Bookmarks from Holland Village
If you’ve ever been to Holland Village lately, you’d probably have been approached by one or two flers trying to sell you something, and you might or might not have stopped to find out what they were hawking. It was one of those days where I had a bit of time, because Naomi and I […]
Local hero: Fandi Ahmad
16 July 1982: Ajax Amsterdam offers Fandi a three year contract Fandi Ahmad got his first pair of football boots when he was 12. You’d think he’d have owned a pair earlier, or even been born wearing them. But early in his career (he started playing for school at 10), he wore hockey boots with […]
Earth Hour
At lunch on Good Friday, my mother’s friend spoke about how her younger son’s school was going about teaching the kids about being environmentally friendly. It’s all good to teach them the message, but this is apparently what happened in practice. The younger son had have a set of folders for class, and thinking that […]
Talent scouting
Irony Rijal Yadri Jumari was ‘talent-spotted’ to be a future JI leader. How does one ‘talent-scout’ or ‘talent-spot’ a potential terrorist? I suppose the talent scout comes up to you on the street and says, “Hey, wanna earn some extra bucks as a terrorist? You look like the sort. That crazed look in your eye, […]
I sat there and forgot and forgot
I sat there and forgot and forgot, until what remained was the river that went by and I who watched. On the river the heat mirages danced with each other and then they danced through each other and then they joined hands and danced around each other. Eventually the watcher joined the river, and there […]