post a link to it for other local bloggers to read. Singaporeans sometimes let others speak for them.
Friday, December 02, 2005
Death of a blogger
I just read about the death of a local blogger on the Singapore blogger bulletin, Tomorrow. La Idler, as she called herself on her blog, died of a rare blood disorder on Nov 30. The wake was held yesterday and the funeral is today, said her friends who posted their remembrances yesterday on Tomorrow. I saw it only today because I don't check that site every day.
Idle Days, as La Idler called her blog, was one of the first Singapore blogs I came across -- and linked to for some time. Singapore bloggers are mostly young, hip to media and technology and passionate about many things, and La Idler was no different. She was one of the leaders, in fact, an editor of Tomorrow along with top local bloggers like mr brown and Xiaxue.
My interests mostly take me to other blogs which I can relate to more closely or which are more exotic to me -- a middle-aged Indian living in Singapore, with a son in college in America.
However, it was moving to read La Idler's last post. "I may have dengue", said the headline, and the post began: "Dammit! I am suspected to have dengue. Not fun at all." That was on Oct 27. She couldn't -- or didn't find the time to -- write after that at all.
We can only learn what the writer reveals on a blog, so I have no idea how La Idler or Sondra -- for that was her real name -- lived her days since that last post on Idle Days. But the blog remains on the Net, a reminder of the life she lived, the interests she pursued, the ideas that consumed her. That is the beauty of blogs. Each is a window on a life and a world. Idle Days with its Google Ads, Answers.com search box, beautiful template and digital photos is a chronicle of a young life in Singapore -- cut off too soon.
Idle Days, as La Idler called her blog, was one of the first Singapore blogs I came across -- and linked to for some time. Singapore bloggers are mostly young, hip to media and technology and passionate about many things, and La Idler was no different. She was one of the leaders, in fact, an editor of Tomorrow along with top local bloggers like mr brown and Xiaxue.
My interests mostly take me to other blogs which I can relate to more closely or which are more exotic to me -- a middle-aged Indian living in Singapore, with a son in college in America.
However, it was moving to read La Idler's last post. "I may have dengue", said the headline, and the post began: "Dammit! I am suspected to have dengue. Not fun at all." That was on Oct 27. She couldn't -- or didn't find the time to -- write after that at all.
We can only learn what the writer reveals on a blog, so I have no idea how La Idler or Sondra -- for that was her real name -- lived her days since that last post on Idle Days. But the blog remains on the Net, a reminder of the life she lived, the interests she pursued, the ideas that consumed her. That is the beauty of blogs. Each is a window on a life and a world. Idle Days with its Google Ads, Answers.com search box, beautiful template and digital photos is a chronicle of a young life in Singapore -- cut off too soon.
'Skeeping up
What a coincidence. Just two days ago I wrote about Yahoo! Mobile and Google Talk and Internet telephony, and yesterday I read about a major new upgrade by the leader in the field. Popular Internet phone calling service Skype is adding video calling to its software in its new release, Skype 2.0. And it's still free. It had to add this feature to keep up with its rivals, Yahoo!, MSN, AOL and Google, which already allow video conversations.
What is remarkable is that Skype managed to keep the top spot even before allowing webcam chats. Skype has 53 million registered users, says the BBC. Its future obviously looks promising or eBay wouldn't have bought it for $2.6 billion in September.
I am so glad I can speak to my son in his college in America every day on the Internet. I just spoke to him today. And I saw him on his webcam as we chatted. Video calls are just great.
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Viva Firefox
I am one in a million, honestly. The evidence is there in that Firefox logo -- yup, I got it. Some one million people have downloaded the Firefox 1.5 browser since it was launched on Nov 29, and I am one of them.
Not that I am about to cast off Internet Explorer. Two is better than one, I think. Both, of course, want to be the one and only, but we are talking about browsers, not sweethearts. It's best to have an alternative.
This may not sound like a raving Firefox fan talking, but I am attracted, believe me, or why should I want to get my hands on it as soon as it was released? Devoted or attracted -- which is my default browser? Hmm, that could be subject to change.
Internet pundits raving about the new browser nevertheless point to a big problem. Firefox is the darling of the avant garde, the early adopters and bloggers, but yet to be embraced by the mainstream. When the Internet Explorer already pre-installed on Windows PCs does a pretty good job, why get another browser? Why indeed? For adventure, to experience the difference! Viva, Firefox!
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