When death comes unexpectedly

On Monday night, my aunt’s husband struggled hard to let go of his last breath at 7.30pm. It was 24th October, 2011. It was my last day at work before I head for Diwali festival. I had taken annual leave for the rest of the week to splurge on this celebration in a rather mellow spirit. Just before I left office, I had to make sure my colleague will take over my commission during my absence. I stayed over till late 7pm and keyed in my KPI online into the TTMS system since the due date is around the corner. As I happily completed my work and kept my laptop and other stuffs into my locker, I set out to leave office since it has already dark, way into 7.30pm. As usual traffic congestion never cease on a working day in KL city. I made my way through the jam although I was wedged there for about an hour or so.
As I reached home and walked into my living hall, I was greeted with somber news about the passing of my uncle. I dropped down to my knees on the couch. How could it happen? I know my uncle has been sick for some time and I confidently thought he will pull it through since he had been in the face of death 6 years ago and managed to cheat death. It all happens so quickly and the next thing that strikes my mind was, “What about Darshi girl”? She is barely 8 years old and she has seen her mother (my aunt) suffering in malignancy a year back and now she has to face another harsh reality of losing a dad, which is just too much at a tender age. My aunt (my mom’s youngest sister) has always been close to me since I was a kid. So when such a poignant incident befalls upon her, all of us couldn’t help feeling so much for her.
My uncle was 52 and he was inflicted with chronic liver disease. What was happening was because he had this illness, the pain was unbearable for him and also my aunt watching him suffering. He was hurting here, then there. The doctors couldn’t figure out what was the best treatment for him. They eventually, at the very end, give up on him. The disease spread so that it went into his bones and his vital organs failed. It was awful. It was awful for him and the rest of us. That was it; and he succumbed just two days before Diwali. Death is so final. It is always hard to lose a loved one. It is sad and sobering reminder that we are here but for a minute. We are all visitors to this world and one fine day, we will have to depart. We bring nothing back with us when we leave this material world. How much time do we have? Not a lot.



It is especially hard when a loved one touched your life has to go too soon. Every day you fail to tell someone you love that you love them is a missed opportunity. Because once they are gone there is not reset button. No undo function. Just a painful reminder of missed opportunity.
All of us especially my aunt is going through a grieving period. She has to put up a brave front with losing her husband and a father to her child. Darshini is too young to comprehend on the loss of dad. My family and I stood by her and gave all the moral support and financial assistance that she needs to move on to a newer life. I feel bad that this has to happen to him since he was a generous person for all I know. At this difficult phase of life, we are able to know who is our real friends and family. My aunt needs motivation to cope with the void and support to move on in life in a positive manner. Only then I realized life is not easy. Where’s it written that life is easy, or fair? I guess everybody takes things differently. If we can’t share the sorrow of your loved ones, then you are no human since someday it will be your turn to face the harsh reality. Life is so unpredictable, so do not think life will be good for you all the time.
I’ve spent years shaping my ability as a writer. I’ve worked my way through to develop the creativity and precision to express my ideas in fascinating ways. But I have hit a dead end here. There is no sorrow of a magnitude greater than that which my aunt, my cousin Darshini, our family and friends are now facing. There are no words to describe the inside of a black hole. It’s hard to believe we lost a soul. So do we lost that part of us which we held: a family member, we will never forget his kindness and his generosity. I am glad that I did rush down in time, to the wake to pay our last respect for my uncle. May His Soul Rest in Peace.

Halloween Hoo Haa

Late October in KL had been a wet and gloomy time – the days grow shorter and colder, the cold breeze encircling, many days are cloudy and wet – but Halloween adds a lot of color, fun and excitement to the West.

Halloween is actually the night of October 31st, which falls on Monday this year. Halloween is an annual festival celebrated mostly by people from the west. Halloween imagery includes themes of death, evil, occult, magic or mythical monsters. Traditional characters include ghosts, witches, skeletons, vampires, werewolves, demons, bats, spiders and black cats.

Black and orange, which are the traditional colours of Halloween, represent the darkness of night and the colour of bonfires, autumn leaves and jack-o’-lanterns. A jack-o’-lantern is typically a carved pumpkin associated with Halloween. The top of the pumpkin is cut off with the flesh scooped out and a monstrous face carved on the outside of the pumpkin surface.



Halloween activities include trick-or-treating in costumes, carving jack-o’-lanterns, bonfires and attending costume parties, telling ghost stories and watching horror films. Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain which is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture. The word Halloween originated from the word “All Hallows’ Even (evening)’’, the festival celebrated on the eve of the “All Hallows’ Day’’, now universally known as All Saints’ Day.

Although Halloween is not widely celebrated among Malaysians, more people are dressing up in costumes and going for Halloween parties. Let’s spread the excitement of Halloween here; Happy Halloween!!

Living a Lie

During all these years, I have seen people from all walks of life become unfaithful and live a life with deception. Why? Their reason was, “there are too many hypocrites in this world.” As a result of ditching the doctrine of life, they themselves become the very person they are judgmental — a “hypocrite.” Sometime ago, someone I knew well, once came to my house by all means just to express disapproval of another family known to both of us. The next sentence was something I will never forget, “I am going to see them pay for what she has done to us – they’re all hypocrites there!”



To which now, it is not a surprise to see them join the club of hypocrites. I and mom just recalled the big hypocrite’s desperate call to find my house just to condemn the other circle of people. I can still remember word by word uttered in anger. There’s always room for one more hypocrite to fill in the gap. Hypocrites pretend to have a belief, opinions, virtues, qualities and feelings but in reality they don’t. They are just living a lie out of their deception of others.

Let’s look at this line of reasoning by asking ourselves this question: Are there not “hypocrites” in all walks of life? They exist on the public places, the highways, family circle and in business. They are everywhere. Although you may not eradicate them totally, yet you can’t stop from mingling with people, or driving your car, or working for a living because of them? Of course not, it wouldn’t be practical. We sometimes fail to notice the “hypocrisy” of our acquaintances, family members, colleagues when they cheat on their opinion and beliefs and we do not cease to pray the lord because the man of deception practices the belief of the same lord.



In the workplace, do we not see fellow employees who are not giving one hundred percent? Do we not see employees leaving work early, coming to work late or not showing up at all? What do we do? Do we quit our employment because there are “too many hypocrites” in our workplace? Certainly not. Do we stop socializing just because we see more of hypocrites walking past us and put into practice their deception? We faithfully espouse genuine conviction of life one hundred percent effort no matter what any other hypocrite does because that’s what the Lord requires of us.

I decided I would get out of the pool and let my presence be known. I smiled at my mother and said; at least you have seen what a hypocrite looks like and walked away. At least I have done my justice to let others know the identity of a hypocrite mingling in the crowd which is capable of moral double standards! It is a shame if you forget what you have bitched about others sometime back if in the end you fall into the same herd. Bravo hypocrite! You deserve a place in the hall of shame!

P.s. My note has got legs and could fly in through your mailboxes quite popularly. So look out for one. Call me a controversial writer or pretty tough woman with guts, at the end of the day; I am a woman of word whom speaks right on your face than writing letters behind your backs! Have fun reading and take the moral message across for your learning and not to create a chaos if you're a sensible and educated citizen of the society! Cheers

Are Busybodies Born That Way?

One thing that annoys me the most is the attitude of some pest-like people around me. I live on my conviction that I like to live my life my own way and in privacy. And I never fancied poking my nose into other people’s affairs which seem fair enough. It just goes the way I like it, “live and let live”, which is why I just can’t comprehend busybodies. What makes them so? Why do they need to know so much about everything and everyone around them, when it has got nothing to do with the functioning of their life? I really can’t help but feel revolted by their behavior.

Looking back from my experience, I have a few busybodies in my lives; buzzing around persistently, and looking out for channels to get ‘hot news’ and ways to disseminate pointless information like bees in a garden. I shouldn’t be doing injustice for the bees here which seemed unfair to them. By the way, is it of use for others listening to such hearsays? I still hear lingering news about how others ‘interested’ into what I am doing rather than their business. Isn’t it such a pain in the ass? Those morons who fall into this kind of characters should be ashamed of themselves for confirming outstandingly that they have got nothing better to do.  The questions which quizzes me is that, why do they need to be inquisitive about things that don’t concern them?



Are busybodies born that way or does life turn them into obnoxious nosey parkers? I would think that anyone with a fulfilling life has enough to think about without worrying about his neighbours or the rest of the world. Is it a lack of excitement in their lives that has those seeking vicarious thrills in other people’s business? Or could it be a lack of tranquility that has them itching to meddle in the routine affairs of their friends and family?


I can summon up a good example of a woman who lived next door. She seemed to spend all her time at the window peeping to watch the goings-on in the neighborhood daily. I presume she has enough of chores to keep her busy with a huge house and family to attend to. But she never does what she is supposed to do.
To spice up things, I came across another concealed busybody that seeks in the pleasure of knowing each intimate whereabouts about my life as in what I am doing, whom I am going out with and when am I getting hitched and etc etc etc through a third person. He claims to be educated professional and yet he is making a fool of himself to explore into my life. Doesn’t he have some decency or has he been ever taught about basic of ethics? Then, how would you call him educated here? I believe he has not come to terms about principles in life and how to live by it. Presumably those kinda creeks need to be taught some fundamental decorum before he sets out into the real world. He is not the only one, but there are more in that genre lurking around me, it can be a she or a he, they are just everywhere like the annoying creepily crawly…Haaha!

It wasn’t a very comfortable way to live in if you ask me. I don’t give a damn about theirs, then why should you bother about mine? All I can think of is probably, lack of an occupation, or even an absorbing hobby, turns many people into busybodies. If you have nothing to hold your attention your mind will start wandering in directions it has no business heading for. Books and music may work for some, pacifying the need for something to fill the gap in their lives, but not everyone is so lucky. Some turn to cyberspace, and end up making a profession of meddling in the lives of people halfway across the world from them, people they’ve never even seen leave alone met.
Busybodies these days get easily carried away by social media like FB, Twitter, and Google+ which more than often pose the threat of platform for conspiracy and gossip, with stories getting spun and blown up faster than you can create them. It amazes me the way people attribute motives to the actions or words of people who may or may not be what they profess to be on cyberspace. How completely pointless!
I know this is turning into a rant but I seem to have encountered more than my share of busybodies in the recent past. It begins to rankle, especially if you haven’t discovered a foolproof way to deal with them without being hopelessly rude. I’m looking for inventive ways to deal with the busybodies in my life.

My little dog -- a heartbeat at my feet

It has only been a year since I own a pet of my own. Despite the shortcoming of an experienced pet owner, I can certainly vouch with absolute confidence that pets have an uncanny ability to teach humans certain things better than any person can. Pets might not be able to talk, but they can communicate a heck of a lot about human relationships.
Trust me, a heck of a lot things can be learnt by owning a pet. Right from responsibility, to unconditional love: which are just a few of the perks that come with owning a furry member. Our little furry friends can't talk, but their unique way of communication can teach us to be more intuitive, which can in turn help humans in personal development.


I adopted my pet doggie almost a year ago when he was the only survivor from the rest of his siblings and mother whom died mysteriously one by one. It was so tragic for this little cutie to have lost nine of his siblings and mother. Dad found him at the park where we used to go for evening jogs. Daily we used to spend a couple of minutes before & after jog to play with the mother dog that has grown attached to us. At times we bring some food for her since she had babies and need to milk them. It was on late December when the remaining pups and the mother went missing and the next moment, dad told me all of them were found to be dead. The sole survivor was none other than the doggie we adopted to give him a place and family since it was barely 1 month old. Ever since, he was our bundle of joy. Life was even sweeter than ever. After all the months, I learnt so many things that a pet can bring to our life.
Dogs are especially good at teaching us what unconditional love is. Their love knows no boundaries. No matter however you are, all he knows is to show his affection in abundance and brighten up your day after work. When you come home, they are always glad to see you. He appears with excitement and swishes his tail without tiredness. They are always going to be with you no matter how rough life gets (in contrast to many humans unfortunately).This is what I call unconditional love.
Even at times if I accidentally hurt when I stepped on him in the dark, they always forgive you. All they ask for in return is food, shelter and attention. Dogs in particular, give you tons of love back and personally, I think us humans get a darn good teaching out of this. Besides, another value that we ought to learn is responsibility. The arrival of pets in general comes with the package of social obligation. That cute puppy is not like a stuffed toy that can be left alone when you are finished with it. It needs attention in terms of hunger, healthcare, and also attends to his nature calls.
“The more I meet people, the more I love my dog” without a doubt epitomizes the loyalty of a pet dog. A dog’s loyalty knows no boundaries. Their loyalty can put any human on shame. Interestingly enough, we learn precious lessons through our pets daily.I never stumble out of the house and get off into my car to work without saying goodbye to my doggie. A pet on his head will make him stand up on his toes and wag his tail to appreciate your attention to him. A dog wouldn't let you get away with disappearing for nine hours without a word, nor would he like it if you came home without petting him on the head. While it may seem trivial, simply acknowledging your partner and wishing him well goes a long way.
I sure have get angry at him over the munched slippers of mine, but the moment I see the guilt and genuine apologies in his eyes, I inevitably cuddle with him immediately afterward, unable to remain angry. That is the love he taught me. It goes a long way for some humans to learn all the good values that a pet can teach us. Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened.

Sweet Surprise

This morning as I was savoring my usual morning coffee, my phone buzzed silently. As I quietly turn to reach out for my phone, I caught a glimpse of fairly odd number flashing on the display of my mobile…0301. In a jiffy, I knew it must be my honey bunny across the seas. If anyone would have seen me would have witness the sparkle in my eyes with a dash of smile indicative of my euphoria at that sec!
The moment his voice hit my ears, I was so excited and emotional at the same time. It has been a week since he left for US and I was tuned to adapt to singlehood devoid of his frequent texts, and calls. Oh geez, I must confess it is certainly not easy for me to feel the void. His exuberance brings a sense of new meaning to my life. My perception towards life has evolved to a different level. There are a lot of resemblance between us and also differences. It’s more or less like yin and yang effect. And we both blend it perfectly fine by working out the balance altogether. It’s just us. That is the way we both get along pretty well.
As any relationship, misunderstanding is common and the beauty of it is we both sit and reason things out in a mutual consensus. That is how we have been going strong for the past 4 and half years since we met. Life has been good to me; blessed with lovely parents and sister, a perfect career, wonderful friends and a life serenaded with tranquility and happiness and now with a gift of life. Each day when I get up, I would pray for the blessings of life God granted me.
Sweet surprises takes me off my feet and breath away for a sec! I am lucky indeed!

Imperfect Judging the Imperfect

Just the other day, something really captured my attention which excites me to ramble about. Couple of days back when some whiff reached my ears which knock into my senses which made me probe further about it. It is none other than judgmental.
What I don’t quite comprehend the fact that most of us does not have self-realization? Before passing remarks about someone else, why can’t any of us take a look at ourselves first and only then decide are we in the right sense to criticize another being?

Do you have the privilege as prospective juror to pass remarks about another? Are you so perfect (in your mind alone) to do so? Have you turned to look at your back and start exploring about yourself (or your family) before you was to criticize others? Who can judge another?
I hate to ask all these questions but you need to ask this before you pass remarks about another person; which is morally not right!
‘Imperfect judging the imperfect! Sounds ironic to me. In daily life when we pass small judgments on others, are we not throwing stones? You may think they are deserved but have we the right to do so?

What if someone you know is judging you? It doesn’t feel very good. It doesn’t make us feel valued. You may begin to qualm your worth or your decisions when someone judges you. Don’t you think so? Most of the times, you can be judged for your skin color (dark vs. fair), your frame of mind, or your bad jokes. Also you would end up being queried for your decisions, your actions, or your faith. How do you defend yourself then? Do you find it fair for you to give people a boost or is it more entertaining for your ego to tear them down?




I’ve had people say to me that they are not judgmental which contradicts coz at the back of me, they tend to throw stones at me …but I want to say, “You are perfectly imperfect, doesn’t that seem something is not right about you?” If I look beyond them, it’s amusing to see how much of flaws they have and yet can have knack to comment on others. So often, it happens these days that I don’t give a damn about them and I treat them like a speck of dust on my shoes. Simple as that.

The world would be a better place to live in if ONLY all of us make an effort to be more tolerant, more loving, more compassionate and sensible. After all, we do not know what that person has lived through or what their experiences have been during their life. We must understand that all of us are from different walks of life and hence, we are nurtured to different ways of thinking and lifestyle.
Each person has an exclusive right to their own thinking. They can be wrong in another point of view! Yet, they still have the right. I do not enjoy anyone telling me how to think or what should I do. I’m sure most people feel the same. Respect goes a long way when it comes to judging others.
When we put ourselves in someone else’s shoes, only then we realize that we may not know all the facts. We then realize that they deserve more thought than we may have given them. Sensitivity is vital when it comes to deciding not to pass judgment in normal life circumstances.
From my point of view, no one can judge us besides the Lord himself. It’s good to watch your words of criticism by looking at your own faults before judging others. If you’re so used of passing remarks about others, take a look at yourself as an outsider and I’m sure you’ll find more than enough things to judge. I just wanted to put my two cents in worth for your tact. Some of us may like to think they are better persons than the rest of the world but I am afraid to say, you’re not and we all are not! It just our pride talking.
My advice would be: “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all, just shut up”

Oh! It’s my friend’s birthday...

It was a heavenly Sunday morning. I twitched my eyes to catch a glimpse of the bright blue skies from afar. Oh it is Sunday! I reached out to my phone by my bedside. And the digital clock shows it was already half past 9 (am). All I hear faintly was my mom’s voice calling me out, “Rise and shine”! Nishaaaaaaa……..The clarity in her message gets across straight into my senses and my immediate response was sit up at once on my bed without further ado. It is not out of obligatory (since I am famed for being a rebel!) but out of trepidation that she will use that as an excuse to nag me the entire day. I just want to have a pleasant Sunday. Hehehe…Nevertheless I would admit she is a wonderful mom whom allows me to sleep longer than usual on weekends and not someone orthodox like those days parents who disapproves girls getting up late! It is a custom practiced from those days. Mommy was very understanding in that sense and many other circumstances. I would never exchange her for another MOM! Ahax! She is just the way I want her to be and I love her since she has always been my bestie.

I gotta hurry up since I have lunch date with my girls at Spice of India. Spice of India offers the best in Indian fine dining with restaurants located right in the heart of the city. It is an exclusive restaurant which epitomizes metropolitan KL lifestyle by serving the delectable Indian cuisine in a stylish, contemporary ambiance. It’s the time of the month to dine and celebrate our bestie’s birthday, Dida! We were on time that day. Though it was crowded, we managed to make our way through the mall without much delay. I and Sheila managed to reach there first and make some small surprise arrangement with the waiter there right before Dida made her grand appearance. As usual we girls get excited when we meet and exchange hugs and greetings. Only after a couple of minutes we made up our minds not to make our growling tummies wait any longer. We quickly grabbed the menu and started skimming through the rather exclusive menu. As usual Dida was doing her crazy jokes of the cuisine names which were rather amusing. The waiters were watching us from far but we are just a bunch of crazy girls and couldn’t be bothered about the surrounding. Finally after all the laughter’s and jokes, we buzzed the waiter to take our day. He quickly jot down our selection of food and whisked away.





While waiting for food we were chatting away and out of bolt (as if I and Sheila didn’t know the sweet surprise), the waiter brought the cake for Dida with the candle lighted up. She was surprised indeed! That was the reaction we wanted to see on her face for knowing she has a wide range of gestures in her. Hahaha…Glad that made her happy as indicated by her wide grin flashed across her face. We sang “Happy Birthday” and fed her the cake. It was a nice day to start with. We sat there for hours and talked and laughed like crazy girls. Someone asks us, “Are you drunk?” Yeah intoxicated with caffeine in coffee and ecstasy in our mind. Probably a great rejuvenation for a tired soul!



Verdict for the day:
100% Craziness+ Euphoria+ Relaxation+ Good Ambiance+ Good Buddies
Food was not too bad. Quite pricey but awesome ambiance and service.

I Really Miss You

Four days seems like ages to me. Oh gosh!! All those countless calls and text msgs that makes my mobile so busy, suddenly seems so quiet. Ever since my hun left to US, I am left all by myself to cope the rest of the 3 weeks till he comes back home. Ohh I really do miss him a lot. Yes I do!

I have been listening to the song by S Club7: I Really Miss You song which suits the ambiance right now.

Bon Voyage Mi Amor

“Distance makes the heart grow fonder”.
So they say. I couldn’t agree more. Undoubtedly, the love for a person grows indefinitely. I experienced the void when I was doing my undergraduate studies in a university up north when I was only 20 yrs old. It was never easy for me though I tried hard to cope with things. Eventually, I fit into the circumstances pretty well despite having hiccups here and there. However, I feel homesick every now and then. Only then, I was in search of true meaning of family bonding and affection. I cherished the gift of family God gave me. Four years later after graduation, when I’m back home, my relationship with my family changed tremendously. We shared a deepened bonding that one can never imagine. Before that it was very subtle. It was after returning home sweet home; I began to appreciate my family and the life that was bestowed to me.

Along the way, I was blessed with another person whom is full of love to the brim. My soul mate. My well-wisher. He taught me what life and love is all about. He showed me a different meaning of love. I would say he brought the best out of me which I don’t even know. He was also family person like I do. The bonding, affection and convention he had, seem comparable to my family. When it comes to love, we both are alike. We fight for love and we live for it. Nothing wins in the war of love. Just LOVE prevails in the end. As young women, to be blessed with a good family and a soul mate that is bonded to unconditional love is nothing more I could ask for. Believe me or not? It makes you feel great, as in ‘on top of the world’.



Each time when my Vig has to go on business trips (An avid traveler whom has travelled a lot), I will be the victim of circumstances. Why? Simply coz of his prior-to-trip antics and during the trip void is good enough to put me on pressure. One might wonder what is this prior-to-trip antics are all about? It is none other than his emotional turmoil and he goes on torturing me (Btw he loves to imagine that I will cry when he is away for business trips). He is a perfectionist when comes to work. And before his business trips, he wants to get his things done flawlessly for the trip mission to be accomplished without a bug! So he will fuss and grumble to me every single moment he can get. But at times I giggle to myself (silently or else he will get upset for being taken for granted) as I envisage him like an 8 yr old boy throwing his tantrums when he can’t get his best toys! It is just him! But one thing I admire about him is his dedication and drives to get done his task by all means and chuckles in joy! It’s a pleasure seeing the little excitement and satisfactions on his face and tone when his job is done. There is a kid in him!



This time around, his business trip is going to be slightly longer than usual and the fact it came around our big day, made me miss him more than usual. I struggled to keep my composure and motivate him to go for it and come back with the satisfaction of completing his duty with success. He was more pressured this time since he had to train the US counterparts back in Intel Arizona and HQ Virginia. I have always stand behind him to encourage his capabilities which is extremely remarkable and give him driving force to work his way up his career ladder. He will soon be there where his dreams lie and shine in brilliance! Vig, I am proud of you and who you are! The determination and knowledge in you makes me admire you. I hope your management see you as a valuable asset to the company productivity and reward you accordingly. I’m sure they do!

Last night’s dinner treat was exclusively for you and wish you lots of luck and safe journey and of course success! Above all, to say we all love you and proud of you. By now you are already on the way to US, and I just felt I am going to miss everything especially your wake up calls, your text messages, little fights, pampering and showers of love. I will be eagerly waiting for your first call from US and daily mails to keep me updated on your whereabouts there. I miss you a little too much and little too longer.



Bon Voyage Mi Amor

Moon-ing over Monday

Monday sailed smoothly for me. I was treated with a magnificent sight to behold which made my day. As I stood outside my house on the balcony, after my dinner to take a breather, I was mesmerised to see the moon big and full just ahead.It had a haze circling around it which added a touch of mystic to it. It was stunning. There is something mystical about the moon.The moon has been around for eons and it revolves around some weird myths for centuries. Even the Romans gave the Roman goddess of the moon a name that remains familiar to us today - Luna, prefix of the word “lunatic.”
Whatever your beliefs are, there is the consensus that the Full Moon is a magical and beautiful sight to behold for all. And I can sit for hours just looking at it.

Bits n Pieces of my weekends

Weekends were something that I look for each time especially when I have rather jaded and draining weekdays. It is Saturday and I got to sleep longer than usual until I was awakened by mom. Nevertheless I got to wrap myself in the bed up to 9am. What a nice treat especially when the weather is cold and snug.

I had plan up a busy weekends though I wanted complete rest. My parents and I decided to take a leisure drive to Little India. Raj was supposed to be down in KL last weekend for our shopping spree but alas he had to abide to his duty calls. He was told that he needs to travel to US on Wednesday, the 12th on a short notice. As usual he was wedged in between last minute preparation pressure with so many things to do in a very little time he has. Flight ticket booking, training materials and documentation groundwork, renewal of his insurance and road tax policy, shopping for essentials and medicines needed during his 3-weeks stint abroad, and other miscellaneous stuffs. Of course he had his long checklist to help him do with his packing. Above all, he was under pressure due to eleventh hour dilemma again. I had tough time to deal with frolics since his emotions were running high and low. Nevertheless, I manage to bring him into composure from time to time. Even his panel doctor told him to keep his pressure controlled or else he will end up getting HBP soon. I can tell you Vig was in deep turmoil for the past few days and having sleepless nights despite me trying to calm him down. More or less, things have been settled and organized (a fine quality that I admired in him when it comes to work, close to perfectionist. I am proud of who you are!

There you go my shopping spree with Vig which was replaced with my shopping spree to get my family the necessary stuffs they needed. We left home about 12.30pm just right after office hours (Remember its Saturday, so it’s half-day). The regret befall us the moment we hit Federal Highway (somewhere near Angkasapuri), when we saw a queue of cars crawling in long stretch with mild rain accompanying us. It was not a good idea to set out late. So it’s a lesson to be learnt! So don’t go out your house around the peak hours as you’re prone to be sandwiched in traffic congestion for sure! Finally after one hour, we reached our destination safely but with hunger serenading to us. We quickly parked the car in an authorized spot as we were making rounds. Thank god! (Why did I say authorize is simply because most of the ample space has been taken up due to overcrowding with Diwali celebration due in 2 weeks time)

Clearly I must comment that good and quality food is nowhere to be found in Little India. We scampered around in hunger looking for a nice decent eatery to fill up ourselves. We came across to an eatery which looks quite presentable with wide variety of food and made ourselves through for a nice meal. After a while, to our dismay, we realized the place was too crowded, clearly not hygienic, poor service and above all food sucks! All of us were not satisfied and got furious with the quality of food. I must write about this restaurant in the paper to highlight the poor quality of food and hygiene practiced here. I wonder this anyone realized this and made a complaint or not. I feel as a consumer, we hold the rights to get a quality and clean food for the money we spent on. Such eatery should be given a stern warning coz improper operation can cause food poisoning. But I can see how ignorant some customers can be without giving a heed to the hygiene and savoring the meal as if they are in a 5star hotel. Bizarre! (And my parents for being vulnerable felt some mild stomach discomfort)

At the end of the day, Saturday was stripped off my beautiful siesta but it was swapped with a sense of satisfaction since I accomplished my first episode of shopping spree. I was drained out walking up and down all the shops across the streets and bargaining on top of my lungs (I mean literally...Hehehe). My eyes was tired and splashed with myriad burst of colors due to the exotic sarees, decorations, flowers sold in the shops I made my visits. Pretty high-key weekend. Clearly, good and hygiene food was my only disappointment. Usually, I attempt to lavish my weekends with good food, rest and a sense of joy. Shopping can be therapeutic excluding the tiredness of course! I also saw an old friend (ex-lab mate) from varsity who just happen to shop there. Since I was in all rush to go home as it was already late, I manage to only exchange a few words and promised to catch up with him some time later.

This was how my lovely Saturday unfold!

It’s October already! Can you believe that? I hope this time around, October will be a smooth sailing experience. Finally, its October and again, its gonna be year-end very very soon and sooner than one can expect... The phrase, time and tide waits for no men is so true these days especially, nearing the year-end. So many unfinished businesses to attend to, so many commitments untouched and the list go on and on...

My October gotten off to a mediocre start! It started off with my colleagues getting hitched in early of the month dumping her singlehood to become a married woman. This was a gentle reminder to me since I will be joining her footsteps pretty soon. All of us shared her happiness which is one of the memorable moments of a woman’s life. She was a pretty looking bride without the lab coats, and typical office suit. We were amazed to see the real beauty of her on that day. Marriage indeed added a touch of panache to her glow. This is what I call bride in shine!



The happiness soon turn out to lingering anxiety for my eleventh hour assignment; internal quarterly project review for FY2011/2012. I was hit with the low key till the review wrap up. I would say it wasn’t so bad after all since the management understood our issues very well and helped to provide solutions in terms of human resource, laboratory necessities and also on-the-job training to equip us for the current project on hand. It was an encouraging start for me. The management nodded in approval at our Gantt chart timeline with just few suggestions here and there. It made my day. Glad it was over. But the real feat will be, accomplishing the painstaking task in short span just in time for SAC definitely gonna drain us out! Yet I am geared up for the coming stress.

The October calendar has some fun events scheduled to it. My bestie Dida celebrated her birthday on 1st of October. Therefore my girls, Sheila, Kavie and myself decided to have a lunch out together to celebrate Dida’s birthday (secretly) as well get-together after sometime. We plan it out spontaneously this week and Sheila made the reservations for 4 of us in an exclusive eat out! It’s a surprise, though. I shall blog about it next week.

On a happier note, Diwali, the festival of lights for the Hindus are around the corner. Just about 2 weeks to go and I have not started the preparation, shopping, spring cleaning etc etc etc… This year will be a simple yet sweet celebration since we another big event coming up next month. So more emphasis has been placed on it! You get me what I am saying, right!



To spice up things, I am in a mood for a wine n dine celebration with my loved ones (Ehem…yes of course my family and Vig). This is in conjunction with my overwhelming windfall that was so encouraging compared to the year before (which was also good without a doubt). OP businesses have a remarkable reputation over the years for generating good revenue when the global CPO price escalates. Looks like everyone at office are all smiles with a extraordinary shine since we got our pockets filled! Ha-ha!

This month is gonna be a tight month for me, a lot of deadlines to meet and I’m presently covering two portfolios in my company and I hope I’ll be able to manage it. It has been 4 years since I join in SD Group and the high profile OP Genome Project, and it has been a rollercoaster ride ever since. The higher management and immediate bosses is really demanding and seeming to speed up the work and making me work extra hard with less resources. I have been drained out lately due to this pressuring work despite by escalating excitement for the upcoming work which is gonna crack the code of question that we are all looking for high and low!

Well, Happy October & Happy Halloween!

A Smile can make your Day

What can be a better way to start a day early morning with a bright smile on our face!! A smile can truly change the environment around us very naturally. Even the people surrounding a person with a smile will feel very happy and refreshing. And the right attitude you start with can make a change on how you feel throughout the entire day.

A smile from you has got many advantages to many people including yourself. According to researchers, those who smile a lot tend to remain healthy and de-stressed than those who have a ‘ten cents’ face.
A genuine smile is not just tweeting your muscles; it carries different moods with it. It makes a difference to your long day. So, before you get off the bed each morning, take a few minutes to think about happy thoughts. This is so cliché but when you smile, the world will smile back at you.



I have decided to look at life in a brighter side and not harp onto something than can drain me off my zeal. Life is all about a cocktail of emotions, and experiences which we should appreciate and have an attitude of ‘How worse can it get’?
So I got up and shot a glance towards the window across my bed and made a silent wish to start my day with a right attitude and a smile! Here I am made it off my bed and drove to the other side of city to work. Good Morning ya’ll! Have a great day ahead.

A gloomy day at work

Just another gloomy day today that drains away my energy and creates a wave of melancholy. Nothing new though. Lately, the fretfulness keeps coming back on my door and keeps me on edge. It has gotten any better yet it made me become so numb to all the challenges I am experiencing at work. Life after varsity thought me a lot in life. I learnt that life after studies were not as fun as the picture painted by our elders. Needless to say, I have a wonderful career, lovely family, beautiful life and the age to enjoy. But once you walk into this working bandwagon, life is going to be busy as ever. Sometimes, you’ll need to forget about the mirage of ultimate enjoyment after studies. Life will be on different page from then on; as we will all be busy establishing our career and suddenly everything seems right and normal to be workaholic as the dedication towards our career dominate us. I can see in your mind's eye that many of you out there can’t help but concur to what I am saying here.


To be frank, I don’t believe in fallacy, but then again, I take the pleasure to blame it on the feng shui of my new workplace on the series of unforeseen hiccups which has been happening to my project. Being a researcher in a big big challenging science world, nothing will seem right all the time or picture-perfect-kind-of-scenarios is definitely uncommon. Since my project took off last financial year, it was a smooth journey even though there were some glitches in between. But this year don’t seem to be really good, not only to me but in fact to the rest as well. I’ve been trying to figure out what transpired here and there within the last 10 months. But I remember only the good things and not the bad ones though! All these put me into a perturbed state of mind most of the time (for all you know, something pops up out of nowhere these days). It can get bad enough as I can feel the anxiety sets in and mood swings overwhelm me.



Today was another day to add onto the history of hitches I have gone through with my project team mate over the past few months. It’s nothing new to us anyway. So I am not banking much on it either to help me or to add-on my list of increasing responsibility for my project. In the beginning of the ‘crisis’ (which seem to be mild to me at first glance), I was pretty skeptical on how to go about the work. Everything seem to be running in circles and after talking to our consultant whom brought us back into the right frame of mind, things look optimistic after that. So I was geared up to face challenges which I expect to take place sporadically. But deep down in my heart, there is something called ‘HOPE’ that keeps me going. Apparently, that ‘little hope’ also was shattered today which made everything look so dark and gloomy. Time passing by seems painfully slow today. Like hour and a half slow. To make things worse, the flu bug played its part exceptionally well. From a bright sunny day, it became conflicting on second half of the day. Slow, cold and grouchy. Couldn’t do much about the emotions and ambiance. I got myself intrigued into my upshot project analysis (Even the analysis wasn’t going smooth. I spend almost the whole day to figure out why the analysis was not cracking the code I’m looking for). It helped me to get off my mind from the bugging issues for time being. In a day or two, I would not be sitting on it anymore. And yeah, the appointment with my vendor actually steals some of my time away and it was almost time up to go home! :)

I so dont want to feel gloomy anymore. Banish the feelings. Chase away the thoughts. Tomorrow it's gonna be a great bright day!