Indian literature has all this while been usually been centered around identity, migration, roots. It's not surprising, since the concept of identity is unusually poignant when being placed in a foreign land. There is Jhumpa Lahiri, Hari Kunzru, Kiran Desai etc. who all deal with similar issues. These issues are important and close to the heart, but then again, in the 21st Century globalising world, there is more to what they have all written about. Which is why I believe Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger won this year's Man Booker.

I know I'm late but it was O Levels! You don't expect me to read a whole book during O Levels do you?

The White Tiger talks brilliantly about the widening hyper wide divide between rich and poor in the India that has come to ambitions for world superpower. It illustrates the life of Balram, who comes from The Darkness (how aptly put) and how he has broken out of his poverty and gone into The Light. Except his story does not follow convention. People do not break out of poverty in India, it is their caste, their life, their destiny. The reason why they were born to this state is because of all the sins they committed in their past life. Or so they say.

It is the first Man Booker I've ever finished reading. It is an easy read, I read it through in one sitting. Social consciousness is never enough to deal with this issue. But then how can we?

This is scary. Here I am sitting in front of the computer screen at 2am on a Friday morning typing this just because I feel obligated to. Within 2 hours already this blog has received two hits! Two hits! From 12mn-2am. This is supposed to be the blog no one reads!

Thanks to everyone who came on Tuesday 18th November and I deeply apologize for not treating this perimeter of expression as seriously as I should. 23 unique visitors and 19 first time. That means 19 of you came on Tuesday.

I must confess I am extremely out of touch with current affairs. The recent week has been a continuos swoon of events. Before Bio Paper there was PSLTC which I must say was a heck lot of fun with a heck lot of memories. After Bio Paper came Postos chalet which was the first time i stayed up for all 24 hours without sneaking a minute of sleep. Everyone there made it totally awesome especially the mahjong mahjong.

After that was usual Saturday hectic, then the steamboat on Sunday which sent me into East Shore Hospital at 4am. I knocked out the whole of Monday which then brings me to Straits Times Competition where I didn't sleep from Tuesday morning all the way to Wednesday afternoon. Which is also what's keeping me awake now because I'm anxious about results. I just heard the top prize comes with a three week internship. Which is worth more than the six hundred dollars. Which will evaporate all my disappointment of not being able to get a job.

Which brings me to Thursday where I spent time wandering Orchard with Clement and Mingyang- the first day of nothingtodoness which brings me to now. This post is totally crappy but I feel I have to write something.

Oh well. Hope I get some sleep. Thanks for coming folks.

Somebody's politics is risky business; it's almost like religion. It's a badge, an identity you wear around. It does not define who you befriend yet it defines who you intellectually agree with. Your best friend can be Liberal while you Conservative and yet, you can still be best friends! It is, how can I put it, intellectual religion?

But here is a confession: through this entire U.S. election I have largely never "endorsed" (by endorse I mean going beyond throwing him/her on SuperPoke and supporting that candidate on a psychological level) any candidate based on the intrinsic issues that the candidate stands for, but chose candidates to support on a more superficial, emotional level. Firstly, Barack Obama is a Democrat which spells "left" on American politics. The Singapore equivalent is inexistent yet it is rage among youths to be PAP-bashers. I think I have seen no less than 70% of my friends on facebook describe themselves as "Liberal" regarding their politics.

Hence coupled with Barack's youthfulness (compared to wrinkled faced McCain) it is no surprise that most youths pick Obama over the Mac. It is also popular logic that George W. Bush is a failure as President, and the two terms he spent in the White House was characterized by his inaptness. Yet how many of us know why he actually failed? How many of us has read about the failed Bush policies and actually understood why he is discredited? We can all scream Iraq Iraq but what exactly made the War something to cry about? We all hate war but aggression in foreign policy in hardly a good reason to negate his 8 years as total failure.

My message today is that we cannot just take popular opinion and phase it as our own just to appear smart or just to be in the crowd. Because if everybody does that any person with more than half a brain and slightly more charisma can collect the support of supporters who support because their friends, too, are supporters and (slowly but surely) build a fan base so big he can control the world. Take charge of what you believe in, back everything you think is true by sources you can confirm. The world is not black and white. Nothing is 100% true and 100% false. Even the most centrist writers can have a leaning at heart.

You can read Al Gore's The Assault on Reason and believe that the GOP is manipulating democracy and also find truth in a Republican doctrine. You can watch Chee's video and completely believe what he says and yet think that PM Lee's National Day Rally was actually apt. We live in a world where everyone is trying to present his information as truth. That's his job. Your job is to decide what to believe in and not be the clueless crying fan.

My new Asics Kayanos! In Sec One I was super naive and superficial and since everyone in school was wearing some cool Nike/Adidas sneaker I made my mom buy me Nike basketball shoes (of all things some more, I never play basketball). Today I told my mom I bought a pair of Asics (which is, obviously, more brand orientated than buying Nike since like, Asics is Asics). Guess what? She said, "Sorry hor, never hear before." Talk about where advertising can take you. Next time you see an aunty picking up running, she'll be wearing Nike.

Oh wells. Hope I run better from now on! The adidas adistar took me 300km. Hope I can hit 500km by November next year! And no, I did not insist on green again. It was purely coincidental!

Chinese today and I think I wrote a rather startling piece for 报章读后感, essentially, newspaper report. It was really intriguing subject matter and I think really hit home for many candidates out there. The topic in English essentially went like this: 90% of teenagers polled today say they cannot live without their mobile phones and that it has become inextricably part of their lives. Comment.

I doubt the accuracy of the poll which I assume was put together by some Chinese editor at the local gossipy tabloid, who nonetheless must have gossipy sms-addict teenage friends (oh the stereotypes), but despite what I think is merely a numeral inaccuracy, the fact of the matter is, yes, we (every individual in society) are gaining traction to be so reliant on our mobile phone, that we cannot live without it.

Scary, no?

On a Friday night when I was happily chatting with Danial and Yun Sol and Jun Rong I was so engrossed in conversing that I did not even bother checking the phone. When I finally did, I realized I had 6 unread messages and I was like Shit, I've lost touch with the world. It was only then I've realized that I've never lost touched with the world, and the world was right in front of me.

What we are so dependent on is not our phones per se. It is the fact that our phones represent the continual presence of our friends, whether we are physically apart or not. And when we do have to communicate by phone the lines between the world and this virtual world are very blurred. When conversing with a friend at starbucks and then receiving a message that will lead to a conversation will you converse with the friend in front of you or the friend on your phone? I would say, most likely, both.

But the fact is that the friend in front of you should deserve your full attention because, after all, he is in front of you. But that isn't the case anymore. Not with the invention of our mobile phone. And who knows what will happen when we put MSN on it ;)

He stands by the road. Cars whizzing by, back and forth. They never seem to stop, they always have somewhere to go. He stands there, waiting for them to stop. But they never do.

He needs to cross that road; get to the other side. He stares into the whizzes of light streaming across the night tar. The surrealist in him starts to be excited, but he just stands there, wanting to cross the road.

Then he notices a group of men walking past. They too, stand at the edge of the concrete, waiting to cross the road. In some thick heavy mandarin, they shout "One, two, three!" Strength in numbers, he thought. He ran along with them. Through the streaming lights, through the night tar.

Four or five pentagons came so close to them, but "strength in numbers" was all that was going through his mind. "Strength in numbers, strength in numbers."

They reached the other end. The group of men chattered excitedly, again in thick heavy mandarin. "There's one more! There's one more!"

He stole a quick glance at them, then quickly pranced away into the night tar.

Oh and I just have to post this.