Happiness

Is happiness really that difficult to achieve?

Everything happens for a reason. It might not be clear now but it will eventually be.

Looks at the pure happiness on the face of these kids. They might not even know where the next meal is coming from? Or if they would be captured at the next turn to be sold as child slave. Or if the next drop of water they drink contains some water-borne disease.

Yet, the happiness remains.

What rights, then, do we have to ditch those happiness?

I never doubt that insatiable desire breeds improvement. Just remember the small little things in life which are, themselves, blessings.

Enlightenment from India

Where do I go next

One of the main takeaway from the India Experience was the incredible strength of human basic instinct to survive.

Our mental strength are much stronger than we thought once the hyperreality of comfort is being removed. Once your mind is set on a target, the focus and holding the belief that it is possible will jumpstart the whole process to success.

I will never forget that time at Skandagiri Hill. Despite with a guide (who got lost himself), we had to thrash out way down from the top of the hill. We had totally strayed off the track path and were creating our route. For the large part of the trekking down, we were confronted with the view as in the image above. The only factor that drove us was the goal of reaching the land below. Parts of the trek down were filed with dangerous slopes that I doubt anyone ever used it before.

Somehow, we did it. Although, the place that we got onto the ground level was like 22132873m from where we started, we were simply counting our prayer that we could actaully touch ground level land. That, was certainly an experience.

2009

Amidst the cold Scandinavian winter, 2009 was ushered in…..

That night itself serves as a finale of a memorable 4 months of friendship with this group of Asians that makes the exchange experience even more memorable.

Incredible India! This tagline is certainly no exaggeration of the whole experience over there. Besides the friendships that was strengthed by the numerous adversity that awaits daily, coming face to face with the power of the human’s being instinct to survive certainly left a deep impression.

2009 has also been the year that I revisited China again – more than once actually. A personal visit to the place that has been earmarked to be the next world power beats reading any amount of news. The culture, sceneries, friends and potential opportunities were the main factors that will draw me back there for my Grad trip.

The year finally came to a close in Ho Chi Minh City. Thanks to the three teachers, this trip with 11 was conceived and well planned out. The easygoing and spontaneous nature of everyone in the group makes the whole trip much easier than expected considering that it’s a pretty huge crowd with 11 people. The manner that we spent our countdown nights was, simply put, fun.

wtf

After adding me on facebook as a friend (without any msg to introduce himself), I fb messaged him to ask if we had knew each other before.

*#@$*$#

I am certainly good with making new friends through facebook but this??

wtf?!

Resources for Entrepreneurs

There are too many resources out there proclaiming to be issuing credible advices for entrepreneurs and startups. Most of them just reiteratie the same old points in different forms and claimed to have a deep interest in it. Recently, I came across Paul Graham and his perspective on the 18 mistakes that startups always make.

He’s the founder behind YCombinator, a successful organization in Silicon Valley that specialize in providing seed funds and mentoring for Startups. Due to his experience, I found the list to be very concrete and can personally relate to many of these.

For others who prefer more concrete resources: This site offers you a list of 60+ resources that entrepreneurs can turn to in their bid to bootstrap.

Speechless

Sometimes, I can’t help but feel perplexed at the business ideas that can exist in the world. Check this one out: Runpee.com.

It actually tells you when is the best time to go for a pee in the midst of a popular movie.

*Speechless*

Crime Watch

I have always prefer to watch Crime watch over other fictional drama show for the simple fact that they are reenactments of real life. Besides that additional reality element in the show, the ability to understand the modus operandi of criminal is another attractive trait of it.

In addition, there’s that sense of security that empower the viewer of a show as he feels distance from the stories in the show.

Thus, how should one feel when he can closely relate to the scenes in the show?

The India Experience

Life in India certainly offers a different set of challenges from the one faced in Europe. Instead of the stress of having to adhere to a strict budget to curb the rocket high price, the challenge here is whether my body, especially stomach, can take to the lifestyle here,

The fact that a few of them fall prey to virus during the first week further heightened the alert level within. I am a fan of curry and dal, but to have them for every meal was a different topic altogether. Environment wise, the non-systematic way of life, especially on the road (where 4 cars can take a 2 lane road with 1mm of space between them) can be pretty nerve wrecking.

Coming from a place where progress is preached to be closely associated with being orderly and neat, adapting was certainly not going to be easy. The constant screeching and horning on the road, coupled wtih the high amount of the pollution did not make that process any much easier.

“Keep an open mind” – That was the advice passed on to us. How important that has proved to been. Things were felt much clearer once one take a step back and observe.

Behind the chaos, lies streaks of order and behind those noise, is a hidden sense of peace. They are simply at ease with the constant ongoing rumbling For instance, horning is just part and parcel of the traffic infrastructure. Unlike Singapore, vulgarities and anger are not part of the package together with the horn sound. Instead, their face simply remain emotionless as they sound their horn to warn off pedestrians or motorists.

It boils down to one word – respect. During my conversation with the locals, this element has never fail to present itself in one form or another. Mutual respect, more often than more, present themselves between two Indians and can be felt in the interaction between two.

In that case, why do I not feel the same level of respect present between two unknown Singaporeans back home. Is it an inevitable side effect of development? Or is it due to the lack of a common history? Or rather, could it be the influx of immigrants that is stretching the definition of Singaporeans, which consequently diminishes one’s national identity?

There’s really so much more to discover over here. Incredible India.

Social Entrepreneurship

The stay in India over the last three weeks has certainly raised my attention and interest to social entrepreneurship. The main lure about social entrepreneurship is the double dosage of satisfaction that it gives. On top of possibly generating passive income and the chance to call something your own, the additional satisfaction came from the knowledge that your venture actually brings good to the world. Such balance would help to solve the everlasting dilemma between the different callings in life.

Hence, it is no wonder that I am very impressed with this new toilet bag that turn human waste into fertilizers. Not only does it solves the problem of sanitation and polluted water, the conversion might actually increase the income of the poor. Great work by the Swed – Peepoople

House Hunting

Moooo…

Keep an open mind – That was the conclusion of the presentation which my group did on Monday, and certainly the mentality which kept the 6 of us mentally strong over the last three days. It had been a hell of an adventure trying to find a suitable house and making it operational.

The easiest part was the search for THE house. Due to various reasons, the choice was quite apparent but it was in the name of bargaining that we kept holding out. That lasted till a fat 20% discount off the original monthly rent was given. (During the holding out period, we were already at the shopping mall opposite , purchasing stuffs as if we were going to move in.)

Contented with this bargain, we happily moved our stuffs in to find the service apartment unit in the following states:

* The house has no electricity supply (Investigation reveals that the root source of unpaid electricity bills)
* The house was totally dusty.
* Cockroaches-infected kitchen warerobes.

The electricity was supposed to came back up before night fall but the cut remained even till 10pm. After much knocking around the neighbours’ house (With some shutting of door in our face), one neighbour finally helped us to call the correct electrian. After another one hour, he finally came but managed to solve half of the problem, leaving us with the following problems:

* Half of the power are still off (Including two toilets off)
* Two out of three air cons leaking water.
* cockroaches-infected kitchens.
* Internet connection not working.
* A thick layer of dusts on everything.
* One door without door knob
* No source of water
* No source of gas stove
* Fridge that works occasionally. (Imagine the food that needs to be chilled)
* Wiring problem for selected parts of my room

Over the next two days, numerous calls were make to every single agency/agent/maintenance guy/manager/security guard/… to fix everything.

Add in the ir-reliability of the phone connection here and the frequent misunderstanding and perhaps, one will comprehend the high level of challenge this whole affair is.

Of course, funny moments are plentiful. Top of that list is when this Indian guy just came into the house and start muttering “cable” and “where”. After some gesturing and sorting out, we reckoned that he was the internet guy that we contacted. Apparently, he was merely a television technician who does not do internet at all. However, at no time during the phone conversation was the word “tv” mentioned.He left, grossly disappointed after we told him we want internet.

Never have I felt a greater sense of satisfaction at a fully operational house than this.