How I let go of religion and found..God.

Couple of weeks ago returning from the City and getting out of the train station near home, I got followed by two young Asian looking boys. I was surprised when they asked how I was doing and where I was headed, out of blues. I did not find their approach threatening or unfriendly, just peculier. It turns out these teenagers in school uniforms were from Taiwan! They were here to preach about their 'holy ghost'. I was kinda stunned. After talking to them who sent them here, they talked about their 'mission' which at the rock bottom is to convert people to their religion. I was talking to young recruets of religious evangelists sent from oceans away. All I could tell them was go back to school and spend time learning something useful.

The incident made me think, and reflect. I have seen young boys addicted to stuffs but this seemed bizarre, I was shaking my head. Young evangelists, mercenaries. Their beliefs in Holy ghost appeared so profound they appeared almost hypnotized.

These boys seemed to think that they have somehow found a 'direct line' to hear back from God. That they receive some special broadcasts that are not available to others. Feeling of being a spcial one, a chosen one?? Made me wonder, observing these 'God' crazies. I know its not simple but making it complicated and mysterious not necessarily is a proof of truth.


Evil thrives when good people do not speak up.

Digging a bit deeper reveals a troubling truth.
Inreasing number of the ones who seem to have a 'direct line' to the creator are being discovered as unholy as worstly imaginable as possible in the forms of paedophiles, abusers of all types? Misery.
Are you free of worries to leave your young children around these 'holy' men? Can you trust any one of them personally? If you cannot, how can you trust the institute itself? How can you trust and condone the whole conglomerate which has been hiding the crimes for centuries?
I might be naive, but questions ring on my head. What point am I missing?
How is it not a collaboration when you endorse them and devote a part of your life to them? I am talking about the holiest of the holies - the priests, the monks, the fathers and so forth whose masks are being taken off.  I am talking about those who flock to their 'Gods' to cleanse themselves and feel secured, while living a banal and self centred life with no care for anyone else except themselves. Except for sharing feel good quotes on social media, these metro socials have no touch whatsover with the needy and the poor as seen on the pictures and videos they themselves post or Jesus for that matter.

Notions.

I gather atheists say there is no God. Only the science can provide answer to notion of 'God' and soul. To them there are explanations provided by researchers that show the chemicals on brain being responsible for creating these illusions of God, good and bad. They believe the only answer to moral high grounds can be provided by science and facts of nature, the natural justice, and that we do not need religion or God to have moral standards.

Then I am startled by these cunning souls that flock to religious groups, churches and temples for ulterior purposes, to find a spouse, to market their products, to 'network', to make business deals or assimilate wealth, to find opportunites and spread their 'ideas' or even to 'belong', to assimilate in what they think is a higher culture or race and even find an illusionary status symbol, a fashion of some sort. And there are I feel total maniacs who flock there just to be part of the group, the daily or weekly routine,  a blind sense of 'religious' duty, a church in Sunday morning keeps a devil away type of devotees, those who fast and starve to show their devotion and sacrifice. I wonder how is there any sense of God in all those rituals which are nothing except self fulfillment. How far away they are, I feel, from the higher being, a God, or any higher meaning in life.

Mine.

The morning I let of of all my shackles of religion, I kept remembering incidents of how an unseen force unfailingly presented itself to me in the form of voice, deeds or from within myself, which had nothing to do with the prayers or any rituals. All my 'religious' activity played no role in his decisions. Actually all those prayers have resulted in complete opposite results in most cases. However, somehow when it mattered, when I was all by myself in a moment of despair, a hidden force most definitely came for rescue. I can call that 'God', it exists, shows itself in  most unexpected of times, an unmistakable proof of presence, of a higher power, it comes looking for you, not the other way round. 

Year of the sheep..or goat..or Ram..for Chinese new year 2015

If one ethnic group truly dominates Australia culturally, politically and economically, in a positive way, that is Chinese. Surprisingly though, China as a country does not dominate directly, like the US, the big brother does. It is the Chinese people that have been influencing Australian landscape for a century, from the days of gold mining to now where the Chinese new year is a mainstay of events in big cities here. I wonder if the Americans can say the same about Australia or anywhere else for that matter, apart from the flimsy world of Hollywood or heart attack food companies or politics and force.

Being married to a Chinese family brings a massive influence in yourself, mainly food, as it is so rich, diverse, and of such wide varieties, it is almost an spiritual experience and at the core of Chinese culture and the driver for Chinese influence around the world. Food for Chinese is not just something to fill your tummy with, it is completely inter-twined with geography, culture, climate, language and heritage of different parts in China and where the Chinese live - all around the globe.Chinese from where they live now, for example Indonesia or Vietnam, add more variety to their core Chinese main items. Every dish is a representative of that part and contains portions

of spirit from there. My in-laws, are no exception. Every Chinese new year's day is a family get together that is expressed in the form of lavish dinner that needs three large dining tables just to park the dishes that my mother in law cooks herself. This year was no exception either. Getting around the table talking to family members from different walks of life, the family politics as usual, the good and the bad ones, the favorable ones and the not so likeable ones, its all part of the occasion. At the centre of this is an engine, the culinary, packaged in the
form of

new year,
and the Chinese new year wish - gong xi fa cai. This year's annual new year's parade at George street was also a flamboyant event with us becoming part of the thousands that lined up to cheer and welcome the year of the Sheep..or goat..or Ram.

Organic food buzz at Marrickville

Organic food has been an emerging buzz in the 'food scene' for newly enlightened health food junkies in Sydney, I guess same goes at other rich countries where quantity alone does not satisfy any more. And there is more to it, people being aware of what goes on during the food production - pesticides, animal treatment, ethics and so forth. Some say, organic is for soul, probably they equate this to food being free of synthetic hormones, chemicals and other bio hazard, that billions put into their mouth everyday. There must be a link, 'cleaner' food - vegetables grown using only natural fertilizers and chicken fed with earthworms alone - and better soul? Emm..I am sratching my head, organic food..soul food..is it serious and here to stay, obviously it has a place in the food chain, but can it be real rather than a hippie sounding fad?

To find out, we went to an upmarket weekly organic food market in Marrickville last sunday to have a taste and fist glance. It has a seventies hippie buzz to it and the first thing that hits you in the entrance is a large poster welcoming the refugees, then the portraits of mostly African immigrants and refugees lined up in the walkway that leads to the actual market. I could not but wonder what's organic food got to do with that?? Is it a leftist, socialist hippie camp? Inside, a nice lineup of stalls selling 'organic' vegetable, meat, fruits produced with natural ingredients alone, so they claim. It reminded me of real markets in Kathmandu, back in the days when the food tasted real - a strong flavor of spinach when cooked, just the right toughness of savoury chicken, unforgettable taste of red onions. Steroid chicken of the developed world is not a match. Vegetable here are bigger in size, but milder taste. You can hardly tell eggplant from potato.

Marrickville
organic
food market is a good weekend getaway, kinda rebellious against the mass markets dominated by Coles and Woolworths. It seemed to have a steady flow of devoted fans clamoring for organic food stalls, restaurants and meats. Mixing the old book shops, discarded furniture shops and similar antique finish off the picture, it kinda felt like visiting an antique store, although we got more than what we went there for - organic food - but could not tell what was the main theme of the market - socio-cultural issues, refugees, organic food, hippies, rubbish..its a convoluted mixture of cultures.

Soggy Australia day 2015 - its Black and White

In a complete turnaround from a beautiful day yesterday, Australia had a very wet day to 'celebrate' its day. We wanted to check the 'Australia day' celebrations at both sides, the victors that celebrate this day, the Anglo occupiers, and the 'vanquished', the natives who call this a 'Survival day' instead. Its truly a black and white affair, literally. White Anglo Saxon prisoners condemed to die in an isolated island sailed sails to the shores here and virtually wiped off the 'black' culture of the native Aboriginies who called this place home from thosands of years before. There is no grey to the truth.

However, would you rather the British took over, or say, Indonesians, Chinese or Japanese colonized this vast land? Emm..not a very hard choice to make.

First stop the Yabun festival at Camberdown park near the University of Sydney. In a slightly less than colorful affair (I mean bells and whistles) that is usually visible at the similar events in Sydney, the aboriginies arts, culture, traditions and history was at display, mostly arts in the form of handmade goods, the infamous boomrang, T-shirts and slogans of freedom. Freedom?? makes you wonder, isn't this land already free?? Well, not for everyone obviously. It really appeared going around, Australia is a land of oppression. You could clearly see the aboriginies' sad and angry faces during the event. Its clear they are 'marking' the event rather than 'celebrating'.

We enjoyed a nice rap/reggae music open concert, which had some angry rappers sing about the oppression. A moderate sized crowd of mostly indigineous were braving the constant drizzle.
We had our big broken umbrella up most of the time, taking care not to poke others in the eyes.

With a cautious exit, not to appear too enthusiastic, we exited in the drizzle and headed for the White party at the CBD. After parking near the always neglected Australian museum, we crossed over to the Hyde park, and it was a Nirvana, compared to the Black party. There was a long stretch of vintage cars being displayed, with people enjoying the cordoned off street for the 'Australia day' celebration the way it is meant to be. The whole Hyde park in the middle of the city was reserved for the victors, there was a kid party going on full blast from Nickelodeon, kids jumping in joy. Nearby, the Sydney harbor was having its own chapter with the ships and boats on full glory.

Like I said, it was quite a black and white day. To top it all, Bony Tabbot has given Prince Phillip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth, the highest honor of Australia. What a joke made out of the Australia day. Anybody want Republic of Australia, Bill Shorten can't wait, so can't a large majority.

Apple crash and Apple care

It was probably too much to expect from my Mac, for it to be able to stand up to the fury of mother nature. One thunderousnight when we were away from home, my beloved laptop was badly injured. None of the ports were working and kernel panics started to appear as randomly as a fit hits a sick randomly  .

So went my motivation to be writing and spending hours poring bright ideas off the window. 2014 left its last legacy in Dec Christmas holidays, to both the laptop owner and his electronics. The thunder took down the laptop, TV, Apple TV, Routers and some other..

Attempts to revive the laptop with Apple support on phone - repair, safe mode, hardware diagnosis, all fruited to nothing. I am taking it to the 'Genius bar', its ultimate emergency later today, hopefully
its something they can fix. Good that I bought Apple care, when your apple gets sick its the last resort.

I am writing about a Mac using a Windows machine, that gotta say something.

Garrie beach bluebottle sting..ouch!!

To make the most of final couple days of the new year holiday,
we went for a picnic at Garrie beach in Royal National park.
The lookout leading to the beach has a perfect view of the ocean and the surrounding hills, perfect for a lunch stopover.

Down the winding road with a great drive, we reach a hidden, beautiful stretch of sand, typical Aussie coastline, leaving no doubt this is such a lucky country. But you may not be very lucky if you
get stung by something lurking in the beach, Bluebottle jellyfish. You will find this jellyfish species scattered around most of the Australian beaches, they seem placid and actually look beautiful with trademark deep blue color, bottle like body and tentacles. Do not go near!

After spending an hour in the waves and sun bathing, we were going for a stroll. That is when I felt a sudden pang of pain around both my lower legs. I knew straight away that something from the sea had bitten me, just didn't know what it was. My first thought was it could be a Stingray or something. Whatever it was, it was excruciatingly stingy and painful. I looked down to find a blue jellyfish and its beady tentacles wrapped around my legs! I removed those with my bare fingers and walked up to a nearby life saver tent. The life guard had a look at my legs and was about to offer an ointment, but decided to drive me to a nearby shower in his life saver vehicle. Apparently I needed a 'shower' .

There was a young girl also with the same incident. For her, it was on her hands. We were handed over to an elderly life guard who took us upstairs and opened up the shower and let us run hot water on the bites, turns out hot water is the best remedy for Bluebottle stings. The pain got worse in the legs and started to radiate, specially in the groin area. Worried, we tried to find a nearby hospital. It was at Sutherland, about 35 km away. With my wife navigating the high volume traffic in the bushy road and  slow driving, traffic holding drivers, we finally managed to reach the hospital in about half an hour. Luckily the medical centre was virtually empty when we arrived and I only had to wait barely five minutes before being attended by a doctor, who had a look at my groin and said it was no problem. I was given a prescription of pain killer, Panadene Forte, that was it.

It hurt badly for few hours, morning after, today I feel its fairly gone except for a light remainder pain that is not too bad. Google search shows hot water is the best treatment for bluebottle stings, scientific reason for this being hot water actually cooks the poison so that the body can break it down better and it becomes less lethal.

I am looking at the incident now and feel it is in a way is a gift, a learning by God. A first hand experience of pain and a minute glimpse of lurking dangers in the beach, ocean. Now I have earned a right to talk about the sting of a Bluebottle.

So much for the country living inspiration that I have been feeling for a while, mainly due to visits to Hunter valley. I imagine what if you have more serious medicals? Broke your limbs, snake bites, heart attacks..nearby medical facility might be hours drive. Again, knowing what can happen can make you prepare for it, to still be inspired by the beauty of remote country living, put up with it. Or get scared and do not attempt. Choice is yours, you have been warned

Korean Air Macademiagate: Ultimate lesson in branding

This week making headlines was Heather Cho, the
vice president of Korean Air firing the head of the
cabin crew of the flight she boarded enroute to the US
from Seoul. She happened to be the daughter of the
airlines owner as well, but I am sure it was just a
coincidence, as you will see, she deserves an ultimate
award, in the lesson of branding.

When the incident became public, the outcry as
expected was about this woman drunk with power.
Hapless head of the cabin crew was kicked out of the
plane, after it had already left the gate and on tarmac.

To understand what she delivered by the incident,
you have to understand that she was in a First class seat.
People who can afford that do not think about money,
they are there because of the service, comfort and
obliviously to most of us, class. Yes class. That is
what makes First class 'First class', its not the thousands
of dollars more you pay than cattle class. By serving the
nuts in a bag, like you do in the cattle class, instead of
serving it properly as required by the rules of the class,
in the Korean porcelain bowl, the cabin crew had
totally disregarded the merit of the brand that Korean
Air First class was supposed to possess.
You could fly any other First class, they could tolerate this
kind of minor mistakes by staffs, but this won't
go off the radar in the Korean, that is for sure.
Simple acts of service are magnified many more times
in those rows of seats and makes all the sense about
why it becomes the choice of the top end of the food chain.

Kudos to Heather Cho.
She has not only make known to the world what it means
to be in the Korean Air First class, but provided a top
notch example of an executive following what she promotes.

Seeing values in things

Getting to the offices of my recently change new job
is bit of a distance by both car and train. Driving is a
nightmare no matter how early you start from home,
traffic in Sydney has a slim chance of getting better,
its a utopia that we can only dream of. By train, it
requires a changeover at Town hall station, in the city.
Its partly due to the main office being located in a
slightly inconvenient location, by which I mean a
bit far from everything - shops, train stations, people,
eateries and so forth. And that basically also means
its slightly in the 'middle of nowhere'.

One of the main customers that I am working is based
in the border of CBD. So my time is divided between
the company head office and the client premises. I use
a company provided laptop, a touch screen, mid size
Lenovo with a bulky power pack from the IBM days.

Getting from home to work means carrying the backpack
with the following:
- the hefty laptop and its power unit combined
- my iPad for commute
- lunch box and fruits, as the head office has nothing
but a ground floor fast food run by an arrogant bunch of
bogans from probably Eastern suburbs ( I suspect Maroubra)
- a notebook (paper)
- company phones
- cables for network, phones and so forth
- coins bag - for coffee
- occasionally spare jacket when its hot
(taken off due to heat) or cold

The weight totals nearly ten kilos.
For the first few weeks I thought I was going to break my
back. I even had to go see a physio, it hurt that bad.  I thought of buying
a wheeled backpack and shared the idea with a colleague,
who laughed heartily at it, he went 'You are young!'
Well  I had no choice but to push on.
Unexpectedly and discreetly, after a month, I started
to notice a bit of change. Unmistakably, I was getting
toned! Not because I was doing any extra exercise. It
attributed directly to my daily commute of about half an
hour from home to train stations and work, with the
ten kilo backpack mostly on my hand. I stopped hanging
it on the shoulders, since then the back and neck pain
started to disappear. I would shift arms and even lift the
backpack as if it is a weight, in gym, from time to time.

I no longer needed to use my home treadmill, not sure
if that can be added as a benefit. But here you go, life
sort of adjusted, and evolved around the situation, like
a tree branch grows around the obstacles in the way of
its natural growth.

One evening on my return from work, I found son of
a neighbor at the main door waiting for his parents
to open it from inside. Shockingly, I looked at the bag
he was carrying and noticed it was actually as big as
mine! The boy is hardly twelve, and is about four and a half
ft tall, not very encouraging by Australian standards.
Nevertheless, I asked the podgy dude to take the bag off
his shoulders and lifted it myself, it was as heavy as mine!
I told him what's inside, he replied 'Books'.
I couldn't imagine if anyone would carry books
anymore, sign of total conversion into digital from my own
'book, book' days, to ebooks now. I couldn't help imagening
the little guy's vertebra screaming and grinding under the
mountain of books he was carrying.

For myself, I now look forward to my gym session every day
and back. No complaints.

Listening to your inner voice

Its a crunch time at work with cost cuttings and restructuring bearing
down on everyone. Few people are safe and most are on the fence.
People are worried and anxious. It appears like a calm before the storm
and the axe about to fall, well, heads have started to roll already.

Things can look good today and take a nose dive tomorrow dawn,
such is the unpredictibility of the economincs of job situation in Sydney
these days. People need to adapt to this reality, failure to do so has potential
to result in unbearable stress. My strategy in times like that has always been,
focus on what you can control, which is yourself. Focus on what you can
improve about you - start to brush up on your skills, get a new online
course, prepare for a certification, network, look for ideas beyond your
office and home walls, basically expand your horizon, so to speak.

In course of uncertainty, its always better to be on the side of certainty,
no matter how miniscule they might appear, things you can get leash on.
This is what I tell to those at work who try ot squeeze some 'goss' out of
me. They get real positive feedback, most look a bit stunned. They would
most probably expect me to tow the line and feed the uncertainty, which
I always steadfastly refuse to do.

In keeping line with practicing what I preach, I try my best to apply my
philosophy into real world. This has resulted in meeting new people
at meetups, entrepreneurs, Businessmen from overseas, Startups, and
of course recruiters. After an initial rounds, I have been offered  a position,
which does not sound too bad in terms of scope and dollars. However,
after going to meet the potential employer in flesh, listening to his
feedback on his own staffs, the general ambience of the physical
environment there and a bit of googling, I rejected the offer they made.
Needless, the recruiter was furious and would not budge, unable to take my
NO as a response and trying feverishly to push me back to accepting.

I strongly beleive in cues that your subconscious picks up when meeting people.
I do believe that meeting someone is either positive or negative, it is
never neutral. So, I chose to listen to my guts and rejected this well paid
offer at times of mild despair. I did get a bit of headache having to deal
with the agent, but for most part, feel relieved that I could stand
up to my own temptation and not jump in against my inner.
Confession, I still have a little patch of cloud as to did I kick out
a good opportunity? However, I did think about the whole situation
and was prepared to take the risk. I knew I would be feeling a bit
peeved after actually sending the decline letter off to the agent.
I anticipated the heated conversation with her that would follow.

But overall, I am glad to have listened to my guts, instinct, no matter
what the result might be, because it usually turns out to be right, based
on my previous similar experiences. And I can confidently advise anyone
to do so when in times of doubt.

Royal circus - eat, pray, zoo

Grandson of the British monarch and his wife and kid are in tour of Australia.
And the Aussies are happy like their subjects, reminiscent of the old and dead empire.
I don't have anything against the British flaunting their history, they were indeed the most
powerful empire once. Such a small nation, with their courage, wit and grit became
the land where sun never sets. I actually have admiration for them though
the countries they ruled would not feel the same. Their loots in India and Africa
are of historic crimes, mess they left all around the world they landed is still
alive and have not healed, like in Palestine, India- Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, China..
they were a wretched and cunning bunch and are still hated passionately world over.

However, you have to understand, that is how nations are built. And they built
a great one in that matter.

But what I don't get is, what have the Aussies got to do with them?
What is their connection, what gives them such a fond joy to be acting like
they live in the British kingdom still??
Their history is, the British left their ancestors here to rot, to die, they were the
convicts. It wasn't done as a favour, it was done to clean up their backyard,
as a dark hole where their most unwanted crooks could die and would not bother them.
History would have it, Aussies have died for the Brits in every major conflict.
What have they got in return??

It makes me laugh inside when I see the attention given to any British Royalty
visiting here, as if they are smitten. I can't understand the love the people here
have for the royalty and how they teach their children the same proposition.

When will Australia learn to stand up as a free nation, with its own identity?
With a monarchist right wing like Tony Abbot at the helm, it will never happen.

I don't know how many of here want to see their hard earned tax dollars
invested in a proper cause.

Unexpected interruption to a day

I can tell you now how to unexpectedly pull your muscle and be immobile for potentially, entire week, as a first hand 'experiencee'.  

Its a well known story, something that happens out of blue. It can happen at the most of the unexpected times, and now after going through it myself, I can add to it, it can ruin your weekend, and it can also turn into a lazy day at home. In my case, it came in a form of pulling ligaments while trying to collect a garbage bag in the kitchen, you can guess the story of how it might have unravelled. Let me help you with a clue, it is painful, excruciatingly..

We were getting ready to leave the flat, I could almost smell the cats that would have come over to our side of the building for their food, then I bent over to grab the plastic bag, then it went arghhhhhhhh…just like that, my weekend was gone. It felt like an invisible dagger wedged on my pelvis, pointing upwards, inside. So every time I make a slight bend of my torso, or try to fully stretch my back, it would cut through. 

Sitting home, nursing, my poor wife having to do all the chores. I felt guilty enjoying lying on our super luxury sofa, watching the beautiful sunny day unfold outside. It was kinda pleasure with guilt. 

Comes Monday, doctor visit, thank god just ligaments, nothing to do with Chiropractors! Well, Physio was recommended. Enjoying the high of Panadiene Forte induced drowsiness on another sunny and beautiful day under God's kingdom.

Malaysian plane still missing

Its been more than a day since the plane went missing somewhere above Vietnam..and still no signs of it. Well some signs may be, people have pictures showing some oil spills that might be from it.But nothing concrete, no signs of it anywhere. If it had fallen in populated areas, there is no way this could be a mystery still.

Hope there is a miracle, hope it is somewhere in the forests of South East Asia, or an island where the survivors are living as castaways.

My prayers.

Ok, this is it.. My giving in to Apple temptation

      Difference in CBD layout of Sydney to Singapore is that the main shops in Sydney are mixed up with the high rises of the city centre where most corporate offices are located. hence, when you step out in your lunch break, you can spend  your time going around the Hyde park or alternatively, go window shopping. The latter is what I do most of the time, actually, everyday. in the heart of the city, in the middle of George St, is the most eye catching shop of them all, and it is not a clothes shop, its fashion, kinda, Apple store.  For me its like a moth to a light, a must go place, every lunch break. Reason? to lust at the sexy Mac computers, to drool at them, watch them till my eyes got satisfied. this continued for months, but I could never muster up courage to go and buy one, it was simply too expensive, although I could afford it. Also, I had just bought a powerhouse machine in Lenovo’s Thinkpad W530 only last year, so spending more on the computing never made a strong case.

However, with temptation so close everyday, and the urge, my weaker side gave in. So yeah, one  sunny Friday afternoon after lunch at my work desk (It normally happens on Fridays..something to do with the Friday moods probably), I finally was able to persuade myself, yes, I can now safely buy a Mac, a Macbook Pro 15. When I am writing this, it reminds me of that Jeep ad..I bought a Jeep..feels the same. Well, do I regret it so far, in a couple of weeks? Nope. Macbook pro does live up to the hype and what I have been reading about it in reviews after reviews. Its clean, minimalistic design, simple to use interface and quiet silent operation of the machine itself..its all true, it is not only pleasing, but a totally different class compared to what Windows based laptops I had experienced. Although there is a portion of getting used to it, its just an experience of being with beauty, robustness, simply a different world. I still use Windows at work or my lab for professional learning, this laptop is a different company altogether. But I guess as with Microsoft bringing out garbage after garbage veiled as their operating systems, I was at a stage where I doubted if I wanted to be a Wintel engineer at all. One positive that can be counted was it made me look into other options, to be more entrepreneurial, to change direction. And I guess, mostly sub consciously, a media fed, brand associations, to be seen as 'cool'. But to tell the truth, it does feel really cool to be writing this feed on a Mac. Probably the aesthetics and the cool factor of Mac appeals to many who want to break out of the mould, to be different and in a different mindset. You might argue its all in the head..but who cares.

Of course, the with beauty comes the costs, a new monitor had to be added to the table landscape to allow for a better resolution available these days, the adapters that do not come with the Macbook Pro. It all adds up to a hefty investment. Spending few thousand dollars on a computer was never a plan on my budget, but hey, life's short and its like one of those cravings, that you never regret or even think about..at least when you are in the thick of it.

Anti Hillary Clinton GP

Its been a woman's day today for me, feels like I have been
'women studded'. Nursing my sore throat for this year (this
pretty much looks like a once a year activity for me anyway),
had to revisit the medical centre today as
my previous prescription of anti biotics failed to bring in any
improvements on the sick department.

So after waiting for the whole wk to get better,
I had to take action and left to seek a doc this morning.
My manager was kind enough to let me off hook.
Being in his position, I would have been
pissed off, not to have one of your senior engineers
unavailable for whole wk. Anyway, I started off
with the library, where I returned some old borrows
and got few new readings.
One of the books was an autobio by Hillary Clinton.
I had it with me while I waited at the Medical centre,
and carried it in my had with me when I got called by
my doc.She was a middle aged lady, carrying herself
quite stylishly. I put my book in her table,
after the regular patient-doctor pleasantries, she asks
me to take a seat. It is the Clinton book that is the
first thing she notices, smiling face of Mrs Clinton
on the cover. She asked me excitedly
but with a tinge of satire..u reading this book?
I said I haven't, yet, but going to soon.
She fires up, I don't sympathize with rich
people. What about all the women who suffer in Africa?
What has she done for them?? I was bit stunned.
Then I replied, well, I admire
her for what she has achieved as a woman.
I am not a big fan of hers but you know as a good
politician,isn't she remarkable?
She shook her head, obviously
wanting to dig more and enciting
the argument. I had to smile and think geezz..
that is one anti Clinton woman here.
I asked her being a woman, doesn't she
admire Clinton as a woman
achiever, after all she is a woman he.
She would not budge..taking the book into
her hands and flipping some pages and banging it
down on the table.
I was thinking, well, the old saying
went women are their own worst enemies..emm.

As for the diagnosis of my throat problem, think
she did quite well. She correctly pointed out that I
was given a wrong medicine. That is what I thought too,
thanks to Google, my sore throat is viral,
antibiotics would not have helped at all.

Then my mind swirled around a bit looking into
day's and a recent history of past wk.
Emm..the privous doc who prescribed a-biotics
was a woman, a Chinese one. The entire library fleet
of staff is made up of women..all of them..100%.
I went to a nearby pharmacy to get the anti inflammatory
medicines..again all the pharmacists,
and support staff are women.
I had a coffee at the mall, cashier girl, coffee made by
another.. girl

Hmm..Australia, pretty good gender balanced I guess.

Finally, the flower pod

It took about 5 years to finally realize my dream

of having a flower pod, or a bed you might call it,

to hang in the balcony grill of my flat. Not that I could

not afford the flower bed, it was more to do with

how to hang it there, where it is now. I did not want to

put it in the balcony floor, it would take too much space

obstructing the already tight spot, get in the way,

make the place wet and muddy and so forth.

Anyway, a trip to the Eden gardens at Lane Cove

with the silly girl opened up the heavens for me,

as the bracket that holds the bed to the grill finally

appeared in front of my eyes. It probably is a

silly revelation for many, but a long held unfulfilled

desire for me. The joy of watering my own plants, in my

place, the one I own. Well the choice was a set of

little orange and red flowers that I frankly dunno

the names of. A guy there helped us prepare it with

some extra soil. Sadly many of the flowers died on the way

as it was hot day, and they had to wait for some

time in the car while we did some shopping at Mcquarie

center, though we had kept the car window little bit

open while we went in to the mall.

Now the half of them are wilted. And I never get to see them

bloom because they seem to get up and flourish during

day and wilt at night!!

Cleaning professional in Sydney

I have always thought I am bit careless when it comes
to taking care of my flat, thought it has been a huge
improvement from the past. So it was no wonder when
the real estate complained that the kitchen was not upto
good standards when he visited last time. My flat, my home
of five years, I would have been kicked out. Basically it was
a wake up call, and I took it on my chin. Real bastard the real
estate agent was, he would count every missing blind sheet
from the window, and every speck of dark spot even in
need to be changed bathroom basin or other crap; there was
some truth in only one thing he was saying, the kitchen was greasy
and needed care. I accepted it, honestly. He suggested I get a
professional to do the job, hence started a search. Soon enough,
I found a professional cleaner ad in a Nepalese magazine that I took
from a Nepalese grocery near the train station. The owner kindly
reminded me to buy stuffs from his place, which I approved with a nod.

So here we go, the professional cleaner appeared soon at my place in
form of this rough looking, big lumber jack named Raj. He took stock of things
and sounded really nice. Next few weeks, and he was at my flat
with one of his helpers. I thought why not give opportunities to my
fellow country mates while I am living here.

So on saturday, he started work in the morning. I hung around in the balcony
and later went to the mall to get some stuffs, including drinks for
the cleaners. After about four hours the job was done. Kitchen cleaned,
carpet steam cleaned and all done, so he said. I paid a hefty sum, hoping
this will get me out of clutches of the wretched real estate guy.

Happily, I strolled around the unit, the smell of carpet cleaning agent hung
there for few days. My eyes popped out when I entered the kitchen. Lets just
say, it was a half cooked spaghetti spashed around. Oil was dripping from
the oven exhaust, the cubboards had all the black fluids running over.
Most of the kitchen was totally in ruins!

Thankfully my girl had all the ideas and we had to toil 4 more hours
to bring it to a good looking state. Had it not for her, I was in deep shit.

So bloody hell with the 'professional' cleaners.
Next time, do it yourself!!

Flu hell, coming trips..

Coming out of a wk long bout with a specially horrible flu,
thanks to 24/7 pounding of the brain, joint pains, burnt
face and limbs, constant sweat baths;
the body feels like a train wreck.
Nothing can describe it, its a mini hell. I wonder how
I did not vomit even once though I came pretty close
few times. And guaranteed house arrest is a free bonus.
Luckily my nose wasn't running. The whole world
feels like a pain house.

Anyway, slowly crawling out of it, I feel like a survivor.
But now my tummy seems be trying to come back to life,
and its having trouble holding any food I take.
A small tornado starts to form inside whenever I eat
outside. The chilly fevers are gone, but still feel pretty
run down time to time, and I forgot the thermal today.
So my thighs feel like cold stone, rubbing them
whole day to keep warm.

Seems like a lot happened when I was sick. My brother
went and left Nepal after his short visit there. But I managed
to piss him off y'day by telling him not to come here next wk.
It just concided with my on call.

GF has drawn plans to go to East Europe instead of coming with
me to Nepal, there goes my romantic trip to the Himalayas out
of the window. My own trip is coming closer, I remember her
asking me if I am excited about it, honestly, I am not. Dunno why.
It just feelks like a routine and there is nothing in it, may be it
could have been different if she had came along, just the prospect
of showing the place to someone new is exciting enough. But yeah,
this time around, I am pretty businesslike about it. Its for my
parents who would otherwise be on their own during the Nepalese
fesitivities around the time of my visit.

Cats around the house

I've got a full fleet of cute little cats straying around
the building housing my flat, 6 or 7 of them. There are
around 6 'natives' and 1 guest. Yes, a guest cat, that
comes around chatting to the natives from another
house. The natives are mainly greyish, one even has
a little boot like color on the tip of the toes,giving it a
distinctive marking among the lot. I have named one
'nikhur', meaning dark in Nepalese.
This one is the smallest and cutest, covered in
pure ash grey with green eyes but also looking a bit
more wilder and fiercer; bit haunting, but
sophisticated. The first time I noticed nikhur
was when he or she (I dunno the gender),
trying to hide in a bush under a neighbor bulding. It
was a bit dark after the sunset, he saw me walking past,
towards my place and was trying to hide. Inside the
small bush, but the eyes were shining in the reflection of
the moonlight. Was so cute, I bent down and met her
gaze and stayed laughing for minutes before standing
up and proceeding.

They laze around most day, in the driveways, in the open
space aorund the neighboring building's garage and their
lawn. During rain they can be seen sheltering under the
bushes around the building walls, in winter they are in
any available corner of the lawn or even climb up my
garage roof.

Its special to see their body stretching action, the typical of
cats around the world. Fed by an elderly lady, they come
around and 'hump' their backs at the time of the feeding,
their tails pointing upwards. Its qute a sight. They used to
fear me and run away before, but now they don't, just keep
looking at me whenever I pass by. Sometimes I see one or
two of them in front of my garage door, i normally stop my
car or just turn on the head lights on and aim straight at them.
They don't budge until the car is really near them. Even then,
they would leave reluctantly, I can almost feel them complaining.

The 'guest' one is a blak and white stripe, bit 'Chinese' looking
with a wider face and curved eyes. She normally sits facing the
others. It appears to me like the old ladies in Nepal who go
to others' houses and talk in a similar fashion, spreading the
news from around the neighborhood; complaining, back
biting, advising..socializing. The guest comes to socialize, or
he could be a playboy. I dunno, not sure about this.

These little creatures, always make me smile when I see them.
So it turns out, every time I am in or out of the house, I have to
smile. They make me do it. These shy little bundles of miracle
fill me with curiosity and joy everytime I see them.
Their innocence is a small reflection of a childish God.
Sometimes I question the Darwinian theory of evolution,
these guys have been around humans for zillion of years,
but have never actually 'evolved', and feel good about it.

Back in Sydney

Out from the fridge to the furnace,
that is how it is feeling to be back in Sydney
from Kathmandu. Looks like the heatwave here is
making people forget everythings else.
Fires are raging in Australia, people are being
burnt alive. Last night I put my fan directly
at the foot of my bed, I was still kinda sweating.

However, when I flew in here on a Feb night,
Sydney felt amazingly calm and smooth after the chaos
and confusions of Kathmandu. The flight
was smooth mostly, minus few turbulence as
we hit a series of water filled clouds over the
equator. And inspite of the dangers, listening to
the rain falling on top of the plane was fun,
sounded like any other tin roof top, easy
to forget that it was 40,000 feet above ground.

Kathmandu might be a hell hole for now due to
chaos, pollution and crisis, but still an awesome
place to be, very lively, easy to reach anywhere.
I feel previliged that I was born there.
Miss it a lot.

Being in Kathmandu is always a bliss; spiritual, mind
boggling, eletrifying and really good for your soul - things
that are not in plentiful in Sydney. With tall white mountains
surrounding you from up close and keeping a watch,
Kathmandu can feel like a permanent haven of excitement,
a sanctuary of Gods. Place where things really happen, not just
'might' happen. This time it was not much difference in that
aspect, I will always cherish my moments in the Himalayan
heaven - the fresh cold mountain breeze worth a billion dollars,
catch up with close mates, kings way, nanglo, Roadhouse cafe,
feeling the breaths of the Gods, laughs and smiles of the loved
ones (one new one in particular), my family, rekindling of
the past memories. All strengthened by the sense of
being loved and giving love in return.

Kathmandu was a joy ride for me, in spite of all the load sheddings.
dust, engine smoke, garbage, chaos and inconvenicnes.

Now, getting slowly soaked up in Sydney's mundane rat race
would be really difficult, starting with the perpetual truth of
fact for everyone here, getting a job. I might take it easy for
few days.

With the birds I share..

The view from outside of me, curtains wide
open on a dark day. Drooping over the course
stuffs..exam on Monday, no clue about the real
subject, thanks to my expert classmates.

Its been a screw tight week, like the one before,
the one before, the one before that..and so on.
Its been one tight strech of a one foot string
to a mile, that is my brain at the moment.
The printer stuffed up and I have to go to
office to get something printed out tomorrow
morning.

Is it all worthwhile??
Shashi hasn't contact after going to Chennai.
Supposed to land in KL first before arriving
in India. Mom is worried as usual, he should be fine.