BB & GG had their Prelims this week. English and Maths done with Science still to go.
S was really on the ball this week, coming home early daily to ensure that GG & BB concentrated on their Prelims as I was away the whole week. I am expecting the Parent-Teacher meeting next week, but I will away again next week. Sigh! What to do?
We have to concentrate on the Listening Comprehension which will happen in around 3 weeks time. After that it’s two weeks to PSLE!!!
I just booked a short break for the week when the PSLE papers will be marked. Hopefully we’ll be able to forget this exams for a while…
I have really mixed feeling about India – one on hand, it’s the land of my birth and there’s so much to love there, but the way people are literally destroying the country, makes me very sad. There’s so much potential there, but most people, especially the politicians seem to have made a game of “What can destroy India faster”!
An ancient civilization, which has given so much to the world, Indians are, in my opinion, more inward looking than outward looking. We are so much in love with our past that we tend to brush aside our present and give little or no thought to our future. We get so caught up in little and silly things, that we miss the forest for the trees!
The country is so rich and diverse, both geogrphically and culturally starting with the Himalayas in the north to the Indian Ocean to the south, the deserts of the Thar and the Rann of Kutch in the west to the hilly terrain of the exotic north-east. There are 25 states, 7 Union Territories and is the second most populous country in the world, after China with an estimated population of 1.21 billion who speak more than 1365 rationalised mother tongues with 29 languages having more than a million native speakers each!
India’s cultural history spans over 4,500 years and the foundations of India’s main religion, Hinduism was laid down as between 3500 to 2500 years ago, when most of the western world was probably cavemen! Probably this is why India was the rich bird, ripe for plucking through the ages – from the Persians, Greeks, Mongols, Mughals, to finally the English, Portuguese and the French. A lot of India’s historically rich treasures were plundered and taken away by the conquerors (and never returned till date)
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as of April 2015, the Indian economy is nominally worth US$2.306 trillion; it is the 7th-largest economy by market exchange rates, and is, at US$7.996 trillion, the third-largest by purchasing power parity, or PPP.
All this talk about India has now made me super nostalgic. I remember reading how the last of the British soldiers left India from the shores of the Gateway of India in Bombay, an edifice, which ironically was constructed in 1911 to commemorate the visit of King George V and Queen Mary
Ok, going to stop with this nostalgia with a tune that many of us, especially those who grew up in a certain era will recognize…..Mile Sur Tera Mera….the original plus the new version
Sarong Secrets: Of Love, Loss and Longing – Su Kim Lee
A delightful collection of 12 short stories that brings the reader into the world of the Peranakans, or the Straits Chinese, a colourful community still in existence today in Malacca, Penang and Singapore. Through the stories, the reader gains a fascinating insight into the culture, beliefs and way of life of the Babas and Nyonyas who make up the people. All the stories are based on or are inspired by real-life events which the author has collected from her nyonya mother, grandmother, relatives and friends.
I just got notified by WordPress that I have hit a century where followers are concerned!
A huge “Thank You” to each one of you for thinking that I am a good enough writer that you spend time daily reading what I write (I hope :-))
I promise to write more, write regularly and interesting content! However, if there is anything you wish me to write specifically about, do let me know in the comments section….
Do you avoid ladders when you are out? Does a thought of a black cat crossing your path make you retrace your steps? Welcome to the world of superstitions!
Superstition is the belief in supernatural causality—that one event causes another without any natural process linking the two events—such as astrology, religion, omens, witchcraft, prophecies, etc., that contradicts natural science.
As many countries are there in the world, there are as many different types of superstitions. The most common ones are the ones relating to black cats, crossing your fingers, walking under ladders and the good ol’ Friday the 13th! Here’s a list of the common by silly superstitions that all of us are probably guilty of at some point in time or the other.
I guess, like most people I am too superstitious. I don’t start any new activity or wear new clothes or use anything new on a Saturday. This belief is shared by many in India as Saturday in itself is considered inauspicious – which is why you will almost never see weddings happening on a Saturday!
Other than this, I wear a favourite colour when I am doing something important like an exam, an interview etc. This is completely random and started when I was in college I guess. I can’t remember why, but my best guess would be I did spectacularly well that day when I wore clothes of that colour and so my mind started associating success with the colour. Since then, if I have something important, that colour will feature in my clothes that day. I understand it’s an emotional crutch and this probably makes me more confident, but I am going to take what I can to succeed!
Memories and Such 