IT'S A PANDAN LIFE ...!

Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts. ~Charles Dickens, Great Expectations, 1860 A blogger friend recently sent an article that appeared in The Telegraph regarding the resignation of Michael Vaughan who was the England Test cricket captain (Many thanks, Krishna).Well, to be honest, I’m not a fan of The Telegraph nor am I a fan of cricket. But I was glad my friend sent me the article. It really captured my interest. Not because of the witticism of the journalist but because of the absence of it. The article basically talks about Vaughan who weeped (there’s a marked difference between weeping and wiping a tear, right?); following a succession of other sportsmen like Beckham and Federer, to name a few, who have all cried in public. Despite arguments that it is indeed normal for men to cry (publicly or otherwise), the writer seems adamant that: Crying is for sissies. It is not cool for men to cry

Trengganu did exist once, as Terengganu does now. ~ Awang Goneng I came across Growing Up in Trengganu by Awang Goneng during one of my trips to UM’s bookshop. There were a few copies left and after reading the impressive blurb on the back cover, I quickly bought it. It took me quite some time to actually start reading it but when I did, it was unputdownable! I haven’t come across a truly captivating account of the East Coast since Che Husna Azhari’s Melor in Perspectives – a remarkable collection of short stories set in Kelantan. Growing Up in Trengganu started off as the blog of freelance writer, Wan A. Hulaimi. Because it was too good to exist only in cyberspace, a good Samaritan somewhere in Singapore decided to publish it. It goes without saying that this book is a collection of Goneng’s fond recollections of the time he grew up in Trengganu. Indeed, his powers of recollection are extraordinary. His accounts of people, places, food, history and Trengganuspeak leave me in awe.

*Smart alecs sure make grading a lot of fun! Question: Explain what is "received pronunication"? Answer (as in the Answer Scheme) : General British English - Known as RP - an educated variety of English which is used throughout the country - not everyone's natural way of speaking English. Top "Smartest" Answers: 1. RP can be described as something from the beginning has been pronounced as it is. 2. RP is a verbal pronunciation with or using the tongue to stress the sound. 3. RP is when you receive vowels and consonants. 4. RP means we receive the pronunciation from another person. 5. RP is the sound that is being said by humans when they are talking verbally.

* Smart alecs sure make grading a lot of fun! Question: Explain what is “small talk” by giving an example. Discuss TWO of the small talk principles by providing illustrations or elaborations where appropriate. Top "Smartest" Answers: 1. Small talk is talking in small voices but clear and people can understand. 2. Small talk is speaking silently and not disturbing other people. 3. Small talk means a person talk to itself, maybe the person wants to memorize and thinking about something.

*Smart alecs sure make grading a lot of fun! Question: What is negotiation? How would you apply the art of negotiation at a meeting where some people are opposed to an issue? Top "Smartest" Answers: 1. Negotiation is the art of rejecting. 2. Negotiation means brain washing someone to accept the truth told by us. 3. Negotiation is a skill to nego back with the people opposed to the topic that the speaker is presenting.

I write for the same reason I breathe – because if I didn’t, I’ d die. ~ Isaac Asimov This is not a movie. It is a true account that centers on me, who attends weddings and funeral only if they involve people she really knows. There is no romance involved, and she does not run into any tall, dark and handsome guy that she particularly finds attractive. The first wedding is her dear sis’s, whose wedding she enjoys tremendously even before the wedding begins. The second wedding is her dear sis’s friend’s wedding, a Mexican wedding which she also enjoys tremendously due to the fact that she does not need to don any baju kurong or kebaya . The only thing she does not like about the wedding is the food, which is totally alien, and which drives her to find a nasi lemak stall right after the wedding is over. A few weeks after the first wedding, her 80-something grandma passes. After getting two or three frantic calls from her newly wed sis, she drops everything and drives to Johor. As she

Like branches on a tree we grow in different directions yet our roots remain as one. Each of our lives will always be a special part of the other. ~Anonymous It seems like it was only yesterday that I witnessed my youngest sis got married. As I watched her sat in front of the Tok Kadi , waiting for the marriage to be solemnized, all my faculties were frantically trying to convince my skeptical, doubting self that she is all grown up. Could this demure-looking woman possibly be: That precious bundle of joy that I had held and cooed in that tiny, isolated little ward in the hospital 23 years ago… That little rascal with China doll bangs who cut off the cats’ whiskers, put make up on them, then pretended like nothing hideous happened… That rowdy teen that I’d chased out of my house for behaving just like any other normal, hot-blooded, rebellious teen… Looking back, there has been a close bond between my youngest sis and I ever since she was a baby. I remember when my sis was just 2 or 3