Life on the road with Dippy

In Denial

2007-08-26T02:23:00.000-07:00

I feel sick now,
I've got a sore throat,
A bloody headache
Some aching joints
A freaking fever.

That's not enough
It just had to happen
That too now,
I was expecting it
I had hardened myself
Preparing for the inevitable
And then it struck
The call came
It happened
Why now?
How?
Couldn't it wait?

I don't accept it
I don't believe it
Not completely
It hasn't sunk in,
And I don't want it to.

I wasn't that close
Not in the ordinary way
But he was there
Always, with us,
I had looked up to him
Respected him,
I guess, loved him
I wanted him to watch
Watch me grow,
Watch with happiness
Watch with pride

He was a great man,
Successful in his own right,
Generous beyond belief
He gave us everything
Showered us with gifts
But that's not important,
Not to me at least.
See for me, what's important
Is that he gave me
My dearest mother
And now he's gone

Rest in peace.

An update long overdue

2007-08-26T02:01:00.000-07:00

So I write this blog after around a month or two of resting. I've been lazy,busy and a combination of both of them will explain why I haven't bothered updating my blog. Things as always change and it's no exception that in the last two months changes have taken place. So what has changed?

Well firstly I returned to India in the end of June. Yes I know what you're thinking - again? Whatever for? It had only been around three months since I had arrived in New Zealand from my trip in Malaysia and I wasn't too keen to travel again but for family circumstances I had to return. My grandfather was ill and it was imperative for us to go back. I am glad I got to go back because it would be the last time that I would be able to see my grandfather. Going back was tough but at the same time rewarding and exciting. During the ten days I spent there I felt like I'd stayed for a month - from the day I went back I went to work at my father's office and started visiting my grandfather. Seeing him was tough and I'll leave it there since I don't wish to go into any more depth. It made me grow infinitely stronger and it made me strengthen myself and look beyond just the materialistic side of life. For those of you who are confused about what the hell I'm saying but forgive me I'm simply rambling.

I only stayed there for ten days but I had a full on ten days. While I was in Calcutta it rained like I hadn't seen it rain for a while, the streets were flooded but I have to say it was nothign like what I've been seeing on BBC. I was still able to complete the vast majority of the work required but it just highlighted to me the difficulties in staying in Calcutta. I've often thought about what it would be like to return to reside there but I realised that it isn't as easy as it seems - there are far more difficulties than one would imagine.

I returned to Auckland with a tinge of sadness at the fact that I hadn't really managed to cause a miracle - and that my grandfather was still unwell but that is life. I remember the feeling where I thought that I had so much more to do, so much potential but I had to return - at the same time I was looking forward to returning to my father and brother (I'd basically accompanied my mother). I had a slight stop over at Singapore on the way there and on the way back and it simply brought back a rush of memories from Malaysia - the difference was startling. This time I was travelling on taxi from the Airport (it was actually a Mercedes one by luck) and the last time I could remember I had been drenched in sweat, carrying three pieces of baggage trying to figure out where I was going. Those were exciting times and I missed the carefreeness but at the same time I appreciated where I was then. New Zealand was a pleasure to come back to as always. This time I pampered myself completely - didn't recover from jet lag until I felt like I had to - didn't do anything at all during the week I had off other than sleep and waiting for the second semester to start.

I was looking forward to the second semester - my results from the first semester had surprised me - in a good way especially considering the fact I had missed two weeks so I was confident in my ability to handle five papers. And till date, the papers have been ok - I've turned up to all lectures and the workload isn't that bad just as yet. Yet time just flows. Half of the second semester is over - just another eight weeks to go and then it's exam time again and then another journey begins. I've enjoyed these six weeks - they've simply flown by. I've taken on a leadership role in AIESEC and enjoyed inducting the new members in - it's been so great to see some of the new members join with such positive enthusiasm. I'm basically looking after the people who're planning to go on exchange and it's exciting seeing them keen to go on an adventure of their life. Apart from that I've been busy working on a new business plan which I plan to enter in Spark Aspire. SO all in all, things are going ok... new adventures lay ahead, and so I leave you my friends.

The Ship that sailed away

2007-08-05T04:55:00.000-07:00

Ahoy matey, can you see that ship?
It’s sailing oh so smoothly
It’s not the best looking ship
It’s not the fastest ship either
Doesn’t have the best crew either
She’s a little bit damaged I know
The hull’s a bit rusted, the sails are down
But watch her sail, watch her flow
She’s going in the right direction
She’s been through a lot,
The tornadoes, the rough seas, the pirates
She’s lived through it, oh yes she has
But now those days are gone
And I can see them bright days
They’re not too far away
You don’t believe me do you?
You just watch; I’ll show you
I can feel it; I can feel being with her
But it’s too early now, I’m still stuck here
On the shore watching her, hoping
Praying that she’ll survive
It’s not too long to go
I’ll be captain before long
And then we’ll go sailing
Me and her through the pleasant seas
Experiencing the worldly sights
Discovering new boundaries
And yes you just watch
She’ll be the best damn ship of them all.

AHOY there, do you see that?
We’ve got a real storm coming
This one looks nasty, destructive
Oh no, can you see it coming?
Shit, it’s going straight, straight at the ship
Dammit, why couldn’t I see it?
Why couldn’t I predict this?
Here I am stuck on the shore
Watching the ship plunge straight
Into the mouth of a disaster
I want to vomit, this empty pit
It’s swallowing me
See inside me I can feel it
This time she’s got to go, she just can’t survive
I can’t take it though, there’s nothing
For me to do, but to watch her drown
Watch her get torn apart,
And all I can do is stand, and watch her go
Watch all my dreams get shattered
Those beautiful days, those warm days
All gone all drowned in the empty sea
I know what you’re thinking now
That’s exactly what I’m thinking
What a f******* useless captain.

Written by Dipra Ray
All rights reserved.
5th of August 2007

Slightly clogged this blog

2007-05-25T03:15:00.000-07:00

Yes it seems like the flow of entries into this blog got slightly clogged up for a couple of weeks. Right so what's been new in my town? Well nothing too much. As all of you reading this might understand it's been that season - the assignment season. Yes this is the time that we all moan and moan and groan about how stupid University is - and this is the time where we realise that University isn't all about checking about girls in mini skirts but rather it's a time to do asssigments. We also realise that it's about time since we start paying attention to our lecturers and we thank the good heavens for our friends who are kind enough to share their answers.

I personally had around three assignments due in the last two weeks - nothing too excessive other than the fact that I hadn't started on either of them until one day before it was due. It took me an hour or so staring at my consolidated accounting lecture notes before I could figure out what the hell was going on - then I realised that I had just been incredibly stupid not to have seen the answer before. However as all things come to an end so did this. Over the week I didn't do anything great - no hot dates, no hair raising stunts, no great philosophical moments - just life. Last weeked we had NZWA - it was actually a really nice weekend. It was held in the University of Auckland marae and it allowed me to relax for twenty fours before getting worried about the fact that I had two assignments due in forty eight hours. But we can all forget for a while. NZWA (New Zealand Weekend Away) was held by AIESEC Auckland and learnt how to do the haka - oh yeah that's right the haka. Also learnt the history of the Maori and how each of the carvings represented something - it kinda shows how little New Zealanders actually know about their history. It's a sad fact that very few of us know about the Maori history here and if we try to introduce it into our curriculum everybody will start creating a huge hoolah about it. This is why we just ignore it - even though it offers an unique perspective into a nation that is struggling to find its identity.
Anyway I won't go on too much about culture, identity or Maori because I do wish to get some sleep tonight.

Not too much going on other than that. Exams are a couple of weeks away so it's about to start staring at more unfamiliar notes and trying to understand why I'm learning all the rubbish I probably will never use. - oh yeah!

My head

2007-05-16T21:14:00.000-07:00

I saw her again,

You won’t believe where it was

No, not the canteen, nor the toilet

No, this was a surprise believe it

I saw her again, in my dream

I don’t understand why

She’s not someone I know well

We’ve only talked a few times

Yet I feel this attraction,

Call it chemistry, call it lust

Call it whatever you want

It’s almost so natural

Talking to her, being with her

But c’mon it’s not going to happen

It’s too early, I’m too busy

She’s too skinny, she’s too fussy,

Truth is that all that is crap

Utter crap, the truth is that

I’m just scared, too scared

See I’m cool, I know that

Or so I tell myself

On paper I look good

I’ve got the grades, the money

The looks, and the charm

But see this isn’t about paper

This is about reality

And the reality is

She won’t care about the paper

This is no test, or exam

There is no marking schedule

No way to manipulate the results

No way to know what will happen

See that’s really why I’m scared

What if she just says no

All this self belief, all this confidence

Will go poof, just gone

Vanished into thin air

So now tell me my friend,

When all this is in my head

What the hell do I do?

Written by Dipra Ray

May 17th 2007.

Running out of time

2007-05-13T18:33:00.000-07:00

Well ok I've come to the decision that I will do my level best to add in a lil bit to this blog every week or so. This week went reasonably fast - actually it went too fast for my liking. For that matter time just seems to fly now. There are so many things to be done, so little time to do it - it doesn't help that as time goes on I get a bit more distracted, losing the focus that I used to have. Oh well I'm sure in due time things will work out. The week started off with a test that I had really not studied for, and well it can only go as well as one studies - however I'm hoping that my bullshitting will pay off but I'm not expecting high results. It's odd but now the determination to study, to focus has just slipped away. Is it because I 've built this illusion that I'll do well without studying, or because of the illusion that I think my grades don't matter - but it's complete rubbish - we all know it. Grades are definitely important, they are the things that really make you stand out at the end of the day- character personality those things can be cultivated and developed later but your results don't change, (or is the other way around? I don't know you tell me. Anyway let's leave that behind and go on to this week.

This Thursday I finally gained my full license. Now for most people, that's no big deal - what's so great about a full license. Well for me it was quite a big feat. Why? Did I fail the test before? Not quite but I did fail my restricted license test once before passing. Therefore obviously I didn't want to experience the same hallmarks of defeat and I had been putting off sitting the test lest I fail. I refuse to take driving lessons again, since the last time I took them they really didn't help. So one fine morning I decided this is it - let's go sign up for the test and I did and it was for this Thursday. I was quietly confident that I could pull it off - that I could drive like a granny but have no doubt there's always room for anxiety. It didn't start very well - right at the beginning I turned when I shouldn't have and the guy made me stop and asked me if I knew what I was doing - I kinda justified my turning and it was ok - but at that point my foot was shaking. I didn't want to fail again but this definitely was not a great starting point. However as time passed I composed myself and started to drive like a granny. The end result - I got told off for being a granny, and driving too slow - at that point I thought maybe I'd fail but well nah, it was all good - I ended up passing. Now that was a relief and if only the guy was there to see how I pressed on the accelerator after that... actually no that would not have been a good idea.

On Friday, I attended the SGM of AIESEC Auckland where we elected the next Executive Board. It was quite interesting seeing people run for positions, and it was quite entertaining at points. One of the things that really caused me to feel good, was to see an old school mate of mine go up there and give up a speech and get elected. It was good because it wasn't something he had done when he was at school and it seemed like he had discovered an entirely different side to himself, an older and more mature side. Later that night I planned to go out but well I realised that I didn't have photo ID - on Thursday the driving instructor had taken away my old license and given me a temporary license which has no photo so that wouldn't help.

On Saturday, I went to see a type of function I rarely go to see - no it was not a strip show or anything remotely like that - rather it was a dance performance, that too a traditional Indian performance. Why did I go? Well one of my friends was performing in it and a few of my other friends were also going along so I thought why not - it's a good way to spend a Saturday evening. And well it wasn't actually that bad - Actually it was good and I managed to understand almost all of it - it was a good event.

Other than that the rest of the week just flew past. I haven't had the opportunity to even hit the books - which is starting to scare me slightly - I know I'm good at studies, I grasp concepts reasonably quickly but I still need to spend time - but I'm just so lazy, un motivated to a certain extent - I'm spending too much time on other things like business, tv and just plain laziness. It doesn't help that other people have great expectations of my performance and far more confidence in my own abilities than I do. However I do plan to get down to the dirty work of studying and learning the crap I have to spew out to get the grades I hopefully deserve.. I was planning to study today but then here I am blogging away... ain't that ironic?

The Blog is Back

2007-05-06T03:22:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's back - the blog is back. And there's good reason and no, it's got nothing to do with me travelling again. I just realised that it would probably be a good idea to publish a blog once in a while just to keep people abreast of what was happening. So when is this blog going to be updated? Well that's to be seen.

Anyway it's been a while since I've written here so a short summary of how life's been. Bad. Better. Good. Really good. Still good. After first coming back I felt a bit sad, a bit isolated - but that was only for a couple of days and then well I started meeting my friends and bingo. It was only after the holidays that I fully recuperated. Things starting going my way - my small "business" started firing, my lectures started making sense, started meeting my friends and so on so forth. I started hanging out with more Aiesec Auckland people and so far it's been quite the pleasant experience. Overall I think I'm starting to enjoy my life - my grades aren't as great as last year but then again my internal assessments have never been my strength - only hoping that the exams will go reasonably well. But that's not really that important - as long as I keep a decent average, work my ass of over summer I'll be fine.

Today marks the completion of the nineteenth year of my birth. If I have to be honest it's been one of the best years, if not the best year of my life. The year started off with the monotony of University - a vast playground where it's all too easy to get lost. It took a while to find myself, to find my personality, to re find who I was. Let's face it - it wasn't the easiest job. With five papers a semester, twelve hours of tutoring a week, and a focus on academics it wasn't the greatest life. But it paid off. I got to take three months off and those were the three months that really made the difference. I won't go on about them but they were effing awesome. I made so many friends (in Malaysia) - when I came back I thought hey a few weeks we'll all lose touch and bingo it'll be over. Far from it my friendship with them has grown and unfortunately I miss them more than I thought I would. It's great to be able to maintain such relationships and I do thank the almighty creator of the Internet and Facebook for that. Mr Gates, well you get some credit as well for MSN Messenger. But what has changed in the last year?

A fair amount - inside me something has definitely grown, almost certainly matured. At the same time it's not the boring matured person that some may think, but a more excited person who's looking for a challenge. University isn't all about A+'s - it's about meeting new people, about forming new relationships about taking on new challenges. Work will be work will be work. That's all there is to it. But Uni - now that's multi dimensional.
When I first started Commerce and Uni I thought, damn - such boring people - all stupid people all bums doing Commerce - where's the fun. In that way I've been proven wrong - there are plenty of good people in Commerce (the best place to find them is in AIESEC :P) - there are plenty of great people out there, looking for a challenge, for a better world and for a better tomorrow. I'm not bullshitting but there is hope. And based upon this hope I have committed myself to a few things I would normally not.

At the end of the day I think I've done all I could ever want to do in this year. I've achieved the things I wanted and achieved other things I never dreamt of doing. One of my primary, main , really important goal in life is to ensure that every year I live is a better year than the last. Well in that case, this coming year is sure going to be a blast!

AIESEC TBS

2007-03-16T21:13:00.000-07:00

Well since the entries have come to an end I should add one last entry - about my trip and that is about the people in TBS. I am going in no particular order.

Angel: - well Angel is not an angel - nah she's really cool - as it says on her blog she's cute but ugly (??!!) nah she's not really ugly but she's pretty cute. I had a great time with her - she plays along with the jokes and it's good having a laugh - and it was really good to know her.

Sook Theng: - hehehehehe - she was the first person who tried to talk to me only to get one word answers - not my fault really - i was cashless and worried. But she's a very nice person at heart - quite caring at the end of the day - it's been good knowing her - would have been good to have spent more time talkign to her though.

Kevin: - is the cool man - he's really easy to talk to - can talk about many things, and has a good sense of humour - he has his sense of fashion and I'm sure he'll go far

Victor: - ahahahahahaha Victor... what can I say? When I first met Victor I thought he was acting all the time, trying to be funny- but well then I realised that was Victor - beneath his rather funny AIESEC sometimes annoying image Victor is a good man - he has a lot of passion and well I'm sure the best of him is yet to show (man this is sooo feels like a report card).

Kawei: - I probably haven't met her that many times but we've spent a lot of time talking. She's actually a year younger than most of the TBS people, actually she's the only one my age - but it's hard to tell. It's been great fun talking to her about everything - she's quite mature in her perception but at the same time is fun to be around with. It was really easy talking to her for a long time.

Suat May: - Ah my special one - Suat May and I were really really polite to each other at the beginning - she was Daryl's cousin so I had to pay some respect but then well all the politeness got lost - she seems really nice and innocent on the outside but really... ok I just realised this blog is ready by a lot of people so ok really May is pretty cool. I've had tonnes of fun pulling her leg, trying to strangle her and many other things... it's been fun!

Daryl: - The big man - he's the LCP - I don't know what the rest of these people are but I assume they're also something important. What can I say about Daryl? Well ladies he's not the worst choice available - he's got a sort of cuteness apparently, but more realistically he's got the money and he's willing to spend it on you - he's got the car to take you for a ride and the mind to give you company - he was selfless in the way he helped me out at the beginning, and was always willing to hang out - the man!

Overall TBS has been a bunch of people that I can really relate to - normally it's hard for me to become good friends with anybody - I can socialise with a lot of people but to make that emotional connection is tricky. In this case, it was really easy - it wasn't just AIESEC stuff but stuff about life - their philosophies and mine are quite close - and they were incredibly open and friendly - I had a really good time with them and I hope to see them soon in the future.

The Last Entry

2007-03-16T20:46:00.000-07:00

Well here it is - the journey of a lifetime ends and here lies the witness to it. My journey has been a reasonably long one - for three months I have been away from what I call home - my house, my city Auckland and my country New Zealand. When I look back now it feels really surreal. Just the other day I was back with a friend walking down the street where I had imagined the whole journey, planned it out and now it's over - and it feels well odd looking back.

However out of the three months I've enjoyed it all especially my two months in Malaysia. The beginning of my trip was not smooth by any accounts, but thanks to the support I received and well the way things turned out, it turned out to be quite good. In order to stay consistent with previous blogs, I shall finish off my narration before going into my personal reflections.

On Thursday, we held the HIV/AIDS Convention which brought together students from all the schools - well that's what it was supposed to be. We didn't have a very high turnout but we managed to get around 100 participants. I was all dressed up in my formals EXCEPT my poor Nike sneakers really killed the image- I didn't think it really made a difference until I saw the photos. It was a night for reflections and visiting all that we had achieved - it was great that we had so many people from SMK Kelana Jaya attend our convention. I'm not too sure how it went, but I'm sure it wasn't too bad. After the convention it was time for hugs, and of course tonnes of photos - after that we had a party at Chung's place where everybody save me was supposed to get wasted. I won't write a lot about that night but it was great fun...

Friday... well Friday started off quite slow - I mean after a huge party on Thursday night that's to be expected. We woke up properly and got to our senses around mid day and then headed off back to office - not that we had to, but we had lunch there. After that Jong Tae, Simone and I went back to Millennium Court where it was time for Jong Tae to pack his bags and get ready to leave. After that we visited University Malaya to see how Window to the World was going - it turned out that it had almost finished so there was not a lot to see. In the evening, we went out to dinner with the M.C. and Daryl joined us - we had two dinners - Jong Tae bought us our last dinner - and then it was off to the airport to say goodbye. It was a moment of reflection for me when I realised that my time to leave was also just around the corner.

Saturday - well woke up on Saturday and then went shopping with Simone - firstly to Lowe Yatt Plaza where I bought some electronics - there were toooo many people and after that it was off to Chinatown - I bought myself a few things - nothing too much - just a couple of sunglasses, a couple of watches, a wallet and a few shirts... as it turned out one of the watches didn't really work... and the other one so far (touch wood) has worked. After Chinatown it was time to return - that evening we went out for dinner at a restaurant before heading off to a cultural celebration night organised by Universiti Malaya. The venue was really cold, and nice and the performances were entertaining in their own way (hahaha). I met up with some of the TBS people mainly Daryl, Suat May, and Angel. After that we went to Murnies for the last time to have some good old juice (oh I love those juices). And then it was time for me to pack. Throughout this time I hadn't really felt that sad, I was just enjoying myself and even while packing I felt no real emotions - just packing like a machine.

Then Sunday morning it was time to leave - I had all my bags packed and I put them into Daryl's car - I had no regret when I left Millennium Court knowing I would hopefully never return especially since the last thing I remember is the dodgy toilet (aha) - however it was not time to leave yet. First we went to karaoke with Kevin, Sook Theng, Suat May, Daryl and Simone - I really really enjoyed myself - it was amazing and I remember while singing I thought to myself, "Man why am I enjoying this... I'm going to miss this so much" - But I didn't care I just wanted to enjoy myself thoroughly and so I did especially by singing weird songs and rapping to the pleasure of my heart. During karaoke, Anisha, Chee Kek and Sandy also visited but could not stay for too long which was a pity. Later on after karaoke we visited Sunway Pyramid where I met up with Geralynn, Alan, Eri and Eddy who all wanted to say farewell. Even at that point I could not believe that I would be leaving - it was just chatting, having fun relaxing - it still had not sunk in. After Sunway it was time to go to the airport - even at that moment it was surreal perhaps because I was unwilling to pay attention to my emotions, perhaps I didn't just want to realise what was going on.

Anyway then we sped off towards the airport and I got my luggage checked in and got my ticket. It was only at that point I started realising that I was a few hours away from leaving and that this was it - it was a realisation that saddenned me. The TBS fellas had come along to say goodbye so it was really nice but sad at the same time- it was so weird when they did Hot to Go - and everybody was staring and I simply had to smile because it was so nice of them - I was really distracted on the way to my flight - so distracted that I ended up on the wrong gate before going the right way. After that I found my way and got to the proper flight and looked through some of the cards I had received - at this point my emotions started flooding me. But not for long - soon it was time for the flight and woo hoo they were showing Casino Royale - the seat next to me was empty which was great and my flight was uneventful.

And that was the end of that.
Two months.
Over.
Made some really great friends.
Who knows when I'll see them
Why did I let myself become close?
I don't know
Was it a wise decision?
I don't care
I was pissed off
Really I was
But then I realised
I was lucky
At least
I had the time of my life

Then came back to New Zealand - met my folks, my house it was good to be back but quite lonely - however now I'm back living my life - things are going well here - other than the whole assignment and test thing - but even then I'm catching up. So my friends, my trotting comes to a pause, but for how long only God knows.

The Week and a Half that Was (Part Eight)

2007-03-07T05:00:00.000-08:00

The Week and a Half that Was

Ending on March 7^th 2007.

Well there really is not a lot to write but I shall not go in chronological order. I cannot remember the exact happenings on each day so I’ll give a brief outline. On Monday (the 26^th) we did nothing other than planned for the HIV/AIDS convention. I was not too keen on having come back and thinking about flying back early. However on Tuesday, we had to visit an international school called Garden International School. The school was equipped very well with the latest facilities including a few tennis courts, a decent swimming pool, and an artificial hockey turf. The students here were not dressed immodestly, rather this school gave off a sense of discipline. As a result the school impressed me. The fees however I found out were quite high ranging around thirty thousand ringgit a year. However once we got started with the workshop my enthusiasm regained, and while it wasn’t as challenging or interesting as it used to be, it did give me reason to look forward to staying in KL. On Wednesday we visited Fairview International School to conduct a workshop – our workshops were fully recorded and the teachers enjoyed it quite a lot – as a result they asked us to provide them a copy of our presentation and the dialogues. In addition to this the teachers took us to lunch at a proper restaurant, not their school canteen – I think it’s the first time I ate at a proper restaurant since I left India and the food was fantastic, simply because it used appropriate amounts of oil, not the normal excessive amounts. On Thursday we had no workshops so it was fairly boring. On Friday, we had to visit a school quite far away in a district called Klang. As a result we had to wake up quite early on – the school itself was not that great from the outside, but our audience was my age and older – around eighteen to nineteen. Most of them were amazed to find out my age, and were interested to find out how I had managed to come on this internship – at this point I realised that at my age, most people would either be studying at school or be busy with university studies and working part time. For me to be travelling the world and experiencing such adventures at a young age is indeed a great privilege and an unforgettable experience. After the workshop at Klang I went to Taylor’s Business School to deliver a presentation on the internship experience. On making my presentation I had looked back through my experience and wondered on the amount that I have learnt on this trip and how much I have probably changed (for the better I hope). I wasn’t able to hang out the TBS crew because we went to dinner with Geralyn and Allen with Jong Tae, Simone and Eri. The dinner was quite good and then we went to Allen’s brother’s house and played cards and by the time we returned it was past twelve thirty at night.

On Saturday morning, we didn’t do a lot but then Jong Tae took us (Geralyn, Allen, Simone and myself) out for lunch at a Korean restaurant. The experience was authentic and quite fun – I had woken up in the morning and felt a bit nauseous from eating too much the night before therefore had decided I wouldn’t eat anything at lunch. However once I reached the Korean restaurant and saw all the food I simply could not resist. The food was quite good and the Korean cuisine was nice. After lunch Simone and I returned to Millennium Court while Jong Tae continued to work on a video for our convention. Later on that night I went out with Simone, Yvonne, Michelle and Varun – we went to eat in Bangsar before heading a bar called Absolute Chemistry. Once again, the bar was filled with far too many Indian guys – if there were Indian girls I might not have complained. However the highlights of the night were that I danced to the best of my ability, and I managed to get two girls to want to dance with me (complete strangers) and also an Indian guy (which was quite dodgy…) Overall had a great time and returned quite late of course. Sunday morning was supposed to be a workshop conducted at Central Market, a main market square in KL. I was not too keen on the idea but because Eri had requested us we had reluctantly agreed. The audience were not school children, rather it was a mix and well the workshop… it went on… and we got it finished (that’s all I have to say). After that I headed off to Mid Valley where I met up with a few people from TBS. I had a good time talking and getting to know them – the people present there were Daryl, Kevin, May, Sook Theng, Cecilia, Angel and Kawei. It was once again quality time spent. After that returned in the afternoon and went to sleep – since I was really tired from the night before. What that meant was that I couldn’t sleep and that definitely did not help. The next morning (Monday) we went to visit SMK Taman Desa – it was one of our last workshops – Preeti couldn’t make it up therefore it was up to the three of us to conduct a session with over hundred and twenty students. The workshop went smoothly and once again we returned happy, our hands filled with a souvenir. (yay!) Monday was also the day that Sandy and Anisha returned from Egypt – it was good to have them back and it feels like the office is alive again.

Yesterday, (Tuesday) we had our last workshop at Fairview International. The workshop went well however I don’t think we really felt a sense of sadness or happiness at being finished – I guess I felt a sense of relief knowing that I would not have to wake up early to go to schools but that was about it. We tried different things, experimented slightly – tried to improvise always trying to entertain and at the end of the day it worked out to be a great session. I returned to the office exhausted by the heat and simply went to sleep. Later on last night we went to Murnies to probably have the last fruit juice – the fruit juice there is damn good and I will most certainly miss it. We also got to meet three people who had newly arrived from Japan - for a project called Window to the World. After that James (an AIESECER) took us to Luna Bar – now ever since I came to Malaysia I’ve heard a lot about Luna Bar –always in positive compliments – the best place on earth apparently. As a result I was quite excited to visit – it is supposedly the best bar in Malaysia. For the first time in Malaysia I dressed up in semi formal clothes, putting on a shirt and I was ready for it. And there is good reason for it – the place is quite different – it’s really nice with a sense of simplicity mixed with sophistication – a blend of everything – it was fun but I ended up not drinking anything (simply because it was too expensive). Today I actually had a fair bit of work to do – the convention is coming up tomorrow and it should be quite exciting.

The Week that was (Part Seven)

2007-02-28T02:34:00.000-08:00

The Week that was (Part Seven)

Week Ending on February 25^th 2007.

Monday: - Well seeing that we went to sleep around two o clock in the morning we decided that we should simply sleep in. And that’s exactly what we did – we did not venture out of the apartment – just to eat and then I went down to take a short swim in the pool. All in all it was a very lazy day – at night we went out with Stefan to Gurney Drive to sample some of Penang’s finest food. The food wasn’t anything great – the Char Keow Teow was actually better at the shop under our office (but that’s damn good char keow teow) but the Assam Laksa was great. After that we met up with Rene who was also in Penang visiting his relatives. After dinner we went to a place where Stefan and Rene would not be caught dead visiting – it was this weird place where they served alcohol to fifty year old men and young women (who knows that they did) paid excessive amounts of attention to them – and to top it off they had some amateurs singing – really makes one’s night! After spending half an hour there we decided we had enough and we visited an espresso place where I order myself a non alcoholic cocktail, which really looked nothing like a cocktail and tasted like ginger beer… Afterwards Simone, JT and Stefan bought themselves some alcohol to last through the night and we returned to the apartment. We spent a long time awake again discussing various topics including our lives and ourselves – we stayed up till early morning. We were all planning to sleep in the hall outside but that wasn’t working out since one of us was always talking (basically Stefan and I) and hitting each other with pillows (go pillow fights) – at one point I irritated Simone so much that she tried to hit my backside… and she succeeded. (sob sob sob) At six thirty I decided I had had enough and I called it a day and went to sleep in a different room.

Tuesday: - well I slept in till around twelve thirty and then went to eat lunch. After lunch lazed around a bit more – went for a swim in the heat of the day – tried to learn how to take breaths while swimming – Jong Tae was the patient teacher. Unfortunately he didn’t succeed where other coaches have failed so it was back to me swimming for a while then stopping haphazardly before taking a breath. We were going to go our separate ways after Tuesday as I was heading off to Singapore and JT and Simone were heading off to Langkawi. Since we were all exhausted after a night up we decided to head off to bed in the sitting room in the evening and that’s when Tomo, who normally stays in the apartment returned. Apparently she wasn’t aware of the fact we were staying so she was greeted with a pleasant surprise. Afterwards we met with Cedric, who’s the President of the local committee and we went to have dinner. I had extra food since I knew that my journey to Singapore would be long. Afterwards we went to the bus station for me to take my bus to Singapore. Now for once I had been willing to spend some money to travel in comfort since it was an eight-hour journey (and well it was the only ticket remaining) – the bus seemed very nice from the outside and well it was very nice – for the first half an hour. This time I had a fat Chinese man sitting next to me- I have nothing against fat people or Chinese people but I do have something against smelly fat Chinese men that like to snore all the time (that too at irregular intervals). So my sleep that night was also ruined.

Wednesday: - started off in a grumpy way without any sleep and wanting to kill a fat smelly Chinese man that liked to snore at irregular intervals. If that wasn’t enough the bus stopped on the side of the road – and then didn’t move. Apparently the bus wasn’t working – I never panic anymore since I’m used to going with the flow, so when they told me to get into a bus headed for god knows where I did – I finally ended up in Larkin unsure of what to do (so much for a direct trip to Singapore!). I was tired, angry and irritated but too busy to express any of those feelings. I managed to catch a bus to Singapore – I wasn’t too sure where I was going in Singapore but I managed to get dropped off at a MRT station. On the way there were no problems – even though I almost went out off Malaysia without clearing customs… before realising that was not a good idea. The Singapore Customs was a breeze and one could see the difference in the two countries. The bus station or custom place was incredibly fancy filled with security guards brandishing pistols and holding back their ferocious dogs – and of course there was the unrepentant stare of the CCTV’s. However I did manage to clear customs with ease and then headed off towards a MRT station. Now I had been told to catch a taxi from the place but we all know that taxis are expensive and on top of that the house I was going to was like on the other end – so even though I was tired and exhausted and carrying a massive bag that might have appeared like a nuclear device I went on the MRT. At least I got a seat and it was a long tiring journey and I had change trains once. Finally I reached my destination – the reason I had travelled to Singapore was to spend time with some family friends. They consisted of one of my father’s closest friends, his wife and his daughter who I had been a childhood friend with. While I had met her recently and also been in touch through email I was looking forward to meeting her and catching up on our lives. Most of all I was looking forward to staying in a place where I would get home cooked food, hot and cold water, air conditioned sleep and excellent company. On Wednesday went out to lunch with the Aunt and then met up with my friend Disha and Uncle. I was exhausted so I didn’t do much – rather I went to sleep as soon as I could – didn’t go out anywhere.

The next day being Thursday I was asked where I wanted to go – Disha had left for school and Uncle had gone to work so I was home alone with nothing to do and the Aunt was worried I would get bored. Well I was looking forward to boredom and I spent the entire day inside my room playing Age of Mythology – it was great fun! Later that night I went to play pool with Disha and then again went to sleep quite early – catching up on all the sleep I had missed out.

Friday: - didn’t do too much – went to visit Disha’s school – a school called Anglo Chinese Junior College – the facilities were outstanding – world class facilities consisting of four tennis courts, a running track, a fully equipped gym, an Olympic sized swimming pool and of course lecture halls that makes Auckland Uni look like a village. In short it was very well equipped – later on that night returned back and also went to sleep – in short total relaxation.

Saturday: - was a lot like the other days – only that I went out to visit Jurong Bird Park and then went around Singapore City – there was nothing to see – a whole lot of shops, a whole lot of skyscrapers, some very clean streets but nothing else. Jurong Bird Park was quite cool but then again when you travel alone it isn’t that much fun and I’m sure people stared at me saying “Don’t you have a life coming here along?” – I returned back later, had dinner with the family and then stayed up till three in the morning chatting to Disha.

Sunday: - woke up around nine thirty (which was really early after a three o clock nighter) and then went to have breakfast. My trip was fast coming to an end and I was feeling quite sad that I would have to return to KL. The idea of working was no longer all that appealing – it had lost its charm the moment I settled into Singapore :P – but well I had two more weeks to go and I wasn’t about to run away (as if that was an option). Before I left I went to visit an amusement park with Disha and we had great fun – the only problem was that the amusement park wasn’t that big so well limited rides but good fun. So I returned around two o clock to savour some home made food and then felt sad having to leave – at that point I wished to return, but to return to New Zealand – with Uni starting on Monday I had started to miss the comforts of home again. However not one to complain too often or to give in I left – took the MRT back to the station and then took a bus to Larkin – Malaysian customs are inefficient but caused no problems and then I promptly found a bus to KL. Unfortunately I had not listened to the guy when he had asked me if I wanted to go to KL – it turned out that it would be stopping at Seremban before going to KL – which meant it would take longer. Now I wanted to get back to KL by twelve – not because I’m scared I’ll be cornered in a dark alley and abused, no I was more afraid that I would have to pay the taxi driver more. And that’s exactly what I had to do… it was a sad day but well I had to get back so I could do nothing. I met Jong Tae after a while, found out about their adventures and I guess at the end of the day it wasn’t too bad to be back. The only thing I missed about Malaysia in my time in Singapore was probably the people – and I guess the next two weeks are all about finishing off the project and also saying goodbye to all the wonderful people I have met here.

The Week that Was (Part Six)

2007-02-19T11:23:00.000-08:00

The Week that Was (Part Six)

Ending February 19^th 2007.

Monday: - After Unicef, we took a well deserved break and had a day off. On the day off we didn’t do a whole lot – I actually went into the office again because I wanted to enjoy the comforts of air condition and I also wanted to work on a presentation about New Zealand. The whole day was spent in the office – in the meantime in the afternoon Daryl, Sook Theng, May, Sue and Kevin came over and I joined them for lunch. I had a great time especially with Daryl and Sook Theng – I’m not too sure if they enjoyed the time as much as I did (ahahaha). Later on that evening went to dinner with Sandy, Anisha, Chung Heng, Jong Tae and Simone. We ate at Asia Café which serves some pretty good cheap food (which is why I like it). At the end of the day we returned to Millennium Court.

Tuesday: - It was back to work – but there was not a lot of work to do since we only had one workshop that week – so we relaxed and started talking about the Convention and other things. During the evening I left for Taylor’s Business School for a meeting at their college. Being hosted by TBS, I had been requested by Daryl to conduct a short presentation upon New Zealand. I had toiled many an hour to make a multimedia movie that would entertain yet inform my peers about my life in New Zealand. I always enjoy spending time with the guys at TBS because it is easier for me to relate to them. They’re nice people, that come from respectable backgrounds and of course study Finance and Accounting – they’re open minded and well are a bit like me at the end of the day. Therefore I wanted to make sure that I could have fun with them while presenting. It turned out that we did have fun – the movie went off well, with its countless sheep. I stayed the whole evening with the guys there – went to dinner with them. Previously on the earlier day I had tried to play matchmaker for Daryl and Sook Theng – this time I set my sights on lovely May (once again I don’t think she quite enjoyed my company that much) and it was great fun (for me that is!). At the end of the night I returned to Millennium Court to sleep.

Wednesday: - Well we all know what this Wednesday was – it was Valentines Day. Now personally I have never quite appreciated Valentines Day – tis a day where many a man spends many a dollar and many a heart gets broken. So for me it’s all worthless and pointless but well for some I guess the spirit of Valentines lives on. Anyway I had nothing special planned out – office was interesting – there was a bit of strife but it got sorted out. Sandy and Anisha left for Egypt on that day – quite sad. Later on Jong Tae and I went to Kelana Jaya to conduct another short presentation about our countries. This was a relief compared to staying in office and getting bored. Later on that evening we joined Daryl, Kevin, Yen, Sook Theng, May and Merlyna for dinner on Valentines. We tried to find a decent restaurant to eat in but ended up in KFC – that was the only place that was reasonably cheap but also had seats for all of us. Once again it was good fun spending time with them and then we returned to M.C. and went to sleep…

Thursday: - we went to Subang Utama to conduct a workshop only to find out that it was cancelled. Then we walked all the way from Subang to Taylor’s Business School to check out the venue for the convention. After that we returned to the office where we were incredibly tired and did basically nothing… Later that night we also did nothing – we went back and got some sleep. We were very tired.

Friday: - by now we were all quite tired and we were looking forward to our up coming one week break – we went to Fair view International school – where we had been invited as guests to attend their Chinese New Year festival. It was an interesting school that reminded me of my Indian school days – we got to meet the mothers of the children – who basically had nothing to do because their husbands worked and they stayed home gossiping (so Desperate Housewifey). All in all it was fun watching the celebration. In the evening we returned to M.C. and started packing our bags for Saturday.

Saturday: - The start of the Penang Journey

From Saturday our Chinese New Year holiday started. We packed our bags and were planning to visit Penang for the first few days. After our trip I would head off to Singapore and Jong Tae and Simone would head off to Langkawi. We were all excited and interested in completely relaxing and de stressing. The bus was supposed to leave at ten thirty in the morning – on the way to the bus station KL seemed almost dead, the streets oh so empty lacking the very traffic that causes headaches. The bus station on the other hand was very alive – our bus was late and at one point we started to get quite worried. The bus wasn’t well… the flashest bus around. When we had bought the ticket I had argued for the cheapest ticket – which was thirty ringgit instead of thirty three ringgit. We all doubted if this bus could move – the interiors were cracked and one of the glass panes was broken. Then the bus started moving and I thought we were on a ride in an amusement park – it was quite bumpy and well it creaked every so often. So I had to take a bit of flak for staying with the cheapest bus… but soon the creaking died out, for that matter the bus stopped moving. The traffic was terrible – it took us over two hours to just get sixty kilometres away from KL – on top of that we had no toilet break for four hours. By the time we stopped I was bursting to go – and I couldn’t wait to get to the toilet, nature had its own appeal. However after relieving myself the trip seemed far more bearable – normally it takes anywhere between three and a half to five hours to get to Penang from KL – this time it took us over ten hours. By the time we reached Penang it was ten – Stefan, an AIESECER here - met us and then we went for dinner. The apartment that we are staying at is very nice – it is a three bedroom apartment with two toilets, hot and cold water, internet connection and television. The normal interns that stay at this apartment were away so the three of us got a bedroom each (haha). We went to sleep at around two o clock at night.

Sunday: - we woke up around eleven o clock in the night and were contemplating what to do. I wanted to stay inside all day and do absolutely nothing but well that wasn’t an option. As a result we decided to go to a beach called Ferrenghi Beach. I wanted to do one thing in Penang and that was to ride a water scooter. I have memories of riding a water scooter with my father when I was five years old and I wanted to relive and enjoy the thrill again. Before that however we took a dip in the swimming pool and I swam after a long while. Having swum, we went to the beach – and then I went on the water scooter. It was really awesome – I had the time of my life speeding, turning and doing all sorts of things – the adrenaline was pumping and it was great fun! After that we went to Penang National Park where we hiked for about two hours to reach a place called Monkey Beach. The hike was long and through the jungle but once again it was great fun. The Monkey Beach was really nice and for the first time in my life I went into the sea and bathed in there – once again it was a lot of fun. Later we took a boat back instead of hiking – and then we went to have dinner at Stefan’s grandmothers house. It was great to eat home cooked food and the food was delicious. We stayed up late discussing Malaysia and world politics and by the time we returned it was around two o clock in the night… exhausted we went to sleep…

AIESEC - THE LC AND MC

2007-02-11T22:47:00.000-08:00

AIESEC – L.C. and M.C

This week when I went to drink with Jong Tae Anisha and Sandy they informed me that this blog was quite hopeless. The reason for this is that while I mention these names like Sandy, Anisha nobody really knows who they are – why I haven’t even talked about AIESEC or what the Member Committee is – so I thought well maybe I should make a post devoted to the M.C and the L.C’s and AIESEC – my weekly blog is below so please read that as well…

AIESEC: - What is it?

It’s a group of crazy students that love to dance and have fun. AIESEC runs throughout the world and is established in over ninety countries. They provide leadership opportunities and exchange programmes that allow an individual to grow. On the local level they exist to provide a worldwide perspective by facilitating exchange and conferences. AIESEC exists in every country and the hierarchy in short is split mainly into two committees – the Local Committees and the National Committee or the Member Committee.

The Local Committee

The Local Committees are associated with individual universities – for example I am attached to the University of Auckland L.C. – the Taylor’s Business School L.C is hosting me. Each L.C. runs their own events and participates in conferences and helps host students that come on exchange and also sends out students on exchange. L.C’s hold weekly meetings where they had fun, talk about some stuff but basically have fun – either by doing crazy dances, or by drinking iced tea or by eating lots of food!

The National Committee or Member Committee

They exist to ensure that AIESEC in Malaysia functions – they provide strategic direction as to where AIESEC Malaysia is heading. A lot of top level stuff such as policy planning is done here – they keep in sync with AIESEC’s worldwide vision and at the same time try to garner support from corporates and other organisations. They are involved in ensuring the Local Committees are operating efficiently and that the members of AIESEC are undergoing personal development. They also organise large conferences for all the L.C’s – they are elected by the L.C’s every year.

Now I had no idea what the National Committee or M.C. was – I only knew about the L.C. when I was in New Zealand as the M.C. is situated in Wellington and sounds like something well too bureaucratic. But as luck had it we work at the offices of the M.C. and therefore we have gained invaluable friends in the M.C. While some of the local committee members are a bit afraid of the M.C. we are comfortable with them as we spend a lot of time with them – at work and outside. So this is a short description of the people that we hang out with - I apologise for any inequality in length of description – it is just that some people I have more to write about and others not so – it is a not a sign of my love for them :P

Anisha: - Well there’s really not a lot to say about Anisha. When I first met Anisha I was scared. She is the sort of person that will snap at you and be absolutely blunt with you. She is the MCP – or President of the National Committee level – in absolute terms she rules AIESEC Malaysia. But Anisha is different – one can’t help but come to respect her due time. From the scary head mistress she has transformed into the loving hen mother – she spends a lot of time travelling overseas on conferences but in the short period that I have gotten to know her I have developed a sense of respect for her. She is passionate about her work, cannot stand any bulls*** and will speak her mind openly. But besides the President there exists a friend in her – and this is the side that over time we have come to see and enjoy so much – she spends time talking to us and ensuring that we are happy in our internship.

Chee Kek: - Ah Chee Kek – now apparently he is Mr. Grumpy and also Mr Accountant. But so far I haven’t seen Mr Grumpy – he’s pretty nice – quite strict with his accounting and administrating of the office but I respect that – he makes sure that things at office are kept at line and won’t hesitate in telling you off. Other than that he’s a nice guy – he does know how to smile and is good company.

Sri: - she’s the IT support person of M.C. – she doesn’t spend too much time in the office – she’s a cool person and has a sense of humour. Sri is still studying at university (I think)…

Yoke Yen: - Hmmm haven’t spent too much time with her as she works full time but she’s joined us for dinner a few times. She’s nice.

Chung: - Ah yes Chung – or Chungy as I like to call him. Chung is actually quite soft spoken but he is very nice. He was there to bring me to my hostel and is quite thoughtful. He took us around Melaka where he is from and showed us around. He’s not so much the talker but he’s quite the thinker. Chung currently is a full time student but he is still quite involved in AIESEC. He provides invaluable entertainment when needed! He’s in charge of people development or something… can’t remember – he’s a great guy but unfortunately he wasn’t there on the night I decided to treat the others… tough luck Chung!

Geralyn: - is our boss. Well she’s the person in the M.C. that’s overlooking our project. She’s quite committed to our work even though she’s a full time student. She’s taken us out to dinner and been very co operative – she hasn’t been bossy at all and is quite nice – she picks us up and takes to some of the schools and is there to support us as a group. As a person she’s really cool and she’s taken us around a fair bit.

Sandy: - She’s last because her name has probably popped in the blog quite a few times. Sandy is well not Sandy – her name is actually Geraldine but for some reason most people including myself call her Sandy. For some reason that I don’t understand she is fully committed to AIESEC and its development – she has spent a lot of time ensuring that we are taken care of. She’s the latest MCP elect – she won the elections quite recently. Over the five weeks we’ve been here we’ve spent many an hour with her discussing the various philosophies of life and what not – she’s taken care of us – as she says being an eighteen year old she needs to baby sit me :P It’s surprising but she’s joined us many a night to have a chat with us at Millennium Court – she’s full time at AIESEC so we have to see a lot of her but most of the time we don’t mind (ha ha) – she’s very generous with her driving – she drove us all the way to Melaka and back and drops us off at our hostel quite regularly. She’s the one that complained along with Anisha that I didn’t write about them so I hope this satisfies them (ha ha).

Overall: - As I said before for a lot of the AIESECERS here the M.C. are like the National Committee but for us the M.C. are just friends- they are really nice and have no stuck up bureaucratic attitudes. They’re passionate about AIESEC, which can be surprising, as some of them have sacrificed their careers and salaries to keep on with AIESEC – but overall they’re a bunch of great people providing great company!

The Week that was (Part Five)

2007-02-11T22:32:00.000-08:00

The Week that Was (Part Five)

Ending February the 11^th

Monday: - We went back to work after the Johor trip. Work was rather uneventful as we did not do a lot – we were quite tired and basically went to sleep after work – nothing exciting of any sort!

Tuesday: - We went to work and after that we had to visit a school called SMK Aminauddin Baki. This was the first school inside KL – the rest of the schools that we have visited are near KL but in an area called Petaling Jaya and one of them is in a place called Subang Jaya. The school seemed like any normal school but the hall was well equipped and for the first time we were introduced to the school principal and had a short talk with her. After that we went on with our normal business, conducting our workshops. We had a reasonably large group of people but we were able to split into groups that were of decent size – and were able to cope with the size. The workshops went off well and normally at the end of the workshop it is normal for children to come up to us and ask us for our autographs and MSN. This was also the case in this school but for once a teacher came up to me and asked whether this was to be expected but she had never seen this happen before. We also received some souvenirs from the school, which is always welcome. At the end of the day we returned to office, went to dinner with the M.C. and then came back to the hostel – after that I went to sleep quite early as I was a bit tired.

Wednesday: - Once again it was time to return to Kelana Jaya – this time we were not so excited because we had already been there twice and now it was becoming a sort of a routine. However once we reached there we were told that we would be having around two hundred odd students for one and a half hours. That meant that we faced a problem – our normal program was made for smaller number – we could do a general session for every one but that would only last an hour. Therefore we would have to improvise in order to come up with a solution. At the end of the day it was not too bad- by now we had become quite professional at hosting so we simply came up with new items on the spot. That day we had two workshops to host – after the first workshops we had to host another workshop for the younger kids and once again this posed us a real challenge. This is because it is hard to keep the attention of young kids and on top of that their English was limited. Once again, we didn’t think too much about the challenge but we simply got to the work. At the end of the day our voices were sore but we had gotten through it – by now we had reached a stage where we take what we get – we spend little time complaining or worrying how the workshop will go – we simply get to doing it and after that if there are any problems we iron them out. Sadly this was our last visit to SMK Kelana Jaya and personally I had a great time visiting the school. The school isn’t the most posh or well-equipped school but I believe that what makes the difference in a school is its attitude and its students. The students seem to be rather shy but at the same time they are quite friendly and well behaved. Besides the staff treated us with a lot of respect and provided a lot of food and so we are grateful for their treatment. Later that night Jong Tae and I went out for a night drink session (non alcoholic remember we’re in Malaysia!) with Anisha and Sandy. By the time we returned it was around mid night.

Thursday: - Talking past midnight is great fun but waking up the next day at six thirty in the morning is definitely not fun. Unfortunately that is exactly what we had to do – we had to wake up early morning to visit Subang Utama again. On the way to Subang I got lost and I had to call Sandy in order to get the right directions. This time we were in the big hall and we decided that we would split into smaller groups. After three workshops in a row in the last two days our enthusiasm was waning and early in the morning it was practically non-existent. Therefore when it was my time to pump up the atmosphere and get everybody excited I was sleepy – however as the morning progressed things seemed to warm up and once we got into the groups things turned out well. Once again it was simply persevering with our program, putting in that extra effort and ensuring that things worked out that the end. At the end of the day our program was successful – this time more because the students were keen on participating, rather than our own positive energy. By this time we were tired and complaining about the amount of work that lay ahead. We had scheduled workshops on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and it seemed too much. But we all knew that once these workshops were over we would get some rest and that would be invaluable. After we returned from the school we decided to visit the Putra World Trade Centre to visit a war crimes exhibition. I was interested to see what would be going on, and besides I didn’t want to be stuck at office or Millennium Court all the time. Eri, Preeti and I went to the exhibition and for the first time I used the Kommuter train – the train was quite good so it posed no major problems. The exhibition itself was filled with war and gory, pictures of inhumanity covered all over the place. Personally I didn’t enjoy it- I found it far too anti American. I am no great fan of America or its global domination strategies but to burden all the war crimes upon America is a bit too hard to swallow. The reason that this war crimes exhibition had been placed was to promote peace and show the horrors of war. For me all it does is fuel greater extremist and create strong fundamentalist feelings against the West. At a time where there exists unease between the Western and the Islamic world there is no point or glory in showcasing the horrors that the Americans have put upon the rest of the world. I wholeheartedly agree that America’s policies when it comes to wars are selfish and incorrect but for me the solution does not lie in painting George Bush the devil incarnate. After the workshop we were slightly depressed so we wanted to do something fun. For Preeti the fun thing was of course to visit China town or Petaling Street. This time I went to Petaling Street and I felt a certain sense of unhappiness – at the fact that people were actually paying money and fuelling the trade of fake goods. Having bought many a real branded good I found that by actually buying these goods we decrease the value of the real good – and more importantly it is a form of stealing. While we can argue that branding is unimportant and that quality is, that brands don’t deserve the excessive price, I find it slightly odd that people are able to live with the fact that they own fakes and are proud of it- personally I would rather pay five ringgit and get something unbranded than get something branded knowing it was completely fake. It simply wouldn’t work for me – but that’s my personal opinion. In the evening we went to Bangsar for an intern dinner at a place called Oasis. The place seemed quite expensive but fortunately it took credit card. I don’t know what happened to me, but for some reason I was engulfed with a feeling of overwhelming generosity and I offered to buy Sandy, Anisha, Chee Kek, Geralyn (from the M.C) and Eri drinks. The expression on their faces was priceless and will forever remain etched in my memory. Sandy simply couldn’t believe it and Anisha asked me if my mental health was declining or if there were conditions attached. For the first time in a long time I actually enjoyed treating somebody – it felt like it was worth it. For me the money itself doesn’t matter but the reactions and the warmth I felt that night took me aback. The dinner itself was quite good – got to meet a few other interns. Later that night after Sandy had dropped me off I got a call from Jong Tae, asking me if I wanted to go for a drink. At this time it was past eleven and I was just about to hit bed but I decided to go anyway. I found that Sandy was still there and had met Jong Tae on the way back and they were keen for a drink. For the second time in the night I treated somebody - Jong Tae and Sandy – this time to a drink a lot cheaper. Once again I felt no remorse or regret even when accounting for the money spent. By the time I went to sleep it was past midnight.

Friday: - It was supposed to be the day where our performance would be measured. We were going to be at the International School of Kuala Lumpur and we were slightly nervous about exactly what would happen. We were uncertain of the level of maturity of the students, even though they were thirteen. Normally we enter the workshops with a slight advantage. The advantage possessed is the fact that we are from overseas – some of the students simply listen to us because of that fact. This time however we were just normal – all of these kids were from all over the world and their expectations would be a lot higher – their English was impeccable, therefore we would have to ensure that our English was also impeccable. As we reached the school I wondered exactly what the level of maturity was – the kids were around thirteen yet some of the girls dressed like they were twenty-one. As the workshop started though I felt like I was at home, back in New Zealand talking to any ordinary class. In short the session was fun. It was great fun. It was fantastic to have a session where the students were able to actively participate, where they were willing to volunteer, where they talked back when they responded and while some may think that as pesky or irritating for me it was a relief. The fact that you could have a verbal dialogue and have fun was great! Both the sessions went well and apparently we had performed our job satisfactorily. Later that night we came back to the hostel only to hear about some problems that one of the other interns was encountering. We went to Mid Valley in order to help her out but unfortunately the shops were closed.

Saturday: - we were supposed to be hosting a workshop but late Friday night Eri (our co coordinator) called to inform me that the schedule might be changed. Early Saturday morning we were informed that the workshop was cancelled. Any other time we might have been angry at the cancellation but this time we were happy. It meant that I could go back to sleep and that we would not have to work (yay). Later on that day we went to the National Museum and there wasn’t a lot to see – it was quite small and didn’t have too many exhibits. The museum in Melaka was actually better so after spending around thirty minutes we left in search for a bird park. On the way we walked through the Lake Gardens and it was quite beautiful. The weather was really good and the sun was beating down upon us. The gardens are well maintained and quite refreshing in its nature. We found the bird park and also found out that it cost RM 30 to enter. As a result we decided to take a cab and go to a shopping mall called One Utama – the shopping mall is one of the largest in Malaysia and it’s well spread out. It was quite nice and probably the nicest shopping mall I’ve been to so far in Malaysia. We went bowling with Eri and Eddie and his friends and while my bowling wasn’t exactly worth writing about it was fun. At the same time we saw some hip-hop dance battles (my first time watching such things). Afterwards we had dinner at mamak (an Indian diner) and then returned home. During Saturday we also found out that Mansi, our other Indian intern would most probably be returning to India, as she was encountering visa problems and what not.

Sunday: - today was also supposed to be a big day as we were hosting an event with Unicef. The programme was aimed at the kids playing soccer through the Football Association of Malaysia and it was meant to hit the people that were unlikely to visit school. The media would cover the programme and therefore it was important for us to be sharp and ready. We found out early on that Mansi would be unable to join us as she had to take a flight therefore that left the four of us (Jong Tae, Simone, Preeti and myself). Unfortunately Preeti was also late which meant that our programme was slightly out of shape – however with some improvisation and modifications to our programme we managed to get through it – quite successfully. We had to spend more time on the basics and ensure that the children knew exactly what HIV was – we had media interview us and overall it worked out quite well. After that we went to a farewell lunch for Merlyna – she’s a local student studying at Taylor’s Business School – she herself is going on an internship to Germany and therefore this was her farewell lunch. The lunch was held at a resort and it was really good. I had my breakfast, lunch and dinner all in one and now I look like a pregnant father! Overall it was good fun meeting up with the guys from TBS – they provide invaluable company.

My Love

2007-02-07T22:27:00.000-08:00

My love

Every time I look at her

I can’t stop staring

I’ve tried to leave her

But I just have to come back

She’s so tempting

Ever so beautiful

With her I feel complete

I have discovered her

Felt her blood as mine

With her I can achieve

Happiness unbounded

People talk about her

She’s the next big thing

People want to be with her

They’re so jealous of me

She offers me everything I want

Lust, power and all I desire

With her I can achieve

Anything I want

So this is why it is no surprise

When I say I love her

But her skin isn’t perfect

Part of her body is scarred

She tries to cover it up

She tries to move on

But she cannot succeed

She’s not innocent

She’s oh so corrupt

Last night I saw her

Sleeping with another man

She’s lost her morals

Lost her traditions

Down the drain

They’ve slipped away

People are now talking

In a not so positive way

She’s changing on the outside

Wearing skimpy clothes

Baring her skin,

Destroying her soul

She was oh so beautiful

But now oh so terrible

I’ve tried to stop her

But she never listens

Goddamn it I hate her!

Yet I feel a sense of hope

Radiating within herself

She’s really trying to change

Trying to live her life right

She’s promised she’ll try again

I’ll play my part though

I’ll do my best

I’ll stand by her side

Support her to the end

I want to see her grow

I want to see her back

I want her beauty present

Ever radiating in the air

I will be there for her

Through the good times and the bad

I will be with her

No matter where she goes

She may be corrupt

She may be guilty

Of a hundred thousand sins

But to me nothing will change

No matter what happens

No matter who says what

No matter what I say

Damn it I still love her.

So now you’re wondering

Where is she from?

What does she look like?

But more importantly

Who is she?

The answer is simple

She is my love,

She is my India.

2007-02-07T22:17:00.000-08:00

The Week that was (Part Four)

2007-02-05T18:25:00.000-08:00

The Week that Was (Part Four)

Ending February the 4^th 2007

Sunday: - It was just a normal day – we slept through most of it and woke up at around eleven o clock in the morning. After that I felt quite tired so I went to sleep again at twelve thirty and finally woke up at around four o clock in the afternoon. The rest of the day was spent in KFC and after that had dinner before going to sleep again – basically Sunday was sleeping day, which was good fun.

Monday: - Monday was supposed to be the day where I was going to get away from work and simply relax. I got in touch with Daryl and asked him if he could organise anything. It was then proposed that we spend the day sightseeing – first by going to Batu Caves, a tourist attraction and then spending the night at karaoke. So our journey began early in the morning at around eight o clock – firstly we went to TBS (Taylor’s Business School) where I was supposed to be “interviewed” – but it turned out that I wasn’t required for the interview and that I would have to type up my answers to the questions since they didn’t have that much time. But we managed to play some snooker and my luck was good and I managed to get a few balls in (no I didn’t manage to win…). After that we headed towards the Batu Caves – I was quite excited and looking forward to the famous Batu Caves – it is a place of worship for Hindus but I expected that there were some interesting rock formations or something. The first thing that I noticed about Batu caves was that it was exactly like India – there were lots of small shops scattered at the bottom of Batu caves and it seemed like I had returned to just another temple. There stood a magnificent statue of Lord Murugan, one of the gods worshipped coated in pure gold. The day was hot and we could feel a certain stink around the temple – as we walked up the stairs I realised that there wasn’t a lot to see other than a few hundred caves. There was only one major cave and while it was worth seeing, it wasn’t all that amazing. The temple was not impressive – perhaps it is because I have been to many more temples, perhaps it was just the dirt and rubbish that turned me off, but the temple simply failed to impress. Along the way we found the bins of rubbish dumped on the side, with hens and birds trying to scavenge what they could find – but I couldn’t find myself in connection with the caves or nature.

Later on after being let down by the Batu Caves, we went to Ikea to eat lunch – I normally don’t write about my lunches but this one should be mentioned. I had European food – it was roasted chicken in teriyaki sauce with vegetables and it cost me my entire food budget for the day but for once I didn’t complain. The food was tasteful and I enjoyed my first taste of European food in months. It was a pleasant change from the Chinese food that I have most of the day. Then later on that night we went to karaoke – karaoke was good fun – a good place to relax and incredibly cheap compared to New Zealand. They provided light snacks and also some Coke for us to drink. I managed to listen to a few hundred Chinese songs (slight exaggeration) and the one thing I learnt is that Chinese and Malay people are a sad race – they like to listen to boring music that is suitable for sleeping but definitely not for karaoke… Along the way I sang of course and I managed to even get a Hindi song to be played (yay for me!). At the night of the day I returned to the hostel satisfied with the time I had spent and not looking forward to work the next day.

Tuesday: - Work was as normal – planned some stuff for future workshops – mostly for the workshop on Wednesday. There was not a lot more to do…

Wednesday: - It was a day we were both anticipating but fearing as we were going back to SMK Kelana Jaya and taking on a group of young students. Our previous experience with young students hadn’t been the best, with most of the kids unable to grasp the message of HIV in entirety – so we had remodelled our workshop. However this time we managed to pull it off again – for the last few workshops due to my sore throat I had not been at the top of my form, but for this workshop I was back in form and firing – our programme managed to entertain them. We experienced slight problems working in small groups as the groups were not small and I managed to get my group to go outside on a badminton court – some of our other groups had problems with noise and the kids were quite active and sometimes pesky but it worked out at the end of the day. After that we were treated to lunch with the school staff. It was good to interact the teachers and find out a bit more about Malaysian schools.

Thursday: - We were on holiday again for an Indian festival called Thaipusalam – personally I had no clue about what Thaipusalam was and I still don’t really know – but all I know is that millions of people go to Batu Caves and poke needles into themselves and go into trance. None of which sounded too interesting and because we had already visited Batu Caves we decided to give it a skip. Instead we had decided that we wanted to travel to Melaka – a historical city close to Kuala Lumpur. We had planned on taking the bus but then Sandy and Chung (two of the members of the M.C. of Malaysia) were able to take us there, which was quite good of them. On the way to Melaka we played some Korean games, which were designed to make me lose but I didn’t complain (too much that is). After that we reached Melaka and had lunch – the place seemed quite ordinary and a bit of small town. Lunch was interesting as we had chicken and rice balls – basically balls of rice that were apparently invented by miners because they didn’t have too much time to actually eat the rice properly. After that we went to the tourist spot of Melaka or the city centre. There for the first time since coming to Malaysia I felt like I was a tourist and that I was experiencing something new – something that I couldn’t see elsewhere. We visited an old fort called Fort Amosa and took a few snaps – I enjoyed taking in the sights and we could see the harbour from there. Melaka was a historical port with the Portuguese first colonising it and then followed by the Dutch and so on. So there is quite a bit of European influence in the design of the town. Then we visited a museum where we spent a fair amount of time. At the end of that we went to the Portuguese settlement – this is the place where apparently the Portuguese still live but I didn’t see a single Portuguese – what I did see was an old hut, some tourist shops and a lovely place to sit by the sea and chat. And that is exactly what we did – we played some more stupid (in a good way) games with cards and then at the end of the journey returned for dinner. We had dinner at a place that served satay celup. For of us who do not know what means, it is basically when you pick sticks of raw fish, meat or vegetables. After that each table has a pot in the middle that has satay gravy boiling – there is a gas stove under the table that powers this pot. As the gravy boils, you dip the raw vegetable/meat/fish and wait till it cooks – it was quite a good interesting experience and the food tasted good. Later on that night we returned back to M.C. and went to sleep.

Friday: - We started work quite early with a meeting at the International School of Kuala Lumpur at nine. We were told by Geralyn to reach the place by eight thirty in the morning and we, being the punctual responsible people we are reached there by ten past eight. Of course Geralyn was slightly late (she had lost her way) but all in all we reached the office of the lady we were supposed to meet by nine. The school looks more like a resort than a school and seems to have all the facilities that are found in a resort. The children do not dress in uniform and from their stature and posture one can see a sort of arrogance. We immediately realised that our silly raps and dances would probably not be enough to entertain these kids and that we had some work to do – fortunately we had prepared a reasonably sophisticated presentation and we were able to impress (to a certain degree) the teachers of the school and were told that we would be contacted with the day. All in all the school was quite impressive and I wondered if it was worth going to a school like that – and also the lifestyles of the children that lived there. It was quite interesting – later on we returned to work and didn’t have too much to do – we had a couple of meetings to do but I decided to stay back at office and work on an article. At night we were to take a bus to Johor for a weekend trip.

The Johor Trip

The Johor trip began on Friday evening when we took a bus from Kuala Lumpur to Johor Bahru. It was a trip being organised by the AIESEC committee in Johor Bahru and it was specifically for interns to come along and it seemed like a good idea – for me it was a way to see Malaysia and get some company at the same time. Jong Tae, Simone, Eri and I planned to go on the trip but unfortunately Eri couldn’t make it as she had to work. So it was the three of us on the intern trip with another Japanese intern called Takuya who we had not met. I didn’t have high expectations as most people had raised their eyebrows when I had said I was going to Johor saying that there was absolutely nothing to do or see in Johor Bahru. But from the emails that I had received it seemed at least that we were going to do something. The bus journey was quite comfortable – the bus was ugly on the outside but the seats were comfortable and I could put my seat into flat position, as I had nobody behind me. I fell asleep immediately and then woke up once we got to our first toilet break. We had been told to get off at Sri Putri – a bus station before Johor Bahru as it was closer to UTM (University Teknologi Malaysia) and we were going to be staying at UTM. I was a bit worried about where to get off because I had no idea what Sri Putri was, or where it was but thankfully a lady sitting in front of me was also going to get off at the same station. We reached Sri Putri around one o clock in the night and we were met by one girl called June and one guy called Siao – they were quite friendly but we were tired and then they showed us to the rooms. The rooms were in a hostel in UTM – the rooms were quite spacious and I managed to get a room to myself – Jong Tae and Takuya slept in another room. The only negative side was that there was no attached toilet but hey it was only for two days so nobody minded. We reached our rooms around two o clock and I took some time getting to sleep.

The next morning our trip started from eight thirty in the morning – we went to the cafeteria place of UTM – UTM has a large campus – it’s almost like a village in its entirety and almost all students are expected to live on campus in their hostel. The breakfast was good and then we met other AIESECers who were going to accompany us. There were in total 18 AIESECers that were going with us and I managed to get know a few of them. They had hired a bus for us that was going to take us to a fruit farm first and then onto a fishing village called Kukup. I was told by Eky (the guy who was acting as a guide) that the bus wasn’t very good so the journey might be a tad uncomfortable. So here I was imagining a run down public bus and praying that I would reach the destination safely when I saw a modern air conditioned bus stop in front of us. From then on the arrangements only went on to surprise us – they had worked hard to organise the trip and overall it was fun. The fruit farm was a pleasant stop and I managed to eat my fair share of fruits for the trip including jackfruit which I normally never have. Then we proceeded onto Kukup village where we had lunch. In the afternoon we visited a Chinese temple and it was really good – we relaxed quite a lot and I fell asleep on the floor for half an hour or so. After we woke up we took a boat to visit the mangroves. It was once the largest mangrove in the world and played a vital role in preventing the tsunami in reaching and destroying the southern part of Malaysia. However now due to natural processes and human intervention it is no longer the largest mangrove in the world but it is large nonetheless. We took a walk through the park, climbed through a rope bridge and enjoyed the natural sights – once again I felt satisfied at seeing something new. The life of the fishing village surprised me – everything was so traditional – none of the houses were locked – and actually none of the houses had toilets – they were drop down toilets as the houses were on stilts. I saw more rats that I have ever seen and also a few mudskippers. At one point we were entertaining ourselves by watching mudskippers fight each other. Later we visited the place they caught fish and saw some of the fish they had caught. Then we went for a seafood buffet dinner where we enjoyed specialties such as fish, crab, shrimp and mussels. It was satisfying and later on we returned towards Johor to visit a place called Danga Bay. Just to clear up any confusion – Johor is a state, one of the largest in Malaysia and Johor Bahru is the capital. We stayed outside Johor Bahru, inside the UTM campus and visited places that were around a hundred kilometres away from UTM – so not too close by. Danga Bay on the other hand was closer to Johor Bahru and it is basically like a waterfront of the sea overlooking Singapore – it was good to relax. There I found out that students in UTM had to return to their campus by twelve every night, and girls and guys are separated as in their hostels are located far away from each other, and that social life is not very active.

On Sunday morning, we went to have breakfast and I met Tina who was the person who had been organising the whole trip. We then went down to Tanjung Piai – the southern most tip of Mainland Asia. There is a national park there and we saw an iguana, a few small lizards, some sea snakes and a few monkeys. Once again I simply absorbed the sights and also spent some time getting to know the members of AIESEC. After spending a couple of hours there we returned to Johor to have lunch, pack our bags and then return to KL. Since we had work on Monday we had to get back to KL before too late, and they had arranged for our transport. Overall I had a wonderful time in Johor- both seeing the sights but also meeting new people – I was touched by their generosity and the planning that they had done and it was a pity that I didn’t manage to spend more time with them but that is what life is.

Half way summary

It has been four weeks since I have been in Malaysia and I have another five weeks to go. It has been over eight weeks since I left New Zealand. There is no doubt that I miss my country, my home and my family but so far I think the experience has been invaluable. There is the personal development of myself – which comes from interacting with different people, sharing in their experiences, working in a team and experiencing life as it is. On top of that I guess life is never simple, we all face our own obstacles and our own challenges and it is up to us as individuals to take on responsibility and face up to those challenges. It is sometimes easier to think that the sea is bluer on the side of the ocean, but what we must do is look at the sea on our side and if it is dirty, we must try to make it clean. We all face difficulties and obstacles but we must stand up and fight against them – we can’t simply hope to run away from them. On that note I end this blog.

The Week that (Part Three)

2007-01-30T18:29:00.000-08:00

The Week that Was (Part Three) Ending 27^th January 2007

Sunday – we went sightseeing around KL. We decided to pay a visit to KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Centre) as Simone wanted to see what it was like. We also wanted to find out a place to go during Chinese New Year and while I wasn’t too certain whether I would actually go I wanted to see the options available. We visited the good old MTC again (Malaysian Tourist Centre) and agreed that Langkawi was the best destination to visit. After visiting KLCC we decided to take the LRT (Light Rail Transport) to Masjid Jamek – a major intersection from where we would be able to visit the major sightseeing spots. From Masjid Jamek we planned on visit Masjid India – a place filled with Indians trying to sell Indian and other types of merchandise. On the way to the place we got lost a few times and by the time we reached Masjid India all of us were feeling really hungry. We managed to find an Indian restaurant and I had biriyani two types of chicken and one vegetable. The food there was superb but unfortunately as I found out the price was quite high as well. After Masjid India we walked over to the Supreme Court and Merdeka square – the sight was quite beautiful but it was really hot so most of the time I stayed in the shade while Jong Tae went out to take photos. At that time Sandy joined us which was good as it meant we had to walk less. From there we went to the Central Market where a lot of souvenirs are sold. Once again I didn’t buy anything because I wasn’t carrying adequate cash but I made up my mind that I would return. From Central Market we proceeded to Pudoraya, which is the major bus station in KL. We checked out the prices for the bus journey to Johor and then went to Chinatown or Petaling Street. It was quite the sight and I was taken aback with how big it was – everywhere I looked I could see Rolexes, Gucci’s Nikes Adidases you name it and it was there. At that time it started raining as well and then having looked through all the stores we decided to return. We had dinner at Annalakshmi – which is a vegetarian restaurant supported by a local temple. The food was quite good and then we returned to Millennium Court where we chatted for a while.

Monday and Tuesday: - we tried to sort our upcoming schedules and plan for the workshops that were coming up.

Wednesday: - We visited SMK Kelana Jaya to host two workshops. The students were quite different from those at Sri Sentosa- these were far more conservative students having come from a religious background. We had our first workshop with a younger batch of students – of the ages of 13-15 and their English was not as good as we expected. All in all however both groups seemed to enjoy our workshop and were hopefully able take the key messages. At Kelana Jaya my voice broke after the workshop as I had ice tea and then tried to shout in the second workshop. However I managed to survive the day and we came back exhausted. On Wednesday we worked for a very long time trying to come up with a new programme for the children on Thursday – there was a lot of debate as to what would be done, how it would be done etc and quite a lot of productive time was wasted. At the end of the day we finished work at around ten o clock at night – this is after having started work at seven o clock in the morning.

Thursday: - If working that late wasn’t bad enough we had to get up and go to the new school Subang Utama by seven thirty in the morning. We managed to reach the school in time and once again this school was quite different from the other ones. This school is located in the upper middle class area of Subang Jaya and the grounds seemed quite nice. Our workshop ran into some problems as the microphones were not working too well and I ended up straining my voice trying to shout. At the end of the workshop we returned back to office and tried to plan what would be needed for the next workshop on Saturday. At the end of the day we decided to stick with our original programme – but we modified it slightly so that Jong Tae and I would have to rap to the song “Where is the Love” by Black Eyed Peas. I didn’t mind as long as it allowed the students to have a bit of enjoyment. On Thursday we quit work quite early and then Eri and Eddie (her boyfriend) took us to Hartamas – a posh locality here. There we played pool at a place called Breakers and also managed to relax. On the way we also visited a sports and recreational centre. The centre offers world-class facilities with everything from extreme sports to soccer to a rock-climbing course being available. And all of this paid for by the Malaysian Government. Later on we returned to the hostel we get some sleep.

Friday: - was a boring day with very little being done either in office or outside. Jong Tae and I tried to rehearse for our rap. I didn’t do anything but came back to the hostel and then slept… was uneventful.

Saturday: - in the morning visited Subang Utama – we found out that there was no power available in the classrooms which essentially meant that Jong Tae and I had to rap without any music or beats. We took up the challenge and while we were no Eminem or Fiddy Cent we were able to break the ice – which was what it was all about. The session went off pretty well with Jong Tae providing some invaluable improvisation. After school we came back to Millennium Court to rest and plan for the rest of the day. Later on we went to KLCC again in order for Jong Tae and Simone to confirm their accommodation in Langkawi. This time we were accompanied by two girls, Yvonne and Michelle both of them who are AIESECERS and also reside in Millennium Court. After KLCC we took a LRT and then the monorail to go to a place called Bukit Bintang – there we visited a shopping mall where there were a lot of people and cheap stuff. Here I found the heaven for me – an electronics shopping paradise with phones and gadgets of all types being available. After that we went to have dinner and then we decided to visit a place called Starhill Café – the place was probably built for people who have enough money to buy the world ten times over – it was quite the experience. In the middle of the café there was an open space where they played jazz music – it was really good and we all enjoyed it. But the most impressive place in the whole building was the toilet. The toilet seemed more like a cave and was very well decorated. On top of that there was a man standing on the side that pulled a lever, which allowed the water to flow through bamboos in order for people to wash themselves. I had thought that the toilets at five-star hotels were good but this was one step higher. After Starhill café we decided to go to Bangsar – but not G Spot this time – went to a place called the Lock up – it seemed that everyone there was drunk and the music was quite loud so once again we sat on the pavement so that we could actually talk rather than lose our ears to the blaring music. At the end of the day we returned to Millennium Court around two o’clock in the morning. All in all it was a good day.

The Week that Was (Part Two)

2007-01-22T02:30:00.000-08:00

The Week that was

Ending 20^th January 07

Two weeks have passed and I’ve been living in Malaysia on my own. The first week was tough but the second week has been a breeze. Work has now picked up and we’ve managed to now plan our entire workshop. Last weekend I did absolutely nothing other than sleep and then on Sunday we went to see a movie called A Night at the Museum. Jong Tae and I went to a mall nearby called Amcorp Mall and we saw the less flashy side of Malaysia. The mall in itself wasn’t too bad but it did not measure up to the other malls we had visited. On Monday, a new intern called Simone from Holland arrived. We spent most of the time getting to know her, bringing her up to speed about the project. Most of this week was spent working – we didn’t visit too many places because by the time we finished work we were reasonably exhausted and simply wanted to relax. Also we were trying to provide moral support to the newest intern – we were the ones now encouraging the newest interns and assuring them that things would work out. Other than that nothing really happened – we stayed up quite late on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night just getting to know each other. On Thursday night however we were completely exhausted and we dozed off around ten o clock in the evening. Friday was the big day for us. We were to deliver our first workshop on HIV/AIDS to the Interact Club of SMK Sri Sentosa. On the way to planning this workshop we had encountered many hiccups – including how to deliver it, what games to play and most importantly what material to include.

As one may imagine some of the material regarding HIV/AIDS can be quite controversial and some of us acknowledged this and believed we should follow a politically correct line. Coming from an Asian background, I was able to identify the concerns of the teachers and the generally stigma associated with HIV/AIDS – while one can disagree with the stigma and the lack of education on certain sectors such as sexuality one must understand that we are not part of Malaysian society and for us it is important we not offend any part of their culture. However some of the team mates were adamant that we provide the complete picture on AIDS – including some not so comfortable tips on sexuality – especially when it came to condoms. We were told right from the start to avoid talking about the C word as it is seen as encouraging sex. Whether or not we personally agree with that statement is irrelevant – we were told to avoid it and we should. Yet life is not so simple and we spent many hours arguing about how to include material that would provide an “overall” picture. Personally I always support taking the politically correct line and when we were given guidelines to follow it was important that we stuck to them. Fortunately the whole team came to acknowledge that while we personally may not appreciate the restrictions it was important for the sake of the project and educating the children we stick to the guidelines. We were interested in making the session about AIDS not just another boring lecture on what to do and what not to do – we wanted to do something interactive and fun and so we came up with a list of games.

By Friday we were simply raring to go – we were all secretly nervous though none of us would admit it. For me it was a feeling of déjà vu – of returning to yet another school to give a presentation. I was eagerly anticipating how it would be like – I had been asked to conduct the role of a moderator/M.C. and I wanted to see if my public speaking skills were still up to scratch. After all having left school I hadn’t had too many opportunities for me to utilise my speaking skills so I wasn’t too sure if I could pull it off. I wanted it to be fun – I wanted the kids to enjoy themselves while learning about the deadliest threat to humanity. It turned out to be a lot easier than I thought – the kids were really co operative and enthusiastic – we managed to entertain them with our rather hilarious dances – yes I danced – apparently quite out of beat but hey one can’t have it all. It was good interacting with the school children of Malaysia – they seemed to have enjoyed the session and also learnt about HIV/AIDS. All in all it was a successful workshop with all parties satisfied.

On Friday night after the workshop we went out with the M.C. (Managing Committee) for dinner and then headed to an area called Bangsar, which contains a lot of pubs. Alcohol is hard to obtain in Malaysia as it is an Islamic nation but in places like Bangsar where it is available it is incredibly expensive. It is possible to get food here from 4 ringgit (approximately $2) but beer costs around 40 ringgit ($20) – to me it didn’t matter since I don’t drink but it also explains why most Malaysians are not too keen on drinking. It is just far too expensive. We tried looking around for bars where there was enough space for all of us to sit down and talk but it seemed hard to find. Finally we found a bar called G(eez) Spot… all I have to say is that the music was too loud, the crowd was completely Indian and full of guys and well, when I’m old and ugly I might consider visiting it. But on the positive side we managed to get a table near the veranda and were able to at least hear each other. We didn’t’ stay too long – there was nothing to do and then we headed back to Millenium Court to relax.

Today I slept in until eleven thirty in the morning in order to compensate for all the sleep I lacked during the previous days. We had a meeting at three thirty in the afternoon – we were to meet the Football Association of Malaysia to conduct an AIDS workshop with the youth that attended their football program. It went off well and we were able to set a date a couple of weeks from.

Overall I’m getting used to Malaysia and I’m starting to enjoy my time. I know I will be returning to New Zealand in seven weeks time and while I can’t wait I want to ensure that I make the best out of this seven weeks – allow myself to develop and also enjoy the Malaysian side of life!

Adios amigos!

Btw to check out my photos visit http://profdip.spaces.live.com

The Week that Was

2007-01-14T19:11:00.000-08:00

Ending Saturday January the 13^th 2007.

Life here is full on and therefore I have been unable to write any sort of diary entry for the last week. Therefore I have come to the decision that I will write a diary for a whole week on either a Saturday or Sunday when I am on holiday. So let us take a trip down memory lane looking back on last week’s adventures.

I left Kolkata on Saturday the 6^th of January very early in the morning. I had to leave my cousin sister’s house at 4 o clock in the morning in order to catch my flight to Mumbai. My trip in Kolkata overall was very good. I enjoyed myself thoroughly and managed to relax and have fun. I was supposed to reach Mumbai at around 8.30 in the morning and then my flight to Kuala Lumpur (KL) was at eleven o’clock at night. I planned to stay inside the Mumbai airport for the duration of twelve hours but my cousins pointed out that would be difficult seeing the lack of facilities. However I could really do nothing. I didn’t want to visit any family friends and I had too much luggage to carry around visiting the city. So at the end of the day I decided I would spend the day at a hotel. Once I reached Mumbai Airport I took a domestic bus transfer to the international airport. Once at the airport I hailed down a cab and told the driver to take me to the biggest hotels close by. When I asked the driver to do this I expected him to take me to a three star or four star hotel where things would be reasonably affordable. But unfortunately the driver didn’t quite understand my monetary limitations and therefore he took me to a place where three of the largest and most expensive hotels were situation. They were the Hyatt, the Grand Sheraton and Royal Meridien. From the outside the Royal Meridien looked smaller and therefore less expensive so I decided to disembark there.

Alas the Royal Meridien was just as fancy and expensive as the rest and now my finances were coming under pressure. Before I left on my trip my mother had offered me more money. Since I was planning to stay inside the airport for a whole day I didn’t see any reason to carry excess cash, and therefore I refused. I was actually willing to carry out the whole day with a hundred rupees (around $3) – I had never thought about food or other things I might have to buy. But thankfully my parents had insisted I carry more money and I ended up with around a thousand rupees (about $30) – in addition to this I obviously had my lifeline i.e. my credit card. Now to have buffet lunch would have put me back by over seven hundred rupees, which meant that I would very little, or nothing remaining for dinner. At this point I was starting to realise how stupid I had been to carry no cash. As a result I was forced to buy the cheapest dish on the a la carte menu and offer absolutely no tips. On a positive note the food was delicious. Spending time at the five star hotel was really a breeze – their facilities are fantastic and I ended up spending time inside their business centre checking email. In the meanwhile I decided I wanted to go out and visit a mall and buy myself a book. I managed to hail an auto rickshaw, which took me to a mall where there were no books – in the end I managed to get ripped off by the rickshaw driver for around three hundred rupees. By the end of my stay at the hotel I had only ninety rupees remaining. Staying at five star hotel is fantastic – you get treated with great importance and what not, but on the negative side it also means that money is not of importance to you. Therefore taxi drivers charge ten times more taking you to the airport if you come out of a five star hotel than if you just go normally. Therefore if I was going to catch a normal taxi (i.e. a non AC one) it would cost me more than Rs 150. I didn’t have that sort of money on me and I was unable to withdraw any cash from the hotel as I wasn’t a guest. So I was forced to tell the concierge at the hotel that I was actually out of cash so it would be good if he could get me an auto. This also turned out to be a problem but I did manage to get myself an auto and inside the airport I only had fifty rupees. After calling back home in India and New Zealand I practically had nothing remaining (just about ten to fifteen rupees) and I was unable to buy myself a drink I dearly wanted. At this point of time I was starting to realise the drawbacks of travelling alone and that while many advocate the life of living alone it wasn’t the easiest thing on this planet. I managed to hold out however and then got myself aboard the plane. There ends my Saturday and my journey in India.

Sunday

The plane flight was good however by the time I touched down in KL I was totally exhausted and tired. I took a transit train to KL Sentral from where my AIESEC host Daryl was going to pick me up. I had talked to Daryl a few times on the internet but I had no idea what he was like. I reached the station a bit early and therefore had to wait but soon Daryl and three of his friends, Sook Ting, Mei and Soo greeted me. The first thing I had to do was withdraw cash as I had no foreign currency and only a few US dollars. Therefore I went to an ATM machine and tried to withdraw cash. A message appeared on the machine saying, “Your card is being verified” and I closed my eyes waiting for it to hurry up. Then suddenly my card got pulled inside the machine and a message came up saying, “Your card has been retained – contact your nearest bank for technical assistance.” I simply didn’t move – I felt numb and I couldn’t believe that this was happening to me. I was stuck in a completely new foreign place and I had no money and my only ticket to freedom (i.e. my credit card) was also now gone. I had heard things about Malaysia and its corruption so I was fairly certain that my card and I were a goner. Fortunately at this time Daryl came in and immediately started calling the bank. The bank informed him that nothing could be done until Monday as all banks were closed on Sunday but it shouldn’t be a major problem. I managed to get some money of Daryl to buy myself a small breakfast and then we headed to the hostel. The hostel looked survivable from the outside but when I entered my room I felt worse. The room was all over the place, with both beds scattered with litter and clothes – it felt like there was no space for me to live in. On top of this the designers of this hostel were either blind or so cruel that they made the fan on one side of the room which meant that the person occupying the bed on that side could live, while the other person could die from heat exhaustion (slight exaggeration) – I obviously didn’t have the fan side since I was coming in later so that didn’t help me feel better. On top of this I can’t stand heat and apparently things were really going to heat up especially in February. I truly felt like just closing my eyes and returning to New Zealand – alas I am no magician and hence I was forced to stay in reality. I managed to transport some of the rubbish from one bed to the other and then lay down to get some rest. Soon after I had laid down my roommate returned.

Apparently his ex roommate hadn’t cleared out his stuff and as a result the room was so messy. The other roommate returned as well and I found out that he had been working on an AIESEC project just before me so I felt slightly better. After he cleaned up his mess the room seemed a lot better. I then hit the bed and went off to sleep. During the evening I met the other intern I was going to work with – his name was Jong Tae and he was from South Korea. He seemed decent and therefore things were starting to get better. We had a farewell party for the previous interns and so we went to the shopping mall. There we bought a few necessities such as bread, jam, a new SIM card and a pillow. I was fairly subdued that evening as I was constantly worrying about my credit card and what would happen if I couldn’t recover it. I hadn’t told my parents anything and I had no plan to until everything worked out. However I met a few good people at the dinner so I didn’t have too much time to think about all that. Once I returned to my room I immediately hit the bed and I went to sleep. The next day we woke up and the first thing I did was visit the bank. At the bank I was told that my credit card could not be recovered until the next Monday, as there were certain procedure to follow. I was shocked to hear this as I had little money and while Daryl had loaned me a suitable amount I didn’t want to live off him. At this point I decided to play aggressive and decided to speak to the clerk. I informed the person that I was cashless with no money and barely able to survive and that recovering my card by next Monday was simply too late. I needed it back tomorrow at the latest and if I didn’t I planned on visiting the New Zealand Embassy and they could contact the higher officials in the bank. I had planned this move from before, as I knew that Malaysian officials were slack and that the only way of getting things done was through the fear of threat or by giving bribes. Since I had no money bribes were out of question therefore the only option was threat. It was amazing the change in attitude from the banker once I had mentioned the embassy. He assured immediately that they would try to get the card back by tomorrow and there was no need to go to the embassy, as it was very simple. He asked me to call a bank official on Tuesday to find out the status of the card. I was convinced that he would try to hurry things up but I wasn’t convinced how well he could do it or whether he would actually do it. So while he had reassured me I wasn’t convinced. On Monday we visited the AIESEC office where we were going to work from and later went to have dinner at a mall. On Tuesday Jong Tae and I had nothing to do and therefore we decided to visit KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Centre). We managed to find our way there and then tried to figure out if there were any sights to see. Alas the only things that were to see were huge shops, which sold products that would run me dry with or without my credit card. On top of that we were tired from walking around the whole day we wanted to sit down somewhere. So we decided to do what I had done in Mumbai and visited a five star hotel called Mandarin Oriental. At the hotel we sat down on their comfortable lounge suites and pored over tourist maps trying to figure out if there was any thing to see. At the same time I decided to call the banker to find out whether I would recover my card as by this time I had formulated another way out. The banker informed me that my card was safe and that I could pick it up later that night or tomorrow.

I was relieved and immediately my spirits returned. Jong Tae was amazed to see the quick change in my mood and we started out to find a place called MTC. We had no idea what it was and we got lost several times trying to find out. No one in KL seemed to have heard of MTC and we had no idea what it stood for. I thought it might stand for Malaysia Trade Centre but that seemed unlikely seeing there was a trade centre in KLCC called Petronas Trade Towers. Finally we located the much anticipated MTC and it turned out to be Malaysian Tourist Centre. The Centre was quite good and I managed to find out that there was a lot to see in Malaysia and at that point I was determined to see as much of Malaysia I could see (once I got my card back of course). We spent around an hour in there before returned to KLCC to take a trip up to the sky bridge of the Petronas towers. That was short uneventful and unimpressive. Later exhausted we returned to MC (Millennium Court our hostel) and there I found out that my roommate was moving out. This firstly meant that Jong Tae could move in to the room but more importantly it meant that I could get the fan side of the room! Things were starting to get a lot better. In the evening JT (Jong Tae) and I went to the KFC next door and spent around two hours having one Coca Cola and one pop corn chicken – our policy by now was simple – spend the least amount of time in the hostel and most of the time outside at any air conditioned place.

On Wednesday morning we went to the bank (after getting lost a few times) and finally managed to recover my credit card. Daryl and JT described my face as having completely changed – almost as if light was pouring out my face, and my smile ever so beaming and my voice ever so joyful. Truth be told I did feel very relieved and now life seemed a lot better. I had no doubt that I could now enjoy my time in Malaysia. We then went to work where we received our project briefing. I won’t go into that too much other than the fact that our project is to educate high school students about HIV/AIDS and we have plan from scratch workshops designed to educate them. Our project manager is Eri and she’s from Japan and she’s pretty cool. We also have an AIESEC’er called Geralynn who co ordinates all the work with the schools etc. The project seems fun and challenging as we get to interact with Malaysian students and learn about life in Malaysia as well. We also met another intern from India called Preeti. It seemed that Preeti had visited MC and had been so taken aback that she had left and gone to live with her relatives. At night we went to a AIESEC club in one of the universities – the club was called UKM and the university grounds are huge. It’s like a entire village with everything available inside this campus starting from banks to hospitals to hostels. We stayed there for a while and then around eleven thirty we managed to return. I spent one hour writing a diary entry and then I was so tired that I closed the document without saving it… how stupid was that? By this time my roommate had cleared the room so I was able to occupy the fan side – and for the first time I actually felt slightly cold (ha!). The next morning we visited a NGO called FFPM – Federation of Family Planning in Malaysia – the meeting was unproductive and I learnt that working with NGO’s can be a pain in the backside. Then we returned to work and started on our project.

At night we visited AIESEC in another university called University of Malaya – we met more people and then went out for supper at a place called Moonies – it was fun but we got back home at around twelve thirty and were completely exhausted. Yesterday we visited Unicef, which was actually quite good and our spirits started to return. We again went back to the drawing board and made progress on the work. We have to visit our first school on Friday so we need to things sorted by then. Then at night we again went to another university called Taylor’s Business School – TBS is actually the Local Committee hosting me and it’s a private university. They were trying to recruit new AIESEC members and we tried to help them out. The recruitment apparently was a huge success and then later again we went for supper at a place close by. By the time we returned and went to sleep it was about twelve thirty. Both JT and I were determined to sleep in and do nothing on Saturday. So here I am at twelve thirty four in the afternoon writing my diary entry in peace and just enjoying my time in Malaysia!

Unfortunately I am not able to put any pictures into my blog since I don’t know how to…

India finished

2007-01-10T01:13:00.000-08:00

Who are we trying to kid?

I’ve been in Bombay for about 24 hours now – I came here last night and was received by a family friend called Rajesh Uncle. The flight was slightly late and I have covered the major details of it in my last entry. This entry shall explore the first full day I spent in Bombay and various things that I managed to observe. The first big point that I managed to observe was that the weather in Bombay is very hot and humid – yes, I know it sounds obvious but it’s the truth. I managed to decent night of sleep – I was sleeping in an air-conditioned room so it wasn’t too hard. I woke up early in the morning around seven thirty when Panthi, the daughter of Rajesh Uncle was leaving for her school. She used to study at Mount Roskill Primary before but then had to come to Bombay and has started going to an International school here. The school is very expensive even when converted to New Zealand dollars. But beyond the money aspect lays a deeper problem and that is to do with the fundamental differences between the perceptions of what an education system is meant to be.

Here students are put under tremendous pressure to conform and study as hard as they can – yet they are also encouraged to develop a wholesome attitude that incorporates extra curricular activities in their lives. People here believe in religion and God – they are willing to slaughter anybody who utters a foul word against their faith yet when they enter the holy places, all they can do is take photos – instead of spending time meditating on the spirituality of the place we simply stop to take snaps. So in return for pressing a button we expect a lifelong of blessings from our dear gods – and when things don’t go the way we want we complain that the Gods have deserted us – I just wonder exactly who are we kidding?

We live a life where we ride modern cars, in absolute luxury guarded from the glares of publicity by tinted windows – we buy cars that set us back lakhs sometimes even crores – we tell ourselves that we are headed towards economic growth, propelling ourselves towards a status of wealth and equality – yet if you dare to look outside, dare to put the windows down you will see world entirely different to the one to your imagination. People walking on the street barefoot clad with nothing but a torn shirt – hawkers sitting on the footpaths crying out for sales, and auto rickshaws pushing past each other. Here we sit inside our cars talking on our flash phones, commenting on rapid growth, dreaming perfect lives for ourselves, yet outside our built up bubbles, lies a wasteland, forever expanding and all we do is ignore it. Once again who are we trying to kid?

It seems in my experience and observations of the city of Mumbai that the people here try to build false illusions around their lives. Firstly we talk about India entering a phase of rapid growth – yet look at the streets of Mumbai – on one hand we have the latest cars from Mercedes to Hondas – yet side by side the roads are congested, sometimes filled with pot holes and overrun with polluting traffic wrecking auto rickshaws. Undoubtedly people here are earning more than they ever used to and they sing praises to the outside world – we are now earning more – this is the place to be – to make a fortune, a grand living. Not only are we earning more but we have the places to spend now – the malls are extensive, comparable to any modern malls in Western countries – we have world class brands and outlets – but ponder this?

We may have more money but where do we have the time? In return for earning this money, ordinary people are forced to stay back late at offices, compromise on relationships – put business before family – so while we earn more, do we enjoy our life more? I often joke that if my father had stayed in India he would carved out a fortune for himself – coming to Bombay and also hearing about other people’s experiences I’m certain that this would have happened – yet there would have been a hidden cost. A cost that would have been all too dear for his family – the relationships that my family has been able to form rises from the fact that the four of us are normally together at the dinner table – that we are able to do things together and discuss our lives without being interrupted continuously by cell phone calls. It is true that perhaps the earning power is larger here – that executives nowadays are earning more, and are able to buy the same goods and services that Westerners now enjoy – but what point is there?

We buy first class clothes, only to be worn at business meetings – not at parties with friends – and when we go to parties, it is only to network and form closer bonds – not to enjoy ourselves. We buy first hand cars, yet the only ones to ride them are the wives and the children – most of the time we are stuck in the vicinity of our offices unable to enjoy the precious time we have.

On the roads, we see people blaring their horns to the maximum – in the desperate hope that their horns can cause the traffic to divert and the roads to clear – but exactly who are we trying to kid?

We look at the polluted streams of our cities and we complain – we blame the people, curse the mannerisms of our society – we wonder how these streams became so dirty that we cannot dare to step into them – cannot dare to enjoy the wonders of nature – to feel the coolness of the water trickling down our body – we cannot be in touch with nature and so we grumble. Yet when we have finished our papri chats we are so impatient that instead of holding on to our plates and searching for bins, all we can do is toss it into the side of the street or perhaps over the bridge. And then when we complain who is dirtying our streams! What a terrible country we live! Who are we trying to kid?

So you find out that all the politicians are corrupt and lazy – you’d gladly spit at their faces, remove their ugly faces from this world, and bury their heads so deep that you’d never see them. Yet come election time, you are the one that cheers him on, you are the one that rallies the crowds in his favour, you are the one that asks your friends to vote for him, nay worse still you are the one that brandishes the gun in front of your opponent’s faces? You accuse them of corruption, yet at the office when a person asks you to complete your job, you refuse – when he takes out the hundred-rupee note and puts it down your shirt pocket, you beam your smile and complete the job. And then you condemn the politicians… who are you trying to kid?

Here I was the eternal optimist – believing that money and happiness do not have be trade offs. I believed that if one makes more money one is able to live in luxury and lead a peaceful life. I believed that making money was a very important goal as it led to greater happiness and it should remain a central focus of one’s life. This is because if one has money one has purchasing power and can afford the things they want. Once we have money we can relax and pursue higher goals. I believed that as time goes on we were moving towards equality where all Indians share a piece of the pie – and we can all enjoy a lifestyle that we dream of. I believed that there might come a time where it is possible for Indians to return to their homeland and live in peace. I only wonder now who was I trying to kid?

Besides my rather harsh commentary on life in Mumbai let me recount what I have been doing for the past day. I went a shopping mall yesterday called “Inorbit” – it was quite large and built over three storeys – the stores contained all the latest products and because we went in the afternoon there weren’t a lot of people. I didn’t buy anything but we just roamed around checking out what was on offer. After that returned back to the house and then had lunch. The food here is good even though it is vegetarian – one would be surprised by the amount of variety presented in vegetarian food. After lunch I took a short nap, which was quite satisfying as I got to relax in an air-conditioned room in the heat of the day. I got up around three o clock in the afternoon and we left the house to see a bit of Mumbai. Our first stop was the Iskcon temple – the temple in itself has been well maintained and I was told that they were planning to enlarge the complex. It is at this pint I noticed to my dismay people taking photos of the statues rather than praying. After that we went to a beach called Juhu – until recently it was known quite infamously for its rubbish and hawkers – but in the last two years, the beach has been cleaned up thanks largely to the efforts of a legendary Bollywood actress Hema Malini. I managed to get a view of the Mumbai horizon and then had a corn cob before we left for Worli.

We had some difficulty getting to Worli as both Rajesh Uncle and the driver had not been to that area before but thanks to the ever so helpful taxi drivers we managed to get on track. The traffic at this point was starting to build up and it took us an hour to get from Juhu to Worli. We went to Worli to pay a visit to an old family friend called Debashis Uncle and Debaki Kakima – they also have a daughter called Payal who is a few months older. I was looking forward to the meeting as I was interested in finding out how life is for my generation in Mumbai and I haven’t seen the family for a long time, about five years. We had no major difficulty in finding the house as the directions were reasonably good. It was good catching up with them – Debashish Uncle who was my father’s childhood friend was not home and it is here I learnt that people at an executive level generally do not come back home until at least eight thirty and quite often nine. So this surprised me but both Debaki Kakima and Payal were home – I found out that Payal was studying for a degree in speech therapy – a field that sounded quite interesting. It is here I also found out that she has no real breaks or holidays and her college involves a nine to five day. The idea of working here while being at college is bizarre and foreign, but with the amount of work that they have to do, it really comes as no surprise.

I learnt about the growing property boom in Mumbai and the increasing wealth – but I also heard complaints regarding the family life and social scene. I have to say at this point I was starting to realise once again how lucky I was – and the numerous opportunities I received while being at New Zealand at such a young age. We spent around two hours there talking about both India and New Zealand, mostly them talking about the drawbacks of Indian life and me ranting on about the positives in New Zealand – perhaps I should also mentioned some of the cons. We left their house around eight thirty and then the real journey started. The traffic was absolute horrid – it was worse than Calcutta traffic and I remembered the words of my parents when they said the road congestions in Mumbai was unimaginable. To make things a bit more interesting (note the sarcasm) our driver took a wrong turn and we ended up going in a circle and going further back from the house – so that put us back by at least an hour. At the end of the night we managed to return to the house around ten thirty, eleven completely exhausted. It was indeed a complete experience of Mumbai’s traffic. Soon after I went to bed and had quite a good sleep.

We were supposed to go to the Elephanta caves this morning – so I got up quite early around seven as we were planning to leave about eight thirty to beat the traffic but alas the driver didn’t show up. This meant that we had to change our plans and we decided to go to Essel World instead. Essel world is an amusement park, much like Rainbows End in New Zealand and I had heard that it was quite a good one – so I had decided that I would go there since I haven’t been to an amusement park for a while and Rainbow’s End is outrageously expensive. Before I had come here I visited the Esselworld website which states that it was the largest theme park in Asia. So obviously my expectations were quite high and I looked forward to the trip. In order to reach Esselworld one has to travel by boat as it is situated on a bit of an island. The place from where the boats leave are disgusting and situated next to a rubbish dump. So immediately first impressions were not as rosy as expected and my spirits were reasonably dampened. Also I found that Esselworld was actually split into two – one being Esselworld and the other being Water world (or something like that) – I’m not the greatest fan of water so I decided I would stick to the normal Esselworld. The park looked reasonably good from the outside and then as we entered the first ride we went on was dodgums.

Ever since I was a little boy I have wanted to drive those bumper cars and crash into anyone who stands in my way, so this experience was one that I was looking forward to. Alas again my expectations were suitably lowered and the real product was disappointed. The cars moved slower than turtles so the whole thrill of having high speed chases and crashing into oblivion simply didn’t exist. So now my real expectations of Esselworld were quite low – it didn’t seem as big as the map on the website had shown – I realised that it probably was the biggest amusement park in Asia based on the amount of land owned by the company but definitely this was not a reflection of the quality of the rides. But my experience improved quite well as I went on more rides. Overall however the experience did not live up to what I expected – while there were a few rides, most of them were quite short and similar to each other. There were no real daring rides, except for maybe a couple where we were hung upside down high up in the sky. Having experienced bigger amusement parks in places like Singapore and Australia the experience failed to impress me too much. Overall however some of the rides were thrilling and I did have a pleasant experience. That was all for today and we are planning to visit Elephanta tomorrow.

Written on the 14^th of December 2006.

Elephanta

Well today we had planned to go to Elephanta caves and it required me to get up quite early. I woke up around ten past six which wasn’t too much of a problem as I had gone to sleep quite early (around eleven) )(please note there is no implied sarcasm but eleven is quite early down here). Then I had breakfast and I learnt that Dada (Rajesh Uncle’s father) was going to be accompanying me today. We first took an auto to the bus depot and the auto rickshaw driver was actually pretty good. He even managed to indicate once and didn’t try to outrace cars or buses. So it was an uneventful ride and then we reached the bus depot. We then waited for about five minutes and then we caught the No. 4 bus to take us to Churchgate. I was a bit nervous about how the buses would be like and whether I would cope but I had promised myself at the beginning of this trip that I wouldn’t complain as this was completely voluntary. But as I found out there really was nothing to complain about – the bus depot was one of the earlier stops so we managed to get ourselves some seats. The bus in itself was not too bad – it wasn’t falling apart and the driver followed most of the rules (other than running the red light a couple of times). We travelled through quite a few suburbs that a normal tourist wouldn’t such as the infamous area that is run by Dawood Ebrahim, the mobster. Then we hit old Bombay – the buildings are reminiscent of colonial times. After we got off the bus we took a taxi and travelled to the Gateway of India – the gateway of India was built to commemorate the landing of King George in early nineteen hundreds. The structure is not too big but it is of historical significance. Also on the waterfront stands the majestic old Taj hotel where rooms go for a minimum of US$500. After that we got onto a ferry to take us to the caves of Elephanta. The ferry was in pretty good condition and wasn’t packed with people so that was good. There was a whole ferry packed with South Korean tourists and we had a few Europeans on our boat as well. The ferry ride was quite enjoyable and I was starting to regain my Indian patriotism. I was wholly enjoying my trip now and looking forward to my trip.

On reaching Elephanta, we had to climb a few hundred steps to reach the cave. The caves in itself are a sight to see but unfortunately once again it was highly overrated. There is only one real cave to see and the rest have all crumbled due to neglect on the part of government officials. In addition to this, there are no signs that indicate what each carving signifies. There were a few guides present but most of them spoke Korean or Chinese. The one that spoke English started giving lectures on Hinduism and for a person who is reasonably aware of things such as Shiva it got boring quite quickly. We then ventured to the other side of Elephanta only to find out that there was nothing to see. That took us about half an hour to actually see the caves and another half to walk up and down. It wasn’t the greatest sight seeing pleasure and I don’t know why people rate it so highly. As Dada pointed out, it does have a fancy name of Elephanta and perhaps this is the reason tourists flock there.

We then took the ferry back at twelve thirty – the ferry ride again was quite pleasant though the sight of seeing rubbish floating on the serene ocean did turn me off slightly. But the vast sight of the Bombay horizon and large container ships made me feel quite positive. Once we reached the shore, I found myself staring at a Mercedes – it’s not that I have never seen a Mercedes before but this was a ministerial Mercedes – I could rant on about the hypocrisy of ministers buying Mercedes when people starve to death but I’ll stay off it. Dada and I both cursed the politicians of this country and then had lunch. We lunched at a vegetarian café – it was packed to the brink but it served good food. After that we took a taxi and travelled along Nariman Point and Marine Drive – the roads are in great condition and there are several impressive buildings. I heard that prices on this strip have sold for around Rs.70000 per square feet. I also learnt that money in Mumbai was really not a problem – there are many crore patis here. Then we visited an aquarium – nothing compared to Kelly Tarlton but again I simply absorbed the sights. We saw the chowpatty as well and then we went on towards the Hanging gardens. The Hanging gardens have actually been maintained very well and we took a break there. We enjoyed the sights and then had some bhel puri – we had planned to visit Mahalaxmi temple and give darshan there but there was a huge line so we decided to skip it. Instead we went to the Siddhi Vinayak Temple where there was no line and gave darshan there. There was quite a lot of security at the temple, which gave me a sense of reassurance and satisfaction. We then took a taxi to take us back to the house – once again we got stuck in a huge traffic jam. We saw some landmarks on the way coming back – Dada pointed out the previous bungalows of Amitabh Bacchan and the infamous Harsad Mehta. It took us over an hour and a half to return back. I have to say I have enjoyed today quite a lot – I managed to spend some good time with Dada and practice my Hindi. At no point did I feel any sort of discomfort or unwillingness to travel – rather I believe that by travelling on the bus and taxis I have been able to experience much of authentic Mumbai life. Tomorrow I leave for Kolkata and I look forward to that leg of the journey. I have thoroughly enjoyed my trip and while I wouldn’t like living here visiting is fine.

Landing in Kolkata

Well I left Mumbai on the morning of Saturday, the 16^th of December. My flight was at ten past ten and Hiren, the son of Prakash Uncle (Rajesh Uncle’s brother) was planning to drop me off. I wanted to leave early around seven thirty to ensure that there were no problems with checking in. However Hiren insisted that was too early and we finally left at eight o clock. Traffic was light and it only took us twenty minutes to reach the airport. As it turned out there was no need for me to have reached so early. The domestic airport is quite large and is of world class quality. It took me very little time to get checked in without any great fuss even though my baggage was over the limit by 5 kg. The flight was late by thirty minutes but the waiting area was comfortable. The flight in itself was uneventful and we were even served lunch on the two hour flight. Once I landed Kolkata I didn’t get that same rush of nostalgia as I experience normally. Now it just seemed natural, almost something routine – the city in itself hasn’t changed in the last year. The roads are reasonably good and compared to Bombay the traffic was reasonably good. Other than that I came back and had lunch at my place. Again my house hasn’t changed at all and I got busy from the start. I went out to a shop close by to buy myself some conversion plugs and got my cable TV started. Then I tried to set up our DVD system so I could enjoy some entertainment and then I realised that I couldn’t really use the DVD player since I didn’t have any CDs. Other than that Kolkata is just usual – been visiting relatives and so on – it’s nothing new but it’s fun catching up. That’s all for now!

India continued

2007-01-10T01:11:00.000-08:00

Well in order to keep a sense of continuity I should simply keep going from my last blog entry. Breakfast was good at the hotel – full buffet of course – thankfully I managed to keep control of myself and I didn’t overeat. Well after breakfast I decided to take a few photos of the hotel – then the heat was just unbearable so I decided to seek refuge in my air-conditioned paradise – which was a relief. Once I got into my sanctuary I decided it was time for another stress releasing bath – that was good fun as well. After that I decided I had nothing to do so I went to sleep and watched a bit of telly – nothing too interesting to be honest. Unfortunately I had to check out at two o clock and wait till four o clock in the afternoon before my journey to the airport. The journey was uneventful and I reached the airport with plenty of time to spare – checked in and then talked to a random Pakistani guy that tried to convince me that buying overseas channels such as Zee in New Zealand was the right way to go – fat chance he had of that. Anyway after that we had to catch a train to the other terminal from where my flight was departing – I also found out that I had wireless access to the internet for FREE – so I posted my last blog from there. Here in begins my observations of the ways of Indian people. As you may or may not know, the departure gates from where people board flights are not opened until an hour before the flight – sometimes this time can be less but never more. Therefore it is surprising that people start to queue up outside the departure gate from about one and half hours before the flight. Security personnel are forced to turn them away and instead of getting a seat and relaxing, people stand up straight and wait in line. On the other hand, more relaxed and easy-going people like myself tend to sit on the sides and simply observe. As time passes, the line grows and by the time it comes to actually getting inside the line is fairly long with people trying to push in and what not. Quite disappointing to be honest – anyway the departure gates opened late – people started to enter the gate around 7.00 pm with the flight supposed to leave at 7.20. This obviously caused minor panic with a few inexperienced fliers thinking that the plane would leave without them – while some of us had the good sense to realise that the plane was actually late. Once inside the departure gate, we could see signs that this plane was indeed bound for India. People talking loudly, carrying bags exceeding the allowed size, and of course carrying two or more bags when only one bag is allowed. Yes such is the state of our people but I convinced myself that this was a phenomenon not just attributable to Indians but to all people.

Soon afterward the mad rush started with the boarding of the plane – everybody tried to push each other out of the way – afraid that their seat would be lost and who knows the plane might just mysteriously fly away… I heard a brother and sister conversing and the sister exclaimed, “but only families are supposed to go in now” and the brother replied, “C’mon this is India” – I was a bit peeved that they had stereotyped every Indian into an irresponsible, brash lawless person because in reality I refused to believe that – after all there are certain times where I too feel proud to be Indian. Therefore out of a sense of pride and loyalty to the motherland, I rebuked them slightly telling them that everyone was allowed to board. It gave me a sense of satisfaction – a sense that I defended my people, restoring a sense of dignity and honour. That sense of satisfaction only lasted for a few minutes because as I entered the boarding craft I was confronted with the behaviour once expects at a railway station, or worse a footpath. Basically as I sought to take my seat I heard a group of people discussing that they wanted to sit in a row and unfortunately I was preventing that occurrence. I also heard a lady say, “oh don’t worry – that kid will get up for sure” – I showed no reaction but again I was a bit annoyed at the arrogance of the lady. But I thought well let’s not take any offence and if she asks me nicely we’ll see what can be done. Anyway as it happened to be the lady did turn her sights on me and asked me very politely if I wanted to swap seats. I took my time and then said that I didn’t really mind as it was an aisle seat for an aisle seat just on another side. But things just don’t last that way – see the seat I had been traded didn’t actually belong to that lady – soon I had another old man who asked me to move and basically treated me like a child saying move into an inside seat. I was getting slightly irritated now – the man was literally forcing me out of my exchanged seat and who knows where his actual seat was – all I knew was that they had come as a big group and they thought that gave them power to negotiate any seat they wanted.

My faith in the Indian people was fast dwindling and it crashed to a bottom low when the man tried to force me to move. At that time I simply stated that I had a ticket and that unfortunately I would return to my own seat – the ladies at that point were embarrassed with the old man so started apologising profusely and gave my seat back. If that wasn’t enough the old man repeatedly tried to make his point until when I said in clear Hindi that I did not want to move and that he could not force me – he must have felt embarrassed that a wee little eighteen year old had stood his ground and not listened to him. Then comes to bigger embarrassment – the treatment of a plane like a train and a public footpath. As the plane was taxiing about to take off you could hear this old man fiddling with his cell phone – this after being warned not to use his cell phone. Worse still when another guy sitting next to me got up and shouted to the front of the plane, “Hey man how’s life up there?” I have to say I simply turned my earphones up and tried to sleep my way through. Throughout the trip you could hear loud laughs and everything else amplified ten times – I just didn’t see any point for people to be so loud in a public place but they simply didn’t care. And it didn’t stop there – there was the constant harassment of the poor air hostesses continuously being asked for either water or tissues or in one case extra food – I only had to sigh in despair. Then as the flight landed the announcer clearly stated that all cell phones should remain switched off yet the moment the wheel hit the runaway you could hear beeps coming from all directions as people started receiving texts and calling their loved ones letting them know that they had indeed survived a terrible ordeal of flying from Malaysia to India – oh yes how terrible! That was probably the last straw when I realised that it was these very people that make up a nation that has so much to offer – is it any wonder that we elect corrupt criminal politicians? Is it any wonder that we have some of the dirtiest slums and worst roads of all time? We can say that we are growing, that we are speeding forward, but with a nation where the elite display arrogance, an arrogance unfounded based on an unwillingness to change, where the elite blatantly flaunt all aspects of the law, how can we expect our society to change for the better – to make the lives of all Indians to improve? We simply cannot – and it is for this reason I must shy away from defending the Indian race, and let world know in true Borat style that I am proud of India… NOT!

India

2007-01-10T00:58:00.000-08:00

Well the trip has started. While I was sitting at the airport waiting to board my flight to Kuala Lumpur I realised that there were many things that I would miss but at the same time I started to sense a feeling of anticipation and of excitement. Then out of the blue a lady came up to me and asked if I was going to India. Being wary of strangers I answered hesitantly and said, “yes…” Then she informed me that she too was going to India and she wanted someone to help her – it was her first time going back to India on her own. Normally she had her husband and daughter with her and she wasn’t certain what to do. Here I was, a wee eighteen year old travelling on my own, and I was being asked to help another lady, about the age of my mother. Then she asked me which hotel I was staying at and to my dismay she was at the same hotel as me – which inevitably meant I would have to help her. It’s not that I have anything against helping people, nay I probably would help when required but when a complete stranger comes up and asks you if you’re going to India and staying at the same hotel and if you could possibly accompany her, a reasonable person would develop a sense of caution. However on the positive side I found out her seat was well behind mine, which meant that I’d be out of there before she could say “Boo”. Once inside the place, I realised again that here I was on my own – no brother beside me fretting about whether we had our passports, no mother telling me to drink water regularly or no father – but it didn’t bother me too much. I had an aisle seat and the guy next to me was a Cambodian. He was very polite and he only went to the toilet once in the ten and a half hour flight, which saved me some trouble.

Unfortunately he smelled quite bad but that was ok – I stayed away from his side – thankfully he didn’t snore but he did drink quite a lot – on the flight he must have drunk at least five glasses of white wine and a glass of beer… yeah crazy I know but I think it helped him sleep (good for him). I was looking through the in flight entertainment catalogue and admiring it and saying “Damn the business class passengers – they get such good movies and music” and wondering what we would be shown – I didn’t actually touch TV until a bit later and then to my delightful surprise, I found that my TV had on demand movies, on demand TV and music albums – i.e. it had everything I had thought was only for business class. I was excited and the thought of a ten- hour flight wasn’t so bad after all. I created my own little play list from the numerous albums available and then eased off – the music really wasn’t that relaxing – it was Beyonce to be honest (yes mock me if you must) but before I knew it I was asleep. I woke up in an hour or so realizing that Beyonce’s music wasn’t so great after all and then decided to watch “Fast and Furious – Tokyo Drift” – average movie – can’t really complain as it was free. In the middle somewhere we had been served with lunch, which really doesn’t deserve a mention, as it wasn’t that, great nor was it that bad. The movie took up a couple of hours and then I tried to go to sleep again – this time it didn’t really work – I was more in a semi sleepy mode. After that I entertained myself by watching an episode of “The Practice” and then “House” – both were fairly entertaining. Then I decided to watch an Indian movie called Corporate even though I had seen it already – then I realised that I didn’t want to watch the movie again so I stopped. I think at that time dinner was served.

After dinner there were only a couple of hours left – I could sleep but I decided I’d rather watch another movie. And so I did – I watched Me, you and Dupree which was quite funny but I didn’t get to see the end as we had landed by then. Malaysia Airport is quite big but I’ve been here before so nothing seemed too daunting – went to the transfer counter – they told me to come back the next day after which I went on to customs. Immigration was a breeze – very few people there – it took me a minute to get my visa stamped and then went onwards to the exit. Since my baggage was already through to Bombay I didn’t have to wait at the baggage carousel instead I went on to the Gate where the pick up for the hotel was happening. That took a while and for a moment I thought well they’re forgetting me – but then just at the last minute they remembered me – at the same time I’d tried to call home using a credit card… didn’t work. Other than that I met that same lady and she implicitly reprimanded me for not having waited for her, and I thought, “Man lady grow up” but I gave a weak feeble excuse enough to convince George Bush to stay in Iraq. The hotel that I’m staying in and writing from is Holiday Inn Glenmarie – I know the word Inn doesn’t sound very receptive (well to me it didn’t) but it’s actually very good. It looks pretty big with a pool and spa and what not – not that I care all I wanted to do with sleep. I had two beds in my room but before hitting my bed I decided to pamper myself – and what better way to do it than taking a bath filled with bath bubbles – it was relaxing and then I went to sleep. Sleep was good and here I am writing (typing) now – got to go and have breakfast now – bye!

About to leave

2006-12-09T18:48:00.000-08:00

Well I leave tomorrow and some have asked me if I'm excited? To tell the truth I've travelled quite a lot so the prospects of flying on an aeroplane for the next twelve hours don't fascinate or excite me too much. And also I am visiting India for the first leg of the journey - I went to India only last year so while I look forward to meeting certain relatives I don't feel that kind of excitement as some may. At the same time I realised that I won't be staying at my house for the next three months - about a quarter of one year. And I guess that hit me - I'm about to embark on a journey of a lifetime - I'll be away from home for a very long time and I'm certain that at times I will miss it - I'm meeting my family in India after a week or so - I guess that's why I'm not thinking about really missing them - for the time being that is. But I realised that while I may see my family soon I won't be seeing my house, my friends and the things I treasure about NZ for the next three months and that is daunting. I know I'll get through it - after all I did willingly choose to go on this journey so all I must do is remind myself to be positive - which isn't very hard because by nature I am reasonably positive.
I look forward to this journey and I hope I'll be able to post quite often.

Dippy

Introduction

2006-11-29T22:47:00.000-08:00

I'm not much for blogging - this has been created to keep a record of my thoughts during my travels....
That's about it

Dipra