Remembering Sunando

Sunando Sen probably did not realise what happened to him. One moment he was standing close to the edge of the platform looking at the oncoming subway. And the next moment a crazy woman, who carried hatred towards Hindus and Muslims since September 11, 2001, pushed him on the tracks. His death was gruesome, but hopefully it was quick. I would like to believe that he didn’t suffer too much. At 46, he was too young to die.

A friend called him “an Indian Gregory Peck”. He was supposedly working on a Ph.D. program at New York University and he had recently opened his own printing and photocopying business near Columbia University. In his 20 years in the US, he had tried to live the American dream and he was just beginning to realise it. Sen’s tragic death affected me deeply and not just because he was an Indian immigrant, living his life in New York.

He died at the 40th Street/ Lowery Street subway station in Sunnyside, Queens — six blocks from where I live. Sen died at the same spot where four years ago, 29 yearold Rajiv Reddy Malladi, an immigrant from Hyderabad, committed suicide by jumping on the train tracks.

For me that is way too many brown desis who have died one subway stop away from mine, too close to where I live. I can brush aside the two deaths as a mere coincidence, but I cannot forget such tragedies despite my otherwise busy life. Sen used to live in Sunnyside with a friend, before he moved into another apartment in Elmhurst.

I now look at his picture, wondering whether I had seen him, if we had travelled together in the same subway car on the number 7 train on our way to Manhattan back home in the evening. Sen was the second person to die on a subway track in December in New York City. The first was a Korean immigrant who was pushed on the track by another crazy person.

I do not want their deaths to become mere statistics. Last month, a television channel in New York interviewed the young daughter of the Korean man. Her one regret was that she could not say a final goodbye to her father or tell him that she loved him. According to newspaper reports, Sen did not have any family in the US. His funeral was attended by friends and acquaintances. I wish I had attended his funeral, but I was out of the country.

Too often we focus on the rich and the famous desi immigrants in the US — the successes of M Night Shyamalan and Jhumpa Lahiri, and the rise and the fall of Anand Jon and Rajat Gupta.

But very rarely do we think of other immigrants who often figure in our lives, touching us and making our day go smoother. I mourn Sen’s death, since he seems like a member of the extended family I have in Sunnyside, Queens. There is a Burmese man who runs a dry cleaning and laundromat establishment across from my building. He works long hours, seven days a week, and rarely takes time off.

He washes my clothes and always welcomes me, calling out my name with a slight lisp. Then there is a Bangladeshi woman who works the early morning shift at Dunkin Donuts at the corner of my apartment building.

Each time she sees me, she asks in her lovely Bengali accent “Sir, how are you this morning?” And then she rattles off my order — it has been the same for many years — “Small coffee, milk, no sugar!”

I read a piece on Huffington Post that Sen was an equally warm and caring immigrant. He had helped the writer of the piece restore old pictures of his parents.

The author wrote: “Sunando Sen was a real person. I knew him the way a lot of New Yorkers know each other. We passed through each others’ lives.” It is a touching tribute to a decent human being. Sen did not lead a glamourous life, but he deserves this eulogy and to be remembered.

MTA2013 Supports Singapore's Position as Asian Hub

Asia's aviation industry has witnessed strong growth in recent years, and is predicted to progress even more in the future. The opening of the Rolls Royce facility in Singapore earlier in February this year is testament to the growing confidence manufacturing veterans have in Asia's capabilities to manufacturing high-quality parts. With the delivery of the first Singapore-made Trent aero engine for Airbus A380 on 28 November 2012, it further seals Singapore's reputation as Asia's Aviation Hub.

In tandem with this industry trend, MTA2013, returning to the exhibition halls at Singapore Expo from 9 to 12 April next year, is geared to impress industry visitors by unveiling of a specialised group of companies housed within the Capabilities Hub.

The Capabilities Hub will showcase a strong cohort of enterprises that serve the precision engineering industry. These companies will demonstrate their aptitudes in the manufacture of high-quality, advanced solutions - all dedicated to meet the emergent needs of Asia's Aerospace, Complex Equipment, Medical Technology and Oil & Gas sectors.

They include A & One Precision Engineering, ACP Metal Finishing, Beyonics Technology, CEI Contract Manufacturing, Frontken, Fujicon Engineering, Hup Fatt Brothers Engineering, Index Precision Industries, JEP Precision Engineering, JCS-Vanetec, Meiban Group, Microcast, NanoTechnology Manufacturing, Onn Wah Precision Machining Racer Technology, ST Kinetics Integrated Engineering, SolidMicron Technologies Tru-Marine, Trek 2000 International, Vigor Precision Engineering and Wah Son Engineering.

A & One, founded in 1992, has established itself as the premier service provider in the precision machinery industry. The company currently serves customers specialising in Data Storage, Semiconductor, Equipment Manufacturing, Medical Technology, Aerospace, Oil and Gas and Telecommunication Industries.

Mr. Leong Weng Kuan, Corporate General Manager and Sales Director of A & One Precision Engineering states, "Singapore's manufacturing economy is geared towards high value-added, low volume and high mix products. The setting up of the Capabilities Hub provides a platform for local companies to showcase the four high-end sectors Singapore is focusing on to the rest of the international brands present at the exhibition."

Also serving the aerospace sector, Onn Wah Precision Machining, is an AS9100 certified precision machining company. The company deals in complex medium-size components in a high-mix, low volume environment, and serves a diverse range of sectors including the Aerospace, Semiconductor, Oil & Gas, Biomedical and Optics. Company's Managing Director Mr. Lam Keng Yew believes that companies need to be niche to be able to compete in the current manufacturing environment.

"Singapore's manufacturing landscape has changed drastically. Due to the higher cost and labour constraints, we can only focus on manufacturing high value components which are either mission-critical, of high complexity or with high IP content. This is in line with the aerospace industry, which not only requires higher complexity parts, but also a complete system to ensure full compliances to defined processes with a traceable documentation," states Mr. Lam.

"Having spent the last few years developing ways to produce complex parts consistently with automated documentation flow that fulfil the aerospace requirements, Onn Wah is well prepared to provide such machining capabilities, and we're glad that MTA2013's Capabilities Hub provides a platform for us to showcase what we can offer."

Adding to MTA2013's luminous exhibitor line-up is well-known Singaporean company JCS Vanetec, which specialises in the manufacturing of 3D Compressor Airfoils, or Vanes, for all sizes of commercial and military aircraft engines. JCS Vanetec's services include the manufacturing of sheet metal components and offer Tool & Die turn-key solutions to the local and international gas turbine industry.

Boat show a safe harbor

The winds and rain associated with Hurricane Sandy as it spun north into the Bahamas barely affected the boat show, which is being held outdoors at five marinas and inside the Broward County Convention Center through Monday.

There was some standing water at the Bahia Mar Yachting Center and some wet carpets inside the tents there, but that was great for business at the Capt. Harry's Fishing Supply booth, where Kim Vernon and her crew were selling flip-flops to showgoers wearing their best leather pumps and loafers.

"We were debating even having flip-flops this year," she said. "We finally decided at the last minute, 'Let's bring some.' We are selling them like crazy. Hats, too."

Although the weather was tolerable at the show, imagine being stuck offshore in those winds and rainstorms. That's when you hope you have reliable safety gear — and there is plenty of it at the show.

Lifeline had the new two-, four- and six-person Revere Coastal Compact life rafts at its booth in the entrance tent at Bahia Mar. The rafts come in a case about the size of a briefcase, which makes them ideal for center consoles where storage space is at a premium.

Finding someone who falls overboard can be difficult, especially in bad weather, which is why Lifeline has the new Smartfind S10 AIS beacon from McMurdo (about $300). The manually activated beacon can be attached to a life jacket. A boater who falls overboard activates the Smartfind, which sends out Automatic Identification System and GPS information that can be picked up by boats with AIS equipment within a 4-mile radius. Using a chart plotter, those boats can lock in on the person's location.

One of the most important pieces of safety gear is a personal flotation device, according to Steve Baum of Boat Owners Warehouse.

"You get caught out in a storm like the one we have today, it's you and the elements," said Baum, who explained that a life jacket will keep you afloat if a storm sinks your boat. "Even if it's beautiful out, things can happen."

Another essential, Baum said, is a GPS-enabled Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon or Personal Locator Beacon. Both types are on display at the BOW booth at Bahia Mar.

BOW stores sell U.S. Coast Guard Type II-rated life jackets that sell for $6 to $8 and Type I PFDs that have more flotation and keep your head out of the water even if you're unconscious.

BOW has inflatable PFDs at the show. One you manually inflate by pulling a plastic tab, the other inflates automatically when it hits the water. The benefit of inflatable PFDs is they are so light and comfortable, boaters have a greater tendency to wear them. There's nothing worse than having your boat sink and you can't get to where the life jackets are stored.

Once you're floating in the water wearing your life jacket, you can activate your EPIRB or PLB, which sends a distress signal to satellites that are monitored by rescue agencies. Beacons with GPS allow rescuers to pinpoint your position rather than having to triangulate your position.

"They know it's you and they go right to you," Baum said, adding that ACR's ResQLink+ PLB ($300) is small enough to fit in your pocket. ACR's EPIRB is bigger and has a battery that lasts longer.

If your boat is at the dock behind your house or in a marina, the wind and waves of a storm can damage the vessel. So can a drastic increase in water level, like after a storm surge.

TideSlide eliminates the threat of boat damage due to changing water levels from storms, tides and boat wakes. It consists of stainless steel poles that are secured to a dock's pilings. A polyurethane cleat slides up and down the poles.