It is Water Week; time to turn our thoughts to Virtual Water and Water Footprints, it is another week of the World Cup - and did you know about the Library of the Arts?
We have had two flash floods in a week; sleeting rain, thunder and lightning of magnificent proportions, and the temperatures have dropped. Water everywhere. It could be viewed as a rather serendipitous lead-in to the third Singapore International Water Week (28thJune to 2nd July), where water -- its challenges, technologies,opportunities and achievements -- takes centre stage. Participating countries, policy makers, industry leaders, experts and practitioners share their knowledge and experience, and discuss how it serves the common good.
Table 1: Virtual Water Comparisons
While the pro's debate and discuss, it is timely to recall an article in the 5th June, 2010 issue of The Straits Times: an interesting one that introduced the concept of Virtual Water, calculated as the amount of water that goes into the manufacture of a product.
It is possible to arrive at rough approximation of your Water Footprint – calculate the amount of water used to transform a product from its parts to its finished state ... which you wear, or eat, or use in one way or the other ... and do the multiplication. The charts below should give one pause for thought; what do we really need and how much of it? Is there any parity here?
Table 2: Water costs in Asia (based on household monthly usage of 15,000 litres in 2009), per litre, in US cents
More World Cup
We are into the electrifying second round of the testosterone-fuelled World Cup confrontations and conquests (and England were deservedly trounced by Germany in the second round), and while surfing the wide, wide, very wide web, a link caught my eye; the Harrow Council in London has launched a campaign to stop football-related domestic violence during this summer's World Cup.
Posters have gone up in the borough's pubs and bars to highlight the links between heavy drinking during football games and attacks in the home. Statistics show domestic violence surged by 31 per cent across the UK during the World Cup in 2006, especially around the time England games were played ... it's a sad statistic that sporting tension and excessive drinking can spill over into domestic violence.
One cannot but help contrast this with the Singapore experience, largely defined by good cheer and good times, gatherings in homes, pubs, community centres, bars and clubs; collective euphoria and shared disappointments, the raising of glasses, friends, late nights.
Each Series spawns exceptional memories; and they shouldn't have anything to do with violence, and certainly not at home.
For me, this World Cup, above all, will remain precious for the text messages exchanged with my eight-year-old niece in Dubai, an angel with limpid eyes and cascading curls, a tomboy at heart, with a deep and abiding love for football. It was the Brazil-Portugal face-off: r u watching Zee? and Yep, its still 0-0. Me for BRA. Who r u? she queried, and we discovered we were rooting for the same team. Where r mum and dad? Mum's cleanin my room (help!) n dad's here, she fired back. And then, Lov u lots. Lov u a 100 times more what u lov me. Ok. U win, I painstakingly texted back, but still luv u lots. :-D she said, and that about sums up the World Cup; it is more than a game, it is a coming together, a rediscovery of all that we have in common, all that is so often unremembered. It is the time to reconnect, on various levels.
Asian Film Archive Collection
And here is the windfall: There is -- available for reference at the Library@Esplanade --an Asian Film Archive Collection of Asian features and short films, many made by independently-funded film makers from S E Asia. Some of these are still to be archived in their own countries.
The Library@Esplanade (which opened in 2002) is a first in Singapore, the first library devoted to performing arts, information and services in music, dance, theatre and film. The films can be viewed in the library and are not available for loan. Written requests are required a day in advance. Check out the catalogued films at http://vistaweb.nlb.gov.sgor and www.asianfilmarchive.org
I needed the score of Panis Angelicus for voice and piano in F major for a Trinity College Exam and I discovered the wealth of offerings at the Library@Esplanade, a profusion of books and scores and genres and composers. Original sheet music and scores, from recognised publishers like Hal Leonard, are required to be presented to the examiner at the time of the exam, and many are unavailable for purchase in Singapore. The option is to buy it online, the whole book, at an exorbitant price (and all for one song), and await delivery, which could take weeks.
Go to theLibrary@Esplanade, check it out. If you are lucky (as I was), Madam NaemahKudsi will be there to assist you, to help you find the most elusive of sheet music. Be it Panis Angelicus or Pilate's Dream in the key of your choice.
Photographs by Anita Thomas. The FIFA World Cup logo is from here, and the Asian Film Archives logo is from the official website.
Visit Anita's website www.singaporeforkids.com
Anita Thomas | 30 June 2010
