A city of dream as what I call it. Probably it was for the reason that I was there…providing an opportunity for the people to get out of poverty. A chance to change their lives and their fortune. A dream that they have always been longing for.

To me, this place is way behind where we live and as their country progress, more people fall behind the harsh pace of globalization. To people who knows, I am not the usual photographer…I hold a day job where we indirectly can affect the life of an individual. We make tough decisions but rationale ones so that it benefits the best of the business and the individual. Our job talks about integrity, fairness and principals…

Desmond (my local agent from SIngapore) asked me about the first picture which I showed him. The first picture that you see right below, “What’s the title of this picture?” I replied, “My future…” It was an instant reply from me as the look from the eyes of this young boy seems to tell me so. This place, where he lives is his future, he would one day…also take over from his family of being a fisherman, trying to earn a living for survival. This little boy was tailing me as I walked through the busiest beach of Chennai, the Marina beach. The sight was nowhere near any beaches near our neighboring Bali, Phuket or even Langkawi but to him, this is Hawaii. He ran across the trash, toss around the sand and attempted a somersault. He was in a world of his own. he may not have seen the best but this is the best to him…

I wanted to see St Mary’s Church but only realized that this isn’t the one only when I am back in Singapore…but hey…who cares…its a nice church anyway…all thanks to our agent Raj from India.

My poor agent from Singapore…we were in the train and I needed a model badly so he became one…wasn’t the best model you can get but hey…he didn’t charge me royalty for that.

This is my 2nd year as an official oiler (I doubt if there is a better term for this). My role, as an oiler is to ensure that the competitor gets an even color tone when they are on stage. I am helping my youngest brother as part of his annual competition routine, in this event “Muscle and Fitness War”.

Gym became an event where the 3 of us are knitted together. We meet each other almost everyday to work out and that became a routine. As I no longer stays with them, I guess this became important for us to catch up and not lose touch in each other’s life (as well as to gather the latest gossip at home).

It just seems like yesterday where we were still playing hide and seek in our old Hougang residence, a place where it holds a lot of memories for me and I believe to my brothers as well.

They were a sunshine kid then. I remembered how I accompanied them to their annual school performance event over at Macpherson Library. Looking at them then and looking at them now provides me with the same pride and joy. Perhaps that was why I felt a sense of joy when Benson’s name was called and he walked up on stage with his head held high. I was proud of his achievement, never mind the fact that he came in 5th overall in his category. To me, that moment of making everyone in the family proud was priceless and he tried his very best.

Being able to be there, to share those special moments is a bliss. Something that you cannot ask for more and I am glad to be a part of it. Thank you brothers…for always being there…in a way or another.