what u don't know can't hurt

With the advances in information technologies, we must know much much more than the people 50 years ago. Right?

Do you know these? (http://www.ilo.org/global/Themes/Child_Labour/lang--en/index.htm)

According International Labour Organization, ILO, 2006, there were 218 million working children of age 5 to 17 years old.
Among them, 74 million were working in hazardous environments like mines, chemical plants etc.
Another 8.4 million were slaves, child prostitutes, child soldiers etc.

To put the figures into perspective, 74 million (74,000,000) is equivalent to 1/20th of the world children population in that age group. That means, 1 in every 20 of the children were forced to labour in hazardous environment.

They are the defenseless group of human being who are suffering in silent, while constantly subjected to physical and sexual abuses. They are forced to work long hours with no pay, and no hope.

Want more figures? In South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh) there are about 2.2 million children working in the carpet making industry. In Cote d’Ivoire (Yes, that’s where the great Chelsea striker Didier Drogba comes from), about 100,000 child labour work on the cocoa plantations.

So, what have the adults done about all these annoying figures?

Surely those righteous adults who yell and scream every week about love and moral must be doing something, right?

Surely those caring leaders who always say “children are our future” and never forget to remind us “to do it for our children”, must be doing something, right?

Sadly, very little has been done and the figures are in fact growing. I guess, what u don't see or know won't hurt you. out of sight is out of mind, as long as MY children are still OUR future.

Honestly, I have no answer to this darkest side of human suffering. However, there are some hopes, but I m not entirely sure how true are the claims.

FAIR TRADE claims to guarantee that products, such as chocolate and coffee, are“slave free” and have not been made using forced labour.

RUGMARK also claims that no illegal child labour has been used to make the carpet or rug that bears the stamp.

In the name of global economy and free trade, how much of the world wealth and economy growth is built on the sweat and blood of those skinny bodies digging in the coal mines? To put in cynically, "Its bad for business and economy growth to do away with such cheap labour"

I m not trying to feast on your guilt here, but the next time you reward your children with a delicious piece of chocolate, give a thought for the thin, scarred hands that picked the cocoa beans.

Children are our future

Dedicate this to the millions of children who are going through similar hardship everyday around the world. whoever read this, pass the message on.

The sky was still dark when Maly got up from the wooden plank he was sleeping on. The zinc roofed hut they slept in was almost saturated with smell of urine from a rusty tin container in a corner. The hut had no windows but two small openings in the wall. Maly and his 15 other companions were waiting but nobody said anything. A few minutes later, “Big guy” Le Gros came and opened the lock from outside.

They went out and were joined by other groups of children at the shed on the cocoa plantation. Le Gros barked some instructions and they were given their tools and rations.
Now, it was the harvesting season. Maly and his companions had to fill up the sacks and transport them to the collection point where the trucks were waiting.

He felt hungry and weak, and the sack full of cocoa beans was getting heavier and heavier. He had to wait for another 4 hours before he could eat his ration of corn and banana paste.
“Think of birds when you are working. Don’t ever think about food.” That was the advice given to him by Agasi, who was older and taller than Maly.

Maly bent over while the other 2 children lifted a big sack and placed it on his back. He walked difficultly trying to balance the sack but tripped and fell on the ground. He heard an angry shout and almost immediately the burning pain of Le Gros’s cane was on his back and thighs. The other children came to pick up the spilt cocoa beans while he struggled to get up to avoid more beatings. Being beaten was almost a daily event and nobody showed any emotion about it.

After the sun had set, Maly and the children were given a ration of rice and a cup of sweet drink. After eating, they were lead back to their small huts.

On their way, Maly saw a big white car drove past them and stopped in front of the manager’s house not far from where they were. A well dressed white man got in the spotlessly white car and it drove off in another direction.

“That’s our big boss, Mr. Santos. Greet him the next time you see him. Understand?” Le Gros barked out loudly at them.

**************************************************************
Mr. Santos and Anna, his pretty personal assistant, entered the VIP room at the airport. The journalist from Business Times stood up and greeted them.

“Thank you so much for coming. I am Andre Luz from Business Times. It’s my pleasure meeting you, Mr. Santos.”

Mr. Santos gave him a warm smile and a firm handshake before they sat down on the couch. Andre couldn’t help to notice how pretty Anna was in her well tailored, fitting business suit.

“Mr. Santos, last year you were nominated as the person of the year by the Environmentalists magazine. Can you tell us more why did you choose to produce your cocoa beans by organic standards?”

“This is simply because I believe in the organic principles of agriculture. I truly believe that everyone has to play his or her part in preserving our environment. Organic farming principles focus in applying environmentally friendly methods to improve soil fertility. The key principle is sustainability. I believe that it is the responsibility of us farmers to take care of the earth and keep the soil healthy. When we leave a farm, the soil should be better and more fertile than when we started.”

“Being certified organic, is your operation entirely chemical free?” Andre continued with the interview.

“Definitely. Using chemical pesticides and herbicides pose a heavy toll on our environment. They are polluting our food, soil and water sources. Furthermore, they don’t solve the problems that they were supposed to solve. On all my plantations, we use cultural and biological methods to control pests and weeds.”

“Organic products usually get premium prices in the market. Is this part of the reasons you went for organic certification?”

“You are right that organic produce is usually more valuable than conventional produce. But no. It’s not the reason why our farms employ organic methods in out operations.”

Mr. Santos looked at Andre and said with his sincere voice.

“The main reason we are doing it organically is because we believe in preserving the environment for our children. We want to give them a pollution free world for them to live better, healthier and happier. Children ARE our future.”

Joy of Life

Sometimes, we don’t realise the passage of time and carry on with life until we are given a gentle tap on the shoulder.
Well, I received such a delightful tap just few weeks ago.
My baby sister has her own daughter and now a mother. Little Xin Yue is indeed a bundle of joy. Even I haven’t met her yet, I m sure we will get along vey well in few weeks time when I get home

Huaaah! Me need some service here.

Now I can zzzz

We all grew and aged, like it or not. I can still remember very clearly many things that happened in our childhood. We used to call her “Bobo”, the cute little bear who always runs along side Yogi Bear in the Hanna Barbara cartoon. They always get into trouble with the ranger for stealing food from the tourists. Hahaa..

She was one cry baby, who cried at least twice a day, for whatever reason.
I used to walk her to the kinder garden at the Fairpark church. At home, she would sing to us the children songs she had learnt at school.
In fact, I can still remember a few of them. Like “Pearly shells, by the ocean, shining in the sunlight….”, “one two three four five, once I caught a fish alive, but then I let it go again, why did u like it go, because it bit my finger so…” and “rain rain go away, come again another day…”

Time flew and the next time I went home, she was already a young girl in her last teen years. I can still remember that time when she cried quietly before me after her first break up. Really broke my heart.

And the next time I went home, it was her wedding. For the first time in my life, I had to give away red packet for a sip of Chinese tea. Everyone in the family was happy and we went to Bahau to attend the wedding dinner.

This time I go home, I will be greeted by my baby sister and her little baby. How nice. Life ain’t too bad.

Darkest day in Malaysia

Democracy is dead in Malaysia.
I always wanted to keep my blog away from politics, but what has happened, and continue to happen, in my beloved home country is too much for any right minded, thinking human being to bear with.
(www.malaysiakini.com)
If Right is thumbed by Might, what option are we left with, besides stand up and stand taller than the oppressive might?

I used to read the news about Zimbabwe, Fiji and other so called failed states with sympathy for the oppressed. Nevertheless, without really relating myself with how they were feeling. Now, I understand fully the agony and disappointment they must had felt.

What history will record today 7th May 2009 as?
The day democracy was raped and murdered?
Or the milestone when people’s power finally stood up?

Whichever, I mourn today as the darkest day of my home town, the once peaceful and beautiful Ipoh.
And to the umno scums and their supporters, go fuck youselves.

WWOOF experience

For those who are wondering, WWOOF stands for “Willing Workers On Organic Farms”. It is a system where travelers work at participating organic farms in exchange for lodging and meals. Every year, thousands of young (and not so young) travelers and farmers benefit from this win-win deal.

My first WWOOF location was at Backwater, a beautiful property at Bermagui, NSW.
Backwater is a beautiful piece of property with splendid views of greens and the Cuttagee Lake. There is about an acre of productive organic kiwi orchard, while most of the rest of the 80 acres are devoted for forest conservation and regeneration.

The house has been well designed and built for comfort. One of the many features is plenty of natural sunlight inside the house. The water front view accompanied by singing birds had made my breakfast enjoyable every day I was there.

Colin and Anne Browne are the good couple in their golden eighties. They are probably two of the nicest people I have ever met, with seemingly all the calmness, contentment and patience that one can find.

Their positive energies propagate through their entire farm especially on the animals. The horses and cows are calm and friendly, even to a complete stranger like me.

Of course, I have to mention the 3 dogs.

Mickey is the most playful and he likes to sleep on my bed.

Fred likes to snuggle and enjoys a belly rub.

Lily, Mickey’s mother, is the quiet one and always waits with hopeful eyes under the dinner table whenever we are eating.

Colin and Anne are true believers of sustainable living with minimum carbon footprint. Solar power, wood fire, rain water, grow their own greens and collect mushrooms from the bush are just some of the good examples of how they practice sustainability in their simple and yet healthy and pleasurable life style.
They are in their golden eighties and still reasonably active. Anne rides horses regularly and plays golf and table tennis weekly. I am sure they would easily outrun anyone their age or even 10 or 15 years younger.
This is probably due to their active lifestyle when they were younger.
They had their own sail boat when they were living in Papua New Guinea and used to make island hopping their regular holiday program.

If there is one thing that I have learned from them, it is sustainable lifestyle is both practical and healthy.

Thank you Colin and Anne.

What Human Life worth

In a report - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), presented at Framework Convention on Climate Change in Berlin (April 1995), intelligent and smart economists from renowned universities in UK and USA made this remarkable claim:
Value of human lives in developed countries is 15 times higher than undeveloped or developing countries, in terms of US dollar value.

In other words, 15 hardworking but (nevertheless) worthless poor farmers in Kenya are worth 1 good junkie drunk in London.

This report was aimed to provide monetary values to every possible damage due to climate change, an effect of 2 fold Carbon Dioxide (CO2 and other green house gases) in the atmosphere would cause.

The conclusion of this ground breaking, enlightening report was: the total cost of damages (include human lives) would be about 2% of the world GDP (again in USD) by then, which would almost equal to the loss in industrial production if all measures were made to avoid this increase on CO2 in the dang atmosphere.

You are forgiven if you feel lost at this. I don’t expect anyone to understand something as stunning produced by great minds to be understood in seconds.

Anyway, in a nutshell, it means:
· If we don’t do anything to check the CO2 increase, we will lose human lives worth about 2% of world GDP; on the other hand, if we do our best to avoid this, we will lose real value worth about 2% of world GDP.
· One life in civilised and developed countries is worth 15 salvages in uncultured poor countries, in monetary terms.

Get it now?

But think about this:
- Who produces most CO2? Let me give you a hint, in terms of cars per 1000 person, Luxembourg top the list at 647, at 16th place, USA 460; China less than 100 cars per 1000 person. (shame on the chinese)
On energy consumption, measured in kg-of-oil-equivalent (kgoe) per person, Iceland top the list at 12,000, USA at about 8,000 (not bad, Yanks), China at 1300 kgoe/person. India? 490 kgoe/person!! (Pathetic isn’t it?)
(Reference: “earthtrends.wri.org”)

- Where is most of the world population? Good, cosy rich countries or stinky, smelly, worthless poor countries? Need another hint?
By 2050, there will be 50% & 20% population in Asia and Africa, respectively. On the other hand, 7% and 4% ARE IN Europe and North America. (reference: http://www.wikipedia.org/)

- Who will suffer most in the event of climate change? Honourable intellectuals in rich temperate countries equipped with reversed cycle AC, or low peasants exposed to the elements in humid, hot poor countries?

The “carbon foot prints” of the highly regarded, civilised countries are much, more bigger than those low lives in 3rd world countries.

Now, do you understand the good reason why the richest countries are dragging their feet to rectify some of the recommendations by real scientists?

They can afford do nothing and retain the 2% GDP while most of the damages will be in poorer countries. Who give a shit about poor harvest in Laos when they can still smoke cigars over brandy under the maple trees?

If the low lives in poorer countries demand equal carbon right and pay per use sort of policies, guess who will have to pay more?
I think this is utterly rubbish and ungrateful. The poor fella has been using all the goodies from developed nations, e.g. IMF supports, world bank, consultation etc. They even generously accept goods from these poor countries for offsetting their debts.

But… but… who put them in debts in the first place? You may want to ask.
That’s a very good question. Hahaha. OK, next question?

Reference
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intergovernmental_Panel_on_Climate_Change
Defending the Value of Life from www.gci.org.uk/vol/vol.html#intro

Terminator Technology

In the high tech industries, it is vey common to use the term “Proprietary rights”.
It basically means the party who made the items (hardware or software) has the right on them and nobody can use, duplicate or distribute them, unless of course YOU PAY.

There is also a clever innovation built into most of the industrial grade equipment. It is called – “software controlled feature”.

Take away all the big words and jargons, it simply means the manufacturer makes uniform lines of equipment and uses software to control the functions or capabilities available to the users.

For example, a power meter can be a basic power measurement device, or it can also be used to measure voltage, link up with computer, stores historical measurement data etc.

Of course every extra feature comes with a price tag, and usually in the form of “annual license fee”. All too familiar?

Take a real life example.
A telecom service provider starts its business. Assuming there is no under table and back door activities, that is. After a lengthy tender and negotiation process, the multinational bidder with the best solution and price gets the supply contract.

All is well. The management is happy for a while until they find out about the software cost.


To have better voice quality on all your calls, pay annual license fee PER EQUIPMENT to switch on this “enhanced speech” feature.

You need to expand the network capacity? Pay for annual license fees PER EVERY 1 THOUSAND new users on your network.

To include the latest standards? All you need is an annual license key PER EQUIPMENT that switches on the feature that is already built in the software.


By now, the management will probably realize the supplier is in fact holding their balls. All equipment has been installed and it will cost more to change to another supplier, who may as well playing the same trick.

But we have already paid for the equipment! You may argue.
You have paid for the equipment, not the right to use the FEATURES.

“We have spent millions of $ to research and develop these software features, so it is fair to charge for them” They would argue.


What about the annual fee? You may still want to ask.

Oh! that one. We have to protect against unauthorized use of our equipment and software. Even they are stolen, the extra features will de-activate after the annual license period expires.


Now, do you get the idea of how MNC can squeeze your balls and have entirely valid justifications for their actions?
“Well, that doesn’t concern me at all. I don’t deal with them.” Did I hear you say that?

With the concept explained and understood, let switch the scene to something which do concern you and me and in fact the other 3 billion people in this world – FOOD.

Say, you are a farmer and you bought this super high yield, disease resistant, fast mature rice seeds from a, again, multinational seed supplier.

After delivery, they gave a courtesy call to check on you and your crop.
In the conversation, the nice gentleman politely informed you that you had to use their proprietary chemical to switch on the advertised super duper characteristics.

A different chemical for each feature, that is.

So to get high yield, you need to purchase and spray product SuperyieldXÔ 3 times a year.
To get disease resistance, use ShieldITÔ, and so on.

By now, you would already be steaming with anger and would like to grab that bustard and shaft the shovel up his ass.

Wait, there is more. Even you use all those chemical and get good results, you can’t save the seeds for next year sowing. They are genetically engineered to be STERILE and won’t germinate.

Now, that’s what I call – being squeezed by the balls and still going back for more banging in the head.

Welcome to a new technological breakthrough in genetic engineering – Genetic Use Restriction Technology (GURT). Or affectionately nicknamed - TERMINATOR technology.

Surprising (or rather not surprisingly), this technology was jointly developed and patented by U.S. Department of Agriculture and Delta and Pine Land Company in the 1990s.


Terminator technology (GURT) changes the genetics of the seeds so that some desirable features are controlled (to switch on or off) by their proprietary chemicals. Such desirable features are: germination, disease resistance, frost tolerance etc.

In a nutshell, the farmers are screwed and have to buy seeds and chemical from the same Multinational Supplier every year.

Delta and Pine Land has since been acquired by Monsanto, the biggest feed supplier in the 21st century. Yes, Monsanto, the company who supplied Roundup and made billions off that.

The supporters of this great Terminator Technology (no prize for guessing who they are) claimed that:
- Protect intellectual property in countries (i.e. good for nothing 3rd world poor countries) where it is not enforced.
- Protect corporations from unscrupulous farmers. Control of seed germination helps prevent farmers from pirating their technology. (Pay per use, mate)
- Profitable returns to stimulate plant developing activities by biotech firms. (so we can have more $ to make more of these genetic wonders and sell them to you, all for you)
- Prevent escape of transgenes (genetically modified) into wild relatives and prevent any impact on biodiversity. (we care for the environment)
- Prevent volunteer sprouting (natural sprouting) in broad acre agriculture field that will reduce grain quality. (we care for you and the quality of your crop)

Notice all starts with big P, Protect, Profit, Prevent?

Now, do you still think they are evil, ball-less, lower-than-scum and money minded bustards?

I would never equal them with bottom dwelling, shit eating parasites.

No sir. They actually care for the environment and our well being.

Of course, profit is a prominant.

Hey, that’s the man’s job and he has a contractual performance that will dictate his year end bonus. These hard working poor executives have to support their family life styles, pay mortgage of their mansions, gold club memberships.

Some of them may even go to church every Sunday and give donation to help the poor.

Cynical jokes asides.

Terminator technology is an evil in real manifestation.

Firstly, it will create famines in many less rich countries as small farmers don’t have money to purchase seeds every year. No money for seeds, no harvest, no food for people, need import food, increases country’s debts, decreases purchase power, people poorer, more farmer can’t afford seeds and the negative feedback cycle goes on until large scale or nation wide famine breaks out.

Secondly, cross pollination of Terminator crops with their natural (non GM) cousins.

Who knows what disaster that can lead to? Sterile seeds in natural plants are likely results.

The worse if the terminator gene is recessive and only shows up after several generations.

By the time it is discovered in non GM crops, it might be too late for action. We effectively terminate our own food supplies. Human is indeed a funny species.

Thirdly, do you really trust these wonderful MNC that “vigorous tests” had been conducted for safe consumptions by human?

One variant of Terminator tech is called “Verminator” (by Astra Zeneca) because it takes genes from brown rats and uses them in plants. !!??

Do you really believe that the genes can be just switched on or off without complex interactions with other genes? Do we really want more pollutant into our already highly contaminated food chain?

Fourthly, why let them rip us off and we don’t benefit a single bit from it; while children in poor countries are suffering from hunger and serious malnutrition?

If you are still not convinced, let look at another example.

What would you do if you bought a mobile phone with a battery that can’t be re-charged? You have to order new proprietary battery every time the battery is flat.

Further more, you have to download and pay for special software to use SMS, Caller ID, camera, blue tooth etc every time you have new batteries.
I bet you would show them the middle finger and say FUCK OFF.

In summary, the world is really converging. Business concepts used in technology industries are also being applied in food supplies. Or is it just the inter-industrial recycling of scum-bag executives?

Ancient Ritual

This short story is inspired by the religious practice of Ainu tribes living in Hokaido, Japan. Though controversial, it is nevertheless still being practiced today, maybe in more secretive manner.
More information can be found, well, by searching “Ainu tribes” on
Google.

*************************************************************

Kitaro San pulled over his car on the side of the remote road, few meters away from the over-turned car. He ran over to the car and found a man trapped in the driver seat. To his surprise, the man was Fujita san, his new found friend. They met and drank sake together in the small pub in the hotel they stayed in down the hill. Fujita was badly injured but was still conscious.

Kitaro quickly dialed emergency service on his mobile phone and was glad that mobile coverage was good even in this very remote area of Hokaido.
While waiting for the ambulance, he stayed with Fujita and talked to him to keep him conscious. Fujita was drifting in and out and his speech was incoherent. Kitaro sensed that Fujita might not be able to make it.

He gave a relief sigh when he heard the approaching siren of the ambulance. Fujita held his hand and passed him a gold chain with a bear shape pendant.
“Please give this to the head of village Hoki. It is about 50 km from here. Follow the sign board to Shimodo town and turn left after the Yumen temple. The village is 20 km from the junction.”
“Hai. I shall do this for you, Fujita san”
“Give to the head of village. Don’t let anyone else know ….” Fujita voice was too weak to be heard.

Kitaro wore the chain over his neck and help the paramedics to get Fujita out from the car. The paramedics were vey efficient and the ambulance carrying Fujita was racing back down hill in less than 30 minutes.

Kitaro got back to his car and started toward the Hoki village following the instructions given by Fujita. He reached the village after dark after a few wrong turns and misses. The place was obviously not as easy to find as described by Fujita.

“Can’t blame him. The poor man was too weak.”
It was a peaceful and quiet farming village.

He went into a small bistro and had a good dinner. The food was exceptionally good and the service was excellent. He didn’t expect such quality at a remote village.

He was even more surprised when he asked for the bill.
“It’s on the house. Hope you have enjoyed it.” Said the owner.
“No. No. I can’t. Please I have to pay.” Kitaro replied and offered his money.
The owner took a step back, bowed and said, “No. No. Please. It’s our honour to serve you, Gami San.”
“You have made a mistake, I m not Gami San.”
“You are Gami San, the most honoured guest in our village” Said the owner while pointing to the bear shape pendant hanging from Kitaro’s neck.
Feeling tired from the long drive, Kitaro didn’t want to argue.
He asked the owner where he could find the village head, thanked him and walked out from the bistro. The owner and his wife saw him out and bowed again. “Domo Arigato Gozaimasu”

He stopped to ask for direction from a young lady and to his surprise, she bowed with respect and invited him to have tea inside her house. Tea and best sake were offered. Kitaro decided to just accept without any questions this time.

His pretty hostess, Yuko was friendly and accommodating. After a few rounds of sake, all Kitaro wished for was get comfortable and lie down. Yuko prepared hot water for him and even scrubbed his back for him. They went to bed together and Kitaro had some best time in his life.

The next morning, after the effect of sake had worn off; he had worked it all out. The villagers must have mistaken him for someone else, who they respected vey much, and the pendant was the identity.
He decided to give it a test.

He hanged the pendant on his neck and made sure it was visible, then he walked to man and said rudely, “Give me your car, I want to use it.”
The big guy turned around and had an angry look on his face. Being rude in this part of the country was almost like calling someone’s mother a prostitute in a Tokyo pub. Expecting a punch from the big guy, he was surprised again. The man looked at him and quickly made a bow and offered his car key.
“At your service, Gami San.”

Kitaro was delighted. He had landed a jackpot and decided he would keep the pendant for a bit longer to enjoy the benefits.
He drove back to Yuko’s place and asked for a hot bath. Lunch was served after his bath with the finest food and served by Yuko and another young girl. Kitaro was in nine clouds and felt like he came to paradise.

For the next week or so, whenever he went, he was greeted with respect and offered the finest food and service. Sometimes, parents would offer their young daughters to him as if he was the walking god.

“Time passes fast too fast when you are enjoying it” He thought to himself. In fact, it was too good to be truth and he felt that he was in a sweet dream that he would not want to wake up.

“Gami San, tomorrow is full moon night” Yuko said to him in a very polite way. She was still his favorite although he had many other young girls in the village.
He didn’t know what about full moon night but didn’t want to show his ignorance on this matter.
“Hai. I know. Serve me more sake please.”

Everyone in the village said the same thing to him.
“Tomorrow is full moon night. It has been our honour to serve you, Gami San.”
He sensed that there would be something going on tomorrow night.
“I will probably be better off split before tomorrow night. Before they find out I am a fake.” He decided.

*******************************************

Down hill in a small museum, a teacher was explaining to her group of student about the ancient bear tribe rituals.

“This tribe called themselves the Bear People who used to live up in the mountain region. They believed in a Bear God that protected and blessed them in their hunts.

Every year, they would capture a male bear cub and raised it in the village. Everyone would contribute and they would treat the bear cub with highest respect and provide to it the best food, as if it was the Bear God himself.

After one year, on a full moon night in Nigatsu month of Lunar calendar, they would tie the bear cub on a pole and perform the traditional ceremony of sending it back to heaven. After the ritual, they would slash its throat and collect the blood in a silver bowl, which they would mix it with sake and share among all the villagers. They believed the Bear God would bless them through its sacred blood.”

A young boy raised his hand and asked “That’s very cruel. Do they still practice it now?”

“I m sure nobody does this cruel act anymore. The government has put a ban on this as it’s against our country’s laws to torture and kill animals cruelly. It’s called animals right” The young teacher answered.

*****************************************

Back in the village, Kitaro opened his eyes slowly and his head was still spinning.
“It must have been the sake. I had one too many”
To his horror, he found himself tied up naked on a pole and surrounded by all the villagers. They were all dressed up in colorful costumes, chanting and bowing to him.

He wanted to yell but found his lips were glued together and he couldn’t make any sound. He looked up and saw the full moon in the clear night sky.

The village head came forward with a short samurai sword. Yuko was behind him, holding a silver bowl in her hands. The villagers stopped their chanting and gave a final bow to Kitaro.

This had always been a peaceful and quiet farming village. Everybody lived happily under the blessing of the Bear God.

legend of the Sundarban (2)

Continued from part (1)

Read part (1) before you read this

The Guardians

Two hours later, they came back with an old yogi who dressed in yellow robe. Adam knew that yogis were not respected like they used to in the predominantly Muslims Bangladesh. Nevertheless, they were not unusual in this part of the country where animism and traditional beliefs had their deep roots in the rural communities.

Mahmood whispered softly in the old man’s ear and pointed to the victims, who were already cleaned and wrapped in white cloth by their family members. Abdullah’s mother came to the yogi, closed her palm to show respect. She kneeled and touched the yogi’s feet.

“Please Gurujhi. You have to help us to destroy the devil.”
Muni’s widowed mother joined her and kneeled before the yogi.
Many other villagers turned towards the yogi and closed their palms too.

The old yogi touched the heads of the women kneeling before him, spoke softly to them and went to sit down under the shed of a big tree.
He closed his eyes and started to chant softly. After a while, the faint scent of sandal wood filled the village. There were movements in the bushes behind him. Anil and Adam instinctively raised their gun but was stopped by Mahmood who signaled them not to move.

A huge king cobra emerged from the bush. It was completely white and looked almost shinny in the morning sun. It raised its head tall and faced the yogi. Adam estimated it was at least 20 feet long and had enough venom to kill 10 adults. A second king cobra emerged from the bushes; it was a black one and smaller. It stopped next to the white cobra and it too raised its head.
The old yogi kept chanting softly as if he was communicating with the cobras that were swaying in front of him.

Very slowly, the two women approached them with a tray in their hands. On the tray, there were a bowl of buffalo milk and 2 eggs. They put the trays in front of the yogi and the cobras, kneeled and touched their heads on the ground. The cobras turned and approached the trays, heads raised all the time.
They drank the milk and gracefully went over to the victims’ body, which they circled them a few times. After that, they went back to the trays, swallowed the eggs and disappeared in the bushes.

The old yogi stood up and walked over to the women. He placed his hands on their shoulders, chanted some short mantras and left with Mahmood.
“He said the demon will be taken care of” Amesh told Adam and Anil later.

Anil stayed for 3 more days in the village but there weren’t any more incidents. Life was almost back to normal in the village.

The final battle

Two weeks later, a villager found a sensor camera on a river bank and handed it back to Adam.
“Thanks. I believe this is one of the cameras that I lost the other day”.

The videos were all 2-minute footages recorded after the motion sensor was triggered by movements.

He was speechless when he checked through the video footages on his laptop computer.

In one of the footages, a huge tiger was drinking by the river. Adam saw the broken tail and knew it must be the demon Asyoitan.
It suddenly paused and stepped away quickly from the river, as if it was stung by a wasp. Step by step, it retreated but never took its eyes away from the water. A few second later, the white king cobra emerged from the river. As the white cobra advanced aggressively, Asyoitan retreated to keep a safe distance from it. It lowered its body and snarled angrily at the advancing king cobra while moving in a circle.

“The cobra was trying to push it back into the jungle where it would disadvantage Asyoitan. Asyoitan knew it and wanted to remain in the clear so its movements were not hindered by trees and undergrowth.” Adam thought.

The next 2-minute footage showed Asyoitan was circling around the defensive white king cobra. It moved in swiftly and took a swipe at the cobra. The king cobra stroke immediately but Asyoitan leaped to the side and avoided the deadly fangs. With another swipe, it hit the white king cobra on the neck and sent it rolling on the ground. Defeated, the king cobra tried to escape into the bushes with Asyoitan pursuing cautiously from behind.

Suddenly, the black king cobra appeared from behind the root of a tree and stroke at Asyoitan’s hind leg with its large venomous fangs.
It was there all the time, waiting for the chance to strike.

Asyoitan roared angrily and turned to face the black cobra. Bite marks were clearly seen on its hind leg.
It lunged forward and was bitten again but his big paw held the black cobra down by its neck. It seemed all over.

Before it could sink its deadly fangs on the black cobra, the white cobra came from behind and bit it twice.
Asyoitan leaped away to avoid further assults. It turned to face the cobra and roared angrily, baring its white fangs.

The white king cobra was not backing down and raised its head high, ready to attack again. The black cobra was lying still on the ground.
Asyoitan learnt its lesson and kept a safe distance between itself and the white cobra.
The venom that could have killed an elephant seemed not affecting Asyoitan too much, although it was clearly limping and was moving slower.
Suddenly the white cobra opened its mouth and spat venom at Asyoitan. It hit it in the forehead and splashed over its eyes.
Asyoitan gave out a roar in pain, turned and vanished in the thick bushes.

The next footage was recorded 2 hours later triggered by a wild boar coming to the river bank. Neither the tiger nor the king cobras were seen in the video. Adam checked through all the remaining footages but didn’t find them again.
The battle between the demon tiger and two guardian king cobras lasted for less than 5 or 6 minutes. Nobody knew what the final ending was.
Did Asyoitan die from the venom?
Did the black cobra survive?
Adam didn’t know. All he knew was he had witnessed something that nobody had ever seen.
He left the swamp and joined Anil to become an English teacher in Chittagong and never went back again.

No more tiger attacks in that part of the sundarban were reported for many years.

Legend of the Sundarban (1)

Yes. Another short story about tiger of chinese myth but brought to live in sundarban region, Bangladesh. Also to highlight the harsh lives of the honey gatherers and fishermen living in that part of the country. completed on 12 Feb 2009 (Goulburn NSW). Took me more than 3 months to finally typed it out on a computer.

_____________________________________________________________

The Village

It's evening after sunset. The sky around the set sun turned to a splendid reddish orange above the distant mountainous terrain. Adam was sitting on the river bank watching the sunset and the equally splendid reflection on the flowing water. This was a rare occasion in the raining season. Twilight was approaching and soon darkness would cover the swamp. He had to go back to the village before it was completely dark; especially the warning had been given.

"Mr. Adam. Thank god you are back. We were starting to worry about you." Adam was greeted by Arshad when he was back at wooden hut he was boarding.
"Mahmood, our elder, has already warned us against going out of the village alone at night. Asyoitan is back. We should all stick close together at night."

"I m OK, Arshad. I know my way and it's not dark yet." said Adam. He was a bit annoyed being told off like a young boy. He had experience in living in the rain forest. He had lived in the deepest jungle of Sabah for 2 months while shooting the documentary on the elusive and rare Javan Rhinoceros for BBC. Not to mention the 3 months with the National Geographic team in Royal Chitwan National Park in Nepal.

"No. No. Asyoitan has lived too long and is too cunning to predict. If you had seen what I saw, you would understand why I m scare." Arshad's voice was a bit loud but the fear in it was obvious. The bad memory was still haunting him.

"Thanks. I will be careful next time." Adam wanted to end this conversation. He has a lot to do and needed to rest early.

"Very well. Mr Adam, good night. Please let me know if you need anything"

Meanwhile, the villagers had lighted a dozen or more fire surrounding the huts they lived in. The shadows cast by the flickering flames looked as if they were some black creatures moving silently in the dimly lighted village.
Children were all back in the huts while their parents were making dinner outside. Fear was obvious on everyone's face.

"How easy it is to control a group of uneducated people with fear and myths. All you need to do is to scare them and you'd have them like a flock of sheep." Adam thought.

He came to this remote village in the swampy country of Bangladesh to do a documentary of the honey gatherers, as well as to install sensor-triggered cameras to capture the wildlife in this part of sundarban. He had a working partner but he had gone back to Dhaka for malaria treatment. To make things worse, the delivery of sensor cameras didn't arrive as scheduled. He had to wait for 2 long weeks before they finally arrived 2 days ago. His frustration was compounded by the rain that came almost everyday. And now, he was confronted by the mythical Asyoitan.
"The sunset here is just beautiful. Can one asks for more?" he sighed. Being cynical helped to reduce the frustration.

From his hut, Adam saw Muni sitting by the fire and drawing picture on a paper pad quietly. Muni was a young boy of about 9 years old and was almost completely deaf and mute. He had bright eyes and Adam knew he was very smart too. The villagers nick-named him “buffalo boy” because he seemed to be able to communicate with the buffalos in the village. They simply came to him whenever he approached them and he seemed to know what they want or need, as if he could understand them.

Adam went over and sat next to Muni who gave him a warm smile. His bright eyes glittered as he showed Adam his work. Adam looked at the pictures of buffalos drawn on the paper pad he had given to Muni and put his thumb up. He said “very good”. He liked the boy very much since the first time they met two weeks ago.

Adam had made a plan to start installing the sensor-cameras the next day. The cameras had a motion sensor that if triggered by movement, would record a 2 minutes video and had enough storage for 10 hours of recording. He had to find some strategic locations where the wildlife would pass through, such as river bank.

He was thinking about the warning from Arshad about Asyoitan.

“When a tiger has killed and eaten human flesh, it acquires special power and becomes a demon. The victims are under its spell and become its slaves forever. They become the ‘hinapa’ – ghost slaves who can’t escape and have no chance of reborn. They will lure other human to the demon tiger as a service to their master, thus making the demon stronger. Asyoitan is the worst of all. According to the legend, it has lived more than 100 years and had claimed hundreds of human lives. There was a tiger attack in the neighbor village. They saw the tiger and an old man recognized the bullet wound marks on it. The rangers have been trying to kill it for many years but it escaped every time.”

“Do you think it will come here?”

“Nobody knows for sure. It is cunning and unpredictable. I hope it has gone back to the deep forest and leave us alone. But we have to be very careful, especially at night”

“The honey gatherers are now going out in big groups and come back to the village before sunset. Everyone will go inside and lock their door after dinner. You too have to take extra care, Mr. Adam.”

“It’s just a tiger. Human just needs myths to spice up their lives” Adam thought. He gave Muni a pat on the shoulder and went in to sleep.

ASYOITAN

The next day, Adam and his guide Amesh went into the swamp to install the sensor-cameras. Before they took off, Amesh handed Adam a mask with human face on it.
“Mr. Adam, wear this behind your head. Tiger usually likes to ambush from behind. If it sees the mask, hopefully, it will think you are facing it and won’t attack.” Explained Amesh.

It was a hot and humid day in the swamp. To locate, install, test and record was actually real hard work and they were soaked in their own sweat by late aftenoon. They stopped by a small river to rest and to have a cigarette break.

Suddenly, Adam stood up and dropped his cigarette.
“Did you hear it? There is a girl calling for help.”

Amesh face turned pale. He had heard it too.

“It’s from across the river. We have to go help her.” Adam said.
“No. No. Mr. Adam. This is the work of hinapa. Asyoitan must be not far from here. Let’s get back to the village now.”
“IT’S A GIRL. She is probably hurt and needs help. We can’t walk away.”
“Why is a girl doing alone in the forest? No girls will enter the forest. It’s the hinapa. Please leave now.”

“I will go and help her.” Adam said with a firm voice.

“Please don’t go. Mr. Adam. It’s a trap”

Adam was angry with what he saw as cowardice of Amesh. He put down his backpack containing the sensor camera and started to cross the river.

“Please don’t go. Please come back” Amesh pleaded.

When he saw that Adam had already crossed the river, he turned and ran back towards the village.
“I have to get help” he said to himself.

Adam was trying to go faster but the terrain and the thick bushes were slowing him down. As he went deeper into the forest, the girl’s voice seemed nearer. With his mind pre-occupied, he failed to notice that the forest was completely silent except for the voice of the girl’s calling for help.
Suddenly, something hard hit his head. He looked up and saw to his surprise, Muni was up in a tall tree. He smiled at Adam and gestured him to climb the tree.
The tree had no low branches but with the help of the hanging vines, Adam managed to reach where Muni was. He looked down and found himself at least 15m above ground and could see the forest below clearly.
“what are you doing here, boy?”
Muni signed to him to be quiet and pointed forward.
Adam saw a big wild boar searching for food in the bushes about 100m from where he was just now.
From his rough estimate, the boar weighted more than 100kg. With formidable curved tusks, it was certainly a dangerous wild thing.
Suddenly, the boar paused and lifted its head. It was alerted by something in the air. Seconds later, Adam smelt it too.
It was like a mixture of urine and rotting meat.
Adam knew at once what it was. The smell that you would get when you were near the big cats enclosure in a zoo.

“Tiger!” He said to himself.

The boar was moving in circle as it didn’t know which direction was safe. The odor was getting stronger and it filled the air in the forest.
Adam realized that the forest was completely silent. Even the birds and insects were not making any sound; except for the soft grunts of the boar.

Finally overcome by panic, it dashed into the thick bushes and disappeared. The bush was covered densely with tall undergrowth and the shadows casted by the setting sun had made it very difficult to see what was inside it.
Adam heard a sharp cry from an animal in pain and saw movements in the bush. The head of the boar emerged; covered in blood. One of its eyes had been ripped out and part of the face was gone. Before it was fully out of the bush, something caught it from behind and dragged it back into the bush.
Adam could only see movements in the bush and heard the last few helpless cries of the boar, which sent shivers down his spine.

Everything went back to silent again but the distinct odor was growing stronger and stronger.

To his horror, Adam started to feel weak as if the odor had become a thick fluid that filled up his lungs and he could barely breathe.
He knew what or who was waiting for him down in the bush.

There were soft voices all around him, male and female.
“Come down here, my friend.”
“Let go and come with us.”
“Jump now and you will be free forever.”

Adam was shaking in cold sweat and had to hold on tightly on the branch with all his strength in order not to fall.
“Hold on. Hold on. Don’t fall.” He said to himself. His legs felt weak and he would have fallen had he not put his arms around a big branch.
He saw lights spinning around him and felt so weak that he wanted to close his eyes.
His last bit of consciousness knew that he would lose his balance and fall if he closed his eyes. With all his mental strength, he forced himself to focus on the branch right in front of him. It was like someone fighting to wake up from a bad dream.
He had heard tales of monkeys falling from the tree when a tiger roared below it. Now he understood why.

It could be a few minutes or maybe one hour. Adam had lost the sense of time. He couldn’t feel his legs. All he could do was to hold on to the branch as hard as he could.
Gradually, sounds of birds and insects were again heard.
Adam gave a sigh of relieve. The voices were not heard anymore.
He turned around. Muni was also gone.

“Mr. Adam. Mr. Adam. Where are you?”
He heard Amesh’s voice. He had come back with another 5 villagers. They had spears and axes with them.

“Thanks for coming back for me. It was Asyoitan”
“You were smart to safe yourself up in the tree.”
“It was Muni who helped me …”
“Stop joking. Mr. Adam. It’s not nice to joke about the deceased.” One of the villagers said sadly.
“What do you mean?”
“Muni was found seriously injured this morning. Mauled by a tiger. He would had been dragged away and eaten had it not for the buffalos. We think they drove the tiger away. We heard their bellows and found Muni lying on the ground surrounded by buffalos. Tiger prints were all over the ground. Muni died one hour later. His widow mother was devastated.”
“I swear to God. He was up in the tree with me just now”
“You were under the spell of the hinapa. Muni came to help you my friend. “ Amesh said slowly.
Back in the village, while the women were comforting Muni’s widow mother, the men gathered to discuss.

The Hunter and the hunted

“Why didn’t Muni become a hinapa?” Adam asked Amesh.
“I think it was because he died in his mother’s arm. A mother’s love is much powerful than any spell of a demon. His soul is safe”
Adam nodded and walked away quietly.

“Thank you for saving me. I shall revenge your death, Muni. I shall end it. Asyoitan will be hunted down and killed. I promise you.” Adam made a vow after he laid down Muni’s drawing pad next to the boy motionless body. He made his proposal to the villagers and they agreed.

Three days later, Adam was in Chittagong, the biggest port city in Bangladesh. He came to see his friend Anil. Anil worked as a school teacher but he used to be a hunter.
He had shot a monkey and found a baby clinging on the dead mother. It was wailing and holding on so tightly that they couldn’t separate them with the strength of two grown men. Anil dropped his gun on the spot and made a vow never to shoot any innocent creature again.

Adam told Anil about Asyoitan and the villagers.

“I had heard similar stories. These creatures are vey elusive and cunning. It’s almost impossible and dangerous to track them down and have a clear shot. They may hunt us down instead. Furthermore, one or two bullets won’t finish them off.”
“What do you suggest? Hold it down and point the gun at its head?”
“Exactly. That’s what we need to do. We shall use traps to clam it.”
“You mean using baits?”
“No. It’s too smart to be tricked by food. We shall use something even demon can’t resist.”
“What?”
“Sex”

Back in the village, Anil asked help from the villagers to set up the traps. He had brought with him a few big iron clawed clams used by bear hunters.
“We have the ultimate lure for Asyoitan. These bottles contain fresh urine of a big male tiger and a tigress in heat. I got them from a friend who works in a tiger sanctuary park. No male tiger can resist the scent of a female in heat. A challenge from another male in his territory will anger him and distort his awareness.”
“Very smart, Anil” said Adam.
“Now all we need to do is to setup a few traps and wait. It’s insane to go into the jungle at night with a man eater lurking in the dark. He can definitely smell the scent. We will only go to check the traps in day time.”
“Yea. Once it’s held by the clams. You can get close and BANG BANG BANG on its head.”

Two days later, they went back to check the traps. Anil handed Adam one of his guns and showed him how to use it.
“I hope you don’t have to use it. Having a face-to-face encounter with a tiger is NOT what you saw in movies. Tigers are NOT game.” He said seriously
Adam nodded. He knew after the narrow escape from Asyoitan.

One by one they checked the traps that they had set up but none was touched. With the scent of tigers around the traps, no other wild animals would even get close to them.
Just as they were approaching the last one, Anil paused and whispered softly to Adam “Stop. Something’s here. Wait here while I check it out”. He pointed to a big tree.
Adam tensed up and gripped the gun firmly. A faint odor was in the air. A smell that Adam would never, ever forget.
Anil walked cautiously towards the traps, gun raised and finger on the trigger.
After a while which seemed like a long time to Adam, Anil motioned him to come forward and pointed to ground.
“Oh My God. He broke the chain!”
There were blood stains on the forest floor and the iron chain was still fastened on a big tree trunk, only the end that was attached to the clawed clam was broken and the clam was missing.
“The clam got it but the chain could hold it. A demon, indeed. The claws must be tearing through its flesh. Imagine the pain.”
Anil signaled him to be quiet and checked the prints on the ground. He motioned Adam to come along as he followed the foot print.
Adam’s heart was pounding hard.
“Is he insane? Following an injured beast?”
They walked for about twenty minutes and Anil spotted something shinny between the roots of a huge strangler fig tree.
It was the missing clawed clam with a large piece of flesh still firmly gripped between the iron claws. Flies were swamping over it.
“The trap got its tail and severed it so much that when it was again caught between the roots, Asyoitan pulled so hard that it just torn off its body. Dang. We almost got it and it got away.”
“Let’s get back to the village. It’s getting dark soon” Adam was not comfortable facing an injured tiger in the dark, even with Anil and his gun around him. He knew the speed and power of Asyoitan.

When the villagers saw the severed tiger tail, they were worried.
“We have angered the demon. He will come back for revenge.” Mahmood the elder shook his head and said.

“We shall build fire around the village and put a few on guard tonight. The rest of us should stay inside and lock our doors and windows”

“I shall do it.” Anil raised his hand and said.

Adam couldn’t sleep. He imagined Asyoitan would bust through the flimsy wooden door and pound on him. The distinct odor, the powerful paws, the huge jaws, the deadly fangs and the broken tail of Asyoitan filled his head. But the night past without any incident.

At dawn, he opened the door and found Anil sitting on a log, gun in his hand, cat napping.
Anil opened his eye and said tiredly, “It didn’t come last night.”

Just then, they heard a scream.

A man was lying inside his hut. Neck broken and dis-bowelled. His belly was ripped open exposing the internal organs. The things in his hut were almost undisturbed.
“It’s Abdullah. The demon came through the back window. Swift and silent like a ghost” said Mahmood.
There was another scream. Arshad’s wife was the second victim. Her body was found outside their hut with her neck snapped and throat slashed. Arshad was crying.

“Why did she get out in the dark?”
“It’s the hinapa. They lured her out.”

Anil’s head hanged low. He felt defeated. Asyoitan came, killed someone and slipped away while he was on guard and he didn’t even know.

Nobody had seen it but three innocent lives were taken.

The commotion woke up everyone in the village. They gathered around the victims’ hut but nobody spoke. Adam could see the fear and sorrow in their eyes.
Amesh whispered something to Mahmood. He thought for a while then nodded. Both of them left quietly.

(TO BE CONTINUED)

A virtual affair

Internet speed has achieved great improvements over the past few years.

10 years ago, the dial-up modem was still very common and you would be very lucky to get 30kbps out of it.

Now, people refuse to use if it's below 1Mbps (1000 kbps)

At this speed, internet has speeded up virtually everything from commecial activities (such as banking, on-line trades, e-ticket etc), researches, interpol crime investigations and of course our everyday lives.

Now you IM o YM or MSN your friends who are sitting next to you, to get his

/her faster response. LOL

At this pace, does it also speed up break-ups in relationships?

Lets go for a spin....

*********************************************************************

Alan was literally yelling at Jane as soon as she stepped through the door.
“How do you explain these?” he waved a small stack of printout and then slammed them on the table.
“What’s the matter?” asked Jane.
“They’re all your love letters” hissed Alan.
Jane flipped through and said “I think they are the emails Marcus sent to me long time ago, when we were still together. Where did you find them?” Jane said in a matter of fact manner.
“I found them in my email 2 days ago. You expect me to believe they were old letters? You went overseas for 1 month and all these just re-surfaced?”
“I m telling you its true what I said” replied Jane calmly, in an almost humorous tone. She couldn’t believe all these. Of all the things, being accused of cheating was the last thing she would expect.
“You slut! Prove it you telling the truth. Why are you doing this to me? Almost the whole office is spreading the rumor now. I lost my face. Are you happy now? Bitch!”
“How do I prove something that didn’t happen?” Jane was clearly agitated now.
“Is that how you trust me? Vey well.” She turned and walked out of Alan house.

********************************************************************

2 hours later, Alan was at his best buddy John’s place, pouring all out on him.

“Imagine this, she went overseas for just 1 month and that bitch was already cheating on me with his useless ex” he blasted angrily.
“Which ex?” John asked.
“Marcus. That scum bag sales guy”
“Marcus? I heard he had moved back to UK 2 years ago. One of my friends knows him and actually met him in London just 2 days ago. Jane went to New York on business, right? Are you sure you not making any mistake?”
“I don’t know. Maybe he flew to New York. Maybe they had phone sex or web cam sex.”
“Pretty difficult given the time zone difference” John said jokingly.

“What did Jane say when you asked her?” John asked again.
“Of course she denied it. She seemed too calm. She must have already expected my questions. Proof of guilt” Alan said angrily.
“Ok. Ok. Stay cool and run the whole event through me again.”
“Simple. Jane went to New York 1 month ago. 2 days ago, I received those hot and erotic letters in my email. Rumors also started to spread in the office about Jane’s cheating on me. When she came back, I confronted her and she denied it flatly and left without a fight. That’s not her usual behavior. She would yell and fight if she thought she was right. That’s just plain guilt all written on her face. They are probably laughing on the phone now.”

“Hmm. Who sent those emails to you?”
“I don’t know him, or her. I had never seen that email address before this. It was UK-Cofi@yahoo.com.uk”

“And you know what, when I asked Jane to prove she was innocent, she just walked out on me” Alan was evidently still vey angry.
“C’mon Alan. You’ve done the same to her. My friends saw you picking up girls from Paradise Bar and took them to hotel.”
“WHAT! How could you say such thing? I have never done any ONS!” Alan’s face turned red and replied angrily.
“Can you prove it? That you’re innocent”
Alan stopped talking for a while dropped his head and raised again.
“You have to have the witness, tell me the date and time, and which hotel did they see me going to? If they were so sure, ask them what shirt was I wearing?” Alan’s mind was working fast. His accountant analytical instinct was kicking in high gear.
“By the way, even on a court, the burden of proof is on the accusers. The accused doesn’t have to prove his or her innocence. It is the accusers that have to provide the evident.” Alan added.

He turned to look at John and found a smirk on his face.
Annoyed. He asked “what the hell are you smiling at?”
“You have just answered your own question. Do you have enough proof to accuse Jane?”
Alan was quiet. His mind was in high gear trying to defend his action.

“Alan. Everybody has his or her past. If you can’t handle it, my advice is - don’t dig it up. We can’t change what’s in the past, right?”
“For example. Everyone including Jane thinks that the ‘AL’ tattoo on you arm is for your name ‘Alan Lu’. But it’s actually ‘Alan & Levine’. Am I right?”
“John. Please don’t bring up name of those who has gone away.” Alan answered softly.
“I m sorry, Alan. After all these years, you still prefer not to use the word ‘death’. You see, everyone has some soft spots in their hearts and we must respect it.”
More silence from Alan. With his palms on his face, he has apparently cooled down a bit after his logical part of the mind started to work.

“Do you mind if I take a browse?” John pointed to the stack of printout of emails that Alan has brought along with him. Alan nodded.
“Hmm. Did you notice they are all written by Marcus? None of these were from Jane. Not even a single reply. Seems like one way traffic to me”
Alan lifted his head and a glimpse of light flicked in his eyes.
“By the way, don’t you feel suspicious to receive email from a complete stranger at the perfect timing? Who is this UK-Cofi anyway? Is he a hacker or something? Where did he get all the emails from? Jane’s computer or Marcus’s?”
“I don’t know.” Alan replied. He tried to say more but his voice was drown by a passing ambulance.
John looked out the window and saw the ambulance raced pass. The word “AMBULANCE” was reflected on the window of the shops. John jumped and snapped his fingers.
“Of course. The name is an anagram. Read it reverse and it is…”
“I-F-O-C-K-U. Damned it. It is ‘I fock u’” Alan read it out slowly and jumped after he realized what the name meant.
“This person must hate you very much to do such thing”
“He sent the email to my yahoo account, not my office email. Oh yes, that way we won’t be able to trace where it was sent from. If it was sent to my office email, we can access the records on my server and trace the internet route the email had flowed through. This is a well thought-through action. Who do you think he might be?”
“Alan. You might never find out. What’s more important now is what are you going to do about Jane?”
“I don’t know.”
“I m not trying to patronize you. I think you have been focusing on the negatives and forgotten about all the positives. Does Jane not love you? Did she not support you in your studies when you were preparing for your CPA exams? Did you guys not have happy times together? Did she not tolerate your occasional outburst of temper, or your short of patience?”
“Well, John. I did my part too in accommodating her shortcomings.”
“Nobody is perfect, I guess. You better decide soon. Alan” John gave him a firm pat on the shoulder.

*************************************************
The next day Alan received a short email from Jane.
“Alan,
After what happened yesterday, I think its better for us to take some time off to cool off and re-think about our relationship. The element of trust is seriously missing and no relationship can survive without it.
We all have our past, good or bad, memorable or try hard to forget, we can’t do a thing to change them. As adults, if we can’t accept each other past and look beyond it, there will be no future.
If you can’t trust me and see through all the obvious in this case, I have no confidence it will not happen again. I wasn’t upset of you calling me bad names, but your expression and how hysteria you were have chilled me to the bone. Such distrust and anger are usually reserved for enemies, not loved ones.
Alan, once a mirror is cracked, it can never be mended. So is a person’s feeling and heart.
You take care.
Love
J

English is funny

Ever wonder why did the English make up so many words refering to almost the same things?

Get the idea?

compare English with another widely used language - Mandarin.

In Madarin, logical combinations are used to describe the above names for animals.

1. there is a generic name for an animal. e.g. cattle = "NIU", Horse = "MA" etc

2. genders are expressed as combinations of words. i.e. Male = "GONG", Female = "Mu", Baby = "Xiao" (literally mean "small" or "young"), Meat ="Rou".

Thus, Bull = "Gong Niu", cow = "mu niu", calf = "Xiao niu", Beef = "Niu Rou"

Stallion = "Gong Ma", Mare = "mu ma"....

see the logic?

This can go on for all animals without the need to make up new names for every gender/meat.

For example: just to describe gender (male & female only) for the above 6 animals, English requires 18 different words. (see above table)

Madarin, on the other hand, requires only 8 words.

To describe gender, baby and meat for the above 6 animals, English requires 30 different words.

However, Madarin requires 10 words only.

**************************************************

Furthermore, there are inconsistencies in English in this regards.

for example:

English doesn't have different words for beef cattle and dairy cattle.

It uses the Mandarin approach, i.e. logical combination.

cattle for meat production = "Beef" + "cattle"

cattle for milk production = "Dairy" + "cattle"

Now, isn't English funny?

and we wondered why the obvious misunderstanding between English speaking Nations and the rest of the world.

Song of the friends

In the cold spring night, they laid down and were getting ready to rest. The wind was still chilly in late september here in the southern hemisphere.

“thats it, my friends. it ends here tonight.” Kay said after a long period of silence. Nobody seemed in the mood of conversation.

“Yeah. its goodbye time. a few more hours to go” said Mo in his usual soft and well mannered voice.
He was always the most gentle among the ten friends, even he was the biggest one.

Jie gave Flowy a head butt in his usual rough boy style. “I won't be missing any of you. I just want to get out of here and be somewhere else much better. This place sucks”

“ I will definitely miss all of you. We are good friends, are we not?” Nacho joined in. He was the youngest and the smallest among them. He was also the subject of Jie's bullying act, most of the time.

“where do you guys want to go after this?” Bonnie asked.

“I want to live in the tropical. I hate the cold. I wish I could go there after this” said Bun.

“Yea. I don't want to come back here and be who I'm again. I want to go further and really enjoy life” Said Kay.

The usually quiet Zul joined in the conversation. “I wanna go to the pampas in Agentina. Heard the girls are amazing with big brown eyes. I like the grass land and blue sky.”

“what about Stub?” asked Bonnie.

“I wanna be a priest and learn religion. This was always what I wanted to do but never took the time. Now I end up here. When all this is over, I will go back and really study the bible” replied Stub with his head down.

Suddenly they heard small Rupert sobbing.
“I don't wanna go. I wanna stay and enjoy whatever time is left. I don't want any change”

"its time. We have to go and we don't have control over this. Lets hope we can go to where we want to go after this.” said Mo in his usual slow and comforting voice.

“Yea. Suck it up. Don't be cry baby. I will go from here and be a cowboy up in the tropical north. Yahoo. I will be sooo rough and tough. Make sure we don't meet because I will have no mercy.” Said Jie loudly.

“Don't act tough. We all know you are scare too”.
Everybody was quiet and the silence was unbearable.

“Let's sing our song for the last time before we depart and go our different ways” Finally Bonnie broke the silence.

So they sang loudly with all they might as to release all the sorrow and fear of the unclear future ahead of them.

Jack took a last drag on his cigarette, felt the smoke passing through his lungs and the familiar sensation of the nicotine.
Larry turned to him and asked, “what the heck with those cattle back there? They have never made so much noise before.”

“Who cares.” replied Jack with a shrug. “they are just stupid beasts with no feelings. In few hours time, they will all be chopped”

“I always have the feeling that they know and understand what's going on around them.” Larry said in a soft voice as if he was talking to himself.

In the yard, the ten friends sang on in the cold spring night.

This is dedicated to the 10 steers who left us on 24th Sept 2008 morning. They had taught us so much. May all of you get to where you wanted to go and don't come back again. So long Special-K, Moe, Bonito, Mbanjie, Rupert, Stubbie, Bundy, Zulu, Flower and Nacho Pop.

林子祥的歌

其中幾首林子祥的好歌，我的年代。

最愛是誰

http://mymedia.yam.com/m/1702392

在世間尋覓愛侶　尋獲了但求共聚
然而共處半生都過去　我偏偏又後悔

別了她原為了妳　留住愛亦留住罪
誰料伴你的心今已碎　卻有她在夢裡

為何離別了　卻願再相隨　
為何能共對　又平淡似水
問如何下去　為何猜不對
何謂愛　其實最愛只有誰　

任每天如霧過去　沉默裡任寒風吹
誰人是我一生中最愛　答案可是絕對

為何離別了　卻願再相隨　
為何能共對　又平淡似水
問如何下去　為何猜不對
何謂愛　其實最愛只有誰　
何謂愛　誰讓我找到愛的證據

每一個晚上

http://witch5653.pixnet.net/blog/post/19265671

我突然無言靜了下來細心把你望
只想再看一次令我暖暖的眼光
在漫長漫長路上你我未相遇那天
今天的目光天天我會想千趟

已淡忘從前與你度過多少風與浪
往日種種歡笑時刻溫暖我心房
在漫長路途無論你我未來在哪方
一天的風在飛 一天我不忘掉你

每一個晚上我將會遠望
無涯星海點點星光
求萬里星際引點你路
叮囑風聲代呼喚你千趟

懷念綿綿無盡你與我幾時分兩岸
此心也永跟你飄向遠遠的那方
寂寞時候如果你要熱誠的目光
只需要輕輕把我想一想

每一個晚上我將會遠望
無涯星海點點星光
求萬里星際引點你路
叮囑風聲代呼喚你千趟

追憶
http://mymedia.yam.com/m/1823793

童年在那泥路裏伸頸看　一對耍把戲藝人　
搖動木偶令到他打筋斗　使我開心拍著手　
然而待戲班離去之後　我問　
為何木偶不留低一絲足印　為何為何曾共我一起的　
像時日總未逗留 　

從前在那炎夏裏的暑假　跟我爸爸笑著行　
沿途談談來日我的打算　首次跟他喝啖酒　
然而自他離去之後　我問　
為何夏變得如冬一般灰暗　為何為何曾共我一起的　
像時日總未逗留 　

從前共你　朦朧夜裹　躺於星塵背後　
難明白你　為何別去　留下空空的一個地球 　

徘徊悠悠長路裏　今天我知道始終要獨行　
閒來回頭回望去　追憶去　邊笑邊哭喝啖酒　
然而就算哭　仍暗私下慶幸　
時日在我心留低許多足印　
從前從前曾共我一起的　現仍在心內逗留