Category: General

Today I had my mother over at the hotel where I am staying for lunch together with my sis in law and my nieces.

A decent buffet lunch, although they told me that they have had to cut down a number of items because of the higher cooking gas prices.

Not much conversation, except with my mother. So hard to get the rest to say anything. They have always been so quiet. Well at least they ate well.

My mother needed to attend to some matters in her home town, Aruppukottai, and to also visit the grandchildren. So we left today for India.

It used to be so convenient when they had a direct flight to Madurai.They cancelled that flight last year and now I have to travel to Madurai via Trichy, which is a 3 hour car journey. She then has a further one hour journey to her home town by car. I stay in Madurai.

The flight was supposed to be this morning at 11am. I woke up and checked my email and the first one said the flight had been cancelled. The later email said it had been postponed to 915pm.

Anyway we are now on the way there. We land at 11pm Indian time and will be about 3am when I reach Madurai and 4am for her to reach her home town.

Saturday morning was this award ceremony. I had signed up for the event and I didn’t know then that I was actually receiving an award. So it turned out to be a pleasant surprise when I turned up.

This event celebrates volunteers from all walks of life, including schools, students and corporates who contribute their time, money and energy helping others in the NW district.

So good catching up with everyone and the advisers who turned up that day. Time to look back on my 23 years helping at the NWCDC.

Yesterday I organized a thank you lunch for the management team of Jobs and Lifelong Learning at NWCDC.

Now that the 3 year term is ending , I thought it was an opportune time to meet up socially and thank them.

I arranged it at ShangriLa whilst the Briyani Festival was still ongoing. Good crowd yesterday but still I think they enjoyed the food there.

In the age of AI and transformation everywhere, the issue of finding and maintaining employment and constantly upgrading and updating knowledge and skills will become important. I am glad that the CDCs are doing this and that I have been able to be a part of this movement.

I can see that the team is doing their best to reach out to residents not just to hit their numbers but also to make a meaningful impact on their lives. I only hope that residents appreciate the hard work they are putting in to help them.

I spent a lovely afternoon yesterday here. Met up with Johnny Yu and his wife Grace. Such a wonderful couple who have devoted their entire working life to art. They have so much art in their gallery, mostly local and Chinese art. And over the years, they have organised many art shows and art book launches. They were married 50 years ago and they were talking to me about where they had their wedding dinner in Shenton Way all those years ago!

I spent so much time perusing their collection and looking at their catalogues. And Grace showed me photos that they took all those years ago of launches that they did.

I was fascinated by calligraphy done by the late Venerable Song Nian that was on display there.

I then realised that I may have one in the office. This morning I confirmed that I do have one. I received this about 15 years ago when I made a donation to a elder folks home and they gave me this piece.

I have also asked them to look out for some pieces for me. I will follow up.

So good that I have been able to catch up with them after a break of about 15 years. The last time was when they brought Li Shuji to Singapore to display his artworks and I bought a huge piece from them.

My good friend Krist Boo, who has just moved to RWS, organized lunch on Thursday at Moutarde, a newly opened french restaurant there.

I have known Krist since early 2000s, when we were both NWCDC councillors. She dropped out after a while when she left ST to join the private sector.

We have stayed in touch and we meet regularly to discuss local affairs over lunch.

This time she wanted me to meet her 3 other friends, whom she regularly meets over a meal.

One is a sociologist, another a telecoms consultant and the last one is in the government.

All of them are bright and well educated. We chatted on so many topics. The developments in AI and it’s impact on the economy and jobs; Singapore’s rate and extent of AI adoption and what it will take for companies here to truly embrace AI; the education system in Singapore and the effect of a good branded school on a child’s future prospects; the nuances of what was presented in the Albatross Files.

Unfortunately I think I spoke more than I wanted to because the topics were so close to my heart.

Wonderful conversation but I cannot say the same for the food. Perhaps it will take some time for them to improve their offerings and their service as they have just opened.

We had coffee yesterday morning at Kg Glam. His choice of location.

I first met him when he was an NMP and I had invited him for a dinner. We had brunch and we ended up talking for about 2 hours. I liked him.

He is now a MP and a political appointment holder. Being thrown into the deep end for someone who has never been in the service or grassroots must be a steep learning curve. But he is still young and has along way to go. Best to take one step at a time and get better rather than be a superstar from day one. Because then the only way ahead may be downhill.

We talked about various topics and am glad that he still was able to find time to have coffee with me.

Once again it was time for this festival at the Shangri La hotel. This time, it runs for a full 2 weeks.

I was there last night, courtesy of the Indian High Commission. They had invited a small group of people to kick off the festival, comprising the press and some officials from the various government departments. No fanfare or speeches, just good food.

It was the Line restaurants’ regular buffet spread but with 10 different types of briyanis from various regions of India, together with some Indian salads and desserts.

I tried out the different briyanis and they were good, some more than others. The only thing to note is that one needs to eat briyanis when they are fresh and when it is hot. It is tastiest at that point and somehow is no longer the same when it is not hot and becomes drier.

The desserts were excellent and not sweet. Just a pity I didn’t have the stomach to eat all the other food on offer last night.

Sunday was mother’s day. We decided not to go out to eat on Sunday itself. Instead, I bought back her choice of dishes from Ananda Bhavan. Ponggal and Uppuma with chutney. And she really enjoyed the vegetarian dishes.

Today I took her to Shangri La for lunch. It was also day one of their biryani festival. I think she enjoyed the variety of dishes and desserts on offer. And of course the briyanis.

Always good to celebrate another mother’s day and grateful that she can eat well and walk and enjoy the food!

We had planned lunch sometime back. On Friday morning, Vikram suggested Samy’s Curry. I am not really a fan of Samy and felt he should try my current favorite Indian restaurant, Erode Amman.

He really liked the food there. Simple and inexpensive. We chatted about work and people we both know.

Vikram has done well in the firm. I remember talking to him all those years ago to encourage him to join us. I am glad I did and he certainly looks happy to be here.