The Land of Pink Elephants

My father has his own ways of engaging with children. These were cultivated in my own childhood, many years ago.

While we were being driven in a taxi, through Singapore, the kids, particularly Tiarnan, twenty-four months, would become restless, at times. My father had a solution. He would point out of the window and go: "Look, there is a pink elephant!". Tiarnan and Fintan would duly look out of the window in search of this fabled creature. They would strain and peer closely at each and every cloud in the sky.

"Oh, it just went behind that cloud!", my father would further explain.

They would duly examine the cloud, for a hint of this pink elephant.

At one point, Fintan even said: "I see it! I see it!"

We turned to him.

"It is a white elephant.", he clarified. "There." He pointed up at a white cloud.

"A white elephant on a white cloud...very good, Fintan." I said.

Throughout his time here, my father would send the children on a hunt for a pink elephant whenever they seemed restless in the car.

When we got to Bintan, in Western Indonesia, we boarded a bus for the resort. The bus drove through an empty land, without any sign of housing or habitation - it was just a forest of small trees and tangled jungle.

While we drove across this green vista, the kids looked out of the window. Alongside the road were a series of electricity pylons (which Tiarnan pointed out to us, as something unusual, for he noted that he had never seen one before. In fact, he was the first to notice them. Singapore doesn't have them.)

Pylon after pylon sprinted past us.

Suddenly, Syahidah burst out laughing. "I saw an elephant, a pink elephant!"

I thought she was joking or had misperceived.

I looked but could not see a pink elephant. How odd it was that even I, now, was searching for a pink elephant.

"It was on the pylon: a pink elephant."

Ah. Now I understood. Some of the pylons had animals attached to them.

I joined her in laughter. After days of my father pointing out the window at mythical pink elephants flying through the sky, we had finally seen a flying pink elephant, suspended high up on an electricity pylon. How bizarre. It reminded me of the time I had promised Fintan a dinosaur mere minutes before stumbling across a large wild lizard. How funny is life: we make a joke with our children and it duly comes true. Hilarious.

So, the kids did get to see a pink elephant after all. My father is wiser than I could ever know. There are pink elephants in this world - and they do fly. At least, they do in that unheralded land of the pink elephant: Bintan.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and one month, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and seven months, and Tiarnan, two years exactly, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Record Breakers Singapore TV Show

Yesterday, we had an unusual surprise for my father.

We were staying at the Bintan Lagoon Resort - which is a rather pleasant beach side resort on the Indonesian Island of Bintan. All was fine with it - barring the fact that they seem to have acquired an excessive love of money.

We sat my father in front of the TV at lunchtime on the day of our departure, having arranged a late checkout to do so.

Onto the screen came a show of no apparent relevance. It was the Record Breakers - Singapore Edition, TV show - a sort of localized Guiness Book of World Records TV programme. On the screen were two teams from different schools competing against each other, against a themed backdrop of Singaporean or World Records. The skills of the students were matched against known record breakers.

The first record was the "First 360 degree water ski facility in Singapore" - not much of a record, but fun. The children had to use the ski facility, to the best of their ability. The second record was for the most frog jumps in a minute. Again, the children had to test their ability against this, by doing frog jumps for a minute (though they didn't do real ones).

My father sat through this, perhaps a little disinterested. But then something strange happened. Our son, Ainan, appeared on the TV screen. He was there as the record breaker for the youngest O level holder (they incidentally mentioned him to be the youngest science teacher known, too - starting at six).

Ainan had designed a challenge for the children. It was a chemical structural design. It was very elegant - but required a lot of spatial perception from the competitors, for them to divine what it actually was. The task was simple: they had to view the structure for a limited time, then reconstruct it, using polystyrene balls and satay sticks. It seems like a simple enough task - but it was far from being so. Though the show only covered the segment in a few minutes, the actual contestants took perhaps half an hour or more, to finish. The difficulty arose in being able to understand what they were seeing. Ainan's structure was inherently beautiful, but also a bit mystifying, since, if you did not truly understand the inherent form, you could misperceive it as something else - which is what they did. They built what they saw, and not what was actually there.

To help them along, Ainan commented on their work, telling them exactly where they were going wrong. To do so, he had to analzye their structure, and note its disparities from the original, and tell them where the flaws were and what they were. This was not an easy task since many balls and many sticks were involved and the structures they built were not only wrong, but quite complex. Yet, Ainan was able to see through their work and relate it to where they should be.

Ainan's guidance did the trick - and though they had floundered for perhaps half an hour, after his feedback, one team began to home in on the true design. They were the Malay team.

The teams were to ask Ainan to judge their structures when they thought they had succeeded. The Malay team was the first to do so and called him over. After a brief glance at their work, he announced that their design had won. The Malay team were the winners. The other team was from the Australian International School. They tried hard - but the true nature of the structure eluded them, for too long.

It was an odd experience to see Ainan on television. He was softly spoken throughout and looked a little heavier on screen, than he does in reality. (He is really very slim - so it was unsettling to note that his face looked more rounded on tv: how much fatter would a fat person look, then, if this is what tv did to Ainan's face?!)

I think Ainan did well on his tv appearance. He was composed, and not nervous. He spoke clearly, and succinctly - and was patient throughout the filming (he sat quietly to himself between takes, attracting the puzzled question from a production team member of: "Is he always this quiet?").

Most interesting of all, however, was my father's reaction. I think he was rather proud to see his grandson acknowledged in this way.

I am happy that the timing of the broadcast coincided with my father's visit so that he got to see it - and that Western Indonesia carries Singaporean television.

Our thanks to Thum and the entire production team of Record Breakers - Singapore Edition, for thinking to include Ainan as one of their record breakers. He really enjoyed the experience - and I think learnt something new from it. After all, working on camera is a whole new set of skills in itself - and Ainan got a chance to experience that.

It also allowed us, of course, to surprise my father in a very unusual way.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and one month, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and seven months, and Tiarnan, two years exactly, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Surprised by Forty Years

On February 10th, my father arrived from the UK. We took him to the Botanic Gardens during the day, for lunch and, in the evening, he came to visit us at our home.

For me, the day was about his arrival. He had never been to Singapore before. He had not seen Tiarnan, before. So, there much that was new about it. It was warming simply to see him again, after so long.

We took him on a tour of our condominium estate, showing him the grounds, and the amenities. My wife seemed determined to show him every little thing. She even did what I thought she should not: she opened the door to the function room. I tried to warn her - I was going to open my mouth to ask her not to go in there, since there were people in there. I found myself standing in the entrance to a room filled with smiling people: "Happy Birthday!", they all shouted, as one, throwing strip-like confetti on me.

I was utterly dumbfounded. Without any expectation of it, I found myself in the middle of a surprise birthday party, in my honour. I couldn't speak. I must have looked so funny standing there, my eyes wide, my mouth no doubt parted, as confetti fell all around me.

Long minutes seemed to pass, but perhaps it was no more than a minute. I managed to squeeze out a "thank you", at last - but it was difficult. I really didn't know quite what to make of it.

One reason for the effectiveness of the surprise was that my fortieth birthday is actually on February 14th...and it was the 10th. Yet, I think I would have been surprised even if it was the 14th. My wife, who had arranged it (with the help of some friends), had let no hint of what was to come, out in the weeks before it. I had had been given no idea.

Never in my life, before, have I been surprised by a party. It was a strange feeling to suddenly be in the middle of one's own party - without having known anything about it. It was touching, really, that all these people had convened to give me a surprise.

There were friends from all aspects of my life present - and I am thankful to all of them for coming - and for not letting me know, in any way, that it was to come.

The evening was spent meeting, greeting and reacquainting.

One odd moment occurred when a woman wearing what was basically a bikini showed up. She quietly walked over to the corner of the room and put on some music. Then she began to sway to the music in a style I recognized: she was belly dancing. Syahidah had once taken me to a "Belly Dancing Ball" - and noting that I had enjoyed it, she had laid on a belly dancer. The dancer was really rather good. She danced with a rhythmic grace and a natural enthusiasm that spoke of her love for what she does. The dancers I had seen before, often betrayed a "by the numbers" approach - but she did not. There was a fluidity to her movements that gave them a distinct elegance. She danced a couple of pieces and then urged audience members to come up with her and join in. Sportingly, they did.

It turns out that the belly dancer taught dancing - and she proceeded to show the brave volunteers how to belly dance. Some were good at picking up the movements - and the others were at least brave enough to try. It was notable that all - and I mean all - the initial volunteers were women. None of the men wanted to give it a go. The dancer, Stephanie, asked me to join in - but I was too self-conscious and too sure that I wouldn't do a good job of it - so I declined. That didn't stop her asking me again several times. She also asked all the other men. None of them obliged. Finally my wife approached them all, one by one and whispered something to them (what I don't know). One by one, they stood up and walked to the front forming a circle. Finally, I joined them, too, to the cheering of all.

We danced - not well, perhaps - but we danced. All the men belly danced together, to the sounds of middle eastern music - with one true belly dancer among us. It was hilarious. It was also rather liberating to actually overcome one's initial hesitancy and dance. I rather think, though, that belly dancing is an art of much skill and not easily acquired in an instant.

Belly dancing was interrupted by a singer, who sang two songs - one of them being La Vie en Rose. She had a powerful, well-modulated voice that pitched each piece very well. She too loved what she did and sang with passion. She was, in fact, the very same singer that I had remarked upon in a prior post about singers in Singapore.

The atmosphere created by her voice was most intense: everyone was utterly silent and focussed on her.

Again, my wife had noted my enjoyment of such music - and had arranged for me to be sung to, by the very singer that I had noted was good.

I found the music moving - but more moving still was the fact that it had been arranged for me, by surprise. Nothing like it had ever happened to me before.

The food was generous, plentiful and varied - and so too was the conversation. There wasn't time to speak to everyone as fully as I would have liked to - but I am grateful that everyone who attended came. By doing so, you all become part of a permanent memory in me, for the day I was surprised to be forty.

I would like to thank all who came, for doing so, and for surprising me in the way that I was. I would also like to thank my wife for arranging everything - and Andrew and Zurina Bryant for turning up so early to help set everything up. I am also thankful to Hanisah and Shima who also helped everything turn out so well. If anyone else contributed to the success of the event, and I am unaware of their contribution (which is altogether possible), my thanks go to them, too.

Of course, I must thank Stephanie for her dancing, Karen for her singing - and Hawk for training her to sing so (he helped with the particular songs sung). Thank you.

It is funny how I was expecting to be 40 for so long, but then ended up being surprised by it.

I now have a much better memory of it than I could ever have expected. The oddest - and sweetest - thing about it was that my father attended my 40th birthday party. That I could never have expected, given that he and I now live on different continents. I have many reasons to be touched by that day - and I remain so.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and one month, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and seven months, and Tiarnan, two years exactly, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Granddaddy vs Grandson

Today, we went to the zoo with my father, and his grandchildren.

As part of the tour, we took a tram around the zoo. Tiarnan, 24 months, sat through the first stop on the journey. At the second, however, he stood up on his seat - which, quite clearly, was a precarious position, in a vehicle that could move off at any moment.

My father intervened: "Sit down Tiarnan!", he ordered, firmly.

Tiarnan didn't take kindly to being ordered about. He rounded on my father swiftly, his index finger on his left hand rising to chide him. "Naughty boy!", he replied, scolding my Dad.

It was hilarious to see his little figure standing up to my father (who by most standards is a large, very well built man - a giant by local measures, in mass, if not in height). It was a David vs Goliath confrontation - but more so, for the disparity was much greater. Tiarnan is petite, but my father is most robust.

The tableaux imprinted itself on my mind: the smallest of children, versus the largest of men. What made it even funnier was the sureness with which Tiarnan confronted his grandfather. Little though he is, he was absolutely certain of himself, of his position, of his view, of his ability to stand up to such a large man, as my Dad. Never for a moment did he consider it out of place for someone so small to berate someone so large. Another matter of note was the passion with which he scolded my father: clearly, he really felt his words, in the moment of their utterance. Here is a boy true to his feelings.

He repeated his action, again, later in the day, but this time with a self-aware humour: he raised his finger, and uttered his words again: "Naughty boy!" he told my father, with a big smile, at himself and at what he had said. This time, however, they were not said with directed force, but with a reminiscent humour.

What a funny little passionate boy he is. I think there are many more interesting moments to come, from him. He is too sure of himself, for it to be otherwise. I will watch with interest.

Tiarnan is the first of my father's grandchildren to call him a "naughty boy". He was enchanted.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and one month, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and seven months, and Tiarnan, two years exactly, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Welcome to Singapore Dad.

My father is in town for a week...so I am going to be showing him around. It is good to see him again after too long.

Already, he has remarked on the ever present heat...hehe.

More on this visit over the next week, as appropriate.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and one month, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and seven months, and Tiarnan, two years exactly, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)