i think i’ve figured it out; i know when i’m at home (wherever that might be) when i have unlimited internet access. as a rule, i do not tend to have internet access nor the time to log on for hours on end whenever i’m on holiday because with limited time at my current location, i’ll probably be booked back to back with activites and appointments. actually that might be a good excuse for “i live in cyber space”.

but truly, my need to access the internet is to update my blog, and keep updated with that of others, especially with friends overseas. also, with my trigger happy tendencies, i have lots of photos to edit and upload. my blog is my inner space where i consciously take time to ponder and muse, otherwise it is easy to be lost in the flurry when caught up in the whirlwind of events.

before blogging, i kept a journal saved in microsoft word, that used to be my interior world. so switching it online wasn’t a big change, in fact my contemplations became more alive and current with interactivity and hyperlinks.

in other musing; why is there a skinny snowman sweltering in the heat at vivo city?

and, can copywriting get any worse?

 

there is lots to see and experience in your own backyard, especially in a place like singapore that changes all the time. to all those who live in this sunny island: do not take the mundane everyday sights and smells for granted because it might, for instance, be demolished to make way for a redundant tunnel.

trying to be as positive as i can about the things that i cannot change, i visited the relative new national library. although interesting kaleidoscope formations can be seen in the imposing structure of glass and steel, it did not do it for me.

fortunately, just around the corner of the bugis area is a place where tangible heritage and modern commercial ventures seems to have managed to co-exist. in fact, these small and medium size businesses capitalise on these “old fashioned” architecture as a crowd puller. i am ambivalent about encouraging the popularity of niche areas, however business do need a crowd to survive. in the mean time, do consider patronising the unique and chic cafes and stalls at haji lane, bussorah street and arab street. have a cup of coffee or puff a hooka if you prefer.

 

i do not consider myself a foodie or a discerning gourmet connoisseur, and i am quite happy with any kind of good food, local or not. even after a year away from the food paradize of singapore, i do find myself craving for any particular kind of food. but since i am back for a while, i may as well load up on the local delicacies at local prices.

i’m back to my homeworld for three weeks. it feels surreal, more like travelling back in time than having travelled from another geographical dimension. and yet because singapore morphs at the speed of lightning, it feels like a time travel trip warped between the past and the future. maybe i’ve just been star trekking a tad bit much.

you know you’re home when you do not have to use adaptors for your various gadget chargers. i am also pleasantly surprised that i can still make use of my eazy-link card although its been a full year since its last usage. but you also know that you are just-passing-through when you’re using a temporary mobile number with a pre-paid card. i also deliberated how i should categorise this post; should it still be ‘on the road’ since technically i am home from the road. on the other hand, i am on holiday.

i’ve just spent my first day with a family day out at the zoo. its my niece first trip, and for the first time, she saw large animals. (well, she has been to petting zoos in australia, but those are minuscule animals) my mom hasn’t been there since i was very young, so it can also be considered her first time there.

from tomorrow, i shall embark of my rediscovery of my homeworld (star trek-speak) as a trigger-happy tourist. in my year in australia, i could have easily taken a thousand splendid photos. it is time that i did this sunny island some justice. i stand my ground that it is not a boring place void of authenticity and culture. just you wait.

the straits times reports today

As it is, all the statistics point to the decline of Chinese dialects, for instance. According to the General Household Survey of 2005, 23.9 per cent of Chinese households predominantly use Chinese dialects, a significant drop from 30.7 per cent in 2000.

A cursory glance at any school register would corroborate this too. Many students now sport hanyu pinyin names (in lieu of the transliterations of their dialect names). Hanyu pinyin creates a certain uniformity but, at the same time, this neatness is achieved at the expense of these students’ varied ethnic histories.

Other dialects that Singapore should look at preserving – or at least, recording for posterity – are Baba Malay, used in the Peranakan community, and Kristang, spoken by the Eurasians of Portuguese descent. The speakers of these distinct dialects – or creoles as linguists prefer – are also on the decline. In another generation or two, they would probably be extinct.

being hyper efficient and result-oriented, once public policies in singapore are implemented, you can consider them done. perhaps the disappearing vernaculars are the result of such thorough policy making. in my younger days, the speaking of mandarin was highly promoted over the use of other dialects. it was thought that the use of a common language could be a unifying factor among diverse factions of the chinese society, not to be misconstrued as a tool to marginalise non-chinese people.

back then, and still smothering among the older generation, different dialect groups were highly territorial and hostile to each other. clans were formed according to dialect lines to take care of ‘kaki-nang’ (our own kind) as migrates arrived from various parts of china. mandarin was never the lingua franca of chinese people.

to futher unify the chinese people, dialects were not allowed to be used in public broadcasting like the radio or television. this was after the time of rediffusion where cantonese opera could still be heard. jack neo’s inclusion of dialects in his films was a hallmark softening of such public policies.

considering all the above poinst, it is therefore rather ironic that we should now feel the urge to preserve our linguistic heritage, to reverse the effects of what was considered necessary at a point of time.

i’ve never taken to the study and use mandarin, but after having lived with my grandmother for more than a decade now, i find myself drawn to and empowered by the ability to converse in simple teochew. i’ve recorded two short “interviews” with her on my mp3 player and her voice might probably be the lasting piece that i have of her in time to come.

we have all the technology at our fingertips to “preserve” linguistic heritage. It means that as self-motivated citizens who feel that we have a stake in our heritage, we do not need to wait for the next government policy to roll out.

perhaps “preserve” isn’t the right word because it usually refers to something that is already dead. i cannot speak on behalf of other languages like kristang, but i think for most chinese dialects like hokkien, teochew, hainanese and cantonese, it is still far from extinction at the moment. also, there are large populations of such speakers among mainlanders and overseas chinese.

but to ensure its continuing use and existence with a singaporean flavor, i would like see more public programmes conducted in such vernacular because that would elevate the perception of them as underground languages, once suppressed.