Destiny's Path

Recently I got married. …Huh? What?!? Yeah, it’s true, after all I’m friggin human, I’m 36 bloody years old, I’m not gay, and I also wanna have a family of my own, and like it or not, destiny seems to have decided that it’s about time this …err thing happened.

Although destiny didn’t put it in such a straight-forward kinda way. No, don’t get me wrong, everything went on quite normally at first. There was friendship (we knew each other since January 2006, but never in our minds thought we’d be together, …we used to tease each other and pair each other off to potential partners). There was love (of course) and then a proposal (first, on the phone with my now-wife and then I went to her house and family in Assam state and formally proposed to her mother and her brothers). There was courtship (for about ONE WHOLE MONTH, after she accepted my proposal hehehe – when in India, do as the Indians do, right?). There was rivalry, …a lot of rivalry (after all my wife’s not that bad looking and somehow seems to attract a lot of …unwanted (on my part) attention, which include big names which I will refrain from naming here, and yours truly isn’t that bad in the attraction department himself, never would have guessed huh? hehehe). There were a lot of obstacles, ...there was a lot of heartache (refer to my earlier entries – “A Note of Illumination” and “Casualties of Love”). And finally there was our daring escape from Mizoram, when my wife left everything and everyone that she knew, to be with me, God bless her, and it’s no easy task to escape from Mizoram or for the matter of fact, her village (and her house which is inaccessible by car), without a soul knowing about it (don’t believe me, just let me see you do it). So, there you have it, we’re together and happily married now, far from the reaches of Mizoram.

And somehow, after you’re married your writing creativity and inspiration just don’t seem to work?!? …beats me, …but maybe there’s just no bloody free-time, …oh, YES HONEY, I’m coming…

By the way, my wife’s name is Anu, short for Anuradha Rajput.


Gary & Anu at the Sun Temple, Konark, Orissa


Gary & Anu at Taj Mahal, Agra, Uttar Pradesh

A Stone’s Throw from Bangladesh

View of Bangladesh (the flat area in the background) from Khoh Ramhah, Meghalaya

The state of Meghalaya lies just north of Bangladesh and is located atop a high plateau mostly flat at the top with deep gorges cut by the incessant rain on all sides and criss-crossing the state. Bangladesh is that flat expanse of low land hugging the Ganges Delta just beyond the plateau. The effect, Bangladesh’s all over the place, wherever you go you see …Bangladesh!! Especially in the Cherrapunji area which is just beyond the Bangladeshi border. So here’s some nice views of Cherrapunji and ...Bangladesh, what else?


Khoh Ramhah, the basket that became a huge rock - (some stingy bugger in ancient times tried to hog all the food in a huge weaved basket, he died and the Gods left it as a remembrance in the form of this rock, for the generations to come, or so the legend goes...)

Cold War at Shillong

Meghalaya, Abode of the Clouds

Shillong is the capital of the state of Meghalaya in North-Eastern India. Meghalaya is also known as ‘the Abode of the Clouds’ and true to its nature, it’s friggin overcast most of the time with drizzling rain, heavy rain, monsoon rain, intermittent rain, you name the rain, you get it. Not surprisingly then, Meghalaya is also the home of Cherrapunji, the wettest place on earth.


Cherrapunji, the wettest place on earth (formerly, now I've heard some other place's taken over, don't ask me where ok, I have no friggin idea)

What made the British make Shillong the capital (former) of all North-East India in the yesteryears, beats me! (Back then it was all known as the state of Assam, now it’s broken up into seven different states.) Maybe it’s the incessant rain, makes you feel like you’re back in Britain, doesn’t it?


Nong... err something waterfall at Cherrapunji, mates illuminate me if you can remember the name willya?

Anyway, it’s a wonderful place, …Cherrapunji, lovely scenery. Dunno much about Shillong city itself, don’t even have pictures of Shillong, actually, didn’t even go out much in Shillong except for a short jaunt in the bazaar. No pub-hopping (although Shillong’s cheap on beer as opposed to bloody Mizoram where beer’s BANNED!), no visits to the local discos, no trying my luck at the casinos, no mingling around with the local gals (and believe me, Shillong’s full of pretty babes, after all it’s like a melting pot of North-Eastern India – and I can tell you, North East India’s full of diversity, Orientals, Aryans, Dravidians, hybrids of the most exotic, there’re Hindus, Moslems, Christians and Buddhists, not to mention the odd Sikh or so. The Mizos, Khasis and Nagas are of oriental stock and are mainly Christians. Arunachalis are a mixed lot, consisting of many different tribes of different religions. There’re hordes of Nepalese, Tibetans and Bhutanese who’re either Hindus or Buddhists. The Assamese and Bengalis are mainly Hindus or Moslems. The Manipuris are mainly oriental looking and are Hindus (or Moslem). There’re others too, too many to name). Anyway, what do I make of Shillong, what do you make of any place when there is a cold war brewing in the midst? Nope, I’m not referring to the many terrorist outfits that populate the North East. What do you do let’s say, when you have your recently ex’d lover and your new love together with you on the same trip, staying in the same bloody hotel? How stupid can one be huh? (Yup, I can be very stupid sometimes). You’d be lucky it didn’t fester into an all-out bloody war, and I thought it’d be fun and educational for some possible stint at the UN (maybe) as a peace negotiator in future. Anyway, to cut the story short, the potential UN Peace Negotiator failed miserably in his training… Enough said.


The Haulawng Gang at Cherrapunji (from left - yours truly, Rani our little dog, Rini, Tony, Anu, Anny, Amrita)

A Note of Illumination

Some of you ardent readers of my blog (not that I think I have many) must be wondering, why the heck is he suddenly putting an outta-no-where Love Story into his blog?? Truth is, that story reflects something which really happened, and yours truly here is mightily involved. Exciting, ain’t it? The ending’s not that great though, not how I wanted it to end, but that’s life… And I just wanna dedicate my thoughts to a really wonderful girl, to a lovely little dog that brought us close, and to a relationship that was never meant to be… Now be silent for a minute, k?

ONE MINUTE OF SILENT CONTEMPLATION…

Anyway, this is how I guessed the story will continue, Prince Ohim, broken-hearted, quietly left Aramtea, and was never heard of again in the land of hills and valleys. Not long after, the King and Queen abdicated and also left Aramtea. Hara and her Ukhara Prince finally became a loving couple and lived happily ever after. Reyna remained in Aramtea and soon became a much-respected and trusted aide of the new court. Hara’s three remaining sisters in South Aramtea were returned to The Ukhara by the new King and were reunited with Hara bringing much joy to the sisters. THE END.

But of course, there might be alternative endings, but that is another story…

Casualties of Love

Let me tell you a story, about love…

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, lies the Kingdom of Aramtea, a Kingdom of hills and valleys. Aramtea was ruled by a wise and learned King, a King loved and venerated by the masses regardless of creed and class. The King ruled with a fair hand and was assisted by his Princes and his courtiers.

One such Prince was Prince Ohim, a Viceroy of South Aramtea, who was a humble and care-free bachelor, well-liked by the people under his care. He had a lover, Reyna, the Court Historian, but as Prince Ohim preferred a care-free lifestyle, he had never agreed to marry Reyna or loved her as a lover. Reyna’s love however was unconditional, and she loved him despite the lack of love from Prince Ohim.

At Prince Ohim’s fort in South Aramtea, stayed four young daughters of the Ukhara, a warrior clan from a friendly neighbouring land. The Ukhara had always assisted Aramtea in matters concerning defense and as a matter of fact, provided most of the Generals and soldiers of Aramtea. The four daughters were however not soldiers but court maidens of the Ukhara, brought there by Reyna to help Prince Ohim with matters concerning the upkeep and running of his abode, the Fort at South Aramtea. With time, Prince Ohim grew to regard the four maidens with high regards and loved them as his followers.

The King of Aramtea also loved and regarded these four maidens as his own daughters, and the maidens in turn regarded the King as their father. One day, the King brought his favourite among the four Ukhara maidens, Hara to the King’s Palace in North Aramtea to assist him for a short while and Hara was promised that she would be returned to South Aramtea in a short time. A month went by, and then another, but Hara still stayed in the King’s Palace in North Aramtea. Hara was a sweet and charming maiden, kind and caring to all but the worst. She was also brave and could as much wield the sword as she could prepare the most sumptious of food. Like Prince Ohim, Hara was care-free, always cheerful and had provided Prince Ohim which much joy during her stay in South Aramtea. Hara would always bid Prince Ohim farewell when he had to carry out a mission away from the Fort and would wait for his return even when her other sisters were asleep. Hara used to come up with ways to cheer Prince Ohim up when he was unhappy and to keep him company during bad times.

When message finally came to Prince Ohim, that Hara, due to the long absence from her sisters, was feeling alone and sad in North Aramtea, Prince Ohim decided to return a favour to Hara by conveying daily messages to the King’s Palace to cheer Hara up. As time went on, a love slowly blossomed between Prince Ohim and Hara, and in one of his messages to Hara, Prince Ohim finally proposed to Hara for her hand in marriage, and Hara happily accepted although both knew that a marriage between two people of different cultures and backgrounds would be difficult, but love knew no boundaries. When the King found out about the proposal after Hara confided in him, the King was furious, as unbeknownst to others, the King harboured a secret love for Hara, beyond the love as a father figure. Blinded by love, the King started wooing Hara for himself regardless of his love for the Queen or his Princes. Prince Ohim and Hara were distraught and appealed to the King to extend his consent and blessing but the King persisted, intent on winning the heart of Hara at any cost.

On the other side, jilted and overcomed by grief, Reyna became emotionally unstable and plotted with the King to put an end to the love of Prince Ohim and Hara. The King banished Prince Ohim from North Aramtea and forbade Hara from leaving North Aramtea, so that he could poison Hara’s mind to break her love for Prince Ohim. When the Ukhara found out about the whole issue, they demanded for their daughter to be returned to them. Unbeknownst to all but the Ukhara, Hara had been earlier betrothed to a prince of the Ukhara. The Ukhara took the opportunity to force Hara to marry her Ukhara betrothed, bringing much grief and sorrow to Hara. Prince Ohim secretly sneaked back to North Aramtea to try to stop the marriage, but had to grievingly concede to prevent bloodshed and conflict between Aramtea and the Ukhara.

There is no happy ending to this story. There are no winners in this affair, as everyone is selfish to a certain extent, especially when it comes to love.
The King had to live with the shame of knowing that because of his selfishness, he betrayed the trust of the Queen and his princes and to finally swallow his pride and learn that sometimes the cost is too high to pay, if one wants to win something at any cost, the price this time, the grief of all concerned, especially to his beloved, Hara and to the Queen.
The Queen had to live with the fact that the King betrayed her love and trust.
Reyna had to suffer grief and sorrow as Prince Ohim loved someone else despite her unconditional love for him.
Prince Ohim had to pay for the consequences of leading Reyna on, and had to suffer the sorrow and difficulty of breaking his promise and having to tell Hara that he is leaving her so that she can forget about the Prince and put undivided love to her betrothed, despite Prince Ohim’s promise to Hara that he will never leave her and will help bring her away no matter what the consequences.
Hara had to learn that the things one does some times although insignificant earlier, may come back to haunt one, like agreeing to the betrothal without putting enough thought to it, and to suffer the pain and anguish of not being able to do what she truly desires.
The Ukhara prince had to suffer the grief and sorrow of knowing that her betrothed, Hara’s heart had gone to someone else although Hara married him.

Looking on the bright side, the King and Prince Ohim can finally put their feud at rest. The King can learn that sometimes you have to accept that you are fallible. The Queen can get back the undivided love of the King. Reyna can finally learn that love cannot be forced and that Prince Ohim’s heart would never be hers so that she can move on with life. Prince Ohim can discover that Hara had a betrothed before and he can move on with life as Hara is now already married. Prince Ohim and Hara can learn that there are always consequences to the actions one does. Hara can hopefully focus undividedly on her new life with her husband now. The Ukhara prince can regain Hara, and hopefully in time, Hara can give undivided love to him. Aramtea can save the shame of a big scandal. The Ukhara can save the honour of their community.

Depression Mode

This posting’s meant to be a first, a first written during a period of depression. One that’ll show my true feelings, one to show my weaknesses, one to show that I’m not all the time good-natured (a misconception of some of my friends), one ring to bring them and in the darkness bind them in the lands of Mordor… (oops, that’s from the Lord of the Rings, sorry).

Anyway, I can’t pinpoint the actual source of my depression, I’ve lost the enthusiasm to fight the jungle battle, my mind has been wandering farther and farther away (to Nepal, Tibet, and beyond), my mood has been brooding dark, my patience is wearing thin, I’ve kinda adopted the ‘come what may’ attitude, what the hell is wrong with me? Here’re some of the things I attribute my depression to: -

No 1 (but not foremost) – the advent of our company’s ‘communist’ leader of Haulawng Site aka Chairman Mao Tse Toh (name changed to maintain anonymity) and the great changes he’s done to bust (NOT boost, mind you) the morale of the site organization by introducing innovative measures to save money such as delaying staff’s salaries and cutting electricity from 11pm to 5am, besides complaining about everything everyone’s done everyday, questioning and overturning decisions made by yours truly (hey, I have an ego problem too, ok?), emphasizing again and again that he’s in-charge (as opposed to yours truly), complaining and implying that everyone else’s management skills suck when compared to our one and only venerable ‘communist’ leader, boasting about his achievements (everyday, till he was told off, by who else but yours truly, ahem), taking away my responsibilities from major areas (which truthfully, made me quite happy, until the other bosses came and screwed me about them, “hey, that’s not my job anymore, k?”), shirking off the responsibilities for things gone wrong because of his decisions (yeah, almighty ‘communist’ leader can’t do no wrong, you know?), yadda yadda yadda (see I can bitch too huh, feels good, I hope the company doesn’t see this).

No 2 – the incessant rain and gloomy weather everyday, who wants to be stuck in a place like that for days on end huh? Real mood damper! Besides creating multiple landslides which our ‘communist’ leader adamantly refused to clear in the beginning (because of contractual implications). He later broadcasted to everyone that he has been the prime mover for clearing landslides (yeah, my foot!) This is fun, writing about him, can’t get enough of it!

No 3 – the bloody mess that our semi-constructed road has become (due to rain and landslides) and we call ourselves Road Builder!

No 4 – THE DRYING UP OF FUNDS (need I elaborate?) No money, no honey, man.

No 5 – the drying up of diesel (and almost everything in Haulawng, including our power supply, runs on diesel, albeit ‘slightly’ adulterated diesel in our case, yeah never mind that it’s a mix of 50% diesel and 50% kerosene, or 40% diesel / 60% kerosene, or whatever mix it comes in, never mind that kerosene f**ks up all the engines big time, as long as there’s something to burn, right? …But even that, we don’t have)

No 6 – the appearance of a new boss, …err no wait, two new bosses, err no, let’s go back to one, why don’t we have 3 instead, hey since we’re already at it, let’s have 4 new bosses, the more the merrier huh, and let’s shift the operations to Haulawng, …no wait, shift it back to Aizawl, no, let’s split the whole damn thing up, divide and conquer!

No 7 – Sid Meier’s Civilization 4, a birthday present from my beloved brother, a turn-based computer game where you can stop play at anytime and continue later, yeah just a bit later, just a little while more ok, …bloody hell! it’s 2 bloody am! shit, gotta wake up at 5!

No 8 (last but not least) – Naruto, chapters 1 to 100 to be more exact, the cute Japanese anime series to keep me sane during the non-workable monsoon season in Mizoram. If only the producers stop trying to lengthen the series by making 4 chapters for what they can show in 1, and why do they always end the chapters when it is at its most exciting? Anyway, it’s only about 20 minutes per chapter, yeah still early, just two more chapters ok? Err, ok, one more, err… bloody shit, can the Hokage defeat Orochimaru? Just another one, f##**#g 1 bloody am! If only I could Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!!!

What’s gonna happen to me? Beats me… an employee with THIS type of attitude!?!? Is this just a temporary phase?? Can I snap out of it? Will the Company forgive me??... Will I forgive myself? Will update again soon.

Where in the World is Khoo Kongsi?

Guardian Lion of Khoo Kongsi (although it looks more like a bulldog to me)

Nope, Khoo Kongsi is not a person, it’s a famous landmark in Penang Island, the Clan House of the Khoo family.

But just try asking any Malaysian, or Penangite for that matter, and chances are that they’ll have absolutely no idea where this, most famous of Chinese Clan Houses (in Penang), is. Wanna know where it is? Just ask one of the many tourists roaming around Penang.

(Hint: It’s located within a courtyard ringed by shop-houses on all sides. Entrance is through an opening in between some shophouses on a narrow street fronting the Achehnese Mosque.)




Khoo Kongsi, Penang


Lantern at Khoo Kongsi

A Tale of Two Cities: Part 2 - Penang

Somewhere in Penang, near the Achehnese Mosque

Penang is actually another pretty unique place in Northern Peninsular Malaysia. Like Ipoh, it has its own special variety of famous hawker food, - laksa, chee cheong fun with shrimp paste!! (sounds yecch but it’s actually quite appetizing), fried koay teow (with Chinese sausages, cockles, prawns, oysters, …yummy), and loads of nyonya food (nyonya’s actually the colloquial term for the Chinese who have settled down and kinda adopted Malay culture in many aspects, such as food!).

Unlike Ipoh, Penang hasn’t really discarded its colonial past with as much zeal as Ipoh or for the matter of fact, any other towns or cities in Malaysia. For example, the capital of Penang is still officially named Georgetown, not that many locals use this name (they just fondly call it Penang (which actually refers to the island as a whole) or Tanjung (which means cape in Malay, how unimaginative can it be huh? There must be a thousand Tanjungs in a maritime country like Malaysia!)

The result of this err… reluctance in moving ahead (ala Malaysia) is that it has so much more character, with narrow streets (and of course traffic jams, what do you expect when the streets are narrow), with colonial bungalows and buildings, rustic pre-war Chinese styled shop-houses and hordes and hordes of temples, Chinese, Thai, Burmese and Hindu, not to mention quaint mosques and churches. And of course, you still have the ferries that carry you across to the mainland. Kinda like a trading town that time stood still!

And last but not least, it still retains street names like Love Lane, Chulia Street, Gurney Drive, which is so much more err… romantic than the lengthy nationalistic names which nobody remembers anyway.

Gurney Drive, Penang - how can there not be a picture of the sea when you're in Penang Island huh?

A Tale of Two Cities: Part 1 - Ipoh

Also known as the City that Tin Built or the City of Millionaires, that’s Ipoh, my hometown, although frankly speaking, I dunno any of the millionaires in Ipoh, don’t even know who they are. Ipoh used to be rich (it still is, maybe) because of the rich tin deposits lying beneath and around it. Now, that nobody knows what tin is needed for anymore, Ipoh has become somewhat like a retirement home. Not that I have any complaints, less traffic jam, less people queuing up for movie tickets, cheaper food, cheaper accommodation, hmm bliss…


Just outside the Ipoh High Court

Here’re some pictures of Ipoh, mainly for my foreign friends (not that I have many actually hehehe).

Ipoh is a very unique city, full of identity (not that I’m boasting just because I’m from Ipoh). It is unique because:
- It has its very own variety of hawker food, hardly found anywhere else in Malaysia, e.g. hor hee, chee cheong fun with mushroom sauce (or other types of sauce as one sees fit), chicken & bean sprout hor fun, hakka noodles, just to name a few. And it’s cheap and in manageable portions compared to the bloody expensive huge portions that you get in KL or further south…
- It is pretty clean (for a Malaysian town) and its flora is well-maintained (that’s why it’s also known as the Garden City, never knew a town with so many nicknames huh?)
- It is surrounded with beautiful limestone outcrops (and hence, cave temples) and hills (but how long it’s gonna be like that, depends on how fast the quarries and cement factories take to blow up all the remaining rocks). But then again, if we don’t blow up all those limestone, what industries would Ipoh have huh? Oh yeah, we can build more cave temples, or cave mosques, and why not a cave church?
- Most of its inhabitants do not know their own addresses (or street names to be more precise), …thanks again to our highly efficient and nationalistic City Council who have a knack for renaming street names mainly to rid Ipoh of its colonial past. Ipoh used to have really catchy street names, such as Hugh Low Street, Brewster Road, Anderson Road, Tiger Lane, …just to name a few. Now, it’s err… forgive me, I don’t really know now anymore.

What used to be called Brewster Road and is now called Jalan err... beats me man!

- It has embraced modernization with zeal (never mind those old buildings of yesteryears, they’re just in the way, …err why not whack down that colonial building and replace it with a cube of concrete and blue glass amidst all those grand old colonial buildings huh? To see this landmark, now named Public Bank, visit Ipoh old town).

View from the Ipoh Padang. Notice that square white concrete block of a building jutting above the old shop houses on the left, just next to the minaret? That's the back view of Public Bank

- It is dead quiet and peaceful at night, …compliments again to the City Council for kicking out with gusto, the many food stalls lining the streets of Ipoh. Now everybody can save some money on unhealthy supper, and sleep earlier at night.
- It's idea of cleaning up a popular tourist attraction like Kellie’s Castle (known for its haunted house looks), is to give it a bright new coat of paint, manicured garden, tourist booth, ...bravo, what a bright idea (why don’t we just convert it into an amusement park? and forget about all this haunted house concept)

I have a lot more examples but I better stop before I go overboard. If you wanna know more about the uniqueness of Ipoh’s or Perak’s town and tourism planning, please drop me a word, and I can definitely describe more.


Ipoh Railway Station

Paradise in a Hole

Inside Kek Lok Cave Temple, Ipoh

Just one of the many cave temples in my hometown, Ipoh. This one’s officially called Kek Lok Toong (‘toong’ means cave or hole in Chinese, don’t really know what ‘kek lok’ means (my Chinese ain’t really that good but I think it’s related to Paradise, ...or Nirvana, ...or Utopia, what the heck...), so if this is correct (mates, correct me if I’m wrong) it’ll mean Paradise Cave!


Kek Lok Toong Entrance


Garden at Kek Lok Toong


View of Kek Lok Toong Garden complete with eyesores like the cement factory (partially obscured by trees) and high tension pylon (which is actually quite nice, come to think of it, with its striking colours of red and white huh?)

Things to do in Singapore

Clark Quay Singapore, at night

THINGS TO DO IN SINGAPORE:
Can’t think of any huh? I don’t blame you, but here’re some suggestions: -
- Go on a diet, coz food’s bloody expensive, and not really that good anyway, might as well skip over to good ol' Malaysia for a meal
- Catch a ride on the MRT, bring a book or newspaper, and you can ride across the country as many times as you want, as long as you get out from the station that you bought your ticket for (and as long as you don’t need to go pee or poo-poo and since you’re not allowed to drink or eat in there, this should pose little problem). And besides, there’re lots of nice (meaning pretty) people to look at hehehe
- Window shop, unless you want to blow a hole in your savings
- Go for a jog, coz it’s free and there’re no muggers around, and you can really do a cross-country jog if you want, literally, jog across the whole of Singapore, within a day, if you're fit & strong
- Quit smoking (coz it’s bloody expensive, and besides, where the hell are you gonna smoke? How the hell would a foreigner know which is a smoking zone and which isn’t?)

THINGS NOT TO DO IN SINGAPORE:
- Drive (coz there’re a hundred and one ways of incurring a fine, it’s no parking here, and this stupid space is reserved only for seasoned parkers, and this is a no entry zone for this type of car on this time and on this day, and so on and so forth)
- Eat (see points under above heading)
- Shop (ditto above)
- Pee, Indian style (meaning out in the open, anywhere, anytime), coz it’ll get you into hot soup, don’t believe me, go try it
- Smoke wherever you want (see above)
- Cross the road wherever you want (jay-walking is an offence)
- Cut your nails in public areas (it’s considered littering, right? Ok, community service here you go)
- Act different (Singapore really isn’t very tolerant about wise guys)
- Chew gum (coz it’s banned anyhow, …see the paranoia of it all?)

I have a love-hate relationship with Singapore. On the one hand, I have sworn to enter Singapore only if it’s absolutely necessary (mainly because of the stifling restrictions, it’s like you’re a bloody student, and the prefects are out to book you on every tiny little offence, which you don’t even know exists, and because I have a tendency to blow a lot of my hard-earned cash in Singapore, for reasons beyond my recollection!?). On the other hand, I realized that on every trip I make back to Malaysia, I’d somehow end up in Singapore.

But I have to give kudos to Singapore for their terrific airlines (especially the gorgeous stewardess hehehe and the in-flight entertainment), and for my favourite transit point, Changi Airport (in my view, Changi is Changi; Singapore is Singapore, it’s a complete different world, plus they mark their smoking zones clearly).


Clark Quay Singapore, where old and new collides

Tagged

I’ve been tagged by my cousin sis, and since I have practically nothing to write about, here goes: -
AWESOME PEOPLE I WOULD WANT TO MEET:
1. I’m kinda an introvert, so I’d rather hang around with known friends and family, instead of meeting strangers, ...unless there’re pretty hehehe
2. Dr Mahathir
3. Halle Berry
4. Shakira
5. Jessica Alba, if I start on pretty girls, this’ll never end...

THINGS I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT:
1. Every part of me as it is now (they’re considered things, right?)
2. The ones I love and the ones who love me (alright, they’re people, but ...what the heck man, they’re important)
3. My passport
4. Money
5. My own time

I WISH I COULD:
1. Travel around the world without a care for schedules, resources and responsibilities
2. Produce my own movies
3. Produce my own comics / books
4. Create history
5. Have some kind of superpowers ala the X-Men (wishful thinking)

I WANT:
(Isn’t this the same as the above category?)
1. To travel around the world
2. To have enough time, resources and support to do the above
3. A loving family and home of my own (not now, ...in time)
4. To age gracefully, and die without being senile and without going through periods of pain and suffering
5. To retain whatever open-mindedness, hope & love of mankind, playfulness and creativity that I still have left now, until the day I die

SONGS THAT I THINK ARE AWESOME:
This really depends on the time and my mood (but I really like those who write their own songs). And since my interest encompasses so many types of music...
1. La Tortura
2. That canon by Pachelbel, I thinks it’s D major, right?
3. Anak
4. Kwong Fy Suy Yuet
5. Chiquititta
Etc etc etc

HOW I SEE MYSELF IN 10 YEARS:
1. Old (but hopefully, still as happy-go-lucky as ever)
2. Married with kids
3. Working in some God-forsaken place, where nobody wants to go to
4. Have some cash stashed away for the future, ...for me and my future family
5. Planning to quit the construction industry for something more relaxing, e.g. lecturing hehehe

RANDOM FACTS:
1. I believe all mainstream religions are good, it’s the narrow-minded bloody fanatics that exploit religion for their own interests.
2. I don’t like racists. I strive to be fair to all irrespective of race, religion, caste, class, etc
3. I believe in fate and destiny, a lot, - when you’re supposed to die; whom you’re supposed to marry; whether you’ll get a streak of bad luck or good luck; whether you’ll be sick or not; etc
4. I believe life should be taken with a pinch of salt, why take everything so seriously when everything (except God) is not permanent, including your life?
5. I believe that heaven has eyes (in Cantonese – theen yow ngan) meaning that good deeds will bring about blessings & rewards, and bad deeds will cause you to pay for your just desserts later on

MISCONCEPTIONS:
1. That I’m a workaholic, ...I’m not, I’m actually one helluva lazy employee, coz putting it frankly, I hate to work, if I can delegate, I’ll have no qualms about doing it
2. That I’m a playboy, ...I’m not, ...but I admit I like to have friends of the opposite sex, coz they’re sensitive and they put more importance in friendship, (besides being eye candy for yours truly hehehe). Doesn’t mean that you sleep with every girl that you chat with, right? (The last sentence still makes little sense to some of my more conservative acquaintances, especially in conservative India!)
3. That I love to party and drink, come on, at my age, partying needs a helluva longer time to recharge than before, most of the time I prefer a quieter environment
4. That I’m an extrovert, actually I think I’m quite the opposite, I like to have my own time, a lot, time just by myself to mull over things, and to while time away (my hobby)
5. That I’m commitment-phobic, ...err, this is partially true for the time being

WHO I WANT TO TAG:
Can’t think of any, all whom I wanna tag have been tagged, the rest are just non-writers hehehe.
Oh yeah, there’s my friend, Zara; and Miss Cube (if they still happen to read this blog).

By the way, how do you friggin put links in your blog huh? Too lazy to explore la hehehe.

The Search for Paracetamol

The search for Paracetamol ended up in this hut

Most of my friends and family know this story already.
Briefly: -
Paracetamol (name changed to protect his identity) is my Malaysian ex-colleague who worked in Haulawng for about a month.
Paracetamol is his nickname given by some of the North and East Indians because his original South Indian name is confusing for them (and you thought Indians are Indians).
Paracetamol is a reformed alcoholic, when he first joined, ...it took him about a week in Haulawng to regain his past habit.
Alcohol consumption is BANNED in bloody Mizoram, believe it or not, the only Christian administered place where alcohol is banned, in the world, I think. Anyway, most of the locals drink, and alcohol is kinda easy to get.
Paracetamol got a warning from us (alrite, from me) not to drink in full knowledge of the staff coz it’ll be hard for us to show a good example.
Paracetamol can live without food or water, but NOT without alcohol.
One fine day (actually the day immediately following the warning), Paracetamol decided to disappear from the main camp at Haulawng, he shifted himself (minus his belongings and minus an approval by his boss, meaning me) to a village about 30 km away from the main camp, at a location near where some of our road construction was going on (and near a village famous for production of local liquor).
Paracetamol decided to ignore the repeated request by his colleagues to report back to the main camp.
On the 3rd day after he disappeared, we sent a contingent (led by yours truly) to intercept him. We found his motorbike parked at the side of the road in the middle of no-where. After some time we found out from a local, that our 50 year old friend, Paracetamol trekked into the bamboo jungle with a 50 year old woman (God only knows for what reasons).
The contingent followed suit, and spent about 2 hot and exhausting hours mucking around inside the bamboo jungle and a vacant bamboo hut, but to no avail.
We had to withdraw the contingent as the leader (me) and his assistant (both in their 30s) could not cope up with the antics of the 50 year-old Paracetamol and had to return to the camp to recover from over-exertion.
Paracetamol was finally intercepted near Haulawng, all dirty, disheveled and unshaven, 6 days after he ‘disappeared’ from the main camp and sent back to more a civilized place where he could get help (and of course his essential substance, alcohol).
The End

A member of the search party, Assistant Works Manager Madhav, mucking around the bamboo hut

Other members of the search party, Nela (my local driver) and I

Chieftain of Mizoram

Chieftain of Mizoram
Fashion by Mizo weavers
Makeup by Anu and Anny
Model - Pu Gary
Dog - Rani
(Note: the head gear is actually a bag, another bright idea by Anu and Anny)

Gremlin Dog of Haulawng

Rani, our mogwai-like dog, and Anu

See, that's our cute newest inhabitant of our Haulawng house.

Mizoram Update Mid 2006

'Trophy' of a bat ...mistakenly badmintoned by our maids

Nothing much happened since the last entry, we’ve notched up a few more percentages in the project, (unfortunately that's all we've managed to notch up, thanks to the incessant rain from May, and the multiple landslides it's caused). I’ve extended my contract with my present company for 2 more years (yeah, you heard correctly, I’m gonna be stuck in this jungle of a place for 2 more bloody years). I’ve aged another friggin year, my creativity’s slowly going down the drain, thanks primarily to the real world and to growing up, with the commitments and responsibilities and rat-race. I’m still single (how the heck can I settle down when I spend most of the time trapped in the pits of the world i.e. Mizoram), I’m kinda getting more and more comfortable with staying in Mizoram actually. I’ve maintained my 32” waist since staying in Haulawng. I’ve got another lovely doggy in Mizoram and made a few more friends. People are still falling sick and dying from malaria, so much so that we've nicknamed one of our cars, The Ambulance. The telephone connection in Haulawng is still as good as ever (have been trying to call Haulawng for a week now, and the lines’ still down, what’s new?). The cable TV still functions (surprised?) most of the time, except when it rains (and it’s been raining almost every friggin day), I’m currently in Gurgaon (wasting time mostly, and delaying my going back to the jungles of Haulawng, since there’s no friggin cable TV in there where I can catch the World Cup matches hehehe). I’ve still not gone on a friggin holiday trip abroad this year, shite! And the company has finally decided to send a few more Malaysians into the jungle. And since there’s nothing new to write about except for boring work, and work, and work, I’m taking the easy way out again and post some pictures of our fun and exciting life in Haulawng, again.


A trek around 'environmentally-friendly' Mizoram in March with my colleague Tony, notice all the trees and wildlife (......how they're burnt beyond a cinder by our environmentally-friendly Mizo farmers)

What I did for CNY

How do you spend Chinese New Year in a region where there’re absolutely NO Chinese around??? See below, what the heck, might as well make the best out of it…

Anyway, wish all my mates & family a belated Happy Doggy New Year!!! Kounghei Fatchoi! Or as the Mizos say it, Kumthar Chibai! (hehehe, can’t help myself, love the Mizo greeting!)


Chinese New Year Celebration in Aizawl ...Indian Style, at least there're 2 choi-sun in the background huh?

Mizoram State Roads Project Phase-II

That’s the abbreviated official name of our Project. Don’t mean to make this into a Project website, but… what else is there to write about? When I spend 7 days a week, about 15 friggin hours a day, doing something, …anything on this bloody Project. Can’t bloody let my blog die a slow death, right?

Haulawng Base Camp a.k.a The Camp above The Clouds

OK, here’s a brief, I’ll leave out all the technical terms, it’ll be real short I promise...
Total Cost of Project – about 150 million Ringgit
Completion Date – in about 3 month’s time (yeah, if only)
Percent Completed as on now – about ...err 18-20% I’d say
Revised Completion Date – Friggin end of friggin 2007! officially
Would we be able to complete it by Dec 2007 – Of Course!!! (that’s the Manager in me speaking), ....frankly, ....err maybe if there’s a miracle (I hope nobody involved with this Project reads this).
What we do – hill roads, hill roads and hill roads
Problems – none that cannot be solved (hey, gimme a break, I’m one of the ones calling the shots ok?)
Funded by – The World Bank (now if only we could drum it into the Mizos heads that WE are NOT The World Bank, WE are only a friggin Contractor working for The friggin World Bank, meaning WE do not have unlimited cash of The World in our hands...)

Important Points to note while working in Mizoram: –
The people here are a real friendly bunch, you can like …wake them up in the middle of the night if your car breaks down and ask for their help (after all, if their car breaks down, that’s what they’ll do). You can visit them at 6am in the morning (since they have a habit of waking up real early, and wait at your doorstep at a quarter to 6 for you to get ready to see them, never mind the breakfast part or the coffee part or whether you’ve shit and showered or not, …I wake up at 5 (never would have guessed huh?), but in Mizoram, you do that or you mess up your entire shitting schedule, and we start work at 6am (some achievement huh?).

Never ply the Mizos with alcohol (unless you know them well). Mizoram is a Total Liquor Prohibition zone. That means, if you’re not on good terms with them and you drink, you get slapped with a TLP offence. If you’re on good terms (and provided that you can hold your drinks, and not make a nuisance out of yourself), you can drink till kingdom come, since most Mizos drink anyway. Beats me where they get their supplies, as long as they have some available for ‘emergency cases’ (meaning for us), it’s not our problem huh?

Mizoram is a very environmental-conscious state, it has an abundance of bugs – mosquitoes of all sizes, swarms of flies, and bees, uncountable species of moths, spiders of all colours and creed, heck, it’s like what’s-that-planet in Starship Troopers? Why are there so many bugs? Because it’s a FRIGGIN jungle, ok? And besides, the insects have no predators, since the No 1 hobby of the kids of Mizoram is catapult target practice. Their target of choice – squirrels, birds, and any other smallish creatures that move. Come to think of it, haven’t seen much living things around actually, besides insects – no monkeys (I’ve heard that’s a delicacy), no elephants (that’s a delicacy as well), no deer (that also), one fleeting view of a …err fox maybe, running across the road, one iguana (and that also nearly went into the pot, if my driver was driving the car, have never seen someone so disappointed when I refused to run over an iguana crossing the road!).

The No 1 hobby of choice for the adult Mizos are – eating, hunting (with their rifles) and fishing (with dynamite). Mizos absolutely love their dogs. Dogs can help them hunt, they can act as pets, and when they’re too old to move, they can satisfy their master’s appetite (just kidding), they usually eat other people’s dogs. Trees are in abundance in Mizoram too, so there’ll be no problems if say, you cut down one perfectly good tree just to get that honey hanging from one of the branches. Besides, you can use the timber for furniture or firewood, right?

Anyway, there you have it in a nutshell, gonna stop for the time being, gotta rush – only one measly week of leave (and that, also to get my visa extended).


Vanva River, the source of our drinking water


A farm area adjacent to our road, near Ramlaitui Village


Tuipui River, the source of our sand and the only source of good rocks for road construction

The Less Traveled Road to Aizawl

Here’re some pics of one of the roads between Aizawl and Haulawng. It’s only about 135km on this road (if I can call it a road), and takes only about 8.5 bloody hours non-stop. If you love overland adventure driving, you’ll love Mizoram.


Hmuifang, the village lies on top and behind the ridge


Hmuifang Wind-Power Generator (it hasn't worked in ages)


Thenzawl - Farm Veng

Lianchhiari Heartbreak Cliff

This is the rock where a local Mizo Princess, Lianchhiari of yesteryears came to cry her heart off, after her father, the King, banished her commoner lover from her village. Nope, she didn’t jump off the cliff, she was a little smarter than that, she escaped from the village later on, and lived happily ever after in another place (I think). Smart woman, why die for love huh?



Lianchhiari Lunglen Tlang
Nope, this is NOT Lianchhiari, this is our Mizo friend, colleague and guide, Irene. She’s scared stiff of the cliff, so scared that she botched up the picture of yours truly sitting on that rock, so I had to post pics of her instead.


The Track up to Lianchhiari Lunglen Tlang (there's actually a road up, but being adventurous beings like us, we prefer to walk, ...if only we knew that the road is accessible all the way up there!)


Road to Lianchhiari Lunglen Tlang - the road goes through this natural cave

More of Aizawl

Figured I’ll post more pictures of Aizawl, capital of Mizoram (since I have tons of pics of it, there’re views from the north, the south, the east, the west, the centre, at night, in the morning, at dusk, in the summer, in the middle of the friggin monsoon season, etc etc etc…) What to do, when you’re holed up in a place like Mizoram?


Aizawl from the road to Reiek


Aizawl at dusk


Aizawl up close

The Waterfall of The Leech

Vantawng Waterfall

This is Vantawng Waterfall. What we say here among the staff is that, if you’ve not visited Vantawng, you’ve not visited Mizoram. If you’ve not been bitten by a leech, you’ve not been in Mizoram (during monsoon). The best time to visit Vantawng, is immediately after the monsoon, when the water is in full cascade. Incidentally, this is also the time when the leeches are out in full force. So you’ll have a hell of a fun time running / walking as fast as possible to avoid leeches getting a cling-hold of you, stopping once in a while to pull / pick out leeches from the folds of your toes, your ankles, your knees, your shoes, your socks, your neck, your belly-button (hopefully you’ll get them in time before they reach your underpants). Amazingly, the leeches all disappear to who knows where in winter and the dry season (but so does the water of Vantawng Waterfall). To avoid leeches, follow this Mizo guideline – ‘Walk First, Walk Fast!’

Legacy of Mahathir

Putrajaya

For those Malaysians who’re holed up in their own wells and locales, lo and behold, now we have our own fairy-tale capital, our very equivalent of UK’s ‘Big Ben’ or Russia’s ‘Kremlin’, our Putrajaya complete with fairy-tale palaces, ‘floating’ mosques and fancy-looking gardens, lakes and bridges and the largest array of lamp-post designs in a single area. Thank you Tun Dr Mahathir for giving us, Contractors the opportunity to contribute to our country and to keep us employed. Ribuan Terima Kasih!


A building in Putrajaya


Putrajaya Mosque