Saving Fish From Drowning

Ive never heard of this book till i saw it in BookXcess 2 weeks ago. What caught my attention was the title. "SAVING FISH FROM DROWNING" ?? I picked it up and read the title again and again....SAVING FISH FROM DROWNING....erm that doesnt make sense does it...? Fish dont drown ! so, what could saving fish from drowning mean ? 

So i read the outline of the story and came to know that it was about 11 American tourists who mysteriously went missing in Burma while they were on a journey along the famed Burma road.. And the more interesting part was that the story was revealed by a spirit of a lady by the name of Bibi Chen who was an art patron in San Franscisco. This was the lady who planned out the journey for the 11 American friends. But she mysteriously dies before the trip begins and thus her spirit follows them through out the journey. The details of the missing people and the events were recorded under "Automatic Writing" , descriptions of archived "messages from the unseen world" in various languages reportedly transmitted to people who had no knowledge of the received language. These entries were found in a library of an American society for physical research by a person named Karen. She discovers this particular entry on the 11 missing American recorded and thats how the story begins.

It was really interesting to read a story narrated by a spirit instead of a living person...for a change :)

So i bought the book and just finished reading it. It was quite an experience being in China and Burma with those tourists and to witness many interesting encounters along the way. But the most interesting part of the story was about saving fish from drowning ! Here i wish to share the part that explains the title :-

Just crossing the border into Burma, the tourists stops at a village..

"  I thought this was a Buddhist country," Heidi said. " I thought they didn't kill animals." A few yards to the right was the bloody carnage of a dead pig.

" The butchers and fishermen are usually not Buddhist," Walter said. " But even if they are, the approach their fishing with reverence. They scoop up the fish and bring them to shore. They say they are saving fish from drowning. Unfortunately ...." the fish dont recover."

Saving fish from drowning? Dwight and Heidi looked at each other and guffawed. Was he joking?

Heidi was unable to speak. Did these people actually believe they were doing a good deed?

"No worse than what we do in other countries," Dwight said.

"What are you talking about?" Moff said.

"Saving people for their own good,"he replied. "Invading countries, having them suffer collateral damage, as we call it. Killing them as an unfortunate consequence of helping them."


ahhhh....now i see what the title means !! :)

Though here they have mentioned the wars as an example of saving fish from drowning, i felt that we are all doing that at some point of our lives without realising it !

Families, especially in an Asian culture are SO good at this ! :) hahahha...well i know we Asians have very strong family sentiments and stay connected no matter what ...i dont deny that part of it...but then very often we do more harm to each with the good intention of "helping out". 

Parents and children relationship can be the most complicated of all. followed by uncles, aunties, cousins and distant relatives who can ALL play a big role in what happens in your most personal life. Everyone gives their opinions and advise to you and the problem is they all give different ones. You end up more confused then before and most of the time settle in for one of it out of desperation. Then you go pretty far in that path and suddenly realise thats not what you wanted ! And begin to wander how on earth you decided to something like that ...then it occurs to you ...ohhh it was suggested by this person ...and you were convinced by them then ! 

Followed by the family, is the culture you belong to. Culture throws you a neverending list of what you can and cannot do so you would fit into that society. 

For example , Indian families never encouraged girls to become dancers or singers. To perform in front of an audience is shameful they say. Made me wander, how many beautiful dancers and singers have the world missed because of this culture ! The very same society who believes in Goddess Sarasvati who blesses children with such talents also forbids them from bringing the talent out of the person. I dont understand. You worship the goddess who gives those talents but disgrace the talent itself at the same time ! why ? 

Culture, tells you how you should dress, but it doesnt tell you how to see others beyond the physical appearance. All temples in India have the most scantily dressed female figures in sculptures and paintings. But worshipers who enter the temples know how to SEE it. As divine, as and art, as a beauty and as nature. Then as they walk out of the temple they judge a lady who is not "appropriately dressed" Why ? If you know how to see the beauty beyond the physical sculptures and paintings in the temples why cant you see it outside the temple? What has changed now ? What changes is what we choose to see. 

"When a dancer is performing...watch the dance !! Be one with the soul of the dancer and the music. And you will not see what she/ he is wearing. I have danced Indian classical for about 20 years of my life and i can tell one thing for sure..by the time we get on the stage we have been through so much pain during practice and rehearsals that your only intention on stage is to perform well and be indulged in the music. No dancer will even think of seducing the audience with her dressing. If that is her intention she would be dancing in a very different kind of place where she will not have to memorize 1000 steps according to the beat or endure the pain caused by long hours of practice ! So culture need to teach people how to know the difference ! To respect and see art as ART and nothing else ! 

Just like that, culture has created so much restrictions and rules that blocks many possible paths a person can take. I am definitely one person who do believe in culture but what i believe is a culture which teaches a person how to CHOOSE & SEE the right thing. And not blindly follow something whether or not it makes any sense.

So again, culture too is saving fish from drowning ....

Well there many more examples...like keeping birds in cages and justifying that we feed them everyday and it saves its life... :) i dont know about you...i would rather die flying then to live forever in a cage. 

So, Have you saved any fish from drowning ??  :) 

And the Mountains Echoed

Have been walking the streets of Kabul and through the mountains of the Shadbagh village in Afghanistan. At the end of this trip i find that this trip wasnt as haunting as the "Thousand Splendid Suns" or the " The Kite Runner". Either i have grown stronger when it comes to Afghan stories or the author decided to have some mercy for his readers this time...i really cant say. But one thing for sure, i will always remember beautiful Pari and her loving brother Abdullah who tells her bedtime stories.

I will not get into details of the story for you can always find them in the net. This story is based on the relationship of a 10 years old brother and 3 years old Sister who are separated when their father had to sell his daughter to a childless couple in Kabul. 

For some reason, this story reminded me of my mother  ! No she was not sold to anyone, but was married when she was just 14 and taken away from her parents and her only younger brother and brought to Malaysia. And those days, there were no means of communication as there is today. This village in India she is from is so remote without electricity or clean water supply. It was totally like a national geographic experience when i first set my foot there 20 years ago. And now when i read this book , i could really feel the ties to my mother land and also the pain of being separated from your loved ones at such young age. I can imagine how my mother would have felt. Taken away almost forcefully , when she was not ever aware of what marriage even meant ! But she had no say in it. 

Her parents were poor and they did what was best for her. They wished she would escape the harsh life over there. And yes of course she did...because my father made sure she got better food, clothes and life over here. But then , he was not able to erase that resentment built in her heart for being the reason she was ripped apart from her parents and brother. No matter how well she was doing here, she couldnt let go of the thought of having her mother with her all the while !

She visited them only once every 10 years...! Situation was such, because my father is the eldest son and the only one working then , everyone else was still in school or college.There was 10 people to feed and clothe. And yet, he managed to save enough to buy a terrace house in the most expensive housing area those days. I was born in this new house and brought up there, my parents and brother still live there today. So, with such responsibilities i cant blame my father for not being able to send my mother to visit her parents more often. But he did send some food supplies for my grandparents in India like Milo, milk powder and so on all packed in boxes and couriered. He helped them in anyway he could afford like during festivals or when they fell ill. And yet nothing he did satisfied my mother. Till today she feels she was snatched away from her family and regrets the whole marriage thing. I cant blame her either ! 

I am only glad that i met my grandparents 20 years ago and spent 2 months with them. That was the most consoling thing for my mother because my grandparents both passed away the very same year !! just about 2 or 3 months after we came back to Malaysia, both my grandparents had chicken pox and they passed away one after the other ! 

The saddest thing is, the rest of her relatives in India advised her not to attend the funeral in India, because the whole village was effected by chicken pox. So mother was not able to say goodbye to both her parents :( Seriously how sad is that ! She cried helplessly thousands of miles away, wishing she could look at their faces one last time and to touch them one last time before they are erased from the face of the world..! But no it didnt happen. She hugged me and cried uncontrollably..and i was not at all prepared to console her..i mean what do you say ??? Its ok ? It happens? Its best that they are gone ?? Its fair that you never spent more time with them ?? 

i had no idea what to say to her...i just hugged and cried with her. Thats all i could do. But still, I thanked God for the timely trip we planned to visit them just in time to say goodbye or they would have never seen their grand daughter ! The two months we spent there was so fun, chatting and laughing and travelling around together. I didnt mind the tiny shack with just one bulb for light and no water supply..simply because of the neverending supply of love and care i received ! Father bought them everything they wanted...sweaters for my grand pa, sarees for grandma, food, blankets , towels, and so on. They were so excited that we all three were there for 2 months. So, somehow, God knows best. He planned the trip knowing that it would be the only chance ! And even mother was a little consoled because she was with them just before they passed away. 

Today, her only family left is her younger brother, now working in Singapore and thanks to Air Asia and super cheap phone charges...she has been visiting her relatives in India more often and also communicates with them regularly. Though i wish it happened while her parents were still alive. But thats life, we simply have to live with whats possible at the moment. 

So the question is, was it worth getting their daughter married off and sent far away for a better life ? Was the good food and clothes and living condition worth more than being with your parents ? I dont know ...i really dont. But one thing for sure, i would not have existed if my grandparents decided not to let her go :) 

ermmm...again was it worth it ??? :) hahahha...as always ...some questions have no answers...we just have to live with the questions itself...and leave the rest to nature :)

And like the title of the book ..the decision my grandparents made..has echoed into my life...they decided that i should be here ...this moment , writing this part ....

its interesting , isnt it ? :)

Life is but a dream :)

Row row row your boat

Gently down the stream....

Merrily Merrily Merrily Merrily

Life is but a dream ...

Almost all children of the world would know how to sing this rhyme ! When i was just a child, the rhyme didnt mean the same as it does when i am grown up. I realised that as a kid, i sang that song literally ...imagining myself rowing a boat down a stream....but once i grew up, i realised that the words meant something else...like to row your boat gently down the stream is to live your life simple and taking it easy while the next two lines meant , to be joyful and passionate about life with an understanding that this world isnt something permanent.

But then, i experienced another meaning to it when i actually got the chance to row my boat gently down the stream....for real !! Last year when i went to UK, we went to visit some friends in Colchester. And they took us boating at Dedham.

At the entrance to the boating place

  It was such a beautiful place that i fell in love with it the moment i got there ...absolutely peaceful, and so pretty ! 





Once we got there, i was all excited about boating. Though i have been on boats here in Malaysia and India, it wasnt the same with the kind of view and also i have never rowed the boat myself ! So it was the first time ever ! 

I always thought we need to be really strong to be able to row the boat by yourself and that its very difficult to get it going straight ...but i was going to try it for sure ! Wouldnt miss the chance here ! 

The view from where we get into our boats

Once we got into the boats, we first tried rowing two by two, my brother and i started rowing together. Then, he asked me if i want to try it myself ...i was of course happy to !! So i took over, with my aunt , brother and a friend in my boat, i rowed all by myself ! The first thing i realised was , it was not so tough as i thought or as i heard it would be ! In fact, it didnt take much effort to get the boat moving...of course in the beginning i was going a little zig zagged but then i got it within minutes!! Except when there was other boats coming the opposite way and we needed to stay on one side of the stream and when the wind was strong...the boat went a little off the centre...but otherwise i was ok ! In fact our friend was really impressed at how quickly i got the hang of it...as she has been living there for years and have been boating many times and yet she finds it a little tricky ...She asked me..." is this really your first time? " and i said " YUP !" 

                           

So...i rowed all the way ....made a u turn and rowed all the way back to the boathouse all by myself , i think we paid for half an hour :) Wow! i was so proud of myself then ...hehehe...

and all along the way, there were so many lovely ducks, and swans...even dogs running along the bank and taking a plunge in the stream ...really it was magical ! 

Thats our friends and my sister on the other boat 

So now after my boating experience, the rhyme means this ....

Life can never be understood by what we hear, read or see, no matter who explains it to us. Life depends only on how YOU yourself experience it ! We need to row our boat ourselves...well the rhyme clearly says Row YOUR boat...and not just row A boat isnt it ?? :) ...

so never mind if someone else finds it hard or boring. Never mind if someone warns you of the danger of rowing your boat. Only you know your strength. Never mind who is rowing the opposite way, you have your stream, you have your own breathtaking views along the stream. Just watch everything that comes your way but stay focused on your stream , enjoy the ride and come back joyfully ! :D 

ROW ROW ROW YOUR BOAT
GENTLY DOWN THE STREAM
MERRILY MERRILY MERRILY MERRILY
LIFE IS BUT A DREAM 

Rumi with Roomies :)

Lately ive been reading some quotes and poems by Rumi shared on FB by my friends. The one quote which got my attention was this..

" If you are irritated by every rub, how can you be polished ? " 

I found this line to be...a super HUGE message in the simplest words !! What is there to discuss further...its crystal clear ! A message that needs to be explained in a whole book put in 12 simple words..! We dont have to be scholars or geniuses to understand the message here , right ! So , i got interested to read more about Rumi. 

I have another two good friends who also love Rumi's work. So we started sharing more quotes on FB. One of these girls is now working in New Delhi, India and to my delight she told me that she is buying a book on Rumi for me !! The book is called "The forbidden Rumi " It sounded so interesting that i could hardly wait to read it then.

She came down for Deepavali and we took the chance to meet up for tea in KL with the other friend too ! All three of us are uni mates and were room mates for a year ! So thats why we called the group "Rumi with Roomies" :) 

Anyway, when we met for tea...she handed us two books !! One was THE FORBIDDEN RUMI and the other was THE ESSENTIAL RUMI ! Yay ! two books filled with magical words of Rumi ! ... what ? you dont think its magical ? 

Listen to this ...

"You are the magician caught in his own trickery. 

Cut the breath of self and be silent"

______________________________

"We rarely hear the inward music,

but we're all dancing to it nevertheless"

______________________________

"He is a letter to everyone. You open it. It says, Live."

_______________________________

"In order to enter into your rose garden

the soul makes peace with the thorns.

Choose Love. Choose Love.

Without this beautiful love

life is nothing but a burden. 

________________________________

These words are hardly a drop in the ocean of Rumi's work ! 

I just finished both the books my friend bought for me ...

Erm...just in case you notice the Jimiki ( indian traditional earrings ) placed on the books, it was a gift from the other good friend who went on a pilgrimage to India...she bought me these pink pair of lovely earrings because she knew i love these indian earrings..and why pink..? theres a story to it..will share it in my next post :) Now lets get back to Rumi !

So, anyway thats how i got into reading Rumi's work. Now i am totally indulged in it and cant wait to get more books ! It isnt easy finding some of these books here in KL. Hope to get some in Klang maybe. Otherwise in my next trip to India sometime !

Over all , i find his poems totally joyful and enlightening. Its breathtaking even ! Of course this is a translation and i cant even imagine how beautiful it is to those who can read it in its original language ! Still it sounds so amazing in such simple English ! Well...i guess life is simple ! We are the ones who keep it complicated always...theres nothing but love to be felt , shared, spread and be indulged ! What is so complicated about that ? As always its easier said than done ! i know..!

Still, i am reminding myself to keep on the path of love through my journey. Of course there will be some wrong turns here and there...but as long as we ask for directions and make some u turns and take a few short cuts...we will be back on track each time. The important thing is not to be totally lost ! :D dont you think !?

And when you read his work, you cant help feeling the LOVE ! Love for your self, family , friends, pets, plants, bugs , butterflies, rain ..sun , moon ..stars...and the entire existence dancing in love with each other and you might get a little dizzy in it !! 

The one magical thing about love is...it does no harm no matter HOW MUCH you love anything and everything...unlike other emotions , anger makes you sick, holding grudges makes you miserable, being jealous only keeps you in bad mood...but love is the only emotion that gets better with more of it and theres no end to it !! you can love a million things at ONE time...and you will only float in joy ! Try hating 3 ppl at one time...!! And you might need to take off from work feeling sick !

So, its evident that LOVE is the ANSWER... !! No matter what our question is.... :) Simple and clear and yet we let ourselves be engulfed in darkness ....

Lets keep the LOVE growing and bring more light to our selves and to others always...

Have a LOVELY day all !!! 

:)  

Seen "Shooting Clouds" ?? :)

I learnt my ABCs and 123s when i was 6 years old , many parents those days skipped sending their children to pre school. So they went to school only when they turn 7.  there were so many who didnt know their alphabets or numbers in standard ONE . So those of us who went to kindergarten were considered lucky ! We were a tiny bit further then the rest.

Children nowadays, would laugh at you if you are SEVEN years old and dont know your ABCs because parents are sending them to learn how to read as young as 4 , even 3 ! By the time they are SEVEN and go to school, they are already reading fluently both in English and Bahasa Malaysia. They can count up to 100 and do simple maths. 

But then, i cant help wandering, if this whole new way of educating is entirely doing good for the growth of a child. Because , i remember running around the garden, chasing butterflies, catching tadpoles to be kept in a bucket  of water thinking it is fish !! I also remember looking at the stars and the moon with amazement , collecting dry leaves and seeds to play "cooking" . I remember collecting the "Kerang" shells at home and arranging it on the ground to make designs. I remember a whole lot of time spent creating my own little games using broken branches or old pots and pans. And all this happened when  i was below 6 years old ! I guess i got to do all that because i was not forced to memorize alphabets and numbers or recognize pictures of animals to impress the lady next door :)

I was free to discover the world for myself and however i wished to interpret it, i remember being amazed at the shooting clouds ( hahhaa...yes thats what i thought it was ! ) when only much later i realised it was actually a plane flying through the clouds which creates a straight white line in the sky . Seriously , tell me if children below 6 nowadays have the privilege to even notice if the skies are blue ?? let alone spotting any " Shooting clouds " :)

Most parents and teachers know that the first 6 years is crucial to the development of a child. Isnt it best for a child to slowly learn their environment by touching , feeling , smelling observing and seeing for themselves. ? 

What i cant watch is when , ladies or mothers are at a function or a party with their kids and they start telling each other :

" Ohh...my kid could count up to 10 and his only 3 now !! " and the other one says..." hah ! mine too, children nowadays are just so smart, not like us those days anymore. It has to be the better living conditions and good food they get now "

And i am like...Huh? Good food !? really? Good food was from my grandpas vegetable patch and the free range chicken my grandma use to cook for the whole family. What good food do we get now that could possibly make children more intelligent ?  If yes, then how come the whole world is complaining about pollution and hazardous commercially farmed animals ?? Is that really making children more intelligent? 

I dont think children are more intelligent now...children have been children all the time, its just that those days, parents did not shove letters , numbers and images into their heads even before they could say MAMA or DADA ! I am just wandering if we are blocking the natural path to grow by doing this. How could they be interested in the flowers when they are head is full of ABCs , numbers and images of blue elephants and purple dinosaurs ! 

Is this why children are becoming more and more demanding at a very young age ? Coz they seem to have skipped that part of being just Children ! We are not even giving them the opportunity to grow into this beautiful world gracefully with the fragrance of flowers, softness of the grass, speaking with the wind, and basking under the sun ...no we are throwing them right into the mouths of life in a shocking state and i am not surprised if they are terrified of it ! They want everything NOW, they want everything their WAY ! They are running after life like its a race ! seriously what is the rush...we are going to live with alphabets , numbers and gadgets all our life...so why not let the first 6 or at least 5 years free and easy ? what could possibly go wrong if we do that...all the most important science discoveries and developments of the world has happened in times when children didnt go to school till they were SEVEN. So why all the mad rush now ?? Why all the competition ??   

Of course i am not trained in any children psychology or montessori system or whatsoever, so this is only my own observation and thoughts :)  But i do hope parents would take it easy and let kids be kids, so they would feel connected to this life and feel their souls attached before they learn the ABCs.

Alphabets doesnt guarantee happiness but a happy soul does ! Let the child recognize itself before it sees the rest. I am sure they will grow beautifully !

  

Tantra : The Supreme Understanding

" EVEN IN ORDINARY LIFE YOU FEEL THE FUTILITY OF WORDS. IF WHATSOEVER YOU HAVE BEEN LIVING CAN BE CONVEYED BY WORDS, THAT MEANS YOU HAVE NOT LIVED AT ALL. WHEN THE FIRST TIME SOMETHING STARTS HAPPENING WHICH IS BEYOND WORDS LIFE HAS HAPPENED TO YOU. LIFE HAS KNOCKED AT YOUR DOOR. AND WHEN THE ULTIMATE KNOCKS AT YOUR DOOR, YOU ARE SIMPLY GONE BEYOND WORDS - YOU BECOME DUMB, YOU CANNOT SAY; NOT EVEN A SINGLE WORD IS FORMED INSIDE. AND WHATSOEVER YOU SAY LOOKS SO PALE, SO DEAD, SO MEANINGLESS, THAT IT SEEMS THAT YOU ARE DOING INJUSTICE TO THE EXPERIENCE THAT HAS HAPPENED TO YOU "

:- Osho in Tantra, The Supreme Understanding 

Last weekend, Nantha and i were with our friends in Klang, and i was planning to go the Tamil bookstores to see if i could get any interesting books which you usually don't find in MPH or other common booskstores. But then there was a procession going on in town with a chariot coming from the Klang Shirdi Baba centre. The roads were blocked with hundreds of people walking with the chariot. So , i told Nantha its ok if we cant go to the bookstore this time since we will have to walk right up to the opposite end of the road from where we parked the car. 

As we were walking along the rows of saree shops there, i came across this Indian man selling some books at the entrance of one of the saree shops...he had just arranged about 50 plus books on a table and was standing beside it waiting for customers. And i thought...fine...i cant go to the bookstore....the bookstore comes to me :) so why not...just stop and look at what he had. I wasn't expecting to find anything too interesting because these guys usually sell simple tamil novels or short stories which are easier to sell. But then as i looked , was surprised to find one or two books by OSHO, one titled " Osho in Tantra, The Supreme Understanding" The outline of the content sounded pretty interesting which said it was Osho's interpretation of the work of an ancient Indian Tantric Buddhist called Tilopa. So, of course i bought it...since it is not easy to find his books in the common bookstores anywhere in Malaysia.

I started reading the book as soon as i got home and just as i expected it was keeping me awake late into the night. Ive not finished reading it, in fact i am only at 4th chapter but theres something i wished to share here even before i go on reading.

The words above in the beginning of this post, is from the first chapter and i read that part just before i switched of the lights and went to bed, and i started thinking of all those moments in my life which left me Speechless. It was quite a joy to recall such moments ! And for some reason the first thing that came to my mind was my very first time at the beach ! 

I was about 4 years old when i first went to the beach in Lumut, Perak with family...we have no photographs of it, but i still remember looking at the vast ocean, and its waves chasing after me...i sat down and let the waves rush through me , while my mother stood beside just watching over so i don't get swept away !! haha. I remember that moment so well. She was wearing a simple saree...(yes, those days she wore sarees all the time) I also remember that i wasn't at all afraid of the waves ... or the sight of the vast ocean itself. Probably because mom was just beside me ...i don't know...cant explain it.  

To think of it now ...it was almost as though i knew the ocean all my life...nothing surprising or intimidating ! I don't remember being excited either... it was more like i just knew the ocean so well...that i calmly sat on the beach and played with the sand and collected sea shells ...what a beautiful moment ! !

My mom always says she will never forget the sight of the little me enjoying the beach :) I didn't think of it much until i read this book and started recalling that moment..how come i wasn't afraid of so much water rushing towards me ?? How come i didn't insist that my mom carried me and never to put me down on the sand ? 

But theres one thing i could remember very clearly...

That i totally LOVED it ! I loved the sight of the ocean...i loved the waves...i loved the breeze...i loved the sand...the shells...the smell and the salty water ! ! Honestly i am glad that we don't have any photographs of me then...coz then probably my memories of it would have been tainted by those pictures and i wouldn't have remembered how i actually felt at that moment . 

And ever since my first experience with the ocean...i have been enjoying the beach again and again. I never mind the sun or getting tanned. I love the sound of the waves splashing against the rocks...i love to watch the waves retreat and come back to wash my feet. I love floating in it ...letting the waves wash me up to the shore :) 

Well, as Osho had said , this was one of those experiences which i cant describe in plain words...and makes me wander, maybe it wasn't really the first time i saw the ocean after all.. :)  

Anyway, i am still reading this amazing book...and am pretty sure that i will be sharing at least 2 more posts on this book alone...theres so much to share...so much to learn...unlearn...so much to love and enjoy and experience through it. 

So, Will come back soon ! 

Till then , watch the waves and have a beautiful time !

  

Malaysians LAH !!!

Theres one thing we Malaysians can talk about on and on.... FOOD !!! :)

When in India, i realised people loved talking about politics and cricket, when in England i saw how people spoke proudly about their Queen and their country , but in Malaysia our all time favourite topic is FOOD ! You can see more FB status updates on what they had for breakfast and lunch ( with photographs of it attached of course !) then about anything else...we also have friends responding with LIKES and COMMENTS almost immediately. 

Then, we start discussing the recipe and tips or secrets from mom to make those dishes...and you will be surprised to see how joyfully people discuss FOOD while they are all working , probably cracking their heads to prepare a presentation or frustrated for not being able to balance the accounts or keying in endless data into the system and having sales target or running round doing housework, rushing through the traffic jams and yet nothing will stop us from discussing FOOD !

We Malaysians have the privilege of having such varieties of food that we are truly spoilt for choice !!

Everytime we meet friends or have a family outing the most important question is : Where are we eating ...then Chinese or Indian or Malay or Western or .......if Indian, Northern Indian or Chettinad ...if Chinese, steamboat or mixed rice or Dim Sum or .....well by the time we decide the kind of food we want, we are so hungry that we then decide on which will be the nearest place. Then again, the questions start... hawker stalls or the cafes or Kopitiam or the more expensive restaurants....then if we manage to decide the place finally we still get a Menu with like a 100 options ! Noodles with soup or curry or fried , penang style or Ipoh style or ....spicy or not spicy....if its Indian then...do you want thosai or idly or briyani , or if thosai then do you want to have it plain or buttered or with masala or ..gosh... its a neverending decisions to be made ...and believe me it is all for ONE meal !!

Then say the next day, you decide to eat at home with friends / family....then again, the questions start...shall i tapau chinese food or Indian food...? or who wants nasi kandar ?? shall we just order a pizza ?? 

Malaysians are also famous for having food outlets that stay open 24 hours !! We dont have to be hungry ...we go out to the stalls if are bored at home...the so called ...  "lets go for a teh tarik ( tea)" at about 11 pm...would end up with a roti canai shared , or a maggie goreng shared ...and while we are chatting we realise its almost 12 midnight and we are still sitting there but we feel uneasy taking up the space if we are not eating anymore. So go home ? ? No way lah! Lets go to the other stall just for another drink...then, we order something like teh O , Milo Kosong or limau panas ...and we cont chatting...then we see the kesari or karipap and one of us would ask.."eh wanna share a karipap?? " then..


Well this is what we Malaysians do...we enjoy food !! More than anything else...but that doesnt mean we are not concerned about health..We of course oder...drinks "Kurang manis" mee goreng with "Less oil" Milo nipis and so on :):) 

hahaha...well we are Malaysians Lah ! we cant help it :)

So, this national day...i am sure , there will more food shared , with more decisions to make and i wish you luck with that ! have a patriotic weekend with Malaysian super yummy and heavenly food!

HAPPY MERDEKA to all MALAYSIANS !! 

  

Manuscript Found In Accra

Have you ever looked at life as if it was your FIRST day ?

We often hear " Live your life as though it is your last day " so you would live it to the fullest, and would forgive everyone and everything, hold no grudges, and say I love you to all that you care about....but then, theres a pinch of sadness if you imagine your day to be the LAST...so how about we see it as though it was the first!!?? :)

I didnt think much about this...till i read Paulo Coelho's latest book, Manuscript Found In Accra. The part that says ...

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" Tomorrow when the sun rises, all you have to say to yourselves is : I am going to think of this day as the first day of my life. I will look on the members of my family with surprise and amazement, glad to discover that they are by my side, silently sharing that much-talked about but little understood thing called love"

I will Look at everything and everyone as if for the first time, especially the small things that i have grown used to, quite forgetting the magic surrounding them. The dessert sands for example, which are moved by an energy i cannot understand - because i cannot see the wind. 

If its sunny tomorrow, I want to look at the sun properly for the first time. If its cloudy, I want to watch to see in which directions the clouds are going. I always think i dont have time or that i dont pay enough attention. Tomorrow, though, i will concentrate on the direction taken by the clouds, or on the sun rays and the shadows they create.

Above my head exists a sky about which all humanity, over thousands of years, has woven a series of reasonable explanations.

Well , i will forget everything i learned about the stars and they will be transformed once more into angels or children or whatever i feel like believing at that moment.

I will not complain about life, saying " everything's always the same and i can do nothing to change it." Because I am living this day as if it were my first and, while it lasts, i will discover things that I did not even know were there. "

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Now...see the DIFFERENCE ??

There is so much joy and excitement when you see something for the FIRST time, you will be amazed, puzzled, mystified, and totally indulged in life if you could see it for the first time ...

What a beautiful thought by this amazing writer...how positive and joyful his mind is to think this way...

Here i wish to share my own little story ... my mother is from India and from a very remote village way down south. Ive been there and noticed that there are no mountains or hills surrounding this particular village. The land is almost totally flat. So, when my parents got married and mom came to Malaysia for the first time, to Ipoh, Perak....she was just about 14 years old then, and she said the FIRST thing she remembers is how amazed she was to see the mountains and hills ! she has never seen anything like it before and she thought it was strange to have those bulging green pieces of land up so close !! She thought it was SO beautiful and strange ! And now , after being here for about 47 years...she still remembers how these mountains caught her attention and how it made her feel...though she doesnt marvel looking at it now simply because she has grown used to it...If only she would look at it as it was her first time again :)

We Malaysians have all seen the ocean for sure...as we are surrounded by it so closely...but imagine those coming from countries where they have never seen the ocean..How magical it would seem to them ! right ? just like how i felt when i experienced walking on snow for the FIRST time! How amazing it was! But people who live through winter year after year may not think it is anything great ! 

So , its magical to see anything for the first time...the soft Roses, the strong bamboo shoots and the music coming through it, the flowing river, the pretty lady bug, the slimy frog , the calming swan, the fluttering butterflies...the fragrant jasmine , the divine Lotus , the mighty oak trees, the brown soil that produces crops and all other plants...the tweeting birds, the billions of twinkling stars...the shining moon, the majestic sunrise , the moving clouds, the invisible breeze that brushes through our cheeks...the vibrant colours on peacocks and its dance, the mysterious rainbow through rain and shine, the reflections on ponds and the life beneath the ocean, the multicoloured corals , and above all, Human Beings...!!! the walking, talking, thinking, laughing, crying figures that we share this planet with, what are we ??? 

Well i think i can go on forever with the list...Coz every single thing from a grain of sand to the blazing sun is magical. And sad that we do not notice it anymore because we have simply gotten used to it ! Lets take a day to remember looking at it all for the first time ! Well not just looking, but listening, smelling and feeling for the first time too ! See how much we have taken for granted ! How much we have grown used to ... how much we have forgotten !

And ohh...if we see life as it is the First day, then we will be so immersed in discovering things that we will have no time to Judge people, be envious, hold grudges, be sad or be angry with anything or anyone. It saves a lot of energy and precious time, dont you think?:)

So, dear friends , have a BEAUTIFUL and JOYFUL FIRST MAGICAL DAY of your lives and rediscover the joy we once felt as children !!! :)

FAITH UNSALTED ! :)

I was having a conversation with my almost 90 years old granny , just sitting by her side , listening to her stories when she started talking about Japanese occupation in Malaya ( not for the first time of course :) . Still, i was interested to hear her experiences again and again. But his this time she had a story that was new to me. Somehow she missed that one part all these years , so i was paying attention to every word with interest.

My late grandpa was a trailer lorry driver then, both my grandma and grandpa came from India only to be thrown into the Japanese hands. Living in a scanty home, they both survived with meagre food supply. My father ( their first child)  was just a toddler then. 

It was in this situation one day, my grandpa falls ill, having stomach upset and fever, lying at home unable to go to work. My grandma decided to make some plain rice porridge for him. And thats when she realised there was no salt at home. She had no heart to serve unsalted plain porridge for my grandpa and sat there pondering over the hopeless situation she was in. She ONLY had rice and thats it...so,she started praying to "Kaliamma"(Goddess Kali ) asking for help, for some salt at least. It was then, she heard someone at the door. It was one of our relatives who also came from the same village in India. He says, here..i went to the shop and managed to get some extra salt...you can have this ! My grandma couldnt believe what she was hearing. She thanked him and her Kaliamma for the MIRACLE. She then made the plain rice porridge seasoned with the miraculous SALT ! 

Now, do you know what amused me when she told me this story ? Its Not even about what hard life she had been through at such a young age , still a teenager then ! And its not even about her faith in her Kaliamma ...no, what amused me was, that she was able to tell me that story without feeling sorry for herself ...not a tear drop while recalling such a difficult moment !! She NEVER blamed anyone for having gone through a pregnancy with potatoes and plain porridge alone ! Never blamed the Japanese for holding their guns pointed at her demanding to give them food ! Never angry at my Grandpa for bringing her to Malaya away from home and relatives...without the help and love of parents and siblings. She couldnt speak english or malay then...she had no one here to help while she was pregnant when my grandpa goes off for days driving the trailer. No, she blamed no one...no regrets ! No tears ! She never a moment blamed God !! 

BUT ...

She was totally thankful for that small packet of salt her "Kaliamma" gave her for the porridge !! She told me, thats how kaliamma had helped her through her life ! I have not heard her utter another name but "Kaliamma" all my life ! 

And today, after bringing up 7 kids...all educated and married and doing well, she is content with her whole life like it was simply PERFECT ! And that is why she had no tears....she saw the bright side always...she has not read the Secret ...she knows nothing about law of attractions or positive vibes..she knows nothing about meditation or mantras...she doesnt chant or even fast....she is not a vegetarian. But she has 101 percent faith in Kaliamma...and that did it ! she was saved ! a living proof for what faith is about !

She finished her story and cont talking about other things like it was no big deal to go through such situations. But i was sitting there looking at her beautiful face, thinking....

I have so much to learn !!! To have FAITH UNSALTED ! :)

LACKADAISICAL ????

Ive always been fascinated by this word " LACKADAISICAL" ! It 

just sounds so good when you say it ! kind of musical and ive 

also always wandered why it should mean " Lack of interest/ 

enthusiasm" ?? 

So, last weekend i put it up on my FB status and asked 

my friends what they thought it should mean instead of "lack of 

interest". And here are the answers i got ...Just sharing it here for fun...:)

( sorry about the alignment....something wrong with the setting coz i cut and paste from my FB page :) )

 

FB STATUS :

I find the the word " lackadaisical" too interesting to mean lack of interest !! what a waste for such a beautiful word 

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• 
  TRINA : Sounded like an ice-cream!! haha

  
  ME : to me it sounds like birds singing  but i like the ice cream too !!! hahahha....
• 
  Su LI : You're so right! What a waste of a beautiful word!
• 
  ME :  right ?? what would you prefer it to mean Su ? 
• 
  TRINA :  a flower, too.. it sounded flowery!! Hahaha 
• 
  Su Li: a day lacking in woes and struggles, strolling in the meadows filled with yellow daisies, the sound of humming bees, the scent of horses and the promise of an English pub at the end of a long and silent solo walk in the Yorkshire dales...
• 
  ME : ahh...i am feeling "lackadaisical" already Su ..
• 
  
• Joethi : Sounds like a nice bicycle ride

  
  ME: Yes Joethi ! it does ! 
• 
  ME : Joethi, imagine saying " lets plan a "lackadaisical" outing this weekend?" hhahaha...sounds so nice....!
• anyway, i found this info on the net : This funny-sounding adjective came about in the eighteenth century from the interjection lackaday, which was an old fashioned way of saying "oh man!" or "unfortunately."
• 
  Trina :  Lackaday!!!
• 
  Joethi :  Lets plan Anu, but dunno if I still remember riding or that I have balancing still
• 
  Me :  haha Joethi...of course you will rmbr ! thats the beauty of riding...once u got it ,you will never go off balance ! Like swimming too...but just one problem...got to go get a bicycle ! 
• 
  Julia Mayer :  Daisies 
• 
  Vimalah :  " like a daisy girl"!
• 
  Julia Mayer :  Love it!