Real India

If you want to see the real India, go Culcatta.
Congested, dirty, crowded, people and lots of people.
But, of course, India does has it's own beauty, just like Culcatta has some place that is worth visiti.

Queen Victoria Memorial



Three more months and I'll leave India for good...
Ok, should not get emo here first, let me enjoy the rest of my three months here. After all, it's a good place to spend two and a half years in.

the world

Looking at this picture I took in Pondycherry, it reminds me that at least there is a place in the world that is peaceful. Or maybe it's not that peaceful in Pondycherry, but this is was the feeling I had when I took this picture.

But looking at the breaking news around, it's just sad.

Is there any good things happening around the world?

Matthew 24

Pray for the people...
and pray for ourselves

Happy Mummy's Day

It's the day of the year again.

"uwah, the episiotomy is so painful. Tomorrow Mother's day somemore, really makes me think." - a friend of mine who witnessed a delivery today
(episiotomy = the incision made in a woman's perineum to enlarge the vaginal opening for delivery)

"don't you love your mom more after seeing how a woman delivers a baby?!" - Farah to niCk during OBG posting

after almost five weeks of OBG and Pediatrics posting Udupi and Karkala, it made me appriciate life more. We've taken and examined a few antenatal cases and I understood how hard it was when mummy had me in her womb (according to her, that was my little house). I've witnessed two labour and I understood how much pain and blood loss mummy went through when I came out from mummy's tummy. I've seen countless mother caring for the baby in the postnatal ward and a understood the love of mummy to me.

Now here is a post dedicated to my beloved mummy. love you always!!!

"Happy Mother's Day, Mom!"

My mom told me that I was small and pale when i was born so she and po po got quite worried and kept feeding me to a point where I became super fat.

as i was searching through the photo's my parents took when I was a kid, I found out that my parents actually brought me to a lot places before

like the waterfall:

some park:

the beach:


Mummy never missed my birthday. Well, no mother miss their kid's birthday I suppose.
This was my first birthday celebration in my uncle's house.

and this was my third birthday celebration at Bukit Bintang McDonald's


Mummy taught me how to swim


Mummy always brought me to her office so that I could kacau her when she worked.


and Mummy gave me a brother to play with. kekeke




Mummy loves travelling. She always travels and sometimes, she brings us along...



...but most of the time, she travels without us



"CHEERS!!! happy mother's day"

Of course I cannot forget those who were there supporting mummy to bring us up. They are:

My 7 auntie. We call her out guardian. since it's Mother's day, I'll call her mummy number two. She's the one who took care of me when mummy is not around. and she's the one who told me about God and the story about Snow White because she calls herself, well, Snow White.

and mummy's mummy. We call her popo. Well, she gave birth to Mummy and took care of her so that mummy can give birth to me and take care of me. popo loves small kids. so we can say the popo loves each and everyone of us very much.


To all the mother's out there: Happy Mother's Day!!!

Round face

Today in pediatric ward, i saw a 7 months old baby who look like Winnie the Pooh. so round and cute and playful.

and today, i found out that I've became rounder and fatter.

I'm round

p/s: yee en, this picture is taken with the stature as the background.

I'm out of my mind

what am i thinking?!

i'm just out of my mind this few days. seems like my brian is just not working the way it should.

on the way to Mangalore today, i did a lot of thinking. and i found out that:

-i've not been studying at all for the past one week.

-today's worship session was a mess. i dropped my pick, said some funny comments in between songs, and intervened too much when Dorothy was leading two of the songs. she co-led with me and i was too dominating. (sorry dorothy. hehe)

-words come out from my mouth without going through my brain

i'm so out of my mind

am i a panda or a yak?!

by the way, IRON MAN is really good! go watch it!

Kanyacoumari (CAPEcoumari)

welcome to the tip of India!!! Kanyacoumari is the most southern part of India. Which means, if you go futher from there, you'll reach south pole, by sea.

here are some photos taken when we were in Kanyacoumari:

big foot!
having the whole India behind us

and here, we found the one and only wax museum in India. don't expect to see Edison Chen's model in this tiny little wax museum situated at the tip of India.

since it's in India, you should know what to expect.
Amitha Bachan
Saddam Hussien

on the last day, we dropped by Mahatma Gandhi memorial.
ashes to ashes

the whole building is constructed in a way that every year on Gandhi's bday, the sun light will directly fall on the cup that helds the ashes of Mahatma Gandhi.

interesting...

Reflection

Backwater of Kerala:





At times just feel like shut my world down, spend time seeking God's will and reflect.

How great!!!

How Great is Our God - Chris Tomlin

VERSE(1):
The splendor of a King,
Clothed in majesty
Let all the earth rejoice,
All the earth rejoice
He wraps himself in light,
And darkness tries to hide
And trembles at his voice,
And trembles at his voice

CHORUS(1):
How great is our God,
sing with me
How great is our God,
and all who sing
How great, How great
Is our God

VERSE(2):
Age to age he stands
And time is in His Hands
Beginning and the End,
Beginning and the End
The Godhead, Three in one
Father, Spirit, Son
The Lion and the Lamb,
The Lion and the Lamb

CHORUS(2)
Name above all names
You are Worthy of all praise
and My heart will sing how great
Is our God

By routine, i was suppose to play guitar for yesterday's worship but was physically too tired that i don't feel like playing, just wanna worship God alone.

and enjoy my sleep.

that's why when i was playing, i felt nothing but striking the right chords, strumming at the right beat.

there's no element of worship in my playing.

something is wrong!

i tried to worship, but the thought of what my friends did to me was dominating in my mind. things that happened, postings in the hospital, studies and so on.

until Dinesh sang the last song, How Great is Our God.

what is big when our God is great?

i didn't care, i knelt down and cried on the stage.

the song touched me like never before.

How Great!

the right place

niCk...

Yee En gave this to me when i was still using Motorola E398. it was a perfect match, but ever since that phone spoilt, this cute little handphone ornament had been left isolated in my cupboard. and now...

the right place

i've found the right place to hang it.

but till now we weren't given any chance to use out stethoscope on the patient yet.

clinical postings are not fun. it is tiring. but i'm in pediatric and OBG posting now. looking at the babies and kids, that makes my day...

and looking at how the mothers carry their newborn babies, it simply reminds me of how I'm a child of a faithful God. God loves His children just as how a mother loves her baby. we always have a place in God's heart, and that's the right place for us.

more pictures from Kerala

our 2008 south-to-north India trip started off with Kerala - God's own country. a place rich in culture and fish. yeap! sea food is not bad there.

anchor, near chinese fishing net area

Cochin is famous for their chinese fishing net which was introduced by chinese long time ago. people actually asked for money when we went to see the fishing net. so i suggested three of us to stand on the road side and collect money from the people there saying that "we're chinese"

my very first kite-flying experience in Cherai beach
ok la, i'm a bit jakun here. don't know, somehow i never played kite before. the beach is normal. polluted and i heard they stareted to build some pubs nearby. something like beaches in Goa.

after Cochin, we left for Allepey which is famous for their houseboat -> sampan-type cruise on a river. nothing much, we just stayed one night on the boat and look see look see at their backwater. and we did some fishing too... my first time fishing, another jakun-ness

dinner on board

early in the morning

couldn't enjoy much especially in Allepey because all of us were not feeling well. and we didn't go out much also. so didn't really see much. and it's not suppose to be the climax of our trip. so we all also lembap a bit, lazy a bit. kekeke, chill la... holiday ma

miss you

suddenly miss mummy so much. wanna talk to her badly but she doesn't seem to be free nowadays. hope she's doing fine.


after OBG and Pediatrics classes, i realized how hard mummy had me in her womb when she's pregnant and how cute we were in our parents' eyes when we're still a baby...

thank you mummy...

reconcile

it hurts when people offend you. worse still if the person is someone whom you respect. all you could do is to step back and keep quiet.

Matthew 5:23-24 says: therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. first go and be reconciled to you brother; then come and offer your gift.

i've meditated on this verse twice because of two different occasions. i just simply cannot serve God or worship God with something going wrong between me and my friends.

and of course, i must learn how to apologize and/or forgive.

sylvia once told me, "say the magic word: sorry"

so when you offended people, say the magic word; when people apologize, forgive.

one significant thing that i learned during the trip is from Jun Han when he said that "each person must have something good for us to learn from", so no matter what, try to learn from the good qualities of a person no matter how bad or how good the person is to us.

so forgive, and learn...

chill la! life goes on...

us in Cochin

thank God for friends.

my best!

Wanting to update my blog since just now but i'm too tired dy.

my best shot in my trip:

taken in Kerala. it's a traditional dance in Kerala known as Kathakali. we were quite excited initially because they were suppose to do their make up in front of the audience and then present their short story taken from some Indian literature.

for all we know, the make up took 1 whole hour, and they presented the one-paragraph story for two whole hours. Jun Han fell asleep during the make up session, and i nearlly fell asleep during the climax of the story because they took almost two minutes to kill the bad guy.

the make up session

but it's really an art. the main idea of Kathakali is about the body language where they use facial expression and their sign language to convey the message to the audience.

we would have enjoyed it if we could memorise all the signs.

it takes almost 30seconds to say "goodbye!" in Kathakali. imagine...

back from backpacking

Just came back from backpacking around india.
was a great trip. saw different things, broke many personal records, experience different wierd things, assaulted by an eunuch (GOSH!)...
will update photos soon. not the eunuch, oh please.
i mean, our photos.
stay tune

Happy Birthday, Fred

hey bro,

happy birthday!

I'm back!!!

I'm back i'm back i'm back!!!

ahem

not bacause of exam stress
not because anybody challenged me to do so
not because it's too hot in India
not because the barber was sleeping

tada!!!

friends!

Realized that friend can actually disappoint you. (OMG I’m back on blogging!)friend actually means - according to the dictionary

1. a person with whom one has a bond of mutual affection
2. a familiar or helpful thing

kinda disagree with the second point cause recently I’m totally struck with the way friends can disappoint me. (why long time never blog dy?!)they are so unfamiliar and unhelpful to me.

Probably because I was the one who disappointed other people more, so I never had the feeling of being hurt by friends. (so your new year resolution is to blog everday ar?!)that I’ve been trying to change. I tried to stop doing things that I did, changed the way I talk and act just to be a good friend to others. Like what I always believe, friendship involves two parties. I have to be a good friend to have a good one. Duh! (why suddenly decide to blog again one?!)

But for the past few days, things are just not right. When I talked to a friend, I felt like I’m talking to myself. When I’m at home, people just pretend that I’m not around, or probably do not exist at all. When I missed my alarm and overslept, nobody even bothers to wake me up. When I’m not feeling well, nobody bothers to concern about that.

I always make a point to treat other people well. Part of my new year resolution. For example, I always wake my housemate up if he missed his alarm so that he can take his bath and groom himself for class. I always make a point to share any good movies I watched with friends. I always buy my housemate snacks when he’s stressed up. I always pray for my friends.

Well, of course I don’t expect other people will do what I do. That won’t stop me from being a good friend to others though.

And I won’t stop loving my friends even if I wake up late and feel miserable,
I won’t stop recommending movies to my friends even if I were to watch them alone,
I won’t stop sharing my snacks with my friends even if I were to eat them up alone.

For we don’t do good things just because we want others to treat us well. Right? (so when are you updating your blog next?! In a year time?! )

Of course I still have good friends who are there to support me here in Manipal.

I got a friend who fed me so well that I could gain back all the nutrients that I’ve lost when I’m sick.
I got a friend who gave me 101 tips on how to make friendship special.
I got a friend who teaches me music during worship session.
I got a friend who hijacks my bike-ky-ker to go library that I had to walk to church. Haha!

And I can turn to Jesus whenever I’m lonely, for He is my best friend.

John 15:13 says, greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friend.

Jesus laid down his live for me!!!

Ps: nope, blogging is not my new year resolution. Will try to update as often as I can.

God is awesome!!!

we have a looooooooong weekend here in India for Divali.

have been enjoying so far and "gosh! why am i not studying?!"

went to Jog Falls on thursday. it was awesome!
jakun me, cause in malaysia we can't find waterfalls like that.
you know? those tall tall one, with rainbow one.
yeah. so i was kinda amazed by what God created.

it's just awesome! cause God is awesome!

Goa

before Goa
"i can't wait to go Goa!" - niCk (sun bathing in Redang)
after Goa
"gosh! this is the first and last time i come!" (sun bathing in
Goa)

12 of us preparing for paragliding

me flying!!!

church


and church

Great!

last week's worship was great!
last last week's was also great (perasan!)

but seriously, leading worship in the new church building is great!

niway. everything is great except for catching up with studies.

after some ups and downs for the past weeks, it's time to catch up with my studies dy!

had fast and pray last sunday. and it was awesome! i was all charged up for my studies.
solution for i-cannot-study-lar: pray!

studies studies studies!!!


i miss her...

renew

create in me a pure heart, O God
and renew a right spirit within me

cast me not away from thy presence, O God
and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me
restore unto me, the joy of Your salvation
and renew and right spirit within me

i was crying and on my knees when the church sang this song today. but the service ended early. i had to quickly stood up and wipe away my tears.

-_-

for once i feel like i'm a trash

for once i've lost all my confidence

for once i feel so negative

for once everything seems going against me

for once i feel lonely

for once i don't have people to talk to and i don't dare to talk to people.


hope she's here with me.

well, will she accept me is still a question.

the only way is to go back to God.

God, help me!

CHANGE

This post is one of the posts that I wanted to post long time ago and I didn’t know how to put them in words cause it was a process, a process which took place since 4th of July this year until now. There was a beginning, and we’ll wait for the result.

“Please pray for me, ok, it’s not a problem, please don’t worry. I’m actually going through a change which I think it’s necessary. Something like to be a better man lah. So please pray that God will lead me and show me his way” – niCk (during a prayer meeting back in July)

I must CHANGE! I told myself then. How could I be so terrible? Hope it’s not late. Well, I think nothing is too late.

Ok, first things first, this was a personal issue of my life, I only shared this with those that I’m accountable with, those that I’m very very very close with. Now I’m posting it in my blog so that everyone knows what was going on in my life for the past few months.

09/07/2007 (my journal)
Have been struggling a lot about my life lately. Realized how terrible a person I can be. Sort of a wake up call to stop many thing that I do, from eating habits to social life.
It’s time for a change. Change for a better niCk. And remain to be the better niCk for good.

I still remember some thoughts hit me during that period of time that it made me thought about changing. That time, I remembered what Hock Man told me before which stuck in my head since then. He was saying that once we reach a certain age, our personality and character are pretty much set. What we are will be what people gonna see us. So “do it wanna be like how I am in the future?”

So that hit me, and I thought, gosh, I don’t want to see myself being myself in the future. I don’t want to be forever nine years old (I was 19 then) jumping around, talking nonsense, playing around like small kids.

Hello, I thought, I’m a going to be a doctor, it’s a professional thingie, how can I act the way I acted? A lot of ‘I should’ came out. Change change change!

The best thing is to start with seeking God’s help.

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. – Matthew 6:33

I fell on my knees, and prayed to God. I still remember that day Lai Yin was in my room unconscious (nothing much ok?! It was her bed time and she was in my room), yin yee and jun han was studying outside. I just kneel down and spend time praying, worshipping and seek God. It was just awesome!!! Nobody knew, Lai Yin didn’t wake up, nobody knocked on my door. I prayed, I confessed my wrongs, and committed my plan to CHANGE to God and asked God to show me a way.

It was from that day onwards that I CHANGED drastically. I started to use my brain more, to evaluate my action, my speech and my thoughts. In fact, I found, among my friends, people whom I look up to, whom I should learn from. And of course those that I don’t want to be. No offence but as I said, I need to CHANGE. I even picked up some small habits like pray when I wake up in the morning.

Like I said, I only shared that with some of my friends. On 05/08/2007 I saw Maureen online, it was somewhat a divine meeting with her because she was free to talk to me. So I shared about what I was going through. She agreed with me for having that thought and she supported me by giving me some advice bout it. Besides, she encouraged me to press on, be strong in serving to Lord in church and in the area of BGR (boy-girl relationship).

05/08/2007 (my journal)
Today is day which is worth jotting down. Consider a stepping stone for my CHANGE.
After dinner in snack shack, I went online and I saw Maureen was on too. So I asked her if she wanted to layan me.
Found out that she’s leaving for Cambodia tomorrow, means not working, so she chatted with me. Many issues came out, BGR, spiritual life, serving in church.
After that, I felt pretty much relieved, partly knowing that … (BGR) …
After we offline, I did my quiet time straight and God touched me. God spoke to me and I was just in tears.
Thanks Maureen!
Move on...

I moved on. I tried to come out with a blueprint of my CHANGE. Big project huh?!

It was on my birthday that I ‘launched’ my project. Since I was turning 20, it was high time for me to CHANGE.

Character: to be honorable is better to be honored. I should keep reminding myself that I must be honorable instead of seeking attention of other people. People may not honor me but as long as I’m doing something which people cannot see, God sees it. That’s about integrity. The things that I say, is it edifying or nonsense? The things that I do, is it what God wants me to do or out of my selfishness?

Health: stop junking. I actually stop eating Lay’s and chocolate since July.

Attitude: my attitude towards the things that I do, serving God, studies and towards other people has to be set right. The way that I see things should be the way God sees them. Especially towards people, I must constantly be reminded that they are also God’s creation, so do not judge but help them if they are in need.

Nerdiness: second year medical school made me a nerd. But I think it’s worth it. It’s my calling, it’s from God. I have to study hard. Of course, please, I’m not being a total nerd here. Just wanna do my role as a student.

Godliness: this is really important. It is when I’m in tune with God that I could manage to stay strong in serving God as well as my studies. So I have to stay close with God.

Expenses: stop spending unnecessarily.

CHANGE

so do pray along with me and help me with this CHANGE. And I’m serious about it. I don’t want to see myself being my old self.

Can’t stay forever 19. I’m 20 now!

I shall be a God driven medical student for now!

i need to blog!

gosh it's 5am now in malaysia. suppose to be dreaming.

but i have too much to blog about!!!

bought a new toy for myself. more toys to come hopefully. need to blog about it.
CHANGE. need to blog about it.
why no girlfriend. need to blog about it.
just finished cleaning my room, awesome!!!. need to blog about it
scanning my old photos into my computer. need to blog about it.

but i don't have time!!! i got a million thing to do, as usual

can blogspot link directly to my brain?!

seriously, i need to spend sometime blogging. which is not tomorrow and not friday... not this week.

going to singapore on friday. mom warned me not to buy anything.

what if iPhone is out there?!

hmmm....

good nig... morning

super saturday

last time when we talked about super saturday, it's about the day, saturday, when all the XYZ (x-tra-ordinary youth zone) members would gather together, spending time with one another singing praise and worship to God and fellowship with one another

i'm not really sure if super saturday is still called as super saturday.

but today is indeed a super saturday for me.

when to church in the afternoon. joined PCG1 for their DBS lesson two which we discussed about the fatherhood of God.

seriously, XYZ is no long the same as what i saw last time (give me a "DUH") i see people rising up as leaders, i also see those who rose up falling. i found it pretty hard to blend into them. please don't tell me that i'm getting old. no!!!

i miss super saturday.

niway, had a great time in the CG. sylvia preached, jeremy led worship. worship was good. and poor sylvia. she was having sore throat and yet she had to strain her voice.

met poh chee and he was so sweet that he gave me a free GSC voucher. i was like, "aww..."

met mellisa ong too. she just came back from singapore. so we sort of tour around the church and check out the sanctuary.

met allan sia. he was holding Levinson Microbiology text book. i quickly jumped away from him.

after some hulla hulla, hello bye bye, i drove back to my aunties house and return the o-so-sacred-VIOS to my mom since she needed to go some where to pick up something. but before that she dropped me at sungai besi LRT station.

took a train to Sri Petaling. pass by Bukit Jalil and it was so OMGly crowded. met up with Lai Yin and Yin Yee at the station and Ken fetched us to Lester's house in USJ.

had a great makan time in Lester's house, seeing Lyvia packing for Manipal. yey! lyvia is going to Manipal!!!

after that, we went mamak at murni's. catch up with Lester abit. yeah. we don't catch up with one another in India one. somehow.

but it was good talking to him.

reached home at 2.

nite peeps! tomorrow need to wake up for church.

Malaysia Boleh

"am i psychotic? people are lining up to board the LRT." - niCk (sms to LaiYin)
"yeah, they do line up" - Lai Yin (sms)
"India really jakunized me a lot." - niCk

went back to Tsun Jin High School this morning for a proper visit. after that me and ren hui went to time square for lunch. not that we need to chit chat a lot since we're seeing each other everyday in India.

so after lunch i asked him to drop me at one of the Putra LRT station so that i could take a train to Taman Jaya to see my optometrist. need to make a new pair of glasses. find it hard to drive at night nowanights (now-a-nights?).

so the plan was to change the lens of my glasses so i don't need to get so many frames. but then, if i hand over my glasses, what am i gonna wear?

so Adrian's mom, the optometrist suggested me to make a new one which is not so expensive while changing the lens of the current one. sounds good!

then she started to bring out all the frames that's available. and GOSH! i saw one by ESPRIT

and OMG! i so liked it.

"BUT, the price is different" said she.

aww...

so i had to choose a cheaper one then. but i seriously seriously like that one very much.

niway, settled with the cheap one, need to go back few days later to collect it.

after that, i took LRT to Masjid Jamek and to my amaze, i saw people lining to board the LRT. i nearly faint looking at the scene. gosh! since when?

Malaysia Boleh!

when home, had dinner with mom and fred.

tonight shall be a movie night!

so free

"...why you so free huh?..." - Sylvia (sms)
"of course ler, one month with no studies" - niCk (sms)

life is great back home. no books, no microbiology, no india!

almost reached zero production rate today at home. wanted to go out for lunch but, looking at the o-so-hot weather, na, rather stay at home. skipped lunch.

backing up my computer data into my brand new (tada!) 160GB portable hard disc drive.

now i actually doubt that 160GB is enough for me. yet to copy movies from Lai Yin

went out to meet up with Li Hiong at starbucks near my house.

Green Tea Fracppuccino (o-so-creamy)

was suppose to meet up at 8pm. i reached starbucks at 7.57pm. reminded myself, "no more Indian timing or chinese timing or whatsoever timing - be punctual"

but due to some miscommunication, she reached starbucks at around 9.

chit-chat till 11pm, asked my mom to fetch me home.



asked mom to buy sushi since they were eating at Jaya Jusco foodcourt but fred didn't want.

then mom said, "since you one year never eat durian dy, buy you some la"




then what about sushi?!

ish!

niway, durian was nice, Flippy still doesn't eat durian.

-------------------------------------------------------

visited Yun Tjin's blog and i found this:


yeap! this is Dream Centre, DUMC. my church in Malaysia.

i came back just in time for the inauguration and it was awesome!

God is awesome!

so fast! amazing

cool! i'm currently updating my blog from my mom's office. having lunch with Mr Siew, my mom's boss, later.

went to renew my driving licence just now. GOSH! it was so amazingly fast

what you need to do is, go get a number, wait for your turn, give them your old licence with a passport size photo. then they cut cut the photo, stick it and laminate it.

you can get it there and then.

cool!

imagine Manipal University having such efficient services. that would be AWESOME!

i'm home!

cool! finally i'm posting something from my mom's laptop at home. see, told you all that i'll be back in september.

but i'm just too tired to type. gonna watch movie now.

i'll definitely update when the time comes.

kekeke

meanwhile, i'm super duper angry when i reached home. my house is like an abandoned building which was not occupied for a thousand years. cob web all over, things are every where, especially my book shelf and my room. i wonder what is my brother doing when he's free.

i can accept that he's tired after school everyday. but can't he take out sometime, like, once a month to clean up the room? at least help mom to do so since mom is duper triper busy. it's not fair to wait for one year for me to come back to tidy up the house for him.

punishment: no more sony VAIO for him cause i'm gonna take it away.