Calcutta 1837. The East India Company rules India – or most of it; and its most notorious and celebrated son, Xavier Mountstuart, has gone missing.
William Avery, a down-at-heel junior officer in the Company’s army, is sent to find him, in the unlikely company of the enigmatic and uncouth Jeremiah Blake. A more mismatched duo couldn’t be imagined, but they must bury their differences as they are caught up in a search that turns up too many unanswered questions and seems bound to end in failure.
What was it that so captivated Mountstuart about the Thugs, the murderous sect of Kali-worshippers who strangle innocent travellers by the roadside? Who is Jeremiah Blake and can he be trusted? And why is the whole enterprise shrouded in such secrecy?
In the dark heart of Company India, Avery will have to fight for his very life, and in defence of a truth he will wish he had never learned.
A very short work week which meant I had a lot of time with the kids. We had Friday till Monday off and other than a run on Friday morning to stock up on groceries at Little India, I did not leave the house at all!
But with tuitions scheduled everyday early in the morning, it did mean I didn’t get to sleep in, but that was compensated by afternoon naps – such an indulgence these days…
Also did a lot of television watching as all the channels in both Starhub and Singtel were free for the Jubilee Weekend.
Oh, I have put this down – since a lot of attractions were free during the weekend, the crowds were to be seen to believed. On Friday, someone I knew decided to visit the Arts Science Museum at Marina Bay Sands since it was free (as a perspective, it costs between $30-$40 per person otherwise), she reached there around 10:30 – 11 am and the waiting time to enter the museum was 5 hours!! Then yesterday, the folks who run the cable car into Sentosa decided to have the run between Vivo City and Sentosa free and I read on Facebook that around 4 pm, the waiting time to get into the cable car was 10 hours!!! This is so unbelievable…..I am so glad we stayed at home and chilled..
Meeting a friend later today after work. She was an ex-colleague turned friend, so am anticipating a good gossip session….
It is Bombay in 1971, the year India went to war over what was to become Bangladesh. A hard-working bank clerk, Gustad Noble is a devoted family man who gradually sees his modest life unravelling. His young daughter falls ill; his promising son defies his father’s ambitions for him. He is the one reasonable voice amidst the ongoing dramas of his neighbours. One day, he receives a letter from an old friend, asking him to help in what at first seems like an heroic mission. But he soon finds himself unwittingly drawn into a dangerous network of deception. Compassionate, and rich in details of character and place, this unforgettable novel charts the journey of a moral heart in a turbulent world of change.
This was a very short week for the kids in school. Because of the Jubilee Weekend, Friday was a holiday and Thursday was the National Day Observance ceremony which meant they were dismissed at 10 am. On Wednesday, the school had a National Day musical in evening. The whole school with the exception of the P6s were involved in the musical. So BB, GG and the rest of the cohort were in school for a few hours doing some mass clinics for the PSLE!
Speaking of which the PSLE Orals is in just about 2 weeks time and I am now seriously scared! I am going to work from home the two days to give them moral support!
This week will also be a short one with the school having their English Prelims Papers 1 & 3 (Composition and Listening Comprehension), then next week PSLE Orals!!’
Today Singapore celebrates 50 years of being independent. The festivities are all over the country and the Straits Times headlines yesterday was “The Celebrations Begin”!
In 1965, when Singapore was kicked out of the Federation of Malaya, mostly over political and economic differences, many wondered how Singapore would make it alone – a land with almost no natural resources, facing problems of severe unemployment, sanitation and housing, among others.
But Singapore has overcome all this and achieved so much in the last 50 years, it’s zoomed from first world to third world. We in Singapore, take this affluence for granted, sometimes being accused of being arrogant by our neighbours!
Singapore wanted to avoid the racial tensions of it’s neighbours and so racial harmony is something that’s pretty much enshrined in the way of life – so much that we take racial harmony for granted. Everything in Singapore is done in the four official languages of English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil. The national anthem is in Malay though as the Malays were the original inhabitants of the land.
To a lot of people, Singapore is seen as a part of China, and while3 it irritates residents, you can’t blame them, as the government policies seem to me to be a tad pro-China!
Also the Michael Fay caning incident makes a lot of Westerners think Singapore’s laws are draconian, but as a parent with young children, I guess I am happy to live in such a country where I don’t have to worry that my children will return home safe from school. Crime rates are low here and I can walk home late at night, using public transport, which is kind of impossible in many countries, both in the region and beyond!
Ok, enough of talking, I am going to spam some more pictures which I took last week when we saw the National Day Preview.
Leaving you with the national anthem of Singapore called Majulah Singapura or Onward Singapore. Singing it with everyone was electrifying!!
Happy Birthday Singapore! May you have many more like this….
Calcutta 1837. The East India Company rules India – or most of it; and its most notorious and celebrated son, Xavier Mountstuart, has gone missing.
