It can't get any better!

16 Jan, 7:15am

I reached the Bus station that should take me to Hangzhou City, Xiao Shan Airport from Shanghai. Turns out, they had no services in the morning or in the early afternoon. 

Weird! How can I be holding onto a flight ticket that is to depart in the afternoon and no possible services to transport me from my current location to the airport.

After what was an eternity of discussion with the receptionist in her "amazing" English and my equally "amazing" Chinese, she gave me an alternative solution. Which was not direct, and she had no idea if the other location even had services that would get me to my destination. Either way, I had very little time and decided to take the shot. 

"You take Bus 144 to Shanghai Nan Huozhe Zhan. But not Huozhe Zhan, You take Bus to Hangzhou City. But, that bus will not go to Airport. You take taxi to Airport."

"Okay. So how do I know which is my stop or where the bus station is? How long does this local bus take to get to Shanghai Railway Station? And how long is the duration from Shangahi to Hangzhou?"

"Errr. You alight 40 mins later. Its the last station. And from there you take the 3 hour bus ride to Hangzhou city".

I thanked her and saw the bus 144 just as I left my current location. Boarded 144, had a free 40 minute ride, for I forgot to pay and no one realized. 

Possibly the  only good thing that happened that day.

As I reached my destination and alighted, I literally took a 360 degrees turn to take in my location. No point, I had no idea where I was. She told me not to take the train ride to Hangzhou and I couldn't find the city-city bus station anywhere. 

Heck her!

I gave up and walked towards the Railway station and located the counter that sold tickets for that day. And bought myself a last min "no seater" or better known as a "standing class" for a two hour ride to Hangzhou. 

The ticket was only 29RNB and that is way cheap than I assumed or my initial city bus ride which is 100RNB.

I stood the full 2 hours crammed between Chinese men, women, children, elderly you name it and they were there. Chinese and their big ass baggages. Chinese and their love for instant noodles. Chinese and their amazing way of being able to hold over a hundred people in a cabin that could only hold say 60? 

I have to admit, although a little uncomfortable for later I couldn't feel my legs, I finally got my taste of the real China. 

Did I mention I felt famous? Yes, I was the only foreigner if not brown skin passenger so I got free stares for the entire 2 hours. Cameras were the only things missing.

When I finally got away from the clutches of China's population, I had to battle with the remaining Chinese men who were at the exit of Hangzhou train station, waiting to grab you and show you around Hangzhou. They were not as persuasive as the ones in Shanghai. That was a relief.

I finally got into a taxi that resembled the legal ones in Shanghai. However, I wasn't too sure when I finally settled into. Actually I am still not sure if the cab ride was legal or I was cheated.

As I chucked my bag in the back seat, and popped in beside the driver, he started off saying, "A flat rate of 120RNB for a ride to the airport".

I pointed at the meter, which had a receipt dangling from it. 

"What's wrong with the meter?"

And he started explaining how they don't use the meter, cos people wait hours for cabs and they aren't many cabs. 

I have no idea how the two things are related. 

Along the journey, he stopped when this lady was flagging down the cab and asked where she was headed. And I remembered as I was waiting in line for a cab, two ladies who didn't know each other were sent to take the same cab as their destination was the same. 

So basically, the meter is redundant. Or  I just had a ride in an illegal cab. 

Either way, the driver was a friendly guy who spoke bits of English and told me to improve my Mandarin. He even gave me career advice on how I should switch from Western Medicine to Chinese Medicine as it brings in more cash in China.

Finally the Airport came into sight, I stashed the cash into his hands, grabbed my backpack dashed out.

Only to realize my flight was not on the departure screen.

I approached the information counter to enquire of my missing flight. She punched in a few digits on her telephone and returned to me with this:

"There is only flight for this airline and it flies off at 1135pm".

"That is not possible. I have a flight for 210pm. Are you telling me the flight has been postponed to 1135pm".

"I do not think so. You need to check with your agent with the mix up".

"There is no agent. I booked my flight online". 

I showed her mu itinerary with full confidence that the airlines made a mistake. 

She dialed the same numbers again. She told them of my booking number and they exchanged a few words in Chinese and she later looked at me with a smile. 

Aha. The hope that reiterated my confidence.

"Ma'am, you booked your flights for February 16th". 

"huh".

I grabbed the sheet of paper from her hands (I later apologized) and just stared at it for a good 10 seconds before my palm reached for my forehead. 

Feb 16, 0210pm.WTF.

16 Jan, 1250pm

I was tired from not sleeping the previous night or the night before. I was tired from standing against the wall with my 13kg backpack at my feet and my other leg jammed behind a door to maintain my balance from falling on any Chinese or having any one falling on me.

I dumped my bags onto the baggage trolley thingys and started walking around the world-newest-and probably-boringest-airport aimlessly. I wanted to still use the ticket but the lady at the counter had no idea however she did say "probably can't".

Thing with Chinese, they never say "I do not know" they just give tell you it cannot be done. More often than not, there is an alternative.

But instead, I took her word for it and started considering other routes. A flight to Hong Kong was leaving in 30 minutes, but I was short of 900 bucks. Credit card got declined so lets just leave it at that.

Back to Square one.

The airline I bought the ticket before will only open their counters two hours before departure. I was left with no choice but to camp at the airport for over 10 hours.

There I sat, staring at my ticket, hoping something would take shape and tell me "You can leave now and won't have to stare into space for the next half of the day".

I tend to forget my room mate's advice to only print the itinerary and not the whole thing, cos that would mean the 4 sheets of rules get printed as well and people don't actually read these things. Least, I never did. Till that day.

"Changes to this booking can be made up to 48 hours before departure".

The mantra finally worked.

I was way too tired to get all cranky and worked up, I only had two words running through my mind: Think Usha. Think..

There was no wireless facility at the international departures. And I hadn't brought my laptop with me to actually use the facility at the Domestic departures either. 

No point there.

My local pre paid card ran outta cash and I had start roaming with my Singapore number.

Blackberry saves the day.

Started using GPRS (which will eventually cost me much), to long onto the website. Sadly, I couldn't make changes from the mobile site and the main site wouldn't load. I called a few numbers directly.

China: "No English Please. I do not understand English. Only Chinese or Cantonese". I hung up.

The lady said that in English. My Chinese will only worsen the existing situation and the last thing I wanna do is make flight changes in Chinese.

The next hotline was for  Hong Kong. Same thing. Followed by Singapore. Slightly different but same dead end nonetheless. 

"Our operators are currently busy. Please try again later". Hung up again.

Finally I called the home nation of the airlines and simply stalked them till someone took my call. My temptation to cut to the chase while she was saying stuff I was barely paying attention to was overwhelming. Eventually, I figured it was not that I was not paying attention but the female on the other line had a problem enunciating her words. I just didn't understand her.

"Sorry but I don't quite get you". I repeated this a million times throughout the conversation before I stopped. I sensed the onset of annoyance in her voice. Even her "thank you for waiting ma'am" sounded sinister.

Or maybe it was just me.

Either it didn't jeopardise the situation. She changed my flight for 16 January and told me to pay a couple hundred bucks extra for the changes made.

Phew!

The rest of the day I spent my time reading Shantaram and observing people entering and leavin the airport.

(Story doesn't quite end there actually)

16 Jan, 9:35pm

The ticketing counters finally opened and I paid my cash and saw my new itinerary. 

Oh wow!

I had an hour 15 mins to check out from the first flight, grab my baggage and check into my connecting flight to Singapore. My baggage will not be directly transferred whereas the lady over the phone said, it would. 

I told you I barely understood her.

Least the friendly dude at the counter, checked my backpack into premium so that it will be the first few to appear on the baggage carousel.

17 Jan, 4:25am

My flight should have landed at Kuala Lumpur International Airport but instead has been delayed. 

Am I the only one who thinks this is a problem. Everyone else is just sleeping.

My hand reached for my hair when realization hit.

My glasses were missing.

In the dark, I was searching but to no avail. I am almost blind without my glasses during the day. And in the dark, you can might as well assume I am blind.

I turned to the Indonesian girl and said who by the way is uber nice. "I dropped my glasses.".

Why I said that I have no idea. She got the hint and that is what that matters. 

"Lets search together she said. She used the light from her mobile and voila she found my glasses under my seat". :-) 

My saviour. I would have swore I saw her cape flying behind her as she swore into the night skies. 

And we started talking and she was also a student in Shanghai. I was telling her about my connecting flight and that I probably would have to move fast so please give me way.  She laughed.

17 Jan, 5am

Flight landed 35 minutes later. Plane came to a stop and people started standing and removing their bags from the overhead compartments. I took mine, bade farewell to the Indonesian and started using the words "Please" "Thank You" "I'm late" "Please make way, I'm sorry" as I bypassed everyone to the exit and from there on just ran.

I ran to the arrival counter, took a couple of the arrival cards for foreigners and started scribbling while standing in queue. 

Will never condemn a doctor's handwriting ever again.

Again another dash, this time I had a crowd to handle before I saw the florescent orange backpack cover of mine. Grab and run was my motive right now. Grabbed and ran from the arrivals to the departures.

Grateful for the small airport. If this were Changi, I would have collapsed.

Checked my baggage in again, and went to the waiting area where I  was told to head of to Gate 55 or at least that was what I heard. It was a long run on the runway. No I was not running right next to the jets.

Although the thought appears pretty. :-)

I was running beside the loading unloading of baggages along the runway. Till I realized I might be going the wrong way. There was 20 mins before my plane took and this time time I was stressed. Till I saw a dude at the loading dock who I was begging to not show me but bring me to gate 55. Till he asked for my flight number and told me its Gate 85 not 55!

Seriously this can't get any better. Optimism. One reason I am still living.

Another long run to gate 85 and this time I showed the stewardess at the entrance my boarding pass and even asked her if this was the flight to Singapore. Man, she messed with my head.

"Is this the flight to Singapore?"

"No. Bangkok."

"What? Do you know where the flight to Singapore is?"

"I don't know."

"Nice. Thanks".  And I almost walked away when she pulled me by the arm and said "Just kidding. This is the flight to Singapore".

If only she knew how amazing my day had been...

Freedom to Sue

Suing one for defamation charges seems all fair and square. But repeating the same charge on different people, on some cases, regular individuals who might just be expressing their opinions... 

What happened to our Freedom of Speech? The Right to Express? Democracy???

How far does this freedom extent to? Where does it start and end? The fact that freedom has to start and end at some point is pathetic enough. 

An UK Author was charged for his book on Capital Punishment in Singapore and the feedback he is now experiencing, is in the form of a prison sentence and a massive fine.

Are we acknowledging his claim then?

So Far and Here On...

Finally, the dreaded finals are over. I feel so FREE now. It is so true that while there were important things that needed attention (ie. exams), we (at least myself) was so very inclined to slack. Read a book. Read Blogs. Check Twitter updates. Facebook. Waiting for a page to load even!

Now, exams have ended and I find myself spoilt for choices to spend my time. They ended way early as well. I have about two weeks to kill before I leave for Singapore.

So far...

• Exams were both good and bad. There might be a couple of supplements that I might need to study for again. *keeping my fingers crossed* 
• Learnt so much this year - specifically cramming last minute. Blame WorldCup!

Here on...

• Heading of to visit the Great Wall of China, Bejing from the 18th till 23rd July *very excited* Will post about the trip,when I get my ass back in Singapore. 
• Usually I embark non-stop flights back home. This time due to a promotion, I bought a ticket to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and heading off from there. There is a 12 hour waiting time. Haven't quite decided what I should do during that time.

Other stuff for the time being...

• Loads of novels to be read + blogs + god knows what else
• Movies + Documentaries to be watched
• Praying to the Gods of Soccer that Germany comes in 3rd at least.
• A tub of ice cream to be finished
• And weeks of Laundry. Damn!

If you think about it, I am still busy actually. 

Now you say it!

Singapore Medical Council has spoken. As of October 2009, they have decided to only recognise the post graduate medical degrees that are offered  to the local Chinese students and not the other medical programmes. These other programmes have a signigficant number of foreigners; quite a handful of Singpaoreans at that. And this change in rule, applies to the University I am currently enrolled in. It still puzzles me why they would allow us to do our internship there but just not employ us. Thank you Singapore, I really appreciate your move. I really do.

The Singaporean Idea

Singapore-made productions and the message they convey is fairly interesting. These productions are often made in Mandarin or some other Chinese dialect, accompanied by English subtitles. Apparently these movies are about Singapore and Singapore citizens. That 2 second bit where a random Malay guy with a symbolic headwear is buddies with the Chinese lead character, and for some reason they decide to have a tea break at the stereotypical India prata stall; all the while conversing in Singlish. There you have, the ultimate Singaporean idea.

RandomK(e)

I have no idea how they would prefer to be called but for some reason RandomK(e) is the name of the punk rock band functioning in Beijing. Unlike typical Chinese bands (can I even compare to them to Chinese bands..hmm) the band is made up of whites who met in Beijing. Maybe you can call them a western band, but their audience are largely the Chinese community.

They are described as everything and often their music cannot be restricted to any particular genre.

I haven't exactly researched on their fan base here in China but should be pretty large I guess. Asians are open to all kinda music even if we fail to grasp the meaning of the song. (Me, myself listens to Hindi, French songs and I don't comprehend a single thing).

Anyways, this RandomK(e) English Band are touring China, it took them 4 years to move outta Beijing and reach out to a wider mass. Kudos to that effort. Their current stop is Shanghai. YAY!
But no, I'm not attending the show. Obvious Reasons. Sighs. Professors and Academic Institutions limit my ability to reach out to budding talents to encourage them. In other words, I have exams.

I read the interview that these guys gave for Shanghaiist. There was one thing (actually two things) that one of the fellas mentioned and it made alot of sense to me. ALOT I SAY!

"The reality is - and I know this because I find myself doing it all the time - people, whether Chinese or foreign, who go to rock shows and see that there are foreigners on stage will likely think: ‘These guys couldn’t do this back home because they weren’t good enough, but here, they think they are’ (unless they think: ‘hey, they’re foreign, they must be good’).

While there are certainly crappy bands of foreigners, there are a ton of not crappy bands with foreigners. And hey: Aren’t there tons of crappy bands with Chinese, too? We’ve found that it’s hard to be taken seriously as a band as non-Chinese, but that’s changing with more people who come to see our shows, because live, it’s so obvious that it doesn’t matter where we’re from. It’s useful as biographical material, but not as a descriptor."

Ain't it true?

I see myself saying that too when we see foreign bands in Singapore. Sadly, I failed to realize that maybe they were trying to be different. They are trying to play for a different audience. One doesn't have to be terrible at something to move base. (though there is a possibility ..hehe.. at this point we are overlooking that fact..alright?)

Then again, I hardly ever listen to local numbers. (Unless, national songs are taken into account) As mentioned before, I did give reasons like "they probably couldn't make it in their homeland hence they are trying their luck here" when foreigners do ever perform in Singapore :s

(When I refer to foreigners in Singapore, I am not talking about the large scale productions that tour the world. MAN, THEY ROCK! But, I'm referring to mini bands that function within Singapore and Southeast Asia. You might wanna call them Asian bands maybe..)

My sincere apologies to talents in Singapore (both for local and foreign performers). Your talents will be greatly appreciated the next time I visit ;)

Life and How to Survive It - Adrian Tan

The following is Adrian Tan's speech at the convocation held at National Technological University, Singapore.

I must say thank you to the faculty and staff of the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information for inviting me to give your convocation address.
It's a wonderful honour and a privilege for me to speak here for ten minutes without fear of contradiction, defamation or retaliation.
I say this as a Singaporean and more so as a husband.

My wife is a wonderful person and perfect in every way except one.
She is the editor of a magazine. She corrects people for a living.
She has honed her expert skills over a quarter of a century, mostly by practising at home during conversations between her and me.

On the other hand, I am a litigator.
Essentially, I spend my day telling people how wrong they are.
I make my living being disagreeable.

Nevertheless, there is perfect harmony in our matrimonial home.
That is because when an editor and a litigator have an argument, the one who triumphs is always the wife.

And so I want to start by giving one piece of advice to the men:
when you've already won her heart, you don't need to win every argument.

Marriage is considered one milestone of life.
Some of you may already be married.
Some of you may never be married.
Some of you will be married.
Some of you will enjoy the experience so much, you will be married many, many times. Good for you.

The next big milestone in your life is today: your graduation. The end of education. You're done learning.

You've probably been told the big lie that "Learning is a lifelong process"
and that therefore you will continue studying and taking masters' degrees and doctorates and professorships and so on.
You know the sort of people who tell you that? Teachers.
Don't you think there is some measure of conflict of interest?
They are in the business of learning, after all.
Where would they be without you? They need you to be repeat customers.

The good news is that they're wrong.

The bad news is that you don't need further education because your entire life is over. It is gone.
That may come as a shock to some of you. You're in your teens or early twenties.
People may tell you that you will live to be 70, 80, 90 years old. That is your life expectancy.

I love that term: life expectancy. We all understand the term to mean the average life span of a group of people.
But I'm here to talk about a bigger idea, which is what you expect from your life.

You may be very happy to know that Singapore is currently ranked as the country with the third highest life expectancy.
We are behind Andorra and Japan, and tied with San Marino. It seems quite clear why people in those countries, and ours, live so long.
We share one thing in common: our football teams are all hopeless.
There's very little danger of any of our citizens having their pulses raised by watching us play in the World Cup.
Spectators are more likely to be lulled into a gentle and restful nap.

Singaporeans have a life expectancy of 81.8 years.
Singapore men live to an average of 79.21 years, while Singapore women live more than five years longer, probably to take into account the additional time they need to spend in the bathroom.

So here you are, in your twenties, thinking that you'll have another 40 years to go.
Four decades in which to live long and prosper.
Bad news. Read the papers. There are people dropping dead when they're 50, 40, 30 years old.
Or quite possibly just after finishing their convocation.
They would be very disappointed that they didn't meet their life expectancy.

I'm here to tell you this.
Forget about your life expectancy.

After all, it's calculated based on an average.
And you never, ever want to expect being average.

Revisit those expectations. You might be looking forward to working, falling in love, marrying, raising a family.
You are told that, as graduates,
you should expect to find a job paying so much, where your hours are so much, where your responsibilities are so much.

That is what is expected of you.
And if you live up to it, it will be an awful waste.

If you expect that, you will be limiting yourself. You will be living your life according to boundaries set by average people.
I have nothing against average people. But no one should aspire to be them.

And you don't need years of education by the best minds in Singapore to prepare you to be average.

What you should prepare for is mess. Life's a mess. You are not entitled to expect anything from it.
Life is not fair. Everything does not balance out in the end. Life happens, and you have no control over it.
Good and bad things happen to you day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment.
Your degree is a poor armour against fate.

Don't expect anything. Erase all life expectancies.
Just live. Your life is over as of today.
At this point in time, you have grown as tall as you will ever be, you are physically the fittest you will ever be in your entire life and you are probably looking the best that you will ever look.
This is as good as it gets. It is all downhill from here. Or up. No one knows.

What does this mean for you?
It is good that your life is over.

Since your life is over, you are free.
Let me tell you the many wonderful things that you can do when you are free.

The most important is this: do not work.

Work is anything that you are compelled to do.
By its very nature, it is undesirable.

Work kills.
The Japanese have a term "Karoshi", which means death from overwork.
That's the most dramatic form of how work can kill. But it can also kill you in more subtle ways.
If you work, then day by day, bit by bit, your soul is chipped away, disintegrating until there's nothing left.
A rock has been ground into sand and dust.

There's a common misconception that work is necessary.
You will meet people working at miserable jobs.
They tell you they are "making a living". No, they're not.
They're dying, frittering away their fast-extinguishing lives doing things which are, at best, meaningless and, at worst, harmful.

People will tell you that work ennobles you, that work lends you a certain dignity. Work makes you free.
The slogan "Arbeit macht frei" was placed at the entrances to a number of Nazi concentration camps.
Utter nonsense.

Do not waste the vast majority of your life doing something you hate so that you can spend the small remainder sliver of your life in modest comfort.
You may never reach that end anyway.

Resist the temptation to get a job. Instead, play.
Find something you enjoy doing. Do it. Over and over again.
You will become good at it for two reasons: you like it, and you do it often.
Soon, that will have value in itself.

I like arguing, and I love language. So, I became a litigator.
I enjoy it and I would do it for free.
If I didn't do that, I would've been in some other type of work that still involved writing fiction - probably a sports journalist.

So what should you do?
You will find your own niche. I don't imagine you will need to look very hard.
By this time in your life, you will have a very good idea of what you will want to do.
In fact, I'll go further and say the ideal situation would be that you will not be able to stop yourself pursuing your passions.
By this time you should know what your obsessions are.
If you enjoy showing off your knowledge and feeling superior, you might become a teacher.

Find that pursuit that will energise you, consume you, become an obsession.

Each day, you must rise with a restless enthusiasm.
If you don't, you are working.

Most of you will end up in activities which involve communication.
To those of you I have a second message: be wary of the truth.
I'm not asking you to speak it, or write it, for there are times when it is dangerous or impossible to do those things.
The truth has a great capacity to offend and injure, and you will find that the closer you are to someone, the more care you must take to disguise or even conceal the truth.
Often, there is great virtue in being evasive, or equivocating.
There is also great skill.
Any child can blurt out the truth, without thought to the consequences.
It takes great maturity to appreciate the value of silence.

In order to be wary of the truth, you must first know it.
That requires great frankness to yourself. Never fool the person in the mirror.

I have told you that your life is over, that you should not work, and that you should avoid telling the truth.
I now say this to you: be hated.

It's not as easy as it sounds. Do you know anyone who hates you?
Yet every great figure who has contributed to the human race has been hated, not just by one person, but often by a great many.
That hatred is so strong it has caused those great figures to be shunned, abused, murdered and in one famous instance, nailed to a cross.

One does not have to be evil to be hated.
In fact, it's often the case that one is hated precisely because one is trying to do right by one's own convictions.
It is far too easy to be liked, one merely has to be accommodating and hold no strong convictions.
Then one will gravitate towards the centre and settle into the average.
That cannot be your role.
There are a great many bad people in the world, and if you are not offending them, you must be bad yourself.
Popularity is a sure sign that you are doing something wrong.

The other side of the coin is this: fall in love.

I didn't say "be loved".
That requires too much compromise.
If one changes one's looks, personality and values, one can be loved by anyone.

Rather, I exhort you to love another human being.
It may seem odd for me to tell you this.
You may expect it to happen naturally, without deliberation. That is false.

Modern society is anti-love. We've taken a microscope to everyone to bring out their flaws and shortcomings.
It far easier to find a reason not to love someone, than otherwise.
Rejection requires only one reason. Love requires complete acceptance.
It is hard work - the only kind of work that I find palatable.

Loving someone has great benefits.
There is admiration, learning, attraction and something which, for the want of a better word, we call happiness.
In loving someone, we become inspired to better ourselves in every way.
We learn the truth worthlessness of material things.
We celebrate being human.
Loving is good for the soul.

Loving someone is therefore very important, and it is also important to choose the right person.
Despite popular culture, love doesn't happen by chance, at first sight, across a crowded dance floor.
It grows slowly, sinking roots first before branching and blossoming.
It is not a silly weed, but a mighty tree that weathers every storm.

You will find, that when you have someone to love, that the face is less important than the brain, and the body is less important than the heart.

You will also find that it is no great tragedy if your love is not reciprocated.
You are not doing it to be loved back.
Its value is to inspire you.

Finally, you will find that there is no half-measure when it comes to loving someone.
You either don't, or you do with every cell in your body, completely and utterly, without reservation or apology.
It consumes you, and you are reborn, all the better for it.

Don't work. Avoid telling the truth. Be hated. Love someone.

You're going to have a busy life.
Thank goodness there's no life expectancy.

Being a Singaporean

Being a Singapore citizen, has its perks! One of the privileges would be to travel to most countries without a visa! (For a short term stay of course!) And I have just realised Korea is one of them! YAY!!

Then again, Russia is not on the list! :( The tourist has to deal with countless number of formalities; that travelling to Russia seems like a hassle!

Oh well, least I have Korea to visit..hehe...

PS: Whats up with this recent swine flu outbreak?? Reminds me of SARS!! 中国也有吗? :s

Damn I have been so ignorant!

Singapore's current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong; son of ASEAN's most influential persona Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew earns S$ 3,870,000 (US$ 2,856,930) annually!!! He is the highest paid head of government in the world! Even the President of the World's Superpower (USA) earns US$400,000!!!

I always knew that fella was paid alot but NOT THIS MUCH!!!!

If that was not enough, I realised that the EX-President Late Mr. Ong Teng Cheong was not given a state funeral!! There I was thinking that all presidents receive a state funeral automatically! Then again there are some who say that Mr. Ong himself preferred not to have a State Funeral.

Hmmm......

Well I have to agree he was very much a People's man and got himself involved in issues that the government did not approve of. Then again, thanx to him we have the efficient MRT system :)
And he should have been given a State Funeral!!!