Unlike any great (t)art, great cuisine comes from the heart and is fueled by passion. When well executed, it visualizes a feast for the senses that thrills with promises of yet to come galore and the glory of gumption.

In Malaccan culture, the mixing of different races and spices enables this noblest of food fusion efforts to produce miracles in her kitchens . The ubiquitous Laksa is the off-spring of such local efforts. Do not be surprise to note that such is the potency and flavor of this fusion dish that all the races in Melaka have their own version of it. From the Malays to the Chinese with the chitties and the serani's thrown in between, as you gingerly traverse their culinary delights offered, the tell tale sights of the red cili boh and the saliva inducing smells that wafts through and greets you tell tales of promised gluttony and gobbled savouries.

To Malaccans, the Nyonya Laksa is excitingly fantabulous if you're searching for a memorable meal and an early heart attack.The tasty seductive attraction of this piping hot coconut milk laced noodle broth is a real killer. Laced with the right amount of  local noodles, seafood, ingredients and spices, this artery blocking, mouth watering, eye smarting concoction is a blessing for all those who crave spicy asian fast food.

In Melaka, you can have this broth almost everywhere in town but i prefer the ones specially prepared by the aged aunties and uncles in pushcarts as they traverse the weather beaten lanes and streets fronts off Jalan Bunga Raya in old Melaka as these would be the best flavored and original tasting types.

Having this Laksa here with old styled black coffee as a chaser will bring back memories for you (or at least make one if you haven't ever sweltered over a bowl of this tasty & fire alarm inducing bowl of noodles before.) Simply lovely.
The past week and even before then, if truth be told, has been spent in pursuit of happiness in a bottle for me. The whole world is in a tight budget drive and here is one guy spending like there's no tomorrow. Actually, short of waiting until the next weekly allocation from Michelle, there is no tomorrow to spend forward to.
I mean look forward to.
The entire Selat council members and their friends were in town last saturday for their AGM and an invitation was sent to michelle and I to join them for dinner at the Taman Merdeka Tai Pan Seafood rest. for friendship and fun.
We arrived quite late as they began their Dinner at 7.00 pm but there was a lot of catching up to do and by 8.45 pm, dinner was a pleasant after thought as we contemplated some karaoke for further musical torture of friends and the general public at large.Luckily, the night before was happily passed in Melaka Raya with beer and broth until the wee hours of the morning ( in all gentlemanly pleasant ways) and so the idea to prolong the privileges and pleasantries was concocted to the selat folks and we all agreed to adjourn to MR upon having thoughts of another night of pleasant, pissed drunk debauchery flashed before us.

As in all polite Asiatic societies the ideas and promising salvo's of an interesting night out will occasionally be petered out by factoring in cost and values gained for the emittance of such cost. So, anticipating in advance on this , my friends Mr. Regal (chivas) and Mr. Blue (label) were introduced to the erstwhile group for temperance of worries and fears.
In the true spirit of the stud that i am not, the pleasantries of the night was planned and produced for the enjoyment of all while ensuring their frail sensitivities were not totally aghast.
Michelle and I finished quite early as we left at 3am when the lead singer for the pub we were in, Brandon, started falling asleep while in deep,spirited conversation. No doubt Mr. Regal had a lot to do with that!

If perchance, the poor reader is driven by now to ask of the dichotomous relationship between me and the people i serve or used to serve and the ambiguous need to see/make them happy, I suppose it is a way of framing or even highlighting the uneven power -relations and dynamics between master and servants in Asian societies.
Brilliant and yet pathologically servitudal.      
Story of my life.

A Cluttered desk.
A CLUTTERED desk full of all manner of trash.

SHORYN IS REALLY MAKING IT HARD FOR ME TO NOT SHOUT AT HER NOW. THE TABLE THAT THIS COMPUTER SITS ON IS FULL OF HER NONSENSE.


 From left over bits of tissues to an empty bottle of "Air Badak" that she consumed last night, it's all still here. The mark of a man's love for his children if any must be his ability to close an eye to normally irritating and troublesome actions and or excitable incidence that he cannot relate to.

(Often times, leading the children to being more indifferent or overly excited just to solicit a response from us, maybe?)

It has been proposed many a times that girls can play the game of indiscipline by subterfuge better with their parents than the boys can and as a parent of over 20 years experience you'll think we are able to admonish or at least discipline them more severely, but no.

We are our own worst enemies when it comes to discipline as the olden ways of eliciting a suitable response from the kids in terms of discipline no longer functions in this day and age.

My grandparents probably had to only raise an eyebrow and their children would toe the line. My dad probably had to smack a few around to instill discipline within the rest but me, I gotta get up my butt and make my own cuppa coffee or get my own newspaper if I want some respect around here.

How life is changed, yeah? Alamak, if you know the real story, then you're probably a parent to teenagers too, heh?
To top it all, the neighbors' chose this morning to do some drilling into the walls of their house and the grass cutters' doing his bit in front of my house with what appears to sound like a giant droning ,monstrous blender.

Ahh , but for the sound of silence. What I would not give for silence now. Silence. Silence. My Mercedes for some silence. (I got no kingdom, mah.)

Anyways, we'll move on…….

Last night was a mistake. What was a mistake? Last night was.

Out of the blue a call was made by me to the contractors to check up on the landscaping duties that I'd allocated them earlier. Found out that one of them was short on his work due to a lack of machinery at that given moment and so the job was passed on to another. This chap had the brilliant idea that he can receive instructions from the residents of that place as my instructions and he did more than he was to be paid for. But, because it was a verbal request and the fact that he came when called, it was decided that he will be paid anyways.

In our bid to keep the peace, a night out in town was decided. Keeping the peace in business is hell, but somebody's gotta do it.

Truly it was a Bad idea.

First off, I really enjoyed the company the contractor gave, and the places we went to drink really showed us the red carpet. Secondly, the mood for the evening was really good that we managed to make a fool of ourselves by acting like a couple of millionaires and throwing caution to the wind by spending exactly like one. Thirdly, I wanna do it again!

Damm. There goes the insurance payment for this month.

I woke up this morning with a dry throat, a bleeding headache, and a foul temper.

Nothing a couple hours of additional sleep and a few glasses of water couldn't help but hey, it was a hell of a night. You gotta be real careful with this feelings as they tend to make you broke faster than a speeding car. The way liquor prices in Malaysia are nowadays, a small fortune can be spent in a night, and it usually is!

(Especially if you drink like a fish like yours truly).

To give my readers an idea, a bottle of Chivas is like RM 288.00++, Rm 540.00++ for Cordon Bleu. If you're on a budget, beer is like RM 43.00+ per tub of 4 bottles and that is normally just enough for starters for a duo. You'll probably go for three rounds before you feel sumthing , sumthing.

Then there's tobacco money. In my case, that's either a Cohiba (RM 78+ to RM 110.00 for a Grande) or a Monte Cristo (RM 35+ to RM 69+for a Grande) if I'm watching the budget. Even a pack of Dunhill is like, RM 9.00+ per pack of twenty. When you're out gallivanting it's easy to go through two packs. Of course when you drink, you'll need food.

If you're pub hopping, that's probably like a snack in all those places (RM 15.00 a plate of sambal sotong for two?) Then, there's the GRO's or even worse…… if you meet another friend who is a good, entertaining company when he's sloshed. This will top the evening's entertainment scale in value even higher and make you even happier to spend!

There goes the children education fund.

Damm this Government. The money you're forced to fork out to have an evening out now days is astronomical. Not twenty years ago, it would have cost you around 100-200 a night out with family and friends. Now it's like 10 to 15 times that amount. And the government wonders why they keep losing the rakyat's support come election time.

The telly's blaring out in Chinese the latest shenanigans out in Hulu Selangor where the BN's Kamal a Nathan and PKR's Zaid is contesting the Parliament seat. Don't understand a word of Chinese but over 40 years of living amongst them gives one an intuition of what's being said, you know. The surveys seem to indicate a 50/50 chance for both parties but that's like saying the sun might, probably, if all goes well, rise again tomorrow, right?

WTF? My birdy can do a better assessment than that! Come on lah, the level of media drivel that you hear and assume as breaking news really grates & irritates as they prove time and again that they are scraping the bottom of the barrel to submit that bit of information, you know. And it's all in the name of providing a public news service.

I better stop now before I shoot somebody .

THURSDAY, APRIL 22, 2010

MIDMORNING TALES FOR THE MIDDLE AGED.

How very curious. 
Recently all the men I know are becoming far more obsessed with their health than ever. More than their fathers and grandfathers ever were.
Me, I grew up in a cloud of petrol, tobacco and cigar smoke, as my dad and uncles smoked, wined, dined and whored themselves into their grave. Now men are more likely to be killed by overdoing the cardiovascular exercise bikes.

There was a time not long ago,that a small protruding belly for the men was passage of comfort & pride to be carried nonchalantly as the mark of time and adulthood into asian society.Now it's a sign for every jane,sue and allen out there to corall you into buying their "health products" or worse yet, used as a social crutch at your expense.

It probably started out innocently enough and with good motives, these intentions to have others look slim, groomed & neat;and mirror images of the youthful models pictured in those magazines people buy but somewhere down the line these well meanings have turned horrible as society started taking the fake and doctored pictures as a possible reality for their family, pets and even friends.
Now these ideas of what the modern man should look like has perpetuated a society so deep out of reality that even my fish grocer is into "pores cleaning" and " anti wrinkle creams" !

Not that he shouldn't, mind you. But such is peer pressure nowdays that it seems the idea that started with every man being healthy and slim has commercially transformed quite naturally into the idea of being a dandy and loving it.
This is what you get when the world is at peace and society is thriving.
More Dandified Men.
Look, the very idea of being well groomed and healthy is fine & applaudable with me but you're pushing it when men are pressured by all manner of insidious advertising and promotions to look like the actors and young models on the telly. That's a pipe dream girly, cause age and time waits on no man and those farts ,warts,and wobbly butts are just gonna get worse and head south as you age. 
No cream, dream, scream or trampoline is gonna change that. Though an ice cream done occasionally for him might not hurt! 


Thanks for your time.

A funny thing happened to me the other day. I recently met a woman I used to know 10-15 years ago during my Royal Selangor days and she's currently a resident in one of the properties I provide consultancy to.

She 's been invited to join up with their council as a member and by virtue of that she's been trying to impress upon me and my wife the virtues of signing up with her business plan. She's quite indomitable (aren't they all?) and persistent. Michelle has been to the systems and "how to" business seminars this lady sets up periodically and came home unimpressed. I respect the fact that she is consistent and persistent as I well believe that it is the key to success, but her recent maneuverings in questioning me what I would do should the consultancy be short lived and her offers to me to sign up with her to ensure future financial freedom seems over board.

Not unlike my usual self, I made it clear to her, that all consultancies are short term in nature and that I view myself more as a teacher cum service provider than a salaried worker (who's afraid of the lack of a next paycheck). As usual, she did not take it very well.

It pains me to reveal to people that what they consider important and urgent need not necessarily be important or urgent to others. It somehow ends up being a rebuke and a rejection of their offer (or self?), which it definitely is noT!

The same can be applied to people who think they are inferior to you because you are in positions of power, status, and et.al, that they have not reached yet.

It gripes me what a huge burden self loathing and low self confidence amongst others have caused to society ;so much emotional imbalances that basically screws up the lives of the people having these fears and those surrounding them. Truth be told, in my teenage years this angst was the biggest problem to me also, but I would like to think that it is all behind me now.

A
favorite parable that comes to mind is the parable that Lord Krishna told Arjuna in the battle of Kurusestra, where Arjuna is appalled that he'll be doing war against his own mentors and kin.

Krishna, in his infinite wisdom teaches to Arjuna that what he feels is not objective as the things we humans consider as ours, either immaterial or physical is not ours to OWN.

We came alone and we die alone.

Whatever in between that we do in this Life is all HIS (GOD"s); which we are given to enjoy. Good / bad is all a reaction to his creations freedom of will. All material and immaterial objects is HIM and will return to HIM.

In Truth, faith is what saves us more than deeds.

It took me a long time to understand that, and it cannot be said that I do understand all the limitations and implications of that parable, but my life is easier now with some understanding of what are the important things in life.

As in Faith.

Vincent my friend used to kid with me that the secret to my success / happiness is that I've always indomitably believed that 'ASK, and you shall RECEIVE'. He interpreted that as the power of visualization and providing a goal in life.

Maybe. He might have a point, there.

But it is in my belief that GOD provides and we just need to follow his teachings to enjoy his benevolence. Fear tests Faith. Fear drives personalities and (worldly) commerce. Faith believes all will be right when He is with you, no matter how stormy the night.

7.15 am

There’ a smell of perfume in the air as I open the front door s of the house today. The Kesidang plant (a form of jasmine) must be blooming again. The chill morning air that blows is refreshing and comforting to the soul. The perfume is almost overpowering but welcomed as it has a very nice fragrant, almost a cross between jasmine, pandan / lemongrass. I really don't know what the Latin name is but a direct translation of the name from Malay to English would be Rice Crust Flower. A leisurely Sunday is almost like a promised by the sights and smell that greets me.

7.25am

A good morning exercise for me has always been to have a quickie with the wifey and should in all fairness make her cum at least 3 times before I consider my job done.

That enjoyed and done, the early morning rising should not be wasted and it would be timely for me to get a spasm or two out of the workout, too!

9.00am

The internet radio is sweetly crooning away in the background an old Rod Stewart song while the TV in the living room is blaring a Chinese Drama theme song that mummy loves to watch now-a- days. She almost seem fixated on the silly telly when the shows are on; she laughs with them, sobs with them and religiously follows the scripted story come rain or shine.

The pungent morning perfumery from the kesidang plant is almost gone now as the sun heats up and is swayingly replaced by the breakfast smells as the neighbors cooking and preparations wafts over to the house. The spice and curry smells is almost revealing as it portends what meal each house hold is having that day. The frying smells are the best as they almost always reminds me of the masala chicken that the uncle next door is famous for!

For me, the best part of the day has always been the mornings and dusk, as the various smells and visual then brings back old recollected memories and feelings. It almost enlivens the whole situation when and where these scenes in your mind can transport you! I can be momentarily virtually transported back to the ages past.The most cherished, amusing, frightening and embarrassing moments captured in your youth and past can be brought back by these absurd recollection that are triggered by seemingly obtuse visuals and smells or even taste.

Mummy has rechaut the white rice from yesterday’s meal into a fried rice dish with fish cakes for breakfast. Couple it with two half boiled kampong eggs and a glass of steaming hot Kopi susu and you’ve got the makings of a fine breakfast for the day.

The kids are not in the house today, as Chandra has opted to sleep over at his friend’s house in klebang after their tuition and the tarik session last night while Utheya has called to say he’s spending the night at joey’s place. Shoryn ‘s been at her school camping site since Friday for the weekend camping excursion but pity her as it’s been raining cats and dogs these past two nights she’s been there. Must be cold and clammy sleeping on the ground in the camp site but she’s obviously loving it as she refused to come back even though the first night she was done with flu and fever due to the rain and cold.

The morning paper’s screaming all about the cancelled air travel and stranded international travelers at KLIA due to the volcanic ash disrupting air travel in Europe. Michelle was also worried that it might be a cause of worry for us when we travel in slightly more than 2 weeks time to Japan. God, I hope not!

Let there not be by the grace of God any obstacles between us and that journey, either natural or manmade.

Growing up in Melaka

Growing up in Melaka, I've always felt that life was good and I was protected somewhat. You never feel that you can be better, or have an achiever kinda feel; but you do feel safe. And in safety you can prosper. That's why in the 90's i left it behind, for a few years to develop my inner character.



The way I see it, we develop and maneuver our way through life through either @ will power; or @ osmosis.

Either way the sense of entitlement is there. It's just the way to achieve the entitlement is different.

In Melaka, family and friends support can assure you sustenance and safety but self enlightenment in the ways of the world is what gets you the moolah.

The service above and beyond self kinda thing.The difference that makes your today's and tomorrows' more calming than the other guy. And let's be honest here, isn't that what it's all fundamentally about? That our life is calmer than our neighbors'?


That we be able to slow drive through life sated and satiated. Living in big cities and cosmopolitan towns are wonderful…..for the young and young at heart!
But for familiarity, safety, comfort and the feeling of entitlement to the fundamental rights of life, you need to be in a place wherein everyone knows your name, and cares for you and yours, as do you to theirs.


No need for self aggrandizement, obtuse self promotion, or any delusions of grandeur. You really learn to love yourself more (NOT THAT WAY, get your mind out of the gutter, you!) by being calm, peaceful and sated with your place in life.




Every now and then, an outside experience or excursion will bring clarity to mind and reiterate to our mind the beauty of life outside our immediate circle therein (hopefully) humbling our senses for the preservation of the sanctity of ours.



A good perspective is the Hindi show the 3 Idiots (2009) which shows that chasing your passion in life (whatever they may be) is way more experimental and likely successful than chasing careers or money.


And that in a nut shell is what it's all about. ' A GOOD PERSPECTIVE'. Not someone else's idea of what you should do, how you should do it, or even when you should do it.


The trick is to keep doing "IT" until you realise what it is you like doing and what you don't like doing.
(Step 1)

Then you get down and dirty in doing what you want doing,possibly getting run aground a couple of times but the trick again is to KEEP DOING IT. (Step 2)


And lastly, after some time you take a break by looking at what has been achieved and whether you like where or what you've become. (Step 3)


If you do.... congratulations !


If you do not, re-do Step 1. (ad infinatum)


SIMPLE, ain't it? YUP !

Yesterday, after breezing into the HK 1 administration office at 11.30 am, the staff were briefed on avenues of recourse that were available to them with regards to the myriad complaints and grouses that the council said were bogging them down.

I have to admit though, that short of some primal leadership and base instructions on management requirements; the old girls were holding the fort rather decently.

Made a mistake later in the day as my phone batteries were running low and i didn't bother to recharge them in time, and because of that i miss about 20 calls that Michelle made to inform me that Shoryn needed picking up from school at 4.00pm.

I'd noticed the low battery level earlier but thought i could wing it till after i reached home, but in between calling jeganathan, an old school class mate whose now a grocer in Alai and calling David Lee of Beuford Hotel for an appointment, followed by an appointment with Lawyer Avatar in Bachang, it totally skipped my mind until i reached home and michelle phoned in again.(at home phone).

So, off i rushed to school worried (at 5.00pm) that she'll be all alone and what do i see?

My daughter is surrounded by her girl friends and boys waiting for me to arrive. I even had to give a lift to one of the boys as he missed the bus while companying shoryn.

Luckily, all's well that ends well,eh?

Coming back to the earlier appointments, David is pretty sure he needs me to help out in one of his business ventures as he's getting more involved in Melaka,and planning to open another Hotel and restaurant. Once these plans take off the ground, there will be a need to find a replacement for the current property and administration. Seems promising, but only time will tell.

Avatar on the other hand gave a tongue lashing to Ben & Ng for being wishy washy with regards to the coming AGM. He made it abundantly clear that they are poised to lose all their collective face and invite more trouble for their individual selves, should the result of the AGM be against them as the other party then will make sure all the Legal defense for these people are dismantled and they will be left fending any attack on themselves.... alone.

Pretty much where they left me, actually.

No fear though, these past few months have given me the space to realise that things (situations) are not necessarily bad forever. They remain status quo only if we don't get up off our arse.

As usual hope is a bright shining light that shows the way;

the calming breeze on a hot sweltering day;

so get off that round fat buttock

to ensure a favorable stock

of future blogs.

Below is the latest E-Mail sent by a great friend of mine, Mr.Vincent Low:

Hiya all,

First of all, I would like to WELCOME ... Terrence Overee into the "class84_sfi" group!! Terrence, please feel free to browse thru the photos at the site http://groups.yahoo.com/group/class84_sfi ... and try to recall if you can still remember any of the faces !!!

Now, for the 130th dinner last Saturday ... many thanks to Felix Yeow for organizing the three tables for class of '84 ... and also to those who took the time off, from their daily busy schedules, to attend this dinner and made it a worthwhile gathering.

I would also like to thank Jeeva who, although could not make it, paid for his ticket (and as a result, won a lucky draw prize of a 2D/1N stay at Straits Meridian Hotel ... that's what I call 'really lucky').

And I would like to especially thank Kumarasan too, for sponsoring my wife to the dinner with his ticket, because he could not make it ... so, Kumar ... "All is forgiven !!" After all, what are friends for, if not to forgive and forget ! Furthermore, my wife was very thrilled to get to know my friends better while listening to their stories, especially in room 723 ... so, now she knows that I was an 'angel' among my friends ... Hah !

ANYHOW, IT WAS REALLY WONDERFUL TO SEE ...Jeffrey Tan ... I'm so glad that you're recovering steadily from your tumor operation. Your friendship comes from a long way back, ever since living in Taman Sentosa ... like when we were five years old !!??

Alan Lim You Hoe ... next time you want to invite me for your wedding again, no need to accidentally meet at a char koay stall, okay ! You have my phone number now !!

Raymond Choy ... whenever Alan comes down to Malacca to hang out at Pure pub again, please call me !

Ashok Vijay ... even though you were traveling overseas for six months, you should check your email every now and then ! There's internet access all over the world now lah !

Desmond Ee Kim Seong ... thanks for being chauffeur for my wife and me that night ;-) ... and don't always go to Sarawak ... got something interesting there, meh ??

Kevin Chua ... you need to hang out with me & Balan more often ... there are a lot more things to learn in the university of life ... which you cannot learn in MMU !!!

Vincent Chin & Soon Hock Chuan ... if I'm in KL, you can bring me to Chew Chee Keong's new pub and also show me around the hot & happening spots there ... okay !

Lim Een Hong & Elroy Dewitt ... this is the first time I'm meeting the both of you since we left school 26 years ago. Do join our reunions more often lah !

Alvin Lee ... I believe, now, Balan & myself are spending more time with and closer to your Dad ... than we are to you (our classmate) ... LOL !!

Dinesh Gill ... please convey my regards to your mum and sisters ... I wonder if they still remember me !

Ivan Sia ... my wife said that, even though she has heard your name being mentioned many times with regards to Mexter (ever since more than ten years ago), ... this is the first time she has met you !

Leo Nicholas Vincent ... I too didn't know that there was a saint by the name of Leo ... I've heard of St. Vincent and St. Nicholas ... but never of St. Leo ... sorry for my ignorance too ... that's why I can really relate to Andrew Chelvathurai !

David Ponniah ... I think it was you lah who frightened Andrew Chelvathurai off that night (in room 723) ... when you wanted to carry him over your shoulder ... in front of my wife some more ... so, I don't think it was Leo's fault !

Sean Fletcher & Andrew Chelvathurai ... you are both the best !! ... coming all the way from Perth for the reunion ... not once, but twice within the past six months !! ... and Andrew, I will never ever get tired of listening to your stories ... it's the way you tell it that makes it so damn funny !!!

Gan Kong Hoe ... together with Balan, Kumar & me ... I suppose we're the next generation for SFA, huh !!??

Felix Yeow ... keep up the good work for our old Alma Mater, SFI ! We could also use someone like you in SFA too !!

Last, but not least, Vincent Low ... hey, that's me !!

PHOTOS ??? ... Oh my, I forgot to bring my camera that night. So,... Desmond, Vincent Chin, Jeffrey, Dinesh and whoever else was having a camera that night ... please help to put the photos up at our 'class84_sfi' Yahoo group site.

Just create a new album at ... http://groups.yahoo.com/group/class84_sfi/photos ... and upload the photos.

(P.S.: For your info, I can't access my Facebook account from here in Banting due to a firewall ... and I seldom turn on my computer during the weekends. So, I hardly ever use Facebook ... and I'm sure, not everyone is connected to everyone else in Facebook.)

Regards,Vincent Low

It' must have taken the better part of the day for vincent to do that much writing, as that is one meticulous fella! Anyways, the Dinner obviously was a roaring success, given that vincent is still euphoric about it! Well Done, Guys!

Hi Ho All,

Looks like it's set to be another beautiful week as the last weekend, the SFI Dinner was sold out at over 90 tables,(a record for Felix Yeoh & Gang); Vincent has invited the family and I to his father's Birthday celebration in City Bayview in May (38 Tables!); made some new Korean Friends (Their restaurant is in Jonker Street); the wife and i had a blast shopping at the Pikom Fair,MiTc; and Utheya's future mom-in -law bought him his latest Honda City car! The Proton Saga was deemed to be very (consumption) petrol heavy; )

Phillip Tay sms'ed that he'll be in Darlington for Cheese, Lobsters & Wine for the next 10 day; (OH yeah, Did I mention we have agreed to work with him to expand Balmic Mgmt into marketing his Financial products?).

And moving on, on sunday afternoon, the children were told off our intention to sell/upgrade the current house, our worry of the short time frame to capitalise on the very low interest rates offered by the Banks-(I.E. RM 100,000.00 @ BLR-1.85% x 15 years) and surprisingly, Shoryn was able to grasp the multitudes of problems associated with the decisions very well as she zoned in on the possibilities of repayment hitches within the next 15 years whereas Utheya concentrated on which move gave the best overall VALUE to us and Chandra seem to think like wise.I'm happy we had that little talk as a family as it endorses my opinion that the children are well suited for adult hood already.

Attached are the latest of many emails from the owners of Selat Horizon Condominium, Melaka to Gunabalan, in view of the disruptions that has happened and the impending AGM 2010:

On Sat, 10/4/10, David Ling <> wrote:

From: Saturday, 10 April, 2010, 15:41
Hi Guna,Thanks for the good jobs done under your leadership to SHC for the past years.We were sad for the unfortunate event happened and resulted in many inconveniences occured to you and us .Sincerely wish you all the best in future endeavours.Last but not least, we hope to see you back to manage SHC.Kindly use this email address for all future correspondence.
Warmest regards,

David Ling.

====================================================================Fri, 9 Apr 2010 20:16:04 +0800CC:
Dear Guna,Your good jobs with your team done for the owners n Selat horizon has been well proven.We wish you n family all the best in yr future.

Johnson PohM07-07

Sent from my iPhone

Regards,

Johnson

====================================================================Friday, 9 April, 2010, 17:16Dear Guna,
Your Note of thanks and farewell is disturbing and distressful.Why are you leaving? What is happening?I wonder why the legally elected Management Council are keeping quiet!
Please let me know what is happening.

Thank you.
Regards

Joseph Lau

====================================================================
Hi Mr.Guna,
Attached pls find the proxy letter which i will send to support you and the management team in selatThanks for your great assistance and at least now during my retirement, I am happy to trust my property there to your good service.
I will be flying off to Australia this evening and will be back on 28-Apr-10.

Hope to get a positive feed-back from Selat, from you and your team by then!
Regards,

P. Tay

--Posted By Gunabalan to SELAT HORIZON MANAGEMENT CORPORATION, MELAKA. at 4/12/2010 08:49:00 AM

And my answer.

My children, if you're reading this entry years later; sometimes the hardest part in life is to know which bridge is to be crossed and which is to be burned. Your father has decided.

To all Selat Horizon Condominium Owners,

As there always are new and old owners in selat,allow me to introduce myself.
My name is Gunabalan and i have been the manager to your property in Selat since 2006. Your next AGM is confirmed for 24th APRIL 2010 @ 2.00pm in selat resource room and as such this final personal note to you is sent.

From day one, my company and I have been fortunate in coming unto contact with the rotation of unit owners within the walls of said property for the friendship,fellowship,and privelege that getting to know all of you have given me...

You have been kind to us and your constant support to me and my staffs have been worthy of the memories that I shall carry with me always. Terima kasih.

I write to you today to inform that as of April end 2010, our official partnership shall end and i wish to thank from the bottom of my heart all those who have been dear to me and mine all these wonderful years.Names need not be mentioned as truth be told, you all remain precious in my memory.
An exceptional salute of note and humility must be given to the members of the managing council (2006-2010) for all the experiences they have undergone together with me these past years.

I have been blessed with the privelege of your association and i go away so much richer in memory and experience by it, gentlemen! THANK YOU.

GOD BLESS.


From:
Gunabalan (012 6050446)
Balmic Management Services and Enterprise

This letter then cleared up the matter of why and what?

Tarikh : 30hb Mac 2010

Attn : Datuk Yusuf bin Jantan
Pesuruhjaya Bangunan Melaka
Selaku Datuk Bandar Melaka
MBMB, Lebuh Ayer Keroh,
Melaka.
Tuan,

Per : Kesulitan Pentadbir untuk mengatasi masaalah keselamatan akibat perintah
Pihak berkuasa Pesuruhjaya Bangunan.

Untuk pengetahuan Tuan, semenjak 6 minggu kebelakangan ini, akibat gejala pengusiran keluar Pengurus Bangunan kami dan pemisahan bidang kuasa pihak Pentabiran Kondominium Selat Horizon oleh pejabat Tuan, para penduduk telah mengalami masaalah keselamatan yang kian meningkat. Hasil daripada pemisahan pentabiran ini, 2 kes pecah rumah telah dialami dihartanah kami turut menurut. Ini satu keadaan yang kami tidak boleh terima.

Salah satu daripada alasan pihak syarikat keselamatan yang kami upah ialah kes pecah rumah ini adalah kerana wujudnya diperkarangan hartanah kami satu lagi kumpulan syarikat keselamatan yang ditaja oleh pihak lawan yang bukan dibawah kuasa kami. Tindak tanduk mereka tidak dapat kami kawal. Syarikat keselamatan tersebut adalah East West Security.

Sebelum berlaku perkara-perkara yang lebih memudaratkan, kami pihak penduduk selaku pihak pentadbiran hartanah sendiri melafazkan rasa kesal kami terhadap pentadbiran Tuan yang mengizinkan keadaan ini berlanjutan. Kami berharap pejabat Tuan boleh menolong kami atasi masaalah ini dan tidak perlu kami rujuk rungutan kami kepada pihak lain.



Yang benar,


Michael Banerji
Setiausaha Pentadbiran SHMC

Released to me recently.

PERBADANAN PENGURUSAN KONDOMINIUM SELAT HORIZON
(SELAT HORIZON MANAGEMENT CORPORATION)
(No. Buku Daftar Strata 0015)
151-1, Jalan Klebang Kechil,, 75200 Melaka.
Tel : 06-3311220 Fax : 06-3344715
Email : shmc06@streamyx.com




Tarikh : 30hb Mac 2010


Attn : Datuk Yusuf bin Jantan
Pesuruhjaya Bangunan Melaka
Selaku Datuk Bandar Melaka
MBMB, Lebuh Ayer Keroh,
Melaka.

Tuan,

Per : Perlantikan semula Encik Gunabalan A/L V G Balasubramanian sebagai Pengurus Bangunan Kondominium Selat Horizon

Kami pihak Pentadbiran Kondominium Selat Horizon dengan ini memaklumkan bahawa perlantikan semula Encik Gunabalan A/L V G Balasubramanian sebagai Pengurus Bangunan kondominium dan hartanah kami telah sebulat suara dipersetujui.

Semua hak dan tanggungjawab beliau yang telah dibelenggu sebelum ini akan kami serahkan semula kepada beliau.

Kami berharap pihak Tuan dapat menghormati keputusan kami dan bantu kami untuk menyelesaikan sebarang isu berkaitan dengan perlantikan semula beliau.


Yang benar,


Michael Banerji
Setiausaha Pentadbiran SHMC

AHH! The weekends are here. (again)

A friend called us early on saturday morning offering us F1 tickets if we'll follow her there. At first, it seemed a very good idea but upon checking the net fond out that :

1.the highway there was wont to be jammed .

2.The parking and walking distance was not user friendly.

3.the heat was not what we bargained for as the complimentary tickets were for K2( Hillstand)

A bother though, was the inmutable realisation that me and my loved ones were spoiled rotten when we re-looked at the reason's why we choosed not to go. A loal screening of THE Clash of The Titans-version 2010 hold more promise of fun for us that the chance to see F1 in the flesh!

Anyways,we invited the friend over for tea and we talked right into Dinner time. Michelle made fettucini with tomato & onion sauce and daun selasih. We also added in the smoked duck she was given a few days ago. It wasn't exactly el dente, but the whole bowl was finished off lickety splat! My son Chandra came by later to provide the finishing touches to the emptying of the dish.

Lately, calls have been coming in from the concerned owners of the condo in klebang that is a point of contention with me now, requesting more help in helping them tenant out the property (an assistance my outfit has been doing without any commission charged since 2006). Allen Wong ,Simon, Thirunakarasu, Mrs.Pek, et al.

It's funny how they sound more concerned that we'll not be there to help them anymore than the real injustice perpetrated by the conniving few against them all. I was told the collection this month totalled Rm 90,000. All this cash will only profit the wrong party should all these owners continue to only worry about their own units instead of the whole property.

Well, i can rant and rave on this blog all day long... but what can that do?

So moving on, moving on. That's the rule.

I had a great morning today. Mummy had brekkie bought and prepared by the time i was up and about. I was up earlier (round 4.30am) and heard shoryn playing with the electric keyboard whilst preparing for school.

Yup! That daughter of mine does some crazy things, when she's half a mind to do so. Anyways, i remember going back to sleep and halfway through awoken by the missus, who gave me her daily wake up smooch before she scooted off to Coats for the daily rat race.

But as usual, time flies when you're having fun and before i knew it...... the alarm went off reminding me to prepare for the 11.15 consultant's appointment in HK1.





















The good people in HK1 apparently are happy and satisfied with my performance these past few months and now have proposed that i take over the administration of the HK1 Office. At the same time, Lawyer Kumari has also observed that I may be of assistance to her since she's been having some problems with the administrative staff turn over in her office as well. And to cap it all off, Danny L. also approached me to help assist or at the very least offer his partners my services in his new Budget Hotel (a service/management set up).

This is a good situation to be in.

In addition, at a recent Malacca Tourism association dinner that was attended by the Lord Mayor (Datuk Bandar); The Asst Comm of Police and senator akhbar ali, Yours truly was bestowed the honorarium of the President's Citation for Excellence alongside Pn. Madelina Kuah of Kenzar Travels, and Hj. Moidu of Sykt. Abdul.(rep in pic by his daughter in law)

It was a surprise presentation as all the receipients were taken aback since no mention of this award was made earlier!

It is worth notice that in the 27 years of this association, this was the first time the award was given out.