Remembering Anna Abisheganaden nee Wen my Mum this Mother's Day

My Mum  (extreme Left) Anna with Dr Kwa Soon Bee (2nd Right) 

My Mum Anna was an amazing woman. She was born 30th Novmeber 1930 and first lived in Guangzhou China, before moving to Hong Kong, then Penang and finally Singapore. The eldest of 4 sisters and 1 youngest brother, she was a very loving and strong mother to me and my brother John.

She met my father in the 50s and while she was married once before, she took care of both John and I with her usual dominant matriachial style. Stern, yet loving. I don't think we turned out too badly in life. Though I still need to aspire to greater achievements in the business front, John is very established in the medical fraternity.

Visit by K.M. Byrne, Mum was the Girl Guide Troop Leader (extreme Left in White)

As a young woman, she showed tremendous leadership and was the Troop Leader for the Singapore Girl Guides in the 1950s and had the privilege of meeting Prince Philip during one of the National Days and K.M. Byrne in the photo above.  

When I was cognizant enough, I realised that she was a very gregarious person and loved to meet with plenty of people in her line of work and play. She joined the Singapore Swimming Club together with my father in 1973 (I was 11 then) and made us 2 'monkeys' take up swimming under the late Mr. Neo Chwee Kok (aka Flying Fish). Mr. Neo was one of the first Olympians to swim for Singapore way back in the 1950s. 

Alas he passed away in the late 1980s - still a youngish man in his early 50s.  

Mum took part in many activities first with the Swimming Club, then with her workplace and was active in Badminton, Swimming, Kong Qian (martial art), tennis and squash to name a few. 

We as young tweens went to the club most days after school, Monday to Friday with the exception of Wednesday (pool cleaning) most times in the afternoon. The swimming times were from 5.30 to 7.15 pm. 

I really look back to those days with absolute joy and longing as they were so carefree !

Mum at the SBTS 50th Anniversary dinner on 1st September 1996, 
York Hotel, Carlton Room

She always could make 'arrangements' for John and myself if we happened to be sick, to visit the best specialists back in those days. Her forte was her people skills and she relished meeting many people from most humble to the most privileged backgrounds.

With her 'team' (she is in the colourful dress.) 

Mum made it a point to have 2 events each year at our house from the late 1980s till the time of her demise in 2011 so thats over 25 years. Each year, she would host 1 party during Chinese New Year and 1 party during Christmas and there would be up to 50 people coming and celebrating the occasions with us.

Those were truly memorable days and certainly happy memories for me.

Carpe Diem  

Geoffrey Abisheganaden 19th August 2003 St Andrew's Cathedral Performance

My late father Geoffrey Abisheganaden's performance at St Andrew's Cathedral 19th August 2003.

He was 83 years of age, still sprightly and had all his faculties intact, especially his voice. 

Here he sings a German song 

For those who remembered him well, he was a perfect gentleman and excellent father to both John, myself and our families. 

A Paradigm Shift 7th Dec 2018

Main Entrance to Casino 

I first went to Europe with my father in June 1974, I was just 11 years of age, and was very privileged to fly with him to his 'Fatherland' (England) or where he studied for 5 years in the late 1940s till early 1950s. Our Europe trip covered as I recall Italy, Greece and England and we had a great time together staying in his good friend's houses, eating their home cooked curries and visiting the ruins of Athens. 

I have not had the opportunity to visit Greece again, sad to say. I've back to the UK I believe 5 times or so, once in the 1980's during my Undergraduate days (we stayed for 7 days), twice in the 1990s (the tail end of our honeymoon was in England) and once for work. In 2016, I then visited London for several days for holidays.  

Monaco, and Nice I first visited these places as a poor student undergraduate in the late 1980s or 1987 to be exact. We had a bus tour and spent a total of half a day and 1 evening being awed at the splendour of the Cote D'Azur (Blue Coast) and the cramped Monaco where the rich and wealthy park their monies and citizenship in the banks and properties.

Entrance to the Casino 

I last went back in December 2018, on 7th December to be exact and I must say that I experienced a paradigm shift. Something in my mind had me thinking with a frame of reference that Singapore the island state was still economically and socially behind that of Monaco. There and then I had a shift in mindset. 

When we stayed those 5 days in Nice and visited Canne, Monaco and Monte Carlo, I realised that in fact, Singapore had moved by leaps and bounds economically, had raised its standard of living and the so called finer things in life like good French food, casinos and the flashy cars are all in abundance in our island state.

Singapore had indeed arrived on the world stage. We are no longer a place for cheap manufactured goods (20 years or more they have been long gone) or a stopover to Australia.

We are a destination in itself. People all over the world look forward to come to our island state to play in the casinos, swim in the infinity pool on the 58th floor of Marina Bay Sands and experience the Night Safari, Jurong Bird Park and Underwater World. We even have Universal Studios in our Sentosa Island.

  

Throwback from the Past ; Anna and Geoffrey Abisheganaden 1978

with Aunt Alice, and friends from 196 East Coast Road.

My Mum and Dad led very active lives, both in work and also in social and volunteering activities. These are the memories which I would choose to remember them by, at their prime (Mum in her early to mid 50s and Papa in his Mid 60s). 

Mum as the personal assistant to 4 Permanent Secretary of Health since the late 60s till the late 90s. Papa was a lawyer who had his own law firm and then helped out many organizations as legal adviser and school such as the Bible Society, YMCA, Anglican Council of Churches, NUSS Society Alumni (he was President on 2 separate occasions),St Andrew's School (board of governors) and St Andrew's Junior College, Singapore Swimming Club, the list just went on and on.  

What everyone does with his life is purely his decision only. At the end of his or her life, if he gets a chance to reflect on it, he must have as little regrets and rather,  reminisce about all the joyous and satisfying occasions that have dotted his life and experiences.

Living in a huge bungalow, driving the fastest supercars or visiting all the glamorous places the world over just doesn't impress me like when I was younger. I am cognizant of my limitations in life both physically, mentally and spiritually. I do whatever I can with my abilities and small gifts bestowed upon me to traverse through life, raise a family and mingle with friends and people who mean much to me. Helping others out is also an option I am more focussed nowadays.

Robin Williams (the late great comedian) in his standout movie "Dead Poets Society" told his young students to "gather ye rosebuds while ye may.." a sonnet by Robert Herrick.

Gather ye Rosebuds while ye may,

Old Time is still a flying

And this same flower that smiles today

Tomorrow will be dying.

The glorious lamps of heaven, the Sun

The Higher he's a getting

The sooner will his race be run

And nearer he's to setting.

That age is best which is the first

When youth and blood are warmer

But being spent, the worse, and worst

Times still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time

And while ye may, go marry,

For having lost but once your prime

You may forever tarry.

"To the Virgins, Make Much of Time" 

Robert Herrick - 1591 - 1674.

  

Hardtalk - Steven Saccor interviewing Yuval Noah Harari

Bruschetta ; Simple, Fast to prepare, good to eat and low in calories.

Standard Bruschetta as a starter for the main course, OR just as a simple breakfast meal.

I am a beginner cook, in fact this Circuit Breaker (CB in short) from 7th April till 1st June has given me plenty of opportunities to start on a new hobby, cooking healthy, nutritious food which is tasty too. I have been slow off the mark - just like our Govt has been slow off the mark to stop the spread of the tricky COVID - 19 spread amongst our foreign workers living in cramped dormitories. Hopefully things will be much under control in the coming 1 - 2 weeks. 

Getting back on point, Bruschetta is an Italian dish which is easy to prepare and cook. Look at the picture above. The ingredients for this simple dish are as below :

a) Grated cheese (Parmesan) 

b) Cherry tomatoes (2 per slice of bread)

c) Baguette bread (2 slices)

d) Basil herb leaves.

e) Black pepper seasoning

f) Olive oil.

Calories per slice : 60 ; Total 2 slices : 120 calories.

My own dish is slightly different. I use Multi-grain bread as the base. So here is my version of this much loved dish for this morning 5th May 2020. 

a) Emmenthal cheese (sliced)

b) Cherry tomatoes (2 per slice of bread)

c) Multi grain bread (2 slices)

d) Basil herbs (from bottle)

e) Black Pepper seasoning 

e) Olive oil (1 - 2 teaspoons per slice)

Calories per slice (my estimate) : 100 (due to more cheese :))  Total 2 slices : 200 calories.

Preparation

1.Cut the cherry tomatoes into small slices (I dont have a grinder or mixer)

2. Add olive oil to the bread

3. Place the cheese onto the bread

4. Add a dash of basil grated herbs and black pepper. (can be after the toasting). 

5. Place inside oven for 10 minutes.

6. Watch as the bread slowly browns out and the cheese is slightly melted.

Voila ! What you see above (sans the basil leaves herbs) is the end product.

It was washed down with my morning coffee. Perfect !! 

Just this last weekend, we had the privilege from ordering takeout from Garibaldi (1 michelin star) restaurant and I must say, their bruschetta is really top billing and super tasty.  It is reminiscent of the top picture with super crunchy bread (almost like a rusk).

More pictures of the Garibaldi dinner in another post.

Breathtaking video of the Cote d'Azur or the Blue Coast Dec 5th 2018 Wednesday

Here is another video of the 16 day holiday we took just 2 years ago of the road from Nice (where we were based for 5 days) leading to Monaco (Monte Carlo is just a precinct or suburb in Monaco) and our guide, Carla (from Brazil) was giving us the history of the region, where the Romans used to enjoy the mild winters overlooking the Cote d Azur. 

Below is a photo from 7th December 2018 ; Monaco (Monte Carlo is a suburb of this land locked super rich kingdom). 

View of Monaco from the Hillside