Interesting Read -- The Case of the Missing Servant

Just a few days ago, the Harris bookstore near my house was having a storewide sale, and all books were sold at a 30% discount. Not wanting to miss out, I went in the bookstore and got myself a couple of books without hesitation.

To my pleasant surprise, one of the books I have bought was a great find. Prior to purchasing this title, I have never heard of the author Tarquin Hall himself. After reading through "The Case of the Missing Servant", I took an instant liking to the book.

The story starts off with the titular character, India's most private investigator Vish Puri (also known as "Chubby")in a midst of his investigation work. Ably assisted by his undercover assistants, namely Tubelight, Flash and Facecream (Being Punjabi, the detective had various nicknames for his colleagues, friends and family members. For example, Flush got his nickname because he has a flush toilet at home, a first for anyone in his village in the state of Haryana. Talk about convenience.), Puri handled his cases with the aid of modern techniques and the sharp wit of a detective.

When renowned lawyer Ajay Kasliwal is accused of murdering his maidservant, Puri's resources are finally put to the test. The only clue he was given is that the maidservant was known only as Mary, and his job is to find her whereabouts in a population of more than one million. To make matters worse, Puri becomes the target (and nearly victim) of a mysterious shooting incident, and his mother insists on playing sleuth to find out the culprit. How would Delhi's most private investigator handle the situation this time?

This book was first published in 2009 and was the first of the Puri series (Hall followed up with a second book "The Case of the Man Who Died Laughing" in June 2010). Hall's ability to brilliantly capture the sights, smells, sounds and foibles of modern India, not to mention the nuances of English-Indian speech, captivates my attention as I read the book. This is perhaps due to the fact that Hall is also a journalist and has lived in India for a period of time due to his job, that he was able to describe India so well. Even if readers have never been to India before, they can certainly experience the bustle of Delhi streets, to the remoteness of the mines of Jharkhand.

The many twists in the story also made the story all the more interesting and until the very end, there is no telling of who the real culprit was. Puri's wit and intelligence has also left me in awe, and his style reminds me of another fictional detective, Hercule Poirot.

So, do check out this book "The Case of the Missing Servant" and experience the spirt of India for yourself!

생일 축하합니다 Biwen!

Last Sunday, Biwen invited me to his birthday party held at SAF Changi Seaview Resort. As it was pretty far away from my house, I met up with a couple of friends first before heading for our destination together. In an attempt to make the party livelier, I decided to bring all my Korean songs music videos  to the party.

Birthday boy!

Truth be told, the weather that day was as unpleasant as one can imagine. It was pouring heavily as we traveled on the road and visibility was poor. Luckily, we still managed to reach Biwen's party on time and the weather got slightly better by then. Biwen's party was held in Changi Haven, a resort function room which is normally used for cohesion and meetings, hence the place is much smaller compared to a chalet. However, it is definitely good enough to hold a party as there are many facilities available, including two video players, a video projector and a large projector screen. Just as I thought my plan of playing all my videos was about to come true, it dawned on me that the video players are unable to play .mp4 format. Luckily, Biwen prepared a couple of movies on his own so we were not deprived of our source of entertainment.

A while after we arrived, the horrible weather returned for a rematch with us. The heavy rain that dogged us on our way to the party came again and many guests were delayed as a result. Fortunately, the party still went on as planned.

The food and the atmosphere was great! Although most of the guests invited work in the department beside mine, I do not really know most of the guests well. Through card games, discussion on K-pop etc, we managed to hit it off well and knew each other better.

At about 7.30pm, the big moment came -- it's time to cut the cake! The cake looks awesome!

Looks delicious! :P

The party ended at around 10+, and I must say I really enjoyed myself! Thanks for inviting Biwen, and before I forget, 생일 축하합니다! :D

Connect With The World...via Postcrossing!

Finally, November is here! :D It's been so long since I last posted, but better late than never!

Anyway, it's been an awesome month so far, and I recently came across an interesting hobby. If you are the sociable type and would like to make friends from around the world, this is the hobby for you!

Introducing Postcrossing, which is an online project launched in July 2005. Postcrossing allows its members to send and receive real postcards from random places in the world. As of September 2011, Postcrossing had over 251,000 members in 198 different countries who had exchanged over 8.4 million postcards.

Signing up to be a Postcrosser (as the members are called) is very simple and only takes a couple of minutes. Once you have registered as a Postcrosser, the first step is to request to send a postcard. The website will display (and send you an e-mail) with the address of another member and a Postcard ID. You then mail a postcard to that member. Similarly, you will also receive a postcard from another Postcrosser from a different country. Of course, where you send the postcard to and receive from are anonymous. You can have up to 5 postcards traveling at any single time. Every time one of the postcards you send is registered, you can request another address.

If you are an avid stamp or postcard collector, this is another good reason for you to join in the fun. You will be able to exchange and receive postcards and stamps from different parts of the world. If you are lucky, other Postcrossers may even generously send you more than one postcards or stamps at the same!

So what are you waiting for? Get started with Postcrossing now!