Honest = Not Rich!

Since I was young I always heard this chinese saying 'if you are an honest man, you won't make a lot of money'. I don't really thing it was true at that time. However, my perception has changed since. This is really true to the bone!

There is this morale thing when we make a decision. I often find businessman rich one especially are thrown into all sort of issues where they can resolve by not being honest!

I came across an executive who was doing very well in a 'A' company. The company hires a lot of contractor to write programming codes for 'A' company. Few years later, I realised he setup a company under his wife as a partner. Then, he divert all the contracting jobs to this newly setup company. He can do that because he has the power to divert to them without going through a bid. Few years later, he left 'A' company and became a managing director there. He drove Mercedes Benz, big bungalows, and tonnes of money in his bank account. He was well respected by many people who work under him.

However, I don't know why, I couldn't do it. In fact I stopped communicating with this person. There is a big morale issue here. Yes he is rich and am I being jealous? In my opinion, I think I am being who I am. I want to be honest to myself, but the price to pay is 'not being rich' in your life.

India according Aravind Adiga in The White Tiger ..read for free here

I am currently reading a novel call The White Tiger. The book won a booker prize in 2008. I found the story weaved in with some ugly side of India such as corruptions, crooks, caste, etc kept me turning the pages non stop!

I do find the story touches on the ugly side of human and what you will do when your living condition was so bad. I had asked my Indian friend regarding this book. Some of them were actually weren't happy at all. Just like how they view the movie 'Slumdog Millionaire'. The felt the book and movie may have misrepresented the facts.

However, for the book, I do come across some subjects which I had confronted in India before. I found the book was fascinating and I was giggling all my way while reading. Give it a try ..

http://www.scribd.com/doc/8986853/The-White-Tiger-By-Aravind-Adiga-Man-Booker-Prize-Winner

Namaste Delhi

I had captured a few pictures during my trip in New and Old Delhi. Some of the sight seeings were really amazing :)

India Gate.


Mahatma Gandhi Memorial
Jama Masjid @ Old Delhi

A poor kid begging money on the street, he could not walk but moving around using his arms.Humayun Tomb - A World Heritage.

Save or Spend?

Every day when I am on a table having my meal, we have a tendency to discuss the economic climate everywhere in the world. I think the main concern is when will it hit us in Malaysia? Right now, when you walk on the street, everyone seems to be comfortable spending and eating either on the street or the mall. Some argued that since the recession may hit us soon, we should save up now!

I am not sure if I entirely agree with this. I think spending is still a must. In order for the economy to restore to a healthy stage, I reliased 2 main things need to happen! First, the people must spend so the cycle will continue to move and the shopkeepers could surive. Second, the bank must loan out the money so the shopkeeper could run their business with some capital backup.

Now, when it comes to spending at this day and age, please make sure you shop what is necessary. Also, if it's worth the price? During the good time, the greedy people tries to promote this thing call 'lifestyle'. A lifestyle comes with a price tag. Anything that looks cool, will cost you eventhough it does not worth that much. Next time, ask yourself, is it worth it? Will you pay for that price? Remove the thoughts of it's cheaper by 50% compare to last year. Or I must have it because it looks cool! Ask the basic question, do I need it and is it worth it?

After saying this, I am eyeing a nice bracelet for a long time in Malaysian Airlines inflight sales. Gosh, should I buy it or save! Do I look cool? Err absolutely!

New comers at work .. listen up ....

Last friday, my cousin and I had a heart to heart talk regarding his role in the office. He was facing a tremendous challenge as he could not deliver his work on time. He actually felt bad although he don't mind the long hours he has put in. He has a mentor but the mentor is finding him annoying with questions after questions. I started asking him what is his approach when talking to his boss or mentor. He said he will usually stuck in a situation and he will go to them. And I asked him have you put up any thoughts before you see them?? It seems no because he said the situation was very unique and he didn't know how to proceed.

I went on and explain to him, in any jobs especially when you are new, you do need a lot of help and support. However, to do this, you need to show a very positive behavior. I told him, the next time he goes up to his boss or mentor, don't go with empty hand. Make sure he proposed or share his thoughts what are the alternatives. It does not matter if it's wrong, but what really matter was he had attempted! If you are the boss, you do not want to crack your head when you are busy with these questions. But given some alternatives, the boss can coach and share with you of his thoughts instead. At the same time, you displayed initiatives!

We are not born with knowledge, but we can improve our knowledge by contributing our thoughts!

My malay pronounciation ..

I am not sure sometimes if the person understood me after I had pronounced a word .. in my way! You see I am from a Malay school since young and the way we pronounce the vowels are different from English. My friends always made fun of me because I sounds strange in my own slang. For example, botanical garden, if I pronounce word by word in Malay language, it will sounds like Bottle Nickle garden. Also, the formation of the sentence in most of the Malaysians are less fanciful and straight to the point.

Oh well, I think I am ok with it if I am speaking on the street, but it has a major disadvantage when I use it at work. People will tend to think I don't understand English! Then they will speak very slowly and start waving their hands like a sign language. Duh!

The culprit is the Beer!

Yesterday over the television, a sportsman was being questioned by police for harassing a girl last Friday night at a club. The next day, the sports commentator told the media that it was a very unfortunate incidents for this extremely promising player. The root cause was the 'beer', simply they had drank too much to cause this to happen.

I was sitting on my couch and went DUH!!!??? When will they start to admit it's their fault. Every single piece of news usually the confrontational ones, it always somebody's fault. In my opinion, no matter who you are if you committed a wrongdoing, you have to be responsible for your own action. The beer is just a scapegoat, a defense mechanism, but it's so lame. The law is getting so tainted these days that practically if you can sell the idea to another person, you get away. There is nobody to uphold the truth very soon. The person who wins are the one who hired the best talker in town.

You even get questioned for voicing your opinion, because you are not a creator, what is indecent to me is not always the same as yours. Our beliefs and trusts are questionable. I just wish one day, the law will not lose or forget on how to protect the innocent.

Will you visit India?

The Slumdog Millionaire was such a success everywhere I go people will talk about the good things about the movie. After dinner at a friend's place last night we started our conversations on our experiences in India. My manager started with his horror experience, on how fearful he was when he was there when he got lost. Also, the beggars on the street that revealed their scars and come knocking on his window for money. Everything that he saw was shocking and left a bad impression in him.

Meanwhile, I have a different opinion with India. Will I visit India? Why not? What my friends and manager has experienced will not go away at least for now. India is a land of a billion population. Although it is one of the fastest developing country in the world, however, there are still fundamental issues such as culture, religions, and of course "politics" which still have not been kind to these unfortunate ones. I do enjoy India for a reason. I felt a total opposite from the stories. India make me think how fortunate I am and how I should not complain too much of my life. For some of these poor people, life is a struggle but they appreciate every moment. They are grateful and humble when treated with kindness. People do not think that you have an evil motive because they just don't have time for that.

Besides that, the culture and the history in India was very interesting too. If you like the stories from the Maharaja, you can visit Taj Mahal in Agra or the Pink City in Jaipur for it's majestic palaces. If you want to see what the British empire has left after the independence, you can visit Mumbai and be enchanted by the historic buildings. On top of that these cities are very affordable to visit. While those who like to travel in style, they can take the world famous Eastern & Oriental train across the major cities of India. You get a personal butler in the train and enjoy the scenic views from one city to another without a sweat.

I guess every cities has their good and bad. People get exploited everywhere but in a different form or degree. There are petty thieves everywhere in India, but be street smart everywhere you go. I don't think all the stories I heard will prevent me from visiting India again.

Slumdog Millionaire effect

I was watching a morning show on TV today. An entertainment reporter mentioned that a father of the Slumdog's child actor slapped the poor kid after he was complaining too stress and tired to perform anymore interviews with the media. The reporter here all felt so discontent with this act. All of sudden, the people paid their attention these kids who were once living in slum where nobody want to go near them at all. In fact this show how narrow minded we can be.

If you have been to India, you will see these kids are everywhere. The beggar master will force these kids into begging or worst pick pocketing. I have seen one young girl carrying a baby (may not be hers but could fetch more money!) with her arms chopped off and a poorly wrapped cotton cloth placed around the fresh wound soaked with blood. She looked pale and almost lifeless. Yes, it does make me feel really sad for the poor girl. Will you give the money to them? You knew the money will be pocketed by someone else. But she did it because she needs to survive or die without food in her mouth.

Once you have seen these street kids with your own eyes, will you think the Slumdog actors and actresses will still be treated as bad? By the way, there are thousands and thousands of these poor kids on the street. What can you do besides feeling sorry for those child actors which has been slapped on the face? I am not saying I don't feel sorry for the child actors, but I think there are a bigger problem than this movie you have seen.

We can do something in fact. You can donate to the Mother's Theresa foundation or through Unicef -> http://www.unicef.org/india/

Do something about it, don't just feel sorry for the kids and wake up the next day forgetting how you felt yesterday.