J, Y and the God of Hiking

The plan - made much in advance. Tables - booked. 23 people. 1 absentee. 10/F Times Square - Chung Choi restaurant. Your man in red. 30 minutes of waiting. 1 mission. To celebrate the birthday of J and Y. Food? Delicious! Who missed it? Another birthday baby - THE GOD OF HIKING - JP. Rumours abound - he will be back during Christmas to organize the annual Chi Sin Hiking Festival 2005. Partners in spoil - BL and AD smile with expectation. Same torturous trails? No! This time we shall do new ones. Sad that the streams would have dried up. Waiting to do the 'river of rocks' next to Phoenix mountain.

Labels: life

Shweta Potter turns 10

Miss Shweta turned 10 on 15 Sept 2004. 10 years already! Time does fly! I still remember how she used to cry and what a cute little baby she was. Hahaha. Look how she has lit the candles up by a flick of her hand! She is an expert magician, a fantastic detective (oops that was supposed to be a secret...so please..shhhh!) and a cool Ballet Dancer.
She can explain all puzzles in English, Hindi, Oriya, Chinese and, I suspect, Bahasa too.
Here, she is accompanied by SpiderBoy, Sanchit. Oh no, I am telling you all the secrets!
View Party Snaps

Letter to a baby

My dearest little Arin,

You are the first baby to receive a letter from me. Right now, you are a tiny little beautiful baby sleeping for more than 16 hours daily on an average. No, I have not seen you in person or heard you speak (baby words), yet you have brought me so much joy by coming into this world, my world, our world. I am your suk suk (cute uncle) AD. I want to hold you in my arms and show you what a beautiful world it is. The lovely trees, the colourful flowers, the singing birds, the friendly animals...hey, wake up. Show me your smile. Hahaha, you don't have enough teeth yet, so I cannot give you any candy. I am waiting for you to grow up a little more so that I can teach you to walk, run and play sports. Come on, baby, try holding my little finger. Kooochi baby....Cutie baby... Oh you look so sleepy again. Suk suk made you tired. Go back to sleep. I am watching over you. Hmmm Hmmm Hmmm .

- AD Suk Suk

Labels: Babies

The Arin Age has begun

Dear friends,
My cousin just gave birth to a beautiful baby boy.
His name is Arin.
I am a suk suk again!


Letter to a baby

My dearest little Arin,
You are the first baby to receive a letter from me. Right now, you are a tiny little beautiful baby sleeping for more than 16 hours daily on an average. No, I have not seen you in person or heard you speak (baby words), yet you have brought me so much joy by coming into this world, my world, our world. I am your suk suk (cute uncle) AD. I want to hold you in my arms and show you what a beautiful world it is. The lovely trees, the colourful flowers, the singing birds, the friendly animals...hey, wake up. Show me your smile. Hahaha, you don't have enough teeth yet, so I cannot give you any candy. I am waiting for you to grow up a little more so that I can teach you to walk, run and play sports. Come on, baby, try holding my little finger. Kooochi baby....Cutie baby... Oh you look so sleepy again. Suk suk made you tired. Go back to sleep. I am watching over you. Hmmm Hmmm Hmmm .
- AD Suk Suk
3 months old!
Check out more snaps of Arin.

Labels: Babies

Love was bound to happen

Sanjana - Shekhar, have you been in love ever?

Shekhar - Yes, there is a girl. Just like you - very beautiful, so innocent and a little crazy too. But its only my heart that knows of this.

Sanjana - Why have you not told her yet?

Shekhar - I know what to say but I cannot get the words to flow out of my mouth.
I am sure the confession shows in my eyes but I am not sure if she reads it.
How do I tell her that I love her!
Why do I suppress this storm inside,
when I feel that she is more precious than life itself?
This crazy thing called love.
And how do I tell her how much I love her,
when I find her fragrance in every breath I take
and I see all her dreams in my eyes.
I realize that she has become a necessity,
since life in her absence is difficult to live through.
Why can I not tell her that I love her?

My heart wishes her happiness always..

This love is a strange thing, Sanjana. Sometimes, even when the heart knows it would be accepted, it is scared of expressing itself.

Nelly & Sherman launch their official wedding website

My stay in Hong Kong is so enjoyable. Thanks to some very good friends I have here. There is some happy news to share with you all. Two of my nicest friends - Nelly (& Sherman) and Sherman (& Nelly) are getting married on Nov 19. November has always been a special month for me. But this space is dedicated to Nelly and Sherman and our friendship and so I shall write about that later. You may want to know why I wrote their names twice. Well, look carefully, its written just once. For me, I cannot think of one without thinking about the other...I started working with them in Dec 2001 and started to know them in early 2002. Forgive the initial few days since I cannot remember if they were on holiday or not. Anyways, it was my first Christmas in Hong Kong. Lonely one. Yes. But beautiful. The city was so beautifully decorated with lights...there I go again!! Focus, AD!Sorry, just a lapse of concentration. ;-) You know what I mean.Nelly, without doubt, a very friendly, kind-hearted, helpful, funny and beautiful lady (I use the word lady, since she is older than me hahaha,,,well, actually she is so well-mannered, its appropriate). I remember how we used to call her and VC as ML Twins. And she can sing very well! This I learned on my first Karaoke night with the team and ever (read here). I can never forget the multi-coloured dogs she used to line up her monitor with. Bet she has bought some more! And her attempts at rearing fish and plants in the office...Sherman, most friendly, kind-hearted, helpful, funny and cool gentleman...See I told you...they are so much alike! Thanks for all those pep-up talks you gave me during those confused days. And all the help and guidance with you know what. ;-) And starting my Mandarin account with My Way. Still remember how we used to sneak out for K-lunches with the K-gang on weekdays. What a great way to unwind. Sherman is pretty good at Wai Yat too. You should listen to him sing. I remember the concerns we had before the IRAQ war began. And the love you have for movies (something I find rare). In short, you lovely couple, we have shared so many small yet treasured moments over the past 3 years, that I feel very happy to have such great friends like you both. And, finally, you gave us all the happy news. Today I checked your website (http://nellysherman.com/). And I felt so happy that my eyes went moist. As I have told you already that is the closest I can go to describing the reaction. Here's to wishing you both the very best in life! God bless you! And God bless me with many more friends like you both. Thanks for being my friends!
AD

Cool Gang

Sept 10, 2004

Finished reading Scott Adams' "The Dilbert Principle". A great read for office-going people. Tells you the best ways to avoid work and extract it from some one else at the same time. Hahaha. Other tips include - how to survive down-sizing & outsourcing, get promoted over colleagues, survive your manager's follies, stay awake (or appear to do so) during meetings...Well, don't let me tell you everything, pick it up and read it. And, by the way, his theories are studded with his famous cartoon strip. Its a book which you can read randomly. And a great one for daily commutation. Wonder what my fellow-passengers actually thought when I was chuckling on way to work. Here is the official website. http://www.dilbert.com/
USA had a painful international debut. New Zealand put up a mammoth score of 348/4 and then Oram ripped through their batting line up. Astle got a century.England Vs Zimbabwe had rain playing the upper hand. Solanki played really well. Sad that he lost concentration. Flintoff looked over-confident. Disappointed. I wanted to see him bat today. He is supposed to be the best all-rounder in the game these days, now that Chris Cairns is past his prime. Dare I say that? Just wish to see a lot of good cricket during this tournament. Hope the rain stops. Ticket sales have not been that great. :-( No place else like the sub-continent - cricket draws out such a large number of people to the stadiums. With an unofficial report of over 100,000 spectators at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata, once.
By the way, just picked up Dan Brown's - "The Da Vinci Code". Looks promising right from page one. I have heard some very good comments about this book. There are two publishers for this one and the difference in price is around $14 HKD. I like the cover on the cheaper one. Looks more scientific. :-)

ICC Champions Trophy 2004 (Sept 10 - 26)

All Cricket-lovers and Cricket-curious,
You must have heard that the ICC Champions Trophy 2004 (Cricket mini world cup) is on from tomorrow (10 - 26 Sept). Here is a cheaper method to view all 15 matches. Register at this website, pay online and watch!Before you do that, ensure that you have a broadband connection as it doesn't work on dial-ups. Also, run this clip to see whether your system meets the requirements.http://www.willow.tv/EventMgmt/DemoClip.asp
Also, check out - http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2004/OD_TOURNEYS/ICCCT/for latest info on the tournament.
Enjoy your cricket!

Slow down

Dear readers,
I found out that a similar project was done by a team at CUHK (http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-can/).
You can generate a hyperlink to every Chinese character in the lyrics.
Clicking on a hyperlink would bring up details such as how to speak that word in Cantonese, Mandarin..and what it means. Pretty neat!
Only problem is that you need to be online while working on a song.
My project was aimed at taking everything offline.
For the past few days I have been sleeping around 3-3:00 am every morning.
One of the reasons has been my project.
Now, there is no hurry to finish it as I can go online anytime and work it out.
So this project is kept in abeyance until I find more time to put into it.
Right now I have a long list of Chinese Characters (> 6000) and I have begun putting in stuff into it. Just trying to see if I can get my hands on a database of some sort (where someone has already done the tedious work). Not fair, I know. But the whole process was also aimed at increasing efficiency and reducing time taken up to convert into Kantonglish. As long as the purpose is served and I get more time to spend on other stuff...Of course, credit would be given to the right people.
Sleepy head.

Labels: karaoke

Sing K and the art of writing Kantonglish – Part III

Finding out latest popular songs is not difficult, the K bars advertise between songs. Hahaha Promo copies. And how we cannot skip them…
And then there is si fu GW, who would point out the latest ones to me if not send them across. Thanks to Yahoo mail for the 100MB storage. Guys, if you do not have a free Gmail (https://gmail.google.com/) or Yahoo account, go get it. And I do listen to radio at times.
The challenge was to make the production faster. So I went back to click one – Internet. I got hold of a free tool called ‘dim sum’ (http://www.mandarintools.com ). No, my friends, for once I am not talking about food. What it does is translates Chinese characters into Pin Yin. Now, I needed to find the songs to translate…i.e., the lyrics in Chinese. And I can get them only from Chinese websites…and I do not know how to type in using my keyboard…until GW (how many times? He should pay me for this) showed me http://www.coolmanmusic.com Now, there I can find the names of the singers in English. And the song names can then be matched by the ancient way of comparing symbols (read Chinese characters). So just a copy of the same when converted to Pin Yin through dim sum would give me the Mandarin songs readymade. But hey, we are talking about Kantonglish here. So, what is next? I did try out using the Pin Yin , listening to songs and then modifying the Pin Yin to Kantonglish..but again time consumed was too much…and then I needed to check with Chinese friends to cross-check for errors.
Then, one fine day, SC, being the smart (read lazy) guy he is, suggested to form a dictionary to map Chinese -> Kantonglish. And that’s what I am working on right now. Initially, putting all the mapping in an excel file…So that I can look them up when I am translating the next song…Any new words that come up, are cross-checked with a Cantonese-speaker and added to the dictionary...Some days later, I shall try to build an application over it. J And well…that’s it…
I have made some good friends at K and some people want to see me sing in Kantonglish…I know it is not very close to Cantonese yet but hey how many expats do really sing in Chinese ma?
And as for the deciphering the remote control options for the K-machine…well that is another area and would require separate space…just that you guys should probably head for CEO (Causeway Bay)…saw some English explanation on some units there…try the bigger rooms with attached bath…
If you are an expat and wish to have the Kantonglish lyrics for a Cantonese song… contact me…

Labels: karaoke

Sing K and the art of writing Kantonglish – Part II

Start up
I did study Mandarin and Pin Yin at the British Council some months back (for a few weeks)…don’t laugh…they do teach Chinese. But Cantonese was alien to me. I accept that I had ignored it in the past. Why? Everybody told me that it is a difficult dialect to learn and that you cannot write down the words in English. And learning Chinese characters would probably take me years if not decades…
But, I thought, if Chinese is based on sounds then those sounds could be written down in any other language as long as one could modify it to adapt to some sounds which are difficult for us to speak. Having learned English during school and with the ability to write Oriya and Hindi in English faster and more effectively than in those scripts, I decided to bend it like Oringlish (nobody coined the word…it sounds better than Engloriya anyways which is close to Anglo-oriya which itself stands for English and Oriya union) and Hinglish.
I sat down one afternoon and started playing that Eason song again and again and again. Trying to write down the sounds…then when I had the whole song ready I took it to GW for review…he said it was good…bet he did not read it completely…how else could he have overlooked the BIG mistakes which I found recently when I revisited that piece. Anyways, he encouraged me enough to go on and sing it. And thank God for the patience which GT and BK displayed. I was literally humming it all day…even during office hours…I tried that piece out at the next K and it went down well…more encouragement and requests (I shall not call them demands yet since I am no longer a DJ).
The next break came through BK who helped translate an Alex song through a tool. I got the version in English with his help (so credit to him too). And it sounded closer to Cantonese rendition but needed a lot of polishing.
So this song was also added to the list of Cantonese songs I was performing (with reference to American Idol William Hung – www.williamhung.net ).
But as I went on attending more and more K I realized that I was singing the same songs over and over again and the audience was really being tested. But the time taken for writing a song in Kantonglish would take very long and by the time I put together one, the audience’s taste had moved on. So I started thinking…how could I produce them faster and how could I get to know the latest and popular songs. How…how…how…

Continued in ….. Sing K and the art of writing Kantonglish – Part III

Labels: karaoke

Sing K and the art of writing Kantonglish – Part I

For the innocent, unsuspecting people:

Sing K = Sing Karaoke
Kantonglish = Cantonese songs written in English [different from Cantonglish which is a form of Chinglish which stands for Chinese + English (spoken and written)] purely for the sake of Karaoke. Invented by AD and BK.

Back ground
I was introduced to the local style of singing K (popularly known as sing K or K) sometime in 2002. I did try my hand at some very old English classics which did not go down that well with even the old people. And NO, hahaha, my singing was not that bad. It’s just that they were less popular with the crowd. Why did I pick them? Well, the K bars have a very old and unpopular list of English songs. And most of them are renditions by popular local stars with care thrown to the wind for continuity of lyrics and tune. Classic case – American Pie by Leslie Cheung. Leslie by his own right was a big star. And still sells. But what he did to that lovely Don Mclean song forced Madonna to come out with her own version. (I am just guessing this and no offence meant to either parties)

Back to the story now. My visits to the K became more frequent as my younger colleagues often invited me to join them…;-) that was until we decided to form a K-lunch club and I invited them. Why K-lunch?
Simple. The K-chains (like Red Box, Green Box, Neway) charge lesser and offer lunch in the package than how they rip us off in the evenings especially on weekends…And it was great to get away from the stress during a weekday, have lunch with friends and sing K for 1 hour.
Since, English was not a wide choice and I ended up doing solo most of the time, I began to enjoy others’ singing more and stopped singing in English for sometime….just like a lull before a storm….that is until GW (I am going to use initials here since I have not taken permission from them to print their names yet) asked me to join in on his favourite Eason song on YW’s birthday k-lunch party. I was encouraged to sing the ‘re do so’ part which is what it is – re do so (as in do re me). And it went well with the public.
I knew that to enjoy more I would have to sing with the others. And to sing with the others I would need to know how to sing local songs.
They were all happy that I enjoyed that part of the song…but it was getting boring singing the same part every time…especially when the lead singer (read GW) did not want to sing it anymore…so I had to do what I did do….and it is not my fault…

Continued in ….Sing K and the art of writing Kantonglish – Part II

Labels: karaoke

3 years but I can still feel it.

On 9/11, I got a second chance. One of my emails got forwarded around the world and is now a part of BBC’s coverage of America’s Day of Terror. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/americas/2001/day_of_terror/eyewitness/6.stm)
I was communicating with some of my friends when the attacks were made. And this email was written, at the end of the day, to let my friends know that I am safe.
Here is an edited version of the same.
I did walk past one of the brothers shooting the documentary on firemen which was released in 2002. (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0312318/)

Edited Version Below:
I saw history with naked eyes today. And fate just stared me in the face and made me realize how small we are. Thank God, for having spared us from any harm. And let us not forget the souls that have departed.
Now the whole story as seen through my eyes. All times according to my watch.
8:35 am - I get out of the PATH train from Newark at WTC. Usually, I respond to the "Good morning New York" display with a good morning. Today, I am feeling low. Also cursing myself for being late by 10 minutes.
8:37 am - I cross the only block (50-75m) that separates my office (222, Broadway)from WTC.
8:40 am - I am reading my mails on the 5th floor.
8:42 am - There is a tremendous noise (like a plane flying really low), the glasses on the windows (1 m from me) bend inwards and straighten out. There is a thundering crash and I look out the window to see - people lying on the street.
Glasses of adjoining buildings blown off. Paper flying in the air, Dust and smoke. I run towards a window that offers better view. North Tower, WTC has caught fire. I feel it is a plane, people say it is a bomb.
8:55 am - I am making phone calls to ensure none of my friends are hurt. Get only my cousin on the line. Scan websites, radio programmes and send u updates.
8:59 am - Hear a similar (plane) noise and go to the window. Watch a plane crash into the South Tower. Jump away from the window and duck. The windows develop cracks.
9:10 am - Bldg Security ask us not to evacuate.
9:30 am - Radio reports of Pentagon crash, Whitehouse evacuation, Washington Mall Fire and other hijacked planes come in.
9:40 am - Third (Plane) noise begins. Some one says they see a 3rd plane (A third plane did not hit. The noise was actually the South Tower - first to fall - coming down.) (lie). But the bldg starts shaking. I am one of the first people to reach the floor exit. Doors are Jammed. Push thru and reach the fire exit. Running down flights like mad. Crowd goes on increasing and howling. Reach the reception - get directed towards the rear. The rear door is not opened coz of smoke and dust. Head towards the front.
People are crying. There is that pungent smell of electric fire. Check out the CCTV's and see that outside there is only darkness. Somebody shouts for people with asthma. I think they want help. I realize I have left my bag and inhaler at my desk on the 5th floor. I go on as I have some tabs in my pocket.
Instead, they want all asthma patients to leave ASAP. we are given water and food. I take neither and step out of the bldg. It is as good as a night without light. The hanky on my face is not enough.
I am breathing thru my mouth. Feel dust in throat. TV people like mad - going on shooting footage. Injured and terrified cops brought in for attendance. people are crying, cursing...Everybody looks white from the dust. And wet. Some were bleeding and hence appeared wet. Immobile people on the streets.
Ambulances coming in. Only siren and howling. I see people running towards what appears like light in the distance. I start walking fast. I see people inside other buildings not being allowed to evacuate as per police orders. they want people nearest to WTC to go first. I reach the City Hall and wash myself up in the fountain. I sit there for a minute. The first tower(that was hit i.e. North Tower)collapses. Though the air is somewhat clear, I move on fearing more dust/ smoke.
I just keep walking north. I get the news that the whole city has been sealed off. Only exits from the island are the Manhattan bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge. Only ferry service is from south of WTC which I can in no way reach. They suspect bombs in crowded areas, So everything is sealed off.
I freshen up at a Chinese restaurant in china town.
All calls from public phones are going nowhere. all mobile networks are either jammed or no good.
Rest rooms and water are made available to affected people. And I drink a lot of water. It is hot. The smoke and dust on my trail and the humidity a bit above comfort. It is after months that I am out on the streets and walking for such a long time. I had never seen New York and this was a bad day I picked.
I have to go to Journal Square, NJ (my home). But there is nothing that can take me there. So I ask the authorities and start walking towards north. I meet people who are trying to get to New Jersey. And after discussion we decide to head towards -Penn Station (train) or PATH HQ where we may get a bus to NJ.
We walked miles today. Stopped for a burger.
Fighter planes are flying above head - indicating that there can be more attacks.
12:30 pm - On reaching 32nd street, we got to know that they have suspended everything... till God knows when. It was as if we would have to spend the night at the stn.
1:00 pm - they announce that trains will start running soon.
2:15 pm - I get a chance to board a Newark bound train.
2:40 pm - I reach Newark and find that there is no way I can go home as all tunnels are closed to traffic. They ask us to go through a decontamination routine which never took place. They were scared the dust we were carrying on us was poisoned.

60 Signs that tell you have lived in Hong Kong for too long

Here is a list...don't know who put it together, but most of it makes sense to expats. ;-)
1. You have paid enough rent to buy a moderate-sized NorthAmericanEuropean town.
2. Most conversations with your friends involve mobile phones or mutual funds or betting.
3. None of the sea-front buildings existed when you arrived.
4. The shoreline itself shifted by half a mile.
5. All your friends are now living in London, New York, Singapore or Paris
6. You can't put a proper sentence together in your native language.
7. You got really excited when Starbucks opened their first outlet in Hong Kong.
8. At the movies, you take bets on the number of phones that go off during the performance.
9. The funniest jokes revolve around your stockbroker.
10. You developed an acquired taste for mooncakes.
11. In a crowd or a queue, you learnt to stay away from frail-looking old ladies carrying umbrellas.
12. You seriously considered taking up golf.
13. You have a Mont Blanc pen clipped to your shirt pocket.
14. You have stopped noticing the grotesquely deformed leper on the Exchange Square flyover. 15. A s**ual p**v*rt is a man who prefers women to money.
16.Your building's security guard is 4 times older than the building itself.
17. You have become a shameless name-dropper.
18. You feel a compulsion to take exams.
19. All you need is Louis Vuitton.
20. 165 decibels is a normal noise level for lunchtime conversation.
21. It's OK to throw rubbish, including old fridges, from your 18thfloor window.
22. Thanks to karaoke, you know who has the most singing talent in your building. Note that this is a great achievement.
23. You believe that pressing the lift button 63 times will make it move faster.
24. The ultimate status symbol is a lawn-mower.
25. You know it is useless to protest when the lady at the supermarket check-out wraps one toothbrush in 6 plastic bags.
26.You will never ever EVER buy Miracle Foot Repair.
27.You learnt to recognise Andy Lau, Leon Lai, Aaron Kwok and Jacky Cheung. And can tell the difference between Sammy Cheng, Miriam Yeung and Kelly Chen.
28. You aren't aware that one is supposed to pay for software.
29. Pink bathroom tiles can make any building or public garden beautiful.
30. Your colleagues eat sun-dried cuttlefish coated in sugar and you don't bat an eyelid.
31. You actually purchased a canto-popCD.
32. You actually played it several times.
33. You believe shopping and eating are the only forms of entertainment in Hong Kong.
34. Queuing in the rain in a diesel-choked Kowloon backstreet to buy a HK$6 Hello Kitty plastic doll at a McDonald's store is not the mark of an insane person.
35. You believe Li Ka-shing is a saint.
36. You test your seafood for mercury, hepatitis B and cholera.
37. You have attended at least 4 weddings and a funeral in a language you don't understand at all.
38. A PhD in Nuclear Physics fluent in 7 languages irons your socks for a pittance but she is from the Philippines so it's all right.
39. All the clothes you own are tailor-made or come from Giordano.
40.You are not surprised to see your tap water run dark brown.
41.Drilling on the walls in the wee small hours in the morning is considered acceptable behaviour. If it's Friday, it must be Typhoon 3 day.
42. Play mahjong and win money.
43. If it's Saturday, it must be Typhoon 8 day.
44.You tell your parents their house back in your home country has bad feng shui.
45.You get offended when people admire your chopsticks skills.
46.You compiled a 3-page list of weird English first names that Chinese people of your acquaintance have chosen for themselves.
47.You learnt to bring a coat, a scarf and gloves to fight hypothermia in supermarkets, buses, ferries and cinemas.
48. Your collection of business cards has outgrown your flat.
49. You are convinced that the only thing that moves more slowly than continental drift is a Causeway Bay crowd on a Saturday afternoon.
50. You are not surprised to see 85-year old ladies pushing tons of garbage up the streets of the financial district.
51. You bulldoze your way into lifts and MTR trains before other passengers have a chance to alight.
52. If someone smiles at you for no particular reason, you know she is a Filipina.
53. You know that leather shoes can grow leaves during the wet season.
54. The word "wildlife" refers to the family of cockroaches that dwells in your kitchen drawer. 55. You use the word "Ayyiieeaaahh" every few sentences to convey surprise, pleasure, pain, disappointment or anger.
56. You speak enough Cantonese to make your colleagues laugh their heads off (attempts with anyone else still only draw blank stares)
57. You are not surprised to find footprints on the edge of the toilet bowl.
58. You believe you are really tall when you are only 5'8".
59. You know that leaving Hong Kong will break your heart.
60. You read this list and understood everything

Labels: joke