This song has overtaken Mast Kalandar as my Manish's No.1 song as of today...

Just dance to the beat!!!

A sense of humour..

I dont get this... Sporean just dont get it la.. why must we always care abt face value.. why must we always play the blame game... why is there always a need to shift the blame to someone else and avoid any form of conflicts of interest... Asian, SIngaporean, everybody in this planet earth.. there is a thing called sincerity and being honest.. if u make a mistake in anything u do, be honest to urself and own up... whats the point!! whats the bloody point... Being Successful without being humble is like living life without a soul

Trust me on that.. a sense of humour.. I feel that almost everyone whom i meet on the street dont smile enough, dont laugh enough, dont giggle (19 year old girls from ntu biz are excused though)... when in doubt, just laugh it off la...i am guilty of that as well... Laughter is the shortest distance between 2 persons!! Remember that..

We spend so much of time tryin to defend our actions and protecting who we are.. i say get lost and get a life... I stick by this principle..

When it comes to personal success, I always blame others for bringing me this far. When I fail, I always blame myself.

Failure is just a blame game. If u help urself, u might fail, but if others help u, u might succeeed. So start now, help urself fail!! and definitely, pple who care for u, will not want u to fail. In the end, you will realise, when u set out to fail, you actually realised that there is no point in setting out to fail. Life is not abt winning.. Its abt winning with others. If u succeed in life, you can thank so many people. If u fail in life, u can only blame urself for not trying enough..

If all that was confusing to u, just stop blaming others for ur failures, and start blaming others for your success!!! Life will be a better place..

My Singapore, my FUTURE?

I have been wanting to this write on this entry for a long time but I just haven gotten to it.. so what i am gonna say is just gonna be alot of unjustified comments that might not be entirely true but I guess it does carry some weight in my opinion..

My country : Singapore, Singapura, Syonan To does have a special place in my heart... I listen to the national day songs with much joy and celebration... celebrating the singaporean spirit... what's more, i support the singapore football team with as much as passion as i support Man Utd.. but definitely, as much as i want that british club doing well in europe and manchester, I would like my country's football team to prosper in ASIA and the world... ok moving on...

The Seat Belt issue : Why do we need to pay a fine of $100 or so when we dont buckle up... why does the govt care abt our own personal safety... or do they even care abt our safety in the first place... if they want to make some money out of the citizen's lack of awareness abt their own safety.. Ok its simple, i dont wear my seatbelt, its my life, why should I pay a fine for it... why should the govt profit from that... yes on one hand, they are tryin to watch out for safety... but instead of maybe putting a fine for them to earn.. maybe think of something else.. hmm..cant think of anything else right now.. but still... there are options to be considered.... maybe making the steering wheel more rubberised ..

Next, why do we need to pay $5000 to jump onto the MRT track... nvm that, if u cross the yellow line on the track, you pay $1000... who in the right mind would want to jump onto the track and risk his life.. yes i know the commuters would be at a great inconvenience... late for work... but i guess maybe.. 5000 for reducing the productivity of our workforce for a an hour, charging the poor fellow 5000dollars might be a good option.. i guess this argument is not really valid and is more on a case by case basis..

Now, in singapore, everything that can be regulated is regulated...television programmes, education, protests, housing... there is a reason for everything... we need to be brought with a solid foundation.. hence thats why the primary school, secondary school, junior colllege or poly... army and everything... we give our first 25 years to the country's education system and national service... 25 years... by then we lose our ability to make mistakes once we enter the job market, we have to be more careful with our decisions that we make in our careers... coz if u want to start a family.. u would probably be 30 years older than your son or daughter.... everythin gets pushed back... instead of just studying , why not push us into the workforce as trainees or OJTs... so much earlier.. ultimately, all of us are goin to enter the workforce... Singapore is a unique country after all...with the uniquely singaporean campaigns... but is there a reason why the country is run the way it is... i say its because the environment and geographical size has made governing the city state much more convenient... but ultimately, we are a multi racial country first and foremost... the pple of singapore are our resources..

Will i be in Singapore for the years to come.. i think i will be... the biggest praise that singapore has been given is for its safety.. we can walk at 2 am , 3 am at night... ladies, their modesty in tact, our branded stuff intact... yes singapore is INDEED is a safe country...i can vouce for that... but although my bike was stolen by a bangla.. i guess coz i was careless.. my front gate was open.. but if u take the necessary procedures... u are safe...

What does Singapore mean to ME!!! I have friends from our major races, Chinese, Malays, friends from indonesia, phillipines(spelling wrong) .... our workforce has races from INDIA,CHINA, neighbouring regions... but still are we singaporean by experience, the food we eat, the things we did at school...

Does being Singaporean mean we support inter racial marriages? Nope. thats a matter of choice... But for me, definitely no. I am sworn to my race and religion. and of course as my SIFE friends keep on mocking me for, the girl from the same village.. she has to be from the same village..haha.. oh well. its a matter of choice and of course, FAMILY traditions and heritage has a part to play for that choice.. I have to respect the generations before me.. i have family name to upkeep and respect..

All in all.. lets end off with a typical NDP song, Singapore my future? in the short term definitely.. but who know what's life in store for u..

Its been a long time coming..

Before anything else, the American Cuz flew in for a week and mesmerised us with his presence... I suddenly felt like a tourist again and once again, all that 5 years of absence did not mean a thing... It was great to see RJ back in Spore back to his usual self... time was definitely well spent.. somehow, it takes someone from outside spore to force us to take on new things. Strange how it works, we spend our whole life in Spore and it takes a family member from overseas to show us what we are missing out in our own garden city... but definitely, 5 years of absence was worth the wait.. he came, he mesmerised, he made an impact and left .. all in a space of 9 days... now its my turn, RJ see u in the States in 2 years time...

Well certainly time hasnt been on my side... but i guess i would rather not have time on my side... when i am always in a constant rush and move to get things done.. i tend to enjoy what it means to spend your time meaningfully... Working from 7 to 4 is one thing, what else can u do in that 7 to 4 timing is another thing besides working.. U get to analyse how ur colleagues view work and esp what does ur boss think of working and everything..

I can definitely say that my boss is one materialistic hell of a lady..if she can forego kids just for the sake of her career, and her luxurious lifestyle.. i dont know what does she want in life... will that same bag which she bought be able to keep her happy when she has retired, will that same BRANDED bag give her a sense of coziness and belonging when she leaves the workforce.. more importantly, does she even think that that BAG would have the same meaning to her 20 years down the road... no matter how tough raising a kid is, i believe that ultimately, a family is what keeps u want to keep on living life...

"Pple who live for themselves are never happy. Pple who live for other pple's happiness tend to be happy at times. Pple who are able to happily live for others without expecting anything in return are the happiest. I would rather see a smile on my friend's face than my face..."

Oh yeah.. SIFE Nationals. NTU SIFE ousted NUS SIFE... and negated the valiant effort of SMU SIFE. First of all, what a day that was... simply amazing.. our pioneer club has kickstarted a chain of events.. the NTU SIFE movement rocks on from here.. for now, take a chill pill. Cheers.

A few thoughts that i have come across

Well i haven blogged for a while but there have been a few thoughts that i have been wanting to write down over the past few days but really haven had the time.. so here goes...

1) A good dancer cant be a good singer as well? I doubt so... Michael Jackson is a proof that.. but are there many around... Well i enjoy dancing, but i have realised that i would love to have a good solid voice that can hum along to a tune instead of being labelled tone deaf... well for me, i have realised that i wouldnt be able to sing a really solid song with all the emotions, bass, treble and tones without getting emotional and furthermore, i wouldnt be able to play the drums and dance to the drum beat at the same time.. so right now, i just have to dance!! do what i enjoy.. maybe i would want to learn the drums sometime really soon... but in the end, for me, i tend to express my love for music in the form of just gyrating to the beat.. that gets me going...

Interest or Strength ? Which one should you market the world? You enjoy giving speeches but for the job, u are actually good at analysing facts and figures... but the job doesnt really require to give speeches... so u work to your strengths and forego ur interests for a while.. In this world, u can only do so much to help others, in the end, you still got to think abt ur own needs.. pple are either selfless or selfish... ur family are definitely selfless to u at times, but with friends, i believe there is only so much of selflessness we can be with each other, in the end, we are ultimately living under the roof of our parents.... So definitely, when we hope that both our interest and strength are the same, for example you love figures and analysing data... so that becomes ur interest and strength as well... so a job like an economist or analyst is good for u... But then again, you are really fortunate if u can really mix the two of them together and i will be really happy for u.

Moving on, passion, i think by now is an overused, highly popular and overexaggerated word... Passion isnt a product but rather a process... Your passion should revolve around activities, events, pple, causes, pples feelings, thoughts, movements, anything... I have realised that i sort of have a passion for pple in general.. basically their mannerisms, their perception of life, their hairstyles, their personalities, why do they say the things they do, what goes on behind their thought process... as my friends and my colleague just mentioned to me today... i always full of comments abt someone or another.. thats why i tend to enjoy crowded places at times and seeing how pple react to various situations.... when i am talkin to someone, i have realised that sub consciously, i am analysing the person's thoughts and emotions and what is prompting that fellow person to say the things they do...so is that my interest or strength that i can market to my job employers... i figure right now its my interest... but it will come in good use during the work place when it comes to making new colleagues and analyzing the various relationships within a workplace..

In the end, choices we make right now might have an impact later on in our lives... but whats good abt challenges that u face... you either WIN or LEARN, you never lose... life is a learning process and keep on learning man.. Cheers..

Finally after 5 years...

It took me 5 years , 5 long arduous, tumultuous, really testing years... it was excruciating at times... but finally... as of today, i finally managed to get an A!!! really solid... well i didnt get one just one, but i got TWO!!.. wow.. still remember abt me being the B student.. suddenly.. i feel.. wow.. to hit the heights of an A!! not a B+, or a B or A- but A...and now i will go on celebratory speech... First of all, I would like to thank my parents, my family, all my friends, my tutor Mr Wayne Kwan, my marketing grp mates... all 5 of them and of course finally, my good old friend ganpat... hmmm... so am i able to break out of my B mentality... hmm... lets say.. i will enjoy this mini celebrations as they come coz seriously, my academic side of my life is gettin to crazy... studyin is just mad la at times.. at least i am doin a business degree ... i can read, watch, understand, apply , analyze and of course speculate all the various topics and theories and concepts that i have learnt in my tutorials to the real world... really glad abt that..

Oh well, the next hurdle, now is to look at very hardly and intensively at my major.. all the while my eyes were on HR... hmmm.. lets make one hard solid thought once again and make it a sound decision...

For now... Cheers.

Do u want to be S'porean?

The most crucial qn that i can to pose to myself and u, my friend? Are YOU a Singaporean... in that case, what makes u a singaporean.. if not what is holding u back from leaving SINGAPORE, your hometown, your home, your country of birth..

There was this article on http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/.. regarding going thru NS has improved our nationalistic sentiment... are we willing to stand up and sing our NATIONAL anthem with pride, honour and discipline.... One can have either a functional relationship or emotional bond to your motherland... Singapura.. For me... its both.. But talk is cheap, now blogging is cheap as well.. well let me just say examples of what it means to be a Singaporean to me, Manish.

Well.. for me its abt watching Singapore take on Uzbekistan at the Kallang Stadium... standing with my fellow Singaporean... neighbours,friends, students, pak ciks, mak ciks, ah ma, ah su, ah gu.. muthu, ali, mohammad,..Indians, Malays, CHinese, tow kays, ah bengs.. One people one nation one Singapore.. I believe very strongly in the Sporean ethic.. but at the same i am afraid and cautious.... will our Singaporean fabric just disintegrate when it comes to moments of panic.. will my fellow friend whom i have known for many years suddenly not recognize me... will the very malay friend that I knew be able to say Hi to me once again... will my chinese neighbour bother to even stop and say good morning to me and ask me how was my day...

For now... i think all these qns remain unanswered... but i for once.. will always lead by principles... my friends regardless of creed, colour and height or weight or education level, or bank account or ego factor or hair style or fav colour or walking style.. a friend is a friend until u prove it to him/her that you are not worthy of being a friend...

you know wahts another thing that i like abt being Sporean.... THE NATIONAL DAY PARADE... i mean pple say its too squeezy, cramped, too noisy, too this too that.. i say go and take a hard look at urself in the mirror... the very fact that i can sing the same old Singapore songs that I used to grow up with... Count on me Singapore, Stand Up for Singapore.. and so on... makes the NDP so nostalgic for me..

I am a man of passion and I love to see passion in pple, i like when i see enthusiasm brimming inside someone.. i like it when the person is so passionate abt something .. I just love it when i see that level of passion in that person's eyes..

Passion is something that it takes time to fully identify exactly where ur passion lies but once u have realised it.. there is no turning back.. <

I like to end off with this quote " Singapore : United we work, Disjointed we chill" Do you think its true... I think at the end of the day.. when it comes to working, you dont see the person's background... however when it comes to chiling.. then suddenly everything becomes obvious... the race, the family, the kind of personality, the upbringing...

anyway.. in the next few entries.. i have a few issues to bring up... get prepared for them..

1) Why do my friends speak the way they do? - An interesting insight into what goes behind the mind of a person when they speak to someone..

The game of 5 qualities... i would give 5 qualities of a close friend and lets see whether u can guess them... Til the next post, Majulah Singapura!!!

What do u want in Life?

Seriously.. what do u want in life... I say the rise of the career driven individual has destroyed each and everyone of us... In the pursuit of of a financially viable career, we have lost ourselves.. our true selves.. we give in to the work pressures, work politics, do all the most terrible things when we have no choice.. STRESS.. the pressure to perform, we lose nights and days just thinkin abt deadlines.. we are willing to risk it all just for the sake of our pay packet.. willin to forego our lives... our families.. our friends... we gotta make new friends, lose ourselves.. our nights are spent thinkin abt that contract..

Careers have taken a toll on our lives, we all know it... we spend more than 44 hours a week at our work place tending to things that we would not think of if we are were financially off.. all for the sake of our future... OUR FAMILY.... whats happening to our families... we get married much later in our lives due to careers... we get settled to each other at a later time... we get a family much later.. even later.. by the time, it comes to playing a game of football with our kids, we would have to think twice for the risk of heart failure... and it doesnt help when we got 2 years in the army... life starts late for us, we get married late, we get kids late.. we are losing..

In the hunt for financial stability, we have lost the sense of happiness that we used to derive from just being with family.. Now its just go home, eat dinner, talk a few words here and there.. and then head to ur workplace... we gotta be strong...

The rise of the Global family... just imagine this... father has been overseas for 2 years.. he has a wife and a kid back in Spore.. he is back and the wife hugs and gives him a peck on his cheek... the guy feels on top of the world.. then he looks toward his son below... the son looks at him, turns to his mother, turns to his "father" and runs behind the mother.. " YOUR WORLD COMES CRASHING DOWN" ... u slog it out for the past 2 years, earning money for ur family and u come back home to see that ur OWN son does not even recognize you... this is terrible... CAREERS have destroyed our lives... we have becomes slaves of the government... we need to lose a bit of the money and focus on the aspect of family... there is no better relationship in the world then that you share with ur mother, father, sister, brother, son, daughter, ur pet dog...

If u all that i said is not true, just take a few steps back and think... have i been spending enough time with my loved ones.. have i really spoken to my girlfriend or brother or sister at all this week... we are all so caught up in this melodrama called work that we have drowned ourselves..

all is not lost... work is only work when u derive no meaning from doing that work... if u derive a certain form of satisfaction and pleasure, then time will fly.. you will find work so attractive, so appealing that all u wanna do is just go to work and spend the whole day there and just work... u feel that u are on top of the world.. u feel that u were meant to work and then.... when u go home and sit at the dinner table.. u see ur eating dinner alone, everyone is asleep... what have u lost , what have u gained...

Ultimately, what do u want in life? Ask urself that qn... Think it hard and over and over again.