Life in SG

While Singapore is a country of polite and kind people, ever smiling , thanking and apologizing , it has its own set of wierd unspoken rules . 

As far as I have seen , this country is collectively paranoid of the common cold.  One sneeze , and everyone around will cover their mouth and nose . Parents warn their kids "Cover your mouth when you sneeze ". Sanitizer business must be multi million business ,thanks to them.   So paranoid !! 

People avoid the reserved seat like its  the plague . Many a times , there will be people standing happily in the MRT and the buses , rather than take an unoccupied reserved seat and draw unnecessary attention online in Stomp , lest some idiot takes a picture and puts it up with the caption "Refuses to give up reserved seat" !! 

So, yeah , avoid it like the plague!! 

Never cut a queue !! You are never going to get away with it , so don't bother even trying !! 

Goodbye Grandpa

My grandpa passed away last Saturday. His daughter , my mom was here with me helping out with my kids. It was a terribly sad day. I managed to put mom on the next flight back home , and she reached in time to make it to all of the funeral ceremonies . 

My Grandpa is 90+, still on his feet , able to do most of his chores with no or little help from others. He was staying with my aunt during that time. He was admitted in the hospital for another surgery , a minor one . He was in recovery , when things went downhill with his heart. He suffered two attacks and breathed his last on Saturday morning. It was my brother who broke the news, he was there throughout this ordeal. 

My Grandpa is a wise old man. He would always enquire me on the kids and my husband and the most important weather talk whenever I called. I called him only on occasions , Festivals, birthdays, anniversaries. He built himself a good wealth, gifted his kids liberally. Led a simple life , a very simple life indeed , never owned a car. He was always glued to his books , very well read. He once gave me a lecture on global warming. 

He is gone , but left behind a lot of good memories for us. Thank you so much Thaatha for holding on for us for so long , we will deeply miss your presence in all the family gatherings. 

Thursday blues !!!

Do the right thing !!

I've heard it over a hundred times since I started working. It's my manager's favorite quote. He says it whenever the team has to go that extra mile while there are simple shortcuts. 

It's hard to the do the right thing at all times . However , when there is someone  constantly questioning you if you are doing the right thing , you become self aware. 

Do the right thing , finally that is what that matters and such a good feeling too ! 

Teach A B C

I refuse to teach my child A B C ... 

Well, many reasons, she is a quick learner , and once I teach her , am afraid she would lose interest in school. Not that this reason is baseless, she was familiar with colours and shapes before entering school , thanks to her sister. Mommy me had no big part in this learning, she picked it up naturally from her sister. This proved to be quite a dampener, since she wasn't interested in class , and had trouble sitting down to listen . All through term 1 and 2, her teacher complained that she can't settle down for learning sessions. My little one in her defense said her teacher asked her not to talk, not to exercise , not to stand up, and so on. 

Getting her to school was quite a chore then. In one of the hand-in-hand sessions,I understood that the teacher was covering concepts that were  all too familiar. 

I had made the same observation , that  once she gets familiar with a book, she would move on. I stay away from play and books that teach her A B C s and other regular school stuff, just so that she would find it interesting when they do this at school. 

She is on a good diet of Primary 1 books ,thanks again to her sister. We are reading through plants and insects, sunlight and water,day and night, planets and sun, sense organs and typically whatever her sister brings home from the library . We also regularly do story telling from pictures. I wonder if she even catches all of it, but loves to read along and no harm!! 

Different kids different interests! 

Board the bus first

I used to take an office shuttle bus to reach home in the evenings. After years of subjecting myself to such treatment where the men allow the women to board first , I felt offended when that doesn't happen anymore. 

The office bus is a mad rush , with men pushing and shoving , the ladies mostly are left behind. The other day, I was cribbing to my colleague on what madness this is , well, he agreed too.

That's when it had me thinking . When did boarding first become a previlledge. Why did it occur to me to be offended not to have been let to board first. If am tired, so are they . There might not be enough seats , and they would have to take another , just like me. But, I refuse to  see the other side's story, rather complain on what I perceive is decency. Sorry all , next time there is a mad rush , count me out and I don't judge you , I have no right to judge. Enjoy your ride !!  

Ironically, this morning too, I was waiting to board the bus , and the men let me board first. Hmm... 

It's all in the name

Returning back to work is hectic . Some of the lighter moments.

I was trying to sort an issue with pricing a stoxx index. As always, I drill down to its constituent stocks to look into the issue . There I found the troublemaker , ANTO.L , well , well, well, of course your name says it all !!