I'm guilty of disappearing from everyone's blog. I even have to excuse myself from my usual Friday post. I don't know if its lack of will to post/blog-hop or it was truly due to my busy schedule. Everything still seems to be blur to me - thanks to the attack by flu virus.

Anyway, the last 2 weeks have been eventful. We had second MIB gathering at Chilli's. It was fun to meet everyone again. The photos are uploaded here. We have made several changes to the structure of MIB and back with a bang! We now have a page in facebook and twitter as well. Check them out! :)

Soon, after the gathering, i fell sick *sigh*. Only get to be online once a while. But in that mean time, I got invite to contribute blog posts to a brand new blog - revivemyblogpost! It's a brilliant and fresh idea by 3point8. The blog is set up mainly to revive our ancient posts for everyone's read. It has just been launched today and I am scheduled to submit my post 2moro.

And today, my Monday started with a longer than usual traffic jam (reminds me of my previous post). I think its due to the closure of roads in KL and maybe roadblocks as well. It is so mah fan! "These guys" never learn!*sigh*

*mah fan - troublesome

A quick and shameless self-promo post :P

Thank you so much for the votes and wishes. Here are the rankings so far:

Most Popular Female Blogger
Tulipspeaks - 4.29
Bytes-Berry - 3.59
Psych Theory - 3.17


Best Personal Blog
Tulipspeaks - 3.48
Kartzworld - 2.38
Kav’s Kollage - 4.21
TheBlankPage - 3.18


The voting started on 6th of June and will end in 6th of July. So, if you haven't vote (for me that is) there is still some time left :P

My apologies for skipping Nostalgic Friday post yesterday. Was out the whole day and the by the time I come back, I was dead tired.

Let's make up for it now :)

Beginning yesterday (or was it the day before?), Manya Blog Awards has been opened to all blog readers to cast their vote for their favourite blog. Simply put, it is a Malaysian Indian version of the famous Blogger Choice Awards. The differences? Manya is confined to short-listed Malaysian Indian blogs and awarded by Putera MIC, while Blogger Choice Awards is more global. As expected, there is a lot of criticisms thrown at Manya, but the efforts shown by Putera to gain back support of bloggers is commendable. No true blogger could be 'bought' by an award, and it will definitely not 'sway' us from our way of blogging. Some may not have that confidence, but I do.



Alright, more about Manya...

I don't want to bore you all with facts which you can read in Manya's home page. There are few bloggers within our blogging community who have been nominated for this year's award, including yours truly. Most of the nominated bloggers have accepted their nomination. There are 9 categories of awards, and two more 'special' awards - Readers' Choice Award + Putera's Award.



Now, the most important part of the post...



Go to Manya Awards, and vote for me now!! :P Readers are required to rank the blogs in each category and voting period is for a month. I have been nominated in two categories - Most Popular Female Blogger and Best Personal Blog. Please vote me *blink *blink *shy *shy..

Besides, there are lot more other blogs which you may wanna get to know and vote as well!!

Start casting your vote now! :)


I have published this song before, but now I feel like wanna hear it again. Troubled time, my frens! :P

The blogworld now is under intrusion. Serious - no joke. Those living in my part of the country would probably know what I am talking about(*hint - check out mahen's post). I am not going to take sides and start to sort of attack those who caused such surge in blogging activities in Malaysia. I see it as a positive sign - even politicians from the ruling party (who used to say bloggers are mainly unemployed women) have taken up blogging. Besides, the recent developments in the country also has urged many M'sians (especially those of Indian origin) to take up blogging as well *applause! We are all blogmates now! ;)

But the question of originality arise whenever I come across these blogs. I have begin to wonder if the blogs of prominent politicians of the ruling party are actually created and maintained by them. Okie, some may be unleashing the blogger in them, but how about the others? These are people who don't even write their own speeches! Are they actually sitting in front of their costly-higher end-but-under utilised laptops? Or have they employed other individuals to blog on their behalf? If they did the later, do they actually visit their own blogs? Hmm.. I'm still wondering.

If that is one dilemma the M'sian blogwo rld is facing, another form of 'blogs' is killing the spirit of blogging as well. Those are what I call 'copy-paste-blogs', and all you can find there will be political news articles copied and pasted as their posts! *sigh... We all have the access to news portals, and I don't think we need to read the same news again and again. Okie okie.. it's an important news, we got the point the every first time we read it! Maybe you could show some of your writing skills besides the copy-paste article?

Then another group of people called celebrity bloggers. Blogging is serious business nowadays, and (certain) bloggers have clinched the celebrity blogger title, but when I read through their blogs, I can't find a single useful post which I think that would justify the tag 'celebrity blogger'. Seriously, I think that term needs to be banned! Everyone blogs as per their interests, and some celebrity bloggers ONLY blogs for others' interest. Its all about getting more hits and more hits and even more hits. The passion for blogging has died and since replaced by quest for popularity.

Maybe this may not go well with many people out there, but hey.. what's wrong in voicing it? Plus, deep down inside, we all know its true after all!

15.03.08 was our very first gathering for MINDSBLOG. Our real idea was to have a small party celebrating the victory of Barisan Rakyat :P, but somehow the idea got evolved and turned out to be a gathering of admin, authors and readers of MINDSBLOG. That would explain the short notice. Nevertheless, I thank everyone who attended the event.

It was already 1.30pm when we started with our lunch. Most of us took chicken briyani rice, some took mixed rice but some just refused to give in to the temptation, and just stick with their drinks.

My Thai Ponggal wishes to everyone celebrating it. Too bad I will be celebrating it at my office :( Yeah, I'm working tomorrow. Damn, should have taken off! *sigh

Anyway, just had time to work on 2 wallpapers - one is here and another one in the MIndsblog. Just a small introduction to the MIndsblog, a weblog especially dedicated to Malaysian Indians. Derived from the words Malaysian (M), Indian's (Inds) and Blog (Blog), the MIndsblog started off with a mission to gather all Malaysian Indian Bloggers (MIB) in a common platform. Beside creating a platform for all of us to mingle around, and contribute to the progress and well-being of our community at large in the future.

So, who are we? We are a group of Malaysian Indian Bloggers (MIB) who wanted to start this blog ever since we organized Bloggers Buff 2007! That was like 4 months ago and now finally the plan has materialized. Pheww…! The MIndsblog team members are:

BMahendran - His name says it all! He blogs in Bolehland.

Puvanan - Our young engineer (wink wink) from JB! He blogs in The Blank Page.

Saravanan - He is the one providing technical support for MIndsblog. Thanks a lot Sara! He blogs in Saravanan07.com.

Raaja -Hails from the Penang. The initiator of this whole idea of creating one platform for MIBs. He blogs in Raajarox.

Praveen - The jewel of MIndsblog. A busy blogger from Kuala Lumpur. She blogs in The Dissected Mind.

Rames -The designer of MIndsblog. An avid photographer as well. You may find his designs and photos in RamesStudio.

and yours truly.

Would like to join us? There are only two rules if you would like to contribute to MIndsblog. One - you have to be a Malaysian Indian and two - you have to write a post on any category (refer to categories in MIndsblog) in relevance to Malaysian Indians. That’s all. Simple isn’t it? Just e-mail us (admin@mindsblog.com or im@tulipspeaks.com) if you would like to contribute to MIndsblog. We will do the rest!


Now, before I forget, here is the wallpaper as promised:

Today is the D-day of the planned rally by HINDRAF. This supposedly peaceful assembly has turned ugly with the FRU (Federal Reserve Unit) firing tear gasses and chemical-sprayed water cannon at the assembled crowd.

Malaysian police have used tear gas and water cannon against a protest by thousands of ethnic Indians in the country's largest city, Kuala Lumpur.

Sunday's protest in the shadow of the city's famous twin towers was organised by a Hindu rights group to draw attention to complaints of discrimination against the minority ethnic Indian community.

Many ethnic Indians complain they are marginalised in terms of employment and business opportunities by a government dominated by the majority ethnic Malays.

Read the rest in Al-Jazeera


Report & visual by Al-Jazeera:
[updated with 3 more videos]




The latest updates (news, photos, video & audio reports) are available in bmahendran's BOLEHLAND. Another mirror site has been set up HERE if you find it difficult to access his site.

[update]

The news on rally being featured in numerous blogs & online news portals. This post has been highlighted in Newskini as well:

What you get to see in the national newspapers:

About 200 people gathered outside a hypermarket here yesterday to protest the the assault on a 22-year-old man by two security guards on Friday. Technician R. Sashindran claimed the guards hit him on the head and body repeatedly with a plastic stool until it broke and then forced him to write a confession that he had shoplifted some items from the hypermarket.

He claimed they then forced him to pay RM30 for the items he allegedly stole.

Sashindran claimed the guards later put several items into his bag and took pictures of him holding the bag before calling the police, who he claimed also assaulted him.

"One hit me on the back with his hand while the other used the butt of his gun."
Sashindran later lodged a police report, claiming he was taken to the Section 11 police station where he was forced to write another confession.

The protesters, who included members of non-governmental organisations, later met representatives from the management, who promised to investigate the claims.

District police chief ACP Noor Azam Jamaludin said police were investigating the case.

Source: NST


What you don't get see in the national newspapers*:

The following is the excerpt of the police report made by one Sashindran a/l Ravichandran,22 who was beaten and insulted by 2 security guards of the Giant store.

On 16 Nov 2007 around 11.20am, I went to Giant in Section 13, Shah Alam to buy some things. After purchasing items for RM23, I put it on the counter to buy another item.

[…] After talking via my handphone, I was reprimanded by two Giant's security guards and brought to their room. There I was assaulted from behind by one of the guard.

The guard kept on assaulting me and forced me to sit down. He erased the kum kum I was wearing and snapped away my chain with a pendant bearing Lord Krishna. Then he took the pendant and put it on my forehead, kicked me from back and said "Now you look like a devil".

He was later made to take pictures holding some items that was planted in his bag. The guards called police who later continued the abuse in the police station.

In the police patrol car, one of the policemen insulted me by saying:
1. “ India keling you apa 08 punya orangkah “ ( I seriously don't know how to translate this one)

2. “ I can let you go, then shot and dump you anywhere"

Then he took my staff ID from my wallet and threw it out of the patrol car though I pledged not to. He said "You definitely going inside the lock up, you will lose your job. so there is no need for the ID. This is Islamic country, why are you here? If you wanna steal, you can go back to India."

*Translated from the excerpt in Mahen's Bolehland.




Now should anyone blame the community if they want to organize a rally condemning these kinda insults on Indians?

A class action on behalf of Malaysian Indians has filed at The Royal Courts of Justice London on 30th August 2007 to sue the UK Government for bringing in Indians as indentured laborers into Malaya & exploiting them for 150 years & thereafter failing to protect the minority Indians rights in The Federal constitution when independence was granted, Hence making Malaysian Indians a permanently colonialized society until today.

A petition with 100,000 signatures to be presented to her Royal Highness the Queen of England to appoint her Majesty's Queen Counsels to represent the poor, underclass, oppressed and suppressed Malaysian Indians would be presented at the British High
Commission as follow:

Date : 25th November 2007 ( Sunday)
Time: 9 am
Venue: British High Commission 185,
Jalan Ampang, 50450, Kuala Lumpur.

Democratic minded citizens of all races are urged to attend and show the British Government we are united & serious with our demands for Justice & protection as subject of Commonwealth

Latest info on the rally can be obtained from Mahen's Bolehland

Online buddies never fail to amaze me. Whenever I post something, the comments never stop pouring in. In fact, I do receive some crap which could not be published. An usual post in tulipspeaks will be greeted with a moderate number of hits and a fair number of comments. But sadly, whenever I post sensitive issues like my previous post, which I really need everyone's feedback and co-operation in making it 'big' enough to attract relevant authorities' attention, nothing came out of it. To be fair, yes.. there are caring and sensitive souls out there who share my grief, but the majority remains silent. It is not that no one reading it - my hits shoot up like no one's business when I published the post. So, why the silence? This is something I noticed even in other blogs such as Bolehland & Kav's Kollage. Why no one is speaking up? Afraid? Oh come on! Bloggers are not timid creatures!! Bloggers advocate free speech, and that's what I expect of everyone here.

I'm sorry if I'm putting high expectation, and I am aware that it's readers' rights to comment or not. But at the same time, I would like to see some sort of feedback and awareness among the community. Guess that is not too much to ask for this Deepavali.


Okie okie.. Forgive me for nagging you guys.. back to my Deepavali mood.. I did two wallpapers for Deepavali, which I used as e-comment & e-card as well. Here they are:

**I'm getting lazier nowadays, so only one size (1024*768) available. Feel free to re-size them.

to Mahen & Puvanan. Both bloggers from UTP, Perak went back to their campus today after completing their 8 months stint as interns in Kuala Lumpur. To those who don't know, their campus (Tronoh) is few hours drive from KL, and that limit the possibility of frequent meeting :(

I am too tired to give a full account of the meeting. Anyway, we had a kutty gathering - the boys, me, Praveen & sis. Watched a movie and spent a while in the Dunkin's Donut. Some pics..

Hey guys.. Rames did us a favour by creating a poster for Bloggers Buff 2007. Check it out! Cool stuff!
And don't forget to register by this Thursday!

I have read soooooooooooo many reviews about Sivaji - The Boss that I have decided NOT to write a review on it. Ah.. that doesn't mean it was not a cool movie. A pure entertainer! Director Shanker being "Director Shanker" never failed to highlight the use of technology in his movies. In this particular song, Rajini was basically transformed into 'someone' else :p How was it done? Watch the making of oru kuudai sunlight here:

Ah..feel so good to be back in my office (and blogging!). I came back from my trip yesterday and it was quite refreshing. Have not edited the photos yet and probably I can get it up by Friday. So for today, let me introduce a bloggers event we are conducting right here in Kuala Lumpur!

What: Bloggers Buff 2007 is a workshop cum forum organized to gather Malaysian bloggers from different genres together to network and explore various issues and aspects of blogging. When : Sunday, 8th July 2007( 8.30am – 5.30pm) Where :Dewan Dato’ Haji Sidek, Jalan Kg Attap, K.Lumpur

Thats right! We are conducting a blogger workshop!!! Oh no! We are not going to 'teach' you how to blog.. I know you guys are pro at it ;). So what do we intend to do?

# To create a good network of Malaysian bloggers of different genres.
# To alienate fears and negative perception of blogs in mainstream print media.
# To promote blogging as a hobby and as a potential income generator.
# To promote blogging as a medium to exchange information.

Now.. its all about networking and promoting blog as vital and most happening medium of communication for today's world!

I just can't remember when we came up with this idea to conduct such ambitious project.. but the credits goes to the whole team - Mahendran, the gentleman who is chairing the commitee & commitee members; P Kamalanathan, Praveen, Puvanan and yours truly.

This is a blogging event organized by bloggers for bloggers regardless genre, gender or race, and I am counting on you guys to make it a hit!

Okie now..I know you are all geared up and wants to know more about this event. All you have to do is to visit Bloggers Buff 2007, read through our welcome post and tentative event schedule. IF you think this is for you, get yourself registered by completing the registration form. Let me emphasis here - all participants need to pre-register themselves and NO walk-in blogger will be entertained that day. Don't tell me I didn't warn you! ;)

Last but not the least, please kindly spread the word around by putting up the promo badge which was done by one of our bloggers, Saravanan in support of this event & linking it back to Bloggers Buff 2007.

The blogger's meeting @ gathering went on fine. There were 8 of us - Me, Anitha, Praveen, Visithra, Mahen, Saravanan, Puvanan & Murali attending it. Some of us have met before but some of us don't. So, it was more of a session getting to know each other. A lot of gossiping too! Hahahaha..

Sis & I reached Starbucks at about 3.10pm (gathering at 3.00pm) and was greeted by Saravanan. Moments later Puvanan joined us. Things were pretty quiet then. I was like.. "oppsi! this guys are not talking. are they shy or something?". They proved me wrong, once Praveen, Visithra & Murali joined the club! Mahen joined us a little late - making a grand entrance (ama thaane Mahen? :P).

Besides chatting with each other for 4 hours.. we also came up with an idea to form a group called United Malaysian Indian Bloggers (which I hope to be changed to Malaysian Indian Bloggers). It is not a group like an organization or something. As for now, it will be just a loosely-connected group of Malaysian bloggers of Indian origin. We have several plans in line, which we hope to announce from time to time. If you are a Malaysian Indian blogger, please let us know if you are interested to join hand with us. Promise you won't get bored. ;)

I wanted to post many pics initially but just to make things more spicy, we decided not to put up the photos taken in the gathering. Photos are shared only among the attendees. Thus you may not find any of the photos in Flickr or blogs.

That's right guys.. we are gonna meet! I hope you guys have read Praveen's post on the gathering. I think its a wonderful idea to meet up. Its gonna be a friendly meet, with alot of fun and possibly a serious agenda as well. Keeping my fingers crossed! Now.. this is what I call a great welcome back gift for me! Can't wait for Sunday :P

p/s: thanks alot for the e-mails, offliners (chats) and smses. I appreciate the fact that there are people out there willing to listen me when I need them the most. Will be slowly start visiting everyone's space soon. Hang on there! Love all!

A spiritual piece of work by Maestro Illayaraja. May be an excellent start of a Friday morning. Every time I hear this song, it never fails to create a sensation in me. A master piece.

Movie: Thaaiye Moogambigai (not so sure...anyone can confirm?)
Song: Janani Janani