On the commute to work each morning I often watch with alarm the mad dash of workers making their way across the highway to the financial harbour towers.
It appears that they would rather find somewhere to park their cars for free in Manama than pay for the privilege of using the official car park. Instead many risk life and limb to cross the road at traffic signals that offer a few seconds before light changes.
It’s quite hilarious at times watching the sprint across if you put aside the clear danger involved.
In may be worth offering longer timing for pedestrians to cross the highway safely (which would no doubt cause even longer queues and time delays on a busy junction at peak times) or constructing a footbridge before a serious accident occurs.
Worried observer.
The Indian club will be witnessing a mammoth gathering on Friday for the Gulf Tamil Literary Festival. The event, a first of its kind in the Gulf region, is being organised by the Indian Club in coordination with the Bahrain Tamil Associations Coordination Committee (BTACC). The event will kick-off at 5.30pm.
A glowing tribute will be paid to classical Tamil literature for its rich, original and mature excellence and the milestone literary event is expected to attract an audience of 2,000.
Eminent Tamil scholars both from India and Malaysia will also be participating. The guest of honour will be Prof Dr P Ramasamy, currently deputy chief minister of Penang, the first person of Indian origin to hold the post in any Malaysian state.
The main speaker will be Mr Vaiko, a renowned literary scholar and a social activist from Tamil Nadu. He will be delivering a lecture on the topic of Tamil Ulagam which means ‘Tamil world’ in English. He is a practicing lawyer and the author of more than 43 books.
There are currently sizeable Tamil-speaking populations descended from colonial-era migrants in Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Mauritius, South Africa, Indonesia, Thailand, Burma and Vietnam.
David Marshel, who is a member of Ahli Majlis at Majlis Perbandaran Seberang Perai (MPSP) and Satees Muniandy, a member of Penang State Legislative Assembly, Malaysia, are also participating in the event.
There will be an awards ceremony alongside this literary event too. BTACC has decided to honour notable persons from the Indian community to recognise their achievements in several fields, including business entrepreneurship and community service.
On behalf of the organisers.
MY cousin Raja, a deep and wonderful man, asked me: “How would you describe your relationship with your children?”
Puffing my chest out, proudly, I replied: “Why, we are friends.”
He replied: “Forgive me for pointing it out, but your children have many friends, where as they have only one set of parents. The only people who will be firm and honest with people are their parents and their genuine teachers.”
I was irritated that my cousin, 15 years younger than me, should even think this way. How old fashioned and outdated was his outlook? His statement disturbed me.
I decided to ask my sons, Mohit and Pavit, over lunch, about defining our relationship. Eventually I got around to my conversation with Raja. I then asked them: “Do you think I should be more of a friend or less of a friend to you guys?”
Both my sons replied in unison and without hesitation: “Less of a friend.”
I was flabbergasted, and felt somewhat disappointed. I had to know why they said that.
Then Mohit, our elder son, said: “Dad, we love and respect you, but you know, with friends there are no boundaries, and sometimes, we take you for granted. When we treat you as a friend we often say or behave silly, sometimes even disrespectful. When we behave like that with you, and even though you never get offended, we deeply regret it. This is why, it is better that we be more respectful, than friendly.”
Wow! I did not see that one coming. I realised it may be fashionable to be friends with one’s children, but there is a big difference between being friends and being friendly.
Maybe you should ask yourself and your children the same question?
Gurvinder Singh.
In order to motivate children to showcase their special talents to the world, we are conducting ‘BRAINOBRAINFEST 2018’ the first-ever national Abacus competition in Bahrain, where we expect around 200 kids to participate.
Anand Subramaniam, MD of Brainobrain International, will be the chief guest at the event to be held at The Indian Club Auditorium, Manama, on November 2.
We currently run more than 950 centres in 38 countries, specialising in developing the brain potential of children aged five to 14, using a tool called Abacus. More than 200,000 kids are successfully undergoing our programme around the globe.
Brainobrain children created a new Guinness World Record in October in India by staging the largest mental arithmetic session with 4,000 participating. 2018 is a special milestone as we complete 15 glorious and this world record was yet another feather on our cap.
Hima George, director
Brainobrain Bahrain, Adliya.
