噫，这个题目听起来好严肃啊 :P 最近在看三浦绫子1965年赢得一千万日币的征文小说《冰点》。是打算在开始恢复上班族生活之前把它看完的。
书中谈到了终生的生活意义。。。日本人果然很严谨啊，必须有意义才能生活下去吗？ ^_^ 角色中有一个叫辰子的日本舞蹈大师，是个不拘繁文缛节，却又不忘自重的人物。拥有真正热忱的兴趣，还有一群不需要言语也能互相了解的朋友，这样的人，竟然也因为没有终生的生活意义而感到空虚呢。
记得《the alchemist》里面有这样一段。。。来自西班牙安达卢西亚的主角，将自己放牧的羊群卖了，用换取的钱当旅费，去追寻自己的梦想。在摩洛哥遭人骗走所有的金钱后，他在一家玻璃店住下，讨生计。
玻璃店的老板终生的生活意义，就是有一天到麦加去朝圣，只是玻璃店的生意一直不好，所以颇有年纪的老板，也一直也没办法储蓄到足够的盘缠到麦加去。自头脑机灵的主角来帮忙后，玻璃店的生意日渐兴旺，一年来，老板也攒够了能让他去麦加朝圣的经费。可是，老板却向主角说，麦加还是不动身去的好，让它成为一个永远的梦想，那不是更好吗？
这，就是所谓"终生的生活意义"吧。。。当成目标拼命努力追逐的使命，在完成了或失去了以后，都会觉得生命失去了支柱，失去了导向而感到空虚吧。。。
敢于追梦的牧羊人主角最后获得了一大笔财产和温柔美丽的妻子，但自此之后的生活，是像童话故事里经典的"happily ever after"那样含糊的交代的。。。
公主和王子结婚过后不是在忙着上朝处理政务吗？王子和乞丐，谁比较自在？^_^
牧羊人他，未来的日子都不用考虑了，会感到空虚吗？
还是像周杰伦的《稻香》里说的，换个梦不就得了？^_^ 这跟日本人的严谨很格格不入，但也发人深省吧。。。 :)
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
oops, india posts stalled - day 3
we toured the mysore palace again (bloody pretty wedding hall! with peacock as design element, luxury and elegance in one~), decide that the builder was indeed a corrupted king XD, went to the famous market, ate more mysore park, had another thali lunch and left.
the train ride to chennai, the old madras, is one that shan't be overlooked. again we were on the 1st class, just that this time it got even more impressive. snacks/tea/coffee/softdrinks were served every hour, and there was a meal in the end also. it's just like air travel service~ the karnataka-tamilnadu landscape was magnificent. mountains and ranges pop up from the flat land all of many suddens. people with belly full of yummy food and eyes full of yummy scenes are happy people. it was a happy ride.
when we arrived chennai around 9pm, tejas was there to receive us T.T to make sure we find our way to chennai park station T.T told u he's the vishnu.... he brought us some munchies for our 1hr train ride to tambaram, where our host sachin (tendulkar!!) stays. he got onto the same train with us, got us both places to sit and then got off at egmore station. the train that doors never shut, and electricity goes off once in a while was actually a pleasant ride, as the people around us are all friendly and eager to help (praise indian hospitability~~). the guy sitting opposite me couldnt help smiling when he saw me taking out dad's camera snapping random shots (hey, for me they are all new and interesting ok ^^). tejas's continuous sms to make sure we were alright was heart felt. thanks buddy :)
we got our own room at sachin's place. he is an experienced couchsurfing host who has hosted 23 people from all kind of countries before us! we had a short chat and he let us off. june was so tired that day she left the tedious job of bathing to the next morning ^_^
right, 3k in 15:46 this time. keep it up!
the train ride to chennai, the old madras, is one that shan't be overlooked. again we were on the 1st class, just that this time it got even more impressive. snacks/tea/coffee/softdrinks were served every hour, and there was a meal in the end also. it's just like air travel service~ the karnataka-tamilnadu landscape was magnificent. mountains and ranges pop up from the flat land all of many suddens. people with belly full of yummy food and eyes full of yummy scenes are happy people. it was a happy ride.
when we arrived chennai around 9pm, tejas was there to receive us T.T to make sure we find our way to chennai park station T.T told u he's the vishnu.... he brought us some munchies for our 1hr train ride to tambaram, where our host sachin (tendulkar!!) stays. he got onto the same train with us, got us both places to sit and then got off at egmore station. the train that doors never shut, and electricity goes off once in a while was actually a pleasant ride, as the people around us are all friendly and eager to help (praise indian hospitability~~). the guy sitting opposite me couldnt help smiling when he saw me taking out dad's camera snapping random shots (hey, for me they are all new and interesting ok ^^). tejas's continuous sms to make sure we were alright was heart felt. thanks buddy :)
we got our own room at sachin's place. he is an experienced couchsurfing host who has hosted 23 people from all kind of countries before us! we had a short chat and he let us off. june was so tired that day she left the tedious job of bathing to the next morning ^_^
right, 3k in 15:46 this time. keep it up!
Sunday, August 09, 2009
the second nut shell full of india
good, my 3k time reads 16:39 now, slashing 50s off in the space of 5 days~ sweating really is a problem XP
anyway, lets continue at india day 2.
breakfasting at the same dark little coffee shop, we consumed more dosas and tea. the first half of the morning was spent exploring tipu palace, a well kept old palace, which june and i believe, belonged to a clean and uncorrupted king ^.^ the building is simple and airy, unimpressive in size but made up in style, and has certainly aged in elegance. dad camera's memory card got abused, but too bad the results are not to be seen :P
we also spent an equal amount of time in a temple adjacent to it, drawn by the notes from musical instruments we couldnt name. a ceremony was in place. probably just a normal prayer day, but it was our first time in a hindu temple nonetheless. we were urged into the central chamber for blessings by the friendly locals, but we shyed out, worrying that we might miss-place a step and do something out of place :P most men, if not all, attended in white; while women were draped in brightly coloured traditional clothings. they were all very receptive towards the two ETs of the day. fruits and jasmin flowers were aplenty, fire and water were used (ok, i've just learned that tejas means fire XD), and the music was being played all the time.
after retrieving our shoes from the small tent beside the temple, a kind passerby halted a bus and sent us on our way to KG road bus station, or where the locals call "majestic", a kota raya equivalent i suppose. after another affordable and enjoyable lunch, we departed to mysore.
pani poori (geez, i'm gonna forget all these names if the writing is to be left any longer), a tiny version of poori, fried into ball shape and (poked?) broken at the top to fill gravies/curries/sauces that goes with it. impressed 0_0 steal other ppl's picture for illustration purpose: picture by Medhaa
like alysha said, rail travel in india is a whole other world by itself ^_^ "a million kinds of passangers and a million hawkers coming and going vending their goods", she says. samosas, padam milk, coffee, dosas are among the millions of repetitive, monotonic syllables that i can make sense of, where there are other things that smell and sound and look like nothing i've ever seen before. they even have railway court and railway police, as if governed by another set of rules.
our train arrived well before time, and ppl were sucked to the it like paperclips to a magnet, throwing their belongings thru the open window to reserve their seats. june and i prebooked our tickets online, and was surprised that we actually booked the 1st class tickets, given the price we pay, around RM17 for 150km. our names were printed on the door of the train compartment we were supposed to be in, stating our reserved seats, impressed again 0.0
after some walking and looking at Lonely Planet, we were at the reception at a hotel in mysore. the guy behind the counter asked us our budget. we dully said 750rupee, he had a glance at the crumpled photocopy LP in my hand and said their cheapest room is 800rupee. we had a look at the room and agreed that it's a fair price. double room, ensuite, with TV, RM30 per person. we could afford a bit of luxury ^^
the whole point of being in mysore, where both my x-family doctor and his wife graduated, was to be left breathless by the breath taking mysore palace that is lit by more than 100 thousand light bulbs from 19.00-20.00 on sundays. after another wonderful dinner of paneer and mutton curry, we walked half the periphery of the palace wall to the south where the entrance lie, stopping at the east entrance for photos u will never see XD june and i decided that, unlike the one that occupied thiru palace, this king must be corrupted XD the walk from the north gate to the south gate took us almost 20mins in total.
and then, came the blackout. and we went "what the...". the electricity came back in a matter of a couple of minutes, and we spent the rest of the hour, standing idly, marvelling at grandness and beauty of the brightly lit palace, letting the cool mysore wind brush thru us, secretly thinking about the Earth Hour campaign and the environmental impact, counting the light bulbs that went malfunction, deciding that they are not connected in series, all with the military band playing marching themes in the background. (and taking more photos la...)
the night ended in sweetness, as we had our first taste of mysore pak, a local sweet delicacy which looks ordinary but tasted so good it pulled us back for more, and more... ^_^
anyway, lets continue at india day 2.
breakfasting at the same dark little coffee shop, we consumed more dosas and tea. the first half of the morning was spent exploring tipu palace, a well kept old palace, which june and i believe, belonged to a clean and uncorrupted king ^.^ the building is simple and airy, unimpressive in size but made up in style, and has certainly aged in elegance. dad camera's memory card got abused, but too bad the results are not to be seen :P
we also spent an equal amount of time in a temple adjacent to it, drawn by the notes from musical instruments we couldnt name. a ceremony was in place. probably just a normal prayer day, but it was our first time in a hindu temple nonetheless. we were urged into the central chamber for blessings by the friendly locals, but we shyed out, worrying that we might miss-place a step and do something out of place :P most men, if not all, attended in white; while women were draped in brightly coloured traditional clothings. they were all very receptive towards the two ETs of the day. fruits and jasmin flowers were aplenty, fire and water were used (ok, i've just learned that tejas means fire XD), and the music was being played all the time.
after retrieving our shoes from the small tent beside the temple, a kind passerby halted a bus and sent us on our way to KG road bus station, or where the locals call "majestic", a kota raya equivalent i suppose. after another affordable and enjoyable lunch, we departed to mysore.
pani poori (geez, i'm gonna forget all these names if the writing is to be left any longer), a tiny version of poori, fried into ball shape and (poked?) broken at the top to fill gravies/curries/sauces that goes with it. impressed 0_0 steal other ppl's picture for illustration purpose: picture by Medhaa
like alysha said, rail travel in india is a whole other world by itself ^_^ "a million kinds of passangers and a million hawkers coming and going vending their goods", she says. samosas, padam milk, coffee, dosas are among the millions of repetitive, monotonic syllables that i can make sense of, where there are other things that smell and sound and look like nothing i've ever seen before. they even have railway court and railway police, as if governed by another set of rules.
our train arrived well before time, and ppl were sucked to the it like paperclips to a magnet, throwing their belongings thru the open window to reserve their seats. june and i prebooked our tickets online, and was surprised that we actually booked the 1st class tickets, given the price we pay, around RM17 for 150km. our names were printed on the door of the train compartment we were supposed to be in, stating our reserved seats, impressed again 0.0
after some walking and looking at Lonely Planet, we were at the reception at a hotel in mysore. the guy behind the counter asked us our budget. we dully said 750rupee, he had a glance at the crumpled photocopy LP in my hand and said their cheapest room is 800rupee. we had a look at the room and agreed that it's a fair price. double room, ensuite, with TV, RM30 per person. we could afford a bit of luxury ^^
the whole point of being in mysore, where both my x-family doctor and his wife graduated, was to be left breathless by the breath taking mysore palace that is lit by more than 100 thousand light bulbs from 19.00-20.00 on sundays. after another wonderful dinner of paneer and mutton curry, we walked half the periphery of the palace wall to the south where the entrance lie, stopping at the east entrance for photos u will never see XD june and i decided that, unlike the one that occupied thiru palace, this king must be corrupted XD the walk from the north gate to the south gate took us almost 20mins in total.
and then, came the blackout. and we went "what the...". the electricity came back in a matter of a couple of minutes, and we spent the rest of the hour, standing idly, marvelling at grandness and beauty of the brightly lit palace, letting the cool mysore wind brush thru us, secretly thinking about the Earth Hour campaign and the environmental impact, counting the light bulbs that went malfunction, deciding that they are not connected in series, all with the military band playing marching themes in the background. (and taking more photos la...)
the night ended in sweetness, as we had our first taste of mysore pak, a local sweet delicacy which looks ordinary but tasted so good it pulled us back for more, and more... ^_^
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
india in the first nutshell
*brushing off cobwebs with the halves of nutshells india is prepared to be stuffed in*
it's been a while since this humble resident return to my cyber world hub. life at home is juz amazingly easy :) time seems to pass like rapid current.
in a blink of eyes, it's already a week after our return from africanation india and good old singapore. oh, yeah, it did happen, the carbonization and dehydration. but not as great an extend as we imagined it would have been :)
i lost dad's new camera in chennai, the only one i brought. i can only blame my own carelessness. so, sorry folks, no glimps of the famous indian train travel where passangers hang one handedly outside the doors that never shut (now we see where did the malaysian indians who used to grace the doors of the sardine packed pink panthers (KL bus minis) learned their stuffs), no brightly coloured spices and temples and saris, no breath-taking-lit-by-more-than-100-thousand-light-bulbs-mysore-palace, no random holly cows scattering the streets of the silicone valley of india.
india was like a live replay of the malaysia during my childhood. it reminded me very much of mom's hometown in penang of old, played in a scene with rumah ataps replaced by the karnatakan flat roofs and tamilnadu low ceilings, where the kids play in gangs on the brown sand streets, the busses un-airconded and un-time-tabled, the coconut leaves sway and the oil lamps burn.
*break, ran 3km in 17:29. lost my breath a bit. still in the 2nd course of my antibiotics, doc says most probably not H1N1, i'm already feeling good enough to run 3k anyway... back, sweating*
it was my first ever couchsurfing experience. i have hosted ppl but this was the first time i surf another's couch. alysha and her sister was our host in bangalore. we arrived at her place no earlier than 1am, after a long search of the address with the humble cab driver who drove us from the airport. the sisters gave us the warmest welcome in the chill of night, and the beds adorned by the pirates of the carribean sheets with captain jack sparrow's head on the pillow cases was most welcoming after a long day, since i took the overnight train down to singapore from kajang the night before. i drifted into dreamland under an endless series of crow croaks.
the crows must have croaked an even number of times the night before, as we woke into a refreshing morning. the first taste of a week-long experience of awesome indian food came as early as our first morning there. june and i was at the dark little coffee shop across alysha's house. clueless to how to place an order, we just told the person behind the bar that we want a vegetarian dosa and an idly, recommended by alysha. we ended up having a masala dosa and a plate of steam plain idly, served with different kinds of curry we cant name. the first bites have already made us resolve to not consume any of the packeted food we brought from malaysia in precaution ^^
some shopping in the morning as june hunted of salwar kameez and ended up buying a gorgeous sari of red, black and gold. the morning then ticked away in a walk that included side stepping women sitting on the streets selling jasmin bands, witnessing men pissing at sidewalks, inhaling CO2 and SO2 and NOx exhausted from the chaotic traffic, and waving back to school kids yelling hellos to two east asian faces from their dust-caked school bus windows.
afternoon brought us vineet and tejas the vishnu ^^ we were at MTR, a world reknown restaurant, having our first ever southern thali, which was a 12 course meal, opening with tequilla shot sized fresh grape juice, served with poori (fried chapati), pappar, rice, bean and shreded coconut mix, salad, two sweet pastes and five different kinds of curries. a fruit ice-cream concluded our meal. we were again awe strucked by the way indian use spices to make veges taste so wonderfully good. i ended up eating pinang for the first time, immitating vineet, mouthing the whole pinang wrap. as they have warned me, i spitted out half of it XD
we then went to burn the calories we had just consumed, in lalbagh, the botanical garden in the city of gardens - bangalore. lalbagh is famous for its crystal palace, where as neither bangalore nor chennai is a touristy place, the crystal palace might as well be the one and only famous place we visited in those two cities. vineet lived up to his name tag as a bird watcher, and we learned much from him about indian birds. his trained eyes has also helped us spot quite a few fascinating species, which includes a carnivorous predator falcon and a water bird that dries itself in the sun like washed laundry.
tejas the vishnu (or god of protection) then gave us a crash course to the 330million hindu gods as we visited an art centre. indian arts are highly influeced by hindunism, like european arts are influenced by christianity. the lord siva in my old history textbook came dancing back into memory.
we whiled away the rest of the day seeping cold beer in a semi open air place. kingfisher, indian brew, i liked it. we talked about many things over the drinks and snacks, about travelling, about our countries, even about smoking weeds, and coaxing good-boy-vineet into smoking weeds with tejas that very night XD the alcohol went as quick as it came to my head. it was the weather, i decided. after the drinks, we had paneer cheese and tandoori chicken for a light, but as taste buds pampering dinner.
the evening talk with alysha and her sis was yet another solid prove that, as june put it, like minded ppl dont have to come from a same country/culture/religion/skincolour/wotever$h!tuputhere. a sigh and another kind of gan3dong4.
tired as we were, the cool bangalore night was quick to bring us into slumberland.
it's been a while since this humble resident return to my cyber world hub. life at home is juz amazingly easy :) time seems to pass like rapid current.
in a blink of eyes, it's already a week after our return from africanation india and good old singapore. oh, yeah, it did happen, the carbonization and dehydration. but not as great an extend as we imagined it would have been :)
i lost dad's new camera in chennai, the only one i brought. i can only blame my own carelessness. so, sorry folks, no glimps of the famous indian train travel where passangers hang one handedly outside the doors that never shut (now we see where did the malaysian indians who used to grace the doors of the sardine packed pink panthers (KL bus minis) learned their stuffs), no brightly coloured spices and temples and saris, no breath-taking-lit-by-more-than-100-thousand-light-bulbs-mysore-palace, no random holly cows scattering the streets of the silicone valley of india.
india was like a live replay of the malaysia during my childhood. it reminded me very much of mom's hometown in penang of old, played in a scene with rumah ataps replaced by the karnatakan flat roofs and tamilnadu low ceilings, where the kids play in gangs on the brown sand streets, the busses un-airconded and un-time-tabled, the coconut leaves sway and the oil lamps burn.
*break, ran 3km in 17:29. lost my breath a bit. still in the 2nd course of my antibiotics, doc says most probably not H1N1, i'm already feeling good enough to run 3k anyway... back, sweating*
it was my first ever couchsurfing experience. i have hosted ppl but this was the first time i surf another's couch. alysha and her sister was our host in bangalore. we arrived at her place no earlier than 1am, after a long search of the address with the humble cab driver who drove us from the airport. the sisters gave us the warmest welcome in the chill of night, and the beds adorned by the pirates of the carribean sheets with captain jack sparrow's head on the pillow cases was most welcoming after a long day, since i took the overnight train down to singapore from kajang the night before. i drifted into dreamland under an endless series of crow croaks.
the crows must have croaked an even number of times the night before, as we woke into a refreshing morning. the first taste of a week-long experience of awesome indian food came as early as our first morning there. june and i was at the dark little coffee shop across alysha's house. clueless to how to place an order, we just told the person behind the bar that we want a vegetarian dosa and an idly, recommended by alysha. we ended up having a masala dosa and a plate of steam plain idly, served with different kinds of curry we cant name. the first bites have already made us resolve to not consume any of the packeted food we brought from malaysia in precaution ^^
some shopping in the morning as june hunted of salwar kameez and ended up buying a gorgeous sari of red, black and gold. the morning then ticked away in a walk that included side stepping women sitting on the streets selling jasmin bands, witnessing men pissing at sidewalks, inhaling CO2 and SO2 and NOx exhausted from the chaotic traffic, and waving back to school kids yelling hellos to two east asian faces from their dust-caked school bus windows.
afternoon brought us vineet and tejas the vishnu ^^ we were at MTR, a world reknown restaurant, having our first ever southern thali, which was a 12 course meal, opening with tequilla shot sized fresh grape juice, served with poori (fried chapati), pappar, rice, bean and shreded coconut mix, salad, two sweet pastes and five different kinds of curries. a fruit ice-cream concluded our meal. we were again awe strucked by the way indian use spices to make veges taste so wonderfully good. i ended up eating pinang for the first time, immitating vineet, mouthing the whole pinang wrap. as they have warned me, i spitted out half of it XD
we then went to burn the calories we had just consumed, in lalbagh, the botanical garden in the city of gardens - bangalore. lalbagh is famous for its crystal palace, where as neither bangalore nor chennai is a touristy place, the crystal palace might as well be the one and only famous place we visited in those two cities. vineet lived up to his name tag as a bird watcher, and we learned much from him about indian birds. his trained eyes has also helped us spot quite a few fascinating species, which includes a carnivorous predator falcon and a water bird that dries itself in the sun like washed laundry.
tejas the vishnu (or god of protection) then gave us a crash course to the 330million hindu gods as we visited an art centre. indian arts are highly influeced by hindunism, like european arts are influenced by christianity. the lord siva in my old history textbook came dancing back into memory.
we whiled away the rest of the day seeping cold beer in a semi open air place. kingfisher, indian brew, i liked it. we talked about many things over the drinks and snacks, about travelling, about our countries, even about smoking weeds, and coaxing good-boy-vineet into smoking weeds with tejas that very night XD the alcohol went as quick as it came to my head. it was the weather, i decided. after the drinks, we had paneer cheese and tandoori chicken for a light, but as taste buds pampering dinner.
the evening talk with alysha and her sis was yet another solid prove that, as june put it, like minded ppl dont have to come from a same country/culture/religion/skincolour/wotever$h!tuputhere. a sigh and another kind of gan3dong4.
tired as we were, the cool bangalore night was quick to bring us into slumberland.
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