There once lived a grumpy old man in a village. He was the epitome of a quintessential complainer. Anything under the sun did not escape his scathing remark. The villagers kept away from him as being in his midst was physically and mentally draining. As the years went by, he became grumpier and he was […]
You are supposed to do a presentation for your organisation’s Silver Jubilee anniversary. You walked on stage confidently but felt jittery upon seeing the anticipative crowd. A sinking feeling that your speech will end up horrendously, sets in. You are not alone in feeling this way. In a survey conducted years ago, it was established […]
Tom and James were best of friends and were trudging through a desert. They both were employed as trekking guides. After completing their studies, their love for the outdoors landed them their dream job. They were on a mission to recce the terrain for a forthcoming expedition their adventure club was organising. Their task was […]
The video cassette recorder may have died a natural death, but the memory is very much alive. I vividly remember my maiden movie watched via the VCR. The year was 1979 — my brothers and I were over the moon as we gathered in my home to watch Sylvester Stallone’s “Rocky”. In the spirit of […]
Richard was the CEO of an established company; he had the moniker of a hard taskmaster. His subordinates hated him for his discipline and high expectation of them. He always corrected his employees’ mistakes and reiterated their lackadaisical attitude toward work. The staff on the other hand, labelled him as a difficult boss. They perceived […]
In our day-to-day living, we may have used foreign words in our English usage while speaking and writing; sometimes not knowing that it is borrowed from another language. For example, the word ‘bungalow’ whose origin is in India, means a one-storey house — usually surrounded by a ‘veranda’, another foreign word. We may have overlooked […]
How do you define persistence? I would say people who are persistent continue to complete the task they undertook in a determined way despite the difficulty and opposition. In a nutshell, they never give up or waver from their purpose. One of life’s tragedies is that many aspirants who were resolved in their pursuit gave […]
Once upon a time, there lived a man by the name of Adam in Africa. He was contented because he was a wealthy farmer. A wise man came to see him one day. The wise man’s intent was to educate Adam about the magnificence of diamonds and the prestige that accompanies them. The wise man […]
The year was 1986; we were a bunch of teens growing up in Redhill estate in Singapore. We were feeling on top of the world since the school holidays had just begun. *Richard was a youth leader in the social club we attended. Being older and responsible, he earned our respect for his leadership qualities […]
The audience was excited as the renowned speaker walked towards the rostrum. They had braved the chilly winter to see him and to attend a seminar on self-worth. “Let me begin with a simple experiment,” the speaker announced as soon as he took the stage. He swiftly took out a $20 note from the pocket […]