London life: Reflections of a changing city
WATCHING a young couple walking hand in hand out of a cafe into St James Park in London, I reminisced the days when I was their age. New to the city, the world at my fingertips and my heart beating wild with nerves, I was getting acquainted with the soul of the city and meeting […]
Embracing change
HOW often do we look up from navigating our daily lives and realise, perhaps there could be more to this? Some people live in a heightened state of awareness, knowing they are living the life they want, while some never really find their dreams no matter how long they search. Some of us find the […]
Revisiting childhood days
Recently on the production set for a commercial, I was asked to portray the older self of a 13-year-old girl, who looked uncannily like me. With this striking resemblance came the inevitable question from the crew, “Did you look anything like her when you were 13?”. I studied the young girl, whose sparkling eyes, long silky hair that coiled ever so slightly at […]
How becoming a mother turned me into a germophobe
AS THE leaves turn brown and wither to the ground, all beings prepare to hibernate. Winter is coming to the UK. In this part of the world, though we don’t have to worry about all-year tropical diseases, a particular microbe causes misery to families as it strikes at the turn of the season when the […]
When life seems unfair
WHEN life knocks you down and off balance, often a visit to the abyss of despair is necessary, while waving your fist towards the sky and asking “why me?”. You mope about for a bit, and eventually, the right thing to do is to choose to spring back up. Perhaps sometimes, it is easier to […]
Tempering dreams with reality
WHEN Martin Luther King Jr stood before 250,000 civil rights supporters from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he spoke about his dream of ending racism in America. The echo of his magnanimous “I’ve a dream” speech shook the nation and is widely known as the top American speech of the 20th century. In the […]
No mummy is an island
I COULD be in Malaysia today – it’s a humid 33 degrees Celsius in London as I sit in my garden amid freshly bloomed marigolds, lilies, roses, lavenders and lobelias. The aroma from the chocolate cake baking in the oven relaxes me. With a bit of imagination, it almost looks as though I live a […]
The real ever after
HE WALKS up to her, sweeps her into his arms and they gaze lovingly into each other’s eyes. Hand in hand, they walk into the sunset. The ethereal nature of this scene has crept up many times during the twilight years of my adolescence and later in my twenties. I searched for the ever after, […]
Motherhood vs ambition
Just as I plopped on the comfy sofa that I had forgotten I even owned, her cry began. The distinctive all-out cry of my beloved offspring, intended just for me, as only her mother would suffice. Even when I’m in the midst of writing this article and I know that my baby is safe with […]
Not easy being a mother
AT THE time of writing this, I have been housebound for six days. Aside from trips to the paediatrician in the past week, I have been spending Chinese New Year (CNY) indoors nursing my sick baby. Published in March’s online and paper edition of The Star Metro.