Cheerfullness and contentment

Cheerfulness and content are great beautifiers and famous preservers of good looks

- Charles Dickens

Smile!

What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity

- Joseph Addison

I can look at you straight in the eyes

Received this picture (above) in the mail today...the opulance of the politically connected rich and famous.

I am currently doing some improvements to my house. Would it eventually look like that picture above? Mmm...dream on...Actually, it is now looking like this (below) and not likely to look like that... not for a thousand years! But I can look at you straight in the eyes... can they?...not in a million years !

A little reminiscing about my Father on Father's Day

My Father will be 98 next month. He was educated in the Methodist Boys' School KL (coincidentally I attended Form 6 for 2 years in the very same school). He is a quiet man and actually I do not know much about his past. From the little I know he had very good results for his Senior Cambridge Exam then (that would be more than 70 years ago) and qualified for Raffles College. However his rich but conservative and stingy father did not allow him to continue his education. So after Senior Cambridge he became a Teacher and later an Interpreter/Translator in the government service. He must have been a very intelligent person because he upgraded his knowledge of the Chinese language through self-study and used to enjoy reading the Chinese Classics. Infact he even had a book (about his personal experiences during the Japanese occupation in Malaya), published in Chinese with the nickname "Woon Leong". He can also speak Japanese and can play tunes on my piano even though he never had any music lessons.

One thing I remember very clearly about him was the importance he placed on education, especially the education of his sons. While he was working in Parit Buntar he bought a house in Petaling Jaya so that his children could study in better schools in Kuala Lumpur. So we all shifted to Petaling Jaya in 1961 while he remained alone in Parit Buntar. He enrolled his eldest son in the best school in Kuala Lumpur then, i.e the Victoria Institution. Well, my brother in VI did not fail him. Several years later he emerged as one of the top VI students and had his name and face published in the newspapers. Anyway, I think my father should be proud of his 3 sons who later graduated to become Electrical Engineer, Chemist and Doctor from University Malaya, all with government or company scholarships.

Today on Father's Day I managed to spend sometime with him in PJ and brought him to his regular barber in PJ New Town centre.

My Father and Mother in their youth

My Father leaving the house for his haircut today, accompanied by his maid, Rasam from Indonesia who takes good care of him.

The house in Petaling Jaya where we grew up

The big rambutan tree infront of our house planted by our late Mother more than 45 years ago. The rambutan tree still produces the sweetest and the best rambutans we have ever tasted.

Where there are friends

Nor and her good friend Ivy

The beautiful view of the luscious greens from Nor's balcony, with the Shah Alam stadium in the background

The steamboat ingredients that Nor prepared

Mr and Mrs Teoh (Ethlyn) tucking in

Iskandar Lim, Nor's husband

Nor's healthy pot of basil

Nor's friends had wanted to take her out for lunch today to celebrate her birthday. But she declined and made lunch for her friends instead. Just like her!

Where there are friends, there is wealth.~ Titus Maccius Plautus

We actually did not see the sun at all for days

The haze keeps coming back around this time of the year. This morning when I drove to the city visibility was poor.

I remember the worst haze we experienced in 1997 when trans-boundary smoke blanketed our skies for days. I remember also at that time my colleagues and I were responsible for organizing an international conference of very senior officials from MENA countries, jointly financed by the government of Malaysia and the World Bank. I had a hard time explaining to our foreign guests that the dark skies they were experiencing was not the norm in our country. Infact all of them who came for the conference left the country without even seeing the sun. The irony of the situation was that my colleague who came back from a meeting in the neighbouring country where the smoke originated reported that he enjoyed clear blue skies and sunshine in that capital city!

We actually did not see the sun at all for days on end and that was a really gloomy, really awful feeling. When the haze finally improved a bit for the sun to be visible, my colleagues and I were thrilled. We came out of the office building during lunch time and literally took to the streets, Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman to be exact, and just walked about to enjoy the sunshine... which we had taken for granted all the years.

To Be One With Each Other

Niece Farah's wedding reception on 5 June 2009

What greater thing is there for two human souls than to feel that they are joined together to strengthen each other in all labour, to minister to each other in all sorrow, to share with each other in all gladness, to be one with each other in the silent unspoken memories?

- George Eliot (1819-1880)

Sunrise at PCB Beach, Kota Bahru, Kelantan

Believe it or not! I actually witnessed sunrise only for the first time in my life - at the PCB Beach in Kota Bahru Kelantan. The first 4 pictures were recorded by me at about 6.50 am on 7 June. Then my battery went flat. The next 2 pictures were imported from my sister's camera who was watching the sunrise together with me, and believe it or not, also for the first time in her life!

"Watching a sunrise, we open ourselves up to the beauty that nature creates, knowing it will never repeat itself just like this again." ~ Jake Rajs

A happy family is an earlier heaven

Paid a short visit over the weekend to Brother Tai Keat's house in Kota Bahru, Kelantan, where he had stayed for the last 30 years, with his wife and 6 children. The pictures above are of his lovely house and the sprawling garden which he tends to personally, a testimony of the great delight he takes in his home and family.

A happy family is an earlier heaven- George Bernard Shaw

Laughter can be a powerful medicine

It seems recent research showed that laughter contributes to positve effects of heart health.

Two studies presented at the American College of Sports Medicine's annual meeting in Seattle recently found that laughter not only can reduce stress, which can damage the heart, it can lead to improved blood flow, which can help ward off high blood pressure.

On a study done on a small group of healthy adults it was found that those who watched a comedy displayed improved "arterial compliance", i.e. the amount of blood that moves through the arteries at a given time. In another group who also watched a comedy it was found that there was more dilation of blood vessels. In both studies, the beneficial effects of laughter lasted for 24 hours.

Read the article Laughter Can Boost Heart Health

We are just small persons in an ocean of so many other small persons

I was stuck in a traffic jam along Jalan Sultan Ismail today. Being stuck like that with nothing else to do but wait, I sometimes look around and wonder about the other people I see...those in the other cars...the pedestrians...the motorcyclists... who they are... what do they do... and where they are going? The more I wonder, the more I realize that I am just one small person in an ocean of so many other small persons who have no knowledge of one another. In fact some people say that the earth is just a speck of dust revolving around a small star somewhere in the the galaxy, which in turn is but one small galaxy in the wide universe. So we are merely little specks of dust living on a speck of dust? Humanity is but a speck of dust?

Can we trust the news media anymore?

News media these days are taking sides instead of just reporting. It may be the prerogative of news media and their owners to take sides but in doing so they are undermining the very basis for their existence, i.e. reporting. News media are supposed to inform readers about the issues and events, not sway their opinion.

Just look at our two mainstream newspapers- the way they present the news, they way they frame the headlines to favour the establishment, while giving an unfavourable slant to those they choose to slyly condemn. Then look at Malaysia's two popular alternative online media sites - these had been trying their best to paint the establishment in the worst possible light. In one of these sites, readers' comments which are pro-establishment are classified "lowly rated" and hidden from view.

Can we trust any of the "NEWS" anymore at face value ? I may be too naive to expect the news media to be impartial. Maybe this does not happen anywhere in the world.

Would they give away their wealth like Tun Sambanthan?

One of the first Ministers I had the great privilege of working for, almost 35 years ago, was the late Honourable Tun V.T. Sambanthan (1919-1979), the fifth President of the Malaysian Indian Congress (1955). My work station was a room near the entrance to the office building and he made it a habit to stop by almost everyday on his way home. We chatted about almost anything under the sun, from issues of national unity, to welfare of the estate Indians, to hobbies. One thing we shared in common was rose planting. I had followed him home, to his government quarters house located near the Parliament House, not far away from the office, to appreciate his rose garden which he tended to himself. Whenever he bought fertilizers, insecticides or growth hormones for his roses he would buy a similar set for me and I would do the same for him. He treated everyone in the office like his friend.

Tun Sambanthan, together with Malaysia's first PM Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Dr. Ismail and first Minister of Finance Tun Tan Siew Sin were Malaysia's pioneering political leaders who had worked together to attain the country's independence from the British in 1957.

Although Tun V.T. Sambanthan was born into a rich family he spent all his personal wealth on the MIC and the people who approached him for asistance. It is a well known fact that Tun Sambanthan gave up his fortune for his people.

That was Tun Sambanthan as I knew him, a simple man, a selfless politician, a towering Malaysian!

Can you imagine our politicians today giving away their wealth? The opposite would be more likely. In fact one was caught with his pants down, with his ill-gotten millions in his suitcase halfway around the world!

The self-serving politicians on both sides of the divide today, always conniving and plotting, accusing and counter accusing, spinning deceits and lies, really nauseate me.

Flowers on our walking trail

The Ixora is one of the best known garden shrubs in Malaysia. It loves the sun. In the Malay language the flower is known as Jejarum, which means Needle flower because the buds look like needles. It blooms all year round and comes in a variety of colors the most common being bright red.

Bird of paradise

Lobster Claw Heliconia. It is commonly known as Sepit Ketam in Malaysia.

Yellow flowers on a tree. Name unknown

White bougainvillea. The bougainvillea is a common ornamental garden plant in Malaysia. It seems there are over 250 species of bougainvilleas. It blooms throughout the year and the flowers come in many different colours.

Pink bougainvillea

Adenium, sometimes called the Japanese Frangipani

The Lantana is a shrub like plant. The flowers are in a cluster, shaped like an umbrella. They come in various colors though orange and yellow are the most popular. The plant's hairy thorny stems and rough leaves have a strong and sharp aroma that is almost pungent. It is known as Bunga Tahi Ayam in Malaysia, translated as chicken's droppings flower.

Morning glory

Hibiscus, Malaysia's national flower which comes in many colours, including, white, yellow, pink, bright red, deep red. Called the Bunga Raya in Malaysia. It seems there are 200 species of Hibiscus.

Orange and pink Bougainvillea

Ixora

Yellow Allamanda. The Malaysian names are Bunga Akar Kuning and Akar Chempaka Hutan. It seems that all parts of the plant, including its milky sap, are toxic.

I and Nor take a 1 hour brisk walk everyday, except on days when the weather does not permit. Today I decided to record the images of some of the glorious flowers that greet us on our brisk walking trail.

Whoever loves and understands a garden will find contentment within. - Chinese Proverb