Country Cottage Arts

Sunday, 28 November 2010


It's that time of year again and my computer is up to its tricks......  it developed its own version of  disability to communicate with me and gave me a blank screen  .  I have just got it back and now find that my  Kodak Share program is kaput......... so I can't update pictures................................................. as yet.


On the other hand, its the beginning of the season to be merry.  Yup!, Christmas is on the horizon and I am already in the Christmas mood.   'Jingle bells ' and ' I'm dreaming of a White Christmas ' is already on the air and in pay tv channels.  It's great to celebrate two festivals and back to back too. Deepavali in November and Christmas in December.  That's the ultimate freedom, I'd say. Didn't I write in my earlier blogpost that I sort of celebrated  Hari Raya too, complete with a new baju kurung and stall bought lemang and rendang ?   Not to forget, I've a nephew who married a Chinese and another who married a Malay.  So am I complete 1 Malaysian or what ?  And politicians and senior government officials still cast us as ' pendatangs' ( immigrants')  Aren't we all ?  Well, morons will still be morons, no matter what................. that's all I can say.


On another matter, while shopping for baking ingredients at my neighbourhood bakery, I saw  a road sweeeper with a wheelbarrow trudging along the lanes in the high noon heat.  I felt sorry for the worker sweeping in the sweltering heat and felt guilty sitting in my air-conditioned car.  So I followed him , trying to catch his attention but the poor guy walked  further still.  Finally, I overtook him , wound down my windscreen , yelled a loud 'hello ' and gave him some money and told him to use it  for his lunch. Would you believe what he said ?  " Madam,  this is the first time I've received money since I arrived in Malaysia to work and because Ladyluck has given me this, I want to use it buy a lottery ticket ! I was too stunned and shocked  and momentarily lost my speech.  Then common sense got the better of me and  of course lah, I gave him a stern lecture on the ills of gambling and told him to use the money for his lunch, which was my original intention for him  anyway.  While driving back, I  pondered on his reply and realised that his situation must have been  quite desperate for him to make a remark like that.   All I could do was to offer a silent prayer to God to help him.............

Compare this to  a guard's response  in one of the gated -community  centres.  Normally, when I enter these housing communities,  I would usually buy some ' roti canai' and 'teh-tarik'  and give it to them.  Think about it...............  these workers , come to a foreign country to eke out a living and save every penny to send it back home......... to settle debts, to pay back the agents,..... could be  a myriad of  reasons which forces them to travel the seas....... ( I'm not talking about the expatriates, you know !) How much do you think these factory workers and guards, both foreign and locals, earn?  And, with our living expenses increasing by the day, how much can they save?   Bearing this in mind I would make it a point to buy some food or if  unable, I'd give them  $5.00 or enough to buy lunch.  On one of these encounters, the guard was so taken aback when I gave him the money that all he could blurt out was "Why ?"


You know,  it doesn't take much to make another human happy - and especially foreigners and locals who are in the low level service industry - guards, dishwashers, road sweepers, tray handlers, etc,  -- a foreign service worker who removed trays from lunch tables in the Gardens Food Court gave me smile  of  grateful thanks when I handed him $2.00 when he cleared  my tray.  I imagined myself in his situation  and it made me feel  so grateful to God for my present place . I can't go table to table offering money like I'm the Goddess of Wealth, although my name means exactly that (!) but I can empathise   with their  predicament and if a few ringgit can fill their stomach or make them smile , that would be a great deal for them and for me too.

 A little act of kindness does go a long long way................................................


On a lighter note, I would like to share a joke that I read  recently, the originator of which  was Winston Churchill himself.

A man was drinking too much in a pub.  A lady noticing  this, walked up to him and said " If I were your wife, I'd put poison in your drink ".  The man looked at the woman and coolly  replied " Lady, if you were my wife, I'd gladly drink it "  !



Happy reading


Lakshmi