Singapore Writers Festival - 2014 (My Experience)

Day 1:

 I was posted at National Museum Of Singapore for three sessions.  I was at the front of the seminar room checking the tickets. The first session was a panel discussion on Critical Thinking moderated by Sellakrishnan. I have to admit that I never heard of neither the panellists nor their works except the writer Kamaldevi Aravindhan, I read her short stories in Tamilmurasu and met her last year in the same event. Since I was posted outside I did not listen much .But for the second session I sat inside the room and listened the talk. The topic for that session was "The Beauty Myth", The panellists had some familiar faces like Leena Manimekalai and moderator Azhagiya Pandiyan (seen him in Vasantham programmes) . The session was lively as each one present their view on beauty.  Leena Manimekalai talked more about women and how our society (upper caste) defined beauty. A very strong statements but sadly very true. Everyone agreed that beauty is subjective and it will keep changing. A question asked about Indian women following western tradition blindly I did not understand why they raised this question even after discussing about beauty for almost an hour!! 

The last session of the day was an English session titled "Finding My Voice" , as the name indicates the session was about first time authors and their experience in writing and publish their work in Singapore. More people participated specially young ones . The authors shared their writing habits and importance of having a mentor.  I heard only one author talking, he was good and straight forward.

Day 2:

The last day of the festival. Like last year , this year too the Singapore Tamil Writers Association  organized event to celebrate the life of a writer. This year the chosen author was SV Shanmugam. Again I have to admit that I never heard of this writer before same like last year's one. But as the session progressed I got time to read 3 short stories of this author in a book published at the event. I should say I really enjoyed reading it. Mostly the same people who attended the day 1 were there.  There was food too but I was appalled to see the wastage of so much food.

I think to improve Tamil events , the organizers need to advertise more in Vasantham, not just in news. Also need to bring some well known writers, I can understand the difficulties with schedules but to attract more crowd there is no other alternative.

As usual the NAC did great job with its clear planning and arrangements. Most of the visitors I spoke to told me that they enjoyed the event. Another important factor for the success of this years festival was the volunteers. I met some wonderful volunteers specially a guy from India . He wanted to become a writer. Very interesting and he really enjoyed the event.Well done every one.

Looking forward to 2015.

Singapore Writers Festival - 2013

The much awaited event of the year SWF-2013 was concluded on Nov 10 after a week full of so many wonderful events. I applied to volunteer for SWF some months before, i was bit worried because last time they had rejected my application. But this year i was selected and i was really happy. I was assigned as a room manager for Tamil events. Before going to the event location, i saw a Indian woman with saree , i was thinking i have seen her somewhere ,yes , it was writer Salma , whom i'm following in Facebook for a long time. I went and spoke to her , she was very polite and asked about my life in Singapore and gave me autograph.

Salma

Nov 9 : My first day of volunteering . I was posted at National Museum of Singapore (NMS). NMS is a beautiful building. I have been to this place many times before but this time it was bit crowded as expected. The event was "Literary Styles and Innovation / இலக்கிய வடிவமும் புத்தாக்கமும் " ,the authors participated were Imayam, Salma and JM Sali.  I was very excited to see writer Imayam, when he spoke , his voice was stern and honest - not hiding his feelings. The authors explained their source of inspiration for their books.

The second event of my day was "Evolution: Women;s Voices in Tamil Literature / பரிணாம வளர்ச்சி - தமிழ் இலக்கியத்தில் பெண்களின் குரல் " . The authors on the panel were Kamaladevi Aravindan, Suriya Rethnna and Salma. The writers talked about how they worked their way up to write stories.Writer Salma's story was interesting . I did not understand much of writer Suriya Rethnna's speech. The moderator was not good , she was just listening.

Imayam

The third event was " Meet the Author : Imayam / எழுத்தாளர் சந்திப்பு : இமையம் " . It was an one to one session with writer Imayam. The writer started his biography telling major events of his life and how he started writing his stories. Very interesting because all his stories are inspired by the real life characters . According to him , if a writer is not writing from his life then its no use. Again the moderator was not good , he did not know the details of the author and he did not initiated any questions, he was just another participant.Shame , he would have asked so many questions related to the recurring themes in Imayam's book etc.. After the session, i spoke to Imayam, he was very polite and i got his signature. For all the other events i did not go inside the room.

Nov 10: Only one event to volunteer and  that was the final Tamil event of SWF 2013.  It was held at National Library Board (NLB) @ queens street. "SWF 2013 Literary Pioneer: Memories of G Sarangapany /  இலக்கிய முன்னோடி : தமிழவேள் கோ.சா. நினைவலைகள் " .  I was the only volunteer for the event so i was posted outside and given the job of checking tickets and guiding the guests. I got a chance to meet many Singapore Tamil writers , many of them i never heard of but got to know through the venue manager.

My other volunteering colleagues were students and some are Tamil Literature students.Very excited to talk to them about Tamil books but unfortunately most of them did not recognize the writers i mentioned like S.Ramakrishnan, Vannanilavan, Jeyamohan , even Sujatha .Heartbroken i stopped asking them about writer and books. But i liked the way they conversed in Tamil , i felt ashamed of my Tamil.

Overall a great experience. 

Singapore National Games

The first Singapore National Games (SNG) was held between 1st to 9th of September. I was privileged to participate in it. It was organized by Singapore Sports Council(SSC) ,People's Association(PA) and its grassroots organizations.The highlight of this event was the participation of Foreign workers and Singapore Permanent Residence.It was a good initiative by SSC and PA which will bring the immigrants closer to Singaporeans.

I registered as a volunteer many months before.Unfortunately i did not undergo orientation as  i was out of Singapore,but my Volunteer Manager was gracious enough to sent me all the details which i should know in email.I have gone through the simple test online.A week latter i got confirmation and deployment details.I was assigned to the 'Functional Area of Technology for the role of Venue Infrastructure Support'. The venue was Singapore Basketball Center.

Lion (Nila)- The SNG Mascot

Day 1 :Sunday My reporting time was 2:30 PM. I reached the center at 2 O'Clock and waited for my Venue Manager to call me.Myself and a SSC employee were introduced to our Technology officer and were taken to the Media room.Our job was to take care of the media devices (3 laptops,1 printer, 3 plug points).After introducing us the people and devices , we were left there to watch over those things. Along with us there were three volunteers from Media team.The room was full of trophies and memorabilia of Singapore Basketball Association. So many beautiful trophies, big basketballs with signatures of all the players and some framed basketball jerseys.I should say i was lucky to see all these things.

Volunteering is all about meeting new people and making friendship.I always speaks a lot to people who are willing to share their thoughts.In SNG too , first day my team member was Mr.Tan , swimming coach.Very lively character.We started talking about SNG and end up he asking me to go to him for swimming coaching.Another volunteer from Media team asked about my life back in India and the life here in Singapore.I started with Pamban ended with latest Kabbadi Worldcup!! Yes, the guy whom i had conversation knew Kabbadi and he traveled many places for reporting sports events.He was very happy to know that my father was a college Kabbadi player and asked me to convey his wishes to my father!!

 Day 2: Monday: I rushed to the Singapore Basketball Center after my officeworking hours for my shift which started on 5:30 PM.Some things to do:Check the media devices and watch over those things.My team member for the day was again an employee of SSC, we did not talk much.He was busy with something else,i sat there and started reading  the book "Jeevanaamsam" by Si.Su Chellappa.I had enough time to finish the whole book.I went to the playing area and watched the match for sometime.At the end of the day ,I shook hands with everyone and left to home with lots of good memories.

I had a very good experience volunteering this wonderful event, looking forward to do it again in 2014. Congratulations to SSC,PA and the awesome volunteers.

Click here to go to official SNG site

World Orchid Conference 2011

I  registered as a volunteer for this event long back,got a call from organizers and they mailed me the details of role.I was chosen to be in the Logistics team at Gardens by the Bay.Excited! I was really looking forward to this event.I was asked to assist the team on 19th and 20th of November.

Gardens by the Bay:

Gardens by the Bay - bit blurred image

What a beautiful place! Another landmark for Singapore.On saturday i was posted at the entrance for stamping  the tickets.Very interesting job, was really excited to see so many people queuing up specially the kids.The whole day we were doing the same thing but it was interesting.Around 9PM i started to home.At night  the flower dome looked beautiful, a sight to behold!

Next day,i.e on Sunday my shift started 8:30AM, this time i was assigned to count the number of visitors coming through Marina Bay Sands over bridge.Interesting job! Myself and a girl was posted at Malay garden do that .We have to write down the count every 1 hr in the notebook,previous day there were 13,000/- visitors.

The Mega tree- artificial one

Heavy rain did not dampen the spirit of Singaporeans, people kept coming through out the day.Thoroughly enjoyed my role and my wonderful fellow volunteer.hats off to NParks and its staff, job well done guys.! Volunteers too were wonderful, looking forward to more such events.

Visit to Orchid Show : 

 As part of  World Orchid Conference there was a Orchid show.What a spectacle!! Awesome display of orchids.There were lots of competitions but i have not seen anything but saw the medals and prized Orchids.

The show became extra special as it was the first outing with my little baby girl.We took lots of photos.There was a market place where we found some real cheap plants and flowers.

WOC2011-Medals

Thanks to NParks for giving us free tickets to the Orchid Show. The effect of this show : now i'm started reading Orchid for dummies!!

World Netball Championship 2011 - Day 5

Top 12 classification matches were played today, luckily there was only one match in the evening that of Wales and Botswana.I should say it was the best match i have seen so far in this championship.What a game!Both teams played well.The intensity and athleticism were amazing.

Wales Vs Botswana

I heard from the security that the afternoon match between and Fiji and Singapore was also very thrilling and it even went to extra time it seems.Singapore's aim of finishing in top 12 was shattered as they lost that match.

We did not had much work as there was no match at 8 PM, we just cleaned the court1 and the team benches and chairs.

Excited to see the quarter finals,semi finals and final.I hope more people will come and watch these games.

Day 5 Results:

Match No	Team1	Score	Team2	Winner
25	Barbados	63-59	Srilanka	Barbados
26	Fiji	57-47	Singapore	Fiji
27	Samoa	54-45	Malaysia	Samoa
28	Wales	47-46	Botswana	Wales

World Netball Championship 2011 - Day 4

I rushed to Singapore indoor stadium after my office hours unfortunately waited quite some time for the bus to the MRT station , i was 20 minutes late to my shift .The previous shift guy was waiting for me , he was on duty from 8 in the morning! I apologized to him.Same like yesterday 8 matches were played. When i reached Stadium  Singapore was playing against Jamaica.Jamaicans were far superior in all aspects of the game than Singaporeans. One of the drawback for Team Singapore is that they do not have a strong and tall energetic player for goal shooting.

Singapore Vs Jamaica, Singapore in blue jersey ..

After the match we refilled ice cubes and water in all the water point.Again there were lots of people in crowd  in yellow shirts - the Australian supporters.Australia was due to play against Srilanka. As teams were preparing i noticed a tall in fact very tall girl among the Srilankan players.My gosh! she was the tallest human being i have seen in my life. I learnt from my fellow volunteer that she is the tallest player in this world cup.
Only thing the srilankans have to do - pass the ball to her, she will easily scored the goal.

Australian team before the match

 But Australians were well prepared , the blocked almost all the passes to her and effectively made her inactive.

Cheerful Australian crowd

Once again Australians were far superior in all aspects of the game.Excellent team work.

The tallest player in this championship..  in brown jersey

On the court 2 South Africa was playing against Botswana.First 2 quarters were neck to neck but South Africa took control of the game in third and fourth quarters.South Africa too played a close passing game.After the first 2 days , the organizers felt that the courts were sticky specially the on the advertisement stickers.So we moped the courts with detergent,rearranged the chairs,water points and the score boards. At last we finished everything around 10PM and left for home around 10:10PM.

Loud and cheerful Botswana crowd.. they were so much noisy

Day 4 Results:

Match No	Team1	Score	Team2	Winner
17	Northern Ireland	66-37	Samoa	Northern Ireland
18	Fiji	48-38	Wales	Fiji
19	Malawi	73-44	Barbados	Malawi
20	New Zealand	75-23	Trinidad & Tobago	New Zealand
21	England	95-22	Malaysia	England
22	Jamaica	93-40	Singapore	Jamaica
23	Australia	97-20	Srilanka	Australia
24	South Africa	57-38	Botswana	South Africa

World Netball Championship 2011 - Day 3

Another great day of volunteering! Our team worked for three matches in that 2 matches simultaneously.We positioned each one of us in each corner,that means 2 guys per court.Lots of Australian and New Zealand supporters were there.

Australia Vs Northern Ireland

When i entered into the court Australia was playing against Northern Ireland . By far Australians were the best i have seen.They are energetic ,flamboyant and wonderful passers.Their game made huge impact on me.I think that's the way Australians play all the games.Very impressive performance by them.

Cheerful audience..

The Australians showed remarkable sportsmanship, they mingled with the supporters and with the opponent players easily.Very rare to see these characters in Australian Cricket team.I came to know that the Australians are the reigning World Netball Champions.I hope they will be having a good outing this time also.

Singapore Vs South Africa

After the Australia match there were 2 more matches to be played in 2 courts.So we were pretty much busy for the 30 minutes.And the matches started on time .The first match was played between Singapore and South  Africa in Court 1.Both the team had last their previous match.Singapore started brilliantly,everything looked perfect- passes,shots on goal,goal defense. But they started to loose their grip on the lead in the 2nd and 3rd quarters.Again their passes were not accurate and they did not run as they should.South Africa on the other hand played better and their passes were excellent.South Africa won the match quite easily in the end.

Play in progress in both courts

In court 2 ,Malaysia and Malawi fought out. Malaysia from the beginning did not play well and their passes were erratic.Malawians covered the court quite beautifully -they ran and ran.Malawians won the match hands down.
Day 3 Results:

Match No	Team1	Score	Team2	Winner
9	Trinidad&Tobago	58-40	Fiji	Trinidad&Tobago
10	England	74-42	Barbados	England
11	Samoa	57-53	Srilanka	Samoa
12	New Zealand	91-21	Wales	New Zealand
13	Jamaica	74-23	Botswana	Jamaica
14	Australia	75-33	Northern Ireland	Australia
15	South Africa	70-33	South Africa	South Africa
16	Malawi	65-35	Malaysia	Malawi

World Netball Championship 2011 - Day 2

Second day of the championship.Our shift started on 6PM , i was little late to the stadium.When i reached the court 1 ,i saw England playing against Malawi. I was posted near the Malawi team bench.

England Vs Malawi

Regarding the match,The english  played far better than the Malawians.It was a easy win for England. For the next match we had almost 45 minutes ,we refilled the water and ice cubes.Unfortunately water spilled out from the water dispenser while dragging it to refill.so we moped the floor for almost 20 minutes.Again quick response from our team and ably supported by our manager .

Barbados Vs Malaysia

The next match was between Malaysia and Barbados.I was very pleased to see the support the Malaysian team received from the locals.I thought that the match will be a good one but Barbados won it easily.I can not say anything about the techniques of the teams play but what i found was that Malaysian same like Singapore did not run and pass and shot the ball well.These 2 teams needs to lot of hard work to catch the top teams.

After the match ,we took all the water dispensers and ice holders back to the water collection area. We arranged the chairs for the next day's play.We stood down at 10PM.

Day 2 Results:

Match No	Team1	Score	Team2	Winner
2	Jamaica	72-45	SouthAfrica	Jamaica
3	Australia	81-23	Samoa	Australia
4	Trinidad&Tobago	51-48	Wales	Trinidad&Tobago
5	New Zealand	80-25	Fiji	New Zealand
6	Northern Ireland	65-56	Srilanka	Northern Ireland
7	England	65-33	Malawi	England
8	Barbados	62-40	Malaysia	Barbados

Another great day of volunteering!Still 6 more days to go..

World Netball Championship 2011 - Day 1

I never heard of netball till 2009 ,through some contacts i registered as a volunteer for this event some months back.Once i went for orientation at Netball Singapore  near Singapore Stadium, they showed and explained us the plan for the WNC2011 and volunteers work.

Last month i received a mail from Netball Singapore stating that my role will be FOP i.e Field Of Play assistant.I was really happy to know that i will work near the playing court!!.The sad part is that i don't know the rules and regulations of netball .On 2nd of july we had a briefing session, our manager explained our duties. Great ! Everything ready!

3rd July 2011

Dragon dance...

   It was a wonderful day, great sunshine.We reported at Singapore Indore stadium around 3PM immediately we started our work.It was real fun to mingle with so many different personalities at a same time. The opening ceremony commenced at exactly 5PM . Honorable President S.R. Nathan presided over the function, he was accompanied by IFNA president,local associations dignitaries and Mission food executive. The entertainment begun with Urban drummers and NUS dance ensemble .

Team flags were displayed on the court using lights

President Nathan declared games opened at 6:30PM.we had only 30 minutes to arrange the court and we did well on time.Great team work.The first match was played between Singapore and Botswana.The match started on schedule.

President Nathan(gray suit)

The Match:

Botswana players singing their national anthem

I was curious to know how they will play the game.Interestingly it was similar to basketball but in netball they are not jumping and shooting the ball to basket,just pass the ball to GS i.e Goal Shooter who will stand and shoot the ball.Its not point ,its called goals.The game is played in 4 quarters 15 minutes each with interval of 3 minutes between 1st and 2nd quarter and 10 minutes between 2nd and 3rd quarter (half time) then another 3 minutes between 3 and 4th quarter.

before the mach:Singapore Vs Botswana

Botswana played better.Their passing was immaculate and they scored at every turn.Singapore on the other hand missed many opportunities and their shooting was not upto the standard.Atlast Singapore lost the match.They have to work very hard to bounce back from this defeat,hope they will.

View from the Workforce area

After the match ,we prepared the court for the next day, this time we prepared 2 courts.We finished the day with 3 minutes meeting.Still 7 more days to go.

Final score!

For more information check out the official site  : click here

OCBC Cycle Singapore 2011

           Event : OCBC Cycle Singapore 2011

 Place : F1 Pit building

                 Date  : Sunday, March 6 , 2011 Time  : 1AM to 1PM

My first volunteering in a cycling event.I had a wonderful time with fellow volunteers as well as with competitors.I was a route marshal, means one who guides the riders the path and prevent the public from obstruct the riders.Our team had 6 volunteers and a leader.We assembled at F1 pit building around 1:35AM,there we received our goodie bag,T-shirt and breakfast.We spent sometime there at F1 pit building itself.I was very please to see many volunteers specially the students, of course they can get CIP(Community Involvement Programme) but still one must have heart to come and do the work as volunteer.Hats off you all the volunteers.

near Tanjong Katong Park

I was posted near Tanjong Katong park,the park where i never visited.For the first 1 hour i was alone sitting near corner of the road.The first race of the day -The Super Challenge (60KM) flagged off at 6AM.We were told to be ready with flags and lights.I took out the red triangle shaped flag and the whistle.This was the moment i was eagerly waited for, to see the cyclist in action.What a scene!! First came the security guards in motorbikes, then the ambulances with siren on,then came the riders.I never thought that one can pedal the cycle that much fast.The first pack of cyclists or peloton was awesome,they made some noise,did not understand it.I think around 180-200 cyclist participated in this category.The winner took 1:15:38.4 seconds to finish this race.

Check out the results of -The Super Challenge (60KM).

For the second race i was asked to go near the turn(towards ECP) and shout "Slow down" to the cyclists!! My job was very important in context of Cyclist's pace and security ,since its quite hard for the cyclist to turn with full speed.I was standing at the turn for the rest of the race.It was a wonderful experience for me to see the real action and to do my part as volunteer.I spoke to some students about their education,their interests and their goal.

The turn towards ECP

There were more number of participants in - The Nissan Challenge(40KM) race.The funny part of this race was the dresses the competitors worn and the different types of cycles.Dress - some of them worn night dress, some of them with formal shirt and pant, some even with sandals!!In regards to cycles,all the possible types of cycles one can imagine!Some rode the cycles with their kids at the back seat!!

Check out the results of -The Nissan Challenge(40KM)

Then we had 2 other races :
1)The Community Ride(20KM)
2)iFly Singapore Cycle of Hope (4KM)

We finished our work around 11:10AM and returned back to the F1 Pit building around 12 O'Clock.We got our allowance and some cool drinks.Overall a great experience.Thanks to fellow volunteers,my leader Ms.Vanessa Ang and OCBC for this lovely event.