My friend Bijay, the Nepaleese Naan maker left for the USA yesterday. It was something of a secret departure and I have to admit that I was taken by surprise when he told me he was leaving so quickly and so suddenly. In the month that he was back in Singapore, he had talked endlessly about how he wanted to leave on the 23rd and nobody ever thought that he would leave when he did.

He had told me that he was having family problems. There was an obvious tension between him and his wife. I suppose it's a case of what else can you expect from a mail order marriage. Sooner of later things will fall to bits if the "Love" ingreedient is not there. But then again, I didn't expect him to dissapear - at the very least I thought he would take the time to say a decent goodbye of Puja - his 3-year old daughter and the jewel of his life. Puja, thank God looks like him and mother's DNA is burried in the depths of I don't know where! 

I hope my friend will find peace and joy in his journey. I hope his endevours in the USA pay off and I hope that we will meet again. Bijay is my friend, a crazy and sometimes exceptionally simple minded man but one who's heart is always in the right place.

What I'll always remember best about the crazy bugger is the fact that he introduced me to Singapore's Nepaleese community. I don't know what it is but whenever I was around the Gurkahs and other Nepaleese I always felt at ease and relaxed in the company of these people with a generous spirit. It was like being back in Darjeeling those 18-years ago. - people whom you didn't know made you feel like part of their own.

People would say I'm living in the wrong nation. The people I've always seemed most comfortable with:

• Namaste People
• Salaam Ali Kum People.  

I don't feel uncomfortable in Serangoon Rd and I like the taste of Chang and chew Indian tobacoo, though I wouldn't smoke the stuff. The Gurkahs are funny people, they don't have much but they are exceptionally generous and you can tell that family is really at the centre of their community.

The Arabs and Muslims are another interesting community. The Saudi's were not easy to deal with but somehow, after dealing with them, I find myself doing peculiar things like using Arabic expressions in my speech (Alhamdeallah, Salaam etc) in a very natural fashion. 

I even like eating with my hands. - there's something quite special about having the taste of safron on your fingers.

Picked Ngyuen from school. She and mummy had a field day bitting my hand, which is pretty red. - The little girl kept trying to put my hand together with Mummy's - no wedding bells are most certainly not in the air -