Datuk Shah Rukh Khan!

What a surprise when I saw the front page news on Saturday ~ Shah Rukh Khan was being awarded a Datukship by the Malacca governor. Yes, what exactly has he done to deserve this? Apparently 6 of his movies' song sequences had been shot in Malacca and this, claims the governor, has brought more tourists to the state!

If that is the case, about 50% of the South Indian movie heroes should be given datukship because they have shot more than song sequences; they have made movies in Malaysia which has made our country a household name in India. Why do you think there are thousands of Indians coming to work in Malaysia? These movies shot in Malaysia have given them glimpses of the beauty, the wealth, the lifestyle, the multi culture and so on. Only when they arrive here do they realise movies are for entertainment. They are not life and movies can fool you.

Back to SRK, wonder if he knows how to pronounce the name Malacca? knows where it is? what is this datukship award all about? Aren't there any more deserving Malaysians? My son has been contributing to the Malacca economy these past 4 years!

Anyway, can't wait to see SRK's next movie, with the credits running - Starring Datuk Shah Rukh Khan!!!

Exams and academic year end.

Much discussion has been going on in the media about when school final exams should be held. There have been many requests that exams should be avoided during the festive season. Such issues have not been raised in the past. Now parents demand that their children should be allowed to enjoy the festivities and not be bogged down with exams. Festivals take priority over their children’s education. Festive celebrations come and go every year but their children’s school years are only for a short period of time, especially the public exams. Why all this fuss? Is it because parents are occupied with their own work and social life throughout the year and only reserve time to be spent with the family during festivals?
Schools have received directives to hold final exams right at the end of the school academic year. This was a result of numerous complaints from parents that when final exams are held earlier, their children do not go to school after that. So teachers are very free in school but these parents probably have a difficult time managing their children (or only child!) at home. Parents may be ignorant of a teacher’s duties and responsibilities, but I’m surprised that officials in the Ministry of Education actually entertained these complaints.
As a parent, I would want to know how my child fares in the final exams so that I could plan for him/her to utilize the school holidays to revise and be better prepared for the following year. Presently, exams are being held just before the school holidays start so that teachers can mark the exam scripts and process the marks during the holidays. I suppose students will only know their grades next year. Students won’t have a chance to check their answers until 2 months later. By this time exam scripts may be lost or misplaced during the break. They may not even be marked / marked properly if there is a possibility that the papers won’t be checked!
Teachers are not exactly free after the school final exams. Apart from grading exam papers, year end reports have to be prepared and filed. A large percentage of teachers have to invigilate public exams, such as SPM and STPM that goes on until early December. It is teachers too who grade the public exam scripts, which is done through December. Certain teachers who have special duties like preparing the time-table for the following year; organizing distribution of text books; collecting, processing and distributing PMR results, and so on have to come back during the holidays to perform their respective duties.
Why do students stay away from school after the finals? Is it because school is uninteresting or home is more entertaining? Children have all sorts of gadgets to entertain themselves at home like Play Station, computer games, internet (unsupervised!), Astro, VCD / DVD players (viewing also unsupervised!) and enough money to be splurged at entertainment centers. I wonder who is responsible for this??? Yes of course, teachers!
Many students said they actually looked forward to school after the final exams. This was the fun part of school where they played games, had enjoyable activities and could put their books away for a couple of weeks.
Now, no more class parties…lost tradition. No more last minute advice on how students should spend the holidays or even giving students holiday homework, especially for those who fared badly in the finals. When the bell rings after the last exam paper, it is bye, bye. Indeed a HAPPY HOLIDAY. Have fun!

Short book review?!

Thank you for telling me in your own polite ways that people don’t like to read book reviews in blogs. I thought I will do my share of promoting the reading habit since research showed that Malaysians only read 2 books per year. However I am not surprised at your feedback because a colleague who teaches English commented "you still read story books at your age" when I brought out my book to read while waiting for the meeting I was attending to start. Ironic that it should come from a teacher, and an English teacher at that! Didn’t know there was an age limit for reading story books. Every time we visit a bookshop or I read a book review in the newspapers, I point out to my children the book I would like to read. That saves them the headache of deciding what gift to get me for birthdays, anniversaries, etc while I can be certain that I will like my gift! I also read between 2 – 4 newspapers everyday, depending on how much time I have. It is very important to me because it helps me relate moral values which I teach to current issues and situations to enable students understand what they are studying better.

On another issue, I am not one who frequents the temple. We only go to temple on auspicious days like Deepavali or Thaipusam and sometimes on family members’ birthdays. But I admit I feel good and revitalized after each visit to the temple. After reading an e-mail forwarded to me, I feel guilty thinking it is a hassle visiting the temple on a regular basis. I like to share the story with you:
A 'devotee' wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to the Ashram or Temple. 'I've gone for 30 years now, he wrote, and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 mantras. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the Gurus are wasting theirs by giving services at all. This started a real controversy in the 'Letters to the Editor' column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:
I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this.. They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to the Temple for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!
When you are DOWN to nothing.... God is UP to something! Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible! Thank God for our physical AND our spiritual nourishment!

By the way, if you are one who likes to read suspense-filled legal thrillers, you shouldn’t miss Steve Martini’s ‘Critical Mass’. It is about the theft of two nuclear devices from the former Soviet Union and smuggled into the US. It is a gut-wrenching, superb thriller… so realistic it scares you. Happy reading.

Book Review : The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards

This is a must-read, especially for families which have ‘special’ children. I am very impressed with her language; beautiful, very descriptive and easy to follow. It is a book of intense and complex emotions which make you want to reread and further understand the feelings of some of the characters.

Dr. David Henry delivers his wife’s twins. While his son is healthy, his daughter has Down’s syndrome. He tells his wife their daughter died, but secretly asks his nurse to take the baby to a welfare home. But Caroline, the unmarried nurse couldn’t bring herself to leave the baby in a welfare home and decides to raise the child herself.

Dr. David may appear to be an evil person, but actually he is not. His action was a result of his own family circumstances when he was young. He felt he was saving his wife (whom he loved deeply) all the grief and heartache which he and his parents went through when his sister died at a very young age. To him it was an act of love! However Norah, Dr. David’s wife finds it difficult to come to terms with this and is silently haunted by the ‘loss’ of her daughter.

Caroline, on the other hand struggles to raise the little girl in a community which still does not understand children with Down syndrome. She also sacrifices her love life to a certain extend to be able to give the child her full attention.

Kim Edward’s record of the child (Phoebe) growing up is also very moving. Her slow progress, not being admitted in a school for normal children and when she finally falls in love and wants to get married, but Caroline is not too sure about that and feels Phoebe is not ready.

Phoebe’s twin and her mother eventually discover her existence. How do they react? The book is so well written that you can actually feel the pain of the emotional struggles all the characters go through…

No wonder the book was a bestseller in the US and also in MPH.

Book Review ~ BRICKFIELDS : A Place, A Time, A Memory by Balan Moses.

Thank you Balan Moses for a nostalgic trip down memory lane. Much of what you have described in your book brought back fond memories of yesteryears. The places, the people and especially some of the childish games you described, I have quite forgotten until I read your book.

I did not live in Brickfields. My father worked with the Malayan Railways and so my family and I lived in the railway quarters along Jalan Bangsar. However Brickfields was a part of our daily life because my sisters and I studied in M.G.S., along Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad and we had to pass through Brickfields as we walked to and from school. There were several routes we could take – walk along Jalan Tun Sambathan and straight onto Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad, or walk along Lorong CA Thong, Jalan CA Thong or Jalan Rozario. I suppose our route depended on what we wanted to see, or if we wanted to linger along the shops to see or buy something. I still remember the end shop (opposite the Brickfields KFC now) which used to sell pets. I loved to stop to see the birds in that shop! Thus most of the places you have mentioned are very familiar. Good for you that the quarters you lived in still exists in Jalan Rozario. Our railway quarters is no more, it used to be where the present Bangsar LRT station stands.

The Lido theatre was an important landmark in our life – it was the focal point of our annual treat. We made a trip there on Deepavali day to watch either the Sivaji or MGR movie that was on. Visiting the Buddhist temple was also a must every Wesak Day, to get the orange thread tied to the wrist. Almost every non-muslim child wore this thread for several weeks after Wesak.

My mother bought mutton only from Naina’s mutton shop and you couldn’t have described him in any other way but the friendly giant! He was actually a good-looker with an ever ready broad smile. Yes, I remember the crowd waiting patiently outside his shop to get their order on Sunday mornings. Anthonian bookstore was another significant shop – to get our books and stationary especially before the new school year started.

Your naration of the mobile hawkers made me realize how environment friendly we were back then. There was no Styrofoam container and we used to bring out our own plates and bowls to buy the food. How could I forget bringing out our enamel or stainless steel cups to get the hot soup from the yong tau foo seller. How wonderful and convenient if we still had these mobile rojak, yong tau foo, pau and kueh sellers.

Did you keep a diary or just happen to have excellent memory? I remembered many of the games you mentioned such as kaunda kaundi, “catching”, tai chi and kicking the frangipani balls. But I had quite forgotten the “high five” card game and also throwing rubber bands to cross over the opponent’s rubber bands.

What you have written is indeed a beautiful historical record of our ordinary life 30 – 40 years ago. Reading it now made me realize how rich our simple life was. I actually feel sad for my children who are glued to their computers now. I can’t seem to share my excitement about your book with them, but I hope one day they would want to read it to know what they have missed.

Abuse of my chatbox!

Yes, there goes my chatbox! Thank you guys for your advice, I’ve heeded your advice and removed my chatbox. Now, I’m being informed that others are using my name and leaving indecent messages in other chatboxes. It does not bother me in the least.
Firstly, everyone who knows me will attest that I never utter indecent or vulgar words in any language that I speak. Have any of you heard any form of vulgarity from me? No way. Thus any bad language in your chatbox is definitely not from me!
Secondly, some people are plain spoilers! It appears their aim in life is to make other peoples’ lives miserable. Perhaps they have nothing better to do. Perhaps they enjoy this cheap thrill of upsetting other people. Perhaps that is how they have been brought up – to use fowl language and be born losers! Whatever their reason, I’m thankful for them. God can’t possibly accommodate all of us in Heaven. I suppose these people make God’s job a little easier. These people insist on booking their place in Hell! Let them. Hindus and Buddhist believe in karma. I strongly believe such people contribute towards my good karma. Heh! Thank you You!
I have finished marking my exam scripts and in fact have been catching up on my reading. I intend to review these books on my blog soon. Actually I got this idea from Pei Hau’s blog. He wrote quite a bit on restaurants and food, so I want to share my experience reading books.

Welcome to my blog

Wow! When Dhama put the chat box in my blogspot, I didn’t know it was another name for ‘complaint box’!! I think I should thank Philbert for making my blog popular overnight. Thank you Philbert! Hey Raja Petra, move over. You have competition here man!!
Before I continue, I also want to thank the others who have posted complaints in my chat box. You are most welcome to do so, but please don’t hide behind fictitious names. I don’t think it is the right thing to do – stealing someone else’s identity. Especially Pn. Marina Chin! She is not only the principal of a very important school, she is also a well-known personality in the country. I know it is not her style to say the things you have said, and her language is also much better then that! Improve your English or stop using her name. Be fair to her.
The complaints and issues mentioned are very reasonable. Is this what they mean by ‘barking up the wrong tree’? Why are you telling me all these? If there was a spelling error or content error in the certificates given out on Prize giving day, then tell me about it because that was my responsibility. But problems with invitation and selection of prize winners was out of my jurisdiction. If I had it my way, I will give away prizes to each student who successfully finished their school education, irrespective of the number of A’s.
As for the “Samad bashing” going on, I am just an ordinary teacher, teaching Moral studies and Geography. I feel honoured you feel you can tell me all these things but I’m powerless in the school. Please direct all your grievances to the school office. In no way am I involved in the school administration.
Actually I wouldn’t mind giving admin a shot but the ministry has not offered me any relevant posts. I wonder what the criterias are to be promoted into the school administration. I have been teaching for 24 years and never shirked my responsibilities at any time. Maybe my fault is I work hard and not work smart. Que Sara, Sara, what will be, will be!!
My technical assistant advices me to remove my chat box! Hey! Chat with me, I will love to hear from you. Don’t abuse it please. Thank you all for visiting my blog. Now I feel pressured to update my blog more regularly! I know I don’t have many posts, but whatever I have posted is important to me. I would appreciate feedback regarding my posts. I have exam papers, and folios to mark so don’t expect to hear from me in the near future.