Pradeep Kumar Doshi and Swe Sin Tha
Pradeep Kumar Doshi:
Recalling my life back in the 70s & 80s. These five pages will allow my memory lane. In the school classroom, seatings were arranged based on alternate genders of different cultures, teachers used blackboard and chalk to teach us. If you misbehave, a small chalk will be thrown at you to pay attention. Ha Ha!!
I will travel around by public transport SBS bus, non-A/C, and the best seats were the window seat to enjoy the view and the breeze. The conductor will issue tickets which were a collectable item due to four numerical serial numbers. Collecting stamps was also part of my hobby. Communication was by letters to the world.
Game time!! No game console to play. Playing paper ball for soccer, chapteh and marbles (goli) with the neighbourhood kids.
School homework was completed by going to the library or self studying the entire chapter by ourselves. Sharing each other’s homework was an option. There were no computers or Google to help out.
Traditional Hari Raya Bazaar was full of buzzing and enthusiasm. No tentage, no individual stalls, no display of street lights, but crowds from all over Singapore were gathered to shop. Vendors would display their products on the street floor with furnace light at night making very vibrant street lights.
Swe Sin Tha:
My Everyday Life
I live alone in a 1-bedroom apartment in Geylang and I mostly work from home so my day starts at 7am when I wake up. I like to go to the pool deck in my apartment building and do breathing exercises and yoga. Then I come back to make coffee for myself, take a shower and start working. I like to set daily goals for myself at work so I’ll write those and send it out on slack for accountability. I take a break around 1pm to cook for myself. I like making fried rice for myself. I’ll have another cup of coffee and then get back to work.
My evenings are spent on my various hobbies. I’ve started going wakeboarding at the Wakeboard Park at ECP. I cycle there on a foldable bicycle my mom gifted me. I’m also trying to learn guitar and piano with the help of an app called Yousician but that hasn’t been going so well. Sometimes I head down to one of the bars near my place to have a pint. I’ve made a few friends there. There is a guy who comes to the bar with a dog named Taco. I think I might want to have a pet but I'm not sure if I'm responsible enough to have a pet at this point.
My Family
I see my parents on the weekend. We usually go to this Vietnamese restaurant near my place called Little Vietnam. They have really great noodle dishes, soups and the most amazing fried quail. Recently my grandparents moved into the same building as me too. They stay on level 3 & I go down often to hang out with them.
My Work
My official title is Curriculum Learning Experience Executive and what I do is create online learning experiences for the company I work for. I’m very interested in how learning works and making learning enjoyable for people through the use of technology. There are good days and bad days at work but overall I really enjoy it.
My Hope & Dreams
Coming from an immigrant family with roots in a country that’s in turmoil really makes me appreciate my life here. I adore the life I have and I plan to have it better everyday. I wish to excel at my job. I wish to learn more things, be more educated, make more money, take better care of myself and overall enjoy a better quality of life.
