One morning when I was in year 6, I managed to get my hands on a beautiful white rose. After poking my nose in it to take in the scent, I immediately knew who I wanted to give it to. I guarded the precious rose all the way to school. The most important thing at that moment was to reach the target of my adoration before anyone else beat me to it. I wanted to show how much I admired her. Giving her...
I’m nervous. I was always nervous. I was always nervous about being nervous. Then I was embarrassed. Embarrassed about being nervous about being nervous. Then I felt ashamed about being embarrassed about being nervous about being nervous. Then I … “Stop!!! This is getting silly!” said a voice from somewhere nearby. (I looked around, full circle, but didn’t see anyone. Odd!) This has been the...
By this point in my life, I have taken for granted my everyday use of the English language as if I’m a native speaker. From time to time though, I’m reminded of the fact that actually I haven’t been using it all that long. For example, for quite a while, I had been telling people that I needed a pair of thongs to cook sausages. I didn’t understand the amusement on their faces. It turned out that...
Warning: this method will work only if you are white. I’m not sure if it’ll work if you are black or any other colour since it hasn’t been tested. Have you been trying hard to stand out from the crowd, but still keep getting blended back in all the time? To get attention, you may have tried going out in the middle of winter with gaping wide rips on your jeans so that the goosebumps on your...
“Here you are, this one is for you,” said my grandad as he cut the juiciest, biggest guava on the tree and placed it in my small, open hands. He had wrapped the fruit loosely in plastic to help it grow even bigger and to guard it against birds. Even the boss of the family (my grandma) wasn’t allowed to touch it. My mum, dad and I visited my grandparents every weekend. They used to live in...
One evening when I was about six years old, my family – grandad, grandma, uncles, aunty, my parents and me – were all sharpening our teeth to tuck into a big feast in my grandparents’ house. Covering the large dinner table, freshly cooked crabs, lobsters and fish were piled in a steaming display on my grandparents’ finest china. They lived near the sea in a small town in the west of Myanmar...
Just like your body needs a balanced diet, your mind calls for a balanced experience. We’ve all heard the expression that “all work and no play makes Jack (or is it Joe?) a dull boy.” This means that the pursuits that energise you and make you feel better afterwards are not just good for your body, they’re nourishing to your mind. But in contrast, there are also things that drain you. The...
Barely 5 minutes till I had to dash out of the house. I flung my wardrobe door open and grabbed my dress. This was a new dress that I’d been looking forward to wearing for weeks. But the weather had always been so cold even my goose bumps had goose bumps. Today, the sun had shifted into top gear, with no wind at all. Even the huge tree at the bottom of my garden was unusually inscrutable. Jumping...
The other day, when I got to the bus stop, I looked up and saw a man I knew. I said hello and we chatted for a bit. Then we got on the bus. I walked all the way down the bus, hoping that he would go and sit somewhere else. I was starting to run out of things to say. Unfortunately, this man took an empty seat in the same row as me. So, the verbal exchange had to go on a little longer. He started...
This is the first time for me in the last ten years that it’s really felt like summer. I am able to stay home in a thin cotton T-shirt and shorts all day long and go to bed in thin clothes too. I’ve never been able to do that before. I’ve always had to have a cardigan at a readily grabbable distance and I always had to change into long sleeves and long trousers at night. Yes, even in the middle...