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Thursday, December 30, 2004

Got this in the mail...

Got this new years greeting of sorts from one ''SWISS lottery" prize_claims@swissworldlotto.net

With a subject like "congratulations !!!!!!! (you have won €1,000,000.00 (one Million Euros) )" even you would have opened it. The mail said:

Dear Sir/Madam,
https://www.swisslotto.ch/servlets/IslServlet?pageid=1&action=rgisterplayer&

We are pleased to inform you of the announcement today, 29 TH December 2004 of winners of the swiss lottery Sweepstakes International Programs, held on 2nd october 2004 as part of our promotional draws.

To mark our end of year promotional programme proudly sponsored by microsoft.Participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from 25,000 names/email addresses of individuals and companies from Africa, America,Asia,Australia, Canada, Europe, Middle East, and New Zealand as part of our International Promotions Program.

You/Your Company, attached to ticket number 96-502-2315, with serial number 420-9 drew the lucky numbers 5, 6, 10, 19, 33, 51, 55, and consequently won in the Third Category.You have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of euro/1,000,000.00 in cash, which is the winning payout for third category winners.

This is from the total prize money of euro/10,000,000 shared among the ten international winners in the Third category.CONGRATULATIONS!Your fund is now deposited with an affiliate bank insured in your name. Due to the mix up of some numbers and names, we ask that you keep this award strictly from public notice until your claim has been processed and your money remitted to your account.

This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming or unscrupulous acts by participantsof this program.We hope with a part of your prize, you will participate in our end of year (2004) high stakes euro/1.3 billion International Lottery.To begin your claim, please contact your claim agent immediately;Barr Edith JohnsonExternal service manager,Alpha-Consult Ltd
EMAIL:alphaconsult@washingtonlawfirm.org

For due processing and remittance of your prize money to a designated account of your choice. Remember, you must contact your claim agent not later than 20 february 2005. After this date, all funds will be returned as unclaimed.

NOTE: In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please remember to quote your reference and batch numbers provided below in every one of your correspondences with your claims agent. REFERENCE NUMBER: ACL/FLW/12-F892697954BATCH NUMBER: 74-263-BBN

Congratulations once again from all our staff and thank you for being part of our promotions program.Yours Sincerely,MR C.A ElliOtThe Promotions Manager,swiss lottery SweepstakesP.O.Box 42PE3 8XHSwitzerland

N.B. Any breach of confidentiality on the part of the winners will result to disqualification.

Please do not reply to this mail. Contact your claims agent with your full names, address ,telephone and phone numbers for processing of your prize.

NOTE THAT WE HAVE A REPUTABLE INSTITUTION IN THE UNITED KINGDOM THAT WILL HANDLE YOUR PRIZE CLAIMS BECAUSE OF VARIOUS INCIDENCE ON THE INTERNET .KNOW THAT YOU ARE PROTECTED.WE WISH YOU A HAPPY NEW YEAR


If only it were true! Sigh...

Wednesday, December 29, 2004

Vinod_creative

Vinod_creative
Vinod_creative,
originally uploaded by prakup.
What are friends for?

A daughter of Cambodia remembers...

It has been ten whole days since we got back from Cambodia, and I still can't seem to get the place out of my head. One reason could be that I'm still religiously reading the scores of books I carted from there. The first of these was "Brother Number One: A Political Biography" by David Chandler. The book threw a lot of light on the relatively low-profile and almost unknown truth about one of the world's worst murderers.

But I found it a little too academic for my liking. I somehow prefer history when the cold, hard facts are woven with an emotional story to create a rich and memorable tapestry.

Right now, I'm halfway through "First they killed my father: A daughter of Cambodia remembers" by Loung Ung. The book is written in the past tense and documents one family's experience of the genocide, as seen through the eyes of the youngest child, Loung. The book is reasonably well written. The first few paragraphs are as follows:

1975. Phnom Penh city wakes early to take advantage of the cool morning breeze before the sun breaks through the haze and invades the country with sweltering heat. Already at 6 A.M. people in Phnom Penh are rushing and bumping into each other on dusty, narrow side streets.

Waiters and waitresses in black-and-white uniforms swing open shop doors as the aroma of noodle soup greets waiting customers. Street vendors push food carts piled with steamed dumplings, smoked beef teriyaki sticks and roasted peanuts along the sidewalks and begin to set up for another day of business.


Children in colorful T-shirts and shorts kick soccer balls on sidewalks with their bare feet, ignoring the grunts and screams of the food cart owners. The wide boulevards sing with the buzz of motorcycle engines, squeaky bicycles and, for those rich enough to afford them, small cars.”

Loung and family lead a life of relative affluence (her father was a government official!) till 1975, when the 'Angkar' government of the Khmer Rogue evicted all city dwellers and forced them into the countryside. Here, they suffered many indignities at the hands of the 'base people' till, the family was slowly decimated.

Loung and a couple of her siblings had to be declared orphans and separated in order to keep them alive. They struggle through life (if one can call their experiences that) till, they are slowly and painfully re-united after the Khmer Rogue has been routed.

Although I am not yet done with the book, a couple of things are painfully clear:

  • The rich always get richer and the poor always get poorer. Irrespective of what ideology, government, policy or practice is in place.
  • Small children and kids observe a lot more than we give them credit for or would like to believe. And retain the negative impact forever.
  • Discrimination and segregation along racial lines exists, even among the worst of the discriminated.
  • And Cambodia has been through a hell from which I so surprised that there's even a semblance of recovery.

Wonder what else the book will tell me by the time I'm done with it. The next is the killing fields...



Monday, December 27, 2004

pensive

pensive
pensive,
originally uploaded by prakup.
Stil thinking... but there just isn't any light!

Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Cambodian Dream...

I started dreaming in Cambodia.

For as long as I can remember, I have always enjoyed a dreamless sleep. While I've heard tales of friends, family and foes waking with a start because of a bad dream that they had, I have never experienced it.

Most of the people who know me envy me my dreamless slumber. And it was something I took for granted for the past several years. But the short trip to Cambodia changed all that.

I don't think it was jetlag. The flight from Singapore was really too short for that. I also don't think it was the Hotel. Casa Angkor was a qualint, colonial place that was comfortably furnished and clean. The staff was friendly and the ambience soothing. I really don't think it was the work I was doing there. Our shoot went off very well, with almost no glitches.

But it could have been the people. Especially the children. Even in the abysmal depths of poverty, the continued to smile. Even when suffering from gross malnourishment, they attempted to wave a hand at us. Even though covered in sores and scabs, they grinned at the camera in all their innocence.

It could also have been the mothers. They were tired from the long walk to the hospital. They were weak from hunger as all available food was diverted to the children. They were hot and were being bothered by the flies. But they smiled beautifully. With their hearts, welcoming us for a glimpse into their lives.

It might have been the city itself. Siem Reap today has not fully recovered from the whirlwind of development that whirred through it in the late 90's. Scores of hotels are still being built for the projected rush of tourists. The airport is being upgraded to accomodate the millions who will flock in. Malls, arcades and cineplexes are being planned to cater to their entertainment needs. But for now, only bars, lodges and brothels are doing brisk business.

It could have been the dichotomy. While on the one hand, families debated whether the four dollar taxi ride to the children's hospital was worth it, even when the debate centred around saving their child's life, middle-aged, pot-bellied caucasians 'bought' and 'enjoyed' sex with girls young enough to be their granddaughters.

While scores of people depended on the charity of strangers to give their their daily rice gruel, sex-tourists frequented glitzy night spots to guzzle foreign liquor, devour exotic fauna and paw scantily-clad teenagers with wild abandon.

And the cripples, the infirm and the weak watched helplessly, without the counsel of the wise, for the old had been 'cleansed' from the land during Pol Pot's time.

I think I know why I started dreaming in Cambodia. Reality was just too stark to digest.

Tuesday, December 14, 2004

True Poverty

Been really long since I came back here and a number of things have changed.

Am right now in Cambodia at the Children's Hospital (Angkor Hospital for Children) built, developed and being maintained by the Friends Without a Border Foundation. We are here for a video session to capture the good work that these fine people have been doing for quite some time now.

I've seen tears in the eyes of parents who sell their homes, farms and bodies, just so that their malnourished children can get another chance at a sickly life, if at all. I've seen compassionate doctors give up lucrative careers in Rhode Island (no less!) and settle for the heat and dust of this region, just for the sake of global compassion. I've witnessed creative forces combine together to come up with a place that makes this possible.

And utter, desolate, gut-wrenching poverty...