Happy New Year folks! Its the start of a new decade and out with the old and in with the new!
2019 has been an intense year for us, as regualr visitors to this page will know. BB & GG sat for their O level exam (results of which should be out in the next two weeks or so) and I got more grey hair during this period than even the PSLE exams. The one silver lining which allowed us some respite during the exams was that both the children got an acceptance into a course of their choice. This means that as long as their meet the minimum requirements of their chosen course, their admission is confirmed once the results are declared.
I am hopeful for both of them for 2020 as they embark on a new chapter in their lives. They will be studying subjects they are interested and passionate about and I hope this translates into doing well in school and living their best lives.
On the work front, things were a bit quiet in 2019 as I was more focussed with the children this year. I work with some wonderful ladies and in 2020 want to expand what I am currently doing.
On a personal front, I have decided that that my word for 2020 will be “Bloom”! I am a fairly ecclectic person with varied interests and this year I want to expand the interests that consume me during the year. I want to bloom both personally and professionally in 2020 and give my best to whatever I do.
I also want to work more on this blog and provide interesting content. For a blog where I write anonymously and don’t share content with anyone and anywhere, I have great pleasure when I see all those who choose to follow me because you think the content I post is something you are interested in. So a huge Thank you from the bottom of my heart!
Here’s wishing all of you a very Happy New Year! May 2020 be the best year of your lives and hope you achieve all that you set out to in the year. I leave you with a quote from Albert Einstein – Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.
I first read Harry Potter nearly twenty years back when the books first came out. I remember buying a bootlegged copy (Mumbai is quite famous for these kinds of books) and remember quickly getting hooked on to the series. I read the first three books before I moved to Singapore and remember when book number 5, The Order of the Phoenix, was released, I was pregnant with GG & BB. I was ordered bed rest by my doctor around my eighth month and it was around this time, I got hold of the book. It was a heafty book and I remember thinking it will be a good companion to my week-long bed rest. I finished the book in less than two days!
Around the time BB & GG were 8-9 years old, I started selling the series to them, but faced a lot of resistance, especially when they saw the size of the books. After about a couple of years, during one holiday, I decided to bribe them at the airport. I forced them to buy the first two books of the series and told them to try and read it. If they didn’t like the series after reading the two books, I will give up trying to force them to read. GG got hooked almost immediately and finished both books by the time we were back in Singapore. BB took longer to get involved in the books. I had to compell him to read at least 50 pages each day and by the time we were back in Singapore, he was also hooked in the series, not as much as GG, but enough to fight with her to read a new book first.
GG is a true Potterhead and knows so much more about the world that J.K. Rowlings created than i could ever hope to know! She has a Potterworld account and has been sorted into Ravenclaw. She knows all the trivia and facts and corrects me on more than one occasion. She wants to go to the UK and visit the places where the books have been set, including doing the studio tour, visiting platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross station and visiting Alnwick Castle which was used to film Hogwarts in the movies.
Both GG & BB have moved on to other book series now, but I suspect that the Harry Potter series retains a special place in their hearts.
Are you a fan of Harry Potter? I would love to hear which is your favourite book in the series.
Yesterday marked the start of the new Lunar New Year and living in Singapore, this becomes just as important to us (and not just for the 2.5 days public holidays we get). We Lo Hei in offices and great our friends, neighbours and colleagues a Happy New Year. I’ve blogged in detail about the Chinese New Year previously, so this year, I was looking at some of the myths and legends associated with the new year that I wanted to share with you all.
The legend of the new year or Nian is a famous one. Long ago in the mountains, there lived a horrible demon creature named Nian. Every year, on the first day of the year, the creature would awaken and descend upon the village. He would eat all the grain and livestock. And if there were any children unfortunately stuck outside, they would disappear.
The villagers lived in fear of this beast and boarded up their houses on this night to protect their families. One year, right before this event was to occur, an old man visited the village. He turned to the villagers and asked, “Why do you fear this creature such? You are many and he is but one. Surely he could not swallow all of you.”
But the villagers remained sceptical and locked themselves up anyway. That night, Nian did not come. The old man had ridden him until dawn and the creature went back to its cave hungry. This went on for several nights until the old man revealed, “I cannot protect you forever.”
He turned out to be a god and had to return to his duties elsewhere. The villagers were terrified that once the old man left, they would once again see Nian return.
So the old man informed them, “The beast is easily scared. He does not like the colour red. He fears loud noises and strange creatures. So tonight, spread red across the village. Hang red signs on every door. Make loud noises with drums, music, and fireworks. And to protect your children, give them face masks and lanterns to protect them.” The villagers did as the old man instructed and Nian never returned again.
During the Chinese New Year period, the married or the elderly give red envelopes to children or unmarried juniors. A red envelope is also called yasui qian (“suppressing Sui money”).
According to legend, on New Year’s Eve, besides the monster Nian, there was a demon named Sui that came out to terrify children while they were asleep.
It was said that the children who were touched by the demon would be too scared to cry out loud, and got a terrible fever and even became mentally unstable. To keep children safe from being harmed by Sui, parents would light candles and stay up for the whole night.
On one New Year’s Eve, in an official’s family household, the parents gave their child eight coins to play with in order to keep him awake, so as to avoid him being hurt by the demon. The child wrapped the coins in red paper, opened the packet, rewrapped it, and reopened it until he was too tired to fall asleep. Then the parents placed the packet with eight coins under his pillow.
When Sui tried to touch his head, the eight coins emitted a strong light and scared the demon away. The eight coins turned out to be eight fairies. From then on, giving red envelopes became a way to keep children safe and bring good luck.
It is recorded that the origin of spring couplets can be dated back to 1,000 years ago when people hung taofu (written charms on peach wood) on doors.
Legend has it that there was a huge peach tree stretching for more than 1,500 kilometers on a mountain in the ghost world. To the northeast of the tree, two guards named Shentu and Yulei guarded the entrance to the ghost world. They would catch the ghosts who harmed people and then sent them to tigers as food.
Therefore, all ghosts were afraid of the two guards. It was believed that to hang a piece of peach wood with an inscription of the two guards’ names on doors could scare evil things away.
By the Song Dynasty (960-1279), people began to write two auspicious antithetical lines on the peach wood instead of the names of the two guards. Later, the peach wood was replaced by red paper, which symbolizes good luck and happiness. Since then, pasting spring couplets has been a custom to welcome the new year and express best wishes.
Another decoration is calligraphy. The most common word is fú, meaning happiness or fortune. But you’ll rarely see it upright.
It is said that in the Ming dynasty, the Emperor ordered every household to decorate by pasting fu onto their doors. On New Year’s Day, he sent soldiers to check. They found that one illiterate family pasted the word upside down.
The Emperor ordered the family to be punished by death. Thankfully, the Empress was there and came up with an explanation: “Upside down” (dào) is a homophone of “here” (dào). When it’s upside down, it means that fu is here.
The explanation made sense to the Emperor and he set the family free. From then on, people would hang the word upside down, both for fortune and in remembrance of the kind Empress.
The Stove God (zào shén) is in charge of people’s meals and livelihoods. He’s one of the gods that interact with humans the most.
On the little new year (xiao nián) before the official “big” New Year (dà nián), he returns to the heavens. The Stove God reports to the Jade Emperor (yù dì), telling him how each family was during the year. He later returns to Earth to either bless or punish the families, as ordered by the Jade Emperor.
This is why families will make malt candy gourds and leave it out at night. The candy will sweeten the Stove God’s mouth so he’ll only praise the family. It can also stick his teeth together, stopping him from saying bad things. This way, the family will enjoy plentiful food the entire year.
One of the habits I have decided to track this year is meditating daily. But this is one habit I am not able to sustain on a daily basis. I decided to see what could be the reason for this and thought this post could then help someone else with the same problem as me.
My usual meditation routine is at night – just before I nod off. This worked earlier, but these days, I find myself sleeping off before I am able to meditate for even five minutes. I wonder what I am doing wrong. I have tried the Calm app before but wanted to try free form meditation this time around and do a proper meditation as opposed to depending on an external source to ground me.
There is plenty of evidence floating around, including scientific evidence, about how meditation is good for you. Some of the benefits include the reduction of stress, which in turn helps in the sleep cycle, dispels depression and anxiety, reduces blood pressure, helps in the alleviation of fatigue and cloudy thinking and controls anxiety.
You also become more self-aware with the help of meditation and that in turn helps you to develop a stronger understanding of yourself and how you relate to those around you, thus helping you grow into your best self. The infographic above is an excellent condensation of the benefits of meditation.
So now that we know why meditation is good, what’s the best time to meditate. Most studies show that meditating twice a day – once as soon as you wake up and once just before you sleep is the best. You can also try meditating in bits and pieces throughout the day (in tranches of one to five minutes each) if that’s what you prefer.
To start meditating, choose a quiet place, one where you are sure not to be disturbed when you are doing your practice (however short it may be). Sit on the floor cross-legged or if you can’t do that, sit in a straight-backed chair. I usually just use the timer off my phone and set the time I want to meditate and start the timer when I am ready. Now close your eyes and start to concentrate on your breathing. Your mind will start wandering at this point and thoughts will start crowding your head, especially undone tasks. When this happens, and your mind starts to wander, just bring it back into the breath and start focusing on it again. As you improve your practice, you will find this interval between the times your mind starts wandering lengthening and after some time you may be able to go your whole session without the mind not wandering even once!
I walk a lot. I try to get 10,000 steps in a day and this means I spend at least a couple of hours over the course of my day walking to clock in the steps. I had heard of walking meditation and this is something I am trying to see if I can do – it will allow me to incorporate my daily meditation when I am walking and as a bonus, help me alleviate the boredom that sometimes comes when you walk alone.
So what is walking meditation? It is simply meditation in action. It is being aware of yourself as you walk. Actually, when I read about it, I realised I was already practising it all along. So for those who want to do walking meditation, here’s how you do it.
Find a space where you can comfortably walk. This space can be either indoors or outdoors. Start at one point and before you start, anchor yourself. This means you take a deep breath and focus on your body. Feel the ground beneath your feet and feel it. Become aware of the different sensations and feelings in your body and also take note of your thoughts and feelings at that point.
Start by walking slower than usual with a relaxed and natural gait. Be mindful of every step you take and when you reach the end of the path, pause for a second to centre yourself before you start walking back. Increase your pace after a couple of rounds to a pace that you are comfortable with. Keep your mind focussed on your feet and the steps they take. As with the traditional meditation, when you feel your mind wandering (as it definitely will), gently guide it back. Walk for around ten to twenty minutes before you stop. When you are ready to end the session, pause for a moment and become aware of the world with a show of thanks ending the session.
As you become more adept at walking meditation, you can then start to utilise your senses to the world around you, especially if you are doing this outdoors. See, sense and feel the world, the wind, the air, the colours and smells around you as you become aware of what is around you.
I really see myself doing a fair bit of walking meditation now. What about you? For those on the fence, is meditation something you plan to take up soon? I have written about meditation earlier. You can read my previous articles here and here. Hopefully, this will allow me to come back and report that my meditation practice is going great guns!
I have a serious case of writers’ block and just can’t think of anything to write. So I was browsing the net to see if I can find some inspiration when I came across this list about my hometown Mumbai. This is a list of the top attractions in Mumbai if you want to know.
Some of these places are old favourites, and some of them are places where I have never been earlier. This list is a good starting point for me to use when I next go to Mumbai and take BB & GG around to play tourist.
I’ve spoken many times about my birthplace and hometown of Mumbai before. The financial capital of India, and one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the country (before the word was even a word), Mumbai is fast-paced, and some may even say a cold city. But it’s a city like no other. I may go anywhere in the world, live across continents, but Mumbai will always hold a very special place in my heart. Like someone once said, “Mumbai is a city, but Bombay is an emotion”. Old-timers still call the city Bombay, we still can’t get Mumbai as easily in our lips as Bombay, even though the name change was way back in 1995!
So anyway on to the attractions and experiences which make this city so special.
Kala Ghoda which means black horse in Hindi is where the biggest cultural festival of the year takes place. The entire main street is taken over by stalls selling art and craft work, and prime performance venues are booked for plays, workshops and other events. The street is also lined with art installations, food stalls and street performers. If you are in Mumbai when it’s not festival time (which happens in February), you can still stroll along this area to see the neo-colonial and classic British architecture. I love walking here on Sundays when it is quite empty of the crowds which happen during a weekday because this is the heart of the city’s business centre. Walk along PM Road from CST station to Kala Ghoda and soak in the atmosphere of colonial British Bombay.
The Queen’s Necklace as it’s fondly called is a 3.5 kilometre stretch in south Mumbai which turns into a major hangout spot during the evenings. It is called the Queens’s Necklace because, if viewed at night from an elevated point anywhere along the drive, the street lights resemble a string of pearls in a necklace. There’s a great view of the Mumbai skyline from Marine Drive and if you happen to be in Mumbai during the monsoon season, make sure you head there during the rains. The crashing waves make it so much fun!
A small island two km off the shore of Mumbai in the Arabian Sea, Elephanta Caves, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site is an hour-long ferry ride away from Gateway of India. The complex consists of five Shaivite caves and a few Buddhist stupa mounds that may be dating to the 2nd century BCE, as well as a small group of two Buddhist caves with water tanks. It is divided into wings and the ‘Trimurti’ or the three-headed sculpture is one of the most important sculptures there. This cave structure has some of the world’s best rock-cut sculptures and most of the carvings here depict stories from Hindu mythology. Watch out for the monkeys though, they can be something of a nuisance on the island. The caves are closed on Mondays and possibly during the monsoon season.
Tucked away in the depths of South Mumbai, Chor Bazaar or Thieves Market is famous as the underbelly of the city. More of a flea market today, it is a good place to search for random goods like automobile parts, furniture, old Bollywood paraphernalia, gramophone records and a bunch of other vintage stuff. What you find depends on your ability to unearth some classics from the eclectic souveniers abounding there. Haggling comes quite naturally to these shop owners so you can get away with pretty decent bargains. This market stretches out on Mutton Street, and the shops are open from 11 am to 7:30 pm.
The Bandra-Worli sea-link is truly a modern-day architectural marvel, that helps the choked traffic of Bombay by diverting a large part of it on a high-speed, six-lane expressway over the sea. It’s clean, it’s fast, no stopping, no two-wheelers, no people on foot, no photography. Driving down the sea-link can only be described as exhilarating. In this city of overcrowded houses, with stuck traffic and loud honking all around, a drive down this road can be the highlight of your day. Drive down this road, or get into a metered taxi and enjoy 6–7 minutes of pure, clean air as you drive above the deep Arabian Sea. It’s even better when you have the a view of the orange sky as the sun rises or sets, or the lit-up skyline of Mumbai, the city that never sleeps.
Sewri, a station on the Central Railway Harbor Line, and one of the original seven islands of Bombay has a vast expanse of mangrove mudflats that are a protected ecology. Every October onwards, until February, thousands of pink flamingoes descend upon the seas of Mumbai in Sewri, along with other rare birds like the Egret. Head to Sewri on a weekend, and watch a rare phenomena take place in front of you in one of the most unlikely of places- Mumbai, the city of cars and buildings and taller buildings.
A small heritage village tucked away in Girgaon, Khotachiwadi has the prettiest old style Portuguese houses in South Mumbai. They are mostly constructed out of wood, have small verandahs, and even tiny backyards. Unfortunately, a lot of these houses have been torn down in the past to make way for new constructions and now only a handful of them are still standing, so if you are in Mumbai, make sure you see these houses before they are all gone.
The oldest museum in Mumbai, the Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum houses artefacts and finds related to the cultural history of the city. Among the most interesting displays are old maps of Bombay harbour, dioramas of different parts of the city, and an old but complete warrior’s suit of chainmail.
Memories and Such 
