The year that was 2006

Today is the last day of 2006 and it has been a year of many ups and downs for me; the ups of course always outnumber the downs. It is also time again for resolutions to be made which do not have to be followed through but it is always fun to make them.

First of all this is my one hundredth post in this blog. 2006 marks a time when I seriously started blogging and though I have not managed to keep to the promise of a post a day, I still managed to write bits and pieces here and there. I celebrate the blog's anniversary in 2006 also. For 2007 I resolve to write more articles and seriously start on my fiction writing.

I celebrated my first wedding anniversary in 2006 which was the happiest day of the year and seriously competing for the happiest day of my life. We also got the happy news that my wife is pregnant which is awesome! So 2007 will herald the birth of my first child and I resolve to get all the stuff that needs to be done by that time, done and over with.

I started going to a job for the first time this year. I do not like the work very much but it brings in money and I do not hate it too much. The co-workers are nice enough and I have managed to somehow get on the good side of most of them so much that I have been offered further training which could in fact lead to more hours which would mean more money... There is just one person who I have taken an intense dislike to. He is rude and arrogant and all of my fellow coworkers do not like him. Most of the days I am at work are spent trying to make sure I do not have much contact with him. Hopefully 2007 will find me having more hours at work or a new job that I like better...

I actually managed to lose 10 kilos during 2006 which is quite a feat. I used to weigh about 90 kilos before ramadan and the start of work combined to provide a weight loss program so that by the end of ramadan I weighed 80 kilos. I still weigh 80 and in 2007, I resolve to lose a further 10 kilos and go down to 70. Maybe get some more muscle tone as well. If I am going to be running around after a kid I will need to be healthy.

I have this guitar which I bought from a friend in 2004. My wife bought me a beginners book to guitar playing and a tuner, all of which has been gathering dust in some corner of the flat. last year I made a resolution to learn how to play the guitar but did not follow through so for 2007 I make the same resolution but to follow through this time.

2006 also had the usual marriages, births and deaths of those close to me.

My Aunt passed away(bless her soul!), Naimbe's mom passed away as well.

Yuli and Mua became parents of a baby girl. Shahyn and Nashitha became parents of a baby boy. Nazim got married to Shim's sister. These people are from the Bendigo clan with whom I spent my Uni days.

My baby brother tied the knot as well on friday. Congrats Hassan and Fahy! Hope you two have a fun life together.


The resolutions for 2007

*Write the stories that are (and have been for sometime) floating around my head. Try and get some of these published.

*Make all the necessary preparations for the arrival of my child and do everything in my power to make it as easy a time as possible for my wife.

*Lose a further 10 kilos and build up some muscle.

*Learn to play the guitar.

*Look for a better job or at least try and get some more hours at the job that I already have.

Eid mubarak and Happy New Year to everybody!

Expecting

Fantastic Four 2: Rise of the Silver Surfer

Marvel's first family of superheroes, The Fantastic Four, meets their greatest challenge yet in "Fantastic Four: Rise of The Silver Surfer" as the enigmatic, intergalactic herald, The Silver Surfer, comes to Earth to prepare it for destruction. As the Silver Surfer races around the globe wreaking havoc, Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben must unravel the mystery of the Silver Surfer and confront the surprising return of their mortal enemy, Dr. Doom, before all hope is lost.


watch the trailer! looks great

Fantastic Four: Rise of the SilverSurfer
Uploaded by Umbrax

New TMNT pics

Leonardo gets ready for a fight.

The garden fight: Karai and the Foot Ninja prepare to face the Turtles.

The Turtles, Splinter, April and Casey reflect on the battle they've just fought.

Talking about the weather

Melbourne's crazy weather continues as today it got pretty cold even though this is the middle of summer and only three days ago it was 40 degrees celcius. The victoria region sees this cold front as a belssing as it helps them with the fires that have been burning out of control all over victoria...

Second time it has hailed and i got another video which im going to post here. enjoy!

Merry Christmas

Transformers trailer

This looks awesome!

Mr. Nice Guy

Wii VS PS3

Smokin' Aces new trailer

The Wheels of Life

I am still in the bicycle phase...

300 latest trailer

This just keeps getting better and better...

TMNT

I have always been a fan of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. First there was the cartoons and then there was the live action movies. At that time I did not know there were comic books on the characters. This new animated movie which is coming out on 30 March 2007 will derive its tone from the original comic-book series and will be slightly grittier than the previous live-action pictures. The animation will be created in Imagi's state-of-the art facility in Hong Kong.

View from the Animal Womb

A couple of weeks back I saw these amazing pictures of animals still in their wombs when they showed it on the news. Today I cam across the pictures again and I googled and found that these pictures are going to be in a movie showing on the National Geographic Channel in December. The two hour movie will show tiny pink elephant embryos, a teensy dog fetus with glowing blue eyes, and mini-dolphins swimming in their mother's belly. It will show in the United States on December 10 and in Germany on Christmas Day.

The film is made possible using technology developed at the beginning of the decade by veterinary scientist Thomas Hildebrandt, from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin. In addition to providing clear 3D images, his team was able to advance ultrasound techniques so as to make it possible to penetrate further than the 15 centimeters technology had allowed.

The result is a look inside the wombs of a wide variety of mammals, even including giants like elephants. Hildebrandt's system involves inserting an ultrasound scanner's head into the empty intestine of the pregnant elephant. When the fetus is visible, the ultrasound then goes into 3D mode, which produces up to 70 cross sections, which are then pieced together by a computer.

And viola! One can see the tiny eyes, trunk and wrinkles of elephant fetuses as young as 17 weeks. The technology is perfect for vets and for researchers.

Here are some of the pictures;

The Sun Sleeps in my Bed

I met a man who asked me
"Why are your arms so white?"
I told him I have sunscreen on.
He replied, "But its still night..."

I told him that was true; he asked me,
"Why are there sunglasses on your head?"
I told him the reason for all this is because
You see the sun, she sleeps in my bed!

Yes the sun sleeps in my bed!
Outrageous as it sounds, it is true!
She sleeps in my bed each night
And keeps me warm through and through!

The sunscreen keeps me from being burnt
By her brilliant heat; the glow she radiates,
Requires the use of sunglasses, though I am
Tempted to go without and leave it to the fates.

The man told me "you are very lucky!"
I replied that I am aware of what he said.
At the end of the day, when everyone sleeps
The sun, she goes to sleep in my bed!

Pic of the day

Old Boy

I was at a friend's house sometime ago when he showed me some of the movies that he had and he showed me a trailer for a hindi movie called "Zinda" which starred Sanjay Dutt. Now the trailer actually brough back memories of another movie trailer that I had seen sometime ago and since Bollywood is notorious for taking more than its share of movie ideas from hollywood and other countries I was reminded of this movie "Oldboy" which I had heard a lot about some years ago.

This morning I finally got to watch "oldboy" and it was by far the best movie I had seen in quite a while. The only disappointment was at the very end of the movie; the last scene should not have been there and they should have just stopped the movie at the point where the "villain" dies after revealing everything. I am not going to go into details here for fear of spoiling things for those who havent watched the movie yet. But suffice to say that this is a movie worth watching.

As for the Indian version, I am hearing news that the producers are facing a lawsuit for "borrowing" the storyline from Oldboy scene to scene. Those who want to can read an indepth comparision of Oldboy and Zinda from wikipedia. I cannot do the comparision as I have not watched the indian version. And I don't have any intention of doing that anytime sooner.

Hail

Last wednesday was a day for freaky weather here in melbourne. This is a video I shot with my digital camera out of the indow in my apartment. It is five clips, each 30 seconds long and all have been joined together to make this video.

Spidey 3 New Trailer

Bollywood in Melbourne

They are filming a bollywood movie in Melbourne at the moment and who else but the "great" Shah Rukh Khan is starring in it. They are looking for crowds for the hockey matches that are going to be staged for the movie. The hockey stadium where they are filming is pretty close to where I am residing and yesterday when my wife and I took the tram upto the city we passed the stadium. I was expecting lots of people there but there was only a handful on the audience stages. There were a lot of film crew and they were filming a India vs Australia match I think. Sort of like a hockey world cup.

Anyways if you are living in or around Melbourne and like to be part of this movie take a look at the flyer and go there. They are filming till the end of November so there is still some time.

For Dina...

300 trailer

Take a look at the 300 trailer! It looks so frigging good. I cannot wait for this movie to come out...

Goodness, gracious, great balls of ...

It was a night much like any other night; a little cold. There was a slight wind outside but that did not bother me as I was snug inside my little apartment, lounging on my couch and watching TV. A half empty can of coke was on the table in fornt of me. It was almost fizzied out now and I could not be bothered finishing it. There was something showing on TV, as well but I wasn't paying that much attention to it. No, my attention was firmly fixed on the small ball of light floating in front of my eyes.

Now this might seem like a fantastic thing but for some reason, I wasn't really awestruck or even mildly shocked. It just seemed like a routine, everyday occurence. Probably because I was in that place where boredom met up with dreamland and I figured I had fallen asleep and this was happening in my dreams. How it had appeared in my room, where it had come from and the reason for its appearance - these questions did not really occur to me. All I knew was that it was suddenly there and provided a fleeting distraction from my daily routine. So I sat there on the couch with my eyes following the slow movements of this lightball.

When I say lightball, I do mean a lightball. It surely wasn't a fireball and I could not feel any heat radiating from it. But then again, I figured I was dreaming so I would not be able to feel anything. It looked much like a star would, if you could see it a bit more closely than the billions of light years away. Maybe from half a million light years... I don't know... I don't know much about astronomy.

It would seem reasonable to infer that staring at this ball of light for so long would hurt my eyes somewhat but again for some reason, I was able to monitor its movements without any strain on my eyes. Another reason to assume that the sandman had visited me.

The ball of light continued its slow journey around my room. It did not seem to have any purpose to its wanderings; neither a goal nor a destination. It appeared to be as bored as I was and was just doing a slow dance. I took off the hat I had on and as the ball of light passed close to me, made a swing at it.

I don't really know what I was hoping to accomplish with that. Somehow the ball of light ended in my hat and I looked down at it for a moment and then put it back on my head. Why? I don't know! This might be a dream, remember? I cannot be held accountable for the things I do in my dreams. Anyways it didn't feel any different wearing that ball of light on my head. When after sometime, I took off my hat and looked inside, it had disappeared... and I went back to watching TV! Simpsons was on!

I am still not sure whether that was a dream or not. I do know that every night around 8 o'clock I get these head splitting migraines but surely that cannot be caused by wearing a ball of light on your head... Could it?

Impossible Pie

Since I am fasting I get to sit in the tea room at work and do nothing. I would have worked through the lunch break but I don't get paid for it so I would rather relax for the half hour. I found this recipe in one of the women's magazines that are lying around there (since it is mostly women I work with..) and thought that it sounded good and easy enough for me to make. I had yet to make something good during this ramadan and so I cut out the recipe and brought it home with me. The recipe says it takes 10 minutes for preparation. I took half an hour. It is supposed to cook in 45 minutes but after an hour it was burnt on the top and liquid in the inside. Since we were fed up by then we just scraped off the cooked top part and had it with ice cream and let me say that that was the best thing I have tasted in quite a long time. I am going to try and make it again soon and hopefully this time I will be able to cook it thoroughly. But you have to really agree with its name. It really is impossible but I will still have fun trying.

impossible pie

• 1/2 cup plain flour
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 1 cup dessicated coconut
• 2 cups milk
• 440g can crushed pineapple, drained
• 4 eggs beaten lightly
• 125g butter, melted
• 1/4 cup flaked almonds
• 2 tablespoons golden syrup
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ice-cream, to serve

1. Preheat oven to moderate, 180 degrees celsius. Lightly grease a 24cm pie plate.
2. Sift flour into a large bowl. Stir in sugar and coconut.
   
3. In another bowl, combine all the remaining ingredients. Blend into dry ingredients until well combined.
4. Pour mixture into prepared pie plate. Bake for 40-45 minutes until firm and golden. Serve warm with ice cream.
   

Dropping Kilos

To say that my weight has fluctuated over the years will be an understatement. When I was in Primary school I was reasonably thin, almost skinny but I was a kid then. In my secondary years I started to pile on the kilos until I did my O'levels where I was weighing in at 70 kilos and wearing size 34 pants. I had a beer belly even though beer was not available. Once I started higher secondary education and began to notice the girls in my class I decided finally to do soemthing about my weight.

Thus began the jogging and exercising with friends. I even joined a gym, Muscleload with another friend and I was down to a very comfortable weight when I went to India in 1997 on a sociology trip which ended just as ramadan began which meant my gym and the exercising came to a halt and i began slowly gaining the weight that I had lost.

At the end of my education I was drafted into the NSS and during the four months of my recruit training I was the fittest I had ever been. I was a mere 60 kilos and had good muscle tone (for the first time in my life which is probably the only thing I will thank the training regiment for...) The next four years I managed to hold my weight between 60 and 65. Thus when I left for Australia in the beginning of 2003 I was 65 kilos and looking slender.

Somehow the three years in Australia with all the beef and chicken and lamb (and some kangaroo) I managed to pile on more than 20 kilos . When I finally got a scale after moving into my new apartment with my new wife I found that I weighed in at 88 kilos. This made me a bit sad after all that I had gone through so my wife and me decided to play a little game of "The biggest Loser." This didnt really work that well as I lost only 2.4 kilos over 22 weeks. Then I started working and with the combined fasting of ramdan I have managed to lose 6.4 kilos over the last 4 weeks. This morning when I weighed myself I found I was 80 kilos.

Now I just have to start exercising regularly so that I continue to lose weight and gain some muscle tone again and reach my target weight of 65 kilos. Wish me luck!

Weird Al Yankovic - White and Nerdy

Weird Al spoofs Chamillionaire's Riding Dirty. LOL

Proper Pronouncing

Ever since I came to Australia, I have been trying to tell the Aussies where I come from. When I tell them that I am from the Maldives (pronounced "all gives"), all I get is a blank stare. It is only when I pronounce it "bald wives", that I finally get a gleam of recognizance. Even then I have to explain to them where it actually is and how tiny it is.

In four years I have met only one Aussie who actually didnt recognize what I was saying when I pronounced it the aussie way. He actually pronounced it correctly or at least the way that I am used to pronouncing the name of my native country.

Lost and Found

On Wednesday of last week I worked from 7 in the morning to almost 8 in the night. And that is not counting the one and a half hours of travel to and from work. I was so tired when I got home that I put all my dirty clothes in the washing machine, took a shower and had some food that Dina had already heated up. After that I was going to go to bed and was looking for my mobile phone which I could not find and it suddenly hit me that I had not taken it out of my jeans pocket before putting it in the washing machine.

So I had to stop the machine and take out the clothes and look inside the jeans pocket but it wasn't there. Only then did I think of calling my mobile from my home phone and surprise, surprise the bloody phone was sitting on the table where I had put it when I came home. So with a sheepish smile I put the clothes back in the machine, turned it back on and went to sleep.

the next morning, as I was leaving for work I couldn't find my keys... And I looked in the washing again. I took every piece of clothe out and searched the inside and couldn't find it. I checked every bit of clothe and put them back in and still could not find it. I was feeling very annoyed by this time as I had lost my house keys two weeks before and we had changed the locks and this was a new set that had cost me qute a bit of money. I checked all the clothes again taking them one at a time and searching them thoroughly and still couldn't find them. Then out of the corner of my eye I caught a glint of silver. The keys were lying in the outer lining of the door to the machine...

This was not the end. On Friday when I was coming home I was searching in my bag for my chapstick and lo and behold what do my hands close on?? My house keys from earlier that I had "lost" couple of weeks ago... When I told this to Dina later on, she could not help laughing while I sat there feeling a bit embarrased... But I guess everyone ahs this sort of thing happening to them once in a while...

An hour of cycling

It takes me an hour to bike up to the place that I am going to be working at. They are starting up this new store at Essendon Airport and it is frigging far!!! I left an hour early because I thought it would take me about 45 minutes but it takes me an hour. Probably because most of it is uphill. It took me about half an hour to get home though because I just glided all the way downhill. The good thing about biking all that way to work every morning is that I am finally going to be able to lose some of the weight that I have piled on since coming here.

Today mostly I have been working in despatch moving crates of stock into the store from the warehouse. They have this cool toy called a walkie something or other which is a trolley that can carry upto 400 kilos and can reach 4 meters high. Its electrically powered and very very cool to move the crates around in. Too bad it was not charged and I had to move the crates with an ordinary, non-electric, back-to-the-stone-age type trolley. Oh well mebbe I get to use that tomorrow. I have to be there at 7 which means I have to get up at frigging 5 in the morning... Hmmm mebbe I shouldn't have volunteered for the job....

Oh well.. its good for me to get up early and go to work. About 4 years back, when I was working regularly I usually got up around 5 almost every single day of the week. Lets hope it won't take a long time to fall back to my old worktime routine.

Another year older

Its my birthday to day and I am a year older than I was last year. It has been a memorable year. So much has changed in my life and yet so much still remains the same. This is my first birthday as a married man but I have been celebrating my birthday with my wife then girlfriend for the past three years. It is the first birthday that I am celebrating in my new flat in Melbourne. It is the first birthday that I have recieved a present from my mother-in-law all the way from Norway. It is the fourth birthday I am celebrating away from my family in Maldives though I have already recieved their birthday wishes and promises of presents that will arrive in the mail sometime this year.

Last night Dina and I got all dressed up and went out for dinner. We went to a little but very famous Mexican restaurant in South Yarra. We found that it was a famous place because so many internation tennis stars have dined there. We saw pictures of Agassi and Leyton Hewitt. Also newspaper clips of Roger Federer being spotted there. They even had burritos on their menu named after Agassi and Hewitt. We did not order them. I ordered a Beef and Chiken fajita while Dina got the Beef Colorado. The servings when they arrived were huge and we had a little trouble trying to finish it though I did manage to eat all of mine while Dina left some of hers. The food was deliscious and we ordered one serving of caramel pudding for dessert which we shared. Needless to say I was so full I had trouble getting up. I am still feeling full and bloated more than twelve hours after that dinner but we are planning on going out to Southgate for lunch anyway.

I also got presents from Dina which were in three parts. The first part was just the card with a little post it note saying that could be exchanged for a fancy backpack of my choice whenever I felt like going out shopping for one. The second part was a novel called "Velocity" from Dean Koontz who is my favourite author. The third part was tickets to the comedy club next saturday. I am allowed to take a partnerto the show. Hmmm... wonder who that will be??

All in all it was a very good day and it is not over yet. I am hoping for more wishes and presents that will flow in from everyone so keep 'em coming guys. Ciao for now. I am off for lunch.

My birthday present

my sister sent me a gift
on the eve of my birthday
wrapped in ribbons of red
tied in a bow intricate
delivered on fluffy white clouds
a siren song playing in the background
trumpets heralding the arrival
of my birthday present...







It has been a year since my sister gave birth to my niece and I have still to see her face to face, still to hold her in my arms and give her a cuddle. I am hoping that I will see her before she grows up.

I wish you a very happy birthday, my lovely little lady and hope you enjoy all the presents I have sent you. Don't let your mom eat all the cake. Tell her to save some for me...

Love don't let me go

this is the best video for a song i have seen in quite a long time. the dance moves and atmosphere mesh well with the music and makes me wanna dance...

Interview with a marine

Radio interview quote from Marine Corps General Reinwald and a female radio host. He wants to host some boy scouts at the training center for some practise excercises. As follows

FEMALE INTERVIEWER: So, General Reinwald, what things are you going to teach these young boys when they visit your base?

GENERAL REINWALD: We're going to teach them climbing, canoeing, archery, and shooting.

FEMALE INTERVIEWER: Shooting! That's a bit irresponsible, isn't it?

GENERAL REINWALD: I don't see why, they'll be properly supervised on the rifle range.

FEMALE INTERVIEWER: Don't you admit that this is a terribly dangerous activity to be teaching children?

GENERAL REINWALD: I don't see how. We will be teaching them proper rifle discipline before they even touch a firearm.

FEMALE INTERVIEWER: But you're equipping them to become violent killers.

GENERAL REINWALD: Well, you're equipped to be a prostitute, but you're not one, are you?

The radio went silent and the interview ended. You gotta love the Marines!

Maldivian Students Abroad

Some friends of mine have started a website dedicated to all the Maldivian students who are studying abroad. They took it upon themselves to start up this site so that future students who go abroad will be able to figure out beforehand what that place that they are heading into will be like.

When I first came to Australia I did not really know what to expect and it was a little daunting to try and fit into this atmosphere that felt totally out of whack with what I had been used to. It took soem getting used to. Fortunaely for me I came with five other Maldivians and it was not that difficult adjusting to a new place when you have friends with you.

This is the reason for MSAi. It is to help students from Maldives to get to know some of the basics of the place where they will be spending a good part of their life in. Read what the admin of the site has to say about themselves....

With about 1500 Maldivian students studying abroad at any given time, we make up a very large information base.

The primary aim of this forum is to be a depot of useful information for prospective students from home who are aspiring higher studies abroad. What would make this Guide unique is that it will be written from our perspective. We can write about the difficulties we have faced and how to solve or circumvent them.

This is a community project. The success of this Guide rests solely on your shoulders.

The second aspect of the forum is as a discussion board where we can spend some time voicing our views on a variety of subjects. We would like to make this a friendly and social atmosphere, without any indecency or vulgarities. A place fit for educated people.

We can all work together to make MaldivianStudents.com a success.

So if there are any Maldivian students who are abroad at the moment or are thinking of going abroad to study please join in the community and help us make it something that would be useful for everyone.

MaldivianStudents(dot)Com

History of medicine

Heres the history of our medicine.

"I have a sore throat."

2000 BC : "eat this root"

1200 AD : "That root is heathen, say this prayer."

1500 AD : "That prayer is superstition, drink this elixir."

1800 AD : "That elixir is snake oil, Take this pill."

1900 AD : "That pill is ineffective, Take this antibiotic."

2000 AD : "That antibiotic is artificial, Here why dont you eat this root."

Tales of a Cop - Part 5

Rapunzel

He was working in the Villi Fulus in Sinamale when he got a call from a girl wanting to talk to another cop. But since that particular cop was not available, he would have to do. She would not give her real name to him so he gave her one. He called her Rapunzel because she said she had very long hair. Over the next few weeks, he got to know Rapunzel pretty intimately over the phone. It was a boring duty with not much happening so he would always look forward to the calls. He learned her real name and also her address and he gave his as well and they were very much girlfriend and boyfriend even though they had never met in person or knew what the other looked like.

One day he was off duty and going on a ride with a close friend when they passed Rapunzel's house and he mentioned to the friend that he knew this girl living there. The friend replied that he knew the girl as well and proceeded to give details of her. It seems that she was a very popular girl and one thing that she had failed to mention was that she was also a midget. Now this came as quite a surprise to him as he had been planning on going over to her house to meet her in person. After receiving this new information he did not know what to do.

He decided not to take her calls anymore. It wasn't just that she was a midget (although that also played a factor in it) but she had professed her love to him in a gift that she had sent to his house which had scare him somewhat. The person who delivered the gift was a friend of his older brother and he did not like that crowd at all. Also he was about to leave to an island as part of his duty and he wanted to make a clean break as quickly as possible.

The day before he was to leave she called him and broke down in tears telling him that she did not want him to go. She said that if he did, he would forget her. After much consoling he finally got her to calm down and ended the call. That was the last time he ever talked to Rapunzel.

About a couple of years later he was promoted into a new section and he got quite a shock when he learned his new boss's address. It was the same address as Rapunzel's. After talking to his colleague about this he learnt that Rapunzel was the boss's younger sister! He was real glad then that he had never gone to her house or even tried to get into a real relationship with her.

Day Off

Its my day off from work. I have been working for four days non stop starting from Saturday through to Tuesday. I have missed the sense of comfort that a day off brings. So today I have done pretty much nothing except sit in front of my computer and catch up on all the stuff that I have missed in the past four day which is pretty much nothing really.

A long time ago I had a job that involved me being available almost 24 hours a day seven days a week. In those days a day off was something to be cherished and I would screen my mobile for calls from the office. If it was really important the guys at the office would call from their mobile and I would answer them but most of the time even they knew the importance of a day off as it was the same thing to them also. So they would feign calling from the office line and tell the bosses that I was not answering my mobile. Later I would tell the bosses that I had left the phone somewhere and so was not able to answer it.

Its a bit too soon for me to start the same system here and I am not sure whether this new job would require me being available all the time. I am hoping not so. After all it is a job not a career.

About my writing...

I finished my "creative writing" short course last week. During the last class, the trainer made us write about what we felt for the writing of everyone else in the class. This is what the rest of the class had to say about mine...

*He demonstrates how much his (sense of) family and his home country means to him

*Your writing has always been very personal and coherent. I think you have told us a lot about yourself.

*Your sense of humour and fun belies the quiet exterior. I won't forget the "who invented milk" story anytime soon. My family also got a laugh from that one.

*Your writing is so warm, so inviting. Wherever your stories go, I want to follow because there's joy and delight in the journey and the end is wonderful.

*I've loved the warmth and humour in your writing. Youn may think you 'tell' rather than 'show', but a real warmth and heartfelt sentiment comes through.

Hard English

Some reasons why the English language is hard to learn...

___________________________________

The bandage was wound around the wound.

The farm was used to produce produce.

The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse

We must polish the Polish furniture.

He could lead if he would get the lead out.

The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.

Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.

A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

I did not object to the object.

The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.

They were too close to the door to close it.

The buck does funny things when the does are present.

A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

The wind was too strong to wind the sail.

After a number of injections my jaw got number.

Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.

I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

----

Weekend at work

It has been five days without a post but you see I have recently joined the workforce so I have very little time to sit down and write something. But I did get time but then I could not think of a thing to write so here I am, writing about the fact that I have nothing to write about.

But that is not true. so many things have happened in the past week that I can write about. It is sad that I am going to be leaving for work in exactly 30 minutes so I am not going to write about all of it now. but suffice to say that this weekend will be spent working which is going to be a first as I have not worked at all for almost 4 years now.

I want to wish a very happy birthday to my friend Saif. He will be leaving for UK pretty soon and I wish him all the best for this very interesting chapter in his life.

That should be enough for now...

HI HO... HI HO... ITS OFF TO WORK I GO....

Blog Overhaul - Part 3

It took such a long time for the blogger webpage to load that i have forgotten what it was that I was going to write about, so I am going to write another update about my blog's everchanging interface.

The google ads that I had placed in the right hand sidebar decided to turn invisible and no matter what I did, I could not make them visible again. So I did what any other self respecting blogger would do when faced with a problem that was above their ability to solve. I deleted them. Completely. I will put them back up once I have figured out what exactly caused the invisibility in the first place... but don't hold your breath.

I have put a linkbox in the right hand sidebar where the google ads were. These links are for my poems that I have written over the past few years. There arent many as I have lost some of the poems that I had written in a notepad (the paper kind not the computer software!) I have been trying to write more and probably will do so in another few years. Again... Don't hold your breath.

Also I put in a chatbox so that visitors can leave me a message or a comment about the blog in general. I have seen this kind of chatbox in lots of other blogs so I thought I would give it a try as well. However I am not expecting that many messages so I won't be holding my breath.

Finally I have gathered a thousand visitors to my blog and all it took for that was a year and some days. Another couple hundred years and i might have a million visitors... I think i might hold my breath for this one actually...

Addiction

The sea, so calm, so serene
reminds me of you...
The sea, violent with currents unseen
reminds me of you...
The lands, carpeted in green
reminds me of you...
The lands, riddled with monoliths obscene
reminds me of you...
The wind, a breeze just right
reminds me of you...
The wind, blowing with all its might
reminds me of you...
The sky, blue with tufts of white
reminds me of you...
The sky, dark with colours of the night
reminds me of you...

An e-mail from the past

I got a surprise last night. One of my best friends revealed that he had an email that I had sent him a long long time ago. This email had been sent so long ago that I did not even remember what I had written so I asked him to forward it to me and then delete his copy. The reason for the deletion being that this email had been written in the prime of my youth when I was going crazy about my feelings for a certain someone that will remain unnamed. But most of you who know me would know of whom I am talking about as it was the worst kept secret ever.

These feelings (lets call them a 'crush' for want of a better word) started when I was 15 or 16 and continued until I fell in love with my first ever girlfriend who pretty much helped me forget my crush. And all it took for that was about 6, 7 or 8 years. I forget...

It was written on the 19th of October 2000 which is not that long ago but that was probably the most emotional time of my life. I had sent it from a yahoo email that I no longer have and frankly do not remember having at all. Mostly the email recounted how I was chasing after girls one after the other, in Male' and out of it, and how when I got near my 'crush' I would get tongue tied and all those other crrazy emotions that everyone feel at sometime or other in their life.

Once I got the email, I remembered just how strong that crush had been. But with it also came the knowledge that I had really moved on. I am married now and so is my crush but to different people. We still remain friends and chat sometimes very infrequently online. As my wife pointed out after reading this email (she thought it was cute... ), I will always have a soft spot for her.

------

After much deliberation I decided not to post that email here. I am going to delete it even though my wife wants to print it out and show it to our kids and grandkids... I dont know...

Dissecting the Demon with the long navel

There is a folk tale from Maldives called 'Foolhu Dhigu Handi'. Literally translated it means 'the demon with the long navel.' I have been trying for some time now to actually write down this story in English but for some reason or other have not been able to do so. The gist of the story is that a woman by the name of Aiminabee goes to the mosque to get water from the well. There she encounters the 'foolhu dhigu handi' who is sitting in the grave yard and pouring sand over himself with a skull. Needless to say Aiminabee runs away screaming and the demon follows her home where he proceeds to ask her whether she had seen him in the graveyard pouring sand over himself with a skull. Obviously he was looking for the answer 'no, I did not,' which is what Aiminabee tells him and he goes away happily.

But he is back again the next day, and the next, every time with the same question; whether Aiminabee had seen him, blah blah blah. Every time Aiminabee answers in the negative and he goes away. As this is playing havoc with poor old Aiminabee's nerves she finally decides to tell her husband and he makes up a plan to get rid of the demon once and for all. He tells her to make a bowl of lonumirus which is a paste made with lots of chilli and other spices while he goes and sharpens his knife. He also proceeds to check over their hut and fixes up every tiny nook and cranny he could find save one. They then proceed to wait for the demon to make its appearance.

Sure enough the demon arrives and asks his inevitable question. This time however Aiminabee shouts out 'Yes! Yes! I did see you in the grave yard pouring sand over your head with a skull!'

The demon is taken aback for a moment. He had not expected this answer but then he finally realises what had been said and gets very, very angry. So angry in fact that he screams and bangs on the door of the hut. But Aiminabee's husband had barricaded the door so he goes around the hut searching and poking, trying to find a way inside. When he comes upon the only hole that had not been sealed, he stops and stuffs his elongated navel in through the hole.

This was the moment that Aiminabee's husband had been waiting for. He takes hold of the long navel and pulls. He keeps pulling till the end of the navel has been reached and the demon has his belly to the side of the hut. He then cuts off the navel and Aiminabee splats lonumirus over the gaping wound. The demon does not know what hit him but he is in obvious agony. He jumps up and down and runs off screaming the words that all Maldivian children remember from this story; Addho ma foolho Foolhako Foolho. Which translated goes something like this; Ow! Ow! My navel! Qw navel! Ow Navel! Or something.

I first heard this story long time ago when I was in diapers and was enchanted by it. Nowadays after finishing a degree in literature I am feeling very grown up and this means no more just listening to a story and enjoying it for what it is but I have to go dissecting around and figure out why, what and when.

The first question is why oh why is this demon pouring sand over himself??? Is this what they do? Is this how they keep themselves clean? Maybe water has a negative effect on them much like acid has on us. And where did he get that skull? Sure it is a graveyard but surely all the skeletons are buried. And this graveyard is in the grounds of a mosque so the most obvious question would be how the heck did that demon get so near a mosque to dig up the skull of someone buried there and then go on to terrorise the womenfolk who are getting water from the well???

The next question is to do with the demon's navel. This whole story revolves around the fact that the demon has a long navel. How did he get such a long navel? We don't know. Why wasn't it cut off and tied up? We don't know. Why oh why did he in fact try to stuff his navel through that hole in the side of Aiminabee's hut? That we do know; because he is an idiot. I don’t really know what he was trying to accomplish with that. As far as the story goes, this navel does not have any special abilities. It wasn't able to grab things or even move without the demon moving it. Most of the pictures I have seen from old Maldivian storybooks contain pictures with the demon walking around with its navel coiled up like a rope around one of his hands. So if it was trying to get the navel to actually go inside the hut and grab Aiminabee, he was seriously out of luck.

And aren't demons supposed to be stronger than humans??? That is in fact the basis of every folk tale I have ever heard. But once the demon pokes his navel into the hole and Aiminabee's husband pulls it all the way through the demon does not resist and it comes in pretty easily. Why?

There is the other side to this story of course. The one rated 'Mature' and 'Adults only'. I am sure you know how that story goes. *wink* *wink*

Another version of Foolhu Dhigu Handi (after reading this version most of my dissection pretty much goes out the window... hehehe. AND I finally know the name of Aiminabee's husband :P )

Looking for Lunch

I had a hell of a time trying to get some lunch yesterday. After handing in some forms to the place that I am going to start work in next week, I decided that I should reward myself by having some Indian food for lunch. Previously I had been to three places in Melbourne that served good Indian food. There was one on Collins Street, one at Monash Clayton and one at Southgate. So without really deciding on the place I thought I would catch the train from Moonee Station.

As I stepped into the station the train pulled out so I had to wait a further fifteen minutes for the next one. Now once I got on this train I decided that I would not go to Clayton; it was too far away. So that left either Collins Street or Southgate. The train stopped first nearer to Southgate so that was settled then.

With that decision made I prepared to step out on Southern Cross Station... which was a mistake because the station I need was the next one - Flinders Street. I only realised this after getting out of the train at Southern Cross and going outside. So I had to turn around, go back to the platform and catch another train to Flinders Street Station.

Now this should have been enough drama for a Thursday. But once I got out at Flinders Street, I headed the wrong way so I was in fact heading away from Southgate instead of towards Southgate. To top it off it was also raining and after going a bit of ways I realised in fact that I was heading the wrong way so, once again I turned tail and headed back the way I had come, back to the station and this time, I saw headed the right way and managed to get into Southgate and the Indian place without further delay.

Once I had ordered rice with beef vindaloo and lamb korma and settled down to eat, I took my time. It wasn't everyday that I went through so much just to get some good food into my stomach. All in all I would say it was worth it. That was the best lunch I had had in a long time.

Window Live Writer

Windows Live Writer was a bust. I don't think I will be using that to post anything to my blog in the future. The layout was pretty cool and I could post very easily. My problem is that I cannot post any pictures using WLW. When I try to post pictures it says that the website does not allow posting of pictures so I am guessing that posting pictures from WLW is available only to Windows Live Spaces. Oh well it doesnt matter too much to me. I can still use Blogger directly and I end up with good posts (whenever I decide to write them that is ... )

This is a test

I am trying out Windows Live Writer.  lets see how well this will work. Looks very cool on the writer page but who knows how the actual post will end up. knock on wood!

Passing of a year...

Somebody pointed out to me yesterday that it has been a year since I started this blog. I did not notice it but yes, it has been a year and some days. I started this blog on the 17th of August 2005. Then I did not really understand what a blog is supposed to contain and I did not really update my blog regularly either. All in all in those 371 days of the blog's life I have posted only 52 entries. Thats like one post every 7 days. If I really do some checking I probably will find that there have been gaps of more than a month in between posts.

It has been only recently that I have tried to post more regularly. Actually since I started doing this creative writing course I was given an assignment to identify 100 things that I want to do in my life and on top of that list of course was "To compile a list of 100 things I want to accomplish in my life." Second on that list was "To write at least one entry on my blog everyday." That does not include the pictures or videos or jokes that I have posted in the past year. Only those genuine entries that have come from the creative labyrinth that is my mind. This entry is the first one. Many more is to come, so watch this space...

Pre - Birthday Wishes

My sister called me the night before last. She wanted to wish me a happy birthday which was a bit confusing because my birthday is not for another month. It seems that her kid (my niece) who was born one day before my birthday was celebrating turning 11 months that night and my mother had got a bit confused and thought it was my birthday as well. So when she told my sister she had called me without realising the actual date. Once I told them it was not my birthday and they got all embarrassed. At least I got to talk to my sister, mother, father and brother. I also managed to hear some noises made by my niece who did not want to wish me a happy birthday. She is probably the only one there who had managed to keep her wits around them. Call me in a month guys… and send me a birthday present this time…

Lesson in Anatomy

First year students at Med School were receiving their first anatomy Class with a real dead human body. They all gathered around the surgery table, with the body covered with a white sheet.

The professor started the class by telling them, "In medicine, it Is necessary to have two important qualities as a doctor. The first is that you not be disgusted by anything involving the human body."

For an example, the professor pulled back the sheet, stuck a finger in the butt of the corpse, withdrew it, and stuck it in his mouth.

"Go ahead and do the same thing I did," he told his students.

The students freaked out, hesitated for several minutes, but Eventually took turns sticking a finger in the butt of the dead body and sucking on it.

When everyone finished, the professor looked at them and said, "The second important quality is observation. I stuck in my middle finger, and sucked on my index finger. Now pay attention."

On Having a Bad Day

Supposed to be a true story!

THE NEXT TIME YOU THINK YOU ARE HAVING A BAD DAY: Fire authorities in California found a corpse in a burned out section of forest while assessing the damage done by a forest fire.
The deceased male was dressed in a full wet suit, complete with SCUBA tanks on his back, flippers, and face mask.

A post-mortem revealed that the person died not from burns, but from massive internal injuries.

Dental records provided a positive identification. Investigators then set about to determine how a fully clad diver ended up in the middle of a forest fire.

It was revealed that, on the day of the fire, the person went for a diving trip off the coast some 20 miles away from the forest. The firefighters, seeking to control the fire as quickly as possible, called in a fleet of helicopters with very large dip buckets. Water was dipped from the ocean then flown to the forest fire and emptied. You guessed it.

One minute our diver was making like Flipper in the Pacific, the next he was doing the breast stroke in a fire dip bucket 300 feet in the air. Apparently he extinguished exactly 5'-10" of the fire. Some days it just doesn't pay to get out of bed!

This article was taken from the California Examiner, March 20, 1998

Creative Writing

I started doing a short course in Creative Writing last week. My assignment for the week was to practice creative writing on "a word."

I got a bit confused by this. Did the trainer want me to choose a word, just any word, from the dictionary and write something about that particular word? Or did she want me to write on exactly "a word?" Literally? It was probably the former. But then I got to thinking… It would be really creative of me if I started writing about "a word." The problem was I did not know how to go about it. And I am pretty damn lazy to think too much about it. Besides I am feeling quite sick today and not up to writing anything. I just want to curl up in bed and sleep, sleep, sleep till I am all better.

I cannot however do that. This course is for three hours once every Monday and I have to go to the class today. So I have taken some painkillers and am hoping against hope that I will feel up to making that one and a half hour journey that would take me to the campus, get through the three hours of listening, creating, writing, talking about what we have written and why and then make the one and a half hour trip back home.

So here goes nothing:

A word that I like is like

I like to use the word like

It's akin to a whole hour of therapy,

Of foraging into my psyche.

A word that I love is love

I love to use the word love

Makes me feel as warm as a hand

That's wrapped up in a glove

A word that I need is need

I need to use the word need

It is an OCD but …

I don't know how to finish that. But my time is up and I have to get going if I am going to be able to make it to the course. Maybe the trainer can help me unlock the creative flow that is at the moment banging his head on the locked door of his cell.

Miss France

The Zidane headbutting of Mattarazi has given rise to several similar incidents. There was one incident with models, another where a jockey headbutted his horse and now this. Have to laugh though...

Running with the Dogs

I have taken up jogging again. Been quite a long time since I have last exercised regularly. Still I needed to lose 20 kilos so I have finally managed to talk myself into going jogging.

There's a waterways very near to my apartment. I am not sure it is called a waterways but it is directly under the freeway and there is a canal with running water. There are paths on both sides so that people who want to walk, jog or bike can do so.

Yesterday when I started my jogging I met this huge dog. really, really huge. His owner was almost dwarfed by the sheer size of this dog. I think it was a saint bernard but I am not sure. I don't know much about dogs. But i think it was a saint bernard because I remember this one cartoon which portrayed a saint bernard dog was and this one looked pretty much like the one in that cartoon. Anyways I was talking about how huge it was. I started jogging on the other side as I did not want this dog to come after me.

Probably it's size would not have been that much noticeable except for the fact that as I was finishing my jogging I came up the smaller version of it. I think everyone has seen those small dogs that celberities like Paris Hilton is always carrying around. So this extremely small dog came running up to me and sniffing around my shoes. It's owner kept calling to it and it finally decided to go back to the owner after thoroughly inspecting my shoes and deciding there was nothing interesting about them. I asked the owner if it was a chihuahua but he replied that it was a miniature dachshund or something like that. I was too tired to really care.

So all in all I managed to burn some fat (which I probably have already put back on) and I saw two dogs of the oppposite sides of the size chart. Not bad for an hour of sweating.

Fireworks of New Years Eve 2005

It has taken me a year and half to upload these videos. Still it brings back some good memories. My wife (at the time my girlfriend), myself and a friend who was studying in Tasmania went to sydney for New Years festivities. We went to the harbour bridge around 12 o'clock at noon on the 31st of December 2004 and camped out till midnite. so we spent more than 12 hours waiting there and it was all over in less than 10 minutes. But the fireworks were spectacular and it was soemthing me and my wife had wanted to do for sometime. The videos were taken with a digital camera that allows only 30 seconds at a time to be recorded. I ended up with 10 clips of fireworks. I managed to cleave them together and make two vids each 2 and a half minutes long. The second clip is better than the first one. Enjoy.

3 Stages Of A Man's Life

Before Marriage

After Marriage

After Divorce

Source

Tales of a Cop - Part 4

Forbidden Love

He was on reception duty when the call came. His superior officer told him to get ready so that they could both travel to a nearby island for a case. It seemed like a simple case. Two girls who were under house arrest had gone out of their houses and thereby committed another crime. It always happened. What was not simple was the history of these two girls.

The island itself seemed to have contributed to the original crime that had been committed. Their crime?? Lesbianism.

There were few men on the island. Most of the menfolk were in other islands working. This of course left the womenfolk to their own devices. As he read the girls’ case files he got more and more confused. He was pretty naive when it came to women and had never really thought that women could have sex. The graphic descriptions in their files opened up a whole new world to him.

It was not the first time something like this has happened on that island. There have been other instances. One involved a mother and her daughter. Her reply when asked why this had happened was that she had not breastfed her daughter when she was younger so she thought she would do it now.

Anyways he went to the island and brought the two girls to the island office where his boss had a long talk with them and advised them not to violate their house arrest. They were sent back to their homes and he went back to his island.

Blog Overhaul - part 2

I got this template which I am using from erisfree which somehow seems to havegot itself suspended. That means some of the features of my blog are not working, like the background which had its image stored directly on that website. So I put in a new background which doesn't really mesh with the whole look of the blog but it is a start and will have to stay that way till I can figure out a way to make a new background. I also have to update some of the links. I think I will get rid of the credit box and put the blogger button in the buttons box. That will do for the moment I think...

X-Men 3: The Last Standing Ovation

I think this movie would ahve been much better than "X-Men 3: The Last Stand". From the guys who brought you "Brokeback to the future!" Watch it and laugh!

Controversial roundabout in Male

ControversialroundaboutinMale
Originally uploaded by khuscen.

Rest in Peace Dha'tha

My aunt died last week. She was my mother's older sister. She had been sick for sometime now and it is probably a good thing for her that she has now moved on to a better place.

Inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi raji'un

Pathfinder

Release Date: September 8, 2006
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Director: Marcus Nispel
Screenwriter: Laeta Kalogridis
Starring: Karl Urban, Moon Bloodgood, Russell Means, Clancy Brown, Jay Tavare, Nathaniel Arcand, Ralf Moeller
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama
Official Website: Pathfinderthemovie.com

Plot Summary:An action-adventure set in the time when Vikings tried to conquer North America, "Pathfinder" tells the heroic story of a young Norse boy left behind after his clan shipwrecks on the Eastern shores. Despite his lineage, the boy is raised by the very Indians his kinsmen set out to destroy. Now, as the Vikings return to stage another barbaric raid on his village, the 25 year-old Norse warrior (Karl Urban) wages a personal war to stop the Vikings' trail of death and destruction. Forging his own path, his destiny is revealed and his identity re-claimed.

I wake up sometimes at night

I wake up sometimes at night;
The dark is still there
It is not yet light

I try to remember why
I woke up; and there
Right beside me you lie

I remember now; 'twas your hand
It had slipped from where
It should be; in my hand!

I take back your hand slowly
And squeeze it very very softly
I look at your face; my angel asleep!

At last i can go back to sleep

Green Eyes

Green eyes follow me
Wherever I go
Be it up or down
Or sideways through the door

Green eyes capture me
Times when i dare to look
My heart make like drums
The whole of my body shook

Green eyes adore me
From a distance afar
A shyness so endearing
As approachable as a star

Green eyes touch me
As I have never been touched before
As I want to be touched again
Countless times more

Green eyes smile at me
Stars winking in the night
The sun signaling the return of day
Putting the dark to flight

Green eyes question me
A query I cannot answer
A journey I cannot begin
A love I cannot return

Words to live by

In promulgating your esoteric cogitations or articulating your superficial sentimentalities, and amicable philosophical or psychological observations, beware of platitudinous ponderosity.

Let your conversational communications possess a compacted conciseness, a clarified comprehensibility, a coalescent cogency, and a concatenated consistency.

Eschew obfuscation and all conglomeration of flatulent garrulity, jejune babblement, and asinine affectations.

Let your extemporaneous descantings and unpremeditated expatiations have intelligibility and voracious vivacity without rodomontade or thrasonical bombast.

Sedulously avoid all polysyllabic profundity, pompous prolificacy, and vain vapid verbosity.

In short: "Be brief and don't use big words."

Spidey Countdown Clock

Get the Spiderman 3 Countdown Clock here

Sunset on Eyadafushi

A friend took this picture when she went on holidays to Maldives. Beautiful!

Pussycat Dolls featuring Snoop Dogg - Buttons

hottest music video I have seen this year...

blog overhaul

I have been experimenting with different types of blog templates and trying to see which template best suited my blog. I have found a good one at http://blogspottemplates.blogspot.com/ and am currently trying to tweak it so that it looks nicer than it already is. I am learning a lot about blogging trying to do this. I like the spidey backgroud but I like the backgroud with dina and me as well. so lets see... I might put up a poll later and decide on it. once I have figured out how to put polls on.

Unsung

Night turns into morn,
Around us the world has grown,
Some dies and some are born
Still my love for you is not shown.
Sitting straight on my throne,
I stare at you until you are gone,
Leaving me all alone,
My love for you... unknown.

Drawn Together - Terms of Endearment (P2/2)

Drawn Together - Terms of Endearment (P1/2)

The best reality television series i have seen to date

A Scanner Darkly

Whose Line is it Anyway - S03E23 - Let's Make a Date

think i figured out h0ow to post to my blog directly from youtube.

Transformers teaser

Animator VS Animation

Spiderman 3 teaser

Lady with the long dark hair

Lady with the long, dark hair,
Don't you know how much I care?
Don't you think we'd make a nice pair?
Love like this is so very rare.
I don't know how much longer I can bear
To keep this inside me, until you dare
To give me a sign,
So I can make you mine.

Zoom 

Tales of a Cop - Part 3

Corruption

He never wanted to be in the Police. It just happened. One day he was doing his studies like many other of his mates and the next he was being drafted. It was so quick that he never got a chance to protest. And even then he knew for sure that none of his protests would mean a thing. It would be like beating a wall and he did not want to get his hands all bloody.

After his recruit training he was sectioned into the Patrols. His duties ranged from manning the reception desk, answering the 119 phones, and some times going out in the jeeps to patrol the streets of Male’. He did his job even though he did not like it that much. He would show up at work on time, day in, day out. He was never sick and he never complained.

The Villis around Male’ were also part of his duties. Before he had gone to Girifushi he had been station in two of these for two months at a time. After his training the Villis were inducted into the Patrols’ duties so he would sometimes have to man the reception at one of those places.

He remembers one night when he was alone on duty, some of his colleagues had captured two boys allegedly breaking into a car. They were brought to the Villi instead of being taken to the Headquarters. That was all right. Sometimes it was easier to get a confession in a smaller place. One boy was taken inside while the other one stayed outside with him and another colleague. This colleague kept trying to make the boy confess even going so far as to threaten him with his walkie-talkie. The battery in this walkie-talkie was really heavy and if hit hard enough would leave a sizeable bruise. The colleague did not hit the boy that hard.

Another day two guys were brought in to another Villi. They had been caught smoking pot and had thrown away their stuff when they saw the cops. The cops tried to make them tell where they had thrown away the stuff. He saw one of his colleagues aim a kick at the groin area of one of the guys. He cried out and started screaming. The colleague put his hands on the guy’s mouth and told him to stop screaming before he hurt him further.

So many instances like this kept happening over the course of the years he remained in the Police. He did not like what was happening but he did not know what to do. In an island later on he was faced with a man who had helped his wife murder their unborn child… allegedly. He remembers nudging the man with his feet to make him feel uncomfortable. His superior put a stop to this and he was glad that he did. He was not sure how much far he might have gone that time. His superior had undergone special interrogative tactics abroad and frowned upon the use of force. He would much rather use his wits to get confessions.

When he was transferred to Administration, he was really glad. No more having to deal with people where he might have been tempted to use his fists. He was ecstatic when he finally left the Police altogether. He had escaped being corrupted… at least fully…

Tales of a Cop part 2

Island Hopping

He remembers when he was first drafted into the army. There were 20 other schoolmates of whom he lost track when he was sectioned to the police. He did not like it. The police were in your face all the time. All go, go, go and no waiting around. Did that mean he was lazy? He did not think so but he was not as motivated as all these people.

Then he was sent off to an island station which meant that he missed his recruitment training with all his schoolmates. They went off and got trained while he sat around an island where there was nothing to do. He got up each morning at seven sometimes later, put on his uniform and went with his colleague to the atoll house where the police got their food. Sometimes they would blow it off and go just for lunch. He did not get on with his immediate superior who was into fishing, sucking up to the island biggies and not always in that order. The only good thing about that island was that the simple folk of that island was pretty friendly. He managed to make friends with so many of the island people that they felt almost like a second home. He would go and play football every evening and sometime he would go and have dinner or lunch at some of their houses.

The boss was managed to go to Male’ at the beginning of Ramadan for a week which left him and his colleague to manage the station. That was the best time they had. They would get up when they felt like it, wear their uniform if they felt like it and most of their time was spent in their friend’s homes watching TV and eating snacks and chit chatting. How four months passed by, he did not know but it was soon time to go back to Male’ where he was still a recruit which meant that he would be getting on the next recruit training batch.

After his training it took another six months or so before he had to go to an island. This time he knew more of what to expect and the island was different this time. His food was served in the station so he did not have to go anywhere. But the island folk who worked at the station was a cool bunch which meant that he soon made friends with all their families and he managed to become very good friends with their children. He would sometimes wake up early in the morning, go to their house and pick up the baby and the other two would also come with them as they went on a walk around the island. He loved those walks.

The people of this island were divided into two. There were those that loved the police and then there were those who hated them. He somehow managed to spend his time without really arousing any animosities, though he did have to arrest a couple of them for minor incidents.

The one thing he remembers from this island was that he managed to learn to ride a bicycle there. He had grown up without really trying to learn and now as a twenty year old still did not know how to ride a bike. His colleagues found out one day when he was told to go on surveillance to the other side of the island and to take the bike. The looks on their faces managed to shame him into finally taking the bike out later that night and riding it until he could.

Then there was the badminton court out back of the station. He spent many a time there playing with his colleagues and also some others like island officials and teachers who would come around to play there.

The third island he went to was in 2001 and this island managed finally to convince him that it was not a career that he wanted to be in. He got his first kiss on that island and his first “official” girlfriend as well as many other sexual experiences which would be best not gotten into here. Anyways that girlfriend became a real problem when she was revealed to be a tramp and only trying to get with him just because it would mean and exit from the life she was currently living.

She was not the first girl he visited there. There was one more whom he had gotten to know on the phone and finally his superior had found out and he called her and arranged a date. That date ended badly when some island folk came around and he had to get out of there quickly.

The worst thing that had ever happened to him happened in that island. He loved kids. He loved babies. There was always something amazing about them that made his heart light up. So when this woman was admitted into the hospital and kept saying that she had a miscarriage and that she had flushed everything down the toilet it became the biggest and worst case he had ever worked on. Her father came around the next day and he was crying. He had found the dead baby in a box in that woman’s room. When he and his colleagues arrived at that house it was true. The baby was in a box which was crawling in ants and he had to carry it outside to get rid of the ants. There were other family members crying and wailing their hearts out. He could not however give into his feeling and cry as he was police and attending a scene of crime.

That was not the last island he went to. About two years later he managed to secure a scholarship and finally left the police to go to the biggest island he had ever been to. The island of Australia.