Headline Novel "Village By The Sea"


Recently, I had read an interesting novel entitled "Village By The Sea" written by Anita Desai. After reading for a few weeks, I felt that this novel had benefited and taught me a lot. In this novel, it teaches us some important themes such as:



  • Poverty and wealth

  • Family

  • Benefactors

  • Urban and Rural India

  • Change and Adaptation

This novel is about a poor family living in the rural part of India which is in a small fishing village, Thul and this novel tells us about the poverty situation the villages were facing. It tells us Hari who was the only son and the second-eldest child in the family and he had to give up schooling to work to support his family as a both of their parents could not take care of the family. Hari's father was the sole breadwinner in the family and was actually a fisherman in the village but he was addicted to toddy and he even sold his fishing boat. As a result, this caused his family to lose their income as they all depend on fishing like other villagers. Hari had to bear all the heavy responsibility for his father since his father was permanently drunk. In addition, Hari's mother was also severly sick and was bedridden for a long time but they were too poor to pay for the medicine. Hari's elder sister, Lila had to look after the family where Hari went to Bombay to search for job to support his family. This shows their state of desperation and poverty.


After reading this novel ,I had learnt some life values such as perseverance and determination which will benefit us in future a lot. In my opinion, I feel that this novel is very interesting and worth-reading as it really taught me a lot. I think that everyone should read it and you will never forget for your life! Believe me!

Which one is more important? Health...... or money$......?


Now, let's flip the pages of the newspaper and recall your memories of the illegal organ trading issue of Tang Wee Sung, the "famous guy" . If you can recall, this is what the news is about......

In July 2008, Mr Tang Wee Sung, a Singapore retail magnate. In the news report, it is reported that Mr Tan was revealed to have attempted to buy a kidney for $300,000 from an Indonesian man, who is in need of money desperately. He was "trading" the kidney with money illegally without abide the law. Hence, he was already wrong by trading in the ......"black market" . The underground economy or black market is a market where all commerce is conducted without regard to taxation, law or regulations of trade. The term is also often known as the underdog, shadow economy, black economy or parallel economy.


Apparently, we can see that Mr Tang was in the wrong at this stage but some people defended him with some important points. As they said that Mr Tang has a severe kidney failure and bad health, this is an only solution, attempt and method to get a new kidney without going through a long, time-wasting process which should be carried instead as they said that Mr Tang did not have a lot of time to solve his kidney problem. In the news, it mentioned that Mr Tang's health has been deteriorating by each passing day. In addition, he also has diabetes which is complicated by his heart problems, hence, he was really very desperate at that moment as even the doctor said that he can only give him less than five years to live.


Alright, let us put ourselves into his shoes! Let's say if you got a kidney failure, diabetes and you are desperate in searching for help, will you still be calmed and look for other fast solutions that will not break the law? Some will say that their health are more important and they do not care whether they have broken the law as long as they are still healthy.


But many people lambasted Mr Tang, saying that he is a prominent local businessman and can use his personal wealth to break the law and secure an organ for himself which the people are not very happy of. But anyway, do you agree that Mr tang deserved to be punished as he thought that...... money can buy everything? Or you believe that he had broken the law was due to insufficient time and he was forced and left with no choice to break the law......?


He was later fined $17,000 and sentenced to one day’s jail. He even falsely declared that the would-to-be donor was a distant relative. The would-to-be donor, Sulaiman Damanik, was jailed for three weeks. Wang Chin Sing, the man who was the "middle-man" arranged the meeting between the two, received fourteen months jail.


However, organ transplants are necessary to save lives. Practically, all countries in the world including Singapore all suffer from severe shortages in organs needed for transplant to save people. Legalizing the trade in organs may just solve all the problems. Is it moral or right to do so? Should Singapore legalize the trade in organs? How do you feel about this......?


This is a speak regarding whether should Singapore legalize the organ trading by the Minister of Health, Mr Khaw Boon Wan in parliament in July 2008.

“Over the past three years, there were 228 kidney transplants involving Singaporeans, and 63% of these were from deceased donors. During the same period, there were 33 liver transplants, 64% from deceased donors. There were 271 cornea transplants, all of course from cadavers. Currently, the numbers of patients waiting for cadaveric organs are 563 for kidney, nine for liver and 25 for cornea.”


Anyway, illegal organs trading should not be carried out as it will break the law but I feel that it is better if both parties, the donor and the buyer, agreed to a price and both of them will be satisfied. The ill buyer will be healthy after transplanting a kidney and the donor will also have money from the transplant for some urgent purposes. If it is like this, why not carry out.......?

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_market, http://www.todayonline.com/articles/309537.asp, ILLEGAL ORGAN TRANSPLANT- Hwa Chong Institution- Current Affairs Discussion

Literature Project


Ah...... Do you want to check out my latest literature project on an interesting novel entitled " Nothing But the Truth"......?


This is actually written as Philip's Final Blog in his point-of-view.

(The blog entry as shown below is actually wrtten in Philip's point of view and this is also his last blog entry before leaving for his new school. His ex-teachers from Harrison High such as Miss Narwin, Coach Jamison, superintendent Albert and other characters' comments are written below his blog entry.)


As it is written on a new webpage, I will provide you with the URL. Here it is: http://www2.hci.edu.sg/y09HCI0452/literatureproject.html


Your attention will definitely be captured by this interesting blog entry written on a protagonist's point-of-view in a novel. Have a great time!

Birth of blogging (My Edition)


Well, time really flies. In a blink of eye, time had past and I had already written 5 blog entries at this point of stage. Yes, this eventually motivate me to write more...... and this is when my interest of writing a blog had begun......

Well, when I started writing blogs, I first thought that it was some kind of writing a diary and we have to spend a lot of time in it. I was somehow confused with blogging and writing a diary and I also thought that it was quite tedious to blog. However, after spending some time to read on others' blogs, I finally knew the defination for "BLOGGING"(A Big Word)......

In my opinion, I feel that blogging is to write down your feelings, thoughts and views on something such as an event or news taken place recently. In addition, it can also used to be a central communication and discussion between one another. We can share our different thoughts and discuss on a topic or a theme. With blogging, communication will be eventually enhanced and more sharing will be carried out. In blogging, we can "speak" to each other indirectly......

Nonetheless, I believe that everyone will have its likes and dislikes. Yes, I find that blogging has advantages but...... some disadvantages. I feel that it is quite disappointing when not a lot of people made their comments and share their views with me as this is not what blogging is about! they do not seem to appreciate with our works. Sometimes, I will feel that it is rather effort-wasting to write a blog entry when only a or two precious viewers made their comments no matter how hard I had tried to make my blog interesting and captivating. I then feel the futility of my efforts, it was...... like healing a gaping wound with only a tiny strap of plaster. Do you know what I mean? Such as problems can be prevented by setting a function for all blogs in the world to get notified of all the newest blog entries which had been posted recently for comments.
But on the other hand, there are also quite many advantages. We can know many news around the whole world and feel free to share our thoughts with others. At the same time, we can also enhance our friendship and bonding with our friends.

Do you know that reading can also be enhanced through blogging? How this works? With blogging, we will get to know more good novels and put them on our electricity bookshelves. In my opinion, reading is one of the greatest and the most important factors to score well and succeed in our lifes. Hence, everyone should be reading for your own benefits. Don't be afraid to read...... you may want to try reading a great novel through blogging.


Anyway, blogging is very interesting and I will like to encourage people from all walks of life to blog and do not be too anxious about writing one. Just feel free to state your views and thoughts. Try it. You will never regret. A1