SJCYFL One Day Tournament_25.05.08

The final event for our SJCYFL Boys Football League was the One Day Tournament (ODT)which was held at Alice Smith School, Puchong on 25th May 2008. This whole day event also includes activities for the whole family and the prize giving ceremony.

Chitra and myself were not able to attend the tourney the whole day due to Rama's participation in the 3rd Malaysian Youth Scrabble Competition which was held in Berjaya Times Square, K. Lumpur on the same day.

I dropped by for a few hours to join in the fun and festivities.

Mum's Tug of war
Dad's Tug of War

Tents were set up for the teams at the edge of the fields. It provided a welcome shade and resting place away from the hot sun.

Teams Set Up Tents for the day
Tent of Junior Team Kings' Family
Ari (Technical Head) and Doc Nazir (ODT Coordinator) taking a break from their hectic duties.

Lunch was served at one pm.

Delicious Lunch for all

After lunch, football matches for the dads and mums commenced.
Mums and daughter's Football Match

I had to leave early by 2.00 pm to go back to Berjaya Times Square.

My Birthday_28.05.08

I share my birthdate with famous people such as King George1, Rudy Giuliani, John Thorpe and Kylie Minogue. I was born forty six years ago in Klang.

Got up in the morning, hearing birthday wishes from my wife. At breakfast table, I found my birthday card from Priya and Rama.
"Best Daddy" Birthday Card

There was a surprise birthday party organised by my staff when I went to work. Shantini put a "Happy Birthday" banner. Ramesh brought the cheese cake from Hilton Hotel and Rajakumaran contributed the banana cake. Dinesh's wife made an sweet dish "payasam" for the breakfast party. Thanks to my secretary, Mariah, staffs from other department dropped by to wish me.
Photo taken by Sukhvinder for my blog

After work, we went to Klang to have dinner with my brother, Jayaraj and family. My mum wanted to spend us a Chinese dinner in a restaurant in Pandamaran.
Our favourite dishes- prawns, fish, sizzling tau fu etc.

After dinner, I cut a birthday cake at the restaurant. My sis-in-law had ordered the birthday cake with royal icing from the famous "Mrs. Atkinson" of Klang.
Cutting the cake with family
Cake for my mum

I had a wonderful day for my birthday with lots wishes from my friends and family members. Thanks also for the presents I received, among them, the book entitled "Secrets" from my sis-in-law, Anita. Thank you, everyone for the memories.

3rd Malaysian Youth Scrabble Championship_24.05.07

Ramaraj took part in the 3rd Malaysian Youth Scrabble Championship which was held at Berjaya Times Square, KL on 24th and 25th May 2008.

A total of 138 students, selected from the State level Inter School Scrabble Competition, from all over Malaysia took part in this competition. The top 5 winners qualify to represent Malaysia in the 3rd World Youth Scrabble Championship which will be held in Penang from 9th to 11th December, 2008.

Group Photo of the Participants.

The Championship was organised by Mrs. Yap and her team. The venue was sponsored by Berjaya Times Square while the sponsors for the prizes were Mattel SEA Pte. Ltd. and Borders.

Mrs Yap addressing the participants

My nephews, Vijayaraj from Seremban and Harendraraj from Johor Bahru also took part representing their respective states. It was their first such competition for Vijayaraj and Harendraraj.

Rama, Haren, Priya and Vijayaraj

11 rounds of games were played with six played on Saturday and five on Sunday. On the first day, Rama won all six games while Viji and Haren won four and three respectively.

Haren playing against Ng Boon Jin

Viji playing against Johnston
Rama playing against Scott Chung

The second day was a tense affair when Rama met Scott Chung in game 7. Scott was in awesome form and won with a score of 634-439. The game resulted in six bingos with Scott scoring the highest word score of 158 with "DIOPTASE".
Rama Vs Scott Game

In the consequent rounds, Rama lost to Scott again and Sean Chung. He finished with eight points (8 points) to reach tenth position for the consolation prize. Viji and Haren finished with six points.
Rama receiving consolation prize

Congratulations to the five players who made the cut for the Malaysian Youth team i.e. Scott (undefeated with 11 points), Ian (9 points), William Kang (9 points), Sean Chung (9 points) and Marcus (9 points). The next five players would be chosen according to MSA national ratings. Rama still has a chance to qualify due to his high ratings but we have to wait until end of August for confirmation.
Champion Scott receiving his prize.

Wesak Day_19.05.08

We celebrated Wesak Day on 19.05.08 commemorating the three important events in the life of the Buddha - his Birth, Enlightenment and Passing Away. In Malaysia, the first full-moon in May is designated as Wesak Day.

Every year, on Wesak Day, my family and I visit a Buddhist temple to offer the traditional Buddhist offerings and to receive the blessings from the monks. We, then spend the rest of the day, reading the leaflets and books on Buddhism, collected from the temple.

This year, we went to the Buddhist Hall in Subang Jaya at 9.00 in the morning. It was already crowded with devotees queuing up to enter the hall for prayers and receive blessings.

Subang Jaya Buddhist Association Hall
Devotees waiting patiently outside the Hall

Before entering the Hall, we offered joss sticks, candles and flowers. As understood from the books on Buddhism, the offerings are actually just symbolic reminders. The joss sticks remind us of the 'fragrance' of the Buddha's Teaching which pervade the world. Candles represents His Teachings which light the way in darkness. The flowers remind us that our lives are impermanent, like the 'flowers' we offer.

Rama offering joss sticks

Priya offering joss sticks and candle

After entering the Hall, we were seated for the prayers and received blessings from the monks. We placed the flowers in jars placed at the altar as an offering to Buddha.
Prayers in the Hall
Prayers and Blessing from Monk
Before leaving the Hall, we were given blessed yellow strings and holy water to sprinkle at home. As always, we proceed to tie the strings on our right hand for blessing of health, happiness and harmony.

Chitra tying the yellow string on Priya's hand.

We visited the stall outside the hall which offered books, booklets and CDs on Buddhism. Before leaving, we also lighted an oil lamp for the symbolic act of "Light of Wisdom" overcoming the darkness of Ignorance.
Lighting an Oil Lamp

Raj and Rama at Wesak Day

We went back home laden with books and CDs on Buddhism. We also brought back additional yellow strings for distribution to our family members.
Priya tying the yellow string on Grandmother's hand.

I discovered a gem of a book entitled "Anyone can go to Heaven, Just be Good" by TY Lee, which offers a simple introduction to the Buddha's teachings.

One of the interesting quotation on Buddhism found in the book is as follows:

"What happens to us after this life depends on how we conduct ourselves in this present life.

The path to Heaven is not by faith or worship, but by doing good and avoiding evil."

For more information on Buddhist teachings, visit website http://www.justbegood.net/

Scrabble Scramble 2008_Beginners Category_17.05.08

The Scrabble Scramble 2008 was organised by Eventus Asia at Great Eastern Mall, Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur on 17th and 18th May 2008. There were three categories in this tournament i.e. Open, Under 18 and Beginners. Both Krishnapriya and myself took part in the Beginners category which had 2 mini tournaments of 5 games each played on Saturday and Sunday.

Day 1 Beginners Tournament

On the first day, there were only nine players who registered . I was requested to make up the numbers to ten players. Priya's classmates Looi Yih Feng and Vinnith also took part. The older generation was represented by Azlan Adnan and myself.

Round 5: Playing against Azlan

After 5 rounds, I managed to win twice, draw twice and lose once, collecting three points. It was an incredible stoke of luck that I managed to draw my last two games in a row by finishing first and adding up my opponents unused tiles value. Quite a feat in Scrabbles to draw twice, which earned me a fourth placing consolation prize.

Round 5: Priya playing against Nadzary

Priya played well but faced tougher opponents. She managed to win twice and achieved a credible sixth placing.

Azlan Adnan became Champion with 4 wins and a draw with me.
Consolation winner 4th placing_ Hamper and medal
Day 1 Champion Beginners Category Azlan Adnan

Day 2 Beginners Tournament

20 participants took part in Day 2. Competition was tougher with the participation of students from Sekolah Alam Shah, Putrajaya and fathers ( Ker Ken Wa, Kang Eng Lee and Subramanian) whose sons were playing in other categories.

Round 1: Playing against Muhd Nasram
Round 2: Priya playing against Subramanian
Round 5: Priya playing against Shirley Ujhazy

This time, I won three games finishing seventh and Priya won twice to finish 12th. Surprised that I won another hamper and medal in the consolation category! Ker Ken We became Champion after being undefeated in 5 games.

Another consolation prize and medal.
Day 2 Champion Ker Ken We

For more details refer to Malaysian Scrabbles Association (MSA) website at http://www.penster.com.my/.

More photos in our photo album at http://ksrajchitra.fotopic.net/.

Scrabble Scramble 2008_Open Category_17.05.08

Last weekend was a Scrabble weekend for us. The Scrabble Scramble 2008 was organised by Eventus Asia at Great Eastern Mall, Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur on 17th and 18th May 2008. The event was sponsored by Great Eastern in support of the charity project ChildrenCare. Miss Vanitha was the Tournament Director for this event.

Great Eastern Mall
Scrabble Scramble Tournament

There were three categories in this tournament i.e. Open, Under 18 and Beginners. Ramaraj took part in the Open category while Krishnapriya and myself took part in the Beginners category. Chitra was busy taking the photos.

2008 Scrabble Scramble

There were 16 players who took part in the Open category notably Masters Nigel Richards (current World Champion), Henry Yeo, Jocelyn Lor and Pui Cheng Wui, among others. 15 games were played, 8 games on Sat and 7 games on Sun.

Open Category Participants

In the Under 18 category, the response was poor with only seven players taking part, probably due to school exams taking place during the week. 12 games were played , 6 games each on Sat and Sun.

Round 1: Rama playing against Tan Jin Chor
Round 6 : Rama playing against Henry Yeo

Round 7, 13 & 14 : Rama playing Pui Cheng Wui

Round 8: Rama playing against Nigel Richards

After 15 games, Rama managed to finish with 8.5 points with 8 wins, a draw and 6 losses and spread of 369. It was encouraging that he managed to finish in eight position, his first time within top ten in an Open Category Competition. As expected, Nigel Richards emerged Champion with 12 points after facing stiff competition from Henry Yeo who finished Runners Up with 11 points. Andrew Chang achieved the highest game of 619 points for the Open Category.

Rama winning consolation prize.

Open Category Champion- Nigel Richards

U 18 Category Champion- Ker Jen Ho

Rama, Andrew, Priya and Raj

More about my consolation prize in Beginners Category in my next posting.

For more details refer to Malaysian Scrabbles Association (MSA) website at http://www.penster.com.my/.

More photos in our photo album at http://ksrajchitra.fotopic.net/.