Avé Maria!

All day, the sky had been the colour of dusk, the air muggy and pregnant with rain. Now, rain was coming down in sheets and the furiously operating wipers had scant effect on it.

It's 7:30pm on a Sunday evening and I'm 100 metres shy of the Singapore Indoor Stadium. However, in the past 10 minutes, I had barely advanced in the languid line of vehicles that snaked all the way to the carpark. I pushed my face up to the windscreen and squinted to discern the cause of the holdup. Just ahead, three mud-spattered men were putting their combined weights against a white Mercedes, trying to get it out of a ditch. I'm trapped in my car, a prisoner in my cell and confronted with the prospect of missing the opening of the what was probably Singapore's biggest tennis non-event of the year - Maria Sharapova Live.

In a country that doesn't feature prominently in the international sports arena, it is somewhat of a big deal to host a game (albeit an exhibition match) between two of the top-ranked women players in the world - Maria Sharapova and Anna Chakvetadze. Ranked 5th and 6th respectively in the women's singles category, both players were scheduled to square off in the Singapore Indoor Stadium at 8:00pm. However, judging by the beeline of vehicles choking up the carparks and inclement weather, the possibility seemed remote that the crowd would be seated on time.

Nonetheless, in a small measure of reprieve, a parking lot presented itself and I hastily tucked the car in without my usual concern for its alignment. Armed to the tooth with a fully-charged camera and an abundance of solid-state memory, my partner and I raced towards the stadium to join the throng of eager spectators at the East gate. Thankfully, the crowd was admitted in double time with typical Singaporean efficiency. In fact, the gate attendants had even dispensed with the regular inspection of bags and my scantily concealed telephoto lens eluded their scrutiny.

Unsurprisingly, the arena had already been packed with spectators that were buzzing in anticipation of the hottest female tennis sensation in recent history, Maria Sharapova. At this juncture, I feel that I should confess that I had only discovered the name of her competition when I peered at the scoreboard.

It wasn't long after, that the rest of the crowd was packed in and the emcee made his appearance to introduce the stars of the event. Now, tennis has its origins in Europe and had been in the reserve of the upper class. Even in recent times, despite having been permeated to the masses, it is still perceived to be a gentleman's game of sorts. It was in this vein that I was horrified that the emcee was drawling his introductions ("Prrrrresenting..."), not unlike those in boxing bouts or wrestling matches! And, if this wasn't bad enough, both Sharapova and Chakvetadze, made their respective entrances to the blares of Europe's "The Final Countdown" and Queen's "We Will Rock You"!

A perfunctory interview of the players by the emcee, a brief giveaway of autographed tennis balls, a coin toss by the umpire, and the game was off. Sharapova started the set and mowed over Chakvetadze to win the first set 6-0 in under 30 minutes. With the stadium rooting for Sharapova, Chakvetadze's strokes were tentative and her returns weak. The second set, was a marked improvement over the first, with Chakvetadze regaining her confidence to secure an early lead. However, an unyielding Sharapova, grunted her way to force a tie-break at 6-6, and, in a laudable demonstration of endurance and grit, took the set at 12-10. Final score - 6-0, 7-6 (12-10).

Unfortunately, the experience was somewhat marred by an unattentive line judge who failed, on at least two occasions, to highlight glaring faults. On both counts, the umpire, and, later, a frustrated Sharapova pointed out the errors. I take some minor consolation in the fact that the faults were apparent ones, not requiring the likes of a Hawk-Eye system (justifiably absent from the exhibition match) to resolve a dispute. Had the faults been ambiguous, the ensuing disputes could have potentially adverse ramifications, casting further doubt on Singapore's ability to host matches at an international level.

All said, the evening was a magnificent way to round up the weekend and the year...

Fussing Over Christmas

And once again, Christmas is upon Singapore. You can't avoid it. Television and radio stations inundate viewers and listeners with a deluge of the season's tidings. The city is abuzz with shoppers, with stores touting their "offers" and with cash registers ringing up the numbers as quickly as the ERP gantries are raking in highway tolls from oblivious motorists - well, almost...

The streets and malls are decked out with decorations - tinsels, buntings and festive lights illuminating the faces of hoards of eager shoppers. This phenomenon used to be confined to the city's central shopping belt, Orchard Road. However, in recent years, even the suburbs haven't been spared the dazzle and glare of countless incandescent bulbs.

What's all the fuss about? Why Christmas? Singapore's a multi-ethnic republic, with representation from a spread of religious constituents. A check with the Department of Statistics reveals that the Christian community has the fourth largest representation locally, with Buddhists leading the pack. So, why? Why don't the other festivals elicit the extent of attention that Christmas does? Well, a cursory analysis might suggest that:

1. the relatively smaller Christian representation vis-à-vis the other religious communities does not necessarily equate to the the extent of their influence upon the society relative to the other religious groups, and


2. the Christmas public holiday is only a couple of days shy of the New Year, so it makes commercial sense to make the most of the adornments, so to speak.

So, that's that then. I guess, I have some semblance of an explanation. However, while the mind might settle for a logical explanation, a part of me remains unconvinced. But, who am I, an agnostic, to fathom the intricacies of religious nuances...

And, so, came Christmas and the accompanying flood of SMSes - the modern heralds of season's greetings. It's convenient. Too convenient, in fact. I'm old-fashioned and I miss the days where individually hand-written cards surreptitiously awaited discovery in the mailbox. These days, SMSes forwarded en masse is what most would expect.

Lunch at a friend's and dinner at an aunt's - I dreaded the prospect of having to meet people that I hadn't bothered to stay in touch over the course of the year. However, over the course of the festivities, my spirits gradually lifted as I was swept away by the sheer cheer and joy of the season. Despite Christmas being a Christian festival, both celebrations comprised guests from a spread of religious alignments. It then dawned upon me that no other religious festival in Singapore brings together people of various creeds the way Christmas does. How remarkable!

Isn't this worth fussing over?

Yuletide Offerings

A hurried glance at my wristwatch reveals that it's 6:45pm and, despite the gargantuan pile of work before me, I'm eager to leave the office. It's the eve of Christmas and, earlier today, every sane being had abandoned their professional obligations in favour of an office feast and then home thereafter. I look about the atypically desolate office and make a mental note, for the umpteenth time, never to be the last one out the door again.

I remind myself that I'm due for a dinner appointment across the island and that I've yet to pick out gifts. With that, I'm out the door and crawling along the highway towards the city in my quest for Yuletide gifts.

After what seemed an eternity of navigating the unrelenting traffic along Orchard Road, I brave the throng of last-minute shoppers to pick up some presents - all of them about as useful and practical as the green, bug-eyed plushy that I'd gotten for my niece.

Swell...