Zee Avi

She appeared in the papers last year.

But sadly, scientists have yet to figure out how to embed YouTube videos into newspapers and many of us may have missed this all-important piece of news.

What a shame! What a waste! What a terrible pity!

This 23 year old is one of us, folks!!

Discovered on the internet posting her own tunes from home, the artist formerly known as KokoKaina has, unasked, shot to fame in the US, has cut an excellent record and is doing what she loves and does best. Ole!

Put a smile on your face today. When your day is busiest and most stressful, close all those windows, sit back and check out these tracks.

Here is a set of music videos by Zee Avi (especially watch the one in minute 6 which mixes Bahasa and English).

Life of Pi

“I have a story that will make you believe in God.”

You must have read it before. I know, I’m a little slow on the pick-up.

I’m only 101 pages through but I HAVE to make a post about this book.

It’s made me laugh every 2 pages or so. Out loud. Which made it difficult for Gin to sleep. What with passages like:

I have nothing to say about my working life, only that a tie is a noose, and inverted though it is, it will hang a man nonetheless if he’s not careful.

Okay, maybe this is less funny and more self-affirming.

But what I liked from the first 101 pages is the way this guy looks at religion and spirituality. He looks at atheist as brothers and sisters of a different faith!

Like me they go as far as the legs of reason will carry them – and then they leap. I’ll be honest about it. It’s not atheist who get me in a craw, but agnostics. Doubt is useful for a while. We must all pass through the Garden of Gethsamane. If Christ playedf with doubt, so must we. If Christ spent an anguished night in prayer, if He burst out from the Cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” then surely we are also permitted doubt. But we must move on. To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.

Pi has religiously indifferent parents but carries a Hindu identity. Then he discovers Jesus, and when the priest endorses his belief, Pi is so overjoyed that he runs to the nearest Hindu temple to offer thanks to Lord Krishna for having put Jesus of Nazareth, whose humanity he found so compelling, in his way.

!!! Love it.

One Good Friday in church some 20 years ago, upon discovering that Christ had died, I told my mum, “thank God there’s Muruga!” It is no surprise that these matters make sense to children. My question is, where along the way do we learn to be so myopic in our beliefs that we fail to see the divinity in all religions?

Then in the book, lo and behold, Pi becomes a Muslim! “I challenge anyone to understand Islam, its spirit, and not to love it.”

Never mind this fascinating journey which makes complete sense to Pi but baffles and frustrates the priest, pandit and imam. I am most taken by Pi’s (Martel’s?) opinions on atheists and agnostics. I mean, chew on chapter 22:

I can well imagine an atheist’s last words: “White, white! L-L-Love! My God!” – and the deathbed leap of faith. Whereas the agnostic, if he stays true to his reasonable self, if he stays beholden to dry, yeastless factuality, might try o explain the warm light bathing him by saying, “Possibly a f-f-failing oxygenation of the b-b-brain,” and, to the very end, lack imagination and miss the better story.

So what do you think?

The Freak for the Teh Tarique

The Producahs

I recently had a few hours free, aight.

[oh btw, just a little warning: hip-hop rapper speak ahead...or a bad imitation thereof]

5 were spent waitin’ for Ashraf, Alfred and DJ Taraz to finalize the toon and muzique (how am I doing so far?).

3 were spent shootin’ at the local eatery.

Let me give you the low-down of this vid done in half a day. Check it – shot on the first diggidy cam to ever shoot a presidential portrait, “I’m A Freak for the Teh Tarique” music vid was put together by:

Ashraf Rushdy – slam poet, hip-hop artiste from the both-side (neither east-side nor west-side)

Alfred Loh – how to describe this crazy fler la? No box is to big for him to be out of.

Roshan “Rogan Josh” Ravichandran – producah

Ryan Lash – cinematographah

Amy Lim – edita/gangsta

DJ Taraz – composa-mixa

EL (true identity protected) – the massaging handz at Madame Chow’s

SO. Tell me yer wicked thoughts, aight? (and I promise to stop this annoying gangsta speak right now)

The Jack Sparrow of Dogs

I can’t keep this secret inside any longer… One of my ALL TIME favourite films is… SOUND OF MUSIC!

There, I said it. Now nothing will surprise you.

Last Saturday I watched 2 films that made my sad and happy hormone glands work on overdrive, each pumping alternately in quick bursts, swelling my arteries and capillaries, turning me into a fully saturated, bitter-sweet sponge of emotion, too fat to move, too tired to speak.

For goodness sake, I never expected to cry watching an Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston film about their dog Marley!! (ok, I didn’t cry cry but I was pretty close)

I am shy to admit how I could SO RELATE to the little cliches about married life. Damn you Hollywood! I am supposed to hate you!

[Please leave a comment and let me know if you think I need to see a shrink?]

If you’ve got a dog (or if you are thinking of getting one), if you’ve got a spouse (or if you are thinking of getting one), or if you’ve got both (but don’t like how it’s going), then watch this movie for a bit of perspective…

Terpesong

Alayna, one of the most brilliant and radiant young school-going ladies I know, does not answer essay questions critically and with creative abandon. Why? “I’ll get a big ‘x’ and ‘terpesong’.”

Ahh…that word brings back memories of my own schoolhood.

Terpesong…

There is not a single good person I know who was never at least once terpesong. Sit around a room of upright and morally respectable people, get the ball rolling and you are bound to discover everyone’s little deviations in no time.

[I look at that word deviation and realise now that the first few letters almost spell the word 'devil'... almost.]

A few stories emerged that night:

1. A really sweet and bubbly lady friend of mine once ganged up with her cousin and ‘really whacked up’ a kid who had been bullying her little brother. Years later she found out that the little ruffian was actually mentally disabled from himself being abused, bullied and roughed up. He was taking it out on her little brother and her rage was a form of justice.

2. In early primary school, Eric had witnessed his friend getting gang bashed in the basketball court by 6 other guys. Helpless and scared, Eric stood there an cried his eyes out.

3. Jules cried when his mother told him about the starving children of Africa. He was not the only one at the table who had this experience.

4. Ramu went to a school where the caning was not executed on the bottoms but on the soles of the children’s feet!

Not trying to say, 'talk to the hand' or even 'nak kena tampar ke?'

5. Liz once saw a teacher punch and beat a child badly because of poorly done homework. The teacher stopped suddenly when she realised that she was looking at the wrong child’s book and therefore beating the wrong child! The real owner of the book shook with fear, thinking the teacher was going to unleash her fury on him now. But the teacher did not. She said a few stern words and let it go. The child who was beaten up was told he deserved it for another minor mistake in his homework. Almost a third of the class didn’t show up for the rest of the week…

6. In standard 3, it was suddenly a fad to demonstrate one’s strength by karate-chopping the sharp end of a ruler as hard as one could! Being a puny and asthmatic 9 year old, George never lasted long at these displays of manhood. But as a child, he had always made friends with the toughest boy in the year (perhaps these macho types were drawn to George because he never laughed at them for being emotionally weak) and this year was no different. Raveen, already a taekwando brown belt at 9, proudly chopped at all the rulers in class, not for a moment showing any signs of pain as the blunt edges made hard contact with his bone. The boys in the class would ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ away… But not George – “Raveen, do not use my ruler for this.” George had this glass ruler from Australia that had pictures of all the 4 seasons on it. It was the hardest ruler in class (imported what!) and had a sharp edge – the ultimate invitation for the boy who dare brave it for solitary alpha-male bragging rights. Raveen could not resist the temptation. When George was taking a toilet break, Raven pulled the ruler out of his bag, gathered the boys all around and chopped. It broke! When George got back Raveen placed an arm around his shoulder, led him out of the class and broke the news. A sensitive little thing, George began to cry. (Let me assure you that 20 years on, George does have more control over his emotions, okay?) Raveen tried to comfort him, “It’s just a ruler! I’ll get you a new one…” George replied, “I’m not crying because you broke my ruler, I’m crying because you broke my heart.“

Children are born with an innate sense of justice and compassion.

But so many influences try to make us un-learn this!

When a Chinese or Indian kid in Malaysia wants to write an essay about, “What would I do if I were PM?” and the teacher tells him/her to not entertain such thoughts because it will never happen to a non-Malay, who, pray tell me, is terpesong?

Flattened

Jolene was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. Soon after they did an MRI and discovered little spots in her brain, liver and bones. As far as the best professionals could tell, her fate was sealed. She was not supposed to last more than a few months but it’s 4 years on now and she’s still around.

True to its reputation, bone cancer has made the last year exceptionally painful for Jolene. Brittle bones, bare nerves…I cannot even begin to imagine. Jolene says that there are good days and bad days.

But 2 weeks ago, things suddenly took taken a turn for the worse (could it have gotten any worse?). She was overwhelmed with excruciating pain all around and death seemed moments away.

In the same district lived Daven.

Daven one day discovered he had muscular dystrophy. The situation was so bad that the doctor didn’t think he would survive more than a couple of days. Daven asked for the family to be brought together and for arrangements to be made.

All his muscles were entirely paralysed except those between his forehead and his chin. He had a tube for breathing, a tube for eating and another tube for waste.

But 4 years on, this guy is still alive. Just like Jolene, Daven defies the odds.

But why though? Why can’t they just die?!

What perplexes me somewhat is that they are both active, respected and loved Baha’is.

5 months ago at a Baha’i conference in Malaysia, I saw Jolene, head conspicuously wrapped in a scarf to hide her balding, furiously taking notes as the speaker expounded on the theme of service. I couldn’t help thinking to myself, “this lady is going to go any time now but is behaving as if she has years of service ahead!”

I’ve heard that Daven was a Baha’i with a robust spirit. I am now told that his spirit has not diminished one bit. As he lies limp in his lounge room, unable to hold his prayer beads, he still recites his prayers using the bars on the grill to count where he is. 13 grills = 7 rounds plus 4 bars = 95 times where he calls out the name of God the All-Glorious – “Allah’u'Abha!”

I know there are many fervent, pure hearted and religious people of all faiths who are afflicted with similar tests. But my feeble mind has been trying to grasp an understanding of why? Of course I do not imagine myself to be able to comprehend the Divine wisdom any more than just my tiny allocation of insight, but it really fills me with wonder.

There is this story I heard of a man who became closer and closer to God the sicker and sicker he became! The more and more pain he was suffering through, the more and more radiant and joyful he became!

I am compelled to share this quotation from the Baha’i Writings and ask you to share with me the insights it inspires in you:

To the loyal soul, a test is but God’s grace and favour; for the valiant doth joyously press forward to furious battle on the field of anguish, when the coward, whimpering with fright, will tremble and shake. So too, the proficient student, who hath with great competence mastered his subjects and committed them to memory, will happily exhibit his skills before his examiners on the day of his tests. So too will solid gold wondrously gleam and shine out in the assayer’s fire.

It is clear, then, that tests and trials are, for sanctified souls, but , while to the weak, they are a calamity, unexpected and sudden.

These tests, even as thou didst write, do but cleanse the spotting of self from off the mirror of the heart, till the Sun of Truth can cast its rays thereon; for there is no veil more obstructive than the self, and however tenuous that veil may be, at the last it will completely shut a person out, and deprive him of his portion of eternal grace.

Really, how are you?

At about 11pm every night, just as the other patients are falling into a deep sleep, Susan would get out of bed and start making a racket.

She would walk up and down the halls in the ward, talk to people, disrupt the work of nurses and prevent the ill from a restful recovery sleep. Her hyperactivity would taper off at about 4am and the nurses would find Susan the next morning not in her bed but in some corner of the ward, either on the floor or on the benches fast asleep.

All the nurses wanted to get rid of her. At the weekly meetings they all rallied for her to be transfered to another mental facility. But Letitia would not allow it.

“What does our mission statement say? How can we promise care and service if we’re going to just transfer her off? What’s so caring about that?”

The newer nurses were easily flustered by difficult patients but Letitia was a veteran toughened by many years of testing patients.

“I’ll go have a chat with her.”

“Does she have time to chat with her?” whispered the nurses between themselves, wondering whether their busy supervisor could actually spare a free moment for this patient.

Letitia - from the eyes of my brother's Lomo LCA

A few weeks before, the ward had a patient that was suffering from terrible headaches. When they struck, the patient would scream about and call for her pain-killers which the nurses were reluctant to keep prescribing because of risky medical side-effects.

But once the patient began requesting, they did not know how to shut her up.

Just like before, a complaint went up to Letitia.

“Why do you think she’s having this headache?” Letitia asks me. “Why do you think so many people have all sorts of cancers today?”

I can only shrug. I’m guessing it has something to do with our diet of processed food and a lifestyle of stress, but her answer comes out of nowhere.

“Her family last visited her 2 days ago and they probably won’t come back for another month or more.”

My God, was this lady just suffering from a lack of love?!

“I sat with her, offered her a cup of tea, held her hand and asked her to tell me about the pain.”

One thing led to another and soon her whole life story came pouring out.

At the end of 20 minutes Letitia asked her if she was now ready for her painkiller.

“That’s okay Letitia. The pain has gone away now.”

That is all it took!! The remedy is love!!

The more I think about it, the more I feel that this is true not just in hospital or mental wards. How can we expect our children to be less rebellious or do better at school if we do not show them adequate love? How can we expect our co-workers or employees to be less snappy and more efficient if we do not show them love?

You know, I can’t help thinking – perhaps certain cancers are NOT passed down genetically. Perhaps it is a bad mental model, an entrenched habit, a defective lifestyle or negative family dynamic that is being passed down causing this cancer to pop up through the generations?

Letitia leans forward, her face tenses up and her voice takes on an earnest, desperate tone, “we live in such a lonely world, Manesh.”

Alamak! She’s right. We need to raise up more lovers. True lovers. Or soon we’re going to be filling up hospitals faster than we can produce doctors.

A quotation from ‘Abdu’l-Baha confirms Letitia’s theory of medicine ~ There is nothing greater or more blessed than the Love of God! It gives healing to the sick, balm to the wounded, joy and consolation to the whole world, and through it alone can man attain Life Everlasting. The essence of all religions is the Love of God, and it is the foundation of all the sacred teachings.

Maybe we can do our fair share in our office spaces and take a bit of time to love our neighbours with a ray of the love of God.

Perhaps we could ask them the most important question we could ever ask another human being – how are you?

Really, how are you?

A patient is comforted by a fellow patient after a fight with another patient at a psychiatric hospital. The World Health Organization warned that the financial global crisis will probably worsen the situation of mental health care in poor countries, as the majority of people who suffer from a mental disorder in developing countries do not receive treatment and many are stigmatized and are subject to rejection and abuse. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

I’ve been thinking about divorce.

Why are so many of my friends separating, some just a year or two after getting married?!

So I’ve got this theory.

The generality of people I know live for themselves. Herein lies the tragedy lies.

We want to develop ourselves, educate ourselves, so we can take care of ourselves, pamper ourselves, accumulate for ourselves, ensure security for ourselves… In extreme measures we want to be in the top school, the best company, drive the fastest car, earn the most, be the smartest, most powerful, most famous, most loved, etc.

To varying degrees, these desires drive us.

When we get married we suddenly have to start thinking for the other person, being considerate and making huge sacrifices pertaining to our deepest desires in life. Suddenly, another set of hands are grasping at the steering wheel of our life and tipping it away from some of our goals.

Many of us have no idea how to deal with this.

So much easier it is to decide to part ways. “She’s getting in the way of my life.”

Surely there is a reason why some of the world’s richest and most developed nations (materially) have the highest divorce rates.

Many people rave about how a Scandinavian welfare state is the ideal place to gain citizenship. But Sweden has the highest rate of divorce in the world! Finland, Australia, America and other developed nations also fall into this top tier of sad stats.

Perhaps these are lands of material prosperity, but how about family prosperity? Everyone wants to migrate there, but are we prepared to weather a challenging family life? When we immerse our children in these cultures (and pat our backs for having successfully left Malaysia), are we equipping them with the right attitude to face the world that glorifies self-indulgence?

There is this elderly couple I admire. When lamenting about how 8 in 10 couples these days divorce she shared some of her experience, “we used to scream, cry and fight it out. But not for a second did that thought enter my mind…”

It was a time where wives were less likely to hold jobs and were therefore less inclined towards even considering separation. It just was not an option. Perhaps it was easier then.

But whatever it is, today these guys are the picture of love. Yes, he is largely a gentle man whereas she tends to flash her iron fist every now and then, but at the end of the day, they are indeed signs of harmony and unity. He has learned how to accept her, she has learned how to accept him. Kinda. I think they’re still learning. :)

I think my generation is going to have a really hard time with this.

We’re so used to ‘receiving’ (from parents who want the very best for us, from maids) that ‘giving’ becomes such a difficult act.

But never mind divorce rates – less and less people are also getting married. The compounded conclusion – the world has more lonely people.

The insistent self asserting itself.

Ah Keong – catch and release

A fisherman, Ah Keong, and his wife

Sometime last year the number of people living in cities, for the first time in the history of the world, was more than the number of people living in rural areas. As it looks now, this trend will continue indefinitely.

I’m all for progress, well-managed urbanization and all but really, there is nothing like a small town psyche.

Many people I know long to live in a small town but… ‘where got job la dei?!’

Ah Keong was a fisherman at some point in his life. For some reason about 15 years ago, he started to present generous sack-loads of lala, prawns and other fruits of the ocean to my mother-in-law who then worked as a bank officer.

And with every passing year, the sacks of seafood grew larger!!

The Teh's stand amazed at the amount of seafood Ah Keong packed

First reaction – what was this guy thinking?! Nevermind the insatiable appetites of the Teh’s, even their fridges were not large enough to contain such large volumes of seafood!

Next reaction – what motivates Ah Keong’s generosity?

I know. This is where the city dwellers mind starts working overtime. Surely he’s not just being generous for the sake of it!!

I was sitting across Ah Keong on a table with a hearty seafood meal spread out between us. Every year for Cheng Beng and Chinese New Year this guy would check with other local restaurant owners (he knew which restaurants the Teh’s frequented), call before hand, and make sure that the Teh’s didn’t leave Alor Star without him buying them a HUGE seafood meal!!

This time, we were about 2 minutes late when his phone call came through – so you guys coming?!

He’s now a big business man that owns multiple fishing boats and a diesel distribution. Plus he cares for a special child (not his own). But if you look at him, you would never guess it.

When we arrive, the table is already spread out and a couple of hot dishes await us. He had ordered so as to not waste our time with waiting.

As he puffed on his cigarette and exhaled the smoke through his large dragon-like nostrils, I couldn’t shake this niggling question out of my mind – what did Gin’s parents do to deserve such unbounded acts of generosity???

Even tried insisting that he buy us lunch the next day!!

I had heard of Gin’s parent’s many grateful customers buying them dinner, giving the children HUGE ang pows and ridiculously opulent gifts that their father insisted on sending back…

But never mind the meal. If you had only seen the styrofoam cooler JAM PACKED with a large stingray, fat and juicy prawns, garupa and other expensive fish that he wanted us to lug back to KL, perhaps then your mind will start itching too!

Did Gin’s mum save Ah Keong’s mother’s life? Put his daughter through to uni? What could possibly warrant this man hunting the Teh’s down religiously, year after year, just to shower upon them such love?

My father-in-law ends all speculation with a quiet smile – he’s just a big hearted man.

In a small town like Alor Star, maybe it really is that simple…

Yes. Maybe. It’s not that far out of the realm of possibility.

Either that OR there is a secret between them that I will never be privy to…

But for now, I like the thought that generosity needs no reason. :)

What the world needs now is…

I am not trying to time this with any significant event in our country or the world’s history.

I know many people are lamenting about the fate of the world. Today, more people just happen to be lamenting in Malaysia.

It’ll pass.

We’ll adapt.

Life will settle into some form of fluxing-stupor again.

Perhaps.

But why not send some good vibes through our spaces by indulging in some positive thinking – If I were prime minister…

What do you specifically want to change about the world/Malaysia?

LEAVE A COMMENT, will you?

1. I would send ALL negative people to happy camp (no, I am not a fan of The Secret, but it’s okay if you are…) :)

2. I’d make ORANGE the official colour for all government documents.

ok, fluff aside, I would invest all my energy in discovering and developing an education system that would bring up generations of world citizens that were upright, noble minded and relentlessly pursued the betterment of the world…

So yeah… Really, what would YOU do?

If Golriz's (of "She's Only Happy In The Sun" fame) little toe does not put a smile on your face, you are DEFINITELY one of those I will be sending to Happy Camp!!

This post was made to the song “People Should Smile More” by Newton Faulkner. How does a guy end up with 2 great names rolled in one?

There are some new links I’ve added here on the right. Check them out (especially this great blog I just discovered – Soul Pancake) and have a great GREAT weekend!