Little India - Charming and Colourful!

 

 

 

 

The above pictures are taken around Little India.

It has been about 8 months since I moved to Little India. I have enjoyed staying here tremendously. The whole place is abuzz with people from all walks of life. What a cosmopolitan crowd!

Best of all, I enjoy the proximity of the MRT station which is just 45 seconds walk from my apartment! I can zip around conveniently in trains and buses, and very often, I walk to my office. I am marketing a few commercial shops around my apartment. Hence, I can just walk to my destination when I want to show clients the properties. My block is reasonably quiet as it is away from the main road of Serangoon. Morever, it is so breezy that I hardly turn on the fan. In fact for the past three months, my electrical bills hover around $38 per month! Sometimes it is so windy that I have to close the kitchen windows or it is almost impossible for me to cook.

I have very good neighbours who keep a look-out for one another. My neighbour, Wendy, helps the couple above her unit with looking after their pet parrot when they go overseas. I will help Wendy to dogsit her mixed Silky Terrier/Maltese, Shufie when she goes away.

I have chosen to live in Little India instead of in Chinatown so that it is easier for me to resist the temptation of food. Since I do not really like Indian cuisine, it is easier for me not to step into an eatery. It also compels me to do more cooking at home rather than dining out. I knew that if I were to stay in Chinatown, I would defintely increase my waistline. But over here, I had not once patronised an eatery or restaurant! For those who love Indian cuisine, Little India is full of restaurants serving Indian, Nepali, Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Mediterranean cuisine. The grocery stores here commence business at 6.00am and close at around midnight!

I hope more Singaporeans will get to appreciate this little exciting part of town known as Little India. For those Singaporeans who cannot afford to travel to India, they may enjoy the ambience here. It makes people feel as if they were in India!

Gan Chau

The Happiest Man Lives In.......

Hi Choo Choo,



The happiest man lives in the Asylum.



Man without any worry,

Man who need not care what will happen next,

Man who need not care about the world,

Man who knows nothing except living in his own peaceful world.


Regards,

William Lim

It is interesting to note that my blog articles on happiness have elicited so many interesting and varied responses. The above is from DTM toastmaster, William Lim, Division Governor of Division B. I guess William is not wrong either, for who knows, a mad peson could actually be happier than you and me.!

I remember once there was a lady who was not of sound mind in our village. People called her Ah Eng. She would mutter to herself and help herself to left over drinks and food on the tables in cofee shops and hawker centres. Since she was never violent and was sometimes even quite polite, the villagers left her alone. Some kind souls sometimes gave her some money. On some rare occasions, she would scream, scaring the people around her. Otherwise, Ah Eng had never physically harmed anyone.

After I graduated and returned from Canada, I saw Ah Eng again. I noticed that she had not aged much, except for being a little more unkempt. While many of us had
more wrinkles that came with aging, Ah Eng looked like she was when I saw her ten years ago. I remember once mom had said that mad people do not grow old so fast, because they no longer know how to worry, and live in a world of their own, a world which we could never penetrate or comprehend.

When I went to Nepal to give a helping to our full time missionaries who were stationed there, we had a great time. We really let our hair down. We laughed. We joked and we acted crazy. Really, it is not easy for our missionaries to leave the comforts of home and stay in a country which is so different. I remember mentioning to them that we had to be insane in order to preserve our sanity!

I am sure my readers must have come across some people who are so unhappy and depressed that they think others must be insane to be happy! We must learn not to take things too seriously. Only then, can we learn to let go at times!

Do not be surprised if the people in the asylum think that they are the ones who are sane; we are the ones who are insane! Yes, indeed, sometimes we have to be insane in order to preserve our sanity and happiness.

Come on, everybody! Let's all be .......XIAO AH! (Crazy!)

Gan Chau

Who Wants to Feel Like a Millionaire?

"Choo, I read your blog article on the quarter aire. I like it," said Serene Teng, one of our company's top agents.

"I guess you're many times a quarter aire", I said.

"Yes, I was already a quarter aire at age 26, and today, I am many times over," asserted Serene with a glow in her face.

"But Choo, you're a millionaire in so many ways. You're so multi-talented. You're a good cook, an interesting public speaker, a good teacher, a prolific writer, etc. I'd be happy just to have two quarters of your talent", Serene asserted.

I smiled. Perhaps we should come up with a program, "Who wants to feel like a millionaire?" instead of the popular program, "Who wants to be a millionaire.?"

Feeling rich is just as important as really having the wealth. For there are people who have thousands and millions in the bank or in assets, yet still feel that they are poor.!

Although we just had enough when we were young, I never felt poor. We lived in a big attap house with a huge compound. My siblings would climb the chiku and jambu (rose apple) trees while I waited with a basket in my hand, ready to catch the fruits. We could draw lines on the sand, and played hours of hop scotch and tic-tac-toe. We were happy to wear hand-me-down, and make creative toys out of discarded things that we could find. Having the most wonderful father on earth made me feel very rich indeed! I would never trade places with anyone!

Who wants to feel like a millionaire? Happiness and contentment equals FULFILLMENT!