Dinner With Bronwin

Had a wonderful evening kipping over with Bronwin at her flat in London. I had 4 hours to kill after my GRE so I wandered over to Charing Cross Road, and down to Charing Cross Station where I was to meet up with her. In the process of wandering down, I found that the National Gallery opened late on Wednesday nights, so I took the opportunity to pop in and look at some of my old favourites - mainly the Impressionist room, conveniently located on the first floor to the right, with Picasso's Sunflowers being the highlight.

It was wonderful meeting Bronwin again. We had met rather fortitously in Barcelona, where she had gone on one of her famous weekend getaways. I remember me stumbling back to the hostel after a wonderful day out in which I had consumed an inordinate amount of wine, and we talked about lots of various things - one of those random conversations I love. Bronwin got a really nice flat just a short train ride from Charing Cross station, in Zone 2, funded no doubt by her work as a Management Consultant in the City - in fact her office is literally just off the Strand near Covent Garden. We had a lovely meal of Thai takeaway and Sushi - the Thai food coming from a lovely little place just opposite her house, washed down with a lovely bottle of white wine, which she had got from a wine club that she joined. The wine was definitely something to write home about - crisp and sharp, just wonderful.

In many ways, Bronwin epitomizes what I see myself as if I do end up in the corporate world, though she is such an amazingly idealistic and motivated person. She has a job in a management consultancy, her own flat, a stray cat who loves to wander in, her nights in watching DVDs, her playstation and all of that. While it is not unappealing, I am not sure that it is the life for me. Then again, I may well be clinging to a hope of something better which may not exist - will the academic world really be any more rewarding, stimulating than a city job? This is just symptomatic of my inability to decide what to do with myself. What is it that I want? A sense of purpose, the enjoyment of shared intellectual debate with people? Just the ability to meet interesting and likeminded individuals?

But it was a wonderful evening, all in all, and I guess these are the things that you do end up treasuring in the end, the ones that stay with you, these shared experiences. And if that experience is that of wonderful conversation over a bottle of wine, then all the better!

GRE Examination

I did my GREs on Wednesday in London, after having made a decision to apply for graduate school while I was in Hong Kong, and signing up for the test at the office, there and then. All in all, I found the actual test quite tough, and I especially had a problem in managing time - I ran out of time in the math section, though I still managed to finish all the questions. This was rather surprising - I had managed to finish off all the questions in the 3 practice exams that I had done, 2 of them provided by GRE itself, but I was mightly realived when it was all over.

Since it was computer based testing, they gave me my scores at the end of all of it - I had a 660 for verbal and a 750 for maths. I had been hoping for a slighly higher verbal score since I though I had done pretty decently for that section, but I was well pleased with how the math score turned out, seeing that I had thought I had done far worse than that score suggests. In the practice test I did, I scored similarly on both those sections, and that equated to eing in the 95th percentile for verbal and the 86th percentile for the maths, so I am definitely hopeful that it will be the same in this case.

I found out at the end of the test that you have to nominate 4 Universities to have your results sent to right there on the spot. I had roughly chose mine, but was still considering a back up option. In the end I put down Harvard, Yale, Columbia and Georgetown - all wonderful universities, but perhaps also speaking of a great deal of hubris on my part. What annoyed me tremendously was that a payment of $10 is required for scores to sent to each further university. I might stick with these 4 and see how the rest of things turn out.

So, all in all, things turned out pretty good, though I hasten to qualify this remark until my full score report comes in the post, including the two writing sections. Considering I had taken the test a mere 2 days after coming in from Singapore, had done pretty minimal practice all things considered, and that I ran out of time in most of the sections, I should be pretty pleased irregardless.

Settling In

I am now back in Oxford settling into my new accomodation in Staverton Road. All in all, I am very pleased with the flat and my room, the only major drawback being the distance from College and the center of town - a 20 odd minute walk at the best of times. The flat is certainly well equipped with a pretty decent kitchen, although the lounge area is rather small and is shared with the kitchen area. My room is cosy and spacious enough, with two large windows overlooking the "garden", with our flat on the ground floor. Especially nice were the ample bookshelf space that was provided, as well as the huge amount of storage area in general - the flat has two store rooms. The lighting is rather dim however, and I am considering buying an uplighter lamp to brighten things up.

Many great thanks must go to the many kind souls who helped me to get my stuff out of the loft and bring all of my stuff over to Stav - Peter, Zing, Weelee,Bianca, Douglas and Damien included. They even refused to accept money to take a cab back into town and insisted on walking back in - and goodness knows I know that it is a long walk.

Living out certainly has a rather different feel to it. It is definitely a lot more homely. The first two nights, we had dinner among the three of us flatmates as well as Damien and Douglas, which was really wonderful, especially on the second night when Toju proved herself to be a fine enough cook and things were augmented by a bottle of wine or two. Damien also cooked chicken the night before which was really great. Hopefully, there will be many more nights like this to come.

Fundamental Freedoms

I was very disturbed to read in the papers recently about two Singaporean bloggers who are being sentenced in court for comments that were posted online in their blogs. They are being sentenced for writing stuff which is considered racially inflammatory and seditious and could face up to 4 years in jail. These two men were writing in response to a letter posted to the forum page of the local newspaper regarding the issue of allowing dogs to travel in local taxi cabs, with the author of the letter, a Malay Muslim, asking that this be stopped and their comments were placed on personal blogs.

This for me is a very scary situation and a severe blow to any pretensions (very few to begin with, admittedly) about the extent to which there is freedom of speech in this country. For me, the right to say and to write what you think is a very fundamental thing, and I personally feel that I would find it difficult to live in any society where such a right is not fully enshrined. In America, this right, guarenteed under the first amendment, is zealously safeguarded by such civil watchdogs as the American Civil Liberties Union, and this right is given without any discrimination in terms of the sentiments or topic areas expressed by individuals. The ACLU has gone so far as to protect the right of neo-Nazis to say what they think.

Implicit within this discussion is the extent to which a blog constitutes a public or private space. There is little doubt that the comments that they expressed were probably racist in some form, but that does not mean, as the charges against them suggest, that they are inflammatory, which is a whole different issue. If the two men had been sitting in a coffeeshop talking over a beer and made these comments, then they would probably not have been charged based on this Act of law, though it would have been a different matter if they had done so standing along a busy street like Orchard Road exhorting passer-bys with racist comments at the top of their lungs. So how does this distinction work with regards to Blogging?

Blogging is rather difficult to place in this regard. It is pretty much undeniable that comments written in blogs are placed very much in the public domain and are accesible to all. This is made even clearer by the fact that most blogs now have the option of keeping an entry "private" meaning that it can only be viewed by that individual and a select few rather than by anyone who accesses that blog. However, blogs are very much private spaces in that they are either personal chronicles or personal opinions written in an individual capacity.

In the end, I think that the charge that they are facing, of writing inflammatory material that could incite racial hatred is ridiculous. For one thing, unlike if they had been shouting from a street corner, in which case passerbys would have no choice but to listen to their comments, only people who actively searched out and read their blogs would be subject to whatever they have written. And who would be likely to read such comments? Probably people of a similar ilk. People who don't agree with what they say aren't likely to be persuaded just by a couple of lines written in a blog. That goes with even for people who stand at street corners and rant. I was in New York for a week and at lots of random subway exits you would find people saying the most outrageous things, much of which would be considered seditious in Singapore. My personal favourite must be a black man trying to convince everyone that Jesus Christ was not only not a Jew, but that he was actually black. All he got for all his trouble and his exhortations was a very sceptical crowd gathered around him, many of whom were either arguing doggedly against him, or heckling him. You didn't seem him starting a riot or people suddenly changing their views. Are Singaporeans really that incapable of similarly judging for themselves what is claptrap and what is not?

In a recent discussion about this at a family dinner (yes, this is the kind of thing my family talks about, often rather heatedly, over dinner!), we more or less agreed that race and religion is often such a big issue in Singapore only because the government is so determined to make it such a big issue. The surest way to ensure that ethnic and racial and religious divisions remain entrenched is to continually make it an issue and to insist repeatedly that we must be on the watch for people who are intent on dividing us in such a manner. We are inundated with stories from the past in which this were the case - from the Maria Hertog riots, to other race riots, as if such a situation repeating itself is something that is inevitable, if the proper "precautions" are not undertaken. However, race is hardly an issue for anyone in my generation, and we are probably much more integrated as a whole that my parents generation. It seems the government is creating something out of nothing with regards to this. After all, why is it that our race has to be listed on our identity cards, despite the fact that very often it is something that is a very artificial indicator anyway? What is the "race" of someone who has a chinese father, an indian mother, with Peranakan heritage lets say? If Tiger Woods were born in Singapore, what would his race be listed as?

There has been much talk of Singapore opening up, of greater freedom, of letting people express themselves, but the case of these bloggers is a step backwards, and a big one at that. The Government insists that we are free to express what we think, up to certain out of bounds markers (OB markers in popular parlance), which if crossed will lead to repercussions. The problem is, where exactly these markers lie is still very much open to question, and one will probably only find out that one has violated a marker when one is arrested/questioned by the police/sued in court which in Singapore, is far far too late. After all, given what has just happened, will this post be considered political in nature and violate the ordinance banning anything political from being broadcast over any form of media. After all, the internet is clearly a form of media, and this post clearly reflects my opinions, and some of what is written here is political...... Could it be that I am trying to subvert the minds of my fellow Singaporeans to my own personal stance?

Back in Singapore

I have finished up my internship in Hong Kong and I am now back in Singapore for a week before heading back. Basically just spending time bumming at home and with my family and two dogs which is always good. Among the (few) things that I have accomplished since arriving back are a mahjong session with Julianna on Wednesday night, a night out at Devil's on Thursday and meeting Jasmine for coffee on Friday night.

One really good thing: Neil Gaiman's latest book Anasi Boys is finally out. I was browsing at Border's (where I was meeting Jasmine) when I saw it and of course bought the book immediately. Now the only challenge is to try and finish it before I fly off on Sunday, so that Denise can have a chance to read it and to avoid us ending up with double copies. Me and my sis are such enormous Gaiman fans - when he came to Singapore she queued for hours in order to get our Sandman comics autographed by him. Just started on the book - I actually started on it in Borders - and it seems interesting enough, though very much more similar in spirit to his work in American God's than his earlier stuff.

Been doing some shopping for Oxford. Got myself a DVD player with speakers for a really good price of only about $130 - it was a local Singapore manufacturer, so I am supporting local industry! Got a desk lamp as well to bring over, as I am not sure that there will be one provided in Stav. Still have some shopping to do - mainly a pair of sneaker's and perhaps some clothes.

Besides all of this, I have been trying to do some preperation for the GRE exam, which I am admittedly quite behind in. Will definitely have to polish off a further practice exam or two before I leave for England, and then a further one or two before I take the actual test in London. I am hoping very hard for a decent grade at it as it is very important for Grad school admissions.

Ebay

Just created an ebay account, and joined the fast seductive world of online bidding. Needless to say I am utterly and totally hooked on it. There is a kind of excitement in any auction, even a virtual online one that sucks you in, and you do end up getting stuff you perhaps don't really necessarily need just for the heck of it.

I have been slowly mastering the strategies involved in ebay bidding, and whilst I probably overpaid for a few earlier items, I am quite happy with some of the prices I have won more recent items at. I will admit it quite frankly now - I have bid and won about 15 items in the space of 4 days, with at least 8 more on the way. Nevermind the cost, which at 50 quid is relatively steep, but my average trip to a bookstore/CD store anyway, but the fact that the Trinity lodge is going to be soon inundated with a whole pile of parcels addressed to me, something that will not amuse the porters in the least.

Just in case you were wondering, some of the stuff I managed to get included: A copy of the new football manager computer game at 3 pounds (5.50 including shipping); a copy of the Encyclopedia Britannica 2003 edition CD Rom for 99 pence (3.99 including shipping), Michael Freeden's Political theory and ideologies for 3 pounds (6 including shipping), Hayley Westernra's Pure CD for 1.79 pounds (3.19 including shipping), Radiohead's OK Computer CD for about 4 pounds total (a bit expensive this one), John Pizzarelli's latest CD for 1 pound (3 including shipping), Supergrass's debut CD for 2.25 total and Nickelback's Silver Side Up for the same price and Barbara Trapido's The Travelling Hornplayer for 2 quid.

There are just so many bargains on ebay that one can go a bit crazy, but I shall have to begin restraining myself very soon. Definitely not a good site for compulsive shoppers! Still, ebay is surely a sign of a dot com with a great idea that really works, and there is no surprise at all at its success.

The Ashes: What A Series

Most of last evening was spent listening to BBC Five Live's broadcast of the last day of the final test of the Ashes. Like many other people worldwide, I was captivated by this larger than life series, and it was perhaps typical of the excitement of the series as a whole that the test and the Ashes hung in the balance right up to the last day. This series and this match in particular, proved beyond doubt that cricket can be captivating, exciting, edge of your seat kind of stuff, and it has surely done an immense amount to spread cricket to the mainstream.

It was definitely excellent stuff, especially what has to be a career defining knock by Ashes rookie Kevin Pietersen. Considering the great controversy that had surrounded his selection, with England stalwart Graham Thorpe in the running by till the final days of the first test, Pietersen has more than lived by to expectations, scoring an innings that saved England and earned him man of the match honours. To score your maiden test hundred is often difficult enough, to do so with the Ashes hanging in the balance, under untold amounts of pressure is taking it to another level, and Pietersen has done so, has innings of 158 was magnificent, not just for the brashness and flair in which an Ashes record 7 sixes were sent flying, but in equal measure for the level of maturity and doggedness that he showed in ensuring that England were safe. I wrote in an earlier post about Pietersen's heroics in the NatWest series, and I was always a huge supporter of him being part of the Ashes squad and I am extremely glad that the confidence the selectors placed in him, as well as his own much vaunted confidence in himself, has been very much vindicated. With this knock he even ended up as the highest runs scorer in the series to boot - not bad for a rookie

Pietersen annoys cricket traditionalists because he is a larger than life character. From his hairstyle which is a cross between that of a skunk and a cockatoo, to his bravado and love of taking the centre-stage, he has annoyed any number of people. Then there are the criticisms against his playing style, which can be described as 'devil may care' - going for broke on every shot and attacking every ball. While it can be unorthodox to say the least, and is certain to give any top level coach heart palpitations, this is the stuff that the neutrals, the mass public, everyone who has previously derided cricket in their lives, responds to. Sport is life in a glass bubble, a reflection of life in small scale, magnifying each emotions, be it the euphoria of success or the bitter disappointment of defeat. This Ashes has been memorable partly for the depth of emotion shown - be it Pietersen grandstanding to the crowd, or Warne appealing energetically for an out after another one of his trademark swinging balls.

So all in all, what a grand occasion, what a wonderful series, what a great advertisement for cricket. Forget the fact that they were playing for a small little thing no longer than the average person's ring finger, this was sport at its best, and most invigorating - passion, glory and excitement.

A Day at the Beach

Had a wonderfully day at the beach in Repulse Bay today, courtesy once again to Julie's wonderful hospitality. It was definitely a perfect day to go to the beach - warm sunshine, a light cool breeze, and as an added bonus, a relatively small crowd given that it was a Saturday afternoon. To think that this was supposed to be the typhoon season (Taiwan and Japan had been struck a matter of days before) merely added to my luck in the combination of such ideal elements.

The south side of Hong Kong island is a thoroughly different world almost, lacking much of the hustle and bustle of the main city areas, its claustrophic compression of people and buildings and vehicles into such a small space, the endless rush of a whirlwind of humanity. That is not to say that there were no people - just to say that the South side had a much more relaxed feel as evidenced by the people thronging the beaches, swimming languidly in the bay. Part of the reason for this is no doubt due to the fact that it is divided from the north of the island by a large chain of hills and is thus relatively more inaccessible (not even linked by the MTR line) than Kowloon on the opposite shore on the Hong Kong mainland. So it was wonderfully relaxing, lying on the sand in Repulse Bay and going for a swim out towards some floating platforms that lay drifting nearby. In a completely arbritary point, Repulse Bay is apparently named for the British warship of the same name, who along with her sister ship the Prince of Wales, was sunk off the Malayan coast in 1942.

Afterwards, we went to Stanley Market, famous for its souveniers and knick knacks and had a stroll around before dinner. It was nice enough, though a bit of a tourist trap, and I didn't get anything except a set of chopsticks which will provide very useful back in the UK. Then, we met up with Greta for dinner at a Thai restaurant in a wonderful old oriental style stone building nearby. When I commented that it seemed a bit odd to build something like this here, I was proven correct. Apparently, that building at originally stood in Central and was one of the oldest buildings in Hong Kong, but redevelopment work meant that it stood marked for demolition. Protests led to the authorities agreeing to preserve the building - in a completely new location, thus its regenesis overlooking Stanley Bay. We ate along the side of the buildiing overlooking the bay, at a lovely Thai restaurant which was quite traditional. A fantastic experience watching the bay, and the lights on the hillside.

Afterwards, we went to a nearby pub for a drink. It is apparently one of the oldest pubs still present in Hong Kong, and one could see its origins serving the British sailors and expats who had escaped to the area for some rest and relaxation. In that respect, it's name - The Smuggler's Den, was aptly named. The pub also featured as decoration hundreds of dollar notes of various currencies and denominations, often with messages written on them. Needless to say, they were of a small enough value that patrons weren't tempted to make off with them!

To end the evening, went off to a karaoke social organized by Krizia for her Merril Lynch colleagues. I met lots of interesting people there, and it was wonderfully refreshing to know that ibankers are not only actually human, but really nice people to boot. Most of the night was spent listening to cantonese/chinese songs though, but I did impress myself with actually recognizing a few of them. All in all a wonderful Saturday evening.

MAN Booker Prize Shortlist

The MAN Booker prize shortlist, probably the most eagerly anticipated media event of the book publishing world has been announced, and not without some surprises. Former winners Ian McEwan, Salman Rushdie and J.M Coetzee have failed to make the shortlist, though Booker favourite and former winner Kazuo Ishiguro has won through. The shortlist is as follows:

The Sea by John Banville
Arthur and George by Julian Barnes
A Long Long Way by Sebastein Barry
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Accidental by Ali Smith
On Beauty by Zadie Smith

I am certainly surprised that McEwan and Coetzee didn't progress, as I greatly enjoy both of those writers, but the Booker judges do have to strike a balance against rewarding old luminaries for continued outstanding work, and casting the spotlight on very talented but relatively unknown authors who might otherwise slip through the cracks. Still the omission of McEwan's Saturday comes as a bit of a shock considering the glowing review it received from John Sutherland, chairman of the judges. Having read it, I can attest that it is a very powerful novel, with McEwan's usual sharp precision with words and characterization, though perhaps a bit too fixed and structured for the judges taste.

The bookmakers have put Julian Barnes as the favourite to win for Arthur & George, and despite not having read any of the books on the shortlist, I probably agree with them. The Booker committee do have a slight tendency to reward author's for consistently good peformances by giving them the award, which need not necessarily be for their best work (such as McEwan finally winning for Amsterdam) and Barnes has been shortlisted twice before. Barnes recent work such as the collection The Lemon Table has marked a progression for him as he has become a much more subtle novelist, much more controlled than the usual verbal pyrotechnics an smart, intellectual writing he is known for. Arthur and George fits into that bill nicely and if it is awarded the Booker it would be recognition of Barnes' success in adapting and modifying his writing and the improvements that entailed.

I have always wanted to make it a goal to read all of the shortlisted books from a single year in order to compare my own feelings about which was the deserving winner with the actual outcome, and this looks like a good year in which to do it. I really enjoy Julian Barnes' writing and I have heard that "A Long Long Way" is a very fast paced exciting novel, whose storyline of an Irishman fighting for the English in World War I definitely appeals to me, and ties in with the large amount of war fiction that I have been reading recently. Ishiguro I am not immensely fond of, but he writes wonderfully elegant and very traditional prose which is never boring. The only one on the list I am rather hesitant about is Zadie Smith - I admit to not likeing either White Teeth or the Autograph Man, neither of which I have completed. So, the gauntlet is laid down. After all, what is reading 6 books compared to the 120 odd books that the Booker judges had to wade through in order to make it this far?

England Shame

Winston Churchill described the fall of Singapore as "the worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history" with his usual flair for exaggeration, but surely England's 1-0 defeat to Northern Ireland must come pretty close. To say that the defeat was an embarassment is to severely understate things, that it is a disaster is utterly and totally beyond doubt. It leaves England in a precarious position in terms of direct qualification for the World Cup next year in what must considered one of the softest and easiest of the qualifying groups.

To put things in perspective: the combined cost of the Northern Ireland team is less than a single one of England's vaunted stars, be it the 27m pound Wayne Rooney, the 30m pound Rio Ferdinand or the new 18m pound Michael Owen. While Manchester Utd's Rooney managed to get himself yellow carded and suspended for the next match, former Man Utd youth programme trainee David Healy, who never managed to break through the club ranks and was later sold for 1m pounds, scored the winner with a wonderfully opportunistic finish in what was probably his one real chance of the match. This defeat was against a team that had struggled consistently to score goals and had come off a 0-0 draw against Malta, where their clean sheet was maintained due to a large measure of good fortune.

That this is just the last of what has been a series of bad results and embarassing performances surely means that the board has to make a decision about the managership of Sven. The defeat against Norway was plain embarassing. The win against a Welsh side that has not had a victory in 11 competetive matches was completely unconvincing and achieved only with a world-class stop from a John Hartson header, and with England under the cosh for much of the last 15 minutes. There can be absolutely no excuses for losing to Northern Ireland. Not even the injury crisis in defence, nor lack of preperation or anything like that. It is an absymal, shameful result, even more so for the way in which England performed.

This is not to take credit away from the Northern Irish team who were terrific on the night, giving even last bit of sweat, will and determination that they possesed. But this merely exposed an England side that seemed to lack any bit of fight, and whose players often seemed to lack any inkling of what they were supposed to do. A manager's main job is to prepare a team tactically for the match, and Sven's preperation against Norway were a joke, his 4-5-1 against Wales utterly ineffective and his team against Northern Ireland looked as if they didn't have the slightest idea what on earth they were doing. This goes beyond persistent criticisms of some of his strategies - from playing Gerrard in a holding role where his vision and skill on the ball is wasted, to leave Rooney running down the flank instead of letting him run through the middle of the park wreaking havoc with the defence. The last three English performances lacked tactical acumen, direction, discipline, determination, spirit and bite.

England certainly has many questions to answer. One cannot even imagine them facing the likes of Japan or South Korea or any of the African qualifiers in the World Cup and winning playing even remotely like this, let alone Brazil and Argentina. Somebody has got to take responsbility for the debacle that was Northern Ireland and if England do not turn the corner very very quickly, there is no doubt who that person will be.

Dinner and Jazz

Had a wonderful evening meeting Julie and Greta at Central in Hong Kong. Julie brought us to Baci's which is a really cozy little Italian restaurant in Lan Kwai Fung. I hadn't seen Greta since she left Oxford almost a year and a half ago, and it really felt like such a very long time. She still seemed pretty much the same though, and it was wonderfully of her to come down straight from school - today was the first day of term for Hong Kong University. It was really great catching up with her, and just getting to see her again after such a long while.

To add a even bigger treat, Krizia called Julie on the phone soon afterwards. It was a totally random and wonderful coincidence as Krizia and Julie had gotten to know each other through their respective Xanga blogs, and had exchanged numbers, but hadn't met up yet. Krizia happened to get off work early and rang Julie and the rest, as was just pure coincidence.

Dinner was really wonderfully. I enjoyed my pasta very much, and as an added treat, the restaurant even had a half decent Chianti of which we shared a carafe. They say that a really fine meal needs good food, good service and ambiance and good company, and all were definitely present tonight. It was just really remarkable to have dinner in Hong Kong like this, with three good friends of mine who on meeting for the first time, greatly enjoyed each other's company - that was the reason I had come to Hong Kong for the internship - to live out of the comfort zone and explore one of the most vibrant and cosmopolitan cities in the world.

Afterwards, Krizia and Julie joined me as we went over to the Bohemian Lounge on Old Bailey Street in order to check out some live jazz. Kristin had recommened the place to me after going there in her recent trip to Hong Kong, and seeing her fantastic taste in all things, especially Jazz, I hastened to take her advice. As live music places go, I thought it was pretty good. The band were obviously seasoned jazz veterens, especially Tom Noonan, the band leader and saxophonist and I loved the way lots of regulars turned up at the club and just started joining in the jam session. When I left (to catch the last MTR train) they had a trombonist and trumpeter to go along with the original quartet (strangely lacking someone on piano).

The Hong Kong jazz scene definitely seemed quite closely knit - two of the band members I had seen at the Blue Door club the previous week showed up, with the pianist (whom I thought was excellent) doing a couple of songs for them. Overall, I had a fantastic time there and I particularly liked the old style standards that they played.

So all in all a fantastic evening, all that one could ask for: good food, fine company, cool jazz, pure bliss if you ask me.

Temple Management

People often complain about the dumbing down of education, with courses like media studies, talked about with a sneer on one's face, but a recent course offered by China's Jiaotong University must surely take the cake.

Apparently, 18 buddhist monks are about to embark on something very much in the secular fold as they begin a course in "Temple Management" in Shanghai. The course will include such modules as "corporate strategy" and "religious product marketing".

This is indeed something of a departure for buddhist monks, who are often depicted in the West as seeking silence and solitude and more importantly isolation from the world in keeping with their teachings that one can only attain Nirvana through overcoming wordly desires. So it would seem incongrous in the least that monks would be taking what amounts to an MBA in their field.
Still, this recent move can be seen as part of a wider trend, and in this context it seems far less surprising. The chinese government has been rebuilding much of its Buddhist heritage over the past 20 years, but not in an attempt at religious or cultural revival - to the contrary, the money has been spent in an attempt to attract more tourists to the region. One large temple in Shanghai already boasts a monk with the title of 'General Manager' and records the names of people who donate large sums of money to the temple on plaques on the wall.

I guess it's only natural for people to feel uneasy about the mixing of mammom and God - one only needs to think of the Catholic church of old selling relics and pardons for profit to feel a deeply unsettled about the two mixing. We like to think that religious organizations have to be completely altruistic, after all they are working for God and not for man, and if there is any more potent symbol of humanity it is the dollar. Yet, in many ways this is merely a form of self-deception. Churchs still have operating budgets, and cashflow problems - just ask every vicar in every tiny village in England trying to raise funds to fix the steeple. So perhaps it isn't so odd that monks are doing degrees in Temple Management.

The Aftermath of Katrina

America has been stunned by the effects of hurricane Katrina, but perhaps not in the way in which they imagined. The effects in human cost were great and the sight of one of the great southern cities all but submerged in a deluge of water has been sobering and stunning. But surely what shocked people more were the reports of looting in the streets, of strong-arm police tactics that included the shooting of at least two people who attempted to leave the packed stadium where the majority of New Orleaners had sought refuge. It is the sight of bloated corpses washed down overflowing streets, of children nearly starving because they had no food and had not received any form of aid.

Nicholas Kristoff of the NY times has got it spot-on when he says that Katrina underlies America's Larger Shame as he puts it: Hurricane Katrina also underscores a much larger problem: the growing number of Americans trapped in a never-ending cyclone of poverty. He rightly criticizes the Bush administration for neglecting America's poor, and it seems ironical to me that a man who trumpets a 'no child left behind' policy now finds himself with more than 1.1 million more people living in poverty since 2003. Mr Kristoff cites a whole series of statistics, several aimed to shock on purpose, such as the fact that Washington D.C has a higher infant mortality rate that many areas in the Indian state of Kerala, but his article is a sobering reminder of an enormous problem that America faces. What has got to do with Katrina? Kristoff provides another illuminating example:

One of the most dispiriting elements of the catastrophe in New Orleans was the looting. I covered the 1995 earthquake that leveled much of Kobe, Japan, killing 5,500, and for days I searched there for any sign of criminal behavior. Finally I found a resident who had seen three men steal food. I asked him whether he was embarrassed that Japanese would engage in such thuggery.
"No, you misunderstand," he said firmly. "These looters weren't Japanese. They were foreigners."
The reasons for this are complex and partly cultural, but one reason is that Japan has tried hard to stitch all Japanese together into the nation's social fabric. In contrast, the U.S. - particularly under the Bush administration - has systematically cut people out of the social fabric by redistributing wealth from the most vulnerable Americans to the most affluent.

Indeed, the Bush administration has focused on giving tax cuts to the richest 5% of the population, while America's medicaid and medicare systems stand in urgent need of reform and while the plight of America's urban poor - such as the poor people of New Orleans - worsens. In this he does seem to be turning America into a country of have and have nots, of the rich and successful and their progeny to those born into poverty. In this, he is forgetting the maxim of the great British essayist Samuel Johnson who said that the "truest test of a society is in the way in which it treats its poorest members". While Ronald Reagen, Bush's famous Republican predecessor was famous for remarking that "We have fought a war on poverty and poverty has won" but at least he was attempting to do battle: the implications of Bush's policies are that he couldn't care less.

Another interesting aspect in the aftermath of Katerina is the offering of aid to America from many foreign countries, in particular China and India. While I am greatly encouraged by this show of support, however nominal, it raises questions on American policies on foreign aid to begin with, another contentious issue. America has long been criticized, and rightly so, for their miserliness in terms of foreign aid. While the average Norwegian gives about $300 in aid, America's figure stands at about $20, which is appaling and well below the weighted world average of around $50. Leaving aside the arguments about the efficacy of foreign aid, it is still something that surely needs to be addressed. America stands at the forefront of the battle to attain the UN Millennium Goals to halve poverty, and it is only with a lasting contribution from America that signficant headway can be made into achieving these. In the wake of Katrina, the world has responded to America's plight. It will be interesting to see if the favour is returned in kind.