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  • Lunch with Ashwini Kumar at Ministry of Crab

    I had my regular lunch with Ashwini yesterday. Ashwini is the Head of Chancery at the Indian High Commission and we have been meeting regularly over the last 2 years.

    First the actual discussions we had. We talked mostly about the Middle East war and the folly of Donald Trump. The consequences of the war have affected countries differently and according to him, India would see some effects, though not devastating. The inflationary effects will of course be felt worldwide but the impact would be felt keenest in countries which lack foreign currencies to pay additional sums for the higher oil prices. Especially if their governments have been subsidizing oil prices for their domestic market consumption.

    Next the food. The choice of the restaurant was his. I have been to the original restaurant in Colombo, Sri Lanka in 2016. There was a lot of hype about this place. I tried it and I wasn’t impressed at all. The food was expensive and just above average.

    I haven’t been to the Singapore outlet and neither has he and so he wanted to try this out.

    Unfortunately the food quality was below average and the prices high. The chicken curry we ordered didn’t have any curry at all and the rice and chicken were dry. The street bread was just dry local bread. We had ordered a crab. After a while when we realized we had finished our lunch and the crab still hadn’t been served. We called over the waitress to check our order. She had completed missed placing the order. I was happy to just stop and leave at that point but Ashwini wanted to try the crab. So we waited another 20 minutes for the crab dish. Again very average quality.

    I think this is becoming symptomatic of Singapore. High prices, poor quality both in terms of food quality and service. Why would anyone want to visit Singapore and put up with this?

    We both agreed that food quality and service in KL and Bangkok were far superior to Singapore and that it was only a matter of time before the tourists realized this.

    He will soon be posted out of Singapore as his 3 year term is ending in July. We agreed to meet for another meal soon, this time my choice.

  • Ink and Paper 10 Years on

    I was invited by U Zyn to this exhibition yesterday evening. He had informed me that he visited this exhibition some time back and wanted me to visit the exhibition and the couple who own the gallery. The couple had their first exhibition,Ink and Paper 10 years ago at this same location and so appropriately they have named this recent exhibition Ink and Paper 10 years on. Although this is the first time I have visited their gallery.

    Unfortunately the gallery is located at Penjuru Lane, which is far. It took me a good 35 minutes drive to get there. The isolated location is, in my view, not conducive to those who do not drive and therefore may deter more regular visits. I felt sorry those who did not drive because it must be difficult to find transport to get there and back.

    The gallery is in a warehouse complex with adequate parking. The gallery comprises a small viewing space with the storage unit just next to it. Looking at the sheer number of items they had in the storage unit, I think they must be one of the largest private collectors of art in Singapore. I used to think that with my roughly 160 pieces in Helutrans, I had too much but my collection pales in comparison to theirs.

    They showcased some of their Singapore artists yesterday and there were about 24 pieces on display. The pieces were interesting and varied and Linda introduced the guests to each and every piece. I know of some of the artists whose pieces were displayed but I have never been keen on Singapore artists. A lot of local artists end up doing Chinatown and Boat Quay scenes and that has never appealed to me. I have a few in my own collection but I have never actively sought out to collect local artists.

    The owners, Linda Neo and Albert Lim, started their collection sometime in 2005 and started out by collecting local artists.

    I spoke to both Linda and Albert quite a bit about their collection and on the joys and pain of collecting art in Singapore. It is a joy to view beautiful art and want to own it. The problem comes about because Singapore weather is unforgiving to art and the heat and humidity destroy art rapidly. The only way then to preserve what you treasure is to wrap it up and store it carefully. This means you never actually get to see and enjoy what you bought and also additional costs incurred by storage charges.

    Linda and Albert are a wonderful couple who fortunately share the same passion in art and collecting it. I was happy talking to them about their collection and their family. Hopefully their children will share their same passion in art. It is good that they put in the effort to open their doors to others to view and enjoy their artworks and share their passion.

  • Club 100 Thank You Dinner

    Last night was the thank you dinner for the organising committee of this year’s Club 100 dinner. We did well and we managed to hit our target of maintaining the membership at 750.


    The dinner was at Jia He Grand restaurant at Farrer Hospital. I used to go there a lot some years back but for some reason, which I cannot recall now, I stopped. The food was good and the price was reasonable for that menu. I think I will organise my next ACS dinner here.


    I sat next to the Mayor and I really enjoyed our conversations. We talked about a variety of topics and I find it useful because he knows what is happening and so I learn and understand quite a bit listening to him.


    Towards the end of dinner, as an entire group, we talked about the various initiatives to address job seeker’ concerns in Singapore, especially the role to be played by the CDC. This is something I will need to get my teeth into, as I chair the committee for this at the CDC. There are just so many initiatives and so someone looking for a job will find help. I am not sure how the impact of the effect of AI on white collar entry level jobs will be addressed at some point in the future.

  • Tamil New Year

    Another Tamil New Year yesterday. I didn’t see celebrations here in Singapore. Which is strange seeing how people seem to instead go overboard with Ponggal here, which to me is completely irrelevant in Singapore as that festival celebrates harvest time. We certainly have no harvest to talk about.

    A long time ago, every Tamil New Year would be spent with a visit to my grandparents’ house in Sembawang, when we were young. Well those good old days are gone.

    Anyway since my mother wanted to only have vegetarian food yesterday, I bought a vegetarian lunch for her from Madras Woodlands, together with some sweet ponggal.

    Thereafter it was lunch with my colleague Alina and her husband Matthew. It was at Kai Duck. I was initially worried that I will only be able to make lunch about 130pm. Instead I was there by 1230.

    Lovely lunch. Spent most time chatting about the challenges facing Singapore and the job market and what can be done to alleviate the problem. The problems here are due to the high cost structure, primarily because of high rentals and salaries and of course now AI. The upcoming RTS link with Johor will only make things worse because goods and services are so much cheaper across the causeway, with the same levels of quality. We talked about the sectors which will be most impacted by the adoption of AI, which of course includes the legal sector. Not surprisingly, we couldn’t come up with any solutions but that didn’t stop us from enjoying the Peking duck.

  • Another MG Coffee Session

    Surprisingly we managed another coffee session at Morning Grind this morning. I am surprised it happened because Haq doesn’t come in much anymore and with him now starting his own firm, meeting up in Marina One will become rarer.

    Anyway glad we managed it and I took a picture for posterity sake. Something to remember hopefully in the years ahead!

  • Asha Bhosle dies

    The legendary Indian playback singer, Asha Bhosle, passed away today. She was the younger sister of the other legendary singer, Lata Mangeshakar.

    Another legend from that era has passed on. I think she is the last of the famous Hindi playback singers from that era. Although I have never seen her perform live and I don’t know Hindi, I listened to so many of her songs on radio when I was growing up. Some of which still sound amazing till today.

    Rest in peace.

  • Slink@SCC

    Lunch today was at the Padang restaurant at SCC. Harish informed me some time back that they were doing an indian food promotion there featuring food from the different parts of India and I had suggested that we go.

    I was surprised. Not because the food was bad but because I thought they would have had chefs from the different parts of India to come and cook in a buffet style. Instead it was a 5 course meal, with each course from a different region of India. It wasn’t clear to me if the chefs were from India though.

    The food was good and I enjoyed it. The dessert could have been better with perhaps an Indian halva or payasam, instead of a banana cake with ice cream, which wasn’t even remotely Indian.

    Anyway we had a good time catching up and enjoying the lunch!

  • Another Prasoon Session

    I met up with Prasoon for another chat session yesterday afternoon. At his favourite place, by the poolside at ShangriLa.

    It was such a warm day and I did wish I wasn’t seated outside but he seems to enjoy that place.

    We talked about Singapore, India, the US and Iran. Good to hear another viewpoint on world affairs. His views on how Iran has come out of this is interesting but not sure whether that is how it will play out in the end.but it is clear to all that Iran has come out of this stronger and the US looks like an idiot with every other country in the world, except Israel, pissed at them for having starting something that is having serious consequences.

  • Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

    I just realized that even after all these years, there are many fanatic fans out there of Harry Potter.

    Initially the MPO had scheduled only one concert, which then became 5 because of the response.

    They came dressed in costumes and know all the dialogue to the movie. They laugh and clap loudly. Wow. Such fanatism.

    I am not crazy about the series so I can’t say I enjoyed it that much. Well now I know to avoid this series. They are going for a party, unlike me. For me it’s a concert.

  • PA Kopitalk with the PM

    This event was actually supposed to last Saturday. But then the PM had to travel and so it was postponed to today morning at Punggol One, in the midst of a long weekend.

    Plus I have to be in KL and so I am on the 235pm flight. Tight schedule. Event starts at 11, they have scheduled me for lunch with the public office holders at 1230 and I have scheduled a pick up from there to the airport at 115pm.

    Anyway..I arrived here at 1015 and met so many people I know with so many MPs and Ministers present as well. I had a good chat with Minster Chee Hong Tat on the ongoing crisis before the session and that was good.

    Good session and the PM talked for about 25 minutes on the current issues affecting Singapore and the world. That was useful. The questions from the floor thereafter were rather general. Apparently this is his first kopi talk at PM.

    It ended on time and the lunch session wasn’t that useful and I managed to take my car to the airport on time.