SIEVERT

“Self-sacrifice is the real miracle out of which all the reported miracles grow” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

The word of the day today is sievert.
sievert |ˈsēvərt| (abbr: Sv) noun
Physics: The SI unit of dose equivalent (the biological effect of ionising radiation), defined as that which delivers a joule of energy per kilogram of recipient mass.
ORIGIN 1940s: named after Rolf M. Sievert (1896–1966), Swedish radiologist.
1.0 Sv = 1.0 joule/kilogram or 100 rem.

The sievert has the same units as the gray and is equal to the absorbed dose times the quality factor, which compares the health consequences of that type of radiation with those of x-rays. The rem bears the same relationship to the rad as the sievert does to the gray.

Just in case you got lost in that definition, let’s put it in a practical context. Firstly, one Sievert of radiation is a huge dose, which will do great harm to living things. That is why we generally speak of millisieverts when talking about daily or even yearly exposure under normal circumstances. A millisievert (mSv) is a thousandth of a sievert. Contextualising it further: An average person would probably absorb six millisieverts per year from natural and artificial (e.g. X-rays for diagnostic purposes) sources. A radiation worker would be expected to absorb about 20 millisieverts per year, averaged over five years with a maximum of 50 millisieverts in any one year. You can see now what I mean about the sievert being a huge dose of radiation…

The workers in Japan working to limit the effects of radiation leaks in the stricken nuclear reactors have to access areas where their exposure is 600 millisieverts, equal to several years of daily exposure limit. These workers are putting their health and life at great risk as exposure to such levels of radiation can be highly destructive. These effects are divided into short-term and long-term:

Short term effects: Exposure to high levels of radiation can harm exposed tissues of the human body. Such radiation effects can be clinically diagnosed in the exposed individual; they are called deterministic effects because once a radiation dose above the relevant threshold has been received, they will occur and the severity depends on the dose. They include the symptoms of radiation poisoning such as burns, tissue damage, blood cell damage, death of rapidly dividing cells (causing nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, hair falling out, anaemia, immune deficiency, etc).

Long-term effects: Studies of populations exposed to radiation, especially of the survivors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, have shown that exposure to radiation can also lead to the delayed induction of cancer (thyroid, leukaemia, bone, skin, breast, lung, etc) and hereditary damage. Effects such as these cannot usually be confirmed in any particular individual exposed but can be inferred from statistical studies of large irradiated populations.

Let’s contextualise again: Exposure for a short time to a single 1 sievert (1,000 millisievert) dose of radiation would cause (temporary) radiation sickness such as nausea and decreased white blood cell count, but not death. However, exposure to 1 sievert of radiation is estimated to increase the lifetime risk of fatal cancer by around 5%. Above this, severity of illness increases with dose. For example, a single dose of 5 sieverts (5,000 millisievert) would kill about half those receiving it within a month. Survivors would have chronic disease and a greatly increased risk of cancers.

There about 180 emergency workers at Japan’s damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi complex of nuclear power stations. They are already being lauded as heroes by the Japanese as they are putting themselves at a huge health risk and premature death through radiation exposure. Another word springs to mind immediately:

kamikaze |ˌkämiˈkäzē| noun
(in World War II) A Japanese aircraft loaded with explosives and making a deliberate suicidal crash on an enemy target.
• The pilot of such an aircraft.
adjective [ attrib.]
Of or relating to such an attack or pilot.
• Reckless or potentially self-destructive: He made a kamikaze run across three lanes of traffic.
ORIGIN Japanese, from kami ‘divinity’ + kaze ‘wind,’ originally referring to the gale that, in Japanese tradition, destroyed the fleet of invading Mongols in 1281.

The last definition of the word may be applied to these workers in that they act self-destructively in order to achieve their mission. Which makes me think of:

altruism |ˈaltroōˌizəm| noun
The belief in, or practice of, disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others: Some may choose to work with vulnerable elderly people out of altruism.
• Zoology Behaviour of an animal that benefits another at its own expense.
DERIVATIVES
altruist noun
altruistic |ˌaltroōˈistik| adjective
altruistically adverb
ORIGIN mid 19th century: From French altruisme, from Italian altrui ‘somebody else,’ from Latin alteri huic ‘to this other.’

We are a strange species, we humans. A curious mixture of the angelic and the demonic; of the evil and benevolent, the bad and the good. We may choose to kill others of our kind with abandon, or go to great lengths to preserve the life of strangers, not caring about our own well-being or our own life… We destroy and then preserve, we demolish only to build up again. We exploit and then relent, in order to conserve. Oh, the glory and curse of being a human!

SIX HAIKU FOR AUTUMN

“Youth is like spring, an over praised season more remarkable for biting winds than genial breezes. Autumn is the mellower season, and what we lose in flowers we more than gain in fruits.” - Samuel Butler

Autumn sunshine ushers in the beautiful warm days and cool nights of a Melbourne autumn. We have been warned that this year may be another one where we may have lots of rain and a cold winter. I always have my doubts regarding these long-term weather predictions, considering the weather report is so often wrong for the day, but it was explained to me once in terms of planet-wide atmospheric modelling and input from historical statistical data, which at the time made sense. However, I am inclined to believe more in crystal ball gazing, especially these days where climate variation is becoming more marked and ever more uncharacteristic and unpredictable…

One of the wonderful things about the public holiday last Monday was our walk in the Darebin Parklands. The day was glorious, warm and sunny, not too hot, not too cool, not windy and the vegetation was lush and verdant, hints of autumn colour here and there, but still looking its best as late summer would have it; the added bonus being that the frequent rains had kept everything green.

I remember the day and luxuriate in it and I am mindful of the rich offerings of nature that we are privileged enough to enjoy here and now. Furthermore, we are fortunate enough to live in a peaceful country, I have a job, a home, a family, friends, prosperity enough to be lacking none of our needs, no threat of calamity in the near future. How grateful this makes me feel, especially in the context of the recent disasters and atrocities that are occurring worldwide! How lucky we are and how thankful we must feel…

For Poetry Wednesday, a seasonal offering six haiku specially composed for the mellowness of approaching Autumn.

Haiku for Autumn

A thrill in the bough:
A hidden bird? No, surprise
At first yellow leaf…

Warm sun; fair, mild, day;
Benign, calm nature. Yet the
Dusk brings bad temper.

Flowers finish blooming,
Leaves turn to red; grass to hay –
Fruit turns to honey.

The first chill needs wool;
Long night needs heavy blanket;
Sandals exiled now.

Contentment of Fall:
Rich harvest, vintage, nutting –
But grasshopper dies…

Cold sheets, lengthening night
Beg your warm embrace. Alas!
You left; like summer.

THE IDES OF MARCH AND FALSE FRIENDS

“An open enemy is better than a false friend” -  Greek proverb

On this day, the ides of March, in 44 BC Julius Caesar was assassinated. According to second century historian Plutarch, Caesar was warned to beware the Ides of March by a soothsayer while his wife Calpurnia also insisted that he not venture out on that day as she had dreamed that he would be killed.  Caesar dismissed them both and went to the senate as he had planned. When entering the senate building he saw the soothsayer and greeted him ironically with the words: “The Ides of March be come…” upon which the soothsayer replied softly: “…but yet they are not yet past!”  Moments later Caesar lay dead on the floor of the senate, murdered by his colleagues and “friends”.

Amongst the 16 conspirators wielding daggers was his good friend Brutus. Caesar seeing Brutus attacking him, is said to have uttered: “Et tu, Brute…” meaning, “You too, my friend, Brutus?” However, this may not have been what Caesar actually uttered. Some other authors claim that Caesar in fact said, in Greek (which he as other noble Romans spoke fluently): “Kαὶ σὺ, τέκνον…” translated as “You too, my son…” While both of these phrases are taken as evidence of Caesar’s recognition of utter betrayal, the Greek words may have a more sinister meaning. A proverbial Greek phrase common amongst Romans at the time began in this way, and translated was: “You too, my son, will have a taste of power…” Caesar was thus pointing out to Brutus that his turn too would come when he was powerful to be betrayed in a similar way. His last words therefore rather than expressing bitter despondency at the betrayal of his friend, may be interpreted as a threat or a curse…

Betrayal is hard to stomach, especially if it comes from someone that we are close to. Its normally bitter taste becomes a hundred times more unpleasant in that case and we find it hard to contain our misery and distress. False friends are indeed more pernicious and destructive than open enemies. Their actions bring to us great heartbreak. Our feelings of misplaced trust and our lost faith in our friend adds insult to our injury.

Japan has placed its trust in an old enemy that has been masquerading as a friend. Nuclear power wrought the shocking destruction in Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 1945 when the atom bombs were dropped by the Americans in a desperate and horrific act that ended the war. It is this same old enemy of nuclear power that was befriended by the Japanese and their trust was placed in this false friend fuelling the nuclear reactors that supplied their country with electricity – cheap, efficient, non-polluting power…

In the wake of the quake and tsunami, damage to the nuclear reactors has caused consternation as radiation leaks and a potential meltdown have alerted the world to the possibility of a nuclear disaster bigger than Chernobyl. Dangerous levels of radiation leaking from the crippled nuclear plant has now forced Japan to order 140,000 people to seal themselves indoors after the explosions and fire in the power stations dramatically escalated the crisis at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant. The old scars on the psyche of the Japanese people have been scratched and the threat of another contamination with its concomitant misfortunes have awakened painful memories of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, the Hibakusha (survivors of the nuclear blasts) and the nation’s terrible aftermath in the wake of the atom bomb blasts.

Anti-nuclear demonstrations have begun in earnest worldwide, as our fragile planet is once again threatened by our inane activities. It is surprising that a sentient species such us continues to repeat mistakes of the past, continues to play with the fire that has burnt us deeply previously, and we fail to learn from our past experiences. We continue to strike up friendships with pernicious and covert enemies and we act surprised when such false friends are revealed for what they are.

MOVIE MONDAY - EAT PRAY LOVE

“Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.” - Oscar Wilde

It was a public holiday in Melbourne today, Labour Day. The day was sunny and fine and we started it by taking a long walk to the Darebin Parklands. It seems that many other people had the same idea as us, with the place was full of families, cyclists, children and adults, people walking dogs and many others like us. Yesterday it had rained fairly heavily and the creek was full of water, the rushing water flowing rapidly and carrying now and then debris. Twigs, broken branches. On the banks there some uprooted saplings and one could see on the banks that yesterday the water level was much higher.

We came back home rather tired and seeing how I still haven’t recovered from my cold, we sat down and watched a movie. We saw the Ryan Murphy 2010 film “Eat Pray Love”, the screen adaptation of Elizabeth Gilbert’s best seller. We had got this film yesterday at the Latrobe University Sunday market and seeing how we had heard so much about it, we decided to watch it today. It was really quite disappointing…

First, let me say that we haven’t read the book and most of the good things I have heard concern the book. Yes, yes, I know, don’t judge a book by its film, but this is a book I have now not been inspired to read. However good the book is, the film has ruined it pre-emptively for me. This was a movie that went on and on for two-and-a-half hours and the only relief was the scenery in Italy, in India and in Bali. But it was no travel documentary, but a “deep-and-meaningful voyage of self-discovery by a woman who is going through a mid-life crisis”. Yawn… Wake me up when it’s over, please.

Julia Roberts plays Liz Gilbert who has achieved success as an author, has a husband, friends, a house, a career she likes, and lives the good life in New York. Yet like so many others in her shoes (those who have not experienced real misfortune, or need, or poverty, or deep tragedy), she finds herself lost, confused, and unsatisfied with all the wonderful things that life has offered her. She decides to start searching for what she really wants in life. She gets a divorce (and presumably with quite a lot of cash in hand), embarks on a journey around the world that becomes a quest for self-discovery. In her travels, she discovers eating in Italy; praying in India, and, finally loving in Bali. Her character comes out as selfish, ungrateful and mawkish in a self-pitying sort of way. She whines a lot…

The travels of Liz are inward-looking and her whole wide-world is an insulated water-coloured one untouched by economic crises, wars, terrorism, natural disasters, poverty, uncertainty, climate change, religious intolerance, or any other major issues of philosophical importance. The world inhabited by Liz is Lizocentric and everything revolves around her paying homage to her shallow existence and short-sighted view of the narrowest perspective.

She visits Italy and her Italy is a caricature of some 50s and 60s films of the type “Gidget Goes to Rome” or “Three Coins in the Fountain”. She goes to Italy for the food, not the art nor the literature; not the history nor the philosophy. Even her attempts at learning the language are pathetically related to the food… She goes to India next and her India is some mystical fun-fair that reeks of supermarket-shelf religion: “On Special Today – Guru Meditation at Ashram”. Nothing deep and meaningful, no insight, no true enlightenment, no involvement in Indian society and its multitudinous current-day problems. No involvement in the religious issues posited by the coexistence of Islam and Hinduism. She is not touched by the real India. Her interaction with other inmates of the Ashram is self-serving and her brand of Indian spirituality is that which she could have found easily in New York. She flies to Bali and Liz’s Bali is shallow and comfortable. Her interaction with the medicine man is trite. Her only selfless act is her charitable gesture towards a traditional healer in need. But is it really selfless or does she do it as a moral catharsis that makes her feel better? She finds love in Bali and she scorns it because she doesn’t need it, or so she says. She has no compunction in telling the man that offers her his love: “I don’t have to love you to love myself!” Amazing self-obsession!

This is an extraordinary story of a woman who is so selfish for the most part, that all she wants out of life and people is to take, take, take. There is no natural selfless giving, no gracious sharing, no acceptance of the bounty of good fortune, but always a quest for ever more things and people according to what she feels she needs at that moment. This is a spoilt brat all grown up, an egotistical woman, a mediocre human being (not really evil, but at the same time not really good or virtuous or gracious), a boring person, a shallow existence. Poor Julia Roberts does her best to give the role all she can, but this is individualistic and selfish bilge dressed up as a philosophical-religious-mystical-emotional homily. Is this heroine what modern women aspire to?

I may sound a trifle acerbic, but the film was quite annoying in many ways. It was a fantasyland of platitudinous, facile and superficial tediousness. It was presented in such a didactic, life-changing, aggrandising way that one was immediately distanced by it. I did not want to do anything with this Liz woman, as shown by the movie. This was not a human being that I felt had made the world a better place to be in. Liz had striven hard to make Liz feel better, more comfortable, more loved, more spoilt, more content. And of course for Liz and every other Liz, “Après moi, le déluge”…

JAPAN EARTHQUAKE III

“Noble souls, through dust and heat, rise from disaster and defeat the stronger.” - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Japan continues to dominate newscasts and increasingly horrific news stories surface as the full extent of the disaster becomes known. The world watches anxiously as nuclear calamities now threaten the already devastated country and its people. Donations are already being collected here in Australia, and the world over, and most countries are helping Japan in a very palpable way through the sending of supplies or personnel. Please help if you can!

“The Great Wave off Kanagawa” is a very famous image by the Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) from his series of woodblock prints “36 Views of Mt Fujiyama”. Hokusai’s most famous picture and probably the most famous image of Japanese art is a seascape with Mt. Fuji in the distance. Hokusai loved to depict water in motion and this is an amazing image where fishermen do battle with the giant wave. The impending crash of the wave brings tension into the composition. In the foreground, a small peaked wave beneath the towering one above it, forms a miniature Mt. Fuji, which is repeated hundreds of miles away in the enormous Mt. Fuji in the background which shrinks through perspective; the wavelet is larger than the mountain.

Although this print is often used in tsunami literature, there is no reason to suspect that Hokusai intended it to be interpreted in that way. The waves in this work are sometimes mistakenly referred to as tsunami (津波), but they are more accurately called okinami (沖波), great off-shore waves.

This is an uncharacteristic Japanese image, as instead of shoguns and nobility, we see tiny fishermen huddled into their boats as they try to negotiate the stormy sea. The yin-violence of the sea is counterbalanced by the yang-relaxed confidence of expert fishermen. Although it’s a stormy sea, the sun is shining. Traditional Japanese artists would have never depicted lower-class fishermen (at the time, fishermen were one of the lowest and most despised of Japanese social classes); they would not have used perspective; they wouldn’t have paid much attention to the subtle shading of the sky. We, as westerners liked this type of woodblock print because it uses conventions that are familiar to us.

The elements of this Japanese scene originated in Western art. It includes landscape, long-distance perspective, nature, and ordinary humans, all of which were foreign to Japanese art at the time. The Giant Wave is actually a Western painting, seen through Japanese eyes. By the late 1700s, Dutch paintings had become very popular and common so that their etchings were used as cheap illustrations. Dutch merchants smuggled their goods into Japan. These wares were often wrapped in paper that had been illustrated with these etchings. For Hokusai and other artists, the thrown-away wrappers were more interesting than the imports.

Hokusai found Western art fascinating and was greatly stimulated by it. He transformed Dutch pastoral paintings by adding the Japanese style of flattening and the use of color surfaces as a element. His masterpieces were in fact a reinterpretation of Western art in Japanese style. By the 1880s, Japanese prints were all the rage in Western culture and Hokusai’s prints were studied by young European artists, such as Van Gogh and Whistler, in a style called Japonaiserie. Thus Western painting went to Japan, was transformed after it inspired Japanese artists, then returned to the West and inspired westerners again!

This image is an icon of Japanese art and a glorious testimony of Japanese culture and spirit. Japan will survive this disaster and rise again to take its place amongst other great nations of the world.

JAPAN EARTHQUAKE II

“I beg you take courage; the brave soul can mend even disaster.” – Catherine II

More distressing news keeps filtering in from Japan. More than 1,000 people have been confirmed dead and tens of thousands are missing. The explosion in one of the nuclear reactors at Fukushima has generated speculation that a meltdown will occur in the reactor and there may be radiation leaks and contamination, or even worse. The rescue efforts are well underway, but aftershocks continue to rock the battered regions. Many countries have begun to send aid to Japan, including Australia, which sent tens of rescue workers specially trained for precisely such missions.

The thoughts of most people around the world are with Japan at this stage, with much sympathy and support going to the afflicted populace.

JAPAN EARTHQUAKE

“We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey.” - Kenji Miyazawa

News of the massive earthquake and tsunamis in Japan awaited me as soon as I got home this evening. The pictures on television are frightening and awesome. One cannot comprehend the scale of destruction simply by looking at the aerial shots where the crest of the tidal wave carries every bit of imaginable flotsam as it covers fields, roads, houses, factories and woods. We thought that the Christchurch earthquake was bad enough, but this is just horrific. Even a country like Japan, used to earthquakes as it is, is now reeling after this latest quake, which neared the magnitude of 9 Richter units.

The 8.9 Richter earthquake hit on Friday, March 11, 2011 at 05:46:23 UTC (4:46:23 pm, Melbourne time) at 38.322°N, 142.369°E, which off the east coast of Honshu, 130 km E of Sendai (population ≈1 million), 178 km E of Yamagata (population ≈300,000), 178 km ENE of Fukushima (population ≈310,000), and 373 km of Tokyo (population ≈30 million). Today’s earthquake was preceded by a series of large foreshocks over the previous two days, beginning on March 9th with a 7.2 R event approximately 40 km from today’s earthquake, and continuing with a further 3 earthquakes greater than 6 R on the same day.

Although the structural damage in the affected parts of Japan may not be as extreme as in other places due the fact that the Japanese have long built anti-seismic constructions, the post-quake effects are many and extreme, largely due to the destructive force of the tsunamis that followed the quake. At least two people are reported dead at this stage (four hours after the quake), one hit by a collapsing wall at a Honda factory. Several people are reported buried in a landslide.

The tsunami generated was up to 10 metres high, with waves sweeping across farmland, carrying away homes, crops, vehicles, triggering fires. A tsunami of 7 metres later hit northern Japan. An inn collapsed in Sendai city and many are feared buried in its rubble. Strong aftershocks hit northern Japan, each the magnitude of a major quake. Tsunami warnings issued for eastern Indonesia, Taiwan’s north and east coasts.

Power has been cut to four million homes in and around Tokyo, while fourteen fires blaze in Tokyo. A major fire and explosions at Chiba refinery near Tokyo is causing much damage. Many sections of Tohoku expressway serving northern Japan are damaged. Bullet trains to the north of the country stopped.

Narita airport closed, flights halted, passengers evacuated. Tokyo underground, suburban trains halted. Sendai airport in the north has been flooded. Several nuclear power plants in Japan have shut down automatically. Tepco’s Fukushimi No. 1 plant had an equipment problem after the quake, but safety is ensured, officials say. At least one nuclear power station is still operating normally. Oil refineries have shut down and a major steel plant was ablaze.

More quakes have been predicted in the north of Honshu, while more tsunamis in Japan and in Pacific nations have been predicted…
Really terrible news…

THESAURUS THURSDAY: JEALOUSY & ENVY

“O! Beware, my lord, of jealousy;
 It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock
 the meat it feeds on.” - William Shakespeare

Pennyroyal, Mentha pulegium, is the birthday plant for today. Its generic name is derived from the Greek word for mint. The specific name is derived from the Latin pulex = flea, in reference to the supposed flea-killing properties of the herb.

The Greek myth to explain the origin of mint concerns a nymph, Minthe who lived in Elis in Southern Greece. Minthe was the lover of Hades, the god of the underworld. She was in love with him but he was fickle. When Hades saw the lovely Persephone on Mount Etna in Sicily, he fell in love with her and abandoned Minthe. Hades took Persephone to the underworld and made her his queen. The discarded Minthe complained bitterly, and raved foolishly for jealousy, and Demeter (Persephone’s mother and goddess of crops, fertility and vegetation) in anger trampled upon her with her feet and destroyed her. For she had said that she was nobler of form and more excellent in beauty than dark-eyed Persephone and she boasted that Hades would return to her and banish Persephone from his halls. From poor Minthe’s corpse, the earth sprouted forth the fragrant herb that bears her name.

In the neighbourhood of Pylos, to the north of Olympia, there was a hill called after Minthe, and at its foot there was a temple of Pluto, and a grove of Demeter. Around the temple grew mint abundantly, so even after her death, Minthe embraced the object of her affection.

In Scotland, the herb is also known as “pudding grass” as it was used to flavour haggis pudding.  Pennyroyal growing in the garden protects against the evil eye but at the same time, it was worn by witches.  Medicinally the herb was used to expel the afterbirth, and presently pennyroyal tisane is thought to relieve colic and to aid in digestion.  Pennyroyal in the language of flowers conveys the sentiment: “Go away, flee!”  It is under the dominion of Venus, astrologically.

jealous |ˈjeləs| adjective
• Feeling or showing envy of someone or their achievements and advantages: He grew jealous of her success.
• Feeling or showing suspicion of someone's unfaithfulness in a relationship : a jealous boyfriend.
• Fiercely protective or vigilant of one's rights or possessions : Howard is still a little jealous of his authority | they kept a jealous eye over their interests.
• (of God) Demanding faithfulness and exclusive worship.
DERIVATIVES
jealously adverb
jealousy noun
ORIGIN Middle English: From Old French gelos, from medieval Latin zelosus from Greek zēlos, zeal.

I remember at school I learnt that jealousy was not the same as envy. Jealousy had a specifically romantic or sexual connotation, whereas envy had a broader meaning. It is possible to be envious of another’s success, but one is jealous of a successful rival for the affections of one’s girlfriend. Othello was jealous, but not envious. The meanings are now being conflated and blurred, and one routinely hears that someone is jealous of someone else’s fame (as is apparent from the first definition above). This is regrettable as the two emotions (material envy and romantic jealousy) are not at all the same, and a clear linguistic distinction between them should be maintained.

SUMMER'S END

“Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn.” - Elizabeth Lawrence

A cool, grey, rainy day today. The weather bureau has reported that the La Niña pattern affecting Australia is the strongest since 1917. It started in the middle of last year and has contributed to the warmest oceans on record around Australia. Floods have drenched wide areas in recent months, wrecking properties, cutting off roads and filling rivers and dams. The current weather cycle is expected to end in the next two months and the forecast beyond is for a wetter-than-normal winter and a drier-than-normal spring.

When I came home from work today, I sat for a few minutes under the covered gazebo, looking at the garden. The rain was quietly falling and the picture was one of summer departing gently. A cool, wet summer that came in reluctantly and now is leaving us on tiptoe. As if we are sleeping and wishes to cede its reigning place to Autumn surreptitiously. I felt tired and old all of the sudden. The lingering cold that I have has not helped and sniffling, coughing and sputtering I hurried inside, mindful of my silliness and shaking off my chill.

I have a meeting later this week with the publishers that I work with to discuss a new edition of one of my books. It is going well and it is its time to be updated in a new edition. This signals another big project looming ahead. Summer’s end, autumn’s beginning. The season of fruitfulness an abundance, ushering in the desolate winter with its deathly chill…

The poem below written just now:

Summer’s End

Sun rises reluctantly each morning now,
And evening falls all of the sudden rapidly.
The leaves started to yellow on the bough,
And evening drags on, lengthening vapidly.

Rain falls, the garden yields a harvest rich;
Cool now at night, mist rises lazily at dawn.
Water collects in puddles, runs in dirty ditch;
And afternoons become greyer, long-drawn.

Flowers fade, rose hips start to redden
While fruits on branches ripen steadily.
Melancholy sets in, optimism starts to deaden
And thoughts turn to maturity readily.

My life’s work is reaching now its summer’s end
A bounteous autumn or a barren winter to attend.

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY 2011

“Remember, Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards and in high heels.” - Faith Whittlesey

It is International Women’s Day today, an commemorative day that first began to be observed at the turn of the century, which in the industrialised world was a period of expansion and turbulence, booming population growth and radical ideologies. In accordance with a declaration by the Socialist Party of America in 1909, the first National Woman's Day was observed across the United States on 28th February that year. Women continued to celebrate it on the last Sunday of that month through to 1913.

The Socialist International, meeting in Copenhagen in 1910, established an International Women’s Day, to honour the movement for women’s rights and to assist in achieving universal suffrage for women. The proposal was greeted with unanimous approval by the conference of over 100 women from 17 countries, which included the first three women elected to the Finnish parliament. No fixed date was selected for the observance. As a result of the decision taken at Copenhagen the previous year, International Women's Day was marked for the first time (19th March 1911) in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, where more than one million women and men attended rallies. In addition to the right to vote and to hold public office, they demanded the right to work, to vocational training and to an end to discrimination on the job.

Less than a week later, on 25th March 1911, the tragic Triangle Fire in New York City took the lives of more than 140 working girls, most of them Italian and Jewish immigrants. This event had a significant impact on labour legislation in the United States, and the working conditions leading up to the disaster were invoked during subsequent observances of International Women’s Day.

As part of the peace movement that was active just before World War I, Russian women observed their first International Women’s Day on the last Sunday in February 1913. Elsewhere in Europe, on or around 8th March of the following year, women held rallies either to protest the war or to express solidarity with their sisters. With 2 million Russian soldiers dead in the war, Russian women again chose the last Sunday in February 1917 to strike for “bread and peace”. Political leaders opposed the timing of the strike, but the women went on anyway. In the same week, the Czar was forced to abdicate and the provisional Government granted women the right to vote. That historic Sunday fell on 23rd February on the Julian calendar then in use in Russia, but on 8th March on the Gregorian calendar in use elsewhere.

International Women’s Day has developed into a truly international anniversary and commemorates the struggles women have had to deal with and are still dealing with in order to be treated as equals to men. The international women’s movement has been gaining strength over 100 years, and was supported by four global United Nations women’s conferences. The commemoration of International Women’s Day is a rallying point for coordinated efforts to demand women’s rights and participation in the political and economic process. Increasingly, International Women’s Day is a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in history.





This is Australian singer Helen Reddy singing her great hit "I Am Woman"


I Am Woman

Artist: Helen Reddy from "Helen Reddy's Greatest Hits": EMI ST 11467
Peak Billboard position # 1 for 1 week in 1972
Words and Music by Helen Reddy and Ray Burton


I am woman, hear me roar
In numbers too big to ignore
And I know too much to go back an' pretend
'cause I've heard it all before
And I've been down there on the floor
No one's ever gonna keep me down again

CHORUS
Oh yes I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to, I can do anything
I am strong (strong)
I am invincible (invincible)
I am woman

You can bend but never break me
'cause it only serves to make me
More determined to achieve my final goal
And I come back even stronger
Not a novice any longer
'cause you've deepened the conviction in my soul

CHORUS

I am woman watch me grow
See me standing toe to toe
As I spread my lovin' arms across the land
But I'm still an embryo
With a long long way to go
Until I make my brother understand

Oh yes I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to I can face anything
I am strong (strong)
I am invincible (invincible)
I am woman
Oh, I am woman
I am invincible
I am strong

FADE
I am woman
I am invincible
I am strong
I am woman

MOVIE MONDAY - DINOSAUR

“What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

We watched Eric Leighton’s and Ralph Zondag’s 2000 movie “Dinosaur” at the weekend. We had bought the DVD on special a couple of years ago, but had never watched it as it sat forgotten on a lower shelf amongst already viewed DVDs. It pays to do some dusting and tidying up, rearranging of shelves and general sprucing up around the house. One tends to discover all sorts of interesting things! In any case, we were in the mood for something lightweight and a Disney film was deemed appropriate. I am great lover of children’s books and films and will often indulge myself as I believe that one must always feed the hungry little child within.

The film was very polished (almost too polished, as can be the case with computer-generated animation) with CGI taking over in a big way and generating effects and animation that are quite amazing. However, in some of the scenes the CGI creatures can look plastic and one can be distracted from the action. One is immediately tempted to compare the Disney “Dinosaur” with Steven Spielberg’s 1993 “Jurassic Park”, as computer graphics and special effects feature prominently in both of these dinosaur films. However, where “Jurassic Park” was exciting, adventurous, thrilling, scary, funny at times with a rollicking good story, “Dinosaur” tends towards saccharine sweetness and didactic moralising – besides which, the story is rather unoriginal and seems to have been compounded from a host of other films: A dash of “Bambi”, a peck or two of “The Land Before Time”, a sliver of “Ice Age”, a soupçon of “Ice Age 2”, a touch of “Mowgli” etc, etc.

The plot revolves around pack dinosaurs known as Iguanodon. During an attack on a pack of Iguanodon, an egg is saved although stolen by predators and ends up in the possession of a group of lemurs. The lemurs care for the young iguanodon hatched from it, which they call Aladar. Aladar becomes an “honorary lemur” as he grows up and spends his time peacefully on an island far away form other dinosaurs. When a meteor hits the earth, a huge tidal wave forces Aladar and his family to leave their homeland. They meet up with a huge group of dinosaurs, led by Kron and Bruton, fellow iguanodons, as well as other dinosaur species. In the wake of the meteor disaster, they try to reach their nesting grounds, but the way there is fraught with danger and great struggles.

The film is full of factual errors and anachronisms, but that is immaterial as it is not a documentary, it is a fantasy. If you can accept that dinosaurs can talk and exhibit anthropomorphic characteristics, it is not hard to accept that lemurs (which evolved 55 million years ago) and dinosaurs (which became extinct 65 million years ago) coexisted. What’s ten million years between friends? The size of the creatures is also misrepresented. The carnotaurs that hunt the iguanodon have been increased in size to make them look more terrifying and the triceratops and apatosaur are not to scale. The habitats of the animals depicted also do not coincide, with animals that lived on different continents being put side by side. But never mind!

If we overlook the deficiencies of the film, it is a good film to watch in one’s lighter moments and children will love the animals and the simple story. Although there are some violent scenes that could scare smaller children (or over-sensitive adults). The music by James Newton Howard is discreet and suits the action, while top marks go to the artists that conceived the background art, which in my opinion s quite ravishing, to the extent of being almost distracting. I found myself admiring the skies and seas, waterways and grasslands, forests and deserts rather than the animals, which were speaking trite homilies at times.

Well worth seeing this film if you find it, but once again if you like a juicier story and a more exciting film, go for “Jurassic Park”!

ART SUNDAY - JAEME NEWTON

“Only in love are unity and duality not in conflict.” - Rabindranath Tagore

For Art Sunday today, a whimsical and talented artist from the USA, Jaeme Newton. She has a distinctly personal style and uses a variety of media to create striking drawings of fantastical creatures and mythical animals. The drawings are detailed and very fluid, showing evidence of a rich inner voice and an imagination that leaps and flies into wonderful new worlds.

Jaeme Newton was born the 19th of May, 1982 in Green Brae, California. She spent her childhood traveling to various places throughout the western United States with her father (a political satirist, poet and children's book author) and her younger brother. Shortly after turning fourteen, Jaeme and her brother moved to Huntsville, Alabama to live with their mother and other siblings.

From 1998 Jaeme moved again and furthered her study of art in school at Miami, Florida, and began to paint in her home on a daily basis. Six months later Jaeme’s family moved again, and Jaeme began attending school at Albertson College of Idaho shortly after graduation from Fruitland High School in May of 2000.

Jaeme moved to Somerset, Kentucky where a friend of hers was starting a band named "nemo" in which Jaeme took up the bassist position and toured with 2003. Jaeme took time out to really explore the musician in her. In the course of three years, Jaeme produced three LPs , and one full length CD named “Live from the Theatre of Memory”, which there are very few copies of today.

The drawing above is called “Bridge” and shows a rich tapestry of images, wonderfully vibrant colour and a vivid imagination. I can relate to this drawing personally as it resembles very much some of my own drawings and the composition is very reminiscent of a series of drawings I did several years ago in my “visual diary”. There is a strong rhythmic element to the drawing with the central bridge linking the two sides of the drawing, which surround the bridge and yet are separated by it. There are astronomical figures, rainbows, exuberant swirls of colour and plant elements, as well as the two faces in the lower left that interlock an seem to mirror the two sides of the bridge. The bridge separates the two sides, but also joins them. The faces are joined and yet are different. Yin and Yang, night and day, good and evil, all melding together in a complex and multifaceted drawing that is quite satisfying to explore and delve into.

7 SECONDS

“The African race is a rubber ball. The harder you dash it to the ground, the higher it will rise.” - African Proverb

Today was a lazy day. It’s nice to have lazy days once in a while. Sleeping in, having a leisurely breakfast, then enjoying the morning by taking a walk in the garden, smelling the late summer roses, the flowering ginger, the four-o’clocks, the jasmine and the carnations. Revelling in the colour of the orange zinnias, the yellow and brown marigolds, the scarlet salvias, the pink cosmos. Looking at the green growing things and listening to music playing on the radio and happy to be alive, and being grateful for such pleasures. We said we’d go out shopping, but we ended up staying in, relaxing, taking it easy and having a wonderful lazy day…

Tonight, a hit song from 1994, composed by Youssou N’Dour, Neneh Cherry, Cameron McVey and Jonathan Sharp. It was released as a single by Youssou N'Dour and Neneh Cherry, the song and remained on the charts for nearly half a year. It reached the top three in many countries, including the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Australia, Russia and Poland. The single stayed at the top spot for 16 consecutive weeks on the French Singles Chart, which was the record of the most weeks at the top at the time. Its title “7 Seconds” refers to the critical time after a baby’s birth, essential for its survival and it packs a strong anti-racism message.

BACK HOME AND A SIMPLE MEAL

“There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort.” - Jane Austen

Ah, it’s good to be home! While I love travelling, after a while living out of a suitcase gets tiring and even if one resides in the best hotel it just doesn’t compare to home comforts. While foreign countries are exciting and interesting and stimulating for the mind, opening the door of one’s home after an absence and smelling that lovely home smell, being surrounded by one’s own things, sleeping in one’s own bed is just wonderful! We got back very early this morning and fortunately we were able to get through customs quickly, hiring a taxi immediately and managing to get home before the morning peak-hour traffic.

After unpacking, I had a shower, a shave and off I went to work, as today was a working day. And there was such a lot to do. Meetings, emails, phone calls, catching up with people. Although we did not manage to get much sleep on the plane, we did manage to snooze on and off. However, the lack of sleep made itself felt in the afternoon at work, and is telling right now. There is a good night’s sleep predicted for tonight, that’s for sure!

Another of the benefits of being home of course is home cooking. Whatever one may have while away – delectable dishes, new tasty treats, interesting and exotic foods, classy hotel food, the best of restaurant fare – one always misses the favourites of one’s own home. Especially so when they are made with the products of one’s own garden. We came back to find growing in abundance in the garden tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, eggplant, beans and various garden greens. Fortunately the weather had been kind, with some showers and no temperature extremes while we were away so the garden fared well.

This evening we decided to have something simple and homegrown for dinner. This dish is a traditional Greek one and is typical summer fare, popular all over the country. It is called “vlita”, as its main ingredient is a variety of garden greens known as Amaranthus blitum var. silvestre. This is a species of purple amaranth and grows as a weed in many a wasteland. However, in Greece, it is considered quite a delicacy and is sown in spring, to be gathered for summer eating. We sow it in the garden and needs little care except watering. One gathers the young and tender shoots and boils them with a variety of other greens and vegetables. A must is the addition of the young shoots of black nightshade, Solanum nigrum. These should be less in proportion to the amaranth, as too many will cause the dish to become too bitter. Other bits and pieces in the mixture are slices of potato, zucchini and French beans. All the greens and vegetables are boiled until tender, drained and served hot or cold with a simple vinaigrette dressing, or some people prefer to dress the greens with olive oil and lemon juice, or even just olive oil.

Accompanying this dish one may have cheese, crusty bread, and some kind of canned of smoked fish, for example tuna or smoked salmon, to make it a complete meal. Alternatively boiled eggs may also be served with such a simple meal. One may be misled into thinking that this is a poor man’s dish suited to fasting. However, it is surprisingly tasty, filling and satisfying, not to mention nutritious and filled with vitamins, minerals and bitter tonics good for the liver. Just the sort of thing after a few days travelling in distant and exotic lands. The taste of home!

BUGIS ST - MARKET AND TEMPLES

“All religions must be tolerated, for every man must get to heaven his own way.” - Frederick the Great

As it was our last day in Singapore today, we decided not to go too far afield and ended up in Bugis Street. This is found in the Arab Quarter of the Bugis district, and its claim to fame is the Bugis St Market, which is the largest street market in Singapore. There are countless stalls selling everything from shoes and clothes, to jewellery and cosmetics, food and drink, souvenirs and gifts, antiques and technological gadgets, CDs and DVDs. Visitors will also find manicurists, tattooists, body piercers, masseurs, reflexologists, cosmeticians and hairdressers to mention a few of the services provided.

Before the arrival of British and American forces from the Vietnam War, Bugis Street was infamous as this was the red light district of Singapore. However, after the armed forces were stationed here everything changed – rather odd I would have thought! At the time of its vivid past, a promenade of garishly made-up drag queens marched through the crowd with sparkling dresses on. They liked to pose and have their photo taken and teased the men walking by. This seamy Old Bugis Street was demolished during the construction of the MTR underground. Nowadays, New Bugis Street is located south-west of the MRT station. The only concession of New Bugis Street to its lurid past are a couple of sex shops, which look more cute than erotic, judging from the merchandise displayed in their windows.

Bugis Street is a crowded, noisy and busy place that has the quality of night bazaar even during the day. There are many pubs, bars, alfresco restaurants, hawkers, street theatre, and of course the markets, open every day and night from about 11:00 a.m. until 3 a.m. (or until the last customer leaves…). The street has a carnival-like atmosphere and is a good place to do some shopping for souvenirs and gifts. We did some such shopping – mainly a few gifts for people back home, but then hurried on visit the temples.

Kuan Yin Temple is on Waterloo Street and rated as one of the most renowned Chinese temples in Singapore. Kuan Yin is a famous Chinese goddess, originally called “Kwan Im”, the goddess of mercy. She is a very virtuous deity as she helps those in need, according to myths retold for many generations. The original Kuan Yin Temple was constructed in 1884 but was reconstructed in 1982. It has the typical structure of a Chinese temple with an impressive gate leading to a courtyard, and then further in, the temple sanctuary. Inside the sanctuary one can see lots of statues of Chinese deities, including that of Kuan Yin. Numerous offerings are made here, including flowers, incense, oil, fruit and candles.

Outside the temple, there are many fortunetellers, flower-sellers and beggars, all of which are part of the attraction of the temple for visitors. The Chinese are very superstitious and have a tradition of asking for divine assistance, consulting mediums and fortunetellers for advice regarding auspicious dates for marriages, selling and buying, lucky number to win lotteries, etc. The statues of the gods may remain silent, but believers shake a circular bamboo box with 50 thin sticks in it, each one having a number on it. When a stick is selected, its number will lead one to the correspondingly marked small piece of paper on which is written the prediction or answer to one’s question.

A few minutes walk west of Kuan Yin Temple stands the Hindu Sri Krishna Temple. Although this temple normally attracts many Hindu worshippers, it also surprisingly attracts Chinese worshippers from the nearby Kuan Yin Temple. Lord Krishna is believed to be the eighth reincarnation of Vishnu, a very well-known principal god of Hinduism. This temple has the typical architecture of a Hindu holy shrine, and is highly decorated with gorgeous ornaments and multi-coloured statues of the gods. Visitors to both temples must take their shoes off before stepping inside.

temple 1 |ˈtempəl| noun
A building devoted to the worship, or regarded as the dwelling place, of a god or gods or other objects of religious reverence.
• (the Temple) Either of two successive religious buildings of the Jews in Jerusalem. The first (957–586 BC) was built by Solomon and destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar; it contained the Ark of the Covenant. The second (515 BC – AD 70) was enlarged by Herod the Great from 20 BC and destroyed by the Romans during a Jewish revolt; all that remains is the Western Wall.
• (the Temple) A group of buildings in Fleet Street in London that stand on land formerly occupied by the headquarters of the Knights Templars. Located there are the Inner and Outer Temple, two of the Inns of Court.
• A synagogue.
• A place of Christian public worship, esp. a Protestant church in France.
ORIGIN Old English templ, tempel, reinforced in Middle English by Old French temple, both from Latin templum ‘open or consecrated space.’

A TRIP TO JOHOR BAHRU

“A good traveller has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.” - Lao Tzu

Today we decided to visit Malaysia, just like that, on the spur of the moment. Singapore, the island, is situated to the South of the Malay peninsula with a short causeway connecting the two land masses, ensuring there is road and railway access to and from each country. The small size of the main island of Singapore (remembering the whole country is only 704 square km) is apparent when one travels from one end to the other. In fact, the area of Singapore is about the same as that of New York City. Travelling from the CBD in the south to the north, where the causeway that joins the island to Malaysia, takes about half an hour and there are excellent bus and rail services that connect the two countries.

We took the MRT (the very efficient underground train) from Orchard station and got off at Woodlands station. Then a short bus ride and we found ourselves in the immigration halls, first of Singapore, then of Malaysia. This was the most inconvenient part of the trip. Getting of the bus, trudging up and down escalators and endless corridors to go where is most convenient for the immigration officials, not for the travellers. This is a huge time waster and a great disincentive for doing the trip at all. Nevertheless, we finally negotiated the halls of officialdom and kept the petty bureaucrats happy, while inflating the egos of the nationalists by traipsing through vast, resplendent halls designed to impress and awe the visitors entering each country…

The main city in the southern part of Malaysia is Johor Bahru (JB in short), which hugs the coastline facing Singapore. It is located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula and is the state capital of Johor Darul Takzim. JB was established in 1855 by the late Sultan Abu Bakar (the Father of Modern Johor) and now serves as the administrative and commercial centre of the state.

Its population consists of a diverse ethnic mix of races, and offers the visitor heritage attractions, colourful culture, spicy local cuisine, and many recreational activities. It is also a major port, a manufacturing, trade and export centre. The city is popular with Singaporeans, and has many landmarks, such as The Grand Palace with its distinct Anglo-Malay architecture, which houses the museum where priceless treasures of the Royal Collection are showcased. Unfortunately this was closed for renovations and we did not get to visit it.

“Ghazal” music imported from India, is unique to Johor, and is usually performed during cultural shows and weddings. Another famous performance distinctly Johorean is the “Kuda Kepang” dance, which is spun from tales of Islamic heroes. Dancers imitate the movement of horses to the music of a traditional orchestra.

Shopping opportunities abound in JB. Modern malls, arcades, handicraft centres, bazaars and markets offer international and local products. Local craftwork makes good souvenirs of a trip here. The JB Duty Free Complex located at the JB International Ferry Terminal offers all sorts of merchandise for the international traveller. Known as “ZON”, it is a large duty free department store encompassing 163 retail outlets and a hypermarket. The complex offers a variety of goods such as branded designer wear from London, Paris, New York and the likes. Glassware, confectionery, and other items are also to be found on sale.

Another interesting side of JB can be experienced when night falls over the city. A vast array of food stalls and vendors appear and the adventurous tourist can try out the taste of popular local dishes such as the famous Laksa Johor, flake fish and gravy cooked with coconut milk and served with noodles and vegetables. The smells and aromas of this city can best be described as a full gamut – they range from the noisome to the delightful. While walking through the streets, one is assaulted by the malodorous stench of sewers and drying rotting fish, while the next step confronts one with the smell of jasmine and tuberose from the vendors of devotional garlands, while further down the street the delicious smell of frankincense burning on charcoal and joss sticks being offered in Chinese temples caress the nose.

We visited a Chinese temple and saw Hindu temples, mosques and Christian churches. This is another cosmopolitan city of over a million people and its multiracial population appears to be living in harmony with one another, just as is the case in Singapore. We enjoyed this side trip to Singapore’s northern neighbor and in the evening we caught a different bus back, which took us to the Bugis area of Singapore, very close to the CBD. A short taxi ride later we were at our hotel for cocktails at the club lounge. Definitely worth the effort of the travel, and despite the rigmarole of the passport checks and immigration lounge odysseys, this trip is an easy and worthwhile to do if staying in Singapore for a couple of days.

As it is Poetry Wednesday, here is an apt offering from the pen of Charles Beaudelaire:

EXOTIC PERFUME

WHEN with closed eyes in autumn’s eves of gold
I breathe the burning odours of your breast,
Before my eyes the hills of happy rest
Bathed in the sun’s monotonous fires, unfold.

Islands of Lethe where exotic boughs
Bend with their burden of strange fruit bowed down,
Where men are upright, maids have never grown
Unkind, but bear a light upon their brows.

Led by that perfume to these lands of ease,
I see a port where many ships have flown
With sails outwearied of the wandering seas;

While the faint odours from green tamarisks blown,
Float to my soul and in my senses throng,
And mingle vaguely with the sailor's song.

Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867)

SINGAPORE'S LITTLE INDIA

“We're living in a time when the world has suddenly discovered India because it’s run out of raw material for its imagination. The raw materials for imagination are inexhaustible here.” - Deepak Chopra

Today we visited Little India, which is one of Singapore’s most colourful and exotic neighbourhoods. The classic shopping arcade of Little India is located on Serangoon Road and was built in 1828. Immediately one enters this district, the sights, sounds and smells are immediately evocative of India. Arts, handicrafts, clothing, carpets, fabrics, food, jewellery, music, films, spices, flowers and flower garlands, sweets, all are to be found here and of course they are all Indian and transport one to the country of their origin.

Ten per cent of the permanent Singaporean population is Indian, most of them from the southern part of the subcontinent. This thriving community has become very successful in business and there are some very rich Indians amongst the well-to-do Singaporeans. However, when one walks down the street, many of the menial workers and labourers are also Indians. These may not be permanent residents, but rather guest workers, of which there are several hundred thousand in Singapore.

At Serangoon Road where Belilios Road crosses it, stands the Hindu Temple of “Sri Veerama Kaliamman” constructed in 1881. This temple is quite an amazing sight, as the colourful façade and roof are intricately decorated with all of the gods of the Indian pantheon. It is really worth a visit if you go to Little India. There are other temples of course, like the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple built in 1855 and designated a national Singaporean monument. This is located on upper Serangoon Road. A block up northeast on Race Course Road stands the Sakya Muni Buddha Gaya Temple. Here one finds hundreds of lightbulbs surrounding an enormous 50-feet high statue of the Buddha. Another temple is Leong San Buddhist Temple, which was constructed in 1800s and is rated as one of the most beautiful Buddhist temples in Singapore.

Heading up Serangoon Road through Kitchener Road takes one to Central Serangoon Road where many Indian cafes, clothing shops, and hardware stores are to be found. Some of the highlights are the Asian Women’s Welfare Association building located at 9 Norris Road, which was established in 1935. It is an interesting mixture of Art Deco, North Indian, and Chinese-inspired fish-scale designs. The Gandhi Memorial was dedicated by Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1950 and is situated behind the Broadway Hotel. A modern S$48 million dollar shopping complex located at Serangoon and Syed Alwi Roads is also worth seeing.

Going towards the East, one enters the Arab Quarter. The atmosphere here changes to one evoking the middle east, Arabia and Moslem world. The Arab community has been settled here even prior to the arrival of Sir Stamford Raffles. Arab merchants were monopolising Malaysia and Singapore for hundreds of years, and the links are forged very strongly. The Sultan Mosque is one of the highlights and it can be found between Bencoolen and Arab Streets. It was built by the Swan & MacLaren in 1924. Arab Street and the Bussorah Street mall are definitely worth lingering as the air reeks of the Arabian Nights and the fragrance of incense, perfume and spice.

This Muslim centre of Singapore is a traditional textile district, full of batiks from Indonesia, silks, sarongs and shirts. Add to this mix rosaries, flower essences, hajj caps, songkok hats, basketware and rattan goods, and you have a fair idea of the products haggled over in this part of the city. The grand Sultan Mosque is the biggest and liveliest mosque in Singapore, but the tiny Malabar Muslim Jama-ath Mosque (built in 1819) is the most beautiful. There’s fine Indian Muslim food along nearby North Bridge Rd and the foodstalls on Bussorah St are especially atmospheric at dusk during Ramadan. Gemstones and jewelry of all kinds are to be found in the Golden Landmark shopping centre, very close to the Sultan Mosque.

We also visited another sacred place in this area, the Old Malay Cemetery recorded as the oldest Malay cemetery, which unfortunately is note very well looked after and going to ruin. A pity as it is evocative of old times and has the atmosphere of a lost city in the jungle, so overgrown is it with greenery, although surrounded by busy thoroughfares.

OSCARS, FACEBOOK AND A BIT OF A WHINGE

“What is fame? The advantage of being known by people of whom you yourself know nothing, and for whom you care as little.” - Lord Byron

The Oscars are about to be awarded again, and looking at the list of nominated movies this year leaves me rather uninspired on the main. In terms of the whole brouhaha surrounding the Oscars, the ceremony, the attendees and the lists of famous guests, every year seems to grow more tiresome and boring. The way that the US film industry has created the myth surrounding Hollywood and its star system feeds on events such as the Oscar Award Ceremony and for people away from it all, it is a little hard to take seriously. The choice of “Best Movie” award every looks like being more than a little arbitrary and motivated by a host of behind-the-scenes machinations. And how often is it that some remarkably good movies are entirely ignored…

Seeing “The Social Network” as one of the candidates has given me the willies. On principle I refuse to see this movie, just as on principle I refuse to have a Facebook account. The whole surge in popularity of this decidedly flawed and misused social networking site is quite astounding and despite all of the user horror stories that are aired worldwide, more and more people persist in joining and many more of them join the ranks of the disgruntled. Admittedly there are many more satisfied users, but I guess my beef is against monopolies that become behemoths and can do whatever they like with impunity. Such was the case with Bill Gates’ Microsoft until it started to be seriously challenged by Apple and other platforms.

I am also rather suspicious of “accidental billionaires” who seem to have made fortunes out of a single serendipitous venture and who are then lionised by the media and fêted in general to the extent of having biographies written about them while they are still in their twenties: “Lived boring childhood; went to College (Harvard though it was); had fun studying; had a good idea; made lots of money; still lives the same old life…” And then there’s a film about it, which will get the Oscar? Please, wake me when it’s over!

Hmmm, having re-read all of the above perhaps I come out as a bitter, old fogey who is shouting “sour grapes” at the top of his lungs.  However, my polemic is not self-motivated and underlying it all, I guess is the premise that to be successful as human being and to have lived a fulfilling, useful life does not go hand in hand with having fame and money. My objection is that our society is increasingly equating living a successful life with having money and being famous.

**********

Well, at least “The King’s Speech” won the Best Picture Oscar, I’ve just heard. Just as well the other one didn’t! I have spoken to several friends who have seen “The King’s Speech” and by all accounts it received very good reviews from them. As I trust their judgment, this is a movie I shall see.

ART SUNDAY - SINGAPORE ART MUSEUM

“Cities all over the world are getting bigger as more and more people move from rural to urban sites, but that has created enormous problems with respect to environmental pollution and the general quality of life.” - Alan Dundes

The Singapore Art Museum (SAM) was opened in January 1996. Its mission is to preserve and present the art histories and contemporary art practices of Singapore and the Southeast Asian region. SAM has amassed one of the world’s largest public collection of modern and contemporary Southeast Asian artworks. It is housed in a restored 19th century mission school, which can be found in the very heart of the city. It draws from its collection and collaborates with leading international museums to present shows covering both local and international art practices, as well as cutting edge art expressions. Contemporary art of the region is given international exposure through the museum’s travelling exhibition programme and collection loan.

The museum’s extension building, SAM at 8Q, was opened in August 2008, and expanded the museum’s contemporary art space to present fresh, multi-disciplinary, interactive and community-oriented exhiobitions. Today, SAM is a place where the public can directly experience the diversity of contemporary art practices ranging from painting and sculpture, to installation, film and video, photography, new media, performance art and sound art. It is a rich place where one can experience the work and ideas of living artists of Southeast Asia, and relate to the region’s unique aesthetic and social context. SAM is also the organiser of the Singapore Biennale 2011.

One of the striking works exhibited there currently is “Neo-Camouflage” by Indian artist Vibha Galhotra (see above). The artwork raises current urban issues such as destructiveness, overcrowding, pollution and psychological distress. It depicts how the artificial environment has become an almost uncontrollable phenomenon, overflowing and intruding public and personal spaces. “Neo-Camouflage” examines the urban landscape and suggests that human beings are easily lost within their an environment of their own making. Galhotra also imagines the need to reinvent and borrow the idea of the military fatigue (camouflage uniform) for civilian use as if it is needed to blend in and battle with the concrete jungle of the modern city. Galhotra’s art expounds the ‘brutal force of urbanisation’. The philosophical consideration of urbanisation and its effects is a subject often considered by artists from Asia and Southeast Asia, particularly those experiencing third world conditions.

CHINESE OPERA IN SINGAPORE

“I don't mind what language an opera is sung in so long as it is a language I don't understand.” - Edward Appleton

Singapore has a lively cultural scene with many events staged by both local and international artists. There is the renowned Singapore Symphony Orchestra, the Singapore Lyric Opera company, the Singapore Dance Theatre, theatre, numerous galleries, museums, artistic and cultural groups that reflect the multicultural community of this small but extremely successful Asian nation. One is constantly reminded of this mixed population by the signage, which is in the four official languages of English, Malay, Chinese (Mandarin), and Tamil. Singaporean culture is best described as a melting pot of mainly Chinese, British, Malay and Indian cultures - a reflection of its immigrant history.

Although the Western influence is still strong (remembering the British were here from 1819 till 1965), the Asian flavour of the culture is ineluctable and constantly reminds one that Singapore is a strongly Asian nation. Of its permanent residents (3.75 million), close to three quarters are Chinese, 13% are Malay and 10% Indian. However, it should be kept in in mind that Singapore has the sixth-highest percentage of foreigners globally, with about forty percent foreign nationals working and living here, bringing the population up to just over 5 million). This mix of people and cultures and cultures makes the country an interesting and vibrant place to be in, especially when looking at the cultural scene. The successful economy and subsidisation by the state of many artistic and cultural bodies ensures that art and culture receive strong government support.

As it is Song Saturday, I have chosen two clips of Chinese Opera, which is part of the Chinese cultural heritage that is alive and well in Singapore. Rather than being an entertainment that granny enjoys, Chinese Opera is also popular amongst the younger Chinese speaking people and represents a centuries-old tradition that still thrives wherever there are large Chinese populations. In Singapore there many live Chinese Opera performances staged, including many “street performances”, which literally bring art into peoples’ lives.