All posts tagged: personal

On Social Media & Free Speech

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I am a little flustered right now. My head is flowing with many thoughts, but I must start at the start. A month and a half ago (mid Sept), I had an unfortunate lunch-time experience at a restaurant I frequented. In a nutshell, a server spilled all kinds of food all over me and my clothes while I was eating, seated along the corridor, and the “service recovery” after that was excruciatingly bad; all in the middle of a work day! Expectedly, I was appalled by the experience, and also exhausted by the conversation I had with the restaurant manager. I resorted to HungryGoWhere, a popular Singapore-based site where I often review food joints. Here is my entire review on Zaffran, the restaurant in question. With little else to pacify myself, I moved on and went about my life as usual. Until a few days back, when HungryGoWhere’s moderator wrote to me the following message: To this, I immediately replied with my contact details, standing by the integrity of my review. Following 4 days of …

India Has Arrived, Indeed.

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The Common Wealth Games 2010 have been an emotional journey for Indians – we’ve been anxious, enraged, desperate, doubtful, optimistic, surprised, awed, thankful, excited, nervous, exhilarated, proud, very proud. Just before the Games started, many of us were hanging on with dear life to the hope and fact that we wait until the very last minute to execute things, but with all the media bashing and the pessimism it created the world over, it was a long shot. Some of us logged out of Facebook, stopped buying newspapers, unplugged the TV and refused to talk about ‘it’ (think Gandhiji’s 3 monkeys)! Then the day came, and like a pre-mature baby, a tad too soon. We went to the newly-built stadium to cheer the Opening Ceremony, praying to all our gods that nothing will collapse. We tuned in to our TV broadcast, our nails bitten right up to the skin. We opened our Twitter streams, ready to defend our honor. We felt like we feel on a Monday morning. But none of it lasted. We were awed by the …

death & all his friends.

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Every time you are in the vicinity of death, something changes. A certain part of you grows, matures, thinks, wonders. Life is uncertain, yes, but seeing that uncertainty float in the air, right before your eyes, makes you question the very essence of life. Often times, I have thought that our lives are reflected in the eyes of other people. Once you leave this mortal world, the only thing that matters is how you live in the memories of people, if at all you live. That thought changed yesterday. I was part of a memorial for a colleague, and people he’d known professionally poured in large numbers to offer their condolences and pen their thoughts in a little black book. The book will most likely be given to his family, and probably contains very fond memories. And you know what? He’ll never know. He’ll never know how people spoke of him, remembered him, missed him. He’s gone. May he rest in peace. It brings me back to my feeble assessment of life. How you may …

My First Chinese Wedding

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A wedding is a must-attend to graduate in the understanding of a culture. A batch-mate at work took the plunge last night, giving me my first sneak peak into a Chinese-Singaporean wedding. Gate crashing The title’s a misnomer. It’s a Singaporean tradition in which the groom must earn the right to his bride. The groom, accompanied by his brothers (the western equivalent of the best man), shows up early in the morning at the bride’s house. They are greeted by the bridesmaids and tasked to pass tests on life’s essential skills (culinary, physical, endurance etc). Before the tasks started, all the brothers were made to sign indemnity forms! In this particular wedding, the tasks were considered rather mild, and included doing push-ups, decorating a cake, dancing & eating dumplings of 4 kinds – sweet, sour, spicy (stuffed with chilli) & bitter (boiled with panadol!) After completing all the tasks, the groom is given the key to his bride’s room where she waits in her bridal gown – rescuing the girl, Bollywood style 🙂 Tea ceremony …

Don’t read.

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I haven’t written anything I want to read. I want my words to become a language on their own, to dance before your eyes, to sing to you in the silence. I haven’t written anything I want to read. I want my words to sketch characters in your mind, to fill your nights with colorful dreams, to show you sparks on a bright day. I want my words to be yours when you lose your own, to say what’s true when you’re in doubt, to be with you when I can’t. I haven’t written anything I want you to read. Shivya NathWelcome to my blog, The Shooting Star. I’ve been called a storyteller, writer, photographer, digital nomad, “sustainability influencer,” social entrepreneur, solo traveller, vegan, sustainable tourism consultant and environmentalist. But in my heart, I’m just a girl who believes that travel – if done right – has the power to change us and the world we live in.

Carpe diem!

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This one is for all of us who have put our dreams on hold. Remember when we were 16 and the world was our playground and nothing, absolutely nothing, was hard to envision? Adulthood has undoubtedly put our dreams into perspective, magnifying the fine line between the good dreams and the bad, the big and the small, the realistic and the idealistic. It is trying to convince us that dreams are just that, and that life is meant to be filled with sacrifices. It’s a lie. Think of the last time you really, really wanted something and gave all you had to get it. Think of the thrill you felt, irrespective of whether you made it. If the thought was short of a smile, you need to think again. Cliched as it might sound, life comes with no warranty card. We spend so much of our time doing things we hate that we forget all about the things we love – future or no future. It’s not about being rich or famous or successful. It’s …

Guess who’s back!

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Let me say a fashionably late hello to the new decade. I have finally found my new link to the blogosphere. No prizes for guessing; I’m probably the last person to resort to mobile blogging! I’m already in love with my beautiful new white iPhone and all set to resume blogging! Happy 2010 to all 🙂 Shivya NathWelcome to my blog, The Shooting Star. I’ve been called a storyteller, writer, photographer, digital nomad, “sustainability influencer,” social entrepreneur, solo traveller, vegan, sustainable tourism consultant and environmentalist. But in my heart, I’m just a girl who believes that travel – if done right – has the power to change us and the world we live in.

’cause time flies

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It’s been exactly a year since I unofficially graduated from college and lost myself in the insanity of adulthood. I have loved the freedom since, the rush of responsibility, the financial independence, the stamp of a degree, the corporate chaos. And also hated it. Life has changed in many ways, and yet, in some fundamental sense, I am still the restless, fickle mind of a young student exploring the ways of the world, looking for adventure in the least likely of places, and forever moving by elimination. I have however, in this year, found a master key to survival – living a day at a time. Of all things that work, this one works wonders. It’s amazing what a day can be, with no future to look into and no past to brood over. I am not aspiring to be a life coach just yet, so I’ll leave you with these lines from Porcupine Tree, But after a while, You realize time flies, And the best thing that you can do Is take whatever comes …

The creeper

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It sprang from beneath the dark earth Upon the dark earth Disillusioned by the light at first That shone in the sky above Shivya NathWelcome to my blog, The Shooting Star. I’ve been called a storyteller, writer, photographer, digital nomad, “sustainability influencer,” social entrepreneur, solo traveller, vegan, sustainable tourism consultant and environmentalist. But in my heart, I’m just a girl who believes that travel – if done right – has the power to change us and the world we live in.

A dry spell

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The oasis of thoughts is running dry Unkind is the trajectory of time Between dreaming and doing Imagination has sketched a fine line. Shivya NathWelcome to my blog, The Shooting Star. I’ve been called a storyteller, writer, photographer, digital nomad, “sustainability influencer,” social entrepreneur, solo traveller, vegan, sustainable tourism consultant and environmentalist. But in my heart, I’m just a girl who believes that travel – if done right – has the power to change us and the world we live in.