Willi Wonka, Willi Wonka

You may recall from my last post that my family had landed in Singapore. And I had planned to do a few things so that their forst few days are fun & memorable.

So we went around town, walked around the river, popped into shopping malls, had food at all sorts of places...all of this very nice for my wife. My daughter wouldn't care two shakes of a rat's tail for all that. So we took her to a children's play area, a kids art center, a music teacher & to top it, we took her to the "Charlie & the Chocolate Factory" movie.

That took the cake. Literally.

My daughter was sad when Charlie didn't get the ticked at first, thrilled when he did get it, was laughing & rolling & dancing with the "Alumpalumpa songs" and having a ball.

And when she snuggled next to me in bed, she said that she had a great time & that she loved the place.

Sigh!

I am complete

Yes, I am. My family landed here in Singapore on Friday!

I left office a couple of hours early...mainly because I could not help looking at the weather reports & the Singapore Airlines landing schedule every few minutes. And so I went & bought a "Welcome to Singapore" kind of gift for my daughter & went to the airport to pick them up.

As I reached, I realised from the Arrivals information that their flight had recieved clearance from the Changi ATC to commence landing sequence. Which meant that they would touch down any time now.

And then the Arrivals information changed to show that they had landed.

However, at Changi, having landed is one thing. Finding a parking bay is another. So the aircraft goes around a cool 15 minutes getting to its bay & finally opening the doors.

Knowing which belt their luggage was coming, I went to the exit of the belt. And then I waited...

The luggage from their flight started coming in about 20 minutes after the confirmation of landing. And then another 15 minutes or so later, people started to come to the belt & pick their stuff up. And my eyes started darting around the place to see if I can see my wife & my daughter anywhere.

I kept this up till a point came where the number of people coming to the belt started thinning & the staff at Changi started taking the bags off the belt so that the next airline could use it.

I got so worried. I didn't know why they were so late. Was something wrong? Did they have trouble at Immigration? All sorts of things popped into my paranoid mind.

And a full 10 minutes into my paranoia, I saw my family coming to the belt!

And I waved like a madman at my daughter. And she came rushing to me & hugged me so tight for 5 minutes which made all of that worry go away.

A small reunion later, we were all headed with their luggage to our hotel.

Happy Day Are Here Again! Thumbs Up! Thumbs Up!

Now that's creativity

Before a Brazil - Argentina game, an Argentinian condom company came up with this advert.

Brazil won the match. The Brazilian Football Association responded with this advert. Now, that's a creative slap on the face. What say?

Sand can, and does, hurt

Some of us in office planned a Sunday beach volleyball excusion to the Tanjong Beach on Sentosa island. It looked (at least from the mailing list) that there were around 10 of us in the going.

As I landed up there, the heavens decided to spice things up by pouring down. And when I say pouring down, I mean visibility of a few hundred feet!

So I'm thinking "These guys aren't going to turn up, so I might as well order a few drinks and get drunk in the rain". So I did...order drinks, I mean. The getting drunk part comes later! And I met a couple of folks who were planning to do the same thing. A guy from Finland, one from Sweden and we had a regular UN tribunal happening over Vodka & Cranberry.

And then a few of us showed up. And I thought "This has promise". And then a few more arrived. And the heavens parted as if to say "Let there be light ... & then some". I don't think any of us needed any more invitations to get the party going.

So we limbered up with a bit of frisbee & then a bit of American Football. It's then that I noticed a peculiar phenomenon (and I have a collegue to thank for pointing it out to me).

There were couples who had come there in their wedding ensemble to get their pictures taken. And these were pictures with them walking into the sunset (on a murky rainy day? That picture needs to be digitally touched up pronto), the holding hands pose, the "You may kiss the Bride" pose, and many more. And I had to say, "Wow, these people have some real patience in life to do this on a Sunday evening".

After quite a few jugs of alcohol, we decided to brave it to the volleyball pitch. And that was a lot of fun, trying to play a game that is really really difficult on sand & especially so when one is not used to it. And after I tried to dive at the ball a couple of times, I realised that sand really hurts.

Then back to the jug of alcohol (replenishment, you see) and then getting wet a bit. By this time, the DJ had decided to wake up & shake the rain water out of his plugs. Audio system plugs, clarification for all you perverted thinkers. And so we danced.

All in all, taking into account the rain & everything, it was a great evening. A lot of fun, a lot of play & a lot of alcohol being shared by quite a few people.

Only problem is, I woke up to cuts & scratches, thanks to the sand. And my lower torso hurts like hell!

What's common between Harry Potter & The Da Vinci Code?

Apart from the fact that Jesus Christ gets mentioned a lot in the Harry Potter series & Harry gets mentioned by Robert Langdon's editor in The Da Vinci Code, there is a name that is common to both the books.

Do you know which one?

No?

Want me to tell you?

Sure?

It's Nicholas Flamel.

Now if you scream "Who's that?", I would very strongly suggest you read the first installment of Harry Potter (The Philosopher's Stone). As per Ms. Rowling, Nicholas Flamel has in his possession the only known Philosopher's Stone. And if you think she made that up, I would have to say "You're wrong"!

Nicholas Flamel was a highly accomplished French Alchemist. It is claimed that he was able to create the Philosopher's Stone which, apart from turning lead into gold, also created the Elixer of Life which, as you might have guessed, makes you immortal. Along with Aqua Regia, both of these were the goals alchemists were trying to achieve back then. While the rest of them managed to create Aqua Regia, which could dissolve gold, Flamel is rumoured to have had success with the other two goals of Alchemy.

Now what does this have to do with The Da Vinci Code, you say?

Nicholas Flamel is mentioned as one of the Grand Masters of the Priory of Sion!

Cool, huh? How modern authors are using actual historical figures to make their stories sound more plausible.

Not sure how many of you caught that while reading the books.

Or maybe you are the type who does not like the Harry Potter series. Or The Da Vinci Code. Or both.

i Passed out, dude...

That should be the Apple iPod service station motto. Cause that's what customers go thro when they call the service station. I almost passed out myself!

I recently bought a 20gig colour iPod and after a couple of days, the left earbud of the headphones started to crackle, as if something has come loose inside & that is hitting the membrane.

So I went to the Apple site & registered a complaint requesting for a replacement of the headset. I got a Case Number & everything. And I was told to wait for a couple of days.

When I checked my case, it showed up as "Closed" and no other information.

So I called Apple and asked them for an explanation. The service rep said that that system is not valid for Singapore (THEN WHY HAVE IT THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE?). The rep also suggested that I take the pod to a service center.

When I did, the service center told me that Apple does not allow it's service centers to stock replacements & that they would have to send my headphones to Apple for "problem analysis" and to "ascertain if it has to be replaced" and that it will take, get this, a minimum of 10 days!

Now for a device that I bought a few days ago to listen to music & which broke down to no fault of mine, I think 10 days is unacceptable. So I decided not to give my headphones to them & tried calling Apple instead.

This time around, the conversation lasted for less than two minutes...with me being on hold for more than fifteen minutes.

Now I have been told that the replacement headphones for my pod will be shipped to me and should reach me "within the next two weeks". It "might be sooner", but there is no guarantee on the time it will take. And they "dont know whether the delivery is international or local".

All of this for a pair of earphones.

It would have been easier to just go out & buy another set. But then, I would be helping Apple sell a piece (which is bad & something that they should pay for) and another piece since the first didn't work OK.

There's a principle involved here. If you can find it, tho, let me know.

And I have a house!

Sure enough, after going thro a lot of anxiety, it is confirmed. I will finally move into my rented apartment beginning September. As promised, here are a few pictures of the place.

This is the apartment complex. It has a few nice touches, you will notice them in the following photos.

I personally think that this is a great place. Very cozy, very comfortable. And it is very close to my daughter's school as well as my office. Just a hop-skip-and-jump away.

The complex has a nice patio for having barbeque parties or just simply chilling out. The pool is also very nice with a water slide, just perfect for my daughter. And there is a small little putting green for me to practise! What more can I ask for in an apartment?



Now the only thing that remains is for my family to get here and we can all live happily ever after! I have a thing for fairy tails...But don' t get me started on that.

Am I in Singapore or in India?

I went to visit a customer a couple of days ago. And from the moment I entered the building, I realized that I saw more Indians than people of any other nationality.

As I took the elevator, there were seven people in there and six were Indians.

For a moment, I could not believe I was in the right country.

Then I entered the floor & saw an overwhelming majority of my fellow countrymen there too! And the person who I was supposed to meet was, as you must have guessed by now, Indian.

Good to see so many of us here. There is hope for me!

Maybe I'll have a house...

The house, being the only significant thing pending on my list, looks like it might come thro. If everything else goes smoothly, the landlord & I will have signed the agreement for the house. And then I will go "SIGH!"

Cause that is the single biggest uncertainty for me right now. Everything else on the personal front looks OK for the time being.

If things go smoothly, I will take possession of my house in Singapore on the 1st of next month.

Pray for me.

Along Came Polly

And I am not talking about the Ben Stiller / Jennifer Aniston movie. This is another story & a real one, at that.

Yesterday, after a really lazy morning, I went to IKEA to check out their new sale. (Just a bit of digression...here in Singapore, they pronounce it E-KEA as opposed to the rest of the world which does it as Eye-KEA). After getting dropped there in a blue coloured cab, I went around the store looking at some of the new interesting designs that IKEA has come out with. And an hour or so later, I realized that my phone was missing!

After a mad scramble through the store, I went and reported this to the Lost & Found department of IKEA. Then I called up & did the same with the blue cab company. And they all said they will get back to me as soon as they get some news.

I was really depressed. As you can see from my last post, I had just taken a new local connection and now I had to get that line suspended, get a replacement SIM card, get a new phone & all of that takes a lot of time & effort & money.

And then in the evening, Polly called!

This kindly lady had taken the cab after I got out & found my phone stuck to the seatbelt. So this blessed woman took the phone, found my hotel room card key in the phone & called me up to tell me that the phone was with her & that I can pick it up anytime.

I was halfway through the door when she said this. I was so thrilled to get me phone back. This is my only connection to the world & let me tell you...after getting used to having a phone with you all the time, it is pretty difficult to live without it for even a very short time.

So I went all the way to Punggol, one of the furthest points in the Singapore transit system & sure enough, there was Polly waiting for me with my phone.

I cannot thank you enough, Polly Wee.

Singtel Rocks!

Efficiency like this can only be marvelled at.

I finally got my Employment Pass (EP) which basically means I am recognised by the Singapore Government as someone who works here & it acts as a multiple entry VISA for me into Singapore for the tenure of my pass.

Using this, I walked into a Hello store (Hello stores are Singtel retail outlets) and asked for a connection. All that was needed was a copy of my EP, my passport & my signature with my thumbprint. I chose my number, it was added into the system & I walked out with an activated Singtel connection.

Just swapped my old SIM with the new one & I was ready to go. GPRS already setup & going, SMS/MMS all set.

As they say in the US, "You're all set!" ... Yes, indeedee. I'm all set.

What else can be new?

Here I am starting a new life in Singapore. And it looks like it's gonna be a bit more difficult than earlier thought.

To start with, there's usual things like finding a new house that you & your family will think habitable, a school where your child will actually learn a lot & enjoy going to.

To top that, my boss, who was a part of my big move here, has moved on. And by moved on, I mean he has joined another company. While I sincerely wish him all the best, I am in a complete state of flux.

The manager standing in for my boss is a great guy. He really helped me out with my relocation & made sure that I was comfortable, despite the fact that he knows I will be out of his hair in a few days...when my actual manager comes online.

So as you can see, my move to Singapore is, to say the very least, looking quite interesting.

However, I am quite sure that everything will work out just fine & that I will be a lot better off once things settle down.

I have no idea where I get the optimism from.

It's a week!

Now that I am in Singapore to stay rather than on a business trip, I am seeing it in a completely different light.

Things that you woiuld not notice as a business traveller. Things like how convenient the infrastructure is to get around, how wide the culinary range is, how easy it is to get a bank account, how much you have to walk.

During this last week, a company called Asian Welcome introduced the city of Singapore to me. A very nice lady called Janis drove me around pointing all the important / nice things in Singapore. She also took me to a few schools that we had picked out for my daughter.

And I think I have a great school for her. I haven't seen the way they teach there, but I just have a good feeling about this. I really hope she likes the school & settles in quickly.

Now that I am done with the school, the hunt for accomodation begins. I am currently in a hotel in Singapore (Marriott, of course) which is slap bang on Orchard Road. Orchard, for people who have never been to Singapore, is the shopping Mecca here. On weekends, you would be lucky to walk without bumping into anyone constantly. It sometimes looks like the whole of Singapore is on Orchard. Just like the whole of Bangalore is on Brigade Road on the weekends!

Hopefully the accomodation will be close enough for my daughter to get to her school without too much time travelling. And hopefully it will be close to my office too. Let's see how that goes.

More on my Singapore situation coming soon. Stay tuned.