“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

The title of this entry is a quote from Mahatma Gandhi, the great political and spiritual leader during India’s struggle for independence. Although probably said in completely different circumstances, the quote struck me as it accurately mapped my struggle to get my motorcycle licence. Although I only had the weekends free due to National Service, it still took me a good 10 months from my first lesson to finally getting my licence. It was a long, hard and lonely road. I even had friends placing bets on how long I would last. Unlike cars, there is no progressive training for motorbikes. There are 8 lessons and each time you either pass or fail. It is therefore not hard to believe that when I took my 1st lesson for the 5th time (after hiding my face all week in camp), I had made up my mind that I would quit if I failed again. I passed. I thought it was like a sign, that better luck was coming my way. I was mistaken. What is worse than failing, is taking a lesson in the pouring rain only to have the instructor tell you that you have to repeat it. Flirting with thoughts to quit every now and then, I somehow held it together. With practically nobody to turn to, it got harder to keep myself motivated. But after an encounter with a hot European chick with a sexy little tattoo on her hips, and a female on her Honda 400cc, things seemed better. 6 months in, having renewed my bet with a friend that I would get my bike before the turn of the year (that I eventually lost), I somehow worked my way to lesson 6. It just got harder and every time I failed, I felt helpless. By December, I got to lesson 8; which is the penultimate test that seperated me and my licence. I had to take it 6 times! On my 5th try, I made one fatal error during a near perfect test round and it cost me the lesson. I cried that day. I had all but given up, but there was more drama to come. I still had to fail one Traffic Police Test after having passed my lesson 8. I had to wait for one whole agonizing month just to give it another shot. I finally cleared my TP test on the 15th of Feb 2007 and got my motorcycle class 2B licence. We all have our moments in life. In that room that day, it was my moment, one I am going to cherish for the rest of my life. This was never about the bike, (of course it was, who am I kidding, I love my phantom!!). It was about pursuing your dreams, almost like a maniac. I learnt that if you fear losing, you’ll never win, but if you try hard enough, you’d probably will. I won.


“Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”


I owe it all to Farhin, a friend I made during my OCT course, for without his initial inspiration (to become a biker like him), constant advice and never ending belief in me, I would have not made it. It was almost like I had to do it for him because he had more faith in my abilities than I had. A very sincere thank you.

My Inspiration...

My Licence...

My Bike!!

god or God?

god: Any supernatural being, worshipped as controlling some part of the world or some aspect of life or who is the personification of a force.

God: The supernatural being, conceived as the perfect and omnipotent and omniscient originator and ruler of the universe.

I first learnt the difference during a General Paper class in Junior College as my teacher showed off some random guys essay and his “understanding” of the difference. Call me an agnostic but few will refute that while we can have full faith in God or god, we can never truly understand “its” nature. 65% of the world is Christian, Muslim or Hindu and they all believe in the same thing that has different names, for various reasons. Some find solace, while others find strength. Some seek answers while others demand explanations. Most simply need something to blame/credit.

We all desire a blissful life, or want to get as close to it as we can. So we turn to religion, which provides us with a set of rules to follow, to help us. We are in constant search for the truth; but truth is something we merely associate with“convenience, with what most closely accords with self-interest and personal well being or promises best to avoid awkward effort or unwelcome dislocation of life.”(Freakanomics) So then who is truly god and of what use is religion?

Christians believe in evangelism, which is the advocacy of the gospel (books that tell the story of Christ’s life and teachings). Interestingly, I am told, that those who don’t believe in Christianity will go to hell. Muslims accept polygamy. But more relevant to the rest of us is the concept of Jihad, which is suppose to be a holy war waged by Muslims against infidels. While its also defined as a personal struggle by a Muslim for a moral or spiritual goal, its former meaning is what makes the headlines more often. Hindus embrace the concepts of karma, reincarnation and all that follows. Some even practice vegetarianism. Then there were those who practised sati (widow burning) and agni pariksha (test by fire) among other prejudices against women in the name of religion. So where does all this put us on the big picture? When do we start asking the difficult questions? How do we start challenging our centuries old beliefs, assumptions and concepts? “Dharmha Matibhya Udgritaha” is a famous line from The Mahabharata (a sacred epic Sanskrit scripture). It translates into, “religion or consciousness of duty, is one that is dictated by intelligence”. Need I say more?

Empty your cup, challenge conventional thinking; the divide we find today is not in religion, it’s in the thinking…there is no race bigger than humanity, and no religion bigger than love…


“When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That’s my religion.” - Abraham Lincoln


A lot of the inspiration came from long engaging discussions with friends at the weirdest of times...



My buddy, Joshua (Christian), with whom I obviously at had a good deal of discussions during my 10 month stay with him!


Khairy (Muslim) and I had a long chat on religion at OBS!


Yee Kiat (Free-thinker) who had many random conversations with me. How a conversation lead from girls to religion and vice versa, we still don’t know!