We Carry In Us - Ravi's poem

Guest post from my husband, Ravi.

Not being biased, but his poems about life and love are pretty good.  

Will share his other poems in this blog from time to time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

We carry in us

Our mothers, fathers

And their

Fathers

And mothers.

Their joys and

Their prejudices.

The world is

Not the world it really is

But the one

we see through their eyes

These shackles that

hold us

are unseen

and mostly

unfelt

clouding our vision

and our thought.

Few are those

Who free themselves

From this quandary of life’s

view

through a stained glass.

 

I wish not

Such unnatural

chains

In the name of culture

and race

to bind my children

or their children.

Because humanity

Is forever less

for this

And we live lives

Tainted by these prejudices

That plagues most of us.

Ravi

May/8/2014

Lakeside stroll

Yesterday after work, Sarah and I walked to the man-made lake in front of the apartment.  The little girl picked up some sticks along the way and used those to 'feed' the fish.  Simple and free!

picking up sticks :)

'Feeding' the fish, she says.

Fishing fun =)

Our Reena is 9!

My stepdaughter Reena turned 9 last March 24 but we were only able to celebrate with her on the 29th.  We had a simple gift giving ceremony at the house before we proceeded to Gem Restaurant for Indian food.  Ravi's friend Palani and his family came as well to celebrate with us.

Happy birthday Reena!

Sister love

Our favorite Indian restaurant at Georgetown, GEM Restaurant.  Their briyanis are excellent!

Singing the happy birthday song before blowing the candle, with Palani (seated) and his family.

Cutting of the oreo chocolate cake that Reena chose.

Swim fun

At 4pm, we were the early birds at the apartment pool.  Warm water, cloudy skies, mountain view, water & snacks = great time for the girls!

First swimmers at the pool

Sarah stands too near the big pool's edge tsk, tsk!

Reena already knows how to swim yey!  She stopped the lessons 2 years back and only continued early this year.

So proud of my step daughter! :)

She has the kiddie pool all to herself.

Beach Street fun again

Sunday fun at Beach St (Lebuh Pantai).
Happy and tired girls meant great appetite for lunch!

Requesting Paying for a balloon

The clown made a heart balloon for her.

Free origami workshop

Reena made a flower while Sarah just kept on folding papers :)

Making their miniature gel wax garden

Busy Reena

Sarah's busy too!

Flower shaped cotton candy!

Ravi held on to the cotton candy when the girls became busy on the next picture...

Trying to catch the fish & octopus

Kiddie rides at Queensbay Mall

A stop at the kiddie rides at Level 2, beside the Crocs shop, Queensbay Mall is always, always a must do if Sarah is around.  Even if we try to detour, she knows the landmarks going to the kiddie rides and promptly reminds us to go there.  We give in all the time of course :) 

Simple and inexpensive fun, RM1 each only.

Different transport rides - a sports car, a fire truck and a police car

The Big Bad Wolf visited Penang once more

Between March 20-30, 2014, Penang Times Square was the venue of the Big Bad Wolf Sale once again.  Book prices starts at RM5, with most books priced at RM6, RM8 and RM10.  A real steal!

March 22 (Saturday), I came with Sarah.  Got a lot of storybooks for my girl.  I would have gotten a bit more but she kept on saying, "Mama, enough buying.  Let's go."  Well, she was cranky since it was almost her nap time.

We went back on the last day, March 30, with Ravi and my teenage stepson Vishnu.  I got more kiddie books, several Sudoku puzzle and a few Chicken Soup books, plus storybooks for Reena.  Vishnu got several animal related books; he's planning to be a vetenerarian later on.  Ravi was able to find a coins & stamps book, an invention book, and a couple of Malay novels.  All in all, a good book haul for everyone.

I hope the BBW becomes an annual book sale stop at Penang, our family surely enjoys our loot every time!

Lovin' the BBW book sale!

Occupying Beach Street

Project Occupy Beach Street  hosts family oriented activities such as music and cultural performances, magic shows, arts & crafts for kids, street games and more.  There are also market stalls of food, clothes, souvenirs and accessories.  It's held every Sunday at Lebuh Pantai or Beach Street and closed to traffic between 7am - 1pm.

We've been there twice and it's a great and inexpensive way to spend a Sunday morning.  Last Sunday, Sarah brought along her scooter and she had a great time gliding around.

This scooter is actually is a good investment for my back, she doesn't ask to be carried around anymore!

 

Throwing plastic shuttlecocks into the colorful pails can get a kid rewarded with a simple candy.  Sarah was like, "Mama, mama, I won a prize!" like it's the biggest prize ever! Kids' simple joys.

Getting up close and personal with a puppy.  Scared when trying to hold the cute dog.

Hula-hoops and chalk on the street.

Enjoying her cat balloon at Beach Street.

Just one of the characters you'll meet at Occupy Beach Street.

Tesco online - nice!

A new favorite - eshop.tesco.com.my

Last week I tried something new - grocery shopping at Tesco online.

After a simple registration process, I started clicking away.  I was so excited when I saw some of our frequent grocery items have amazing deals, with savings as much as RM24! 

Below are the great deals I got from last week's online shopping spree:

Naturel Blend Canola & Sunflower Oil

Now RM19.90, Before RM43.99, Saving of RM24.09.

Pediasure Complete for Kids 1-10 Years Vanilla 1.8kg
​Now RM142.99, Before RM156.99, Saving of RM14.

Nutella Ferrero Hazelnut-Cocoa Spread 375g
Now RM13.99, Before RM24.99, Saving RM11.

Kleenex Ultra Soft Fresh 3 Ply Toilet Tissue
Now RM23.99, Before RM31.90, Saving RM7.91.

Shoppers can conveniently choose the delivery time slot in two hour increments.  I chose the 8-10pm slot, and the Tesco guys arrived at our apartment at 8:20pm   They actually called in at 5:30pm asking if they can deliver but since I was still at work, I asked them to deliver later.

We unloaded the grocery items from their blue plastic crates straight to our pantry. 

Payment can either be in cash or card. The delivery staff brought along a debit/credit card machine for my payment after which I signed the delivery receipt and they were off.  I find them very professional and polite, good customer orientation!

What’s the RM8 delivery fee if one can get huge savings right?!   

For our regular grocery staples, Tesco online service is now the way to go. 

Two thumbs up Tesco!

Hopeful ending for MH370's fate

It's more than a week since Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 from KL to Beijing went missing.  Sadly, still no good news from any search operations.

There have been lots of speculations on what really happened to the mysterious flight, with confusing and sometimes contradicting news.  There was even a ‘bomoh’ or witch doctor who performed rituals at KLIA airport to the chagrin and embarrassment of most Malaysians!   Now the latest possibility the authorities are entertaining is of the pilots' deliberate suicide. 

Fervently hoping this unfortunate event has a good ending.  Our prayers go to the families waiting for news on the fate of their loved ones on board.

Coincidentally, the time frame of that ill-fated flight is the same with Ravi's flight from San Francisco to Hongkong.  He was somewhere over the Pacific Ocean at that time.  When he landed at HK and heard the news, he called to let me know of the missing plane.  Naturally, I was a bit agitated and concerned as he still had 2 more flights before he reach Penang (Hongkong - Singapore then Singapore - Penang).  But he got back home safely, thank goodness.