An emotional void

Find purpose. The means will follow - Gandhi

Off The Map

So I was just watching Off The Map Series Premiere (it's pretty awesome, I highly recommend you go watch it). All the doctors who are there, working in a South American "Clinica" are running away from personal demons. As one of them puts it, "if there is ever a place to start over, it's here".

I wonder if I will ever reach that stage when I will want to travel to a far far away land just to run away from something I can't change, can't ignore, can't get over.

I hope not.

Asian Parenting

This is a brilliant article. Something I think some of us can relate to. And I think I turned out a lot better because nothing less than perfection was expected of me. Getting a 'B' for even 1 out of 15 subjects was something to be frowned upon. And God help me if I got more than 1 'B'. It would be followed by "agli baar toh ek bhi A nahi aayega". This was Dad's cursing of course. Indian fathers, at least many of those whom I know, seem to have this sarcastic style of speaking. And motivating. I must say it was a combination of fear of getting scolded and the desire to do well which kept my grades up in school.

It was my mom's hands-on teaching which helped me when I was younger. When she got a full-time job, I was in 6th standard. After that, it was pretty much on my own. And I managed. There was supervision, but there was also the independence to choose your own learning techniques.

I think one of the reasons responsible for my academics going south in Singapore is the lack of supervision. I can always hide my grades from my father. As long as I don't make any major screw-ups, like not get into university, bad grades go pretty much unnoticed. Or cursed-over-the-phone. Which hardly matters.

What I expect from myself was also tailored by what others expected of me. With no one to scold me for not studying here, I expect a lot lesser from myself. Which, in this last semester, will be crucial in deciding whether or not I have a job or not. Stupid conditional offers.

Does NUS lack tradition?

For a university with a history of more than a 100 years, NUS doesn't seem to have a very community feel. As a student, or alumni, have you ever felt like part of something bigger, wholesome, traditional? 'Cos that's just it, this place feels like it has no tradition. The overpriced bears with blue and orange clothes on are the only memorabilia that this place boasts of. With a desire so strong to stay up-to-date with the latest, the past is somehow lost along the way.

Open your eyes

Ok I mean no offense to anyone here. Seriously, I don't. But when I hear people in Singapore complain how hard their life is, about unhygienic something is, I want to, you know, slap them. Want to know why? In a country where tap water in washrooms is worthy of drinking, what would you know about drinking street water everyday. For people who want to go and calculate asbestos levels at bus stops, imagine walking for miles just to get some water.

Read this. See how many you actually get through: Postcards from Hell.