VANTO'S WORLD

Greetings again to all and 1. Its Officially Hari raya now and once again taking this opportunity to wish all my fellow Bretherens Selamat Hari raya Aidil Fitri.
Its time to bring forth more love to be spread around the world and renew old ties with loved ones near and far. This brings me to the year 1977 and 1978 when I found my self in vanto academy in PJ's road 223. Those were the years of Bellbottoms and afro hair-do. There I was a 20 year old dude who was disillusioned by the Govt sector ( I was working asa clerk in Lembaga Peperiksaan or Examinations Syndicate.) It was during the days of Operasi Isi Penuh where the government brought in thousands of half baked post Form 5 teenagers to the city and gave them jobs in the Government Sector. Oh this was the time where the public sector emploeyed 2 Malays for every non malay who was retiring. Have I got anything against that? No by all means bring it on. But please employ qualified ones. Not half baked kampung boys and girls. This also gave rise to illegal settlement mushrooming all over KL. I was a bit naive then but now I know that this was to ofset the Chinese and Indian population in Kuala Lumpur at that time. The Chinese were obviously voting in DAP to take the parlimentary seats available in Kuala Lumpur.
Anyway, back to Vanto. I joined in to take my Form six HSC exams which was going to be the last one held in full english sylabus. So there I was a senior by age surrounded by students 2 years younger than me. ( Oh I resat for my form 5 in 1975 coz I failed Bahasa Malaysia and passed it)
One of the 1st students I met was this Scotish gal by the name of Margaret Bell. Turns out she was also my age but a few weeks younger. We clicked well and ended up sitting next to her in class. Slowly I got t meet my fellow classmates and this crazy chinese guy with  a slight misai turned out to be a bit of a loud mouth just like me and I soon realised he was cool in his own way. Hey, if it turns out that my Vanto classmates are going to be reading this, you may want your names to be mentioned. There are so many of you but some names have to be mentioned here. Lizzie Thomas, Hew Kok Ming, Vatsala ( she passed away a few years ago) Serena Marsh(she and I share the same birthday) and Bonnie and Avilin (they got married a few years later). Hamidah and Mus even though they were not in my class, were such interesting people and the times I shared with them in school were to say the least: interesting.
This was also the time where I started getting involved in sports. Maybe I shouldnt have been so involved in sports. But I apparently spent a bit too little time on my studies and it turned out to be my downfall as far as passing my HSC exams was concerned. But, those were 2 of my best years as I got to meet people from different parts of Malaysia and of different stratas of life.That has probably helped me along the way in looking at life and people positively.  So if there are any ex-Vanto students out there, drop me an email or post a comment.

DEEJAY CLASSES IN KUALA LUMPUR

Hi there again. Seeing that its coming to the last 1/4 of 2009, its going to be the time of the year when companies  and groups will be looking for mobile disco companies to handle their year end parties. There are of course club deejays in town going at a rate of dime a dozen. But are there good party deejays who will play for the crowd and not for themselves? Im afraid not.
Have you noticed that these days deejays dont seem to talk to the crowd. They seem soo engrossed with their perfect mixing and ingore what is happening on the dance floor or what the crowd really wants.

Image shown is for visual purpose only.

So, deejays, or wanna-be-deejays out there, if you want to scratch and wear out the stylus of that Technics SL1200 , go ahead! But if you want to learn deejaying the old school way, drop me a line. I have the knowledge, I have the time. My charges are reasonable. The course itself will be over 3 months and what you will be taught is proper deejaying, appreciation of different genres of music, party music flow, public speaking and emceeing. An important aspect of emceeing is protocol. You will be surprised that many deejays and emcees dont even know when to use "Yang Berhormat" and when to use "Yang Berbahagia". You will be taught this and more of basic Malaysian Protocol.  My email: dj_laboratory@yahoo.com

My short 36hours trip to Singapore (part 2)

Continuing from where I left off, all I can say is as I look around the streets of Singapore in down down area, Malaysian town and city planners should cast aside your so-called superiority minds and take  a walk around the city, not get on your Beemeers and Mercs and waste all the public money on your fact finding missions that we have heard of all thses years. If you had actually been observant, you would have advised the bus companies in Kuala lumpur on the right kind of signages on those damned buses. You would have advised the local authorities on how to design bus stops and placements. If you guys had actually taken on of the SBS buses, you would have learnt a lot of things. But you didnt! D&id you?
Thats why Singapore will always be a head of Kuala Lumpur. Yes! Yes! I know, Singapore is smalll, easy to manage. Oi! Kuala Lumpur is smaller than Singapore lah. Why cant we do better? No we cant and we never will coz the minds of KL city planners are located somewhere in the posterior area.
I didnt even have to go to Orchard Road to do my family shopping. Went to Bencoolen Street and thats where Sim Lim Square is located. Thats equivelant to our Low Yat Plaza, except much bigger and has shops selling professional sound and lightings system.
Went there to inquire about cordless microphones and was impressed by the range of microphones this particular shop carried. I have visited this particular outlet over the years and and have bought some mics and headphones before. One of the reasons I go to this shop is to say hi to the boss there. Very peculiar name: Genghis Hung.
It was time to do some serious shopping and for that I dragged my wife and kid across the road from Sim Lim Square to O.G shopping Centre.
(to be continued..)
 

PLEASE POST YOUR COMMENTS.

Hi people. Its me again. Yes, Ghandhi. Im the one in the beige pants The guy who was at all the Mighty Minds Roadshows. The same guy who was in Singapore. Guess what? It would help if you people out there after reading my blog pass some comments or  better still be a follower. It feels nice knowing who are those reading my blog. If you have a comment or would like to know me better, you can always email me.
This is a pic taken in 2008. The bunch of people in the pic were my classmates in Vanto Academy (The class of 78) . Avilin and Serena Marsh are seated and standing behind the fair maidens are Bonnie,Naginder, James Sarda, Ravi and me.

Mighty Minds in Kangar, Perlis

Hi greetings again to all students in Malaysia. Its Ghandhi from the Mighty Minds Roadshow and we are looking back at the last few months and after Melaka and Kota Baru, we made our way to Kangar. Oh Boy! It was a long drive from KL and with 2 lorries and a car being the convoy.  We left KL in the morning and managed to find our way to Khoon Aik Chinese school by about 5pm. It was raining along the last stretch from Alor Setar to Kangar.

Any way, again we were impressed by the effort put in by the teams who came to take part. Here are some of the pics we thought summed up the event in Kangar.

This guy was very impressive. Look out for him and his team in the finals.

This was the school which hosted the Mighty Minds in Kangar.

Mighty Minds Update- Kota Baru Pics

Hi teachers and students in Kelantan. Selamat Berpuasa and Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri to all Muslims there. We were there on the 4th of April 2009 for the 2nd leg of the Mighty Minds Roadshow. It was good to be back in Kota Baru after a long time. You see, I used to work in Hotel Perdana back in 1989 till 1991. I was the last deejay in Kelantan. Kota Baru is soo nice place unlike what has been potrayed by the Federal Govt. Good job Uncle Nik Aziz.

Anyway, I was inpressed by the excitement built up by the students although I observed that the students were not well versed in English and I was a bit shocked that when the Emcee asked the crowd to give around of "applause" the students were silent until some body shouted out"tepuk tangan". Only then did the kids respond! Oh my God! Are the teachers sent to Kelantan ill equiped to teach even such simple English? Maybe the powers that be ought to look seriously at improving the general grasping of the language and not only the science and maths terminologies in English.

Thats all for now and in the next few days look out for more pics of the Mighty Minds. This time from Kangar, Perlis. Bye and all the best for your exams.

Please also note that the above comments from me are strictly my personal opinion.

My 36 hours trip to Singapore.

Hi there, Im back in 1 piece after my short trip to Singapore over the weekend. This time around brought along the wife and youngest daughter. Friday morning found us in front of Pudu raya (the Bus station) and making our way to platform 8 where our TransNational bus was all ready for the 4 anda half hour trip to Johor Baru. From there I rather take a JB /Spore express which will take us all the way to Queen's street in downtown S'pore. Met a very interesting cab driver who took us from there to our hotel (grandmax) in the Serangoon area.

Well for those of you out there who are not familiar with Serangoon, thats the Little India of S'pore. Unlike KL's little India, this place coversa much wider area including Buffalo Road, Jalan Syed Alwi and Race Course road. The veriety of shops you will find here is also much greater than in Brickfields ( thats the KL version of Little India). Oh by the way, if you want to refer to Serangoon to the Locals there, you must refer it to as: Teka. Teka was the name of the old wet market that used to be around till the Urban Redevelopment Authority came up with plans to modernise the area and at the same time maintaining the rustic charm of Little India. Old run down buildings were given a face lift and new food courts and mini malls now stand side by side with the old charming eateries.

Now u guys must beb wondering if I read all that in the tourism Phamplets. Haha! Not really. I used to work in Singapore from 1981 till 1985. More about that in another posting.

Anyway back to our hotel and I realised that we were all really hungry as we did not really plan on fasting today(I hope I still go to heaven) and with the abundance of restaurants serving a wide veriety of Northern and Southern Indian food, I dragged my wife and kid to Ampalar. They also have an out let in Bangsar, a few doors away from the Maybank branch in front of Jalan Maarof.

This place is located just in front of my favourite shopping Centre in Singapore: The Mustaffa Centre. Anyway back to our lunch, We ordered Briyani. They have averiety to choose from. The wife chose Fish Briyani and the little one preffered Mutton. Well I chose full vege dishes ( prefer to eat fish if its cooked by the wife). Man! my wife freaked out as it was sooo tasty. And to wash it all down, we ordered the Masala tea which I must say was the best ever I have ever sipped on for along long time.

After that lunch, it was time for abit of work. You see, I needed a few spare parts from the Bose service centre which was located a bit away from town. Near Changi Village close to the Singapore Expo. What I cant seem to fathom is why the Malaysian outlet that handles Bose products and spares cant keep stock or seem reluctant to keep stock of spare parts. Maybe Atlas sound would like to explain?

Anyway met another cab driver (NTUC comfort) on the way back from Changi. Guy called Lim. Nice conversation we had about Karma, life and religions. He guessed we were from Malaysia and he also had his five cents worth of opinions of Malaysia and its Ministers. I just nodded and hmmed along. Haha. If I had joined him talking politics, I am sure the ride would have to be much longer.

I am now a firm believer that Singaporean cabbies are soo much better behaved and educated than their Malaysian counterparts. Sorry, make that KL counterparts. .. Time to take a break will be back soon with the continuation of my trip to Singapore.

These are some of the pictures we took at Melaka. Cheers to the winners. Next I shall be putting up pictures of our second stop: Kota Baru.

Please comment if you see this. I would appreciate feedback.

Mighty Minds Finals

Mighty Minds finals which was supposed to be held on the 15th & 16th of August 2009 has been postponed to 24th and 25th Oct 2009 and its almost sure to be held at Palm Gardens Hotel in Putra Jaya.
I went and saw the place last week to decide on what are the logistics I need to prepare. Looks like a long stage is almost sure and 5 rostrums for the top five teams will have to be sourced out. You know, It has been a fantastic roadshow since the 1st venue on the 29th of March in Melaka City. It has been nice meeting all of you teachers and students and I was really impressed by the excitement created by all of you. My heart goes out to the schools who were not represented during the Penang leg of the competition in May as it was sooo close to the Semester Exams. PFS, we hope to see you in next year's series.
This year the format was supposed to be Maths and Science in English. However the organisers added a bit extra spice to the quiz section by incorporating general knowledge questions. I think that definately hyped up the atmosphere judging by the oohs and aaahs and the applause they gave for such questions. Well done Mr Siva and Anne.
By the way, I was the one who did the preliminary announcements and handled the post quiz sessions.
The hands on challenge was at some states quite tough but overall it was well recieved by the teachers and students. Apparently, the government schools have never tried having such projects as part of their curricullum. Wel done Mr Alageson for coming up with such interesting challenges. We also found your motivational announcements fun.
Well we are all looking forward to the finals and welcome the teams from the 14 states.
All the best teams.
It would be fantastic if RHB Banking Group continues with their sponsorship for 2010 even though we are all sad that English as a medium for teaching Maths and Science will be phased out in the coming years.

A short visit to Singapore.

10th September 09

Wow! Looks like Im in the mood to write.

Guess what? Im shooting down to Singapore for a day or two with my wife and youngest daughter who has just finished her Standard 6 exams today. We just love the food in singapore especially the vegetarian dishes around Serangoon Road. Also love the idea of the special experience of 24-hour shopping in Mustaffa Centre.

But my kids love to walk the whole length of Orchard Road just to take in the sights of the Malls and people who I have to admit are classier than those found in Kual Lumpur.

This pic was taken on the 1st of Jan 2008 at about 11pm.

Maybe since its the weekend, I may checkout the pub scene to catch up with the current trend there. I always enjoyed listening to the radio stations ever since the Zoo 101 days back in the 80s. Also would love to see the preparations going on for the F1 night race at the end of this month. I never cease to be amazed by the crowd and support from all sectors in Singapore to make it a success. In Malaysia, it has to be prompted by the Govt and I always wonder if the "got free ticket for me" syndrom will go away.

If its free u can bet there will be loads of people there. Even Ministers' families who can bloody well afford it seem to be stingy and depend on free stuff. Dont these people have no shame?

On another note, hopefully I will also get to see my old friend from Kota Baru, Roy Azizul in JB before I return to KL.

Hi folks, just happened across this photo which reminds me of a short family visit we made to Genting highlands early 2007. All of of made it there except Sheila , my eldest who was taking care of my mother inlaw who just went through an eye operation. This was the 1st weekend of the brandnew year. I guess all of us had a fantastic time in the theme park and it felt good for me when I saw the kids having the time of their life. my wife is the one snapping the shots.

Casbah not rocking anymore.

Hi Folks. The very auspicious date of 090909 just went by and I guess it didnt really have any major significance for me except that I was at P1 office in PJ to do a presentation with regards to their forthcoming Event in October.
My piece today is titled such coz I have now left that place for obvious reasons in that the people who seem to be vocal about my choice of music played have probably voiced to the management that I am not the right guy to play their crap selection of Lady Gaga and Sean Kingston. F**k it. I am a true 80s music man and I shall remain one. When there is a club out there that needs my knowledge and selection of 80s music, I shall consider. Maybe the people in Casbah didnt wanta 52 year old Deejay?
Another very upsetting news this week has been the way the Federal Government has been going about their business. Without delving deep into it, all I can say is the state of this Nation is not that great now! I am ashamed at some of my fellow citizens and and the way they seem to champion certain causes in the name of Religion.
1 Malaysia indeeed! To quote my late dad, whata load of Humbug!! 52 years old and we are still acting as immature as a pampered 5 year old kid.
Dad, he told me when I was young and learning about life, Dont you join MIC! I know realise his wisdom in his advice. Why dont they just call it MTC?" Malaysian Tamil Congress". They dont care about Malayalees, Telugus, Gujaratis, Punjabis. Hmm now it looks like they dont care about the Tamilians either.
Good night and may I wake up to a better and less corrupt Malaysia tomorrow. Yeah, Right!

CASBAH IN BANGSAR

6th September.
Greetings to all you people out there. Its another weekend and here I am pounding away at my keyboard and letting my thoughts take me to the last 1 week where I have have been busy everynight being a deejay at this new place in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur called Casbah. Its a few doors away from the MacD in Telawi.
Well. it had been a few weeks since I did my last pub/club stint and I was not quite sure what kind of crowd I would be facing. I was told beforehand that my selection will include lots of Retro music and later in the night some R&B and top 40s. I guess I could handle that. No sweat.
What I was not prepared for was punters/ guests who were not aware what music is all about. I had people sending the waiters to ask me to play "rnb" but when I asked them to specify any particular songs, they looked blur and asked me for Lady Gaga! Fuck, do these poeple actually know music or are they superficial and as shollow asa creek? I am trying to make this place a suitable joint which plays good retro music, stuff which you dont hear on the radio or at any other club in Kuala Lumpur.
Is that too much to ask? Damn it. If you want Lady Gaga or Akon, get into your car and switch on to 92.9 on the FM dial. I have the passion to keep playing the stuff I grew up with. Maybe I can make the concept here at Casbah work and get the crowd that goes for retro music. If not I may not be that long at this place. I want to log off early as I am going to Serdang to meet up with my mum whom I have not seen for a few weeks now.
Have a great week and to all the Muslims, Selamat Berpuasa.

24th Aug 2009.

Location: obviously in front of my PC . ( at home actually)



My Childhood - part 1. The early days.

For the benefit of those who have known me only recently, I was born in G.H in KL but my home was in Serdang, a very quiet and remote area but nevertheless a lovely and conducive place for my early years. I am the only child for my parents and when you are the only child, you often get branded as spoilt brat or mummy's pet. Well, it wasnt like that for me. My parents were not well to do and my dad was only a clerk in the Agriculture Dept in Serdang. My first memories of my childhood was the wooden kampung type of government quarters which was my first home till I was 4 years old.

That house was actually quite run down and termiite infested. So the government people approved my dad's application for a newer unit in 1961. Thus we packed up and moved to a brand new unit just about less than a mile away.( those days we never knew the metric system.)

My pre school days were spent mostly around the house where my closest friends were all the imaginary type. Other than those in my mind, there were those who were my father's workmates who often dropped by after work to enjoy a nice chat over a glass of tea and some vadai that my mum is famous for. We subscribed to Malay Mail and I remember is used to cost only 15 cents those days. My mum at that point was not able to speak in Malay as she was born in India and came to Malaya in 1955 when she was 18 years old. More about that in another story.

My earliest friends were from the Arokiam family and there was Selvarajah, Francis, the twins Teresa and Mary. there were the younger ones Elizebeth, Lourdes and Assunta. She was obviously born in Assunta Hospital in PJ.
I started this article on the 24th but I stopped and was distracted by a whole lot of stuff over the week. This shall be part 1 of my early childhood and in my next one I may come out with part 2 or continue with the deejay scene here in Malaysia. Anyway signing out at 12.21am 29th Aug.

Gandhi and his Retro Music.

When did I first hear of the term "retro music"? If Im not mistaken, it was over the THR Radio station back in the early 90s. Now, that was a great radio station as far as the Klang Valley crowd is concerned. We were exposed to celebrity deejays who were not from the "tetap dan berpencen" fraternity of RTM's stations. Of course the Blue network had its share of "celebrity deejays". Connie, Janet, Nubert, Joey, Varsha, Nor Nikman, Alan Z stand out as evergreens. They also had a great tag line for their station, Station of the Nation. But am I straying away from the topic?

By the way, I started my permanent career as a deejay back in 1985. My first job was at this place in SS2 called Trollinger Lounge. Nothing much as far as excitement but it was a great place to do my practice to hon my skills in beat mixing. By the way there was another outlet called Trollinger Jalan Universiti where there wasa band downstiars and a deejay console upstairs. Here, was where I met a legendary deejay from Solosa Sounds called Richard La fabre. He went on to be one of the main faces of the early THR station. Oh ya they had a tag line too, called "The Attitude Station".
They started playing sounds of the 80s and called it retro. Well, to me, retro is "looking back". It could be anything from early 2000 to way back to tyhe 60s. But as a deejay, it peeves me off when punters come to the deejay console and request for "retro" and expect me to play Sweet dreams by eurthemics or I will survive by Gloria Gaynor. They seem to think I dont know my music if I end up playing Roses are red by Macband.
Now that brings me to the days where I used to hang out besides the deejay console in Trax Disco at the basement of Wisma central. They had some great deejays there. Ravi Abdullah, Najee and who can forget Jake, the man who said he will never be caught playing any stuff from non black artistes. We now know better. I used to be allowed into the deejay console to give Jake a break so that he could do his "PR" with the ladies. Thats when I was allowed to spin afew records for the crowd. This was in the mid 1988 period. Faces was jam packed every night with deejay Brian and Rao who were the residents there. Me? I was in an obscure Lounge in Wisma Macoba along Lornie Road. It is now known as Jalan Syed Putra.
That was the year Jake became the top deejay in a competition organised by the legendary Joe Siva. Brian is now a recognised studio producer in Singapore and Rao? well he is now retired. I was also carrying my 12" singles every Sat and sun day afternoons to Ampang Park's 3rd floor which housed TOP TEN Disco. I was the deejay spinning at their weekend Tee dances. 3pm to 7pm we ( me and DR Sam the deejay) rocked the kids. Cover charge was RM6 and that got u a watered down glass of Coke. No alcohol served. And our rivals at that time was Picadally Disco in Damansar Jaya. better known as Piccet. Top 10 was converted to Hearts Club, a Canto pop joint every night but on sats and sunday afternoon attendance was somehow by only the malay teens. Not a single Indian or malay. Other than the deejays and light jockey. What did we play? the best and latest in RnB and we rocked the place. Oh ya, nowadays the same stuff we played is called> RETRO.

my first ever blog

Hello to all the people out there who may just be reading this 1st ever article sent in by me. Well, to start off, I am a Malaysian based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. At the age of 52, I felt it was time to put my 2 sen worth thoughts on line and try and relate to my peers. Here is the biggest problem I am facing as I pound on the keyboard of my humble computer. WHAT WILL YOU PEOPLE like to read about? My personal life? Hmm. or would you like to know what I think about the world in general or Malaysia? Well I suppose, I will be dabling into a wide spectrum of topics along the way. I suppose, I will be coming out with at least 1 article a week. Well I would like to have feedback from you people out there.
Back to bit about myself... I am happily married with a lovely and understanding wife and 4 children who have all seemed to grow out of the label of being "children:. They all seem to think they are grown ups with not a care in the world. Not a day passes by without me or the wife worrying about their whereabouts or their safety in this urban jungle called Kuala Lumpur. Oh Ya. I have 4 kids as I mentioned above. The eldest is going to be 20 in December. She just graduated from college with a Diploma is Counselling. ( Hmm.) Now she isnt sure about which college /Uni to persue her degree. Meanwhile all she does is go to bed at 2 or 3 am and wake up just when mummy has cooked a nice lunch. ( you see, her room is close to the kitchen) Meanwhile she is also in a dilemma as to why she doesnt seem to loose weight!!! ( go figure).
My second kid is our only son. What can I say about him? Well, for one , he seem to be more hansome than me. Thats what my business associates tell me. Well I am proud of that fact and its also because of the fact that me and the wife are of different races. That sort of makes my off-spring very exotic looking. Our contribution to making a perfect MALAYSIAN Race. Im all for mixed marriages. Oh Ya back to my son. He isnt academically inclined but he seems to have a knack for automobile repairs. ( He has not got his lesen yet)
Now the 3rd one has just enrolled in a college in Bangi, or is it Serdang? Aiya, you know IKRAM & UNiten area. She apparently found Corporate Communications interesting enough to convince me to enrole her there.I only said yes coz the fees structure was within my budget. She seems to be adapting well to the enviroment and also the foreign macho looking students who never fail to whistle at her as she passes by the boys' hostel on her way to classes.
Which now brings me to our youngest girl who will be sitting for her UPSR exams in less than 1 month time. Thank God, the Minister of Education came up with the assurance that students who have all the while been studing Maths and Science in English will have the chance to continue all the way till Form 5 in English!!! My youngest is now in the midst of having stress release sessions by dancing Bollywood dance scenes.Actually I peeped in on her moves. Not Bad lah.
Thats as far as my family . Also hanging around the house and making no positive contributions at all to the household economy are 2 cats.
A little bit more about me. Hmm I am a Gemini. I only read my horoscope at the end of the day. I am Malayalee by birth ( notice I didnt say Indian) Married in 1988 to my better half who has a bit of a problem explaining which state she is from. I really dont know why Malaysian Malays love to ask " asal mana". Actually, she was born in Kuala Trengganu but moved to Temerloh and Kuantan. You see, her dad was in the Government service. He got transferred alot back in the 70s and 80s. Finally she moved to Kuala Lumpur in the early 80s.
I will on another day write about how we met and fell in love.
I studied in Jalan Sungei Besi Primary school from 1964 to 1969. Thats the school that is quite close to the old airport. Some of the teachers have passed on but my headmistress will always have a special place in my memories of my childhood. Mrs Yap, God Bless your Soul.
Well, thats all I have for now. Good Night Malaysia and see you next week.