"Final Reflection"

Oh well... Here we are at the end of the semester. It is kinda sad but I guess all good things must come to an end. I must say, however, that this has been THE BEST module I have EVER taken here at NUS. I think Brad is THE BEST tutor anyone could EVER ask for. In short, ES2007S is THE BEST module taught by THE BEST tutor EVER. (Ok Brad, hope I've said whatever you're paying me to say... Just transfer the money over to my account alright? ;D)

Hahaha! Ok Ok... Seriously, this has definitely been one of the best modules I've taken. I guess it's the so-called "non-traditional" approach of this module which made it appeal to me. I'm a Life Sciences major so getting away from the typical 'lecture-tutorial-lab' mould of modules was very refreshing for me. It was a great experience having this much of interaction in the classroom and allowing an exchange of ideas which often digressed from a given topic so that a very wholesome, all-rounded discussion took place.

I definitely learnt many skills to do with both speaking and writing effectively which I believe will help me not only in my career but also all throughout my life in every instance where these skills are required. It is sad that the importance of effective communication skills have been in the past often undermined in many places especially in tertiary institutions such as NUS. It is refreshing to see that this is changing at least in NUS and a module has been dedicated to communicating effectively.

Last but definitely not to say the least, Brad IS truly an excellent tutor who has made a conscious effort to bond with us students. His efforts have definitely touched me as I'm sure they have the many others who have taken this module. Thank you Brad and it has truly been a pleasure learning from you!

"My Oral Presentation"

Well... Last week my group did an oral presentation on our project. It was basically an analysis of the level of awareness of NUS students on the pollution levels of the various beaches in Singapore and their efforts (if any) in improving the situation. The purpose of this post is for me to reflect on that oral presentation, and for me to highlight what I thought were my strengths and weaknesses.

To begin with, the PowerPoint presentation itself was done in a rush, at least on my part. This was due to the time constraint which my group members and I had to work around. We did try to exchange our presentation slot with another group but since it was the end of the semester, everyone was equally busy with last minute assignments and final year projects. I remember completing the slides just the day before our actual presentation. Given the time constraint, I guess our slides turned out fairly decent.

Secondly, on our actual oral presentation, I thought we had our ups and downs. For me personally, I thought I was alright. Definitely not my best performance but not my worst as well. The time constraint applied to the preparation of the oral part of the presentation too I guess. I realized I was repeating the problem statement and our objectives quite a number of times. I guess I was just collecting my thoughts on the next point. At times, I realized I was going a little too fast as well which is a habit I tend to have when I'm presenting. However, I think I overcame it a little later on in the presentation.

On the whole I think my confidence level grew as the presentation went on. I am a person who needs to get into my own zone before I really get comfortable and I usually need a little time for that. I think my group members did really well and I'm definitely proud of them.

"Biodata"

Dhinesh is currently an undergraduate at the National University of Singapore (NUS). He is pursuing his degree in Life Sciences majoring in Bio-medical Science. He will be graduating in July this year and plans to work for a while before pursuing his Master's degree.

Biology is a subject Dhinesh has had a passion for since secondary school and has been good at since junior college. This is a major reason why he chose to pursue a degree in Life Sciences when he was offered a place at NUS. Becoming a Biology teacher is also a career prospect which he is looking at.

Dhinesh considers himself to be a 'well-balanced' individual in the sense that he has managed to incorporate both the Sciences and the Arts into his life. While his academic life has largely been Science based, his love for the Arts has led him to pursue mainly Arts based extra-curricular activities.

Dhinesh has been singing since the age of 7. He has participated in many talentimes and sung in many stage shows. He has represented his secondary school, junior college and even his university in not only inter-school but National level competitions. He is also formally trained in Indian classical music and is at an advanced level of his vocal music training.

Besides singing, Dhinesh is also interested and passionate about other art forms such as drama. He was the vice-president of the Drama & Debate Society in his secondary school and played the baritone as a member of the band. He has also professionally directed a play and co-produced a musical for the NUS Tamil Language Society (TLS). Dhinesh is also an artiste with Mediacorp's TV 12 and is under Mediacorp's Artiste Management Unit (AMU).

Finally, Dhinesh firmly believes that academic qualifications and certificates mean nothing if one does not learn from one's own everyday life experiences.

"The 'Art' of Communication"

Finally... An open topic! A chance to share my experiences and to voice out my opinions about whatever topic I choose. Of course, within the broad scope of the topic of 'communication'.

Communication in itself is an art. I am sure many of us have been through scenarios in which miscommunication has led to some pretty ugly consequences or at the least, left us in an awkward situation. Be it with parents, with friends or even with people whom we could have just met! In fact, I personally remember quite a few incidents in which miscommunication among my friends has led to arguments which eventually get blown out of proportion. When dragged into such sticky situations, I make it a point to remain neutral and take a politically correct stand. It is, however, easier said than done when one is directly involved in such a situation and the person at the other end of the miscommunication is one's own boss!

This particular incident took place about six months ago. In order for one to fully appreciate the gravity of this account, I guess it would only be appropriate for me to give a little background information about myself, the victim of miscommunication. I participated in an Indian talentime a couple of years ago. This was a national singing competition on TV and as such, taking part in it was quite a big deal. It was a hectic period of time in which I had to manage both my curriculum as well as preparations for the competition and I was at the brink of a nervous breakdown. Somehow, I came out of it sane and emerged as the first runner-up. After the contest, there were many opportunities where I was called to sing, act and host on TV shows.

One such opportunity came along when a prominent local producer called me up to sing in his show. Now, it so happened that this was the producer whom I had worked for part-time as an assistant producer before I pursued my degree at the university. He was also one of the judges in the talentime I had taken part in. So, I was thrilled to get a chance to sing in his show. It turned out to be a really interesting experience and I had a lot of fun doing it. A few months down the road, in October last year, I went to visit my ex-boss and my ex-colleagues at my old office and I immediately realized a change in the atmosphere. Everyone seemed a little hostile, especially my ex-boss. He brought me into his office and I immediately got bombarded with questions and accusations.

Apparently, another artiste whom I was not on good terms with, had told him that I had bad-mouthed his working style and his shows. Furthermore, I was accused of speaking ill of his company and his credibility as a judge. This shocked me beyond words as I had never in my wildest dreams even contemplated any of that which I was being accused of. I tried to explain about what had happened from my perspective but he refused to listen. I was told to leave the office and never come back. Presumably, after that incident, I was not called up for any of his shows either. This incident left a real sore spot in me and I became increasingly weary of my co-artistes and what was spoken in their presence. I guess the real question is, was there anything I could have done to avoid this situation?

"Evaluating Intercultural Behaviour"

This topic reminds me of an incident which took place when I was about 10 years old. It was a perfect case scenario in which I was able to evaluate intercultural behaviour in a playground setting.

One of the aspects of childhood which I thoroughly miss would be the innocence. As students of our primary 4 class of 4A, we were an intelligent but wild bunch. We were pretty close-knit and had all our after school play sessions together. As such, it was a usual weekday afternoon and about ten of us were playing in the playground after school. We decided to play 'catch' which happened to be our favourite game. Initially everything went fine as I happened to be pretty good at the game. After a few rounds of successfully maneuvering around the playground, fate finally caught up with me and it was my turn to catch. Things were normal at first as I tried to catch someone or anyone for that matter. Finally, I spotted this Malay girl who also happened to be the prettiest one in class. I remember having had a slight crush on her myself just for her long, flowing hair. Anyway, she had her hair in plaits that day and I took the opportunity to grab hold of a plait of hair as I just missed her shoulder.

Suddenly, all hell broke loose. Before I knew it, she was screaming and wailing and I had no idea what was wrong. None of us knew what was happening. A few of the Malay boys from our group asked her what was wrong and she whispered something to them. In a few minutes the group of boys came up to me in quite an intimidating manner and asked, or rather barked at me asking why I had touched her hair. The other Indian and Chinese kids exchanged puzzled looks with each other. I was just as puzzled myself. I told them that it was an accident and that I had intended to grab her shoulder. That was when one of the more rational guys in the group stepped forward and told me calmly that apparently guys outside of a Malay girl's family were not supposed to touch her hair. That was when I realized my mistake and I apologized profusely to the girl. She finally relented and after a while we all went home. It was that day that I realized how strongly each of our individual ethnic values are inculcated in each of our lives and how important it is for each of us to comprehend and treat each other's values with respect.

"Business Correspondence Critique"

Name: DHINESH S/O CHANDRA SEGARAN ,MR
Amount Payable: $

This is to inform you that our record shows that you have an outstanding charge in your library account. The amount outstanding is indicated above in : AMOUNT PAYABLE.


You may wish to make your payment in the following ways:

1. By Cashcard / EZ Link . You can pay using cashcard/EZ Link at all libraries in NUS.
2. Through NETS at Central Library. Please see the library staff at Loans Desk 4.
3. By cash at the Student Service Centre at Yusof Ishak House.

4. By cheque. Please make the cheque payable to :National University of Singapore. Please write your Name and staff / student number on the reverse side of the cheque. Please send cheque to : Coordinator, Loans and Membership Services , Central Library, National University of Singapore, 12 Kent Ridge Crescent, Singapore 119275. Please note that fines will be cleared from your record only when the cheque has been cleared by the bank. This will take about one to two days.


If you need further assistance, please do not hesitate to call us at telephone number 6872 0236.

Regards

I received the above e-mail a couple of weeks ago with respect to the outstanding fine in my library account. This fine was to be paid to the Loans & Membership desk at the Central Library.
The mail is pretty straight-forward. The tone used is somewhat formal.

It gets quite straight-to-the-point with my name and the amount I have to pay indicated at the very beginning. (I removed the exact amount payable, as I deemed the amount of cash I had to part with owing to my forgetfulness irrelevant in this case). Anyway, I thought the tone, though formal, could have shown a hint of casualness with a "Dear Mr ...". Given that this was my first such "offence" of this nature, I guess a more casual tone could have been in order. Furthermore, given the fact that this was not a system generated mail or anything, I sensed a certain 'human element' was missing.

Another important point which I realized was that as clear and concise as the mail was, it was not complete. The effort taken to list out the various modes of payment could have also been used to list the titles of the books which I would have to pay the respective overdue fine amounts for. This would have made it easier for me to recollect the reason or reasons why I was paying this fine in the first place.

However, it must be noted that the person does make an attempt at being helpful and polite with the last sentence offering assistance. Oh well, I guess better late than never!

"Resolving Interpersonal Conflict"

Another interesting topic. Well I have had quite a number of interpersonal conflicts in my life. Some I managed to resolve while others I did not. At this time, I am reminded of an incident in which I was subjected to quite a bit of mental and emotional stress. This was during a period of time rather than a specific incident.

This happened in the year 2007 while I was in my second year of study in NUS. I have always been quite actively involved in the Arts despite being a Science student. This is due to the passion which I have had from young, for the Arts. I was actively involved in both the English and Tamil Drama & Debate Societies during my secondary and junior college days. As such, I continue to be heavily involved in such activities while I am pursuing my degree as well. This being the case, I gave my word to a very good friend that I would help co-direct a play with her which had been a dream of hers for years. I gave her my word in 2006 and we decided to start our production work sometime at the beginning of 2007. A couple of months later, towards the end of 2006, another friend whom I was pretty close to at that time approached me to help him co-produce a huge-scale musical for the Tamil Language Society (TLS) of NUS. This musical was the pride & joy of the TLS and I was indeed honoured that I was being asked to co-produce it. Due to this, I agreed to do it despite knowing that it was going to take a miracle for me to be able to manage both the play and the musical.

As expected, when production work proper for both productions began in 2007, I started to panic. I was a nervous wreck, trying to balance lectures and tutorials with all the artistic and logistic work which had to be done for both productions. There were a countless number of occasions in which both friends would say that I was not dedicating enough time to each of their specific productions. Soon, a number of artistes as well as members of the production crew from either side joined in and began accusing me of favouring 'the other production' more. At this point, however, I must mention that the friend I was co-directing the play with did stand up for me quite a bit during those times although she got frustrated with the situation at times.

Finally, both productions were successfully staged. Both received mixed reviews (as all productions do), but I was not fully satisfied with either one. One could say that I bit of more than I could chew. However, I did inform both friends that I was involved in the other production and despite that they were pretty adamant that I be involved in each of their respective productions as well. Now, the question is, whether I should have picked a production of the two to be involved in at the risk of straining my friendship with the other person or should I not have been involved in either? Or is there a third solution I'm totally missing out on?