Julie and Marion / Michelle et Moi

"...do you think you could like me?"

p

p

P.S. Motley crew spotted at Thomson Plaza's NTUC on a monday afternoon. Alas they were more lovably eccentric in real life.

ode to padma

dear padma,

my father said this looks fun.
p

you mad chihuahua

intoxicated with air-con avec silly pierre

hiding from the rain in panjim

making friends on the bus (not sure why you showed her the postcard with the seas of naked holy men)

I know you really got a kick out of this one...

and if you do expire at 55 i will visit you with lilies

in autumn

thanks for the ride (and all the wonderful meals we shared)

goodnight.


Ginger and Lemongrass, Bindi


(O the things you make me do)

a friend

As Lucy said so too, coming back to your room from somewhere else after a long time is like meeting an old friend anew. (Firstly, we have the luxury of having a 'My Room' and a world of our own.) You open the door, take a deep breath of the musty air, a flitting glance around at all the things that were too familiar before you left, that are now magic little new-old parts of the world, the bits of you that you left behind when you went to see other places and people, your lungs send a signal to your brain, I'm here now....

"Hello."

And it seems, or maybe just in that moment alone, like all that travelling, somehow, was to get back here, as if you'd never left, to dream of the next time you'd travel again.

thar

What I imagine about their lives: moustache oil, camel rearing tricks, rupees, dhal, chapatis, old mattresses, wives, sun, sand, shrub, dunes, folk songs, village friends, tobacco

And now, strangely or not, their photos are on the internet, a medium they may not have seen or understand.

p

Umed always said 'Velcome, Velcome' in a singsong way after we said thank yous for the meals they made from scratch. And Babu would say in jest, in response to thank you, 'Yes, thank you sir, thank you madam, thank you, thank you.' I tried watching them cook but they seemed to want to be alone, speaking in their dialect. Maybe they were catching up with one another; we were the first customers of the season. And we slept by ourselves on one part of the sand dunes while they slept somewhere near; we spoke about country-boys/city-boys and heard them talk very late into the night. I wonder what they were talking about for hours. And we were all under a big salty blanket of stars. They were 27 and 29 but looked 40, with weathered dark faces, deep rugged lines (the kind that run in some of the older men on my paternal side. it is most enchanting, like rough leather), old twinkling eyes, flower earrings, curly moustaches.

p

So happy and sorrowful.

our burnt loyal medals

notes:
-the toering that desiree took about 5 cities to find
-her drapey latticed anklet from an aggressive gypsy
-the henna we got on our feet for the wedding
-indian summer sandals from lucy, that survived after cobbling

a-cha!

We had a kettle
we let it leak
Our not repairing
made it worse
We haven't had
any tea in a week
The bottom is out
of the Universe

-Rudyard Kipling

let the wild rumpus start

I mended my favourite red pants this morning. With instructions from the alteration lady who decided to give me advice because $8 per hole is too expensive. If I can mend my seemingly hopeless pants (hopeless according to gran who cannot even consider the thought that these pants are mendable- and I shall wear them to the airport tonight, with the bum above, and aggravate her, heehee!) I can do anything. Now it shall come to India, trusty ol' pants.

me in my lane, goodbye springleaf

see you in july.

The treatment of human head lice is a process that has been debated and studied for centuries.

Hunting lice by candlelight by Andries Both, ca 1630 (National Gallery, Budapest)

17th Century Boxwood Lice Comb

Combs

For a treatment with the louse comb alone, it is recommended to comb the hair for 3–10 minutes (depending the length and type of the hair) daily or every second day for 14 days. Wetting the hair with water and especially with water and shampoo or conditioner will facilitate the combing and the removal of lice, eggs and nits.

A special finetooth comb that can pick out lice is used. The space between the teeth of the comb should be no more than 0.3 millimetres (0.012 in). Plastic combs are effective for very short-term use, but the spacing between the teeth will quickly spread out after repeated usage. Metal combs, being less flexible, are more effective for multiple uses.

Shaving the head

Shaving the head or cutting the hair extremely short can be used to control lice infestation. Short hair, baldness, or a shaven scalp are generally seen as a preventative measure against lice infestation. However, it is not recommended that children be suddenly shorn due to the psychological effects the child might experience.

It is not recommended that children's heads be shaved or even be given a short haircut for prevention or control of lice due to the psychological effects children might experience. Infestation with lice is not a disease and the medical symptoms are normally minimal. In any case, health providers and parents should try not to create emotional problems for children during examination and treatment.[27] Shaving of the area above and behind the ears and the upper part of the neck while leaving the crown of the head with hair is commonly used a prevention of lice among tribes in Africa, Asia and America (in America - Mohawk style).

you don't know if i can draw at all, or what records i am into

i am in a little buzz from all the things i've been doing these busy days. my head is abuzz with spanish words and indian places, and the road outside my house yesterday was abuzz with dying bees that they poisoned again without warning anyone. just now i took my fifth injection on my left arm the warrior that is now tired. the resulting feeling from the fifth injection (taken after my dear ol' doctor paused because she said i took several different injections at different times and places and it may be bad for my body) into a bruised patch on my left arm was completely perverse- a sick, sore muscular feeling worse than pain, which gives me a wobbly feeling in the stomach and makes me think of the tight white muscular tendons of that frog we crucified and dissected in biology class in secondary 4- we shouldn't have. aye we even put our fingers through cow heart aortas and spliced open goat eyeballs.

i can't wait to leave everything and go to india, with all the dangers and adventures that await. i think it will be like a very real dream.

to a new life and forever adventures!

when you're alone and life is making you lonely

(us; thoroughly wonderful midwife)

hugging and kissing in public i wonder if you call it romance

we held hands tightly in the dark. romance was watching our baby being born. the baby wailed! mister woodstock thought we were lovers (an idea that almost killed us as we are on almost opposing ends of the heterosexual - homosexual spectrum). we drowned in indian ink and almonds and a coffeeshop squawk and microwaved lunches and turgid bladders and resurfaced with our baby and its kaleidoscope bits. to the liking of people, for which we feel very heartened (hearten: to give courage or confidence to; cheer) and quite surprised. now diamond-sky is in marvellously grey manteuffelstrasse and i'm going to the colourful hot desert and hopefully our baby will travel to new lands soon.

don't look back, don't look back, that's the word

Santiago Accordion-Amigos Hearts Club Band

DIEGO
Possibly a shortened form of SANTIAGO. In medieval records Diego was Latinized as Didacus, and it has been suggested that it in fact derives from Greek d?da?? (didache) "teaching".

SANTIAGO
Means "Saint James", derived from Spanish santo "saint" combined with Yago, an old Spanish form of JAMES, the patron saint of Spain. Cities in Chile and Spain bear this name.

JAMES
English form of the Late Latin name Iacomus which was derived from ?a??ß?? (Iakobos), the New Testament Greek form of the Hebrew name Ya'aqov (see JACOB). Related names: SEAMUS, JAMIE, JACK

SEAMUS
"one who supplants" or "substitute". In the United States, the name "Shamus" is sometimes used as a slang word for private detective.

JAMIE
a name derived as a pet form of James

JACK
a male given name, although in very rare cases it can be used as a female given name, and sometimes as a surname. The name Jakke was so common in England that it came to be used
for addressing any male, originally especially one considered a social inferior, and was extended to designate any male person, male animals, and even a variety of inanimate objects, such as
the device named jack for lifting heavy loads.

According to the United States Census of 1990, "Jack" is an uncommon American given name, the given name for 0.315% of the male population and 0.001% of the female population.

In English it is the diminutive form of the name JOHN,though it is also often given as a proper name in its own right.

JOHN
Because the name Jonathan is sometimes abbreviated as Jon, John is sometimes falsely considered to be a short form of Jonathan, especially in the United States. John is a variation of the Hebrew name Yô?annan, whereas Jonathan derives from the Hebrew ???????? Yôna?an, which means "Gift from the Lord" and thus is a longer version of NATHAN.

Also a shortened version of the latin form JOHANNES.

JANE
the English form of the Old French name Jehanne, which was an old feminine form of the male name JOHANNES.

JOAN
an Old French feminine form of Johannes (see JOHN). This was the usual English feminine form of John in the Middle Ages, but it was surpassed in popularity by Jane in the 17th century.

seasons in the sun

I've always been fascinated by the life my parents had before I came along. How they met, their friends, in particular their life in NJC. I've never been of the hoorah-activities sort- it was just never a part of me, but for my parents this was what their junior college life was all about. And actually, it sounded glorious. It had a growing with the growing nation feeling. Some kind of innocence, golden old-new glow, fervence, joy, sincerity. My mother said that going to jc and making the decision to stop being shy changed her life; she joined council and met my father, who only asked her out for a date after A levels though she waited for him despite a fair amount of suitors. And my father was in at least council, soccer, malay dance, dragonboat, track and field, basketball. Since I can remember, their group of friends have been meeting every year at either christmas or chinese new year. I've gotten to know them and think of each them fondly over the years. Many of them married nj people too (slightly disturbing). I've always liked going for their gatherings, which are are a warm affirmative glow of friendship and that time. A few days ago, I went into our storeroom in the sweltering afternoon heat and dug out old albums. I found one I hadn't seen before. It had golden photos. That's the best way to describe these photos because they were (I think) taken at the period between the end of jc and the start of ns or university. That last burst of that hopeful, mad, carefree something. And it was amazing to see my father and his friends as...virile young men! From the photos they are evidently full of passion and energy and joy in living, and...I don't know what else to say. I just wanted to show them here.

papa is the one standing

papa is second from left. leftmost is the friend who used to organise christmas gatherings every christmas at his house, which had an old swing where the children would sit

this christmas tree leads me to the conclusion about when the photos were taken

Fabulous Four

papa is leftmost. i think the group met for badminton because uncle M (second from left) was leaving for france to study. uncle BH (third from left) is the one who organised years of christmas gatherings, a man who remembers birthdays, and uncle KS (right) is the mad joker of the group, no gathering can be dull with him. uncle M was one of papa's best friends (they came from humble beginnings- tanglin tech secondary school, and vowed to beat the acs boys in jc. at least, my father did) but completely unlike him in his decision to go to france.

Bjorn Beatle.

I gather this is sending uncle M off at the airport. Mummy is flanked by two beatles.