24th June 2009

Nope nothing momentous happened thus far today but I’ve been sitting here trying to think up an innovative title for a post that isn’t terribly innovative. My creative juices are slightly dried up…a new colleague who just joined remarked of my blog that I seem to be fond of henna…i must admit i was floored. I thought i had more content than that but if i’m to be known by my henna alone well I’m not ashamed of that either. I do good work dang-nam-it!

In anycase maybe its time to fine-tune the focus of the blog or maybe not…if its to be a true reflection of me it can hardly be about one thing. Just a short note on IKEA today. Since we’ve had new hires there was a need for a shopping trip to IKEA to provide enough seating and work surfaces for all. The restaurant at IKEA Alexandra has had some very innovative changes made to it (seen here modelled by our very own AB):

Given the huge crowds that pack the mealtimes there they’ve designed ergonomic lunch tray carts which occupy the minimal most space and with maximum maneuverability. Awesome! Now thats a store with a consistent message that extends into their non-core business as well. IKEA is also (from what I’ve seen the few times I’ve eaten there) one of the few places where people do not attempt to hold seats with tissue paper packets…BLISS

I’ll post up the recent adventures from my last trip to Hanoi and Ha Long Bay but for now i leave you with this…i finally replenished my stock of henna cones and my sorely underflexed muscle produced this:

Next artistic venture is a baby blanket…Akan datang

Pink Dot

I’m sure images of the Pink Dot gathering at the Speakers Corner will be hitting the press soon and just so everyone knows me and my pink balloon were part of that dot. I’m not a LGBT (not sure but hacking a translation: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and transgender/transsexual) but i support their choice to live their life by their own choices.

I honestly don’t know why conservative folk react so strongly to the topic of LGBTs. Its not like they go from door to door asking you to sign up for their lifestyle as per the modus operandi of certain religious groups who seek to convert others. They do not stand tall and shout that theirs is the only sanctioned way to live – moral, social, philosophical etc the way heterosexual conservatives do – and definitely do not preach you going to hell if you don’t comply with their lifestyle.  I’m sorry but saying that god created a man and woman and gave them the ability to reproduce hence that’s the only acceptable equation does not fly with me.

People often forget that religion evolved to solve a lot of practical issues of the time. Hindus/Punjabis don’t eat beef as a result of the need to retain their food and labour sources..if they went around eating all the cattle how would they get the fields plowed or supplement their vegetarian diets with the much needed proteins from dairy products. Muslims don’t eat pork or touch dogs because they were disease carriers feeding off the carcasses of bodies left to rot during the 100 year war. Muslims and Jews also have procedure in place for the preparation of food as a means of avoiding the consumption of contaminated food which in those times, without the medical advances we have today, would have surely proven fatal.

Now lets look at the issue of procreation from this logic. In those times the earth definitely wasn’t as populated as it is now. Life-spans were much shorter and much more uncertain. Being hit by a bus wasn’t the worst thing they could have thought of in a day. Now if you were faced with population issues especially since , as documented by historians from the dawn of time, it takes a majority or critical mass to gain an edge wouldn’t a new religion or group of people struggling to establish themselves in a region want to ensure the survivability of their numbers? And what better way to ensure that than to pursue an agenda which stated any lifestyle beyond one which could produce offspring is forbidden – an act against god, against societal norms.

Now I’m not about to run out and kiss the first girl who crosses my path or dress like a guy. I want to marry the man who tickles my intellectual and conversational fancy (much more enduring than the love bug) and have children one day. That’s my choice. That choice doesn’t give me the right to deny others the right to make that same choice for themselves if it is not identical to mine. If someone does not like the same cuisine, colour or music as I do it doesn’t drive me to a point of moral outrage so this shouldn’t either.

Its a life – mine, yours, his, hers – and at the end of the day ours to do as we choose. If you feel the right to choose respect the right of others to do the same.

My Genetic Journey

National Geographic has processed my DNA results. Behold my genetic journey as told by my mitochondrial genome.

This does actually make a lot of sense as I’ve been often asked if I were Latino, a Eurasian etc everything but the Indian that has been the dominant ethnicity in the recent genetic past.

The site does go into more detail on the journey and splintering of my ancestors and does make for some fascinating reading. I will urge anyone who’s got an interest to participate in this. Definitely well worth the money spent

A return to type

Just a quick post of the last henna i did before my vacation. A simple design just to keep my skills from rusting:

 

I had a yen to do some henna over the weekend but couldn’t get a hold of my supplies. Apparently they have been sacrificed at the altar of all my mother holds holy: cleanliness. The festival of Vesakhi (usually in the middle of April) which has both cultural (harvest festival for the farmers of Punjab) and religious (the day the Sikh religion was founded with the christening of the first 5 disciples) usually means a spring clean in my home. Unfortunately this time around I was several thousand kilometres away and the clean-up provided my mother with a chance to get rid of anything of mine she’s not fond of…sighs the joys of family!

Got to get me more henna …

Temperature cool-off

So its rained a few times, even had a storm over the weekend, and the temperatures have abated some. Meanwhile the ‘Swine Flu’ aka H1N1 remains a hot topic of discussion and you know its news when it gets incorporated into the opening stand-up acts of well-known comedians and their daily shows.

A friend of mine has recently sown the seeds of an adventure holiday (yes I know I just got back from one but that doesn’t mean I can’t take another short trip again) in Borneo..complete with jungle trekking and a trip to see the orang utans. She’s also mentioned spas in her description so I’m not sure how to break it to her not to expect a spa in the middle of rainforests but I could be mistaken. If anyone knows where nature and man can commune in materialistic harmony do let me know

Meanwhile in the event the temperature decides to soar again – a highly likely possibility given that the hottest season is around the corner here’s a little picture I like to look at and visualise to take a ‘mental’ break from the heat.

This picture was taken on January 27th of 2002 from the kitchen window of my apartment in Vancouver. This lovely view was my companion each morning as I partook of my coffee/tea/or whatever other stimulant was needed to kick-start the day.

Enjoy the rest of the week!

A Brief Respite

The sweltering heat has abated some thanks in large part to the rain yesterday. As per my commitment a day of rain = 1 post. At this point I’ll gladly post every day if the rains keep coming. The worst, since my return, has to have been 2 nights ago when the heat seemed a living breathing being pulsing with life from every surface that could possibly retain any small amount of it.

Everyone mentions how the weather is changing constantly and even from year to year the changes in the weather patterns have been marked. I wonder if the end of the ice age felt similar. Speaking of the ice-age I’ve recently sent my DNA in to be typed as part of the National Geographic’s Genographic project. AB, being a subscriber to the magazine, was part of the first batch of data which was processed for free. Since its initial launch, this is a 5 year research project to analyze genetic data from participants all over the world, the cost of participation has significantly dropped. Members of the public can purchase their kit, collect the DNA sample, and mail it off to the research laboratory for their analysis. These kits can be purchsed from the National Geographic store at Vivocity for about $100+ (i can’t seem to recall the exact amount I paid for my kit).

Here’s a peak into the kit:

and the DNA collection swabs:

In each kit there are detailed instructions on how to go about getting the DNA sample as well and honestly its not rocket science to give the inside of your cheek a good scrape.

If you’re interested in knowing where your ancestry draws from – I’m personally looking forward to my indian-chinese-?? hodgepodge – then wait no more and get your own kit.

Have a good, and fingers crossed, cool week!

Extreme temperatures

Phew … Singapore is a hot, hot place to be in right now. The temperatures seem even more extreme to me since I’ve just gotten back from my second home, Vancouver B.C., where the weather was unseasonably cool. A foray south of the border into the states had it hailing-snowing-then pouring rain all in some 10 minutes. I must say though I did get a thrill out of blowing out big puffs of breath to ‘see’ it – something which has a snowball’s chance in hell of occurring naturally in Singapore!

Well my fingers are crossed that the blog and weather drought ends – perhaps I should make it a rule to blog on every day that it rains..lol..something needs to be fixed with regards to this blog and figure it out I shall

Since it most definitely has not rained in my corner of Singapore this brings me to what prompted this post. I’ve been following ‘The Sartorialist’ blog for some time now. I like seeing how others adapt fashion for themselves and make their individual statements – something I’m similarly fond of. My creative eye opened with this picture:

(picture reproduced from The Sartorialist)

Now normally even the Punjabi/Sikh community doesn’t consider itself terribly fashion forward (turbans matching your shirt do not count) so its nice to see someone cut a dashing figure with all the accoutrements of being a traditional Sikh.

Till it rains or I get off my duff enough to blog about what I’ve been up to…hint: Twilight!

A different bird for Xmas

I was going through my piles and piles of pictures and found these:

I’ve been quite fascinated by the phoenix but my drawing skills aren’t quite up to an artistic depiction worthy of the fabled creature. Try and try again I shall..for my craft my persistence and obsession with perfection are boundless.

Its a Friday night and here’s hoping everyone has a great weekend doing the things they love to face the week filled with the things they don’t

Pretty little things

Before I took off for my CNY break I snuck in this:

Hope everyone had a good break. There’s not another one for a loong while

All things bright and beautiful

As Chinese New Year is around the corner we see a lot of little fairs which have sprung up selling new year goodies including a profusion of plants. I’ve never had a great fondness for plants, having managed to even kill a cactus, and don’t even get me started on the insects. I’m a through and through city girl for sure.

This display though, along Neil Road, right in front of my office has made me rethink flowers at least. I’ve even tried my hand with another cactus which now sits on my desk at work. Maybe nature isn’t so bad after all.