Birthday month

March 24, 2025.Reading time 7 minutes.

I like birthdays. Mine, particularly. March is my birthday month, and today is my birthday. Yay. Birthday month, yes. I started feeling celebratory on March 2, not March 1, as that’s sister number 2’s birthday. I let her have that day😊 For me, my birthday month is like a licence/permission/green-light to feel special, and do […]

A good read

March 17, 2025.Reading time 6 minutes.

I wish I had read this book a few years ago. But then, I might not have appreciated it as much as I do now. Why? Because I didn’t really think too much about aging or the elderly. Yes, I had grandparents. They were, in my then young mind, older people who weren’t really a […]

Memories

March 10, 2025.Reading time 6 minutes.

Sisters number 1 and 4 were in KL last week. Spending time with them made me think of life’s luxuries. Why? A few weeks ago, I had written about life’s ‘real’ luxuries. A subjective, non-exhaustive list of 11 nice-to-have luxuries such as time, health, ability to travel, meaningful conversations, people you love and people who […]

Downsizing

February 10, 2025.Reading time 6 minutes.

A few weeks ago, I deposited a large bin bag at a recycling centre in KL. I’m downsizing. The bag contained mainly clothes. T-shirts and skorts that I no longer wear. Dresses that I haven’t worn in months, maybe years. They fit but they didn’t quite feel age appropriate. I was a tad sad and […]

Life’s luxuries

February 3, 2025.Reading time 6 minutes.

I received a text about life’s ‘real’ luxuries from one of my chat groups. ‘Real’ as in not the things that some people would consider or think of like sports cars, mansions, and fancy handbags. Around the same time, brother number 2 shared the same list with the family. Hmm. The contents of the list […]

Another new year – 2025

January 6, 2025.Reading time 6 minutes.

It’s the new year. Good health. Much love and happiness. Many successes. Glad tidings, and all that. The new year comes around like clockwork, and yet it kind of springs up on us. Even after a long 365 days – 52 weeks, 12 months. Fireworks. Parties. Blaring horns. Midnight traffic jams. The new year has […]

Nostalgic Penang

December 30, 2024.Reading time 6 minutes.

Penang evokes nostalgia, memories and emotions. I remember travelling with my parents and siblings from Alor Setar on single lane roads. Past kampung houses, paddy fields, Sungai Petani, Pantai Merdeka, and arriving at the ferry terminal in Butterworth. The excitement and sometimes discomfort of waiting in long queues under the sun to get on the […]

Earlier Christmas

December 23, 2024.Reading time 6 minutes.

Christmas came early this year. As early as Deepavali, which was on the 31st of October. Yes, that early. Christmas decorations were put up in parallel, whilst Deepavali was still being celebrated, and far from over. I kid you not. Shopping malls like ‘Avenue K’ could not and did not wait for Deepavali to be […]

Space Hopper

December 2, 2024.Reading time 6 minutes.

She had me at the opening paragraph. ‘The loss of my mother is like missing a tooth: an absence I can feel at all times, but one I can hide as long I keep my mouth shut. And, so I rarely talk about her.’ Helen Fisher’s Space Hopper resonated with me. The book is about […]

Almost a year on

November 25, 2024.Reading time 6 minutes.

Almost a year has passed. Last Saturday was brother number 1’s ‘Thevasam.’ The first anniversary prayers, to observe his passing, based on the Indian almanac. I remember clearly – Tuesday, December 5, 2023. Sister number 3 and I had visited him in his home. As we were about to leave, despite the pain and discomfort […]