1. A phenomenon called - the SG Haze, took over our lives this week. We woke up on Monday morning, to a skyline that looked blurry in the foreground and had turned invisible in the background. Nothing new I thought, as having lived on higher floors for a few years now, I was used to the dynamism that skylines bring to dwellers of higher altitudes. They (the skylines) usually have their own mood swings, if you ask me. There are days of spectacular clarity, when they reveal the furthest speck of a car driving up the George Washington Bridge in NYC and then there are those, when you can't even spot the neighbours dog doing his usual rounds, 35 storeys below, as in Singapore.
This Haze - was a new issue, one we hadn't encountered so far!
Haze is described as an atmospheric phenomenon in which dust, smoke and other dry particles obscure the clarity of the sky. Known to most of us as Smog, everything appears blurry - as though one is wearing glasses, the lens of which are really dusty. Singaporean social media enthusiasts decided to make a field-day, or rather week out of the situation (Check out the #sghaze series of tweets here). The government on the other hand was under high pressure to tackle the situation.
Essentially, what was happening was Indonesia was burning it's forests (The illegal burning of forests and other land on Indonesia's Sumatra island, to the west of Singapore, to clear space for palm oil plantations is what caused the blanket of haze over Singapore). June through September is considered a dry season in Singapore and although the haze appears intermittently every year during these months, this week was the highest ever level that it has reached here.
The PSI - Pollutant Standard Index of the city-state soared all week long, until it reached it's all-time high of 401 on Friday. (A normal/ healthy PSI index is within the range of 51 - 100). Out came the masks that Asians are so famously known for and the entire city looked like gangs of aliens walking around, with N95 masks. (Any other mask wouldn't really help in keeping the small smog particles out of the respiratory system). Naturally most neighbourhood pharmacies ran out of supply and by the weekend, people could be seen wearing anything they could find, to filter the polluted air being inhaled.
Our building concierge gave me a piece of her mind, when she saw me walking around without a mask. In fact, she practically yelled at me when she heard I'd sent the little one for her regular garden visit, as usual early that morning. To my credit, it didn't really seem hazardous that morning. Besides one experiences a pleasant drop in temperature and fresh air, within the Singapore Botanical garden, on account of the lush greenery, thanks to the microclimate. So the mask seemed unnecessary. Of course the fact that the daughter would not let it sit still over her nose, was another reason I didn't bother getting her one.
Yet this haze was determined to get bad. Hubster and I joked over the phone (He still in Hyderabad, not knowing what the fuss was all about) said this sounds like early mornings in his native village while I equated this to early mornings in Mumbai, when you'd walk past a BMC sweeper burning the trash collection from last night. Yes, I know that's equally hazardous as well and that prevention is better than cure. But as it turned out, we (Daughter and I) saw this first spell of haze without masks! We did try to limit ourselves from stepping 'outdoors' by a tad bit, although that would pose a big problem for the little one, who is hard to be kept indoors beyond a point. To make matters worse, my Sunday dragon boating session got cancelled and we (the entire team) were all asked to drink lots of water and train indoors if possible.
For once, Singapore's superbly crafted underground series of tunnels/ network helped us out.
The entire city-state hoped that 'winds of change' would quite literally sweep away this haze from Singapore to it's other neighbour Malaysia. Third World problems these - nicely being "passed around the parcel" from one neighbour to another. News came in, that if the haze didn't wane soon enough then 'cloud-seeding' would take place to create artificial rain. This would further enhance the citizen's woes, all of whom were now preparing to steer clear of this 'acid rain' especially as it is considered extremely harmful for the skin. (Trust Singaporeans to care for their skin, above everything else for sure!) In the meantime, news came in of an Indonesian minister making Singaporeans angry by going on record to say that they are being childish in complaining about the haze. All in all, the week seemed to start out clear but then got blurry as we headed into the weekend. There are hopes that next week will be better if the wind directions change. Until then, all we can do is wait and watch the show from our balconies or laptops!
2. Hubster came back later during the week. Again, I seemed more excited at his return than the daughter, who still pointed at the Ipad and insisted on "Seeing Papa" virtually, even though 'Papa' was now physically, standing right next to her. Not her fault, she has seen the Ipad for the very first time in her life, only recently, when we had her 'skype' with 'Papa' last week. It has been kept under wraps until now - the first two years of her life. I plan to use it as my 'trump card' during the next long international flight. I am hoping with the discovery of a whole new world in it, she'll keep herself busy and us lesser busy by not having to run behind her in the airplane aisles. Wishful thinking that, I know!
3. Hubster brought back 3 kgs of Biryani (Yes, you read that right! 2 kgs of chicken biryani and 1 kg of mutton biryani) from Paradise in Hyderabad. This place is considered by many, the Mecca of Hyderabadi Biryani, so naturally he got tonnes of Brownie points, or shall I say 'Biryani' points. As all good foodies would, we decided to share the loot with our fellow-biryani lovers and so an impromptu potluck dinner got planned that weekend. Over kababs, Biryani and ice cream we spent a night chatting away with one another, in a typical 'life's-small-pleasures' kinda situation.
4. Something you tend to notice right away, when you use the public transport system in Asia is how school-going children travel alone in trains and buses here. I remember seeing and experiencing this myself in Mumbai, while growing up there (albeit limitedly since my school was very close to my home). But it is in cities like Singapore and Hong Kong where this demographic of the urban public-transport user, really hits you! It could have to do with the fact that Singapore is considered a highly safe (read surveillance-d) city, but if you ever get a chance to use the MRT here, you'll notice how many 'unaccompanied minors' ride the train everyday. By 'unaccompanied minors' I mean, school-going kids, as young as 6-7 years of age and above! The kids travel alone or in small groups, matter-of-fact-ly boarding and alighting the train, from one point to another, with their SMRT passes dangling from their necks.
Coming from the West, this fact naturally hits you in your face - There a sight like this one, would be hard to come by. Firstly, not many schools insisted on uniforms, so a group of 'school-going kids' per se did not stand out as easily in a crowd, as they do here. Secondly, whenever groups of school-going kids did board the train with you, they were always accompanied by at least a couple of teachers.
In both Singapore and in Hong Kong too, I have been noticing young, fearless school kids using the trains, to go to and/ or return from school every day. I find this initiative - of letting your young children take the public transport by themselves, to be an incredible lesson in independence. Naturally, based on the individual comfort level of each parent, the age at which one is willing to start off their child with the practice of commuting alone, does differ. (I also happen to know some parents who could not get themselves to have their kids use public transport, even until their children reached their early 20's). But whenever the child is ready, setting them out on their own to navigate themselves through their cities, to find their way away from and back home, in my books, is a fabulous way to initiate them into the real-world, something I can't wait to do with my little one myself! I hope she'll be ready sooner than later for it.
5. Now that Hubster is back and there are no foreseeable travel plans in the immediate future, we decided to part ways with our passports finally, by submitting them to the UK VFS for our British visas.
Funnily, visa processing times are anywhere between 10-15 business days, since the passports get sent out to Manila in The Philippines for visa stamping. That would also mean that we'd have to stay put for that long, in Singapore. No wonder then, the passport-card idea came to mind!
What if we all had passport-cards, as the US issues to it's citizens? Our daughter has one - the passport card, it is called. Basically, it is a credit-card sized passport, that enables her to travel locally within the country or re-enter it from Canada, Mexico, The Caribbean islands and Bermuda. Although it is not eligible for air-travel, at least she's not stuck in the country, when her passport-book is sitting in a consulate, awaiting a visa stamp!
What if all Indians had two passports - one to send from one consulate to another, to accumulate visas (considering we need one for most corners of the world that we'd like to go to) and the other to use as a 'travel document' purely, so that you don't need to be stuck in a place, while you're being issued a visa for another? That would surely make our lives easier and travel plans simpler, wouldn't it? After all, why penalize me for wanting to take a random trip to Cambodia this weekend, just because the UK Consulate won't process Tourist visas within Singapore? Why can't we be legally allowed to be globally mobile?
On that note, this week get's done! Next week onwards, the toddler's birthday party-planning takes priority over everything else - my fave part of this time of the year! Stay tuned for updates!
Love,
Shweyta
This Haze - was a new issue, one we hadn't encountered so far!
Haze is described as an atmospheric phenomenon in which dust, smoke and other dry particles obscure the clarity of the sky. Known to most of us as Smog, everything appears blurry - as though one is wearing glasses, the lens of which are really dusty. Singaporean social media enthusiasts decided to make a field-day, or rather week out of the situation (Check out the #sghaze series of tweets here). The government on the other hand was under high pressure to tackle the situation.
Essentially, what was happening was Indonesia was burning it's forests (The illegal burning of forests and other land on Indonesia's Sumatra island, to the west of Singapore, to clear space for palm oil plantations is what caused the blanket of haze over Singapore). June through September is considered a dry season in Singapore and although the haze appears intermittently every year during these months, this week was the highest ever level that it has reached here.
The PSI - Pollutant Standard Index of the city-state soared all week long, until it reached it's all-time high of 401 on Friday. (A normal/ healthy PSI index is within the range of 51 - 100). Out came the masks that Asians are so famously known for and the entire city looked like gangs of aliens walking around, with N95 masks. (Any other mask wouldn't really help in keeping the small smog particles out of the respiratory system). Naturally most neighbourhood pharmacies ran out of supply and by the weekend, people could be seen wearing anything they could find, to filter the polluted air being inhaled.
Our building concierge gave me a piece of her mind, when she saw me walking around without a mask. In fact, she practically yelled at me when she heard I'd sent the little one for her regular garden visit, as usual early that morning. To my credit, it didn't really seem hazardous that morning. Besides one experiences a pleasant drop in temperature and fresh air, within the Singapore Botanical garden, on account of the lush greenery, thanks to the microclimate. So the mask seemed unnecessary. Of course the fact that the daughter would not let it sit still over her nose, was another reason I didn't bother getting her one.
Yet this haze was determined to get bad. Hubster and I joked over the phone (He still in Hyderabad, not knowing what the fuss was all about) said this sounds like early mornings in his native village while I equated this to early mornings in Mumbai, when you'd walk past a BMC sweeper burning the trash collection from last night. Yes, I know that's equally hazardous as well and that prevention is better than cure. But as it turned out, we (Daughter and I) saw this first spell of haze without masks! We did try to limit ourselves from stepping 'outdoors' by a tad bit, although that would pose a big problem for the little one, who is hard to be kept indoors beyond a point. To make matters worse, my Sunday dragon boating session got cancelled and we (the entire team) were all asked to drink lots of water and train indoors if possible.
For once, Singapore's superbly crafted underground series of tunnels/ network helped us out.
The entire city-state hoped that 'winds of change' would quite literally sweep away this haze from Singapore to it's other neighbour Malaysia. Third World problems these - nicely being "passed around the parcel" from one neighbour to another. News came in, that if the haze didn't wane soon enough then 'cloud-seeding' would take place to create artificial rain. This would further enhance the citizen's woes, all of whom were now preparing to steer clear of this 'acid rain' especially as it is considered extremely harmful for the skin. (Trust Singaporeans to care for their skin, above everything else for sure!) In the meantime, news came in of an Indonesian minister making Singaporeans angry by going on record to say that they are being childish in complaining about the haze. All in all, the week seemed to start out clear but then got blurry as we headed into the weekend. There are hopes that next week will be better if the wind directions change. Until then, all we can do is wait and watch the show from our balconies or laptops!
2. Hubster came back later during the week. Again, I seemed more excited at his return than the daughter, who still pointed at the Ipad and insisted on "Seeing Papa" virtually, even though 'Papa' was now physically, standing right next to her. Not her fault, she has seen the Ipad for the very first time in her life, only recently, when we had her 'skype' with 'Papa' last week. It has been kept under wraps until now - the first two years of her life. I plan to use it as my 'trump card' during the next long international flight. I am hoping with the discovery of a whole new world in it, she'll keep herself busy and us lesser busy by not having to run behind her in the airplane aisles. Wishful thinking that, I know!
3. Hubster brought back 3 kgs of Biryani (Yes, you read that right! 2 kgs of chicken biryani and 1 kg of mutton biryani) from Paradise in Hyderabad. This place is considered by many, the Mecca of Hyderabadi Biryani, so naturally he got tonnes of Brownie points, or shall I say 'Biryani' points. As all good foodies would, we decided to share the loot with our fellow-biryani lovers and so an impromptu potluck dinner got planned that weekend. Over kababs, Biryani and ice cream we spent a night chatting away with one another, in a typical 'life's-small-pleasures' kinda situation.
4. Something you tend to notice right away, when you use the public transport system in Asia is how school-going children travel alone in trains and buses here. I remember seeing and experiencing this myself in Mumbai, while growing up there (albeit limitedly since my school was very close to my home). But it is in cities like Singapore and Hong Kong where this demographic of the urban public-transport user, really hits you! It could have to do with the fact that Singapore is considered a highly safe (read surveillance-d) city, but if you ever get a chance to use the MRT here, you'll notice how many 'unaccompanied minors' ride the train everyday. By 'unaccompanied minors' I mean, school-going kids, as young as 6-7 years of age and above! The kids travel alone or in small groups, matter-of-fact-ly boarding and alighting the train, from one point to another, with their SMRT passes dangling from their necks.
Coming from the West, this fact naturally hits you in your face - There a sight like this one, would be hard to come by. Firstly, not many schools insisted on uniforms, so a group of 'school-going kids' per se did not stand out as easily in a crowd, as they do here. Secondly, whenever groups of school-going kids did board the train with you, they were always accompanied by at least a couple of teachers.
In both Singapore and in Hong Kong too, I have been noticing young, fearless school kids using the trains, to go to and/ or return from school every day. I find this initiative - of letting your young children take the public transport by themselves, to be an incredible lesson in independence. Naturally, based on the individual comfort level of each parent, the age at which one is willing to start off their child with the practice of commuting alone, does differ. (I also happen to know some parents who could not get themselves to have their kids use public transport, even until their children reached their early 20's). But whenever the child is ready, setting them out on their own to navigate themselves through their cities, to find their way away from and back home, in my books, is a fabulous way to initiate them into the real-world, something I can't wait to do with my little one myself! I hope she'll be ready sooner than later for it.
5. Now that Hubster is back and there are no foreseeable travel plans in the immediate future, we decided to part ways with our passports finally, by submitting them to the UK VFS for our British visas.
Funnily, visa processing times are anywhere between 10-15 business days, since the passports get sent out to Manila in The Philippines for visa stamping. That would also mean that we'd have to stay put for that long, in Singapore. No wonder then, the passport-card idea came to mind!
What if we all had passport-cards, as the US issues to it's citizens? Our daughter has one - the passport card, it is called. Basically, it is a credit-card sized passport, that enables her to travel locally within the country or re-enter it from Canada, Mexico, The Caribbean islands and Bermuda. Although it is not eligible for air-travel, at least she's not stuck in the country, when her passport-book is sitting in a consulate, awaiting a visa stamp!
What if all Indians had two passports - one to send from one consulate to another, to accumulate visas (considering we need one for most corners of the world that we'd like to go to) and the other to use as a 'travel document' purely, so that you don't need to be stuck in a place, while you're being issued a visa for another? That would surely make our lives easier and travel plans simpler, wouldn't it? After all, why penalize me for wanting to take a random trip to Cambodia this weekend, just because the UK Consulate won't process Tourist visas within Singapore? Why can't we be legally allowed to be globally mobile?
On that note, this week get's done! Next week onwards, the toddler's birthday party-planning takes priority over everything else - my fave part of this time of the year! Stay tuned for updates!
Love,
Shweyta
1 comment:
I have seen school children who were unaccompanied by an adult board cal train to school here in the bay area.
GG
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