Finally What I had Hoped for in the Malaysian Elections Came True

March 8th, 2008 will be a day to remember for all Malaysians at home and abroad. The day when people who were born in a country that their ancestors made prosperous, regardless of where they came from have a say in how they want this country to be run. Enough of corruption, cronyism and reckless abuse of power from the "suckers in power". Although I could not vote, mainly due to the fact that I was overseas and there are rules regarding voting for persons living abroad, I made sure that my mother and aunt went out and vote. I sponsored their travel to the voting offices/schools.

When I spoke to my aunt 1 week before March 8th, about going out to vote, her reply was pretty candid. She mentioned that no matter how the Indians vote there was no place for us in this country. Well in that case, all Indians in Malaysia should just pack up and move to Singapore. Why even bother to contribute to the economy and pay taxes if you have no future in that country. This was the mentality that got the Indians ignored in the 1st place. But I am glad to say that they finally united as a race and voted opposition on March 8th. Goodbye Samy...thanks for the years of nothing. He should step down as MIC chairman and leave the country. Cause he has no respect among Indians anymore except for the few that have not used their brains since they decided to support MIC.

The Indians in Malaysia are definitely to blame for the way they have deteriorated through the years cause this is one "God Damn Race" that can never seem to stick together. I have seen that happened within my huge extended family and outside of my family. You would think that this is only happening in Malaysia but to my surprise, a Nigerian colleague told me that in Nigeria, the Indians never seem to be able to work together or help one another out. This is in Nigeria, mind you. Yes!! Nigeria in the continent of Africa, for some of you who don't know where Nigeria is. What the hell, Nigeria! I was taken aback by that comment and realized that it is going to take much more that 1 election to bring the race together as one.

Since coming to the Bay Area and traveling to Europe, I have come across many Indians who hold good jobs and are respected for what they do. I told my father what I saw here and in Europe and mentioned that only in Malaysia are the Indians treated as laborers from the time they arrived in Malaysia in the 1900's till now. Almost a century in a foreign land they call their own and still no progress. I can't think of a word to describe my feelings for this.

I would like to say that March 8th may be the turning point in an Indian life in Malaysia but I have to hold myself back cause knowing what I know about the race, it's going to take much more than just 1 general election to change the mental attitude of Malaysian Indians.

A Pleasant Valentine's Surprise

I got a very pleasant surprise this evening when we came back home after Shaayla's gym class. There, in front of our door, was a very lovely bouquet of tulips in a delicate glass vase. Tied around the glass vase was also a very cute and cuddly teddy bear. It was a surprise Valentine's Day gift from Suresh.....who's still in Munich...sigh....

Unfortunately, I can't take a photo of the actual bouquet as Suresh had taken the camera with him. Here's a picture of what it looks like...from www.gaetasflowers.com

Daddy's Not Around...

The past week has been an extremely busy period. In between trying to recover from a long-drawn cold, I had to start packing for Suresh's 3-week business trip to Europe. It's not his first business trip, but it's the first time he's going to be away for so long, and at a time when I'm trying to cope with the increasing weight of a 6-month pregnancy.

On Sat Feb 2, we had actually planned on visiting the Challenger School open house, but there were just too many errands to run. In the afternoon, we went for the Playhouse Disney Live! show at the San Jose Civic Auditorium. It's our second time seeing the show; the first being in Disneyland last August. This was different because it featured the Little Einsteins (Shaayla's fav), Handy Mandy (not Shaayla's fav), and of course Mickey and the gang from the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Winnie the Pooh with his friends Darby and Tigger. After a quick trip to Target, we had dinner at Shalimar. It was only 6.30pm, so the dinner crowd wasn't in yet. But the night wasn't over yet, as I had to make a nine-layer kueh to bring to Maye's place the next day for an early Chinese New Year lunch.

On Sun, it was a busy morning cooking chicken rice to bring to Maye's place. Just before noon, Suresh rushed off for his last massage appointment at Grace Chiropractor as his neck, arm and shoulder were still troubling him.

And on Mon, after dropping Shaayla at school, there was some last minute packing to be done while Suresh took 2 last minute calls from the office. Then, it was a quick trip to Burlington Coat Factory to get a pair of replacement gloves for Suresh (he lost his at a warehouse audit the previous week). After lunch, it was time to leave for the San Francisco Airport. Suresh was taking the 6.30pm flight to London and we planned to be there at 4pm. But surprisingly, the airport was empty, so we had plenty of time for an early dinner. Given the peak hour traffic back to San Jose, it might be a long drive back home.

Tue was a usual school day, but Shaayla keeps mentioning 'I miss Daddy'. She'll look out of the window after her nap and see if Daddy's car is there. After school, she'll ask if Daddy is waiting in the car.

Wed is her gym day. In the evening, we were invited to a friend's house for Chinese New Year reunion dinner (steamboat!). But strangely, Shaayla developed a fever and her nagging cough was still troubling her. Today, I decided to keep her at home and brought her to the PD to figure out if it was something more serious. Seems like she might still have some remnants of her earlier UTI.....we'll see the results tomorrow.

Another 18 days before Suresh will be home......

Shaayla's Bedtime Reading

Here's Shaayla 'reading' her bedtime story. Well, not exactly reading...she actually remembers the words after we read it to her once or twice. But she does recognize a few words like 'a', 'the', 'I', 'is', 'up'.

Shaayla's School Crafts

In the blink of an eye, Shaayla has attended almost a month of preschool. She's really enjoying herself now. She has made many new friends and is quite a darling with the teachers. They've done quite a number of crafts in school and these are just some of them.

The school had a 'Grad for a Day' session yesterday where they were brought to the class of their next grade. So, Shaayla's class was brought to a Pre-K class where they did that messy chocolate biscuit that you see. It was part of math learning as they learned to count the M&Ms.

We've got to register her for the new school year starting in June. But we haven't quite decided if we want to continue with Merryhill or register her at Challenger School. Challenger is known (good or bad) for its emphasis on academics, and is therefore hugely popular among the Asians. But we've read a few comments on greatschools.net about its lack of a holistic education and over-stressed teachers, so we're still in two minds about it. We'll probably be able to decide better after the Challenger open house on Feb 2.

It's Raining Hail

The past few days of wintry cold weather brought a pleasant surprise early this afternoon. We were planning to go out when the heavens suddenly opened and torrential rain fell. But it was tiny hail stones that pelted down! They were more like little chipped ice, but it was great fun for Shaayla who ran out to the patio trying to catch the 'stones'.

Looks like the winter storm watch isn't over yet. The weather forecast is for more rain over the next week with temperatures hovering around 5C.