Skin colour does not matter!

Yesterday, someone I know wrote an entry in her blog which somehow ended up containing a few racist comments against Indians [accidental(?)]. Naturally, all the Indians got angry and called her a racist. But then, it became clear in the next 2-3 hours (she removed the entry after that) that it was not just the Indians who were not happy, even the Chinese and Malays felt the same. I know this may sound sick, but then the whole incident gave me a sense of pleasure.

Let me explain - there have been many times in my life that this issue has been raised by many - mainly by my school teachers and a certain politician.
-This minister from Malaysia came to Russia for an 'official' visit, and in his speech, mentioned that my friends (Chinese and Indians) and I do not get along well with the Malays just because we, non-Malays were sitting in one group.
-In school, there was a rule that a Chinese cannot sit together with a Chinese (there were almost no Indians in my school)- they have to sit next to a Malay. The argument is, if you don't sit with a Malay, you won't be friends with them.
-Remember the Petronas advertisement where the 2 old guys will meet up in a hospital after a very long time and then say that the current generation are not as racially integrated as they were during their time?

Well, guess what? You are all wrong! At the very least, I can speak about me and my friends here. My roommate is an Indian, yes. My blockmates are Chinese. I get along very well with many of the Chinese and Malays here. I am closer to some of the Chinese more than some of the Indians. I don't see why the race should even be an issue when you make friends with someone. I can have a discussion with any of my friends about any racially related issue and not be afraid of offending them because we are all open enough to have such conversations. Around here, racist jokes are a norm, they just don't matter that much - they're just jokes!!

I do know, however, that racial problems in Malaysia does exist. In Malaysian universities, you see Malays, Chinese and Indians sticking to friends of the same race. Some of my brother's friends are not happy with him because he is quite close to the Chinese. I don't know what went wrong where. The government has been trying for SO long to achieve racial harmony and they have failed miserably. But not here, not in Russia, at least not in MMA - here, we have racial harmony. And for all the harm the article yesterday did, I guess one good thing came out of it- it helped me realized just how wonderful all my friends are.

I Don't Understand!

A few months ago, when the SPA interview was around the corner, I made it a point to read the papers everyday, in case they ask questions regarding current issues in Malaysia. When the interview got over with, I tried to continue the habit, but sometimes I skip a day or two when I am feeling a little on the lazy side.

I did not read the papers for the past few days, and today, all of a sudden, there were so many news and blog articles regarding the 'keris issue'. Almost all the politicians are lauding his (Hishammuddin's) apology. The rest of the people, the non-politicians feel that the apology itself was not sincere. What I don't get is, why did it take him SO long to apologize? The elections is considered old news. This keris issue happened a long time before that. Didn't he think that it was wrong back then?

I have done my fair share of mistakes in my life. When I do something wrong, usually my consience kicks in rather fast, and if I feel really bad about it, I apologize as soon as I can. There are some instances that I have not been able to apologize because I never met the person again and I still feel bad about it, even though so many years have passed since the incident. There were times when I didn't realize that I did a mistake until someones pointed it out to me. And then, I feel bad, and I apologize.

Hishammuddin has no excuses. The day after his 'keris waving' day, there were many comments regarding his behavior. If he really thought that what he did was wrong, he should have apologized immediately. Why only now? Why after so long? Is it a coincidence that he apologized when one of the hot topics right now is the UMNO elections? Why didn't he take the blame for the election losses just after the elections; why wait so long? I don't understand....

Happily Married Life

I received this forwarded mail today..thought I should share it with all the girls and guys out there. I think this is a valuable piece of advice.


Once X asked Y, 'What is the secret behind your happy married life?'

Y said, 'You should share responsibilities with due love and respect to each other. Then absolutely there will be no problems.'

X asked, 'Can you explain?'

Y said, 'In my house, I take decisions on bigger issues where as my wife decides on smaller issues. We do not interfere in each other's decisions.'

Still not convinced, X asked Y 'Give me some examples'

Y said,' Smaller issues like which car we should buy, how much amount to save, when to visit home town, which Sofa, air conditioner, refrigerator to buy, monthly expenses, whether to keep a maid or not etc are decided by my wife. I just agree to it'

X asked, 'Then what is your role?'

Y said,' My decisions are only for very big issues. Like whether America should attack Iran, whether Britain should lift sanction over Zimbabwe, whether to widen African economy, whether Sachin Tendulkar should retire etc etc. Do you know one thing, my wife NEVER objects to any of these'.

Group 7, class of '08, MMA

These are/were my group mates since my first year. All these pictures were taken yesterday afternoon in the deans office. I will try to put up a post soon with pictures from our first year till now, so that you can see how we have changed in the past 6 years.

*The list of people below is based on our class name list.

Natiara/Nat – diam-diam ubi berisi, that’s what she is. Ask her any question related to medicine, and you get a lecture with all the info you need. Always with a smile on her face. Very innocent - believes whatever you tell her, however absurd it sounds. Obsessed with exercise. The only one in the group who doesn’t need glasses.

Hajar – a very outspoken person. If I need an honest opinion from someone, this is where it will come from. The most Russian-language-proficient in our group. Loves comics and Korean/Japanese animes and dramas. My Terengganu-mate.

Me (Sharini) – the sweetest, nicest person you can ever meet in you life. Has no bad habits to speak of. Doesn’t even know how to tell a lie. First impression – shy, quiet. The closer you get to me, the noisier I become.

Puspha/Push – Has a memory like a computer. Noisy- in a good way. Loves cooking, hates dirt. Obsessed with cleaning up – has a schedule and everything. In short, a good, pedantric housewife. Loves dogs. My roommate for the past 5 years.

Fen Fang/Jan – Quiet, calm, can never be rushed. A good listener. Has never known what it’s like to be angry. Spends most of her time in front of her laptop. A good writer – both in English and Chinese. My roommate in the 1^st year.

Madeleine – the quietest in the class. The most hardworking too – goes for almost all lectures and classes, unlike the rest of us. Loves reading. Has friends from all over the world.

Von Yen – the encyclopedia of the group. Answers any questions you ask her, even the stupidest ones. Daddy’s girl. Easily bully-able when she’s in a good mood (almost all the time). Hates the sun. Was an innocent girl until she became friends with the rest of us in the group.

Chong Beng/Ah Beng – The group ‘monitor’. Taught us what the words male-ego means. However, can be a nice, sweet guy when he wants to. Cooks well - cooked us an 8 course meal last month. Does not believe that a comb is a necessary item in his cupboard.

Hafidz – avid reader of fiction novels especially those with dragons in them. Has a good voice; didn't know it until he sang during the gala night last year. Enjoys playing with the playstation when he’s not reading his novels.

Yee Gin – can be quite blur at times. Joined our group in the 4^th year, so sometimes known as alien. Loves baking and shopping. Has been trained to take good pictures. Secret dream (not so secret anymore) – to be a housewife married to a millionaire.

Swee Hung – Kahovs karaoke (duet) and mahjong champion this year. She is the definition of happy go lucky. Stick-thin. Almost always joins me in bullying Von Yen. Good, unbiased listener. Finds it extremely hard to buy things for herself – handphone, shoes, etc. (All pictures in this post are from her camera).

So, there they are..my groupmates. Gonna miss you guys!

High Tea in Kahovs

Around this time each year, we, students of the foreign student department get a few days (sometimes up to a week) of holiday. The reason- Hitler's birthday.

Contrary to popular belief, there are no soldiers or KGBs standing around with guns everywhere in Russia. They do however have a problem with skinheads. Every now and then, there are stories about skinheads, and during this time of the year, their activity intensifies a little, which is why we are given holidays, so that we can stay in our hostels, out of harms way. Sometimes, there is even a curfew and we won't be let out of the hostel. To tell you the truth, most of us have no problems with this rule- a holiday is after all a holiday. All we have to do is buy and store a little bit more food than usual.

However, holidays can be rather boring sometimes. So, this time around, Yee Gin and Victor arranged a party, a high-tea party. It took about a week of planning and buying stuff. Everyone chipped in money and also helped in the cooking, and by 4pm everything was ready. As usual, the party was held in the 1st floor room.

Menu : nasi lemak with egg sambal, mi goreng, roti canai, dhal, pancakes, sandwiches, chicken chop, buffalo wings, fried fish, a few types of sushis, curry puffs, prawn biscuits, chocolate cakes, banoffee pies, fruit tarts, lemon tea and teh tarik.
































The chief cooks were Victor and Jia Yu. As usual, Sukhi was our DJ. I was incharge of the chocolate cakes, but then the end result didn't look that nice (although it did taste OK), so i didn't upload a picture of it. :p

The party started at about 4.30pm. Everyone was quite hungry by that time I think 'cos almost everyone had been helping with the preparation since morning. Everyone ate to their hearts content and by about 6.30pm, everyone was full and happy. We just lazed around, picking at leftover food, took a few pictures and after some time, decided that it was about time to clean up and go back to our rooms. There was some leftover food, but I am sure it will probably finish by the end of today. All in all, a wonderful, memorable party. Thanks Yee Gin and Victor!










Sukhi the DJ








part of the crowd (the picture started out with only 7 people posing for the camera)

My First Poll

In response to Puspha's comment on my previous post, I have created a poll, so please, everyone, go cast your votes. Every vote matters..haha

Tretyakovskaya Museum

According to Wikipedia, The State Tretyakov Gallery (Russian: Государственная Третьяковская Галерея, Russia: ГТГ), in Moscow, Russia, is the foremost depository of Russian fine art in the world.

My friends and I have talked about visiting the Tretyakovskaya Museum for a few years now, but then since none of us are particularly interested in paintings, we never made it there. However, Hajar and Nat went there recently and said that it is a nice place, so Puspha and I thought that we would give it a try.

We left the hostel at about 10.45am. We had everything we would need – student card (discounted entry), camera, water and a how-to-get-there-from-metro-station-map drawn by Hajar.

A short metro ride, and we were at the Tretyakovskaya metro station. From there onwards, we followed the map. Our first stop was the first landmark that is in the map. It is a church, not a very big one, but we took a few pictures with it anyway. I don’t know if the whole church is accessible or not ‘cos I saw a group of people praying in one small section (the cylinder shaped part) of the church, and it seemed rather crammed to me. What’s in the other part, I wonder?

We continued our ‘journey’ according to the map, and arrived at the 2^nd landmark- a small fountain. A couple of photos each and we were on our way again. A few minutes later, we saw the Tretikovskaya Museum. We knew early on that photography inside the museum is not allowed, so we took a few pictures outside the building and then went in.

The tickets were 50 rubles each (Russian student price) and we had 2 floors of exhibit to explore. A museum plan was given, in English. We followed the plan, and took our time exploring the whole of the 2^nd floor.

It was filled with beautiful portraits and pictures painted by Russian artistes dating before the 20^th century. There were also bronze sculptures and marble busts, which I found more interesting (as I told you, I am not a painting lover). By the time we finished the 2^nd floor, we were starting to feel hungry. We proceeded to the 1^st floor – the paintings here were more modern, early 20^th century and I did not find it nice at all. I can appreciate paintings that look life-like, but then give me a modern painting and I am at a loss- how can that be a piece of art when it looks like something a tadika kid draws? We breezed through the 1^st floor of the museum and by 1.30pm, we were out of the museum, thinking where to satisfy our hungry stomachs.

On the way to the metro station, we saw a few restaurants and after checking them out, settled on one that offered a business lunch. I wouldn’t say the food was great or that there’s a large variety of food, but it was OK. After we started to eat, the tables around us started filling up, and even when they left, we were still sitting at our table (‘cos Puspha is a slow eater :P). After lunch, we decided to call it a day and headed back home, arriving at the hostel at 3pm. Not too bad an outing, really. Looking forward to more such days before I go back.

Small talk

The topic of 'small-talk' among my friends and I in Russia changes just like the season. We have classes in groups of 10, so most of the talking (to non-group members) is done in the hostel, while cooking, or in the bus or metro to/from class. (When we go visiting to each others rooms or go out for 'makan' then the topic of conversation in more variable.)

These are the questions most frequently asked:

Autumn :
How was summer holidays?
Don't you feel lazy to be back?
Any plans for winter holidays?
What's for dinner?

Winter :
Not going anywhere for holidays?
Bored la..dunno what to do..any ideas?
This year winter quite warm/bad, huh?
How was exams?
What's for dinner?

Spring :
How was winter holidays?
Can't wait for summer to go back, how 'bout you?
Any plans for summer holidays?
When are you going back home? Have you booked your tickets?
What's for dinner?

*Summer : We don't really talk that much 'cos everyone goes back for holidays and we rarely meet up.

Current 'famous' topic :
Are your parents/family members coming for your graduation? When will they be here?
When are you planning to go back?
Any plans to go anywhere before going back home?
Any idea when and where is the graduation?
Feeling bored, any suggestions?
(And of course) What's for dinner?

Don't get me wrong though, the questions are all asked sincerely.

Happy Day

Today is a happy day. It started out like yesterday and the day before and the day before that (boring-ly), but then it got better in the afternoon. I went out of the hostel today, unlike yesterday and the day before and the day before that. I had elective and so was forced to go out, but that's not the point. The point is, I went out of the hostel, which is what I needed.

We've had soooo many days of holiday, I got extremely bored of it. There is only a limited number of days that you can spend watching movies, cooking, eating and sleeping. The novelty wears off after a couple of days and it made me feel like I am wasting so much precious time that I will never get back again, but that didn't mean I was going to study on a holiday.

Anyway, back to today, it was beautiful day, the sun was shining, the sky was very blue (passport-photo-background-blue), it was warm, class was over early, and I was out of the hostel! It was a day that just makes you feel happy- makes you feel like going out for a walk, spend time with friends, jump around, run around..anything, just to show that you are happy. See, I told you I love spring!

This is a very short, blur video of me and Sukhi, skipping all the way back from the metro; OK, that was a lie, we just skipped a few metres back to the hostel..Didn't know how to rotate the video though, sorry- exercise your neck muscles! :P