Starting Life in a New City

Whoa! Time flies. Just like that, and half of 2023 is gone. Jayden will finish Year 4 in less than a week! (And he still looks like a baby to me). And Justin’s finished half of his school year in Singapore, and is in his 3rd Term now. It felt like just yesterday, that he left.

Well, I haven’t sorted out any of the photos of Justin’s holiday break with us in June. Didn’t go anywhere except a couple of theme parks (it’s friggin summer in the UAE, and Jayden’s still at school – Where’s there to go?). Nor did we do anything during the long blissful Eid Al Adha break last week. …Oh, we did actually, trying to whip our fat asses into shape by working out at home (thanks to the missus) and stretching my body into positions which I’ve known from 40 years back that were impossible for me to do (thanks to the missus again. “My legs are too long, and they’re heavy!” “My hands are too short”), and getting muscles sore and stuff like that. (Imagine undoing 50 years of rigidity). Really nice break.

Anyway, here’s a throwback to when Justin started life in Singapore, umm 8 months back (already?). He said it's much nicer here in Dubai (duh, of course, this is home!), but we told him it’s for his own good. Hope he continues to thrive and do good.


Justin at St Joseph’s Institution (SJI) – His new school (errr, it was new in Nov 2022 when this photo was taken, ahem)


Leaving on a jet plane – transiting in Chennai, India from Dubai to Singapore. (He could transit because he was with me. Young passengers travelling alone aren’t allowed to take connecting flights on many airlines). That's why lucky Justin could fly luxurious Emirates and Etihad when he's alone, when all of us have to make do with the likes of Indigo, and Air Asia, and you know the lot...


Meeting his fellow ASEAN Malaysian scholars at Changi Airport, Singapore. They’re all going to different schools


This building is where he’s staying, St Andrew’s Hall


The nearest metro (MRT) station is Potong Pasir


From the MRT station you can either take a bus to the hostel, or walk… along this canal (the building on the extreme left in the photo above, is St Andrew’s Hall, Justin’s hostel)


There’re multiple bridges crossing the canal. Here’s Justin with his Sienchik (younger uncle), Jason, on a pedestrian bridge across the canal. It’s OK to walk when it’s cloudy. If you fancy a workout, you can walk under the friggin midday sun and sweat your brains out. If you fancy a free shower, you can walk in the rain and get yourself soaking wet. See, it’s fun! A walk for all occasions!


Here’s Justin in his hostel


Parents aren’t actually allowed inside, but they make exceptions when it’s the first time


This is his school ground, SJI


The chapel in SJI. SJI is a Lasallian school. LaSalle schools are our rival schools in Ipoh, coz yours truly was from ACS Ipoh! LaSalle schools are Roman Catholic while ACS is Methodist. We have chapels in our school premises coz they started out as missionary schools


This was a Welcome Tour/ induction given by SJI’s teachers to scholars and their parents. If you look closely, you can spot Jason on the right, and Garren (in mask), the only other Malaysian Sec 1 ASEAN scholar in SJI other than Justin, who's Justin's friend now, on the left


A strange sculpture in his school ground. I guess it's for when students (or teachers) are driven nuts ...they'd come out here and walk the "maze" like LightBot to lighten up


Justin with his Chik-Kong and Chim-Po (granduncle and grandaunt, actually my dad’s youngest brother and his wife). Hokkien kinship terms are kinda tedious to explain, OK? This was somewhere in the western part of Singapore, a part that Justin doesn’t often go (bcoz it’s far from where he or Jason stays). I think it’s Jurong Point near Boon Lay’s MRT Station


His uncle Jason is his guardian in Singapore. Jason, Fang and Stacey outside the Library at VivoCity, Singapore. Not a very comfortable day for a photo I’d say. You know the times when it’s just impossible to keep your eyes open?? Errghh… that type of day!

Temples by the Shore

Happy Deepavali / Diwali Folks! It’s festival time again! While my colleagues in the office are enjoying a 2 day weekend off (we have Fridays and alternate Saturdays off in the office), I’m working my ass off on Fridays and Saturdays on this bloody Project. I’ve not had 1 fucking day of rest since being transferred here on Sep 24th.

19th October, the supposed completion date has come and gone, and so has Durga Puja, and Jayden’s Birthday. Now, it’s Diwali, and it looks like another dog day for me. Aiming for 1st November now. I have to bloody finish this work before the 10th November or I am finished. (10th November is our anniversary, the tenth year of Anu & I getting together!) Wish me luck, let everything be smooth sailing. Can’t wait to get back to the family!

Here’re more photos of Mahabalipuram, That’s the best that I can do for now… Have a joyful Diwali!


Compound of the Shore Temple, Mahabailpuram, Tamil Nadu, India – probably named because they lie just next to the shore on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal




More views of the Shore Temple


The Coromandel Coast at Mahabalipuram, …if only I could be on a holiday now…




The Five (Pancha) Rathas, Mahabalipuram – Rathas are chariot shaped temples.

All the temples are cut from single pieces of rock!

Festivals for a Site Engineer

Talk about luck. Just when I thought that work will slow down a little, especially after we nailed two huge tenders recently, I got friggin transferred to site. Don’t get me wrong, I’m completely happy with working on a project site. I’ve been longing to build something, …anything for so long (instead of getting cooped up in the office doing paper work). But no, they transferred me to a project where we have to fucking complete all the works by 19-October, no excuses.

So here I am, working my ass off as a friggin 'Site Engineer' on Awal Muharram (the Islamic New Year), while the rest of my colleagues in the god-damned office, enjoy a 3 day weekend off. Here, in this site we work what I call a triple seven shift, 7am to 7pm, 7 days a week, no fucking Fridays, no fucking holidays.

There you have it, my life for now. Don’t even know how I can celebrate Durga Puja with Anu (it’s her biggest festival), or Jayden’s Birthday which is coming up real soon. …Guess, it’ll be a working celebration, pity the family.

OK, here’re some temples for the occasion… I don’t think I’ll be writing much till we friggin finish the job… Enjoy!


A temple in the Mahabalipuram group of monuments, Tamil Nadu, India – this is the Ganesha Ratha (says Google Map, OK?)


Arjuna’s Penance


A closer view of Arjuna’s Penance, Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu


The rock cut temple beside Arjuna’s Penance


Carvings in the temple


Krishna’s Butter Ball – don’t ask me why they named it that, OK?


Papa, son & some rocks






The Trimurti Cave, Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu, India

This is the second year in a row that I did a Durga Puja post with Mahabalipuram as the setting. What to do? Drastic time calls for drastic measures. Have a joyful puja to those celebrating this. Signing off, till easier times.

Killing the Buffalo Demon

Should I post something about our baby turning 1, or should I post something on the Durga Puja Festival, which happens to be today? I’ll take the easy way out, and post some pictures of temples, hahaha, since I’ve already got a string of photos lined up for that. And it sits just nicely with Durga Puja.

Jayden’s birthday will have to wait till I get time to sort out the humongous array of photos in our camera. And the 3 phones, and the 3 tabs! That’s the problem with the world nowadays. Everyone’s a photographer now. Life was so much easier when the phones were just for talking. The little fella turned 1 a few days back. And I’ve been sick for the past few days, so it’s crunch time at the office, to catch up on boring work! Shit.

Durga Puja happens to be Anu’s biggest festival of the year (see earlier posts on Durga Puja – a, b, c …). In India, and I think Nepal, it’d be a holiday. In East India, especially in the Bengali areas, it’d be a weeklong holiday! In the rest of the world (which we happen to be), it’d be a bloody working day. That’s life, you can’t have it all. Anyway, to all those celebrating this, here’s a Happy Durga Puja, Dussehra, Dashain, whatever you call it, to you all!!!

Meanwhile, here’re the temple pictures I mentioned – Tada!


Stone carving in a cave temple showing Goddess Durga (left on a lion), fighting with the Buffalo Demon, Mahishasura – this is the main theme of Durga Puja, commemorating the victory of the goddess over the supposedly invincible demon. You can see this everywhere on the temporary altars and shrines set up, especially in Kolkata. (I’m a sucker for myths, life would be so dull without some fantastic monster stories) – From a cave temple near a lighthouse, in Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu


Another carved relief inside the cave temple (wait… Google says it’s called the Mahishasuramardini Temple, and this carving is of a reclining God Vishnu – what would life be without Google?!?)


This is how the cave temple looks like (the temple below). There’s another temple on top of the hill (Olakkannesvara Temple), …and it sure has ugly railings huh? But safety is the priority. You don’t want people breaking their heads and bones every day.


The track leading to the temple – dirt tracks, steps cut on rocks, guardian monkeys (yeah, that’s the one you have to watch out for, if you’re carrying things like food!)…


Monkeys eyeing you, and your prized possessions (i.e. food)


The temple and the lighthouse


The lighthouse, Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu, India




Views of the countryside from atop the Olakkannesvara Temple

The Apostle Who Chose India

Interior of the San Thome Basilica, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

Here’s a church for a change.

Would you believe it, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ actually chose India of all places to spread the gospel? I dunno whether he really ‘chose’ India or was ‘assigned’ India among his fellow apostles, but that’s where he ended up in. That’s what matters, right?

O yeah, St Thomas sailed to India sometime after Jesus’ crucifixion and ascension to heaven, and landed in the now Indian state of Kerala. He established 7½ churches in India before passing away in what is now an area inside the city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu. There are different accounts of how he died. Some said that he was accidentally shot, with a spear, some said that he was intentionally killed, and some said that he died naturally. This was in the first century, so I doubt there’s much of a CSI: Chennai, or a decent detective then. Heck, maybe there wasn’t even paper to write the report in? When was paper invented by the way?

Now, St Thomas is regularly regarded as the patron saint of India. Part of his body (relics) remains in India (at this church), and is now a pilgrimage site for many. See my earlier post, On a Pilgrimage Spree.






More views of the San Thome Basilica, Chennai

Slightly South

Kapaleeshwarar Temple, Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Here’s another quick picture post. My ideas are really lame nowadays, and I’m not making any excuses for it. Thought that since I’m already on South Indian temples, I’d throw these in as well. Hope at least the pictures will entertain! hee :]

These are pictures of a temple located a little south of the Tirumala temple, across the state border, in Tamil Nadu state, in its capital city, Chennai (aka Madras). This temple is best remembered for the place we almost lost Justin! Dad and mom being avid shutterbugs, immediately set to work with our cameras and phones upon entering the temple compound, while Justin being an avid explorer, had other ideas in mind.

Minutes later, we were frantically calling out for Justin, and started looking for him. There were lots of people around (hey, this is India after all, there’re lots of people everywhere OK?), so it ain’t easy. Luckily, we saw a priest happily letting him out of a temple, not too long after that. He must have snuck in with the crowd while we were busy.

He’s the only one among us, who went into the temple. We left after that as it was sort of a halfway stop for us, en route to Chennai’s Koyambedu Bus Terminal to catch a bus to Tirupati.


Entrance gate (gopuram) of the temple. Gopuram are a standard feature of South Indian Dravidian temple architecture


Close-up view of the gopura


Justin, catching a rest from his adventures in a hall at the temple




More views of the Kapaleeshwarar Temple, Chennai


A street scene in Chennai – Peters Road, Royapettah, where we stayed (Saravana Boutique Inn)

Tamil Nadu is like a separate country to India, language-wise. Here, you’re better off getting things done speaking in English, than Hindi. And Chennai is comparatively much cheaper than Sri Lanka, where we were at, just before Chennai. Dunno why the Indian authorities make it so hard for tourists to get a visa. For Sri Lanka, it’s just a few clicks of the mouse, pay online with the trusty credit card and it’s done, completed in a few minutes, in the comfort of your home. No wonder Sri Lanka is teeming with tourists!