The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride 2017

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The usual impression we have in our mind when we see a large group of bikers dominating the road is that these people are “Mat Rempits” and up to no good. Such is the perception of bikers has been formed in the ordinary Malaysian minds. I’ll admit that I myself am guilty for thinking the same about bikers.

On the 24^th September 2017, my impression on bikers changed for good and now I seem to have a huge amount of respect for them. It was a Sunday morning, and I was in Petaling Jaya to feast on some fantastic breakfast. When I was around Petaling Jaya, I saw a large group of bikers and who caught my attention.

Nope, not because they were riding in a large group, but the fact that these bikers were all suited up and riding. You read it right, suited up formally and riding together. I followed them a little bit and reached to their meet up point at the Triumph Fast Bikes PJ.

The writer in me got curious as I wanted to find out what was happening here. So I parked my car and decided to randomly walk up to them and ask them what is happening there. After introducing myself as a blogger and a little asking around, I managed to catch up with Stanley Clement, president of Gear7mc, who is one of the co-organizers for the event and this is what he had to say.

“The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride (DGR) is organized worldwide with the goal to increase awareness on prostate cancer among man. In Malaysia, Naked 13 is the group responsible for bringing the DGR here in 2012 and there has been a ride happening every year on the last Sunday morning of September since then.” Said Stanley.

“Back in 2012 there was only like 20 riders who joined and this year we have got 420 bikers officially registered for the event. While the route changes every year, this time we are starting the ride from Triumph Fast Bikes Pj, heading to IOI Mall Puchong and then to IOI Mall Putrajaya, which gives us a nice riding distance.” Continued Stanley.

“As long you are a biker and want to ride for awareness of men’s prostate cancer, you can join the DGR regardless if you are in a motorcycle club or not. Bikers are perceived as menace on the road, but actually if you look around, we are all professionals, well dressed and wanting to do some good by raising prostate cancer awareness. Hopefully this initiative also helps change the impression about bikers.” Said Stanley finally.

Riders of DGR Malaysia 2017

I also had the opportunity to meet the founder of Naked 13, Mr. Akbar Shahari. He was one of the founders of the club back in 2012 and this is what he had to say.

“In 2012, Azhar, one of the other founder of Naked 13 came across Mark Hawwa who is the creator of DGR. That was when we organized the first DGR in Malaysia which the route started in Kampung Pandan up to KL city, Menara Kl & Dataran Merdeka and we had less than 20 riders.” Said Azhar.

“However in the following year, purely through word of mouth sharing, we had 300 riders. This year is the biggest DGR in KL yet as we collaborated with Gear7mc & Rascal and we are really proud of it. This is a very unique convoy because it is not normal to see bikers dressing up in a suit as if they are going for a meeting and more riders should join us in the future.” Said Azhar again.

Tyler From Rascal Moto Club

This year's DGR was being organised by Naked 13, and co organisezed by Gear7mc and Rascal Moto Club, and I manage to spoke to Tyler from Rascal Moto Club and this was what he had to add about DGR 2017.

"It's such an honor to attend a prestigious event such as DGR. Solely because it is to increase awareness to the common public to understand about prostate cancer and also at the same time as responsible bikers, we raise funds to support the research on prostate cancer." Said Tyler

As I was just walking around Triumph Fast Bikes PJ, there was one bike which caught my attention. The main reason for it is because the bike has 3 tires. Now that’s not something you would come across every day. I managed to track down the owner and caught up with him a little bit.

“I ride a Harley Davidson Trike. It is a rare bike here in Malaysia and the last I checked there is about 13-14 of us who has it here and I am one of the main person riding this on the road as most of it are belonging to collectors. So there is only about 4 of us riding it.” Said Tarquin Hashimi who is half Dutch half Malaysian.

Tarquin with his Trike

When I see bikers, the first thing that comes to mind is a group of guys. Well that isn’t really the case here at the DGR as there were a number of women bikers present too and I manage to speak to Teoh Xiao-e from Penang.

Right: Xiao-e

“I think women should explore the world of bikes and what riding can bring to their life. It’s a whole new world and a totally exhilarating feeling. I feel very free and happy when I ride and this is a good place to make new friends too.” Said Xiao-e

I did not join them for the convey as I am no biker, but I am really grateful to stumble across them and find out what an amazing job these bikers are doing in terms of raising awareness towards men prostate cancer.

Big shoutout to Triump Fast Bikes PJ and Zenith Watches for sponsoring the event & IOI Group for providing the venue for the bikers to lay over.

To find out more about the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride, you can visit their website at https://www.gentlemansride.com/ or check out for Gear7mc at https://www.facebook.com/groups/gear7mc/ or Naked 13 and Rascal for more information.

Me with some of the riders

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Bullying: A Cancer To The Society

Remember this date guys, 15^th June 2017. It is a date which saw an innocent life died due to some cowardly act of bullying by certain individuals. It is shame that the act of bullying still exist in our society today. Bullying is like the cancer to the society. The longer you let it be without doing anything about it, the worse it becomes. And we all need to play our parts to ensure the cowardly act of bullying or cyber bullying comes to an end. 

I have always wanted to write an article on bullying, but I could never find the right words to pen down my thoughts. You were not my friend, neither were we friends on social media, yet somehow when I heard the news of your passing on, it hit me hard and I felt I just had to pen down these write up to help create awareness against the cruel act of bullying

People have been sharing a lot about this on social media the last couple of days. While many spoke out of emotions, a few of them brought up some very good points regarding this issue. Below here is a screenshot of one such guy whose points made a lot of sense to me.

Note point number 4. “System that does not monitor the mental health of students in any institution.” This point hit me hard. It is true; we don’t really have qualified professional counselors/psychologist located fully in educational institution. Even if we had one, could a bullied victim comfortably speak to them without being judge by the society for seeking professional assistance? 

Here is where I feel we all have to play our role together. Not just by being more open to the concept of seeking professional assistance regarding bullied issues, but also to be more open in understanding that some people are different and you can limit them into a stereotyping box and force them there. There is no rule that a men should behave certain way and women should behave in a certain way. We are all different and unique in our own ways and don’t let people force you into a box.

And bullying doesn’t only stops with being physically assaulted and taunted. Cyber bullying and name shaming also creates the same kind of mental trauma towards the victim just like how a person is physically bullied. Calling for the bullied parents to be name shamed is equally wrong. Two wrongs don’t make a right.

Very saddening to see that how a boy who was passionate to be a famous musician died at a tender age of 18 without even having the chance to pursue his passion. I know there are many more bullied victim out there. Don’t give up. There are many ways you could seek assistance to end your misery. I have attached a couple of it here.

Some Helplines and Support Services You Can Contact

Every time if you kid comes and tell you that he/she is being bullied, please don’t ignore it parents. Trust your kids and put in the effort to go and find out what is happening. If you fail to trust them and act on it, that is the first stage a bullied victim stops believing he or she can get help. If they can’t win the trust of their parents, do you think they would seek support from outside? Please listen to your kids; you are supposed to be their best friend.

  

Even you can play a part in this. If you know a friend your is being bullied by is too afraid to bring this issue up to the right person, please talk to them and comfort then. Maybe you yourself can put in a word to the right people to seek help for your friend. Help them because they need our help.

Nhaveen, I am sorry this happened to you. I hope you would be the last victim to lose their life due to being bullied. I sincerely hope that the criminals that cause this goes through a fair trial and gets punish. Rest in peace Nhaveen and I hope this case becomes a lesson in building a better, bullied free world.

Indians & AdHoc Videos

On my drive to work today morning, I heard a discussion that was happening on THR Ragaa today morning. The topic in place was something to do about Indians and making videos and going viral on social issues or something in that line. This topic brought up mainly due to a couple of viral videos which has been going around Facebook and Whatsapp especially on the whole spray and Thaipusam event

Current "Sensation" Issue

This whole topic got my head thinking and wondering why all of this is actually happening. I've have noticed for a long time through my medium of social media that whenever there is a "hot" or "viral" issue going on, you would see a series of video suddenly going viral.

Example of A Video Screen Shot

Generally this videos would be a solo video, mostly being shot in their car and or in their room. They see themselves as "The Voice Of The People". They will go on either condemning the issue or justifying why is it not wrong to do so with full of passion and emotion. This videos would than be shared multiple times before it comes to the hand of our multiple Facebook Moral Police Pages.

These moral police would than share it in a manner to spark more controversy and unhealthy arguments. Try reading the comments on this pages and you can see how degrading some individuals can be. This goes on until the original video poster either comes up with an apology video or until the hype dies of.

Example Of A Facebook Moral Police Page

To date I have never seen anything positive coming out from these videos. Social media is a powerful tool. It could be used in many ways. For example look at the whole Jallikattu issue. Through proper used of social media, they managed to highlight why it shouldn't be banned and rally proper support

Power Of Social Media Used The Right Way

Which got me wondering, if nothing good comes out from this videos, why do people keep doing them for every tom dick and harry issue. First thing hit my mind was simple, cheap publicity. The idea of having your video or name being spread around community can give you a sense of being famous

But remember people can be famous for 2 things, one for the wrong stupid reason and two for the right purposeful reasons. Sadly those adhoc videos only makes you famous for the wrong reasons. You end up being insulted and become a victim of cyber bullying.

Stats On Cyberbullying

What actually allows these videos to have a big reach out is actually all those Facebook Moral Police Pages. I have been following a couple of those pages and all you get from this pages is that it is nothing more than a medium to brew hatred and cyber bullying. Again I have not seen any positive output or changing the community from these pages.

If you have time just go read the type of things being commented over there. It is just a bunch of people waiting to attack you, degrade you and bullying you. Anyone who tries to defend you will be attacked too. Those kind of pages needs to be rid off first. Cut the supply, and these nonsense will reduce and so will all those videos.

I am not telling you that you should never voice your opinions out. I think it is a good thing day by day more Malaysians are being vocal about things which doesn't satisfy them. But you got to do it in the right channel and in a proper manner with the proper tone. Instead of condemning and criticizing another person, try justifying why you are right without having the need to insult or criticize the other person.

Example Of A Proper Channel

Mingle with people in the right organization, ngo or article writers and voice your opinion on in such manner. That will have a larger and more positive impact to yourself and the people around you. Remember there is always two ways to deal with an issue. You can do it negatively with hatred or handle it positively and be wise.

How Early Will You Send Your Kids To Kindergarten?

Yesterday while driving in the afternoon, I was listening to THR Ragaa as usual and it was Suresh's session at that time. The topic he was talking about was something that caught my attention very much. He asked, "Should Kids Go To Kindergarten Once They Are 2 Years Old"

I thought about calling in and weighing my opinion but couldn't get the line through thus I thought why not write it as a blog post and thus here am I doing it.

Throughout the show, those who managed to call in gave some very valid points for their decision whether is it to send or not to send kids of the age of 2 to kindergarten. Most of them were actual parents and some were talking about their childhood as well.

Well I am not a parent, but basing on what I have seen around before and imagined myself as a parent one day in the future, I personally felt kids at the age of 2 should not be sent to kindergarten just yet. Before I explain why I just summarize why people feel it is good to sent kids to kindergarten at such tender age

Most people feel that it is good to send kids to kindergarten as earlier as possible because they want their kids to start picking up education as early as possible as education is the key to a better future. They want their kids to have the competitive edge in knowledge as early as possible in order to excel in studies.

While some wants their children to start early so that they have a longer time to learn things and at the end of the day they can learn more and be smarter than the average. In a nutshell, they key point they raise is that they believe the earlier the child starts to go to kindergarten, they have a better chance of being intelligent.

Me on the other hand feel that no, kids should not be sent that early to kindergarten and I have my reasons why which I will lay it out in the following points

1. How much can a 2 year old learn in kindergarten?

In all honesty, how much can actually a 2 year old learn in a kindergarten? I feel that even if a kid starts kindergarten at the age of 4, it is good enough for the child to gain the fundamentals to education to prepare them for primary school. At the age between 2-4 there is too much of a learning gap among the kids.

That doesn't mean kids below the age of 4 should not be exposed to any sort of learning or education. This is where parents have to play a role. Parents needs to spend time with their kids and teach them things. Dear parents please please please take some time of your busy schedule and spend some time with your kids.

Play with them when you are at home and there is a lot parents can teach their kids while playing at home before even the kids start going to kindergarten. There is numerous of fun and interesting methods to teach kids with toys or songs. Parents got to do that instead of just giving your smartphone or tab and let them play some useless games or let them watch some crap videos on Youtube.

Parents are the first educators for a child and parents need to start doing that. Something sad I have noticed among young parent these days is that they think that, if I send my kids to school and tuition my part is done and I don't have to worry about their studies because I've done all those things.

What young parents fail to realize is that, school and tuition only is not enough. Parents need to put in an effort to their kids. Speak to them, guide them in their homework, check on their school work and so on. It sounds old school but it works. Parents have to stop being lazy and start acting like parents

2. Burnout Factor

My second concern about sending kids so young to kindergarten is that these kids might get burnout. I have seen kids who has five days of school, 5 days of tuition, 1 day of sports lesson and 1 day of music lessons all cramped into 7 days.

I understand you want to enhance their talents or skills, but please don't suffocate these children. For heaven's sake they are children. Especially for those below the age of 4, these is their chance to actually live a stress free life, because once they start school the stress is going to pile up for the rest of their life

I have seen kids get so burnout where they have to drag their legs to school, tuition or this additional class. They have it for 7 days a week and yes they are burnout at such tender age. Which is why I feel it is important not to send kids to kindergarten that young and even once they are in kindergarten, I don't think they need tuition because there is where parents have to step in and be their educators at home

There are a couple more reasons why I wouldn't send my kids to kindergarten below the age of 4, but those are minor reasons and these 2 are the main reasons.

Thanks for reading and share your thoughts too!

Selective Humanity: A form of racism

*Warning: The content of this post maybe a little sensitive. If you are someone not able to handle it I suggest you do not proceed and read it*

I am sure we all know what humanity is. Just for the purpose of this post I will share with you the definition

So we have establish what humanity is, but what I want to talk about here today is about another term I would like to call as "Selective Humanity". It means the same as the mentioned above, but with just one difference. The difference is when an individual practices Humanity at selective moments only. It can be two similar scenarios which begs for humanity but the individual professes humanity act in only one of the situation.

The break it down to further detail in manner more understandable I will use examples which I have observed based on social media reaction towards certain events.

The first situation I will like to speak upon is about the War Crimes that has been in Palestine. I am very sure everyone reading here today are fully aware of the events that is taking place there. Many innocent Islam brother and sisters have died helplessly. If you observe well the reaction of people on social media and perhaps on the international political level, there is one common thing you will be able to spot.

Majority of individual who are raged and angered towards this situation and demanding for something to be done are fellow Islam. They condemn the actions of Israel and any nations which supports such act. In Malaysia, many protest has been conducted to highlight the plight of Palestine people. There were even talks of boycotting Israel based business and technologies. Donation drive and aid support were send to Palestine by our Malaysian Government.

Again all this actions were initiated and carried by a majority of Islam based individual. Of cause there are other individual who are not Islam who has also fought hard to ensure something that is right being done for the people of Palestine. My point in this post is to support the majority religion based people who fights for humanity for those who are suffering from this event

Next I would like to highlight on the war crimes in Sri Lanka that happened a few years ago. I am not sure if those who are reading this post today are aware of this situation. Many Tamilians were brutally murder under the name of war by Sri Lanka's Army. Again when you look at the reaction in social media, the majority outburst of individual who are seeking for humanity and justice are fellow Hindus and Tamils.

I have noticed a couple of my friends on Facebook who are Hindu has been strongly posting and writing about the war crimes that happened in Sri Lanka. If you look at a national level, I don't see the same amount of effort done in terms of donation and aid support as of for the Palestine people.

Both situation shows innocent people suffering due to war crimes. Both situation begs for humanity and support of people, but why does the people who raise their voice for the suffering for the Palestine people do not do the same for those who suffered in the war crimes at Sri Lanka.

Doesn't both situation calls for equality in humanity actions by the same individual. Yet why they don't do so. They only cry for humanity when they can find themselves related to the victims in terms of religious. That is why the majority of people who fights for justice for Palestine are Islam and the majority people who fights for justice for the crimes in Sri Lanka are Hindus/Tamilan. They need a sense of belonging or connection.

The sad thing is that these people fail to see the biggest link of all, that we are all humans are each scenarios deserves our utmost attention and help. It is when we fail to do so is what I call Selective Humanity. It doesn't make you a good person if you help one situation and totally ignore the other situation. It only shows that you are heartless.

The day we let go this Selective Humanity, that is the day we will eventually gain unity. With a unity driven by the power of humanity, nothing will be able to stop us

One World, One Love, One Humanity Spirit

Dreams: Follow Your Passion

Have you ever looked upon yourself and ponder what is the purpose of your life. Do you ask yourself, why are you given this life and what must you accomplish. It's usually hard for us to answer this question. This is part of what we call "Soul Searching". To understand why we are given this life.

I firmly believe that each one of us has a very unique purpose in this life which differs us from one another. To know your purpose is to your DREAM. Now ask yourselves again, what is your dream? Now I believe it is easier to answer this question.

And how can we make our dreams a reality. That my friend is what I call, finding your passion. Because your dream is something you like doing and that in a way is your passion. At an early age, identify your passion and follow it. As we grow our passion may change so is our dreams, but they all would serve the same purpose in our life, so never be afraid to make that change.

Sometimes that change may sound crazy, something an ordinary person would never do. It may force you to leave your comfort zone, sacrifice something which people won't understand, but do it because that is your passion. Follow it and believe it and trust me you would be successful. 

The first step is always difficult. The step to stop your routine practices and give up what comfort you have to follow your passion. Trust me I know it to well and I know the challenge in it. It is not easy I won't lie to you. But if you do so, you will start to see how your life starts to change in front of you and you would understand the true meaning of happiness and self satisfaction..

Follow your passion, your dreams would be a reality and you will understand the meaning of your life.

The Charles Schultz Philosophy

 Recently I came across this interesting article about this is an interesting theory by Charles Schult

Take a couple of minutes of your time and read the following question and just try to answer it. I have redesign the questions to fit my set of readers

Creator of "Peanuts" Comic Strip

1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.

2. Name the last five All England winners.

3. Name the last five winners of the Miss Malaysia.

 4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.

5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winner for best actor and actress.

6. Name the last decade’s worth of Super League (Malaysian Football League) winners.

How did you do?

The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday. These are no second-rate achievers. They are the best in their fields. But the applause dies. Awards tarnish. Achievements are forgotten. Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.

 Here’s another quiz. See how you do on this one:

1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.

2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.

3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.

4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special.

5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.

Easier?

The lesson: The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards. They are the ones that care.

“Don’t worry about the world coming to an end today. It’s already tomorrow in Australia.” (Charles Schulz)

Why Everyone Should Go Through A Break Up

Recently The Mix FM Breakfast show discussed a topic on break ups and it was about how you deal with them. I personally I found it very interesting and felt that before we talk about how to deal with a break up, I feel first we should understand why is it important for every individual to at least face a break up at least once in their life, so here it goes

Break up is perhaps one of the terms we hate the most. Nobody gets into a relationship hoping it should end with a break up. Usually break ups are associated with negative feelings and a bad aura. But as the saying goes, "there is a silver lining in every cloud" in fact I feel there might just be more than just a silver lining

1. Escape From A Sad Future

Breaking up can be one of the best thing that has happened to you. Mainly because, that person is not the right person for you. Why would you want to spend a life time with someone who is not going to be compatible for you. Some times you realize this after 6 months, sometimes after 6 years, but never settle down for anything less, because you deserve the best

2. Learning To Pick Yourself Up After A Disappointment

Not only that, it teaches you to deal with failure. A relationship failure or a break up can be one of the biggest failure you will have in your life. Because of all the time and effort you put in it comes to a sour end. Yet again it is not the end of the road. You got to learn how to pick your self up again and become stronger and better. You learn that this does not define you and you are destined for greater things.

3. Ability To Make Tough Decision 

Breaking up is not an easy decision to make, so when you actually decide to break up, you are actually learning how to make a tough decision and sticking to it. You learn how to deal with conflicts and know how to prioritize what is important in your life. You understand what you need to evaluate before you make such a life changing decision

4. Self Confidence and Maturity

It is a sad and tough phase, but don't let yourself dwell on the negatives. If you gonna sit in a corner and cry thinking you are not good enough, that shows you have no belief in yourself. Well if you don't believe in you, how can you accept other to have faith in you. Instead use the break up to help you grow become a better individual. If you deal with your break up properly, you will learn to be more mature, independent and more importantly you will learn how to love again and how to love right.

5. Understanding Love

Finally why is it important to have at least a break up is because you learn what love is all about. The good and ugly side of it. You learn how to let someone go. By letting someone go, you are teaching yourself to let yourself free. A couple years down the road when you look back at yourself, you will know that the break up was a defining moment in your life and it set you to be who you are. 

I will write on how to deal with break up in my next post, and just because I am writing about break up doesn't mean I am planning to break up with my girlfriend lol. Learning from my past relationship is the key to why I share an amazing relationship with her today. You see sometimes, breaking up can help you set your self up to meet the right person

Open Letter To School Students

Dear School Students,

I understand this is perhaps the most confusing phase in your life. You feel you are matured enough to make your decisions, but you parents think you are still a little child. I guess that's why you are called a teenager. You are stuck in the transition phase of being an adult and being a kid.

Trust me I know that feeling, I have been there before and the internal struggle can be very exhausting. There are many other issues that would take place during this phase such as managing your relationship, finding time to study, hanging out with friends and some even to smoke and drink or not. There are all big issues which you need to make the right decisions, but here I am going to focus on one issue and that is called PASSION

Dear students, have you decided what you want to do after your SPM or STPM or any course of such level. If you have decided, ask your self why have you chosen this course. Is it because your parents told you, or is it because your friends are doing it so you wanted to fit in or is it because it is your passion. I sincerely hope it is because of your passion, because if not you would regret this decision 5-10 years from now.

We all want to be successful in life and the key to it, is to do something you are passionate about. I am a chemical engineer and I chose it because I was passionate about. I knew since the age of 16, I wanted to be a chemical engineer. Thus I am on my path to success and I can see things falling right for me. But along my way I have seen many students struggling with engineering. You see it is not because there are not "smart enough" as perceived by others, it is simply because they are not passionate enough about it

2 years into engineering they realised they actually don't like it and their passion lies elsewhere. I've meet an engineering student who would make an excellent business C.E.O as his passion lies there. I have seen engineering student who would be an excellent photographer because his passion lies there. They would become good engineers but they would be successful and happy businessman and photographer if they were to have known their passion earlier and followed it

That is why I say, knowing your passion at this stage of your life can be the most crucial thing you decide in your life. Take a moment to reflect on your self. Identify your strength and weakness. See what interest you the most. Talk to people who are successful in the field you like. Learn from them the process. Place yourself in their shoes to see if you would enjoy the process. Because students, learning is suppose to be a fun process and it will only be fun if you are doing something you are passionate about.

So students go and find out your passion and work towards it!!!

Regards,

A guy who followed his passion

An Idea To Cultivate Innovation In School

I have always believed that an individual needs to have two things in order to be successful in today's world. First being they need to attain a positive mindset. A positive mindset improves your confidence and betters your thought process. In the way of the law of attraction, a positive mind attracts positive things to themselves and thus being successful. This is something many people are being aware of already.

The second thing is an individual need to possess innovative thinking. Now this is something which most people are not aware of. When you tell someone, you need to have innovative thinking, they will usually reject your idea by claiming that they are not going to be some innovator and they don't need this.

Well humans are always afraid of what they don't know thus they reject this kind of ideas. Innovative thinking is something very important to every individual to have. Why is it important? Well I will be sharing that in my TEDx UTP talk soon, so you got to wait for it to find out. Trust me you will than understand it's importance.

I believe innovation should start from school itself. The earlier the younger mind are thought this the better they will become. I was introduced to the world of innovation at the age of 23. My idea now is to give students at the age of 13 the taste of innovation. To make them be a part of it. The earlier they start, the more time they have to develop their skills and by the time they hit their final year of degree, you will never know what they will be able to achieve

The idea here is that to start up an innovation competition in high schools. For those who are from UTP reading this, the concept is going to be abit similar to how SEDEX OIC is conducted but of course on a lighter scale. The idea is to have five different category for students. Which means all form 1 students will compete against each other, all form 2 competes against each other and so on until form 5 students.

The point of the competition here is not to actually make the create a new invention or a working innovative prototype. That could involve cost and maybe schools are not able to sponsor their students with such budget. That is something they could keep in mind for future plans. The idea here is to have students come up with conceptual innovative idea

What I want to see them do is work in a group of 5, brainstorm of things which can be innovated or maybe a new invention. Once they have the idea, I want them to spend months gathering information via any means possible for them and come up with a 5-10 page report about it and do a power point presentation. They don't have to do a demonstration.

The school teachers can evaluate them and pick winners for each category and also award the best group in terms of presentation. What happens here is that you are developing 3 things. First is innovative thinking by making them come up with idea. Second is improving their presentation skills which is going to be a handy tool throughout their life and third is report writing, which is important in both universities and working life.

This all important tools for students to sharpen before they enter univerisities and could make a huge difference to them. For a start, the all the school needs to do is get at least one group from each class. Let say you have 5 form 1 classes, that means you have 5 groups participating in category 1. You can award the best group with a medal. If you have more groups, you can award the top 3. Similar for all levels.

You can conduct this the whole year. For example from January to March, you let students form their own group of 5 and survey about possible ideas. In April they have to register their group with the topic and perhaps in September they can conduct the presentation. It gives them sufficient time to complete their work.

I really hope schools will allow me to approach them with this idea and I would love to be help them establish

this kind of competition in their school. I can do by giving talks about innovation, how to be an innovative thinker, a presentation workshop on how to conduct a proper presentation and so on. I have many idea and I would love to work with schools regarding this

School Students Innovation of A Mouse Trap

Open Letter To Indian Parents

Dear Indian Parents,

I am writing out today to you not to criticize you but to help you broaden your perspective on things have changed from the time you were growing up, till the time we are today. I am not saying you are wrong, but I am saying that there are things we might be right

I am going to touch about one thing only today is this letter although I do feel there are a lot more issues we can speak about. The thing I want to share with you today is about your children's career choice. Why I am choosing this topic, that is because I feel here is where Indian parents play a decisive role in their children's future.

Over the last 7 years as a student, I have asked many Indian parents this question, "Uncle/Aunty, what course do you want your kids to take after they finished SPM?" and this is the most common answer I get back from there. Its either "I want them to do medicine" or "I wan them to do engineering" or "I want them to do law"

In some cases, yes the children do want to pursue this courses. At first I was under the impression that, this is what they want to do. When I ask this children is this what you want to do and their answer would be yes. Fast forward a couple of years later and ask them do you want to do this course? Most of them would answer no.

So why did they agree to do this course the first place? When I ask them this is what the most general answer would be." At that time I didn't really know what I like, Appa and Amma was asking me to do this course and I did well in my SPM in this particular subjects so I took it. But now I know I don't like this, but I like something else which I am good at"

You see Indian parents, the biggest problem here is that your kids are actually very very talented individuals, but at the age of 17, they still don't know what is their passion. What goes wrong is that, at an age where they are indecisive, you thrush your idea of doctor, lawyer and engineer to them forcing them to take it up. Most of them do so because they don't want to disappoint you. What happens next is that they would go on a life time working something they have no interest at

Here is some ways how you can make things right Indian parents. First of all, understand that there is more than just law, medicine and engineering out there. Perhaps at your time, this 3 courses would ensure most success, but trust me, I am a chemical engineer and it is not easy to even get an interview call. That is how competitive things are out there. Instead, broaden your perspective and see the different types of courses available out there. There are photography, journalism, film making, fashion design, and many more. Remember if you are passionate enough about something, you will become successful.

Next, you could help discover your kids passion from an early age. Some of them are into arts or dance or acting. Don't stop them from doing so. They could just make a career out of it. Being successful in life is not just about getting into science stream or scoring all A's in SPM. I've got friends who were in art's stream, did not do so well in their SPM but are now being so successful in life because they followed their passion. Guide your children Indian parents, not instruct them.

You are just like any parents out there who wants their kids to be successful and that is not wrong, but always remember this Indian parents, those who pursue their passion will be successful.

Warm Regards,

An Indian guy who followed his passion