Fresh or hard-boiled egg?

How do you differentiate between a fresh and a hard-boiled egg?


Answer:
Spin them really fast.
The hard-boiled egg will spin faster than the fresh egg.

Check it out!

World Pastry Cup

I was watching a programme on French tv yesterday about this and I couldn't believe my eyes.

There is a world championship for pastries every 2 years in Lyon, France, and it's just astounding the pastries the participants create there.

It makes sense that this championship should be based in France, after all, France is world-recognized for its gastronomy. In 2005, the French team won the championship, and the world champion "patissier", Christophe Michalak, now works in a big hotel in Paris where the bar showcases the pastries as if they are jewels and people around the globe go to the bar especially for the pastries. I must admit the desserts do look appetizing and very very classy and if you were to take the word of people eating there, they are just a taste of heaven.

Those big-shot hotels in Paris have found a new way to attract fashion victims into their restaurants/bar/patisseries now. As designers do it every year, the hotels' bars offer pastries that changes every season. Hence, they have the winter-autumn collection, the spring-summer collection, etc. A new trend is also emerging where designers are asked to draw a dessert which would then be created/prepared/baked by the hotel's patissier. The results? Very intricate and classy desserts.

Now, me being a big fan of pastries, especially chocolatey ones, watching that show was almost too much to bear. I had to look more into it and I've found some pics of the world cup competition:




And that is just a sample. You can find more pictures here:
http://www.fmainardphoto.com/sirha/cmp.htm

This year's world cup winner was the Japanese team.

From Nose to Mouth

Did you eat boogers as a kid?
For those who don't know, "booger" refers to dried nasal mucus. Yes, you read it right, the dried remains in your nose, that's what a booger is and yes, the question is, did you eat those when you were a kid? (or do you still eat them?)

I used to eat boogers as a kid and I'm not ashamed to say it. I have a smaller cousin who used to eat boogers as a kid and he outgrew it too, so I thought it wasn't unusual for kids to do that and I never even thought that some people don't know about that as a habit. I got a doubt yesterday though, while having a conversation about bad habits as kids, so I thought I'd check, maybe booger-eating only runs in MY family and we are a freak show without knowing!

But no, if you do a search on the internet, quite a few websites mention nose-picking and eating the harvest of that. Phew, that was scary. Imagine I had to go find my cousin and tell him that we are the only 2 people who had that bad habit!

Consequently to checking that it wasn't just me and my cousin, I also found out that eating boogers is quite harmless, it might even boost your immune system according to some experts. (Check it out here) However nose-picking involves risks that I am only aware of now, (and then it's just gross) so I'm glad I outgrew that habit!

Now, some people actually eat earwax...
I don't want to be pointing the finger or anything (I'm the one who used to eat boogers) but as comparisons go, I don't know which is worse: from ear to mouth or from nose to mouth, and that's one experiment I am not too keen on.

Chinese Spring Festival

On Sunday, we began the year 4705 in the chinese calendar which is a pig year.
Humm, let me phrase that again: 2007 is the year of the pig according to the chinese zodiac.

Some believe it is not just another pig year but the year of the Golden Pig, which according to certain myths, means that the babies born during this year will lead a "fat and easy life" and possibly making loads of money. So if you are ever given the opportunity to be born again and are given the choice of the year, you better choose to be born in a year of the Golden Pig! :P

Here in Mauritius, we get a public holiday for the Chinese Spring Festival. The Sino-Mauritians usually celebrate by having family dinners, giving foong pao (red envelopes with money in it!), lighting up firecrackers (to scare away bad things) and of course sharing cakes with our friends who are not of chinese descent. Some people go to the pagoda during the day to pay tribute to the gods, and some fast on that day. The customs of the day differ from family to family because our chinese ancestors were not necessarily from the same regions of China and because less and less sino-mauritians follow all the customs nowadays. Some customs are too complicated for the younger generations to learn without understanding chinese writings, so when the elders who used to perform the services , along with them goes the knowledge they carry.

I'm going to write about the little I know about today.
First, the week leading to the Chinese New year is always busy with cleaning because on the day of the new year, we cannot sweep the floors because we will also be sweeping away money we could earn during the year.

Then, on the day of the new year, people are supposed to wear new clothes. I have no idea why, but it must probably so you can get new clothes throughout the year.
Then of course the tradition where elders give foong pao to the younger generations. That again is a custom that vary among families. Some families stop giving foong pao to someone who has started working and some stop only when someone is married. But mostly, the money inside is not quite important, it is more the gesture than the monetary value.

The chinese new year celebrations basically should last for 15 days, at the end of which there is the Lantern Festival, which closes the festivities. It is at the end of the 15 days that people can go consult their "horoscopes" for the year and make promises to the gods if the "prediction" is bad, so that the year goes by with a little less unfortunate incidents.

The rest is quite unknown territory for me. I am sure there are loads other customs and traditions that should take place, but none of which I understand the purpose or timeliness. Sino-mauritians tend to comply to as many customs as they know of and to omit the unknown parts, so I am quite content doing just that also.
On that, I wish everybody a good year of the pig!

Valentine's Day or SAD...

February 14, a day lovers around the world await for.
Wanting to check the origin of Valentine's day, I've check wikipedia and as well as finding the different believed origins of Valentine's day, I've found that Singles Awareness Day (SAD) is celebrated on the same day.
Yes, it is true that if you're single and comes Valentine's day, you feel like the loneliest person on earth, especially if all your friends are in a relationship. So it makes sense that SAD is "celebrated" on the same day, but Asians take it even a step further, they have a Lovers-go-die club which is a club against lovers or couples (isnt' that just far-fetched or is it just me?).


The day has come and gone.
Whether you are in a relationship and you celebrated with your better half (or chose not to), or you're single and didn't celebrate (or maybe had a drink for SAD), the day is over, and gratefully, we won't have to bear the constant reminder of the media that we need to celebrate love for another year. It never used to be this commercial in MU before, but I guess with the influence of the West, Valentine's day has become quite popular over the last few years.
As one of the radio hosts was saying yesterday, why celebrate love on that day only? Why not celebrate it every day of the year, 365 days a year? The most recurring questions during the day yesterday were "so what did you get from your boyfriend/lover/husband?" or "What did you get your boyfriend/lover/husband?". Does celebrating love resume to giving gifts then?
That's what the media wants it to be about and that's what makes the day even more painful for singles.

If you're single and you survived the day without going insane, feeling lonely or sad, congrats to you. It takes a lot of wisdom to recognize that it is just an excuse for people to buy more and be theatrical about their love. Love doesn't have to be this big, as said in 1 Corinthians 13, it does not BOAST.

If you're not single and you celebrated (or not), keep in mind that there are 364 other days where you could be just as considerate for your loved one :P.

It's all coming back to me now....

The long-awaited list was out yesterday afternoon making a few chosen very happy and leaving hundreds deceived. Every year, school leavers await their results with impatience and those who have been hopeful to win a scholarship await the list of scholarship winners with a mixture of eagerness and stress.

At 18, you think the world would stop if you deceive your parents. At 18, you think it's everything to live up to their expectations. At 18, you think your future rests in having great A levels results. I can't imagine the stress of the very smart, those whose dreams and aspirations all stem from being a scholarship winner and hearing their names on the radio. One "laureate", as we call them here, was interviewed yesterday and she admitted not being to eat or sleep because of the imminent announcement of the results. Have she not won one of the scholarships, the same student would have been devastated and disgusted with life.

Flashback: February 2000. Having a combination of subjects that didn't allow me to compete for the scholarships, there wasn't going to be my name in the papers, nor being announced on the radio. But I was just as eager to hear the names of the scholarship winners so that I could congratulate them if I knew them. It's funny the frenzy around that list. When the list came out for my year, all of my friends' names were in the newspapers, not because they were scholarship winners, but because they were good enough to be ranked. Yes, it is something else when you see your name on that newspaper, isn't it? My mom says it's pride. The parents can be proud of their kids when they put their names on those papers because of their academic prowess.

So what happens to those kids whose names weren't in the papers then? Does that mean that their parents can't be proud of them? Yes, my friends were all in the papers, but they were there not because they happen to be among the very smart, but because they chose a "side" where competition is not that good. I, on the other hand, had excellent results but, as my mom points out, would never have the recognition provided by the papers.

7 years down the road, it doesn't mean anything now. It didn't even mean anything when we all went to university. Nobody cares that you were or weren't ranked for your A levels, nobody cares that you were in the papers in tiny Mauritius. I'm sure it certainly made a difference for the scholarship winners, their parents didn't have to provide thousands (if not millions) of rupees for their studies, but that didn't make them more likely to succeed than others who didn't win.

It's outrageous the pressure parents put on their kids to win those scholarships. It's outrageous that success in Mauritius is mostly measured in academic results.
For those who weren't in the papers or for those who tried their best and still didn't make it to the top, I want to say: chin up, life doesn't resume to one exam. There will be loads of opportunities for you to succeed, it's up to you to take them and to find your way to the top.

Brain drain or the exodus of the new generation...

Today, I've read an article in the NY times where the subject is about Germany and the loss of its younger and highly skilled population.
I couldn't help but notice how true it is of the Mauritian population also. People try to seek a better future elsewhere, be it in Canada, Australia, the States, the UK or even Singapore and in doing so, the best and brightest, most often than not, are lost to their home country. Here in MU, it is becoming ever so common that school leavers go abroad for college/university education and rare are those who ever come back. In fact, those who do come back to stay are usually those whose parents own a business (and hence, it's been understood that they will take over), those who couldn't get their residency papers in their adopted countries (therefore couldn't stay there), those who couldn't find work in their adopted countries (lack of money always bring children running back to their parents) or those who never adapted to life outside of their home country.

This exodus of the young could only be understood if you've lived here in MU. I've tried explaining this to my friends back in CA, and they could never understand why people would want to leave paradise island for snow-covered Canada. The prospect of earning more money (and in a currency that is recognized world-wide) aside, ".. the natural beauty and the sense of possibility", as the article so beautifully describes, is enough to appeal to the young and ambitious. Not only that, there is now another category of middle-agers who, trying to be a step ahead, are emigrating so that their teenage children could benefit from lower university fees when they finish high school.

It is interesting to note that those who study abroad and then come back to MU can expect to earn a slightly better salary (in some companies) than their peers who studied at the local university. This is only because there is the idea that the level of education abroad is better than the one delivered locally. I am not here to debate whether the level of instruction of the University of Mauritius is comparable to international levels, but if for anything else, just experiencing the world beyond our small island gives those who studied abroad a slight advantage. That said, I'll put my case to rest on that subject.

Another interesting fact is that often those who emigrated in their youth nurture the idea of coming back to MU in their old days. They may not want to stay all year round, the health care abroad being substantially more trusted, but they certainly wish to flee the cold winters abroad and find sunshine in our homeland.

So what changes should be made in MU to stop the brain drain you would ask?
Nothing much an individual could do, although if you're Prime Minister and you want to make your people WANT to stay, you could find a zillion ways to help. But I'm not here to criticize the government or anything else, God knows I'm not really an expert in politics or economy. I think, all people need to be happy here is (just like everywhere else) a little bit more money, less tax to pay, better health care and way way more entertainment!
But then, that's only my opinion and a very simplistic way to solve the problem.

For those who are just back in MU, from someone who's been back more than a year now, you will definitely get used to it again.........maybe not tomorrow, maybe not in a week.... but within a year for sure!

Slouching beings

I've been watching people walk by recently, people at work, people at supermarkets, people on the streets.
One noticeable thing that most people have in common, across generations and race, is that they slouch.
"Children carry huge over loaded backpacks, adults lug briefcases to work, and thousands of people spend hours hunched over a computer whether for work or play. " **
Because slumping into our chairs is easier than consciously sitting straight, people get into the habit without realizing it until someone brings it to their attention. Even then, most people will hold their spine straight for a few minutes before forgetting and reverting to their slouching positions.

Ageing already brings a slight slouch to our posture, but now, with worse sitting and standing postures, not only the population as a whole would soon be subscribing to regular visits to a chiropractor, but by the time we reach old age, we would all be bent in two with a who-can-do-better list of back problems. In countries such as CA, where chiropractor fees are covered by health insurance if they are justified and recommended by a doctor, more of taxpayers' money will be involved into paying for the cost of bad posture.

It takes real effort though to sit straight, bring back your shoulders, and walk tall and to remember doing this all day. But remember: "Change takes willpower! However … the rewards of good posture are well worth the effort. You will feel great and your physical appearance will look tall and confident! "**

**quoted from an article about posture tips.

Hump country...

You could take the same route every single day of the year.
You could know the road by heart, every single turn, every single pothole.
You could even say that you could drive your eyes blindfolded on that road.
Yet, one morning you wake up and do the same stuff you've been doing for the past x years and driving leisurely down that road, woahhhhh hold on, there's a SPEED BUMP on the road!!!

Here in MU, this happens quite often. Out of nowhere, speed bumps appear overnight. They put them everywhere, on smaller roads as on bigger main roads, near schools or near supermarkets, anywhere they think people usually speed. They spend thousands of rupees making those humps and then they spend as much to remove some of them because in someone's eagerness to make humps on the road, they didn't realize that they are hindering vehicles that need to speed, like ambulances or fire trucks.

Out of the capital, on one of the main roads for buses to go up north, there are 3 humps on a stretch of 100 m, just in front of a temple. Yes, I agree that there's been quite a few accidents there because of speeding drivers, but those humps cause monstrous traffic jams during peak hours because that being a busy road for buses, the humps slow down buses and other vehicles more than they should.

I'm not saying speed humps are bad, but hell, why put them all over the place?
If that goes on, MU's roads will become just a succession of humps, one after the other so that everybody would need 4x4 to drive around.

Ant invasion

As the weather is getting irritatingly hotter, my house is getting invaded by ants from all angles.
They crawl in from the roof, they come in through the doors and windows, they invade the car, they come through the pipes, they build nests in my drawers, they crawl over the laundry...they are just EVERYWHERE.

Black ants that are just annoying and crawl at the speed of light, red ants that bite like crazy and that look for sweets, tiny red ants that just give you the creeps...you can find them all in my house. My parents have found that they can kill the ants by chalking up the places where the ants are likely to show up, so having lines and lines of chalk running up, down and along the walls is quite ordinary at home.

Sometimes though, when the ants are actively attacking something, be it some crumbs or food left on the table, or just a piece of cloth, it's better to use a spray that will kill them instantly! So sometimes you'd find my dad armed with a spray, killing the ants with poison spray in very strategic places. The thing is, however, that the ants might retaliate stronger, where you have once killed hundreds of ants, you come back 1 hr later to find thousands of them milling around the dead bodies of their contemporaries. I've just read an article that suggests it is best to kill the ants with a poison that they will bring back to their nest, therefore killing the whole nest in one go. I need to find such a poison so that my dad could retire from his role as the ant-fighter at home.

In CA, ants seldom come into the house. You could leave a chocolate on the table and find it weeks later at the same spot, without an ant around (you might not want to eat it though!). A good thing about Canada also is that food don't go stale as quickly as it does here. A bag of chips, left opened for a week, would still taste the same and as crisp as ever. Here, I've found bags of chips still sealed that have gone stale before the expiry date. So in a quest to keep away ants and to keep food from getting stale as much as possible, I've had to get back into the habit of using airtight containers and not leaving crumbs behind.

On that note, I dare the stupid ants to come, I'll sit tight with my chalk and poison spray and defend my territory.

It's in you to give....

As we approach the New Year's eve w/end, I have heard a lot about the NOT-drinking-and-driving campaign here in MU. This week after Christmas, the news have been about how the police force stopped vehicles on Christmas eve for alcohol tests and how many drunk drivers were tested.

We all know that we shouldn't drink and drive, yet some drivers still do it because they either think they are above the law or because they think their tolerance for alcohol is better than most people. What these drivers do not realize is that by driving under the influence of alcohol, they not only put themselves in danger, but they put the lives of other people in danger too. Most often than not, in road accidents involving drunk drivers, the innocent are more hurt than the drunk driver himself. The Don't-Drink-And-Drive campaigns usually try to remind people of those risks come the holiday season.

That said, the Canadian Blood Services (CBS) usually have a massive campaign to make people donate blood during the holidays. Here in MU, I haven't heard that much about giving blood although I am sure the need for blood is even more critical during this period. The blood banks in MU already run low most of the time, so it is only normal that during the holiday period, with people getting busier at home and with parties, fewer donors have the time to go to a blood collection point and unfortunately more accidents occur during this period meaning more people needing blood.

Since the blood collected can only be used within 35 days, every healthy person who can donate blood should be encouraged to do so to relieve the need for blood nation-wide. Blood to spare is something most people have... yet, there is still not enough to go around. It is something money can't buy, only something one person can give to another. In fact, one blood donation may help save up to three lives.

As the CBS campaigns usually say: "It's in you to give. Give the gift of life, donate blood."

If nothing else, that could be your good deed for the coming year.

Goodbye 2006, hello 2007!

As 2006 is coming to a close, this is the time to reflect on the year just gone by and for some of us, to make new year's resolutions.

Looking back over the events in 2006, it seems that this year has seen its quota of natural disasters, political scandals, unfortunate killings and accidents and sporting events. Personally, the year has been way more peaceful than in the world, the highlights being getting a new job then changing companies, a trip to Birmingham, and making loads and loads of new friends.

With only a few days left in 2006 though, let's not linger over the past, and let's look forward to the new blank page ahead. I am sure that the question that will pop up sooner or later would be about my new year's resolution.

What's a new year resolution you say? Check out the answer on wikipedia:

A New Year's resolution is a commitment that an individual makes to a project or a habit, often a lifestyle change that is generally interpreted as advantageous. The name comes from the fact that these commitments normally go into effect on New Year's Day and remain until the set goal has been achieved, although many resolutions go unachieved and are often broken fairly shortly after they are set.

According to a few surveys online, the most popular new year's resolutions are:
- Spend more time with family and friends.
- Get fit/ lose weight.
- Quit smoking.
- Enjoy life more.
- Quit drinking.
- Get out of debt/ save money.
- Learn something new.
- Help others/ volunteer.
- Get organized.
- Get a better job/education.
- Eat right.
- Reduce stress/take a trip in the year.

I, by experience, know that my new year's resolutions do not hold all the way because I tend to forget them after 1 week. Yes, we are all getting older, some of us a little bit wiser, some a little bit balder, some a little bit fatter. The bottom line remains that we don't need a new year to come by to realize that we need to take action, either it is to lose weight, eat right, quit smoking or decide to take a trip. However, some of us do like to have a set date to start something even though the goal might not be reached anytime soon.

Having said all that, I have decided that my 2007 resolution would be NOT to have a resolution.

What's your new year's resolution for 2007?

The countdown has started...only 3 days left.

Fireworks, firecrackers, etc.

It is the custom in MU to set off fireworks or firecrackers for celebrations like Christmas, New Year's, Divali, Chinese New Year.....bah, any festival or celebration in fact.
So, in this season of holidays, it is very common to see/hear fireworks around the island...EXCEPT I never expected to see what I saw last night.

I was driving down the motorway after work when, lo and behold, I saw fireworks being set off from a GAS STATION! It is to believe that Mauritians from Roche-bois have no clue whatsoever of the danger of lighting up fireworks in a highly inflammable area like a gas station. I had no time to check if they were being set off by kids or by "responsible" adults, but in any case, the gas station was open, so there must have been the said responsible adults around. An accident could so easily happen and the sad story would be on the headlines the following day claiming that nobody thought such an awful thing could happen.

In CA, the law prevents citizens to set off fireworks or firecrackers if it is not during the Victoria Day week-end (the w/end preceding May 25), Canada Day (July 1st) or New Year's Eve. Some provinces allow fireworks for Divali, but I haven't seen any on Divali during the 5 yrs I was there. It is justifiable why Canada would have such restrictions on fireworks: people do not realize until it is too late that what they are doing could put other people in danger. If such a law was to be implemented in MU, I bet a lot of Mauritians would be outraged that their kids do not know the pleasure of setting off firecrackers and fireworks. Safety comes first though, so I wish there could be something to be done about this....Right now, all I can think of is maybe stop by Roche-bois and kick some uneducated @ss over there. I must say that this particular region in MU could give me unlimited inspiration for blog entries. :P

It is on this happy note that I wish y'all a Happy New Year 2007.

Viva fireworks!

My Christmas tree

Today, I've put up my Christmas tree.
For the last 7 yrs, I either didn't have a Christmas tree or couldn't be bothered if I put it up or not. And my parents didn't bother either when I wasn't here.

But this year is different, I am home and I WANTED to put it up. So this morning, I dug out my old plastic Xmas tree and that's what it looked like:


I was glad it could still stand up and wasn't too bad looking though it's a bit tilted at the top. (But that only makes it look like a natural one, haha!)
After an hour of bending, stretching, sweating and what not, that is what it looks like:


I've tried to simulate snow with cotton balls....but humm....I ran out of cotton balls. So you can see some snow at the top, but it didn't reach the bottom branches :P

A few of my friends asked if it isn't too early to put up my Xmas tree, after all Christmas is still 3 weeks away....The answer is NO! The beginning of December is as good a time as any to put it up. Some people decide to put it at the beginning of December, some 1-2 weeks before, some on the eve, some a few days before. It is up to people's preferences and sometimes to family traditions. In my family, I've always been the one to put it up (and take it down) every year ever since I'm old enough to do it by myself. So it was always up to me to drag it out year after year, to my convenience.

I'm glad I've put it up this year. Not only it gives a festive mood to the house, but who knows, Santa might drop by on Dec 25!

Nail in the fence...

I've hurt someone I love this week and it reminded me of this email:

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.

Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone.

The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, "You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, the wound is still there.

"A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one. Friends are very rare jewels, indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend an ear, they share words of praise and they always want to open their hearts to us."

What's in a beautiful face anyway?

Familiar with the expression "beauty is in the eye of the beholder"?
Well, BULLSHIT! It's all in the math!
According to an article published in USA Weekend magazine in 2003 (there are more recent ones, I just liked that one!) attractive faces are those which are more symmetrical and have a certain ratio (1:1.618) which recurs in beautiful things.

"...beauty is simply balance: The more symmetrical a face, the more appealing it appears. "

And not only that, beautiful people tend to be more succesful, get more attention and smell better (???). The same article refers to another research which compares attractiveness to a mask created with the above-mentioned ratio.

Welllllllllllll.....how's that for a good take at the mirror?
In terms of symmetry, nature has been kinda scatter-brained with me (what's with the single dimple?) so I'd still rather think that the idea of beauty IS subjective.

And somehow after reading all this, all I can think of is "There are things money can't buy, for everything else, there's MASTERCARD!" :P

Kaho naa kaho???

I'm not into hindi songs, nor bollywood movies, though some of my friends caught that craze a little while back.

Today though, my friend sent me an indian song: Kaho naa kaho.
I didn't actually know what it means, but I've listened to it and my mom came running saying "Who's listening to indian music in the house?".
Just to say how unusual it is!
I don't understand a word of chinese, but we listen to chinese songs, that is not quite weird to me or to anybody else. But somehow it is kinda weird if I listen to indian songs....GO FIGURE!

Anyway, having just a tad bit too much time on my hands today, I found the english translation of the song:

(Kaho na kaho yeh aankhen bolti hain
Whether you say it or not, these eyes of yours say it
O sanam o sanam, o mere sanam
Oh sweetheart, oh my sweetheart
Mohabbat ke safar mein yeh sahaara hai
In love's journey, this is my support
Vafa ke saahilon ka yeh kinaara hai) - 2
On the shore of faithfulness, this is my coast
(Baadalon se oonchi udaan unki
Her mannerisms are higher than the clouds
Sab se alag pehechaan unki
Her distinctiveness is different from everyone
Use hai pyaar ki kahaani mansoob
Love's words are attached to her
Aati jaati saanson ki rawaani mansoob) - 2
The flow of my breath is attached to her

Kaho na kaho yeh aankhen bolti hain
Whether you say it or not, these eyes of yours say it
O sanam o sanam, o mere sanam
Oh sweetheart, oh my sweetheart
Mohabbat ke safar mein tu hamaara hai
In love's journey, you are mine
Andhere raaston ka tu sitaara hai
On dark roads, you are my shining star

Tu hi jeene ka sahaara hai
You alone are my life support
Meri maujon ka kinaara hai
You are the shore for my waves
Mere liye yeh jahaan hai tu
For me, you are this world
Tujhe mere dil ne pukaara hai
My heart has called out to you

Kaho na kaho yeh saansein bolti hain
Whether you say it or not, this breath of yours says it
O sanam o sanam, o mere sanam
Oh sweetheart, oh my sweetheart
Labon pe naam tere bas hamaara hai
On my lips is only your name
Yeh tera dil bhi jaana hamaara hai
This heart of yours is also mine, darling
Kaho na kaho yeh aankhen bolti hain
Whether you say it or not, these eyes of yours say it
O sanam o sanam, o mere sanam
Oh sweetheart, oh my sweetheart
Mohabbat ke safar mein yeh sahaara hai
In love's journey, this is my support
Vafa ke saahilon ka yeh kinaara hai
On the shore of faithfulness, this is my coast
(Khwaabon mein tujhko sanwaara hai
In dreams, I have perfected you
Jazbon mein apne utaara hai
I have become completely absorbed in you
Meri yeh aankhen jidhar dekhe
Wherever these eyes of mine look
Tera hi chehra nazaara hai) - 4
Your face alone is the sight they see

The power of....WIKIPEDIA!

So since Thursday, I've been on Wikipedia:


The principle is simple: you can edit and add to any article you find on wikipedia and it is published right away. Moderators probably crowd the place as soon as there's a change, but the thing is, if the moderator have no clue on the topic, chances that your changes are going to stay are high.

We did a little experiment on Thursday at work: we changed the article on Mauritius and put obviously wrong information on there...I don't think anybody would believe Aliens came to mauritius 2000 B.C. although no one can prove the contrary! The changes didn't last 24 hrs although my team lead added my name to the list of prominent Mauritians and it stayed there.

Yes, I am the newly, self-proclaimed Duchess of Mauritius.
Until I'm erased off wikipedia, please refer to me as SAS Carine.

A party nation....

Today is Divali...It is the festival of lights...

"Divali is the most jovial of all Hindu festivals.... it marks the victory of righteousness over evil in the Hindu mythology. Traditionally, clay oil lamps were placed in front of every home turning the island into a fairyland of flickering lights; these have now been replaced mostly by decorative electric lights."

We've got 15 statutory holidays in MU whereas there are only 10 stat holidays in CA.
But of the 15 stat hols we have this year, 6 fell during the week-ends. Yes, in MU, we don't have stat holidays moved to Mondays or Fridays, they are fixed by whichever religious bodies have authority because they follow the festivals of the different faiths on the island.

The richness of the Mauritian culture comes from the different religions that make up the Mauritian population. We, mauritians, as a nation, we celebrate all the festivals from Chinese New Year to Eid-ul-Fitr. We share the cakes and the good wishes and the good humour and the diversity. That's way better than having BANK holidays, for example. :P
One of my Canadian friends asked the other day about Thanksgiving. No, we don't have thanksgiving here in MU, not because we don't have anything to be thankful for, it's just not something we have set up here by the first immigrants.

Check out the list of festivals and the list of holidays for 2006 in MU.

My day...

The thing about being in MU for my birthday is that there's a lot of surprises.

First, I was awakened at 3:50am by a text message wishing me happy birthday. I looked at the msg but was too sleepy to reply, so I went back to sleep. I was awakened again at 6am by a phone call from my mom's friend from Reunion island. Following her recent visit here, she hid a gift behind the closet for me to find on my birthday!!! As soon as I was out of bed, there goes a series of text msgs getting in, one after the other, from various friends who remembered... Even my brother who already sent a card by mail text messaged me again. When I was in CA I didn't use to receive ANYTHING from him for my birthday!!!

So the day goes on...
My ex-coworkers visited me during their tea break at 10am just to wish me a great day.
Then at 11:30, 3 of my friends at work disappeared and came back with cake and pop.
We all go into the meeting room for me to cut the cake but I couldn't convince anybody to sing for me :P.
That was my 3rd birthday cake since Sunday. When I was in Canada, I'd be lucky if I had one whole cake for my birthday in any given year!!!
I spent the day in a state of euphoria....A lot of my friends here and abroad remembered and thought of me and I felt loved, cherished and utterly spoiled. After 6 yrs of not expecting anything special for my birthday, I must say that this is way more than I would ask for.

The day would have been perfect if it wasn't for the ADSL not working when I got back home.
I installed the brand new webcam I've received as a gift and then went out to have dinner. By the time I got back home, I had to call customer service 3 times before I could finally get online and stay connected!
Webcams are great if you want to know whether u've got mannerisms, eh...I'm awfully aware of each time I was scratching my nose or my head...But the silences while waiting for the other person to respond is spent watching that person type or concentrate, which is certainly entertaining in itself!

Just when I was saying good night to everybody online, there was a power cut! In pitch black darkness, I had to find the way to my room and look for batteries and the flashlight (thank God I got that 2 yrs ago for camping!) . See, even in the mess in my room, I know exactly where things are! :P
It's not rad to brush your teeth and shower to the light of a flashlight, and even worse when you don't get hot water for your shower. It's not rad to end the day like that, but my birthday this year was just too awesome thanks to my friends.
It sure changes from a birthday that goes unnoticed in CA...