Empathy, sympathy, compassion

October 19, 2020.Reading time 6 minutes.

The definitions of empathy, sympathy and compassion used to be a little unclear to me. Not anymore. I’ve had some recent first-hand experiences to set me straight. My husband fell off Snoopy, his motorcross bike, a few weeks ago. Sustained a number of injuries. Nothing too serious. Not like the ankle bone he broke last […]

My mum’s recipe 6: Upma

October 5, 2020.Reading time 7 minutes.

I don’t like Upma. I don’t like its taste, texture or look. My mum likes it. So much that she’d probably have it every Friday, her second vegetarian day in the week, if she could. Monday is her first designated non-meat day. My mum’s vegetarian days go up each month correspondingly with the number of […]

Memory lane

September 21, 2020.Reading time 6 minutes.

I love my mum. Always have. She turns 87 next Sunday. With her birthday around the corner, I was thinking more about her. As she is now. An old girl. Hearing suspect. Memory failing. Sleepy dopey. Heart and head willing, but body lagging behind. With flashes of determination and stubbornness. And, as she was many […]

Forgiving

September 14, 2020.Reading time 6 minutes.

I had watched the movie, ‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.’ The same week, my mum told me a story about her estrangement with her stepsister’s sister-in-law. It made me think about family and friends. People, who have fallen out, and have not spoken or visited for years. Deleted from each other’s lives. With no […]

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

September 7, 2020.Reading time 6 minutes.

‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood’ is a beautiful movie about a beautiful person – Fred Rogers. I hadn’t heard of him before and didn’t know that he was a real person when I watched the movie. I thought he was just too nice to be true. His gentle persona. His soft and slow way […]

Mothagam

August 31, 2020.Reading time 6 minutes.

August 22 was Vinayagar Chathurti. My mum was fretting leading up to the big day for Lord Ganesha. She usually gets excited when there is a celebration on the horizon, particularly Deepavali. But this time she seemed concerned with her ‘To-do’ list. Shopping, cleaning the altar, sprucing up the condo and especially making ‘Mothagam’ or […]

Changing expectations

August 17, 2020.Reading time 6 minutes.

Back in January, I scoffed at the idea of a Fixed Deposit (FD) rate lower than 3%. I usually scour the business pages and online promotions to compare the best FD rates offered by financial institutions. Homework is a must for a safe home for my hard earned money. Especially when the journey was long, […]

Sound of music

July 20, 2020.Reading time 6 minutes.

Caught in a massive back to before Covid-19 traffic congestion. Searched endlessly for a bay in a multi-storey, not cheap, car park. I was running late. And, on the verge of turning a little green and grumpy. When just like that. My mood lifted. A smile spread across my face. ‘Limbo Rock’ was being played […]

Stork King and Queen

July 13, 2020.Reading time 6 minutes.

If the lion is the king of the jungle, then the stork reigns in Zoo Negara, Malaysia’s national zoo. They live, eat, nest, fly, walk and roam freely just about everywhere. To me, they are the kings and queens of the 110 acres of land that is home to over 5137 specimen from 476 species […]

My mum’s recipe 4: Sambar

July 6, 2020.Reading time 7 minutes.

I learnt how my mum cooks ‘sambar’ or ‘dhal’ in her kitchen a couple of weeks ago. I’ve seen her prepare it many times but have never paid any attention to what it entailed. I now know that it entails quite a lot. Too much dicing and slicing, spices, cooking and slaving over a hot […]