I have redeemed myself!
The awful mehndi design I did last week and could not bear to show anyone was either rubbed off (very painful process) or covered up with a much better expression of my style.
I’m not sure if my fascination with mehndi has to do with my fascination with tattoos or its more of a cultural appreciation but there’s something about seeing first the dark green on your skin and then the residual colour, which according to old-wives tales is tied to how much your spouse/in-laws will love you, which speaks to me.
The mehndi was a good way for me to relax and get my mind off a sight which really ticked me off. Those of you from the island nation are familiar with the local transportation of trains and buses and would have had to be completely deprived of your senses to not notice the added security measures which have been imposed in light of increased terrorist threats etc.
I have no desire to be blown to smithereens but after what I’ve seen i have my doubts about the efficacy of the system in place. I’ve seen racial profiling (the Bangladeshi worker is carrying a backpack and to the security personnel he looks like he could be a terrorist) and an invasion of privacy (a lady on her way to the airport was forced to open up her luggage right by the ticket gateway out of the train station). I may have left Canada but its definitely not left me as i came home and voiced my displeasure at the erosion of civil liberties and the age old debate of where do you draw the line. I have no answers to the eradication or even identification of terrorists and beyond a commentary of how i see it NOT working i have little to offer. I do however have to persist in voicing this because if everyone does stay silent that in itself ensures that things will further disintegrate.
Some may ask why bother since Singapore is a relatively safe country and this is a minor infringement. Well the answer to that lies in the fact that we have never been a country big on civil liberties – there hasn’t been a need for it with a stable government, stable economy and general apathy for politics but that’s not necessarily the situation going forth.
I think if spot checks on baggage or bulky items brought on the trains is the answer we are proposing we could perhaps think it out a little more and afford those whose privacy is being invaded (for the greater good or not) some measure of not having it so ‘public’. Racial profiling rarely works and being part of the cultural group who look the closest to our Muslim terrorist poster boys its a problem that i feel on a personal level. Once again being a multi-cultural community i hope most Singaporean’s can differentiate between a Sikh and Osama’s cousin!
Its Wednesday and yoga…may the meditation bring me to a higher plane on this issue! A good week to all…
its become very helpful for me to see the designs and folow this and made meself in my hand and my friends also.i congragulate you on your sucess.