Dearest Friends @ CAS,     Dr Tamdin   We are a few days' away from the arrival of Dr Tamdin, the personal physician of Their Holinesses' the Dalai Lama, the Karmapa and the Ganden Trisur --   Most of the slots for 14 and 15 July ( especially the afternoon session ) have been taken up --   This is one of the rarest "private" trips to Singapore where consultations are offered and we will like to request to all Friends of CAS to pray for "smooth proceedings" of the programme and that the greatest good be reaped by all --   Given the relatively flurry of requests for appointments, some of whom coming down from Malaysia ( !! ), we will like to seek the understanding and patience of all sutdents on the days of the consultation for any unforseen delays and such --       Private Tutors needed ( !! )   One phone call exhorted bb back into service in Singapore's premier independent school from which hailed our late President and several ministers in Singapore's Parliament --   Although matters appear tentative, Camden Education Center, our society's education center has started searching for the right teacher to take over classes for Lower Secondary Science and Primary Two English --   Trained current and former school teachers will be a bonus ( !! ) --     Please email bb at contact@camden.edu.sg with your CV and others --       A Volunteer's Giving   Will be sending to all, the below, a piece submitted for the "Short Story Writing Competition" organized by the Singapore Prison Servce, penned by bb @ CAS ...... for your viewing pleasure --       All our regards and prayers always,   bb & other such things @ CAS of Thousand Arm Chenrezig   ______________________________________________________________________________________________________   A Very Happy Email:   Dear Kunga and friends, Rinpoche reached very safely and happy.Thanks for helping Dharma flourishing.u are in our prayers and thoughts.Love and thanks every one. Take care and love, Ontul Rinpoche and family _______________________________________________________________________________________________________     A Volunteer's Giving   Ice coffee and vegetarian lunch are indispensable ingredients for my weekly afternoons at Changi, Sembawang and now Queenstown Remand Prison.   Shoveling deep into whatever was ingested in the counseling courses, "Choice-Theory", "Needs and Wants" and all were churned over yet once again and served aplomb to the readily agreeable, nodding group.      No thanks to leery drugs, callous stabbing of living flesh of rival gangs, my fellow beings temporarily lost their 'physical mobility' and are now learning to hobble a new path, the right one.    Reading from the early Dalai Lamas' commentaries, I affirmed and persuaded with all gusto that 'The Cause of all Sufferings comes from Selfish Attachment to one's own Happiness' whereas 'The Cause of all Happiness comes from Cherishing Others'. I linked drug abuse with selfish-concern for oneself and the lack of consideration for others. I told them that true happiness will not come unless they make a firm decision to break off their deadly habits.   I exampled drugs to toxic goiter, the lump so ugly, harmful and evil to all, except perhaps to the stubborn and the lost, who chose not to listen and who wears it still, ever so haughtily on his neck.     They nodded again and mumbled their acquiesce.   Some of them have apparently heard the same exposition for decades throughout their very, very long stint(s), in and out of rehabilitation centers. With their silver top, they could very well be mistaken for the leisurely retiree if transported in the early mornings into the Botanic Gardens !!   One sometimes wonder if honeyed responses and such very ready agreement suggest insincerity and probable numbness ??!!   Unperturbed, I cruised over to uncompromising love, a love so pure, full and complete, the heavens wept. Their beloved mothers, so many of whom, I believed, have shed blind and seen their love so cruelly reciprocated and gnarled whilst bleeding still over their babies, now crouching in cold, stone floors, no more bundled tenderly in soft covers, so close to their breasts. These babies they have literally fed, spoonfuls by spoonfuls, every mouthfuls blown 'cold' so that they would not burn their babies' little red lips. I reminded them of soiled diapers and of their mothers, all alone, out there, heart broken into a thousand little pieces.        This time, the spell appears broken. Eyes moistened and dropped to the floor. Heads no longer tweaked with shallow compliance.   May they see their faults and learn their ways; May they learn to live, once more, in light and in joy; May I dedicate myself sincerely and truly to the good of them all; May my work be of greatest good­ Oh, how many times have I fingered the darkened beads through my devoted fingers in the trains, in bed and in dreams ??!!      He called me, from a public phone near the school where I was teaching. His mother was selling still 'Yong Tau Foo' at the coffee shop, he said. He said he was out and was grateful for my sharing and visits then at Changi. He promised to stay in touch, grab a job and snuff off heroine. Excited, I crossed out 3 pm, the next day, on my pocket calendar, skipping over choir practice and all, to meet my ex-counselee and new-found friend at Bukit Batok McDonald?¡¥s.   After my second cup of tea and a chocolate fudge sundae, I trooped home, back to my massive pile of unmarked assignments and the heaps of mundane laundry.   Indeed, in spite of the few blops and beeps, the little butter lamp continued to sparkle, so unblemished and steady. I guess it is the deep realization of our common wish to seek happiness. Only that they don't know how.   Would be making it again next week. Coffee, rosaries and hope. They do click.