The Telepathic Brinjalees

Friendly reminder from The Creator

2011-11-30T22:33:00.001+08:00

Chapter on Aala Imran, part of verse 185:

"Kullu nafsin dhaa-e-kathul mawt..."

"Every soul will taste death..."

A simple yet hard-hitting reminder to get our act right and not mess it up in this world.

Work Out

2011-09-27T15:48:00.001+08:00

It's been about 3 months since I started going to the gym regularly. It all began during a staycation some weeks back, the realisation that I was putting on weight. Then came the gym membership and the fitness instructor. Then a lot of things changed...

I lost some weight. I got (some) muscle. But best of all, I feel good more often... the endorphins are doing good things to me.

More gym sessions...

Scare

2011-09-27T15:02:00.002+08:00

Yesterday was a scary moment for the whole family. It just takes one second for something really, really bad to happen.

But everything was okay in the end, alhamdulillah. Allah's mercy, quick thinking and quick action saved the day and saved us from a terrible, terrible ending.

Energised

2011-06-14T19:04:00.001+08:00

We were able to kick off one event and one idea recently, both that were in our minds for a few months. now.

One was to organise a talk describing the doa's and practices a Muslim usually undertakes during pregnancy and after birth of a newborn. When Zayed was born, we were quite blur on the necessary prayers to recite for a smooth delivery and for good children, amongst many other things. We invited our Al-Qur'an Ustaz, Zulkiflee Bachik, to do the talk as he was very knowledgeable of the Qur'an. It's happening on 30 June, so if you're interested, come to www.shajr.sg and register.

The other idea stemmed from my interest in teaching Zayed (and eventually Talha) Arabic and some basic knowledge of the tenets of Islam. I asked Yasmin if she could draw up a nice curriculum for him, using her pre-school/child development skills and expertise. We thought about it some more as asked ourselves why not we make it a bigger class of about 8 kids and have a small Muslim playgroup? Seemed like a fine idea and initial checks revealed a lot of interest in such a group. Looking forward to making the idea a reality...

rethink

2011-06-14T19:02:00.000+08:00

We recently took a 3-day trip to Batam to unwind. There was no agenda - well, the agenda was to have no agenda. We got ourselves a nice 2-bedroom suite at the Holiday Inn. I had some learning points:

1. I really need to relax. Like chill. Less uptight, less quick to blow my top and whack the kids or scold someone. This uptight thing has been going on for at least 2 decades, I'm sure, but I've been feeling it's consequences on my life more than ever.

2. I need to convert a lot more local currency when I leave Singapore. This time at Batam, we were all blindsided with the amount we needed to pay for a fuss-free holiday. For example: The hotel's cab contact was safer, but a major rip-off, and we almost didn't have cash to pay for that.

3. Prayer timings. Research prayer timings in a foreign place well in advance instead of scrambling and worrying about it the whole day (see 1).

The Little Man

2011-05-29T23:40:00.001+08:00

Muhammed Talha is the name of my second son. With a crewcut that has patches of hairlessness, and six fully-formed milk teeth (4 on top, 2 below), and no more than 1.4 metres tall, he's an adorable fellow. With his newly-found walking ability, he steadily walks, or now runs, to us in moments of extreme emotion ("I'm happy", or "I just shat"). He just hugs and kisses us with his adult-like twinkle in the eye.

He laughs at my funny faces, and at the delivery of my stupid jokes. He always wants me to carry him when I come home from work, even if for just for a few seconds. My little man.

I put him to sleep every night. I tap his back gently, as he grasps my neck and rests his chin on my left shoulder. At the point of floating off into la-la land, he will start blabbering in his low-pitched voice. It is supremely adorable.

Goodnight Talhababy, I love you.

Weekend

2011-05-29T02:30:00.002+08:00

Therapy today - cleaned up the kitchen and much neater now, especially that the toaster oven is back in its original place at the cubicle-like cupboard.

Had a so-so day with the kids and wife at the baking session earlier. I think those who did the shaping of the dough and baking must have enjoyed it. I was hanging with Talha who was sleepinh half the time, so not much work for me.

Wanted to do some work tonite - finish some slides, but decided to sit back and enjoy some Clint Eastwood fare with he wifey. Hereafter was an awesome show. Spoke very eloquently and poetically about death and the hereafter. Fascinating if you are into life-after-death issues.

Realisation on multiple levels

2011-05-25T23:55:00.002+08:00

Lost another one today, I think. Not sure why, but it's a loss. I feel it. Hopefully things will be okay. But I doubt it. These things are remarkably fragile.

Third consecutive day without my work laptop at home. Amazing feeling. I need to do this to pace myself, if not it's going to be a total burnout.

A shocking realisation during the staycation last weekend - I had put on weight. Lots of it. A sinking feeling came upon me, that the fabled "by about age 30 your metabolic rate will slow down and you'll put on weight" prophecy had come true. This is indeed my "sputnik" moment - I have to do something about my weight gain...

A Monday

2011-05-23T20:08:00.002+08:00

It's the end of Monday again. Another hectic but pleasurable start to the week, especially after a very relaxing weekend. But I don't know - sometimes I feel that I'm never really fully relaxed. Maybe I'm one of those forever 'kanchiong' types.

But I need to relax more. Sometimes I skip my breakfast entirely because I just get so totally caught up with what I'm doing.

I left my work laptop at work today, in the hope of relaxing this evening and sleeping early.

Tomorrow...

Staycation

2011-05-21T11:26:00.002+08:00

I've been quite busy at work lately. A really meaty project is keeping me up a lot these days, and every day has been an exciting, thrilling and tiring. Cooling and Polling days were also pretty bad for us - Zayed was hospitalised for gastric flu, and it was not fun at all.

So when Yasmin suggested a staycation at the Royal Plaza on the Scotts, it sounded fantastic. I plan to just eat, pray and love the next day or so.

Am just lazing around with the boys while waiting for Yasmin to come back from her teaching class. Cute fellows, truly blessed to have these boys in my life. Except when they wail for no reason...

At last, Shankar has fulfilled his deepest, darkest geek fantasies

2010-10-01T18:28:00.008+08:00

Move over the Shankar who tirelessly explores themes of corruption using an appalam manufacturer CEO or a retired and ageing freedom fighter or a schizophrenic Brahmin lawyer or a 40-year-old do-gooder NRI ex-IT expert who has a fetish for changing hairstyles every one third of the movie with a generous dollop of colourful and unnecessary songs, gorgeous and lithe heroines whose IQ levels are questionable, tonnes of explanations about the story and completely useless SFX.

Enter a Shankar who does away with the opening song for a superstar, prefers to explore the theme of technology going amok in the wrong hands, with a generous dollop of colourful songs, a drop-dead gorgeous and lithe heroine whose IQ level I don’t care about, rather little explanations about the story and moderate-quality SFX.

Endhiran is director Shankar’s complete geek fantasy come alive, in all its Rs 16.5 billion (SGD 50 million) glory. It is the most expensive Asian movie ever, boasting the most commercially-viable actors in Indian cinema today, an Award-winning music composer and sound designer, Hollywood-based make-up, stunts and SFX.

Sun Picture’s Big Picture

Shankar has delivered on the goods with the funding that Kalanithi Maran has faithfully signed away in anxious anticipation of multiple returns. The final product is a sweat-worthy work of 2-plus years and thousands of technical crew. Many of the ideas and images in the movie have made their "teaser" appearance in Shankar's earlier movie - in Endhiran, all that is unleashed.

Will Endhiran resonate with Rajini’s fan base in Tamil Nadu? I don’t think so. There are several staple, spoken and unspoken rules of a Rajini move that Endhiran has broken – one of it I mentioned earlier. The movie has also treaded on the fatal Azhagiya Tamil Magan minefield – using a idolised actor/demigod/superman as both the protagonist and antagonist in a movie. The “Thalaiva! Beat the shit out of him!” moment never comes for the thousands of his faithful followers.

But this is where I applaud Shankar for doing some auteur work – this is the vision of one man, right down to the tiniest of details. There are several remarkable moments in the film, some which are listed in my *spoiler* section below. He and Kalanithi have taken a calculated risk to make a movie for Rajini’s international fans – not just his domestic ones. But still, there is enough wonderful creative merger of Indian/Tamilan cultural nuances with the sci-fi-heavy plot that tries to make sceptics into converts.

Rajini Rocks but can’t dance

For those of us (like me) who were whining that someone younger and more agile could have done Endhiran, Rajini puts a robotic boot on all our butts. There’s no one as charismatic as him to pull this off. The movie belonged to him, completely.

But his age is showing – our friend finds it very difficult to do his dance moves. Ash was doing most of the jumping, hopping, prancing, bending and, er, the robotic steps. Rajini was waving his strong arms and walking here and there to the beat. Which only he can pull off and can be forgiven.

Ash Rocks. But bimboism lurks

Ash is gorgeous. She looks like the 36-year old she is, but really, she’s still hot. Her role is kind of substantial, but as the movie progresses, she has less and less things to do, and less and less things to say.

SFX: SUX?

So, for a Rs 16.5 million movie boasting Hollywoodian standards, you must expect Hollywood SFX right? Sure, the robots were all there. The Terminator, I/Robot models all made their cameos with their own synthetic skins, eyeballs, arms, legs, everything. But the graphics were a far, far cry from Hollywood – remember Spider-man 2 and 3, where some scenes of Spidey were obviously cartoonish? Go 5 notches down and you get Endhiran-style cartoonaphics.

Gaping holes

In Endhiran, Shankar does away with most of his classic "explanation", letting Rajini’s body language do the talking. In fact, Shankar goes one step ahead and leaves out explanations at crucial parts of the movie which defy logic (which, anyway, is the norm in Shankar fare).

Relax lah

The question is, even for an international movie, it has several major plot loopholes which, I’m afraid non-Tamil international audience are going to laugh it off as Tamil movie eccentricities.

But why be afraid? At least people are going to know about Rajini and what Tamil movie technicians and Shankar are capable of. And so what if they laugh? If they want to watch Hollywood fare, they can just rent and watch I/Robot. Humph.

In the end, my take is to just to enjoy the movie and praise everyone involved, instead of writing a review of the movie in my blog. But I need to get it out of my system first.

*Spoiler Alert*

Remarkable Scenes

- The opening credits.

- The totally downplayed entry of Rajini.

- Electromagnetic Chitti attracts all metallic weapons from the baddies, to the extent that he strikes a pose of a Hindu Deity, complete with weapons sprouting from his back. Genius of a shot.

- Bad Chitti trying to locate good Rajini among an assembly of Bad Chittis.
- Ash in all the scenes she appears. Including the one with multiple Ashes!
- The self-dismantling of Chitti – teardrop-worthy.

30

2010-09-01T11:02:00.002+08:00

I had told Yashila last year that I'd celebrate her 30th birthday with blast, fireworks, histrionics and all the hoo-haa. This was in response to her sentiments of getting old and tired with two young children – I immediately told her “I will throw a big birthday bash for you, inviting all your hundreds of friends and relatives.” She was sceptical but trusted my bravado. Poor thing.

The dramatic events in the first half of the year put an end to the big bash I had planned for. We were all tired and not in any mood for major events management. I told her this and she accepted this without complaining.

Then about 2 weeks before her birthday, something told me that she deserved more than a iftar session at some nice restaurant with the kids. I thought – why not invite her family and some good friends and breakfast and surprise her off her toes?

As with all things which I put my mind to, I immediately hatched a plan with single-minded cold calculation– I notified everyone who’d come and booked a private cosy corner at Amirah’s Grill at Arab Street. We all acted like nothing was happening on 28 Aug. Only Zayed started talking about her birthday about a week before, and repeated that he’d get his mom a present. I was wondering why in the world he became so obsessed with his mom’s birthday, of all years, but didn’t make too much of it.

The day came – as usual, the boys were bawling and making a mess at home, as Yashila didn’t feel as if it was her special day, apart from the customary birthday kiss from us boys. We got ready, drove down to Amirah’s Grill...

... and a surprise it was. Everyone did a fantastic job of being there on time and doing the whole “surprise” thing, with the birthday song. Fantastic. Yashila was thrilled and really, we were all so happy that she was happy.

The food was excellent, the company was superb, and everything was swell.

Happy birthday, my love.

Wah!

2010-07-07T01:00:00.002+08:00

It's been a while since I got blown away by anything - but here's a list of stuff that made me go "Wah! Power lah! Foo!" recently:

- My 4-month-old Talha smiles at me, specifically me, after I return from work!

- A very funky Brazilian jazz album I bought randomly - Jazzilia

- The song "Aromale" by AR Rahman - as someone wrote, it's Malayalam like never before.

- Excellent infographic on the extent of drilling by oil companies

The Song of an Introvert

2010-06-27T00:19:00.001+08:00

Silence.

You recharge me. You comfort me.

I can think freely when you are with me.

I swim in the solitude of your sweet silence.

Silence.

Finished

2010-06-26T10:59:00.003+08:00

Seems like I’ve come out of a stressful exam. An exam that was way too prolonged and too complicated.

It began the day I received news that my father-in-law passed away. In that second, three things came to mind:

1. My own father’s sudden departure 2 years back
2. A feeling of shock and horror, resulting in state of speechlessness
3. My father-in-law’s words that after him, I must take care of the family.

In an extended family like my wife’s, there are many layers of command and control, elements of almost a “tribal” unspoken understanding of relations, obligations and traditions. Having come from a family of five, and thus unfamiliar with the notion of being part of a larger family of uncles, nieces and aunts, little did I expect the shock and awe that awaited me.

I was thrust into the role as the person filling in the very large shoes of my father-in-law. I became the so-called “Man of the Moment” – at every major decision point, I had to call the shots, and at every major function, I had to be seen calling the shots, even if I totally didn’t have to. I had to ensure that relations with all the relatives were maintained at the status quo (which was at level “excellent”, thanks to my wife’s generous parents), and that I did all that was necessary for my wife’s family. Unfortunately, the level “excellent” was something I could not maintain, because my father-in-law was a oft-forgiving man, who saw that it was in his family’s best interests to maintain cordial relations with everyone – he was an extremely popular man.

For 40 days, we organised prayer sessions for my father-in-law – essentially the recitation of surah Yaasin, some zikr (repeated invocations of Allah) and the do’a (supplications) for the well-being of my father-in-law. Slowly, I realised that people expected many more things out of prayer sessions than just spiritual fulfilment of their prayers for the deceased. They wanted to be treated like guests at a wedding – served with tea, good food, high quality customer service and proper invitations to the prayers. They wanted to gossip at the prayers – who did what, how, when. They even began to gossip and speculate various things about my wife’s family. And me.

It was tiring. I felt that it was not meant to be like this. My wife’s family went through a lot during these 40 days, and my own family could feel the strain. My elder son hated crowds, and my infant son hated the aura. My wife hated everything – it was a pure pain in the vitals to have to lug young children to a place which is filled with people making comments about how to bring your kids up the way they did 40 years back.

But we persevered – I did everything I did for my father-in-law which I did for my own father after he passed away. For me, the spiritual aspect of the prayers is crucial – it is a chance for the everyone involved to also seek repentance and gain barakah when doing prayers for the deceased.

So when the 40 days ended, we sighed a huge breath of relief – we kind of missed doing the prayers, but we did not miss the relatives. In fact, we were clearer who were the ones who would come forward to help us, and who would not hesitate to bad-mouth us in our own homes.

I’m just relieved that everything’s over now – time to catch up on some sleep.

10 heads

2010-06-19T16:19:00.009+08:00

Raavanan is one of Mani Ratnam's best works so far. I think he's learned quite a few things from his previous ambitious project, the bi-lingual "Aitha Ezhuthu/Yuva" which fell flat on it ass.

Everyone knows the story of Raavanan - or at least the part which matters. He kidnaps Sita in revenge for the humiliation suffered by his sister Surpanakha's whose nose/ear is cut off by Raman's younger bro Lakshmana. Raman goes in search of Sita and then a bloody battle ensues...

The movie unabashedly transplants this story into the modern-day Indian forest, complete with references to the epic. The difference is that Mani chooses to explore the man behind the Raavanan mask, and maybe explore an "alternate future" where Raman character isn't really the Captain America/Barney/Ilaya Thalapathy Vijay whom everyone thinks he is. Or maybe it is an attempt to say that epics often get re-enacted in real life all the time, with alternate forms.

For most Tamil cinema viewers, there would seem to be a no story here - it's a "wafer-thin" plot which is predictable. However, it is precisely this wafer-thin plot that Mani Ratnam takes his time with, fleshing out each character, and lovingly painting a picture. No "Villu" here, sorry.

Vikram's acting as Raavanan (or 'Veera' as he is known in the movie) is unparalled. All the more that people can actually compare his performance with Abishek Bachan's protrayal of the same character in the Hindi "Raavan". Vikram totally transformed himself into a multi-dimensional character is capable of both bottomless hate and unselfish love. The little mannerisms he adds here and there add up to a larger-than-life Veera, respected headman of his people, fearless for his life and clear in his conscience.

The background score and songs supported the mood of the movie. AR Rahman composed a few outstanding songs, with the best of it unfortunately not being included in the CD album.

One of the movie's greatest strengths lay in its photography - there is something in the artistic human eye which cannot be captured by 3D technology.

If you enjoy watching Vikram and like great cinematography, and wouldn't mind Aishwarya trying to scowl, and love AR Rahman's music, this movie's worth it.

Just Follow Law

2010-04-28T16:30:00.001+08:00

THE LAW

Child Restraint
It is compulsory for all children under 8 to be secured in an approved child restraint whether seated in the front or back of a vehicle. Drivers will be fined $120 & receive 3 demerit points if children in their cars are not secured in the child seats.

Rear Seat Belt
Passengers who do not belt up will be fined $120. Drivers will also be fined $120 & receive 3 demerit points if passengers in their cars do not belt up.

More...

Crew member

2010-04-10T00:32:00.004+08:00

I was looking at my last post and realised that I hadn't written anything this year! Worse, I didn't even miss updating the blog. Attending a course on speedreading recently didn't help either - the mantra of the course was "you don't have to read everything", making me feel like whatever I wrote, I could do so with lesser words = FB status updates.

Anyway, a blogworthy event just happened yesterday (8 April) - our second son, Muhammed Talha, was born. Talha is the name of one of the Companions of the Holy Prophet (may peace and blessings be upon him) who loved the Prophet more than his (Talha's) own life, and was one of the 10 companions promised Paradise. Talha is not a common name in this part of the world, or at least my immediate social circle. So in the hope that our son personifies the character of his medieval namesake, we decided to go with it.

The context of Talha's birth is radically divergent from his elder brother's, the ever-lovable Zayed, who was named after the Holy Prophet's adopted son. Zayed's paternal grandfather died 10 days before Zayed was born. There was mourning all around. To make things more depressing, the umbilical cord had looped twice around Zayed's neck in the womb and a natural delivery might have meant fatal strangulation. Somehow, by the Grace of God, he untied it (really, I'm serious) in the womb before he came out.

Talha, on the other hand, had a relatively uneventful stay in the womb. He heard a lot of voices being raised at his elder brother, which probably made him think that his parents were some kind of child-beaters. Talha's delivery was smooth, and he didn't have to unwind cords from his neck. He looked almost exactly like Zayed when he came out.

My wife showed amazing fortitude during the delivery. She really outdid herself. There was no special painkiller (eg. epidural) involved - just the useless laughing gas. It wasn't funny. That woman went the extra mile for Talha by choosing to do it the natural way, and my respect and love for her have multiplied immensely.

And now I feel like I am truly the captain of a ship, leading my brood to safety, making sure my crew are well-fed, healthy, and able to grow to beyond their potential - emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

James Cameron is back with a bang

2009-12-26T15:43:00.004+08:00

Avatar is one of the coolest movies I've watched recently. There will be detractors, but I loved the movie for it's simple storyline (which tried to pack all the complex moral lessons of today), stunning graphics and Zoe Saldana. Wife and I plan to watch the 3D version!

Enjoy a little featurette on how the hell they made the Na'Vi look real (from 3 minutes on).

News which made my day

2009-12-16T14:34:00.001+08:00

Dec 15, 2009

MediaCorp ends TVMobile

By Tan Weizhen

Said a MediaCorp statement on Tuesday: 'Having carefully evaluated the viability of the service, MediaCorp has decided to discontinue the service upon expiry of its current agreement with SBS Transit.' -- PHOTO: MEDIACORP

AFTER nine years, the ubiquitous TVMobile service on buses will end on Jan 1.

MediaCorp, which operates the free to air mobile television service on 1,500 SBS Transit buses, said that the major contributing factor is commercial viability.

It said in a statement on Tuesday: 'The resources required to operate and maintain the service are substantial.

'Having carefully evaluated the viability of the service, MediaCorp has decided to discontinue the service upon expiry of its current agreement with SBS Transit.'

It will re-deploy all its TVM staff to other operations.

Nunbun: good bloody riddance. Back to the good old days of the sound of the engine of the bus to enjoy a nice nap. Excluding those idiots who listen to their MP3 phones without their earphones.

Film Reviewed before the Film is Made

2009-12-15T17:03:00.002+08:00

Amazing stuff - a revered blogger who critiques scripts before they are made into the multi-million dollar money-spinning figments of imagination:

http://scriptshadow.blogspot.com/

How we wish we could have done that to movies like Kanthaswamy.

Nudged by Apple?

2009-12-15T16:47:00.002+08:00

No offence to iPhone users, but I found this bloody hilariously serious post on iPhone users:

iPhone users are delusional, consultants say

by Chris Matyszczyk

Many people I know are frightfully attached to their iPhones. They treat them as if they were a peculiar and exotic lover, one they can hardly believe they have managed to seduce.

The finely calibrated minds at Strand Consult have taken this analysis to a particularly simple conclusion: iPhone users are, the consultants say, really quite nuts.

The full article is here.

And the cause of this article, a report by Strand Consults, adds salt to the wound by listing the defences made against the iPhone, thereby listing all its initial (or existing?) flaws!

1. The first iPhone was not a 3G phone: What do you need 3G for? You can easily use the iPhone without using a 3G network and anyway, 3G is not particularly widespread, so this is not a problem.

2. The phone cannot send MMS: There is no need to send MMSs, hardly anybody sends MMSs.

3. You cannot forward a SMS: This is a function that hardly anybody uses and was therefore not included in the first iPhones.

4. The phone has a poor camera: The built-in camera is perfectly adequate and the iPhone takes fantastic photos with its camera.

More.

Hoopla!

2009-12-12T00:39:00.003+08:00

I went to get an iPhone the day after it launched, being so happy that I had switched to M1 a year back. Apparently M1 leads the pack with the best data plans.

So I went to the nearest M1 shop near my workplace, which is at Change Alley. There was a long queue, and this service staff comes over and asks me if I was there to collect the iPhone. (Note: People were asked to register to get their iPhones a few weeks before the launch [like how Singtel did], because it's as phenomenal as National Day). When I said I was there to buy a new phone on the spot, because I'm a rational-minded customer who believed that there was enough stock to last the nation for 3 more years, the dude's jaw dropped lah!

He just couldn't fathom the fact that I had the bloody audacity not to register and just walk-in and buy an iPhone. What a cardinal sin! But wait - he told me of a way out of this quagmire and redeem myself: "Sir, I'm sorry. What you can do now is put yourself on the waiting list, then we'll update you."

Absolutely. Without the iPhone, my liver will burst and my brain will experience spontaneous combustion, releasing poisonous fumes into the air. Yes, I need the iPhone at all cost and please, put me on the waitlist. I will reform, I promise.

Pure, 100% bollocks. Please don't hype the thing until to this extent lah. It's just a bloody phone. You will surely have excess stock which you will try to clear before the next version 4GS iPhone with 200GB internal memory and a 5 megapixel camera comes in like 3 months? Then why this elaborate song and dance?

I turned downed the staff's irresistible offer and earned myself a place in i-Hell.

To hell with all the hoopla!

Sequel

2009-12-07T19:49:00.004+08:00

We went to the gyne last week to check on Baby #2. He's doing well, about the same size as Zayed (elongated like Pops) but doesn't move around much like Z did. Calmer dude?

So it's that time of the 9-months that we have to choose a name. And away we go on a search. It'll probably be along the lines of someone dear to the Prophet (s.a.w.), one of the sahabah, nice-sounding. Erm.

It's going to be an exciting time for Baby when he pops (different from "Pops' mentioned above). We'll all be in a much more happier state of mind, and he'll have a older brudder to look up to for guidance in whining, disobeying his parents, scratching Pops' face causing blood, and giving a cute smile to forgive all the afore-mentioned misdemeanors and get a kiss on top of that.

Ache

2009-12-07T11:48:00.004+08:00

I'm aching all over now. We met for some physical activity yesterday evening at Queenstown Stadium at sunset, where we did some jogging and static exercises. We were instructed to some stomach crunches, leg raises, push-ups and lunges for about an hour. Torture!

A note about the instructor: Mr Jalsa. He's a trained physical trainer. We appreciated his taking time off in the evening to hang with us, even after completing a 10km Stanchart run in the morning. But we felt like strangling him during the lunges/push-ups where he decided to make long conversation at the "hold it there" parts...

Great to have a free fitness coach!

Sick of it

2009-12-04T10:27:00.002+08:00

I'm done with it. My Samsung Omnia is not doing a good job these days. I know, many ex-Omnia owners have moved on to greater things, like the iPhone or HTC Hero. I was in denial for close to a year, tolerating the slow processing speed, hanging-by-the-side stylus, 3 software reloads (which meant loss of all my data 3 times due to software errors). But no more. I have had enough of this crap.

I'm still confused. I haven't decided if I like touchscreens or good ol' fashioned button technology. Maybe I'll just get the iPhone and put an end to my curiosity.

Launching Google Street View

2009-12-03T13:15:00.003+08:00

Give these guys a chance, and they will even photograph the ant in the toilet in the 5-room unit #13-56 in block 167.

It's unreal!

Google Maps - Street View

More than minarets

2009-12-03T12:51:00.003+08:00

The ridiculous referendum in Switzerland to ban minarets re-emphasises the dire need to communicate with our non-Muslim counterparts at every level. It seems to be much worse in Europe, where globalisation (leading to an influx of a variety of ethnic groups, including Muslims) is causing xenophobic reactions, reductionist populist views and a whole lot of misinformation.

"... I have been repeating for years to Muslim people that they have to be positively visible, active and proactive within their respective western societies. In Switzerland, over the past few months, Muslims have striven to remain hidden in order to avoid a clash..."

More here.

Jog

2009-12-02T11:54:00.003+08:00

Last Sunday morning, Jalsa organised a morning jog & "TV-style" exercise routines at McRitchie. It think it's a superb idea to mix health, friends and nature.

Anyway, after the 3 hours or so, the body began to "pain" a bit. (Needless to say, it got worse the next day - please note that I have not lifted my butt for any aerobic activity for the last 9 months). That TV-style workout was absolutely crazy. Jalsa is a slave-rider baby.

Looking forward to next Sunday's session. In case you're finding it hard to move your own butts to do some jogging, read this.

Enchanted

2009-12-02T11:52:00.001+08:00

The Health Minister's blog is quite an enchanting read - easy, informative, and comes across as being honest. A brave experiment!

http://mohsingapore.blogspot.com/

Auto Tuning!

2009-11-14T23:31:00.002+08:00

Moral of the story

2009-11-07T00:30:00.003+08:00

My bag was soaked. My sparkling new Lenovo Thinkpad was spoilt. I was drenched from neck to toe. I was $10 poorer, by choice. And I didn't even get a proper "thanks".

****

It was raining like crap, at about 11am. I boarded the bus from Bukit Merah Central to go home, which was about 3 bus stops away. I was carrying my bag, with my little, lovely Lenovo inside. I was also carrying lunch which I just bought.

The bus ride was perfectly normal for the first 32 seconds. At the 33rd second, I saw a middle-aged Indian woman (MIAW) having a heated conversation with the bus driver (BD). The conversation follows:

MIAW: Does this bus go to Tiong Bahru MRT?
BD: No... no, that one you must take bus number 5. Then stop after two stops.

MIAW: This doesn't go to Tiong Bahru MRT? I need to go there now! Where is this bus going? I want to -
BD: This bus no go to Tiong Bahru. You-

MIAW: I want a refund! I want a refund now. Does this bus go to Tiong Bahru? (exasperated and clearly panicking)
BD: I tell you oredi. This bus go to Bukit Merah. This no go to Tiong Bahru. You see outside?
You must get down and walk -

MIAW: I can't walk! I need to go there now! I need to go to WORK! Do you understand? I need to GO! How long does it take to go to Tiong Bahru?
BD: (pissed off) 24 hours.

MIAW: (very, very pissed off) Why aren't you helping! You're talking to me like this because you think I'm not a bloody Singaporean right? You think I'm a foreigner right? You Singaporeans are all like this. I'm a SINGAPOREAN TOO!
BD: Huh? I'm MALAYSIAN.

MIAW: What? OK. (cools down). Where is Tiong Bahru mrt?
BD: I tell you already: IT'S THAT SIDE ONE LAH! You take taxi and go. Can reach there.

MIAW: I don't have that kind of money.
BD: I give you the money.

MIAW: (Breaks down and cries)

At this point, my stop had arrived. I also couldn't bear to not guide the woman to Tiong Bahru mrt, which was near my home. As she cried, I asked her to come with me so that I could show her the way to the station.

It was pouring. You have no idea. I asked her to share the umbrella with me, but it was pointless. We were both drenched. This woman was from India (presumably a professional , looking at her contemporary dress-sense), and this was here 2nd day at her job. She'd taken time off from work to meet an agent for a rental flat, but she was lost and wanted to head back to work. But she got lost even more and was scared pissed that she'd lose her job for being late. So she took it out on the driver. And she started to take it out on me.

She asked angrily where I was taking her in the rain, and she whined that she wanted to go back to work, and that she wanted to find Tiong Bahru mrt. After speaking to her as one would with a lost 4-year-old, I found out that she really wanted to go to LAVENDER where her workplace was. To do so, she wanted to take the train from Tiong Bahru. Genius. I thought that if this continued, (1) I'd be soaked silly, (2) she'd be scolding me silly and commit suicide after that, and (3) I'd go crazy.

I told her to take a taxi and just go. She said she didn't have money. Fine - I gave her $10 and asked to find the next available taxi and just GO. She whined that she was all wet. I half expected her to ask me for a towel and fresh change of clothes. She asked for my handphone number to return me the $10 - I told her to forget it. I left her there and went home to a shocked wifey.

****

My bag was soaked. My sparkling new Lenovo Thinkpad was spoilt. I was drenched from neck to toe. I was $10 poorer, by choice. And I didn't even get a proper "thanks".

Moral of the story - SBS employs a fair number of Malaysians.

Missing you

2009-11-01T23:43:00.004+08:00

"This Is It" is a 2-hour insight into the workings of what was to be Michael Jackson's final set of concerts.

I enjoyed every second of it. By the end of the two hours of dance rehearsals, sound checks, prop preparations, special effects preparations and so on, I had a somewhat clearer picture of MJ - a perfectionist, very eccentric, prone to possible tantrums, a genius in presenting entertainment, an idol to all the supporting cast and crew, a developer of talent, and quite simply, a very feeling person. I swear I would have cried if they had shown his memorial right after the movie.

For everyone in my generation who grew up listening and watching him, there can be no one else like MJ.

A Civic Space

2009-10-30T12:08:00.004+08:00

Too often, we have read that Singaporeans are apathetic, that Singapore has no soul, and foreigners treat Singapore as a hotel.

The issue is that every country needs a "soul" - that is, a set of stories that glorify the country, as a force to reckon with. These stories or myths must include great role models to follow, upon whom legends are created, to motivate future generations, to help them navigate through tough times by recalling the valour and spirit of their predecessors. The "American Dream" and "Long March" are some examples - they were forged during times of great crisis, and as they say, character is usually formed in times of great pain.

We do have have our own stories - the separation from Malaysia from which we emerged nimble and hardworking; the great economic downturns of 1984, 1997, 2001 where we emerged ready for more challenges and better equipped for a new economy; the race riots of the 1960s from which we learnt the importance of religious and racial tolerance.

Unfortunately, these stories are generated by leaders of our times. They've had to do it in order to rally the nation together to a common purpose - to recharge and forge forward. It is also no coincidence that in each of these crises, the Government played a major role in saving the day. The creation of public institutions such as HDB to build cheap housing, the formation of People's Association and grassroots networks to create an active ground, the drive to retrain workers via WDA are all major efforts of the Government to save the economy or foster social cohesion.

However, the catch is. to create a soul of the nation, it is the work of all actors, not just the Government. The people who are undergoing crisis must create their own stories. They must form an active civic space to come to their own conclusions, think about their own heroes, and create an identity which they feel is worth fighting for. There is a danger now that people don't feel anything or care about anything because it seems the Government seems to be doing it all for them.

If that's the case, we are in trouble. If we don't create a vibrant civic space, then all we'll be worried about is about jobs, incomes, security and less about community, friendships, the "big picture" of what Singapore means to us. Some may argue that the Government itself has caused such a mood, by clamping down on free speech and alternate views. But if you look closely, the Government is only hypersensitive about political freedom - everything else is not out-of-bounds, provided it does not harm others.

What I'm saying is not to push to envelope - what I'm saying is that there is a lot of space in Singapore to create a civic space. This simply means bringing together small groups of people and making an identity for the group, to give it a meaning and purpose. This is why RCs and CCs are so important - they are meant to cultivate social networks, which should have led to an active civic society. But the Government-led notion of grassroots has made the grassroots synonymous with "gah-men" and has put off huge chunks of Gex Xers and Yers.

But how do we wean off this feeling that because the Government is doing everything for us, we don't have to do anything? Should the Goverment do less? But will that not create a backlash? It will. How the Government, in wanting to promote a civic space, should calibrate its pulling back of some issues, is something it really needs to think about. If need be, it would require a fair amount of Government-bashing and political unpopularity (nothing Singaporeans aren't familiar with!) to push it through.

Finally

2009-10-30T10:41:00.003+08:00

This one's been "cooking" since before I started working.

Parents of persons with disabilities, or folks who have siblings with disabilities, need not worry anymore on what'll happen to their cares when they pass on - introducing the Special Needs Trust Company.

Usually people are worried how their disabled children can get a monthly allowance/funds for subsistence after they pass on - they also don't trust the money with relatives as relatives may just decide to forget about the disabled folks and makan the money.

Under the Special Needs Trust Company, people can put in a minimum of $5000 to open an account for their disabled cares, for it to be disbursed after they pass on. It's a Government-backed trust, so returns are guaranteed, and a trustee will disburse the funds according to a pre-determined, agreed schedule.

Special school teachers - do spread the word.

Read more here and here.

Transition

2009-10-15T21:20:00.002+08:00

Yesterday I bade farewell to my old colleagues, and packed my bags to face a new future today. I've always thought that I was quite reserved at my old office - but apparently people thought otherwise. It was good to have known them as colleagues - and it's great to have them as friends now.

Unfortunately, I came down with diarrhoea today, so my first day at the new place starts tomorrow. Great to start on a Friday.

I pray that Allah makes the path smooth for me, and makes me shine as brightly as ever in anything I do in this life.

Scenarios

2009-10-02T23:24:00.003+08:00

“…combinations and permutations of fact and related social changes are called "scenarios." The scenarios usually include plausible, but unexpectedly important situations and problems that exist in some small form in the present day. Any particular scenario is unlikely. However, future studies analysts select scenario features so they are both possible and uncomfortable. Scenario planning helps policy-makers to anticipate hidden weaknesses and inflexibilities in organizations and methods.

In the past, strategic plans have often considered only the "official future," which was usually a straight-line graph of current trends carried into the future. Often the trend lines were generated by the accounting department, and lacked discussions of demographics, or qualitative differences in social conditions.

These simplistic guesses are surprisingly good most of the time, but fail to consider qualitative social changes that can affect a business or government. Scenarios focus on the joint effect of many factors. Scenario planning helps us understand how the various strands of a complex tapestry move if one or more threads are pulled. When you just list possible causes, as for instance in fault tree analysis, you may tend to discount any one factor in isolation. But when you explore the factors together, you realize that certain combinations could magnify each other’s impact or likelihood. For instance, an increased trade deficit may trigger an economic recession, which in turn creates unemployment and reduces domestic production.”

From Wikipedia.

Dedicated to some folks I know

2009-10-01T23:53:00.004+08:00

"But what gave the idea to these young people that Indian stars sang while running around coconut trees? Old Bollywood and Kollywood movies?

For Bollywood and Kollywood, stars do not run around trees while they sing in the new movies. Movies like Unnaipol Oruvan, a Kamal Hassan-Mohanlal starrer, does not even have songs, and are so professionally produced that it looks like a Hollywood movie. Was the idea that Indian stars sang while running around trees communicated to these young ones by their elders and they bought the stereotype wholesale without even bothering to get their facts straight?"

More.

Kidney, liver, heart, cornea

2009-10-01T14:57:00.004+08:00

I was rummaging through my old files when I came across a government booklet on organ transplanting. Whether we like it or not, all Singaporeans and PRs are included in the Human Organ Transplant Act (HOTA). Of course, you can opt out but you will end up lower in the priority register if you end up needing a transplant.

So it will be very wise for all involved parties to read the facts about HOTA and get ready for all possible scenarios. I know... it's a real pain in the liver to read a government website, but just try can? A few minutes only...

Inglourious

2009-09-28T23:12:00.004+08:00

It's strange how Quentin Tarantino has succeeded in making people say "bastards" more often than usual.

At the cinema:
Me : Can I have, er, 2 tickets to, er, Inglourious Basterds at 6.30pm?
Ticketing Guy: (professional voice) Two tickets to Inglorious Basterds coming up!

At my father-in-law's:
Father-in-law: What movie did you watch today?
Me: Er... English movie. Nice.
Father-in-law: What movie did you watch today?
My wife: (without flinching an eyelid) Inglourious Basterds.
Father-in-law: ...

Anyway -

The movie's fantastic. It works on the premise that you needn't belabour telling every frame of a revenge story set in Nazi era France - just pick 5 suitable "plots" within the whole revenge universe, delve deeply into each plot, make good connections between plots and you have a masterpiece.

The black humour is darker than usual, as the very serious topic of anti-semitism is given a sarcastic twist. Tarantino's mastered the art of carefully building up a scene from its initial premise, and adding in all the right elements of suspense which makes for some very uncomfortable and unforgettable anxiety-building scenes. Awesome!

It's not a Brad vehicle - although he did a wonderful job as what one might call a "hardcore yankee". Melanie Laurent is stunning and her acting's brilliant. Christoph Waltz is the star of the show, completely into the skin of the character he plays.

The movie might be considered a tad too long, but I see it as being worth my $8.

Congratulations to a brother

2009-09-28T17:40:00.003+08:00

A very dear friend became a father last night. May his journey into fatherhood be as blessed and fulfilling as it has been for me...

Someone Like You

2009-09-26T22:08:00.005+08:00

"Unnaipol Oruvan", when translated to English, sounds like a Hollywood romanticomedy. But this remake of Neeraj Pandey's "A Wednesday!" in Hindi last year is anything but a romanticomedy. Kamal once again proves that he is more than just about making good movies - he is into making exceptional movies.

No need to go into the technicalities of the show- it was a superb movie, tightly shot, excellent acting by most cast members, especially Kamal and Mohanlal, and a nice background score to go with the whole "rebel" mood of the show.

What I want to ask, without giving away too much of the plot, is how much the Muslim world has acted to condemn terrorist attacks committed in the name of Islam. Frankly, it hasn't done as much as it should.

If we believe that Muslims are a people of peace, non-violence and submission to the One God, then why are we not more vocal against those who slaughter people in His name? The refusal of Indian Muslims in India to give a Muslim burial to the 9 terrorists who killed 183 people (including a Singaporean) last year in Mumbai was one of the most open condemnations against terror. (To not give a Muslim his proper burial is tantamount to labelling him a non-Muslim)

I thought "Unnaipol Oruvan" came close to doing this, but the filmmakers had other ideas - more on a nationalistic scale than anything else.

The beginning of break

2009-09-21T22:39:00.002+08:00

Tomorrow I begin a long vacation, when most folks will be summoning up the last remaining bit of their strength to prepare for work tomorrow after the long weekend.

This vacation has been long in the making. I'm between jobs now, so it's a perfect "intermission" to take stock of my life, my values, my priorities, my everything. (I was on a 2-week, all-expense paid capacity-building course before this, that was really another eye-opener.)

There are so many things to do, people to meet, food to eat, things to play, books to read. Hope each day is spent... well :)

Grand(parents)

2009-09-17T23:56:00.002+08:00

How good are grandparents as parents? Quite frankly, they can suck. They tend to spoil the living daylights out of your kids, teach them all kinds of rubbish habits, undo weeks of careful disciplining and training, and don't give a crap about the "holistic upbringing framework" that parents brainstorm and try to implement on their kids.

Basically, grandparents try to correct all their cock-ups when they tried bringing up their own kids when they babysit their grandkids. In doing so, they make worse cock-ups.

But what will we do without grandparents? They are the force of love and goodness in a world that can be quite restrictive with parents' ridiculous and elaborate "holistic upbringing frameworks". They are the perpetual "good cops" and angels. Grandparents are meant to spoil, and that's how most of us remember our grandparents to be.

You can bet I will pamper my own grandkids if I have a chance to see them :)

The days seem so different

2009-08-30T13:30:00.000+08:00

The mornings feel different the past two weeks. No reluctance, no sleepiness. Instead, there's some kind of eagerness to meet the world, finish up things and move on.

I think it's related to my impending work posting. Somehow, the last 3.5 years have muted something in me... and I pray that it reawakens.

Zayed just slept after his bath, mouth open, "thoppai" out and "pesi" (the pacifier) by his side. Adorable.

The staircase is a witness

2009-08-13T00:03:00.000+08:00

Lovers from the office making out.

A taxi-driver in his 50s feeding his disabled son, who works at the building.

A busy executive offering his zuhr prayers and supplicating for his family.

Art designers chilling out and smoking, contravening building safety rules.

The amah mopping everyday.

Hopes, fears, joys, sadness, love, mndane.

ND TV

2009-08-10T11:30:00.000+08:00

I'm not really a fan of NDP. But I spent some time watching it for the sake of my dear wife who was all alone in the living room and folding clothes. This year's NDP impressed and bewildered me. Impressed with the grand/spectacular set design, bewildered at the pole dancers performing for the audience (which included the Cabinet). Hmm.

I also enjoyed Koh Chieng Mun's "I will survive" (I loved the Military Police guys swinging their rifles) and the pastiche of images from Singapore's past, and the big brother snippets from MM ("Never fear!"), SM and PM, combined with the 70s, 80s-themed songs and performances.

A bit of Singapore Idol was good - Gurmit's impersonation of Ken Lim was excellent. But it's turning out to be a quite a tiring franchise now. The same routine, the same sort of jokers - you feel for Ken when he says they're wasting his time. Another related show with less jokers and more ego to go around for several seasons is Vasantham Star. Some talented folks don't perform well, some untalented fools perform too loudly. Maybe it's a lack of talent - the community is quite small to start with, and of these not everyone would want to take part to get their ass whipped by the judges.

Kowloon

2009-05-23T07:36:00.003+08:00

For me, the distinguishing traits about Kowloon are the constantly dripping water from the aircon overhanging us in the crowded streets, the flashing neon lights that completely covered the street lamps, and the large, looming hills that no one really talks about. And the amazing number of buildings they've built on those slopes.

We stayed at what I think is quite a happening part of Kowloon, a road known as Hart Ave in Tsim Sha Tsui. Surrounded by a strange mix of mom-and-pop shops, nightclubs and 7-Elevens, the area was fantastically warm and welcoming.

We had planned to see a lot of things in HK, but managed to see most and leave out some because our son had to have his afternoon nap ;) Poor guy, didn't know what hit him, from the plane ride to until the ride back. But I think he thought it was all worth it when he took a photo with dad-sized Mickey at Disneyland.

My wife's conclusion was similar to mine, at the end of the four days - we're going back there again, insha Allah, some time in the future. It's too lively to stay away from.

Sweat it

2009-04-29T17:24:00.002+08:00

Physical activity (which is broader than "exercise") is proven to give powerful and effective health benefits. Read all about it here. It's a bit wordy, but the gist is that regular physical activity will make you stronger, more mentally active, protect you from chronic illnesses and make you feel good.

Now we come to the older women in my community. In the Indian Muslim community, a lot of ladies don't do regular physical activity. It's a non-starter. So after years of inactivity, they give a whole new meaning to the term "late bloomers" - they become obese, and develop knee aches and don't move about, complaining that they have knee aches. (Curiously, they (some, not all) are able to move with lightning swiftness when it comes to briyani collection at mosques after religious talks.)

This is not good - unhealthy womenfolk means setting bad examples to their children and family. Generations of sedentary Indian Muslim ladies and gentlemen fed on a diet of weekly briyani, coconut milk-laden chicken curry, murtabak, mee goreng and rojak (not from Geylang). So a group of us decided to change this sedentary thinking.

It began as a simple chat over some fattening coffee and cakes at Coffeebean, near Bencoolen Street on a Saturday evening. The plan was to combine some physical activity and a religious talk to make it a worthwhile event for older Indian Muslim ladies to attend and gain something. They could bring their kids and husbands for moral support. They would get to listen to a Ustaz say a few words about the duty of humans to take care of their bodies in this world. At the end of the day, they might even get some healthy snack or drink to take home.

So a pilot briskwalking project is in the pipeline - to get sedentary housewives to learn about the fantastic results of even a little bit of physical activity, and to do it with their loved ones and to do it with the knowledge that it's encouraged by religious beliefs. Let's hope it works out well, insha Allah...

The Four Star that wasn't

2009-04-29T17:15:00.004+08:00

The bathroom sink was decomposing (if it can happen). The room was stuffy, stinky/musty and had 2 or 3 mosquitoes thrown in which were irritating Yashila. In all, the whole place looked dead.

This is the Pulai Desaru Beach Resort (a very snazzy-looking website), where the website looks better than the real thing. It's allegedly a four-star hotel. It seems like they froze in time since when it was first built. Absolutely horrendous maintenance. And they don't provide toothpaste or toothbrushes!

The beach was very nice, this I will say. But nothing more than 2 days and 1 night to get away from it all.

Reflections

2009-04-24T23:03:00.002+08:00

We had a good meeting today - setting the stage for future meetings. I look forward to a fabulous term.

****

I took a cab to Malabar Mosque to hear Habib Umar bin Hafiz give the Friday sermon (khutbah). Habib Umar is a prominent Islamic scholar who hails from Yemen. In such khaatib (plural of khutbah), many things are mentioned and I won't pretend that I absorb everything. From today's sermon, I learnt that certainty in Allah is a blessing given to the most fortunate of believers. I also learnt that to hurt another Muslim (by words or deeds) is worse than dismantling the Ka'bah brick by brick. A million meanings conveyed in such one-liners.

****

Looking forward to Desaru with my wife. As always, Zayed will be missed, but some time away would do us good. I love you always.

Tortured by torture

2009-04-17T15:42:00.003+08:00

Some torture techniques I would like to share with you. These had been sanctioned for use by the CIA on terrorism suspects under the Bush administration, but outlawed now under President Obama.

Waterboarding: Aimed at simulating sensation of drowning. Used on alleged 9/11 planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

Insect: Harmless insect to be placed with suspect in 'confinement box', suspect to be told the insect would sting. Approved for terrorist suspect Abu Zubaydah, but not used

Walling: Detainee slammed repeatedly into false wall to create sound and shock

Sleep deprivation: Detainee shackled stading up. Used often, once for 180 hours

Read more.

I really don't know how someone can be deprived of sleep for a week and still survive. Moving on - torture is an act that destroys every iota of humanity in both the person being tortured, and the person doing the torturing, and anyone who sanctioned the torture. Even animals don't torture each other.

Signing ceremony - not the end

2009-04-16T15:41:00.003+08:00

Yesterday, we went to the lawyer's office to get some papers signed. We wish to sell off my late dad's house and land in India, so there was some documentation involved to prove that his remaining kin all agreed to sell it off. So all four of us had to sign the papers yesterday in front of the lawyer and get it signed, before posting them to India.

One year later and the paperwork hasn't finished. There's still more to go...

Afterward, we had lunch at Taj Restaurant, next to Jamae Chulia mosque at South Bridge Road. It's run by Burmese Muslims, and the briyani there has a special flavour to it.

Easy to be lazy

2009-04-16T15:34:00.002+08:00

It's amazing how easy it is to do nothing. You don't feel like doing anything, and you think it makes you feel good, so you continue doing nothing. The cycle continues, like a moron. There is no external pressure or force to do anything otherwise. You are too happy to stay the course and not rock the boat. It becomes too risky.

It takes considerable time, a lot of effort and willpower to stay "I can't stand this any longer!" and do something about it, without external forces acting or forcing you to do so. And after you do something about it, you wonder whether you rocked the boat or not.

That's when you realise that there is no boat.

Gran Torino

2009-04-02T18:17:00.002+08:00

Gran Torino the movie is a metaphor for Gran Torino the car – each part created with love and care, put together with heart and soul, and destined to live on as a legend for years to come.

Clint Eastwood’s slightly rajnikanth-ish portrayal of a Korean War veteran living in an ethnic Vietnamese neighborhood and hating it, is solid. He wants you to think that it’s going to be a good ol’ shoot ‘em up, with Clinty coming out winner. He does come out the winner, but in his own way.

The rest of the cast is uninspiring, except for 16-year-old Ahney Her. She’s cute and funny.

The movie tackles a lot of issues close to my heart – inter-generational bonding and communication, intercultural communication, ageing issues, and racism. It’s not a pop-filled, wham-bam technicolour musical – it’s a story that highlights human relationships, both the good and the horrible.

Bad, bad luck

2009-03-26T16:33:00.003+08:00

Imagine getting caught in the world's first atomic bombing.

Then surviving it.

Just to get caught in the world's second atomic bombing.

Then surviving it.

But Tsutomu Yamaguchi, aged 93 today and living to tell the story in Japan, won't get twice the compensation afforded to survivors of the bombs. The good part is that the officials now know about his tough luck.

Yamaguchi was in Hiroshima on 6 Aug 45 when the bomb was dropped, and suffered serious burns. He stayed on for treatment before returning to Nagasaki on (what was to become our National Day) on 9 Aug 45. They had to drop the bomb there again. More here.

This is realllly bad luck...

Maybe. Perhaps. Possibly.

2009-03-25T17:50:00.003+08:00

Scientists have a weird fantasy that life exists on Mars. But they use all kinds of qualifiers, disclaimers and caveats to protect themselves. There could POSSIBLY have been life 3 billion years ago under some OPTIMAL conditions. There COULD BE water under the surface IF the temperature was right. A Coke vending machine MIGHT be lurking behind that huge boulder IF the boulder was made of sponge. Latest one:

Pools of salty water might be able to exist just below the surface of Mars, planetary scientists believe.

Sigh.

Wonderful

2009-03-23T18:24:00.000+08:00

The most beautiful thing happened yesterday –

My one-year-old son started to walk. It was a magical thing. He had begun to stand and take one or two steps for a few weeks already. But yesterday’s scale was massive. He was almost running 7 or 8 steps.

The funniest thing he would do is to sit at a distance from me, then somehow get up (using my wife or my sister as the tree trunk), and then begin to walk towards me with both arms outstretched. Smiling. And then he would collapse onto my arms with an “aahh” sound. Wonderful experience, truly.

Yes, got work

2009-03-21T15:04:00.003+08:00

The seminar room was cooled by the central air-conditioning, and the combination of the fluorescent and natural lighting gave it a touch of serenity. Against the ambient chill-out music, courtesy of an Anoushka Shankar album, the participants chatted among themselves and probably wondered how this was going to turn out, having been organised by an Indian Muslim association.

For one, the venue was not a mosque, it was a university. There were mostly young people aged 17 to their early thirties, and no "Indian Chief" in sight. There didn't seem to be any commotion and confusion among the organisers that is usually characteristic of an Indian Muslim event. Shockingly, there was no tea or smell of briyani (to be distributed later). The whole thing looked too... organised. Corporate, even.

~~~

When this certain association first approached us, the job was to "do an event for the youth". It was as broad as that. No objectives, no deliverables, nothing. This was a good thing, it gave us a large scope with which to play around. The opportunity to change the face of the tag "Indian Muslim" was glaring at us in our face. With whom were we trying to change this face?

From my observations, experiences and conversations with many friends, community leaders and activists, I found out that Indian Muslim youth were not engaged enough. Most of the activities organised by the various associations were aimed at the general adult population (maulid ceremonies and religious talks), or for the really young ("Islamic" quizzes, adhaan and Qur'an recitation competitions). Those in-between, namely teens, young adults and working professionals below age 35, were not interested in these events. If at all they attended, it was for face, not because of a real need to do so. They also seemed to be put off with all the over-the-top hoo-haa that came with the events, such as thanking speeches, briyani distribution, sub-par venues and absolutely no value proposition for them.

What happens when a community doesn't pay enough attention to this group? A wealth of resources is wasted. The potential of tomorrow's young blood is surrendered to an unknown black hole, and the leadership skills and resources of today's young leaders goes untapped and unappreciated.

With this opportunity from the association to do an event for youth, we decided to put some of this thinking into use and decided to organise a talk on career options for youth Indian Muslims in the tertiary institutions. The persons who would share their experiences would be the community's own creme de la creme of young professionals. We hoped that this sharing of experiences would postively reinforce the youngsters' sense of purpose and establish some direction in their lives, while the professionals were able to share their life experiences and have a sense of contribution to the community.

~~~

And we come back to the seminar room at the University. All very corporate-looking.

We went ahead with the idea and with all the support from the Almighty, Who never fails His servants when they do something for His sake, the event was a great success. You can read about it here. We had a good crowd and believe everyone took home something useful.

This is only the first step of many steps to come, Insha Allah. The youth of the community will become a force to reckon with if only we do our part to engage them, guide them and help them as and when they need it.

I saw a cool rainbow

2009-03-01T23:45:00.001+08:00

It was once-in-a-lifetime sight - a nice big rainbow (a "double rainbow" my wife calls it) which I and quite a few awe-struck folks saw near Farrer Park MRT last Thursday.

What brings us together

2009-02-26T18:51:00.003+08:00

When AR Rahman received his Oscars last Sunday for "Jai Ho" and his score for Slumdog Millionaire, I suppose millions of Indians around the world felt proud of him, and proud that the music loved by them for the past 17 years could finally be known and enjoyed by the rest of the world.

For many in and around my generation, we've followed his music from his earliest days. It was unusually refreshing. It was a departure from the tunes of the Maestro Ilayaraaja who I feel tended to excel at the folk tunes and evergreens. I suppose ARR gave a blend of folk and "Western" through his whole-hearted tunes. It was whole-hearted because it really felt whole-hearted. That I guess, was what made him stand out. Today, the younger music composers in the South try very hard, but somehow, they still don't cut it (although some songs are gems).

So to see AR win the Oscars felt like a redemption of sorts to the rest of the world- a "We've been talking about him for ages but finally you get to hear about him" thing from the Indian diaspora. I think this watershed event brought every ARR fan together, Indian and non-Indian, and especially Tamil-speaking folks when he spoke in Tamil at the awards and made me do a double-take.

Is it overhype for ARR? I don't think so - its totally deserved. You should have watched the Tamil news where ARR was totally swamped at the Chennai airport and outside his house (he was even shown telling the fans to go home as his children would need to go to school!). And in any case, the hype will die down in two or three more days. But the magic of the moments will live on.

The movie which got him the opportunity is also a extraordinary piece of work. The core of the story, conceived by Indian author Vikas Swarup as the novel "Q & A", was translated brilliantly into a film version as interpreted by Danny Boyle et al. into Slumdog Millionaire. The Indian film industry was divided into haters and lovers of the movie, but arguably more lovers - the distrurbing portrayal of the "underbelly" of Mumbai was felt and praised by a great many. I felt that the movie lived up to its amazing hype.

In the Slumdog "painting", the main artist was a foreigner (the producer, director, DOP), but a fair number of the crew was Indian. Very importantly, the "subjects" were all Indian, who believed in the merit of the movie and gave it their very best. To say that the movie "exploited" the poverty of India is to deny and run away from reality that India does have that underbelly to it.

At the end of the day, the Indian film industry has won massive fans around the world, despite the fact that most of the world sees India as "Bollywood" - something I personally find a shocking example of the colonial exoticising of the Other in contemporary times - oversimplifying a diverse and complex culture with a simple and blanket term like "Bollywood".

Just yesterday I ran to buy AR's Delhi-6 and Jaane Tu - more about those in the coming posts!

Remembrance

2009-02-26T17:41:00.004+08:00

The view from the Flyer

Ratib al-Haddad is a Zikr (additional voluntary invocation) to be recited every night after Magrib or Salât al-'Ishâ. It is a collection of Surahs and verses from the Holy Qur'an Kareem as well as the Kalimaat (declarations of belief), Tasbeehaat (praise of Allah Ta'ala) and Duas (invocations) which the beloved Prophet Muhammad Mustafa Sallallahu alaihi as Sallam recommended in his blessed sayings or Hadith Shareef.

Mawlana al-Haddad, Rady Allahu Anhu has rendered a great service to Muslims in compiling all these in one small Kitab (book) called Ratib-ush-Shahir, popularly know as Ratib-al-Haddad. And being mindful of the blessed Prophet's Sunnah of not over-burdening Muslims, he has put together just the most basic supplications which take at most 15 minutes to recite.

This is the Wird that the Mureedeen (disciples) receive as Wazifa from their Shaykh when initiated into Tariqah (spiritual path leading to Allah Sub'hanahu wa Ta'ala). The spiritual rewards of its daily recitation are immense. If someone is seeking Maghfira (salvation and permanent forgiveness) from Allah, the Glorified and the Exalted, he can be recommended to recite this Zikr. If your Shaykh has put you under the canopy of Mawlana al-Haddad, Rady Allahu Anhu, you are directly linked to his ancestor, Muhammad-ur-Rasulullah, Sallallahu alaihi wa Sallam.

It starts with Surah al-Fateha, Ayatul Kursi and the last two verses of Surah al-Baqara. Then follow various Kalimaat, Tasbeehaat, Dua, and Salawaat, each to be recited a specific number of times.

From http://www.iqra.net/articles/Ratib/Ratib.htm

Alchemist with the Oscars

2009-02-23T18:33:00.002+08:00

Strangely Mani Ratnam-centric, but a good read nonetheless:

Seventeen years after he began writing music and songs for films, the jingle maker-turned-musician has finally got recognition as India's first truly global film music composer with his score for Danny Boyle's sleeper hit Slumdog Millionaire. More...

The last week and this

2009-02-05T17:30:00.003+08:00

I was a bit busy last week, so couldn't really find time to blog about stuff.

I'm working on a new project to inject some optimism and give some career options to a group of Indian Muslim youth, which I hope turns out well.

I finally finished reading Barack Obama's "The Audacity of Hope", which I found highly informative and entertaining most times, but repetitive and overly-inspiring in some parts (I suspect these are rehashed speeches). But the book gives a good overview of the man's political agenda and feelings about his varied family background. I was quite impressed that he recently admitted to screwing up on global TV when some politicians he hired turned out to be evading tax.

I'm beginning to get all fired up for my inaugural tajwid class to a group of younglings beginning this Sunday, at a mosque near my home. It's a small group of about 15, more than I've handled in terms of teaching something very close to my heart. I hope I'm able to imbue something in them.

The window grill guy is coming buy this evening to measure my windows and hopefully fit some grills. This is to prevent the active son of our from doing anything playful and too cute - near the window.

A good friend of mine started her blog. She's quite funny in real life and blogs about funny stuff (how her mom burps like a hippo and all), click here for a good laugh.

Yesterday I attended a talk on the problems the world is facing and how we individuals can save the word when a central form of "Global Governance" fails. It was a good session, but I think it didn't really push the limits enough. And people need to speak louder! ;)

Songs in my head

2009-01-23T12:15:00.003+08:00

A.R. Rahman proves that he can do almost anything when it comes to music.

I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard a slightly different ARR in the soundtrack of Slumdog Millionaire. Well… it’s not really surprising… more like “dazzled”.

Like someone wrote in an online paper the other day, this is not his best work. But it’s one of his best shows of creativity, versatility and pure wickedness.

I thought Talvin Singh, Badmarsh and Shri, Nitin Sawhney were all good. They are. But ARR seems to be able to do what they do, as well as them or even better. And remember, those guys were all feted in the western music industry for amazing breakthroughs/magnum opus/next-best-things when ARR was making music for South Indian films.

My favourites include “O… Saya” (featuring UK-based Indian songstress Maya Arulpragasam a.k.a. MIA), “Riots”, “Mausam and Escape” (one of the best pieces I’ve listened to), and “Liquid Dance”. These tracks are a pastiche of hip hop, Indian classical and some really wonderful sound engineering – the attention to details are trademark ARR.

He’s also capable of doing “Ringa Ringa”, a old-fashioned hindi song which I couldn’t stand! “Jai Ho” sounds like a song out of a commercial Hindi flick, while “Millionaire” could quite possibly the theme music of the movie. There’s a song from Shah Rukh Khan’s Don, and another one by MIA (didn’t quite enjoy that).

Overall, a really creative piece of work, and I look forward to enjoying the movie.

And oh, AR Rahman has been nominated for 3 Oscars – one for original score, and two for original song (Jai Ho and O… Saya). For the best song, there’s a high chance of him winning it – there are only three songs (including his) in that category.

Taking Care of Us

2009-01-22T21:27:00.004+08:00

The Budget for the 2009 workyear was announced by the Finance Minister earlier today. Basically, there's going to be a doubling of GST Credits for all of us, 18,000 new Government jobs over the next two years, and lots of help for companies, households and other folks.

Read everything here. And yes, we're taking about $5bn from our holy reserves.

Imbecile. Superhero.

2009-01-21T10:34:00.004+08:00

Today in Gaza:
-1,300 people and children are dead
-4,000 buildings totally destroyed, another 20,000 damaged
-50,000 people are homeless
-400,000 don't have access to running water

(source)

But Hamas claims a "great victory over Israel", where 13 people died. What kind of imbeciles are these?

Meanwhile, there's a group of Arabs inside Israel who detest the whole thing but can't do anything about it because they are Israeli nationals (read).

This big mess is just part of an ongoing ordeal that ordinary folks have to endure repeatedly. Yesterday President Obama came into office, and people want him to save the world, and one of the messes he's expected to clear up is this.

Not only that, he has become the ultimate object of "Othering" - he's a superhero, pop sensation, underdog, Will Smith, all rolled into one. One thing's for sure - he's become a defining figure in world history without even having coming into office yet.

Do'a

2009-01-16T12:36:00.002+08:00

I was speaking to a friend on the ongoing Palestinian crisis, and how the range of media statements released by various organisations urging for the conflict to end did not address the fundamental emotional angle that the event represented for Muslims everywhere.

It's a huge tragedy. As a father, I feel extremely sad and disturbed for all the parents who have lost their children in the Israeli assault. Of the more than 1,000 dead, about a third are children. That's about 300 children. May Allah give them a wonderful bounty, free from the sadness and suffering of this world, and His magnificent company and the Holy Prophet's (s.a.w.) company.

As usual, with the previous bloodshed in Rwanda and Darfur and other places which I don't know of, the rich world with access to power and money is helpless, or chooses to be so. The diplomatic machinery is doing its job in the form of the UN to come to a ceasefire agreement which both Israel and Hamas can agree to. I don't know how long that will take.

What is the practical thing we can do? Donate in the Humanitarian Effort donation boxes at at the various mosques, and do a lot of do'a (supplications to God) that the conflict stops, that Palestinian civilians are spared of this ordeal, and that the Israeli government is able to come to a better solution to this problem in discussion with the various stakeholders involved.

It's a deeply emotional moment for the Muslim world - but let's remind ourselves that the problems are caused by people and their need for territory, and not define it purely as a test for Muslims. It's more complex than that.

Why I'm Not Surprised

2009-01-13T16:32:00.003+08:00

The other day I saw a long queue at the ticketing office at Raffles Place MRT at 5pm. I thought a train had broken down so people were there to claim their money back or something. And people usually don't queue up at the office because of automatic top-up machines.

Yesterday I saw another long queue at Novena MRT at 3pm - not peak hour.

Then I saw the poster which made sense of everything. The great ez-link one-for-one card exchange is now on, announced by LTA last month. These new cards can be used for tapping at the buses and trains as well as paying for ERP toll charges and car parking fees.

The thing is - people have until 30 Sep 09 - 9 months - to do this exchange. The notices clearly state that there is no urgency to exchange your cards. Some folks really can't wait.

AR Rahman gets a Golden Globe

2009-01-13T10:51:00.005+08:00

In case you didn't know - he's the Indian dude.

Hey bro ARR, I knew you'd do it someday. I'm looking forward to buying the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack, which doesn't seem to have been released in Singapore yet. I loved Ghajini though. Congrats for your win - keep up the wonderful work.

A Good Day

2009-01-07T23:33:00.004+08:00

Yesterday not only marked the day of Ashura, but also our second wedding anniversary.

I find it amazing that two years have gone by since 6 Jan 2007. The memories of the wedding dinner and nikkah are still fresh and vivid in my mind. The two years have been an awesome journey so far - having a child introduced into the equation brought with it a new perspective to marriage.

The past year especially tested our mettle. Job issues, death of a family member, birth of another one and strains of "teamwork" were only some of the challenges. However, the quarrels, insecurities, frustrations after a while gave bloom to more understanding, greater appreciation of each other, deeper love and respect, and a companionship mounted on a different level altogether. As I had envisioned before marriage, this is a journey that encompasses most other journeys.

Personally too, I feel a sense of achievement during this 2nd-year anniversary - that I've been able to lead a family moderately well, with food on the table and shelter over the head. All praise to God, alhamdulillah.

To celebrate, we went on a little date to Vansh, a "surprisingly Indian" north-Indian restaurant near the indoor stadium. The kitchen serves halal meat, but because of the major money-earner (alcohol), it's not certified halal.

The food was heavenly. The ambience was fusion of metropolitan chic-modern and traditional Indian - damn cool. Service was 5-star, and so was the price. The servings were very generous (came with the price), and we couldn't finish the food. They were nice enough to pack the remainder for us.

6 January is a day to remember for another reason - it's my mother's birthday. We'll be bringing her for lunch this weekend insha Allah at her favourite Rice Table to celebrate.

Doss it Again

2009-01-01T10:08:00.003+08:00

3 years ago, I wrote that Muruga Doss (or did) it.

Today, he Doss it again with Aamir in the Hindi version of Ghajini. Some modifications:

Aamir probably didn’t buy that “Ghajini” in the original stood for persistence of Surya’s character in trying and trying again (as in the famous rule Ghajini Mohammed’s attempt to wage war). So Ghaijini became the name of the baddie. Have you ever come across any movie that had the guts to name itself after the antagonist? Rarely.

The really quite shoddy ending of the Tamil one has given way to a much better one that gives a closure to everyone watching it. Kudos!

A number of crew has been changed – cameraman is just as good as the last one, and AR Rahman’s music is also just as good as Harris’. They’ve all done their own takes of Ghajini.

Which brings us to Aamir’s interpretation of the lead character. It was so brilliant that the old version does not come to mind at all. It’s not to discredit Surya or anything – Surya gave life to the character in the first place. Just that Aamir has chosen to explore certain parts of the character in more detail. His simultaneous agony of being unable to save his loved one, and fury against the aggressor and helplessness because of his memory loss is really painful to see. You feel like patting him on his back to console him and also handing him a metal rod to finish his job.

I think everyone would agree that the 5-7 minute scene with Aamir’s character alone in his apartment with no dialogue was truly remarkable. The reminders that he places at all the various locations in the apartment and on his own body reveal a chilling single-minded obsession of a man who is unable to overcome the past, and determined to fight against his memory loss.

Asin just does her thing – everyone’s gonna love her in Bollywood. Jiah Khan looks the part as an amateurish medical student, while Riyaz Khan gets kicked and punched as in the original. The bad guy’s acting was bad. It was so bad the audience was laughing at his poor diction of the English words! “Mimory lost hai…”

ARR does a commendable job for the background score and the songs. I suspect he decided to go with some of Harris’ original scoring for the background bits, simply because it was the most appropriate. ARR gives some really good pieces for the whole confused/twisted mood, and stylish block-rocking beats for the joyful moods. Except for the outstanding “Guzarish”, the rest of the tracks are pretty pop-inspired and standard fare. The picturisation of “Aye Bachchoo” and “Bekha” are superb. Jiah Khan’s “Latoo” started out very promising but was cut after 1 minute to allow the story to unfold.

Overall, a very satisfying movie experience. No wonder then it passed the one-billion-rupee mark in a matter of days.

Disobedience

2008-12-31T10:37:00.008+08:00

To steal another's property is an act of disobedience to the natural order of things.

Each person has been given a certain amount of material and immaterial belongings. Rizq. What you have, you're mean to have. What you don't have, you can't have. That's the natural order.

What happens if you want something that you don't have? You make the effort to get it through lawful means - you buy it, or ask permission for it, or pursue other dignified, humanely-accepted way of getting that thing.

What happens if you really want something, but upon careful or careless deliberation come to the conclusion that you will never get it through the lawful means? You can accept that you're not meant to have it. Or - you can perform an act of disobedience to the natural order of things and take it without asking anyone.

The person whose property is stolen will view the act of the thief as a malicious one, one that indicates a total disregard of the owner. If only the thief had asked for the property, the owner could have exercised the option to either give the property for free (thus making the thief escape the burden of committing a wrong) or sell it at a reasonable price.

I'm saying all this philosophical-sounding things for a reason. My bicycle was stolen yesterday afternoon, right outside my front door when my wife and kid were at home, when the door was closed. The thief had cut the chain I had used to secure the bicycle to a large pipe outside our front door. The bicycle used to be my late dad's. I hadn't ridden on it the last few weeks because the tires were out of air.

I made a police report last night, and they took the cut chain as evidence.

Stealing my bicycle right outside my front door worries me. And to think that the door is open for long periods of time, because Zayed likes to look out and talk to the kids playing outside...

The thief had a heck of an audacity to do it - my floor has five families, of which four have kids below the age of 15. At any one point in time, somebody could have walked to the lift lobby when the theif was doing his job. Risking getting caught, he still proceeded to steal it and whisk it away. I hope he learns his lesson.

Fine Piece

2008-12-29T17:55:00.004+08:00

Every once in a while, a Tamil movie will come by that will say that "yes, Tamil filmdom is not going doing to the twisted cesspool of idiotism, jingoism and flesh paradism".

Jayam Kondaan was released quite a while back, in Aug 2008 and only last week I got to watch it on Vasantham. Directed by Mani Ratnam's former assistant, R. Kannan, the movie showed that there was still hope left for intelligent, realistic movie-making.

Viney (of "Unnale Unnale" fame) plays a young exec who's been slogging in the UK for the last seven years. He quits his job and comes to India when his father passes away, as his UK bosses refuse to let him go on leave to see his late father. He then decides to start a new business venture using the money he had been remitting to his dad for the last years and settle in India.

But he finds that all the money he'd given his dad is missing. The quest to find the money to realise his dreams takes him on a journey where he comes face to face with a sister he never knew, meets a girl whom he'd long forgotten about, realises the value of friends, and faces the greatest threat to his life and new family.

The beauty of the movie lies in the fact that it actually bothers to tell a story - one event leads to another and the protagonist and audience travel together in the journey. It's not a "first-half comedy track with some teasers and second-half "aapu" romp" kind of movie that Vijay kept doing several times in the past. The story unfolds logically - people react how you would expect people to react and not react in an over-the-top manner. Like some bad guys who gets so pissed off he starts yelling at the hero with "Ey!" countless times.

The other wonderful part of the movie is the solid character development and attention to human relations. The relationships are lovingly and slowly built up by the director, with the hurdles and knots placed here and there. By the time the movie ends, the story untangles all the knots, clears up all loose ends and everything makes sense. Truly, the director "jayam kondaan" ([He] attained victory).

The songs are melodius, but slow the pace of the movie. Acting is first rate by all the major characters, especially the baddie. Viney can hold the movie on his broad shoulders, although he can't dance to save the living daylights. (Luckily he was fired from Dhaam Dhoom which needed a lot of dancing.) I thought Bhavana was quite endearing as his lady love.

Overall, a good picture worth discussing, dissecting and analysing with like minds.

Awwal Meal

2008-12-29T11:10:00.004+08:00

Let me recount to you the first meal I had in 1430.

Toasted wholemeal bread, mushroom soup, mushroom + tomato omelette. When you dip the toasted bread into the soup, the end result is pure joy.

The company I had was my wife who prepared the feast, and my trusty 10-month-old sidekick/crony who laughs at all my jokes now. Excellent.

Wishing everyone a blessed awwal muharram.

The Day It Wasn't Supposed To Be

2008-12-25T16:49:00.005+08:00

Our son is very active kid - he doesn't want to sleep! He likes to crawl, pull things, push things down, play with his toys, beat our faces up, watch selected ads on TV, swivel the TV around, touch the electrical points, want one of us to be always within sight, put most things he finds on the floor in his mouth, and laugh to his heart's content.

We wanted to spend Christmas Day at home, lazy and relaxed, but we've been on our toes since morning, making sure he didn't get electrocuted or poisoned by the things he touched and tasted.

But his smile is all that it takes for us to melt to our knees and smother him with hugs and kisses. Good job, my son! As charming as the dad.

Walimatul Urus

2008-12-23T15:58:00.003+08:00

The other day I went for a Malay wedding feast (walimah) at the void-deck. I’ve always sensed people giving me the stink-eye or rolling-eye whenever I say that “so and so is having her wedding feast at the void-deck”. At this stage, I'd like to also clarify that the invites you get for under-the-block events is NOT the wedding (nikkah) - it is the walimah, the FEAST only. The bride and bridegroom will come and show face for a while only. They would have been married somewhere else nice and jazzy earlier.

Anyway, back to void-decks - I tended to agree with these naysayers most of the time. The void-deck is not the best place to hold the most important feast in your life. But after attending many wedding feasts, I can see why the void-deck is probably a very practical option.

Malay (or Muslim for that matter) wedding feasts are not restricted to invited guests – all are and should be welcome. In the true kampong spirit, everybody in the community is welcome to attend the feast. The food is served for a long period, not just from 12pm – 2pm or whatever. No one is turned away and everyone is invited to join in the food, no matter who you are.

So when you do this, there are some trade-offs. Most of the cost will be the food – there will be a large quantity of food required for a long period. So the other cost centres have to be reduced – location is a prime target. The void-deck is perfect as it’s affordable and accessible to the cook, with his massive barang-barang like pots and pans. Further, you are not likely to get lost if the location is at the void-deck – it’s a HDB estate and not some ulu place (like say, Fort Canning?).

So the void-deck is a practical venue in terms of cost considerations. But it is not to say the persons involved cannot afford more than a void-deck – that’s a supremely wrong perception. People who have weddings at void-decks spend good money on the wedding décor and the food, mind you. It’s just that resources are limited – the average dudette/dude doesn’t have a Madoffian bottomless wedding budget. With limited resources, you need to put in the moolah where there’s most bang for buck.

The downside of the the void-deck is that there may have been funerals held at the same location. This one I leave it to the individual to decide – some are bothered, most aren’t.

But the void-deck is a good location for a wedding feast. The wedding or nikkah can be somewhere posh of course, because that’s where the real action is.

I had my nikkah at the Masjid Bencoolen function room, and the wedding feast at Leng Kee CC. Perhaps if I was prepared to accept the void-deck as the location, I could’ve invited everyone I knew to the void-deck for the feast. Alas, I couldn’t think practically – I wanted a very classy nikkah and wedding feast. The ballroom was out of the question, too atas. So we decided on a CC and made the whole set-up look grand. Higher cost than void-deck, so the number of guests had to be “controlled” – we had to make difficult choices in coming up with the guest list. So there's always a trade-off somewhere

But the one thing that stayed with me during the wedding I attended the other day was the food – such exquisite briyani! Truly awesome. I used my hand to eat, savouring its full flavour. The other reason was that the utensils weren’t properly washed!

And... curtains

2008-12-19T17:10:00.007+08:00

A historic place of learning will be closing its doors when 2008 ends.

No, I'm not talking about some Nalanda University. Its the Indian Muslim madrasah at Masjid Al Amin, which taught tens of students the rudimentary basics of Islam.

In a mixture of English and Tamil, the religion was made simple to understand for people aged 9 to 23. Although there was no standard methodology or structure/curriculum, the wholly-volunteer run class taught confidence ("reciting in front of class after given a notice time of 20 seconds"), memory skills ("regurgitate the doa's learnt last week in front of the class") and character-building ("You're going to get it for not memorising this doa/you're going to get public shaming for playing in the musollah during asr prayers") for a lot of kids and adolescents.

My younger sister had been learning there since 2000 (I think), since she was in Pri. 4. I was very interested to learn how to recite but due my advanced age of 21 prevented me from joining the class, which consisted mostly of 9 - 17 year olds then. But I put my pride aside for the sake of my learning and started my journey with and link to Masjid Al Amin and the important people whom I've gotten to know through it.

The first very important person is my Ustaz, the very first person who properly taught me how to recite and to recite well. In his own wacky way, he taught me Islam - what it means to be a good Muslim, and what it means to be a good human. Coming from a secular background, he fully appreciated moderation and always told me to balance my life between the religious and the secular, but never to compromise on religion. After I "graduated" from the class, he became and and still is my extremely close friend and mentor.

Then there are the friends whom I made in the class - Raascal and Ali (who doesn't have a blog name and who's in Texas at the moment with a clean-shaven look). On the first day of class which I attended, Raascal was wearing a sarong, making me think he was some really cool dude from India. But alas - he was merely testing out the sarong to see how airy the classroom really was. Both Raascal and Ali were one of my first Indian Muslim friends (can you believe that?) who had similar wavelengths as mine (don't count the bizarre and weird bits).

Then there is the mosque - I became closely associated with the events organised by the madrasah and helped out wherever I can for the masjid. I became a regular face at the mosque.

The latest development is that the administration of the mosque has decided to change the format of teaching at the madrasah into a more holistic one, namely under the A.L.I.V.E. series formulated by MUIS. This a good move, as it has a more interactive and engaging teaching methodology for younger kids. The class will also include non-Indian Muslims, and the medium of instruction will be in English.

However, many parents, themselves from the old school rote-learning method, disapprove of this shift and have decided to perhaps bring their children to other Indian Muslim madrasahs nearby. Whatever the case, there could be less students in the new format, which Insha Allah will start next year.

Which means that the old format which my friends and I are so familiar with will exist no longer at the masjid we live so close to - the madrasah as we know it will become something else. The timings will change, the students will change (and the fees will change). Although this sort of change is probably for the better, I cannot but help have a sense of nostalgia that the madrasah will no longer operate.

My doa's for the smooth operation of the new class next year.

Quite Amusing

2008-12-07T06:37:00.003+08:00

Datuk Shah Rukh Khan announced that he'll be acting in a movie which condemns the notion that Islam promotes violence.

Anyway, I wrote this post to just see how it sounds like to write "Datuk Shah Rukh Khan". It's, like what Rhino the hamster says, "Awesome!"

Retreat

2008-12-05T09:28:00.003+08:00

The whole family had a nice time at Batam last week. Ok lah, by "whole family" I mean the three of us. It was Zayed's first trip out of Singapore. Man, he was thrilled. He knew we weren't in Kim Tian, at the very least. He was like a man on fire in the resort suite - crawling up and down and spewing out all his "ahh"s and "oohs" and screams of joy.

The highlight was the trip to the swimming pool on the second day. He was totally into the whole waddling-in-water thing. He was moving his arms and legs all over the place. After about 30 or 40 minutes, we ended the session and he slept on and on... he basically tired himself out!

We tried to entertain ourselves by walking around the hotel area to get cheap food, and taking a cab to the nearest city centre. We had some smashing ayam penyet, unexpectedly spicy like hell and some A&W root beer float to douse the spice.

Batam's largely undeveloped - it's rustic and calm. There's nothing much to do there, so it's perfect for a short retreat.

Khamoshi

2008-12-05T09:19:00.002+08:00

I found out the other day just how "noisy" my mind is. I tried to do an experiment - the aim was to concentrate on a particular sound only, and blank out everything else. It was tough. The random thoughts, the complaints, the worries, the song tunes, the comments for the song tunes all just kept popping up, refusing to shut up.

I guess it needs practice. What's the final aim of this exercise? They say the heart speaks much clearer when all the competing sounds and voices are removed from it.

Sickos

2008-12-01T12:16:00.003+08:00

The recent Mumbai terror attack which claimed a Singaporean life made me sick. I feel like one of my relatives passed away. My heart goes out to the family of Ms Lo Hwei Yen. It must be so surreal for them. I cannot imagine the pain that her husband went through in Mumbai and now in Singapore. I know how a sudden death in the family feels like, but I cannot begin to even think about a demise such as this.

The people who did this all got wiped out by the very capable Indian commandos. A undignified death for what purpose? No one knows what their goal is. It is to liberate Kashmir, it is to fight America, it is to take revenge on behalf of the Palestinians, it's everything. It's everything but nothing. I don't think even they know why they're doing this.

Terrorists fight for their own selfish needs, and die for their own selfish needs. They don't die in the name of God or any religion. If they really know the essence of God's message to man, it is to live and serve others for the sake of God and religion and not cause death, mayhem and mischief to self and others. Their actions are condemnable and surely, they will answer to Him.

My prayers for all people in the world to be spared such terrorism, violence and confusion.

Taking a break

2008-11-25T08:25:00.002+08:00

We embarked on a journey to let people know what was happening to them, and what they could do to protect themselves and 'heal' themselves. The journey was well-planned and executed, but many did not want to hear what was being said, either because they failed to see the good of it or because they expected something else.

But the journey will continue nonetheless.

And we will begin a journey to Batam tomorrow, to take a break, regroup and re-strategise on future journeys, insha Allah.

Beck

2008-11-18T23:34:00.003+08:00

As many of you would know, I've had a fair share of folk with the same name as the title of this entry.

As I was having a late-night dinner after having put my son to sleep after a challenging 2 hours (the boy refuses to sleep!), my eye caught this really wierd music video on MTV and I found that it was the song "Loser" by Beck. I've heard of Beck but never really heard his songs properly or seen his music videos.

The video was something dreamt up of by some drug-addicted crazy fellow with a penchance for creating wild pastiches spanning a multitude of genres and topics. It was fantastic. I continued to watch and found that it was some "Beck Special" with all his hit songs and crazy videos like Sexx Laws and Nausea.

Read about him here and I'm afraid I can't locate any of the videos I watched on TV.

Trivia

2008-11-16T14:36:00.002+08:00

I don't know why, but the ST likes to report on the most trivial of things.

The latest is the whole choping-seats-with-tissue-paper issue. I mean - yes, it's a practice which sucks. But what's the point in debating it in the mainstream media? The article I read was going on and on about the practice, and that some SMU students are campaigning against it, and that people aren't supporting it, and, and, and... I think it's ridiculous.

There are a 1,001 things which are irritating in Singapore. Urine-laden lifts. Choping seats with tissue. Ah peks/mahs who jostle for MRT/bus seats and brazenly jaywalk. Burnt joss paper on pavements where people walk. The list goes on. But can we discuss all this in the mainstream papers? I'd rather not waste time reading those things in the papers.

By the way, Thaksin divorced his wife.

Victory

2008-11-06T22:55:00.005+08:00

Barack Obama's speech was truly inspiring - a message for the universal values of equality and the limitless potential of meritocracy.

I think his victory in the US Presidential Elections is a victory for all minority peoples in the world. He has this aura of "Hey, I know you" around him that has endeared all his supporters in and outside of America. Frankly, I was ecstatic that he won, and by a huge-ass margin at that.

Let's hope to see a more inclusive and consultative America in the coming years.

Too Fast Too Furious

2008-11-04T21:00:00.004+08:00

Sometimes, things move too fast. You have trouble keeping up with new developments and are forced to focus on a few things... while others get neglected. Like this blog. So that's the gist of why there's been such a large gap between the last post and this.

For the last few weeks I've been involved in the development of an idea that sprouted during a quiet after-maghrib chill-out session at Masjid Moulana Ali at Raffles Place. I thought of all the bayaans (religious talks) that I'd been to, trying to recall the most memorable ones. I couldn't recall any, save for some tafsir sessions by the current Bencoolen mosque imam.

Then I thought of Raffles Place... and the current global financial crisis. The cycle of lending and re-lending and loans becoming toxic was very complex for me to understand. Many Indian Muslim folks work at Raffles Place, and in the coming months, the impact was going to be felt. I was feeling uncomfortable that many of them folks might not even know what the current crisis was about, and why something some rich bankers did (or did not do) impacted us in Singapore. How would they know that there was this great big recession coming their way?

Bayaan. Crisis. It occured to me that bayaans needed to move from topics like "What One Should Do to Avoid Hell-Fire" and "Guaranteeing Your Place in Jannah" to ones that discussed what Allah says we must do when faced with a global recession. Things that Allah and the Prophet s.aw. have already told us to do (the broad "policy" directions, if you may) during times of crisis, modern or medieval.

I spoke to a few "brudders" to get their sense of the possibility of organising such a bayaan, and they were receptive to the idea. We spent a good few days securing the speakers and finalising the details. Insha Allah, come 23 Nov 08, we hope to have a useful session on the global financial crisis and what people can do during the tough times ahead.

Muslim Thought

2008-10-19T18:11:00.003+08:00

How much outside of what we are familiar with, do we know? And how much information do we really know to make sound judgements and decisions and form opinions?

Realistically speaking, the answer is "not enough" for both the above questions. It will never be enough, no matter how much we know, because our knowledge is limited due to time, or due to certain style or method of thought we adopt in our lives. But the important thing is that we make a concentrated effort to know a broad spectrum of things in order to contextualise our thoughts and views to a certain extent.

Take, for example, our knowledge of Muslim thought. What is "Muslim thought", to begin with? It is the very diverse and complex pool of knowledge that Muslim thinkers have contributed to the world ever since the Holy Prophet s.a.w. brought us the Message from Allah.

Muslim thought is not restricted to how we do our prayers, how we recite the Qur'an, and whether we can drink alcohol and eat pork or not. It covers an expanse of knowledge, way beyond these issues. Studying Muslim thought requires a Muslim to open his or her mind, and be critical on what he or she comes across. Not everything can and should be accepted - but it would give every Muslim reason to appreciate our roots, our rich tradition in intellectual thought and the fact that much of Muslim thought gave life to modern philosophical thought and inspired much of the modern systems and concepts in place.

A workshop and seminar I attended yesterday introduced a whole range of Muslim thought. Matters from the genesis of Shi'a Islam, to Mu'tazilites, to 'Asharism, to the maddhabs, to political Islamic thought, to contemporary thought was covered in an engrossing 2-hour lecture. It was not enough. I had come across many of these topics during a module I took in University, but this refresher had even more insights.

This spectrum of knowledge may not go down too well with some folks who may be used to a particular type of thinking - but the point of such a lecture and intellectual effort is not to believe or disbelieve, it is just to show that such thought exists. That isn't too much to ask of Muslims today.

The next question is to increase avenues of such knowledge. Not enough people are familiar with such knowledge to spread to the community. Thus it may be time to create special programmes and reach out to more people who may be interested to give a listening ear to such a topic.

Beautiful

2008-10-14T19:47:00.001+08:00

And suddenly, a voice told me that if He was so beautiful, and His creations are all beautiful, mustn't you be beautiful, and do things for Him beautifully?

Ark of the Covenant

2008-10-11T11:24:00.004+08:00

Twice in one day I came across the Covenant of the Ark - first, in Chapter 2 (Surah al-Baqarah), verse 248 of the Qur'an:

"And (further) their Prophet said to them: "A sign of his authority is that there shall come to you the Ark of the Covenant, with (an assurance) therein, of security from your Lord. And the relics left by the family of Moses, and the family of Aaron, carried by angel. And this is a Symbol for you if ye indeed have faith."

Second, during the documentary of the "Ark of the Covenant" shown on th History Channel.

The Ark of the Covenant is basically described as a chest made of acacia wood, covered and lined in pure gold. It was supposed to contain the Ten Commandments of Allah, as well as the relics of Moses and Aaron, peace be upon them. If you can remember, those guys were after this Ark in the movie "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark."

Suffice to say that the Ark was a powerful and holy chest. It was fought over for possession numerous times in the history of the Jews. You can read more here and here.

But the major lesson of the Ark in the Qur'an is that it was a symbol of Allah's power and mercy, as well as a sign of unity and strength of believers.

Ramadan post-mortem

2008-10-07T15:47:00.005+08:00

What is with you - you might not realise that you have it with you.

Usually, I'd make it a point to do extra acts of worship during Ramdan - everyday go for terawih, recite the Qur'an and so on. During my fast, I'd be self-conscious of my fast and have thoughts of sacrifice, patience and the good feeling that I was being blessed. I felt the Ramadan "magic".

This year, it was very different. Since Zayed's arrival, our daily routines changed, and needless to say, the Ramadan schedule was a major hurdle, mainly in terms of sleep. (My wife got the brunt of it - waking up early for the pre-dawn sahur and sleeping late due to housework and Zayed's inability to sleep sometimes.)

Unlike previous years, I couldn't feel the Ramadan magic. I'd be tired, hungry, and wasn't afraid to admit to myself that I felt so. I would feel sleepy and lethargic at work. I missed a record number of terawihs at the mosque as a result of the need to sleep.

But good things came out - we went to my mom's house almost everyday to break fast. I truly appreciated my wife's energy to take care of Zayed and prepare the pre-dawn meals. I performed a record number of terwaihs at home. We hosted a record number of iftar sessions at home!

Eventually, my wife and I decided that tangibly, it seemed that we weren't able to perform the regular and 'prescribed' acts of worship - but we were able to tell ourselves that we were taking care of another human being in the house who wasn't around at Ramadan last year, and that we'd be rewarded for these little inconveniences, like the lack of sleep.

Eid passed. And the Friday I went to work, I totally, totally missed Ramadan. I missed the waking up before Fajr. I missed the iftar. I missed the need to perform terawih. I felt why God decided to just give us one such month of bountiful rewards. All it took was one wholemeal sandwich in the morning of Friday to sustain my breakfast and lunch. I didn't feel like eating dinner either.

And then I realised that truly, the magic of Ramadan was with me, but I had not sensed it then.

But I'm extremely thankful that I was given this feeling of longing... and not the certain feeling of apathy I felt at times during Ramadan.

Communication

2008-10-05T06:11:00.005+08:00

Skype is a wonderful thing. After so long, I got a Skype account to speak to the US-based Musketeer for free. Superb. There is audio and video (if you have a webcam) and the whole thing is just full of presence! (...to use the theoretical construct of messrs Lombard and Ditton...)

~~~

Recently there's been an 'explosion', if you may, of mobile phones that include the PDA function. They were quite prevalent a few months ago, but rather expensive. Today however, things are looking much better. With the anticipation of the iPhone, folks like Samsung, Nokia and HTC (never heard of them previously) came up with their own take on iPhone-like phones like the Omnia, N95/N96 and Touch Diamond respectively, and are relatively more affordable if you get the phone plans with them.

This is good news for people who want an all-in-all device - a digital organiser that's a phone, camera, music player and eye candy. No need to hold many things and your pocket bulges like you got 3 or 4 bananas inside. (Hello, I'm talking about real bananas here.)

Sure, there might be technical problems with such an arrangement, such as the software hanging on you and what not. But with each successive generation, there will be tweaks made and things will get better.

Of special note is the Samsung Omnia - it's a gem. It has a Windows Mobile interface, making it possible to sync with your Outlook Express. It has a 16 GB storage version, that's more than enough space to put all kinds of things inside. It can play movies and MP3s, and it has a maps function so that you don't get lost when you want to go to places like Toh Tuck avenue. Good job Samsung!

Testing Movies

2008-10-05T06:02:00.004+08:00

Ever so often, I feel that Tamil movies test my patience and intelligence.

My wife and I watched a Madhavan movie last night for 10 minutes before deciding it was a piece of crap. That's all it took. The premise was boy loves girl at first sight, but girl has got a big bloody nice family that frowns on lurve, so boy goes all out to win family's heart, but something screws up along the way so boy kenna whack, but in the end everyone sees that the boy is demi-God so they all love him, and boy gets girl. Come on lah... don't insult my intelligence and waste my time.

It's a disgusting feeling you get after watching a stupid movie, that you've wasted 3 hours of your life watching something that has made absolutely no difference in the way you see or feel about the world.

And I also can't understand why Madhavan has to choose crappy movies like "Vazhthukkal" to act. If he wants to be a serious actor then he better be bolder and choose themes that are more contemporary and realistic.

Anyway - we switched to Channel 5 where they showed The Ring - clear Hollywood excesses when remaking a Japanese horror flick, but definitely more entertaining than Madhavan sprouting infantile dialogue.

All-Hearing

2008-10-01T10:49:00.004+08:00

When My servants ask thee concerning Me,
I am indeed Close (to them): I listen to the prayer of every suppliant when he calleth on Me.
Let them also, with a will, listen to My call,
And believe in Me:
That they may walk in the right way.

- Surah Al Baqarah, v. 186 of the Qur'an
[Translated by Abdullah Yusuf Ali]

Sicko

2008-09-29T23:10:00.002+08:00

I'm sick.

This is the third consecutive month I've had the flu. I better heed HPB's 2 fruits + 2 veggies advice...

I'm sick...

Hair it goes again

2008-09-27T22:13:00.003+08:00

My hair has seen many things in the last 27 years.

It used to be the side-parted style in the 80s - the parting was established by my mother and it has stayed there forever. I don't know how she did it, but the physical scar has remained since. (The side-parting was together with the days of wearing primary-school uniform with the shirt tucked in until it can be pulled from the shorts.)

Then in secondary school, the curry puff came. Basically the side-parting was not altered, but the front fringe had a nice little bunch to it - a curry puff. A derogatory name no less, christened by my dear wife. The curry puff remained that way until Sec 2, when it was disrupted by my executive decision to shave my head. It was not approved by Congress or the Security Council, I just used my Presidential mandate to shave the bugger off. I gained many guy friends who thought it was damn cool, but lost a fairly decent girl fan base of at least one girl.

The curry puff resumed until NS, when I tried to do a spikey hairstyle because of the short-hair requirement. I discarded my comb because I thought real men needn't waste time with extraneous devices like combs. I thought my spike was damn cool, until (two and a half years later) this colleague told me it sucked, and that it sucked for the last two and a half years. The reason being that only the front part of the hair was spiked, while the rest of the hair was limp. I decided to move on in life after this tragic realisation.

So I went back to the curry puff with a vengeance in Uni. It was a massive hit. Or rather, I couldn't care less. I didn't care that people called me some Amitabh Bachan 80s flashback. I momentarily changed by hairstyle into a semi-spike and and on a good day, it looked quite good. Then I got the girl :) Then I went back to my old ways soon after...

I was having a weird hairdo ever since starting to work. Until... the Hoopoe showed me the way. The Hoopoe used to work at the same organisation I am in, and one day, while meeting him for lunch, he sported this uber cool hairstyle that actually made him look cool. I thought that, if he could do that, so can I. I credit the Hoopoe with making me take this scalp-shaking life decision.

So I got some professional advice, and now my hairstyle is a bit more decent and contemporary. My wife was jubilant. But I suspect it might be too revolutionary for my mother, the Author of the Side-parting, but she doesn't say anything.

My hair is also fodder for my 7-month old son who grabs it at every chance he gets and gives it the Super Deluxe Saliva Mix treatment which inhibits dandruff and hair growth of any kind. It's only a matter of time before some hair comes off in his violent hands.

But I must say I have let the hair grow for the last 2 months... and it looks like a hardcore curry puff now. I mean... I've been using a comb for the last 1 week! That's unacceptable.

So before Eid, I plan to shore off my locks and become more fashionable again. Wish me luck.

The Bedouin

2008-09-25T13:10:00.004+08:00

Bedouin: I want to be the best of men.

Prophet: Do good to others and you will be the best of men.

Related by Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal

Contactless

2008-09-25T06:32:00.005+08:00

It wasn't so bad leaving my mobile phone accidentally at home yesterday. I felt... quite free...

~~~

I don't know who started it but it's quite wierd. As we all know, the method of performing the Witr prayers differs slightly between the Shafiie and Hanafi mazhhabs.

During Ramadhan, a strange sight occurs in some mosques. If in a Shafiie mosque, after the terawih prayers are done, the Imam leads the congregation to perform the witr (2 + 1 raka'ats).

But a small group of folks will scurry to the back of the mosque to be led by another Imam to perform the Hanafi-style witr (3 raka'ats in one go)! So there will be two congregations in the same mosque for the same prayer!

I understand the perspective of each school of thought. Both styles are correct. But for the sake of earning more rewards during Ramadhan, why not just do one single style with the entire congregation and go home? If in a Shafiie mosque, just follow the 2 + 1 witr and if in a Hanafi-based mosque, follow the 3 rak'at one lah. Cannot meh? It's quite intuitive to me...

Roles and Actions

2008-09-21T14:59:00.004+08:00

From www.ryangariepy.com/digitalart.php

We just do what we have to do. Things like insecurity, doubts, suspicion, assumptions are distracting and dangerous. They take our focus away from the real task at hand.

God has given us each a special set of roles, and it is our duty to do that role properly and to the best of our limited capacities. For surely, He will not place a burden greater than what we can bear.

So in the end, it is just about knowing what to do, asking questions to clarify, and just doing it.

Pulp fiction

2008-09-19T17:50:00.000+08:00

I read about the Jewel of Medina uproar earlier today.

Essentially, an American lady named Sherry Jones has written a manuscript about Aisha r.a., wife of our Beloved s.a.w. Inspired by the events of September 11, she did a lot of research on Islam and came across Aisha. Ms Jones obsessed about her and decided to write a book chronicling her life. She was disturbed after Random House suddenly rejected her manuscript after paying her an advance, but another publisher has bought it, much to her glee.

No problems with the concept of the book, but some initial reactions are telling. The manuscript was sent to an expert on Islam at the University of Texas, who slammed the book, calling it an incitement to war and described a portion of the book as “soft-core pornography”. That portion apparently describes a scene between the Prophet s.a.w. consummating his marriage to Aisha r.a.

This last portion is disturbing. I have not read the manuscript, and the book may be better than it is mentioned, but the “expert on Islam” has made some comments which are worth noting, and the action of a major publisher pulling out also indicates something.

I’m not sure if non-Muslim actually understand the spiritual relationship Muslims have with these two great personalities. The Prophet s.a.w is our Master, our role model, our life, our everything. Aisha r.a. is our Mother, a scholar and teacher to us.

To relegate their lives to a book that seems to sensationalise certain aspects of their lives does not respect our belief, and it definitely does not promote inter-faith dialogue.

On a bigger scale, such projects by non-Muslim authors says a lot about the whole world-view divide that Muslims and non-Muslims might have. We have a totally different interpretation of the Islamic figures. They were not normal men and women, historical figures for scrutiny. Yes, we can be critical and academic about their actions, but we cannot compare their lives to lives that we lead now, or to lives led by other historical greats. These lives were lived in specific times in history, where specific circumstances arose to answer unique issues.

These individuals have been put in history as exemplars of human behavior. It’s rotten to relegate them to pulp fiction, subjecting the historical account of their lives to the whims and fancies of certain writers’ obsessions and “creativity”, who themselves do not share the worldview of people who love these individuals.