I love you. My Four Grandmothers

Jia Por, Gua Mah, Sar Mah, Ah Mah.
Covid19 Lockdown (D3)
*WonderWoman

Dress styles of Jia Por, mama's mother & Sar Mah, my third grandma.

Life has been so fine to me. Fineness comes in threes and fours. In addition to the three fine mothers and three major loves of my life, I very probably had four very fine old grandmothers.

I remember my first encounter with my first grandmother, I was 7 or 8, she was very old, wrinkled, a pallid square face, short and squat in stature, always dressed in dark traditional Hakka Chinese attire and bound feet.  Hair in a traditional bun, in her hand she clutches a big-sized palm fan constantly fanning herself daily. Jia Por was my mama's adopted "mother" therefore my grandmother. I could tell and feel she wasn't my own flesh and blood. All I can remember is that she stayed with us for a long while, months not years and she incessantly lectures and scolds us, mama included. I got so irritated by her scoldings that I planned and executed a devious trick on her!

She hates lizards of all sorts and I had a green scaly toy lizard.
One day after dinner, she was relaxing, fanning herself in the living room sitting on a low chair. I had planned to casually toss my toy lizard high up the ceiling into an arch that made the lizard land on my grandmother as though it fell from the ceiling.
I tell you I have never seen an old lady move that fast. She had the reflexes of a Chinese kung fu star.
I was laughing so hard she saw me and threatened to kill me! I was lucky she didn't have a heart attack. She did have one years later when she died in one of their sisters place in KL.
But she was sweet, my grandmother loved us in her own special way. She was the only grandma who I engaged with and had fond memories of. However painful or funny.

Typical Peranakan/Malay dress style.

I never got to engage or remember meeting my grandmother, my Papa's mother but I have embarked on a journey to find out more in the coming weeks and months.
I have recently come to realise and to terms that my grandmother was a Malay woman from a kampung in Simpang Ampat, Melaka. My grandfather a Chinaman from Fujian China made his fortune in Johol, Negeri Sembilan found and married this young Malay lady from Malacca.

Which makes my father, half Malay, half Chinese.

I don't recall ever calling for a family meeting to announce to my children; 
"Hey Guys, err I don't know if it matters to you but I think I may have something to tell you that you may not really know about? You know I probably told you or you probably figured out by now that we are Chinese. Right? We are Chinese? Actually not quite. So therefore I have to tell you that you're not a 100% Chinese. You're part Malay". I can't assume to imagine their reaction. And I can't wait to tell them in person.

So I don't remember my grandmother on my father's side. Except for the fact that she bore my grandfather many children as his first wife and took care of my father, her first son very well.
I had the privilege of meeting my third grandmother- my grandfather's third wife. A traditional Chinese lady with bound feet. She being the latest addition to the wives pool was also the youngest therefore outlived the others. She was smallish in stature, fair skinned with a quiet demeanour hobbled as she walked on her small bound feet.

But I do remember a few encounters with my step-mother's 'mak' who also happens to be my grandmother's younger sister. I remember hearing her only speak Malay whenever we visit with my Abu while she was still living in Simpang Ampat. Her health was deteriorating during my time so we didn't engage much. At least I got to see and speak to her and to be in her presence.
So I can only deduce that my paternal grandmother, our Matriarch only spoke Malay or maybe even Hokkien. Who know? I'm on the road to find out.

Stay tuned. Literally.

I love you. Better still Meditate.

Covid19 Lockdown- D2

Photo by Masaaki Komori on Unsplash

Hi I'm back. I'm also Peter.

Here's how you meditate. Some will tell you start with a guided meditation guru.

I say just sit quietly close your eyes and notice your breathing for just 3 minutes. The key is to pay attention to your breath.

Know that without your breath you will not be alive.

Ready? Sit with spine comfortably erect in a cross-legged posture. Rest your hands, palms up, on your thighs. Drop your shoulders and relax your whole body. And breathe...

Step 1. As you breathe in slowly, visualise the air flowing through your nostrils into your lungs then down into your belly and into the back of your lungs.

Step 2. At the top of your inhale just before you start to exhale, pause gently and visualise your breath touch the base of your skull at the end of your spine. That is the spot connecting to the source. Feel the exuberance of the life throbbing inside you.The one life. One Exuberant Life.

Step 3. Breathe out, gently release the air through your nostrils from your lungs and your whole body. As you exhale feel the energy move from the top of your head down to your forehead, face, throat, shoulders, arms, hands, chest, belly, hips, thighs, knees, calf, ankle, feet and toes. And relax into it.

Feel the life force contained in your entire physical body radiate within you.

Do this for three minutes. If you did it paying full attention to your breath, nice and slow then you'd want to keep going for more than three minutes. You've just learnt how to be with yourself.
Being with yourself. Doing nothing. Absolutely nothing but just simply breathing. Living life. Your life.

Keep practicing this for longer periods. Ten minutes then twenty. Do it as often as you can when you're alone. Just sit and notice your breathing.

Feel the peace and the stillness within. Feel pure blissfulness. 

Try this first then in my later posts I'll take you on more meditation journeys. It's virtually mind blasting.

Stay tuned. Literally.

I love you and I wonder

Covid19 Lockdown (D1)

It is no wonder...

I was so restless the past two nights at the farm. Couldn't sleep.
Even thought on the first night I came home drunk as a skunk after a fabulous night of merry-making with long lost childhood friends.Tears flowed freely from my eyes as we sat at the restaurant table under giant Angsana trees listening to how proud of his girls (including wife) and his grandchildren he is.

I also met a few of my future comrades by the names of Balan, Saravanen, Praba & Ganapathy- the earthworks man. We drank to our hearts content and to our stomach's discontent. Ate deliciously prepared, best of the kitchen food. Made friends with the chef and owner. Left round midnite while we still could. Bcos there's no telling when this particular friend of mine becomes unpredictable after many drinks, he has been known to forbid people leaving before.
My farm supervisor also my childhood friend swiftly but safely delivered me home.

On the second night I was also tossing and turning feeling very compulsive instead of conscious. Couldn't sleep. Then I remembered my guru's words;  you are going through tremendous change. It will be painful. But things are coming together. The transformation is happening. It will be uncomfortable. I eventually found sleep as I managed to silence the mind.

I woke early, well rested, to another day of work no matter what day it is. Started with Aunty bright and cheerful right into the farm including the dogs and chickens along the paths past the Ficus grove then the bamboo grove, past the flowering durians trees, then the abandoned wooden house before coming right up to the chief gardener. He was busy filling polybags with earth under the shade of the giant mango trees.

Chief's Station

I squat beside him to help while he recounted stories of his many trips into the estates tapping rubber; he once saw a black panther, gleaming shiny and sleek in the dark, another time a very huge cobra standing, hissing in his path. He quickly lit a leafy fire to create smoke that drove the creature away. 

Which prompted me to tell my first encounter with a snake on the farm. 

I sat in a broken plastic recliner looking out at a bunch of almost ripe petai hanging on the tree, when all of a sudden I saw a silver line of a snake slither into frame on the ground fronting the tall petai tree. It was about a six footer brownish silvery sleek creature crawling across the 40-foot earthen platform escaping the searing heat of the sun on the ground. It was a feeling of wonder and danger although I know I was in no danger at all. The cobra not withstanding.

See the brown silver line in the middle.

Then I went into town, for dragonfruits, supplies and petrol after an awesome lunch of Assam fish curry prepared just the way I like. Sourish and soupy with chillies and a host of spices. Deliciously executed by aunty.

Assam Fish Curry

On the way back from town enjoying the idyllic village scenes float by, ideas came flooding into my mind while negotiating the gentle curving countryside roads.

I saw my entrepreneurial school programme and the neighbouring schools co-curriculum take shape while driving. So overwhelmed, I almost forgot to stop to have delightful local kuehs washed down with good Hainanese hand made milk tea on the way back.

Steamed ubi kayu (wooden yam) or Tapioca with gula melaka.

Feeling well satiated I went back to work watering the polybags as well as the rest of the new seeds on the new land. And the new Durian trees. I felt such joy lingering over excessive showers of water on the parched land that is full with seeds we sowed weeks ago. 

I finally manage to wrestle the bunch of petai I was eyeing for a long time from the un-yielding tree having failed on my first attempt. Only to learn that it was still too young. I ate them up with relish their tiny beans sprinkled onto the delectable Assam fish curry for dinner.

Having eaten my fill, I promptly left the farm. Driving home to KL into the night was like gliding across the land on my magic carpet- Smooth, swift & effortlessly landing on my balcony coming out of my hiatus. As my country and the rest of the world go into hiatus. So I wonder…

Stay tuned. Literally. 

I Love you and I'm Back.

Covid19 Lockdown D-0

What A Hiatus. Now it's A Lockdown. A semi-lockdown. It took a lockdown to get me back. I came out of hiatus when my country and most parts of the world went into it. 


It's been over five years! That's a long time. What a time I've been through. More of that later, now I just have to share my homecoming gift with anyone who cares to "pay attention."


For the first time in over 50 years my country is going into semi-lockdown again tomorrow.
For the first time in a long while Malaysians get to stay home, shut the f-up. And do nothing.
Do absolutely nothing. No TV, no reading , especially no thinking. Nothing.

Just be present with everyone and everything around you.
If possible say nothing or say very little. All you have to do is pay attention. 
When you really pay attention, your mind shuts down. 
The more you pay attention to the present the more your mind shuts down.
If you can do that then you'll really get to do a hard reset for your mind.

The Being in you can finally emerge.
Feel it. Feel you. The true you.
Can you imagine how alive you will feel? How your life will change?

Try it. After all there is nothing else to do.

#live #love #life #consciousness #joyful #exuberance


P/s Trust me, I've been in total-lockdown for good parts of 2018-2020. Now I am free. Alone and alive.

New York, New York. Boxing Day.

I have been back from my vacation in New York & Boston for 2 weeks now and I can’t get the proverbial 'white' noise of New York out of my system. That is because I’ve come to my conclusion that one doesn’t just visit New York, New York gets into you and stays there. How long? I can’t tell.

New York was everything I imagined it to be, only larger than life. Big. Huge. Great proportions. It's like tackling a gargantuan task; daunting at first but when you are faced with it, you stare at it, embrace it and just like most things worth doing in life, it’s totally real & doable!

I arrived at JFK on the same day I left. Boxing day. We went to Lombardi’s in Lower Manhattan to sample what I believe to be NY’s staple, Pizza. NY’s first pizza parlour for my first meal. A stroll around Nolita, little Italy, Chinatown and Canal Street gave me a sense of perspective of lower Manhattan. 

Times Square was an assault on the senses made bearable only by the beautiful billboards of the box offices on Broadway just a street away. Promising to return, we then took a short stroll back to The Vogue, the building that houses our little apartment on 6th Avenue, Herald Sq. 

As I lay down to sleep that night, I wondered what happened to the 22 hours I spent travelling on Boxing Day? 

Zane & Julian wait outside for a table.

Zane salivates over acres of pizza on our tables.

A sign on a taxi top going into Broadway from Times Square.

Christmas at Home with Family 2014

Last year we sat around in a somewhat similar configuration except it was a villa in Seminyak, Bali.

This year we celebrated Christmas with the Levers at the Taman Tun house with turkey roasted to perfection by Agnes and carved with old school expertise and military precision by Nigel Lever.

Dinner was very traditional and authentic English fare prepared lovingly and meticulously by Ann assisted by domestic helper Angel.

The presents followed after the irresistible dessert of ice cream or cream caramel on deliciously aged fruit cake that can only be flawlessly executed by Peggy. Needless to say, the person with the highest haul of X'mas presents  was Ann being the darling of the ball and belle of the holidays. Music to set the Christmas mood was courtesy of Summer's playlist played through Hanim's snazzy new red bluetooth speakers. I was the most blessed, just needing only to fully appreciate the good food and fine beverage all night long.

Merry Xmas one and all.

World Ballet Superstars Gala 2014 at Istana Budaya

From spectator in 2012 to performer in 2013 and 2104, Summer danced the opening act of the World Ballet Superstars Gala this year.
We are so very proud of her. And we get to capture yet another family photo at Istana Budaya again.

Cakes & Children

Apart from making great kids, mum makes great cakes too. 

         
           Featured here is a fantastic mouthful of Sugee cupcake I had for breakfast this morning.

Excellent because it's one of my favourite cakes. Favourite because it's a cake with bite. Because of the main ingredient sugee or semolina from durum wheat, I can bite into and chew and masticate for a little while instead of normal cakes that simply melt into your mouth and disappear down the hatch without even a linger.

Take a closer look at the ravished shot and you will see the rich texture of the golden grains.

 

Cute polka dotted paper clad cupcake

Undressed

Ravished

The Family Photo

Taken in July 2012 at Istana Budaya, I only realised yesterday how everyone in the family was beautifully captured in this picture.

Coffee

Saw this T-Shirt hanging in Joma in Vientiane most times I scuttle in to buy my morning cup of Americano to bring to work. I can't get started without my cup of brewed coffee. And the message says it all.
I got my Starbucks Card activated back home in KL all because of a planner I covert. 15 Drinks to get one free planner. I got a plan in place. Buy a tumbler and get major discounts. I'm going full steam with a talle Americano each time now.
But I also brew a great pot every morning at home. I guess I'll have to OD on caffein for a little while.

One Day in One Second.

Today I'm inspired to write once again.

From an article on FastCompany about Cesar Kuriyama who advocates documenting one second to represent each day and then stringing those seconds together to play the movie of your life to represent one month (30 secs) or one year (365 secs). This is really what living in the moment means.

For me it's a reminder to continue to blog one sentence or one picture a day.

I'm just happy to be in the presence of the women in my home. Mum doing jottings on her baking trials, Summer watching nothings on Youtube and Rati scurrying around the house performing her duties. While I nurse a hangover from the night celebration following ganforhire's DCA Camp 2013.

Racking up Balls

A comely lass at work; captured under the light of the pool table

Drinking beer, playing pool and framing shots.

Gangnam Style Unites the world.

Walking down Rue Faghoum in Vientiane where they have their annual Boat Race Festival, rows and rows of makeshift shops, stalls and corporate booths plying their wares amidst blaring music and loud announcements. The bigger brands have platform stages for performances.
As I walked down the short stretch to attend a party at the invitation of my new found friends at Asia Pacific Brewery, I have witnessed no less than 3 Gangnam style dances performed by models on stage. I must say that the song coupled with the dance is very uplifting. It makes me happy just taking in the sights of people mimicking the quirky moves of Psy.
Asian music has indeed taken the world by storm.
As I arrived at the very elaborate and stylish booth of NamKhong, the sponsors of the event, another Gangnam style dance was in progress.
Many NamKhong beers later, I was back in my hotel lobby and I recounted my experience of the night to a Canadian Chinese having his foot massage. He told me that in clubs in Canada, the white guys are all playing Gangnam style.
Music is indeed the universal language that unites regardless of origin.

MotoGP Weekend & World Ducati Week Asia 2012

The Moto GP at Sepang this year was a wet affair. With the race having been stopped several times due to heavy rain. Somehow I got to experience the wet when I got caught riding to the gym from home. I thought I could make a quick dash to the Club before the rain; it was pelting down so heavy I had to seek refuge in the ample driveway of Wisma Semantan, which now seems deserted.

Health & Family

Mum went to Seremban with Bernie, Zane was in inter-church badminton competition. Summer was under the weather. Baby sat her till evening when it was time, I went to the gym and ran 2.5K again and worked on my legs and core.
Worked up an appetite and treated ourselves to a healthy, yummylicious meal at Village Roast Duck.
Caught up with mum, Bernie & Jamie at Wondermama. Good thing they were out of ABC. Went home and we all watched the new Spiderman on DVD.

Men Only or Just Boys

A realisation came upon me as I strode into the studio into Darren's dungeon for a review with the team; a bunch of men gathered in a small plot of space about to engage in discussion standing up.

Darren, Mustakim, Khairi, Hugo, Kelvin, Vincent, Hafiz and I. 
All good men. All extremely talented. All is good.

The Boys' Day out

Zane picked me up from the office so we could go grab some yummy lunch then shopping for some khaki pants for me. And if time permits go see the Mini at Glenmarie.
We did all that and he was unusually patient with me trying on pants after pants in Paradigm Mall. So I decided to take him to AB.
We saw more than our Mini. 

Gawking at the new F10 M5 V8

Dashboard of the M5

My personal favourite 6Series 4-door

2.5K

I did 2.5km in 16mins on the treadmill today. Well on course for my target of 5k this month.
And I was feeling slightly under the weather. Felt so good went on to do some new technique weights on biceps with Zane. I love working out with my son.

The Samurai

A lone samurai walked into our office today.
We both conducted ourselves in the most honourable manner.
I hope we get to meet this samurai again.
G.R.A.C.E.

Fast Track in Putrajaya

Golf course view from a penthouse unit

"We will take all your brand values at face value and apply those values to the task of branding your current project"  My reply to a Client who asks for a fast track to the brand communication process.

Then we took a tour of the place and I wondered had I bought a unit 15 years ago when I first started playing golf there, would the value have appreciated or would I have been staying there?

We took the ERL, fast track train from Sentral Putrajaya to Sentral KL aka The KLIA Express.
A smooth fast ride it was as everybody wants fast tracking these days.

Gala Night - Short and Sweet Malaysia 2012

We only found out late last night that Summer's dance group performing 'Forbidden' made it to the Gala night. Although we had expected that they breeze through from their sterling performance the week before, still it was a small celebration of sorts- hugs & kisses, when we got official word.
Tonight we're all excited once again to see the beautiful opening dance movement the five swans will make on stage before paving the way for the white and black swans to tell their story on stage. 

Meanwhile after dropping Summer earlier this afternoon, Zane and I took in the sights at the park at KLPAC and saw how well maintained the former Sentul Golf club was.
A good case of sacrificing the enjoyment of a few for the enjoyment of a larger few. The Arts& Dance fraternity and owners of the Condos of Sentul East & West.



Have fun you all. I know I will be bursting with pride once again.

The Seventh Day

Happy Chinese New Year! Gong Xi. Gong Xi.

This year of the water dragon has been pleasant so far. Just before the new year, I managed to convince my family to spend CNY eve at our ancestral home in Johol. So there we were Summer, Zane, Agnes, Peter Gan and Aunty, (my father's surviving third wife) had reunion dinner in our ancestral home once more. The food was painstakingly but lovingly prepared by Aunty, who managed to fill the table to the brim the way my father had always wanted it.  Fireworks and crackers erupted noisily outside our first floor dining room window as we settled down to our sumptious meal celebrating the auspicious moment. As much as we were startled by the incessant loud noise, we heartily agreed that this was necessary to properly scare away the monster Nien, who terrorized the villages in ancient China, so all could stay alive and safely guo Nien.
After dinner we had no TV, no internet, no distractions to busy ourselves with and so we just spent time talking and playing games with each other. It was nice spending time with loved ones in the memory of those who have gone before us.

Today, that memory belongs to my father who passed away 6 years ago on this seventh day of the lunar new year. The seventh day is also known as everybody's birthday as this is the day on the Chinese lunar calendar when everybody gets a year older.
As I grow older each seventh day of the CNY, I also grow wiser thinking of the lessons my father taught me not by lecturing me or beating me up. No never. The old man never laid a hand on me. He loved me and he showed me through living his life with honour, respect and integrity that things could be resolved and life is to be enjoyed. Always the one to look for the humor in life, my father was fun to be with.
So as we shared the reunion dinner in my ancestral home this new year, I know my father is pleased. The fireworks and firecrackers that erupted outside our window to scare away the monster Nien, I look back from the seventh day and I realize my father gave us valuable life lessons to scare away own own demons. For me it's just to look inward and dig deep into the values my father taught me and in it's powerful silent revelation know that demons only exist in our own minds.
Back in ancient times, people believed that their land was in constant threat from outside forces. When the rains didn't fall the crops would not grow and the land was barren, people would not have food. So they blamed the monster when what was actually happening was that the seasons change just as spring will surely follow winter. Which is precisely when the new year celebrates, the start of spring.
So as we go forth this Chinese New Year, have a beautiful springtime and know that the only demons we need to scare away are the ones in our minds.
I love you Papa.

Xin Nian Quai Le Everyone.

My one & only post for 2011- The Samurai Game

Not that the year was uneventful, it was. Extremely.
The excuses, yes excuses, I give myself were plenty; no time, facebook and twitter updates more immediate, more spontaneous, more people will instantly know my thoughts and my writing and like and retweet my updates, etc, etc.
Well, I decided I won't leave one year not stating what was significant for me. If I were to choose the one thing that I was happy about apart from my family, it would be the fact that we brought
The Samurai Game® to Malaysia and more importantly for me to have participated in the game three times, in and outside the country. The result of which, although they vary from game to game, was the message to "slow down to the speed of life".
To deliberate more on thoughts, words and deeds. In short to truly stay in the moment, live life in the moments. To stop rushing through life and refrain from always jumping at "what's next?"
Although I have known the concept of slowing down, through the 'slow' movement, slow food vs fast food etc. I don't believe I have truly begun to fathom what slowing down really entails. The Samurais live by the Bushido Code, largely consisting the values of honor, respect, integrity. The game embodies the Samurai maxim of; One Meeting. One Chance. For me, it simply means, engage every moment of my life with whoever, whatever I'm with or doing. Fully engage because, Life is not a rehearsal!
George Leonard was the founder of The Samurai Game®, he also wrote the book called Mastery. In the book, also considered one of the best books I have read in 2011, he maintains that all of us living in this world, are on the path to mastery and that life is lived in the plateau where practice of our mastery happens, not as portrayed in the mass media as a series of uninterrupted peaks and spikes of our achievements. Especially in this 'quick fix' world we live in where practice is the key to mastery and if we love the practice and therefore practice for the sake of the practice, then we'll be able to attain new levels of competence on the path to be true masters of our craft.

Go find out more about the Game here : The Samurai Game

Read about the book here: George Leonard's Mastery


Happy New Year 2012 everyone.     Slow down to the speed of life...

Mr. Ooi -the accidental brand?

There was a little shop lot in Lucky Garden, Bangsar where the boxes are stacked from floor to ceiling, where walking about the store was difficult because the aisles were either blocked with boxes of merchandise on display or customers in line waiting to see the thin, nerdy looking but affable Mr. Ooi the pharmacist who runs AA Pharmacy.

He personally serves and advises every single one of his customers who come to see him in his shop with the care and empathy that a mother would give her children. Everyone seems to want to talk to him, consult him, see him.
When my turn comes, he listens intently to me and the description of my ailment then almost instantly returns with a cream or a bottle of something he thinks should work. He then proceeds to painstakingly explain the product and it's usage and he would have all the time and patience to answer whatever questions you may have. Then when you ask the price he looks at the label then gives you a discount without you even asking for it and off you go. Happy to have been served.

That was then. Now, about only two years later, he has since moved into the corner lot with two floors of retail space. Still his floors are hard to navigate with even more vitamin and supplement boxes piling high everywhere. The customers keep coming to ask him for a prescription, a recommendation, a word, an opinion or simply a smile. He readily gives each and everyone of them what they want and each will leave feeling thoroughly satisfied.
Sometimes I wonder if Mr. Ooi is the brand or his pharmacy? Whichever the case, all his employees tend to deliver a similar experience to all customers.

AA Pharmacy a relative newcomer to the Lucky Gardens marketplace, was coming into a fiercely competitive landscape, already 2 Chinese Medical Halls, 3 other well known pharmacies and scores of other mini mart and retail stores exist. Yet AA Pharmacy is arguably the most sought after, most Caring and acts more like a Guardian to the people of one of the choicest neighbourhoods in Klang Valley.

Lesson learnt from Mr. Ooi;

1. Love and revere your customers and your customers will trust you and confide in you. Once they trust you to confide in you, you have built an almost unbreakable bond with them.

2. Love your work, it shows when you interact with your customers in an authentic manner. When you love what you do, everybody benefits from the amount of knowledge you have to share on the business you're in. That makes you an expert in your field.


3. When you are faced with big brands as competitors, dig into your innermost core to find your passion  and use that as your core value to win and keep customers. In Mr. Ooi's case his passion was excellence and he consistently delivered it through himself. Excellence seem to permeate all aspects of his business, from service to products and product range, pricing and promotion.

4. By osmosis or by example his entire staff force followed his leadership and service excellence and fair pricing became the business niche and strategy for AA Pharmacy to thrive in an already crowded marketplace.

When next in Lucky Garden, stop by to say hi to Mr. Ooi at AA Pharmacy, this yet to be married young man who went to secondary school in VI will not disappoint you.
Some of you who's been there might agree.

'The sun will dry up your brains Peter Gan'

Those were the words my father used when I refused to put on a hat out in the afternoon sun while doing 'hard labour' in my father's 'orchard' back in our home at number 27 Woon Estate, Tampin  almost 35 years ago.

My father, in his standard attire of white singlet over a hitched-up checked sarong, was trying to direct me to dig 5 holes in the ground using a hoe and a 'cangkul' so that he could plant 5 durian saplings.  The saplings had been lovingly nursed and nurtured from the seeds of his favorite varieties through the years. He had them grown in black plastic bags filled with earth and now they are ready to be transplanted in the ground. The ground was a strip of land at the back of our house just outside the fence sloping down about 12 feet to a drain that connect all the houses on my row channeling household waste water out and down to a creek in sleepy valley beyond.

Already I was grungy being forced outdoors to do menial labour. As I slogged and sweated in the heat, I think to myself; growing durian trees from saplings? How long will we have to wait? What a daft idea...I thought as I blurted out;
"Pa, we would never even live to see the fruits, if indeed they could bear fruit, let alone get to even taste them".
My father refused to budge and just urged me on and I still had those holes to dig. It was not without more drama and heated exchange of words between my father and I as the afternoon wore on until the holes were all finally dug. Still, I was not a happy person that afternoon.

"Now, before we lower the saplings into those holes, put that first into the bottom of the holes", he pointed to a large mound of black earth in our garden. So I did as I was told, I took a big bucket filled it up with black earth and lumbered up and down the slope lining the 5 holes with rich, nutritious black earth.
Then I watched my father tear up the black plastic bags exposing the cylindrical earthy base of the young plants and laying the sapling into each of the holes I had dug. With the loving dexterity of a heart surgeon, he moved each sapling into position, filled it with more earth, adjusted each until he is pleased with it then he directed me to fill up what's remaining of the hole until the soil formed a mound around the stems of the saplings. Much like the chief surgeon telling his assistant to close up on successful surgery.
My father then appeared with a large pail of water and proceeded to water each newly transplanted sapling with a plastic bowl. He did it ever so tenderly, he scooped up water and then let it run through his cupped hand through his fingers down to the base of the stems of each of the 5 saplings. The earth mounds settling further down the stem as he did that, compacting the soil further reinforcing the planting.
My father looked pleased as he stood looking over the backyard fence down at the slope where we just finished an entire afternoon's work of planting. I'm a bloody planter's son I thought and
"I still don't think we would harvest the fruits of our labour Pa" I said to him. He just smiled and said;

"You just wait, you just wait"

15 years later, we sold our house after my mother passed away, the trees have grown somewhat substantially but still yielded no fruit. I told myself that we were not meant to get anything from those trees we planted but still it would be nice to know if they could yield. I took my father and left Tampin to resettle in KL. It was the nineties.

Now fast forward to present day Hari Raya 2010. Four and a half years after my father passed away, I finally meet up with my old neighbours the Balasingams in Seremban, my childhood friends, Willie and Gabriel. Gabriel the elder brother told me he visited our old hometown regularly to tend to their unoccupied house just next door to ours. Gabriel had news I had waited 35 years for.
The durian trees that I had planted with my father actually bore fruit, and they bore abundant fruits with bountiful harvest. And they tasted very good, Gabriel testified. The current owner of my old house an Encik Mazlan is indeed a good man to enjoy the abundance that my father initiated. So much that went into those saplings we planted in the ground that hot afternoon.

I now know and I think my papa knew all along. I know he is happy because when I drove back to KL late that Hari Raya night, I felt a nice warm feeling come over me knowing we shared more than planting durian trees and that my father left me with these lessons;


- To do things properly, diligently with loving tender care.
- To have faith that in whatever I do, that it will surely bear fruit, and bountifully.
- To wear a hat when out in the sun.



Thanks Papa.

Chinese New Year 2010

This year my Chinese New Year family is getting delightfully auspicious with the Levers in full force at our reunion dinner. It is carefully and cleverly arranged at China Treasures, the delightful Chinese restaurant at The Sime Darby Convention Centre in Bukit Kiara. The private room setting gave us the intimacy of sharing news and stories of the recent past. And the opportunity to toss the Yee Sang a little higher and shout a little louder!
Dinner is a full menu of 10-course auspicious, Chinese dishes that sounds prosperous, happy, sustainable and joyful. No complaints about the food nor the company save for the relative size of the private room proportionate to the party. Ann and Hanim spent precious time with us as this CNY was to be a short one without extended holidays declared in Jakarta.
After dinner, it was drinks at home, wine for the ladies, single-malt whiskeys for the boys.
At midnight we wished each other Gong Xi Fa Cai above the din of firecrackers and fireworks and hoped that this special moment of reunions will always go on with our families.
Xin Nian Kuai Le' to you all. May you find love at the end of it all.

reBlog from dragonintuitive.com: Spirituality for Living

I was happily dipping into the twitter stream today and because Twitter is a huge flowing river, I can only pay attention to what flows closest to me or what catches my eyes first. And when it does, that I consider my message from the universe/god/the almighty for that moment when I tune into the twitter stream

 

And so I found this fascinating quote today:

• The secret is to learn to be happy first, with whatever you have.


• But what you have was acquired first and thought to bring happiness.


• To find a way to be grateful, then that attracts more things to be grateful for.


• Ah yes, but to realize why you are not happy is the awakening. Sorrow is the slow route to evolution, presence is the shortcut.


• Having what you want won’t make you happy, being happy brings you what you want. No wonder most of us don’t get what we want.


• Than why set myself goals in life if what I have should already make me happy?

dragonintuitive.com, Spirituality for Living, Feb 2010

You should read the whole article.

New Year-10Things

Every year, I advocate a resolutions of sorts for my loved ones and colleagues.
This is so that we can live our lives with purpose and chart our progress as we traverse along the passage of time.
I find that nothing beats the benefit of hindsight to guide us into the future or to help remind us of the trials we have overcome and triumphs we have savoured.
The 10 things start with a review of the previous year's achievements. Or otherwise.
Then we proceed to examine what went right or what went wrong.
With new resolve we then list our 10 Things and of course our DCA- Definite chief Aim, that thing we must achieve at all cost.
I'm pleased to have done all the that within the first week of January for all my companies.
It was also most satisfying to have had 2 sessions with the family, first review on Boxing Day then finalize on New Year's Day.

Happy New Year and Happy New Decade All! I wish for all your dreams to come true...