The ballad of Thangachi 2

It was a cool German June morning. SS still had her bearings all wrong. She is still jet lagged. After all, she had just arrived at Leipzig University to present her paper.

Today is a special day. It is the day she turns 50. Yes, the big scary Five-O! Wow, there used to be a time when she thought 50 was the age where people plan for retirement to play stupid little games with their spoilt brat grandchildren. But, hell no! She has so much to achieve. The last things she feels now is old. Sure, a little aches here and there, breathlessness, extra pounds around the mid-riff but old, no way.

Not bad, she told herself. Coming from humble beginnings in a household where melancholy was the tone everyday, she has come far. Her childhood was plagued with chronic asthma which she kept cursing her paternal side of her family as they were the carriers of that gene. Every member of his family had one thing to boast about - asthma. It was like a family heritage. She spent many days crouched breathing to let oxygen permeate through her lungs. And many unattended school days affected her school performance. She remember hitting rock bottom somewhere in the upper primary school when my position in class fell a few places short of last in class.

It is not that her parents neglected her condition. The affordable government clinic accorded short term relief but recurrence was a nagging issue. Frustrated with modern medicine, the family, with their limited finances, still forked out precious money to try Ayurvedic preparation. She consumed litres of dissolved powdered concoctions over years with no avail. Even, Sufi priests had a hand in giving a lease of new life to her. Miraculously by Grace of God of whatever name or origin or the self limiting nature of the disease itself, she was indeed given a new slate, respiratory wise. All those frustrated years of hopelessness and bearing of chiding from mother for not 'trying hard enough' paid off. Her late teenage years was her turning point.

Greed and jealousy are considered enemies of mankind. But combined with willpower and determination, it can be a powerful arsenal, they say. Sure enough, she climbed the ladder of academia and now hope to scale heights that none of her coolie ancestors had scaled before.
Happy 50th birthday, SS.

Even before the euphoria of her birthday sizzled out, she returned home to hear that her sister was about to be driving around the town painting it red with her spanking grey hued new Mazda C5.
If her paternal grandfathers could get as near as being washing car or chauffeuring for a living, these two girls have gone one step further - driving their own car and sending it to car wash! Haha..

Extreme right: Soon to be Dr Sheila Ph D and her entourage in Leipzig University

The ballad of Amoi and Thangachi*

We finally collected the framed picture from Ms Loh's shop. Over the years, we have seen Ms Loh mature and prosper from a petite 17 year old girl who started working as a clerk in a shop which made photo frames and mirrors. After learning the nooks and corners of the business while working in the same premises over the past 10 years, she has finally opened a new shop after renting a shop lot in a new housing estate. Ms Loh is now running the business with her husband also giving a helping hand. She seems quite excited about the business and we wish her all the best for her boldness in entering the field shark eat shark world of business!

Ms Laxmi who also completed her studies at the same year as Ms Loh. Not performing as well as she should to continue her studies; she started to work as an assistant nurse in a clinic. Over the next 10 years, she got hitched, started her family, become a mother of 3 children but remained put in her place of employment (her employer is so nice!), performing the same job but with more experience but a leader among her peers. Her salary has increased marginally to commensurate her years of faithful employment but she sees herself at a sort of dead end. She would probably be doing the same job till she decides to call it quits.

Here you can see the different paths taken by two individuals after secondary education. One has become an entrepreneur of sorts whilst the other remains contended with her simple job. We have seen many Ms Lohs and Ms Laxmis in daily lives.

People who are not bold enough to improve their living standards or are constantly expecting handouts from the others or living on self-pity will and are always complaining that the Government is not doing enough to help them or that the community is not doing enough to help their ethnic group. At the end of the day, the western movies’ words of wisdom come to mind – ‘a man got to do what a man got to do’.

*The controversial Beatles' last No. 1 song in the UK. Recoreded in 1969 by Lennon and McCartney while Harrison and Starr were on leave! Lennon played the guitar and McCartney played drums! Several US radio stations declined to broadcast the song because of what they saw as sacrilegious use of the words Christ and crucify in the lyrics:

The release of this song marked the beginning of the end of the era of the Beatles!

Christ, you know it ain’t easy,

You know how hard it can be,

The way things are going,

They’re gonna crucify me.              "