Dream Chaser - Singing Chinese Song for competition

It was really a wonderful experience to be with a group of more than 200 Chinese while participating in a competition to show your talent on August 10^th 2019 organised by Outlaying Islands Women’s Association supported by Rotary E-Club of Lantau.  Though I am not talented in singing, I just wanted to see the extent of my capacity in singing Chinese songs.  I have lot of experience in taking my daughter for competitions many a times but this was the first ever stage performing competition I registered in Hong Kong.

For CIBS Let’s Speak Chinese programme, I had prepared few songs and recorded them.  Since few of my friends told that it was nice to listen to those songs, I had the guts to submit my Chinese singing skill for audition for Lantau’s Got Talent show in the month of July.  When I received the mail saying that I am selected to enter the finals, I was quite happy to have cleared my first step in this venture. It was the song Ni Zenme Shuo, a song by the Taiwanese singer Teresa Tang.

I started practicing the song around 5 times every day with or without music until the day of the contest.  I edited the song to 3 minutes not cutting the lyrics part to fit the requirement.   Made a powerpoint with the original singer Teresa Tang. I planned to wear the Chinese dress gifted to me by my sister. I borrowed the high heels slippers of my daughter. 

On the day of the competition, I got ready and reached the spot little late as I remembered only the competition time to be 2:30 and missed out on make-up and rehearsal slots.  I was right on time for the rehearsal.  It was in the grand ballroom of Regal Airport Hotel.  The stage was big and I was excited to perform before the Chinese audience for the first time. I just missed out on make-up. Though I planned, I forgot to take those items with me when I left home.

There were 15 finalist for this contest including individual and group.  Most of them were children and their family.  However, there were around five adult teams. I saw Parul with her daughter was also one of the finalist after some time.  I was the only one singing a song using Karaoke track.

We had magic show, Chinese traditional juggling, rubric’s cube show, English poem recitation, martial art show by children.  Rest of them were different types of dances.  Seeing all the performances in the rehearsal, I could foresee all the winners.  However, I was there just to present my first ever solo Chinese performance before Chinese audience. While I was singing the song, I could see few people repeating the words with me.  Once I finished, while walking back to my place, few of them congratulated on my performance.  I felt that I succeeded in my attempt by getting that appreciation though I don’t speak the language. Parul and her daughter danced a Bollywood medley very well with lot of gymnastic poses for a wonderful music.

It was very encouraging to see the organisors taking so much of effort in showcasing the Lantau talents. Out of 15 finalists, five of them were chosen to win the trophies.  Almost all of them were dance groups.  Little 4 years old girl sitting next to me who danced a ballet dance became friendly and she was also chosen in the first five. Happy to see that Indian team of Parul and her daughter were declared the winners of the competition. 

Lets Speak Chinese (LSC) – Hurdles to cross

The mail saying that our LSC proposal for 23^rd and 24^th quarters was successful, created little bit worry as the proposed producer of this program fell sick with cancer diagnosis.  Thought of replying CIBS that we may not be able to proceed in this endeavour.  But Ms. Mok was keen in proceeding with this production and found another person Ms. Celia Chu to help in the production.

When we were invited for CIBS interview, I requested Ms. Celia Chu to go with me to attend the interview.  For the first time in three years of 9 seasons production, the interview got cancelled due to typhoon.  I think it happened for a reason.

To our dismay, just based on our application proposal, our 23^rd quarter application was rejected but 24^th quarter application got accepted.  One advantage was that we had ample time for production.  But disadvantage is that the random topics chosen were somewhat difficult compared to the ones submitted in 23^rd quarter.

We wanted to do the 23^rd quarter topics.  I did not want to leave any stones unturned. Sent a message to CIBS requesting that we would like to do the topics submitted in 23^rd quarter (like my school, parent, friend etc) instead of proposed topics of 24^th quarter.

Again to our dismay, they told that we need to produce the show only with 24^th quarter topics as the judges found that those are more interesting than 23^rd ones.

Meanwhile, my December visit to India with my husband fetched fruitful result of my son’s wedding proposal.  Many things worked out fast and I had to travel to India again in February.  Ms. Mok told that she will request the script writer to work after Chinese New Year.  CIBS stipulated us to submit first two episodes on March 11.  Since I planned to return on February 13^th, I felt that we still have ample time to prepare and record the drama with the receipt of the script immediately after Chinese New Year.

However, another hurdle had to be crossed.  My stay in India got extended up to 26^th February.  Ms. Mok was not able to proceed without me.  I worked on this project while in India by requesting the CCG members to make 2 minutes speeches on all the submitted topics to CIBS.  To our surprise, there were many takers and we got participants for all the topics. It was so encouraging.

As soon as I reached Hong Kong, I spoke to Ms. Mok and fixed an appointment to meet on March 1^st.  I know it was really too late to prepare the Ep1 and Ep2 recording. But we need to proceed.  During the meeting with Ms. Mok and Celia, I informed that we can bring in 4 participants (two of them good in reading and writing Chinese and one good in speaking and one learning Chinese for an year) from different countries to do the drama.  She told that she will get the script done in a week. 

It took 5 days to meet the script writer after that.  March 6^th… the time was running.  I know that it would be difficult to submit our first two episodes.  Hurdle need to be crossed.

When the script was ready and given to the participants, one who was good in speaking Chinese dropped out.  I got it filled by my classmate Priya who puts lot of effort in learning Cantonese in all these years but does not know how to read and write Chinese.  Now two participants know only to speak Chinese. Another participant helped amazingly.  She converted the whole Chinese document into English transcript (following jyutping). 

Meanwhile, we booked the studio for recording on March 11 to record the first episode so that at least one episode can be submitted on the stipulated deadline. We did that successfully. Hurdle was successfully crossed partially. I bought some time from CIBS informing that second episode will be submitted on 20^th March. This is the first time that we could not meet our first 2 episodes deadline.

While this hurdle was partially crossed, another major hurdle cropped up on 17^th March.  The friend who helped us in getting English transcript was not able to join us for some reason.  My hunt for participant at this juncture seemed to be impossible.  But this hurdle has to be surpassed.

God only know how many more hurdles we had to surpass in this production.

RTHK-CIBS - Lets Speak Chinese – Pre-production efforts

When I submit proposals for program to CIBS, I always dreamt about making all the non-Chinese Hong Kongers to speak Chinese.  

When I put forth this idea to Ms. Mok in 2018, to my surprise, she readily accepted. I went to meet her once personally .  We decided on the topics to be applied. We proposed very easy topics like my school, parent, friend etc., so that participants can enjoy doing it.  

Ms. Mok suggested to have radio drama on those topics as well. She was excited and told that she would bring in Mr. Houwood (who is retired and has 30 years of media experience) to write the script for the drama.

I visited HOPE Center in Wanchai and spoke to the in-charge person about the proposed program and get their consent for participation as well. 

When the application was opened by CIBS, I met Ms. Mok once again.  We planned to have experience sharing by parents, children, teachers in learning Cantonese as well. 

With all these step by step basic work done, I filled the application for 23^rd quarter with the proposed structure and thought of duplicating the same for 24^th quarter thinking to increase the chance of getting the contract.  We made it a point to mention that NAAC (Neighbourhood Advice Action Council) a non-voluntary organisation in Yat Tung running Chinese classes at TOUCH Center would support CCG in this production. 

However, after submission, as per stipulated conditions, same application was not acceptable for two quarters. I was asked to change the topics for 24^th quarter.  

Dreaming of getting 23rd quarter, I put forth random topics such as my native place, my math ability, favorite food, snack, place etc. 

Upon submission, I informed about this application to my Cantonese teacher and my Cantonese classmates.  TOUCH Center teacher Ms. Celia, was really encouraging telling that she will help to train the students. 

Both applications got accepted and went for public voting.  I requested Ms. Mok and my Chinese classmates to vote for this program. Finally we got through the voting stage too.

Cantonese Meet up

Wow… It was a memorable day with 90 minutes of Cantonese listening and no talking at all.   Don’t it sound funny. 

Not by watching TV. Not by listening to Radio. Not by listening to a conversation in a restaurant with strangers. 

It was in the official meet up with my Hong Kong Computer Society – FACE Club friends Meet up to celebrate the 4^th Anniversary of its inception. There were 8 Face Club Exco members, 2 admin staff of HKCS. I was lone non-Chinese member.

When President Cally started off with Cantonese and seeing me changed to English mode, I had the courage to tell her to continue in Cantonese itself. From then on, the entire meeting went on in Cantonese.

Though I am living in Hong Kong for more than 20 years I am yet to master the language. In these 4 years, they always conduct the meeting in English.

My maiden attempt participating in the Cantonese Radio Drama two days before helped me a lot.  The courses attended in the past year paid off very well. It is my Cantonese day as I was able to get many details.

The only Cantonese word I used today was “jat wun faan mei”, one cup of rice. My friends translated few items when I asked about the context which I could not understand.

When I thanked my group for giving me listening practice, they encouraged me telling that I must start talking in the next meeting.  Hope I can live up to their expectation.

23 March 2019

Mushroom Trap

Mr. Vijay Sheth asked me to join a meeting with one of the New People Party representative Mr. Gary two days back.  I was not knowing that it was a Christmas party organised by the Retired Civil Servants Association.

This blog is written about the 13 course veggie dinner that we got during that time.  If you dont eat mushroom, the restaurant or caterer will surely be lost. If you are fond of mushroom, you will surely get fed up of eating it thereafter. You get trapped in eating so many mushroom based items in such parties. Ooo god... I have never seen so many varieties of mushrooms in the recent past.

I remembered attending my Chinese friend wedding more than 15 years back.  It was similar, but got different varieties of greens that time. I had to waste most of them as some of the greens were not known to me and they were very thick stems with little leaves. After living for 2 decades, I have improved little bit to eat few varieties and identify the difference.

Three served items looked Indian, carrot pakoda, brinjal bajji and kheer.  All others were based on mushroom, even the main course noodles. It was little too much for me. I did not touch few courses as I felt very heavy eating so many varieties. 

I returned back with the guilty feeling of wasting food. I think better to eat greens than these mushrooms. I have made up my mind to inform that I dont eat mushroom to escape from this kind of mushroom trap if at all I am invited for any Chinese dinner.

Where there is a will, there is a way…

This saying came true to me today.  Yes, I could run continuously for 15 minutes, around 1.5km near the place I live in.

In these 22 years stay in Hong Kong, I am always slow in walking and incapable of walking continuously.  While going for trekking, I need rest at regular intervals to continue my journey. We moved to Tung Chung 11 years before.  It has a very calm surrounding with many parks and jogging paths.  When I go for walking or trekking with my husband or friends, I need to rest frequently before continuing to walk.

This year I had a major change in my walking skill. I jumped from the incapability of walking even 1km without break to walking 5km at one stretch because of the City U Walk of City University of Hong Kong in February and Step Challenge of FACE Club of Hong Kong Computer Society in November. Thanks to both the contests. 

I have enrolled for 10km running in Standard Charted Marathon 2019. I found that I need to complete it in stipulated time.  My walking speed is very slow. I am sure that I will not be able to complete the Marathon at my walking pace. So while contesting for the Step Challenge, I decided to pick up running skill. When I hear my friend Raji sharing about her daily running experience and participating in Marathons, I always look upon her.  Within one year, my husband picked up running and now he is able to participate in Marathon.  I used to admire his spirit. When I see many people doing long distance run, I always admire their spirit as well.  Therefore, I wanted to try. When I do running practice, I found that my capability to run was less than 50m at one time. 

Slowly and steadily, I increased the running stretch to 100m, 200m and 300m on the days I went for walk.  In last 3 days, I was capable of completing 2km with intermittent walking while running.  The spirit of running ebbed high today and was successful to run the whole stretch of 1.5km without any break.  I am very excited as it is building my confidence to run.

When I think back to few decades of my life, I am happy to know that I have been constantly walking at least 1km almost every day. However, my walking experience is always less than 2km at one go. Went to college for around 7 years walking every day for around 500km one way.  Went to work in Bharat Electronics for 3 years where I need to walk a corridor of length around 1.2km one-way from the bus stop to our department. During my pregnancy for my first child, I walked every day to office 1km one way. Later when I was having training in Kyoto, I walked around 1km every day for around 6 months from Kyoto railway station to the company named Nissen. Coming to Hong Kong, during my pregnancy for my second child, again I went for walking every day. Once my children were little grown up, we started to go for trekking where we easily walk for 5km.  In Tung Chung, whenever possible, we go for a walk of 2km around our area. However, all these walking will be at a very slow pace with stops at regular intervals.

Wow… I had walked so much in my life.  Now I got the confidence to run.  I need to see how much of running I will be able to do in future. When there is a will, surely there will be a way.

We have a friend in our block whose mother was sick and admitted to hospital for few months.  He was very upset when he was sharing that experience.  However, now she had recovered and goes for walk every day. During that time, I always think that she had the will to recover and now she is happy to go for that walk. In her case also, will gave the way to survive and be happy.

Life is a magic

(This was written as soon as I received the shocking news of a departed soul I know on 14th Dec 2018.)

Today I heard the death news of a friend whom I just met last Saturday 8^th December 2018.  I just met him on the walkway.  Within few minutes, he told his wish to do Ph.D and to contact me in few days time.  He had so many plans for his future life but was out of this world this Friday.  Instead of telling Life is uncertain, I think it is apt to say Life is a magic.  We see all stunning things before our eyes, but there is someone working at the back to show those illusions. 

Both happiness and sad are part of life.  It is true.  We smile, laugh and enjoy our life when there is success. We cry, weep and gloomy when there is a failure.  God creates these magic illusions to all of us to have such feelings in our life. 

What is certain in this world?  The power of the magician (God) is stable and influences everyone in this world.  There are many who have disbelief in God.  There are many who avoid doing prayers.  However, there is a supreme power who controls each act of this universe.  The toy of Universe made by the Supreme God is really the greatest invention of this universe, greatest illusion created by a magician. 

Life is magic full of illusions…

Believe it or not

Supreme Power… doing the magic

We are the kits used by him

Body, till we have one..

Plans.. Lot of them in our life..

Gone.. The soul is out into the space

Plans.. Disappear in the air…

Memories.. Remain in the minds of near and dears

Illusions continue in this world.