IT'S A PANDAN LIFE ...!

Babies are the best gifts God can give us and I am thankful to God my family received one recently. On 9 May 2013, my sister Wani gave birth to a baby boy. I was overjoyed! I think if my Dad had been around  he would have been overjoyed, too. Yes, in my family, except for my late Dad, we are all girls. There's my mom, me and my two sisters. It must have been very lonely for my Dad, to be the only guy in the family *chuckle*. When my sister Awin gave birth to her first (and only) child, it was a girl. My Dad was around at that time. I don't know whether he was disappointed or not. I guess deep in his heart he regretted the fact that he didn't have a little guy of his own. He had more or less mentioned it to me, albeit in a joking manner. But when Arina arrived, he became a doting grandfather instantly. She became the apple of his eye. When my sis Wani got married, my Dad was no longer around. Two years after she got married, she gave birth to my niece Qaleesha. When she w...

Finally the general election is over. For politicians and analysts, the work of number crunching, deciphering the results and trying to understand the choices made by voters is just beginning. ~ Lim Teck Ghee General election came again, after 5 years. I did my duty as a citizen. I must admit I was extra excited this time around. All the events, propaganda, bickering  and drama leading to GE13 were really entertaining, as well as enlightening. As the norm whenever the GE was around the corner. Only this time, it was more intense and I don't think this intensity could ever be matched by previous GEs. The Opp really laid their cards on the table, backed by alternative media that are abundant on the Net. They were really becoming increasingly popular and convincing.  When I was younger I couldn't really be bothered with politics. But after doing a lot of readings for the past few years, mainly those that revolve around politics and the environment, I could see how po...

                                                  Eiffel, here I come!!! So, picking up from where I left. From Lisbon, Kak Wan and I flew to Paris. Reached Charles de Gaulle airport in the afternoon. My friend, Putra, and his girl friend had already arrived in the morning. Before we departed, he'd already given us instructions through Whatsapp on how to get to our hotel in Opera, Paris. So the minute we landed in Paris, we took the Roissy bus, which took us straight to Opera. It cost us 10 Euros each. Day 1 When we reached Opera, Putra was at Galeries LaFayette, the Paris-version of Harrods. He told us to meet him there. It wasn't that far from the bus stop. Also wasn't very far from our hotel, Prince Albert Opera Hotel. Also wasn't very far from the  Opera building, the setting for Phanton of the Opera. We checked in to the hotel. It was so, so, ...

I've always wanted to visit Portugal. After watching Samantha Brown, I was enticed. But all of my travel-potential friends didn't seem the least bit interested when I mentioned it. So I just buried Portugal deep in my heart. When I learned that I could actually apply to go to a conference overseas once throughout my PhD studies, I was elated, and started looking for a conference, with the hope that I could find one in Portugal! I got my wish, and until today it is still hard for me to fathom out how lucky I was :-)! My application for funding was approved after 3 months. Earlier on I had geared my paper to suit the conference's varied themes on trauma. Luckily, a small part of my on-going thesis touches on trauma. As usual, the minute I knew it was approved  I started to worry how I was going to travel to Portugal alone. I suppose if I were a man I wouldn't worry at all about travelling alone. When I submitted an abstract to the conference committee, I 'd forwar...

It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get to where we are today, but we have just begun. Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today. ~ Barack Obama A few weekends ago a friend of mine organized what he called 'A Charity Birthday Party' at one of the shelter homes in KL. Basically what he did was organize a hi-tea party where  guests were asked to donate some money, instead of giving him birthday presents. I thought it was a novel idea and was more than happy to come. Besides this, I was also curious about the shelter home. I'd never been to one.  On the day of this charity event, I drove up to KL. Alone. The shelter home was located  in the posh Titiwangsa area. When I first saw it I thought it looked a bit odd, kinda displaced. The home pales in comparison to its neighbouring luxurious bungalows. How it managed to operate there for many years, without being d...

Mothers and their children are in a category all their own. There's no bond so strong in the entire world. No love so instantaneous and forgiving.” ~ Gail Tsukiyama Last weekend my Mom had come over, having to attend an umrah course in KL. In a few weeks' time she will be going on another umrah trip, with her brother and his family. About the same time I'd be departing for my Portugal trip. Sigh. Since my Mom had gone on a Hajj and umrah trip before, I asked her why she needed to attend the course. "Oh, It's been years, I probably have forgotten some of the things", she retorted.  This is probably one of those rare trips where she came to KL alone, by bus. Usually she'd come with my sis and niece. I picked her up at Hentian Serdang and sent her off to my uncle's place in BB Bangi. But not before bringing her to her favourite restaurant, Ayam Penyet Wong Solo.  I normally don't eat rice for dinner but maybe I was too happy to see her, I o...

You have no idea how hard I've looked for a gift to bring You. Nothing seemed right. What's the point of bringing gold to the gold mine, or water to the ocean. Everything I came up with was like ... taking spices to the Orient. It's no good giving my heart and my soul because you already have these. So I've brought you a mirror. Look at yourself and remember me. This poem was written by Rumi (1207-1273), a remowned Persian poet. I have always loved his poems. I think I have about 3 or 4 books by Rumi. Some I've read and some I haven't. What I love about his poems is the ambiguity, or, the different layers of meaning. Sometimes however, it is not easy to decipher these meanings. Like onions, you have to peel these layers one by one. Known as a Sufi poet, his poems naturally revolve around God, but as can be seen from the poem above, his  poems can also be read as love poems. As in human love *chuckle*. I can ...