randomness of human kindness

I always enjoy going to cooking classes by Halim. Have been going to his classes for a few years already and still find it enjoyable. It does not matter that sometimes they are repeat classes or that I mostly don't practice what were taught (much to Halim's dismay!!). I enjoy the company and the stories we share while we cook and while we enjoy the fruit of our labour (the best part of the day!).

In the last class, Halim shared with us about how human kindness can just be random. It can surpass ethnic background, social status and so on. While we were happily tucking in into the yummy roast turkey - it was American Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner (complete with cranberry sauce!), he told us that one day, he was driving back home from running an errand when he had this urge to pee so he stopped at a petrol station and quickly rushed out of his car. His car is an SUV, a big car. He fleetingly saw a chinese woman next to his car. Just as he was about to do his business, someone yelled at the door "kereta you tgh bergerak!" (translated as "your car is moving!"). Forgetting about his urge, he quickly rushed out to see about his expensive car. What he saw made us laughed so much that tears rushed out of our eyes.

This tiny chinese lady that was next to his car was holding on to his car! You see, in his haste, he forgot to pull the handbrake and there was a slight slope. So the car was moving backwards. This old and tiny lady rushed to help by holding on to the front of the car, fearing that if the car moved any further, it will drift to the main road. She did not think about whether she had the physical ability to do it or who she was helping. She just did it out of kindness. It does not matter what religion or race the person she was helping.

It was a funny story about the tiny lady holding on to the big heavy car with all her might but the underlying message is that it was the best example of a random act of kindness. It is much lacking in our society nowadays isn't it? Sad, but true.

Do we have a choice?

Do we have a choice when it comes to relatives? We don't right?

If we don't like any of our friends, we can just remove them , either on FB or physically. Ha ha! Well, removing them physically can lead you to jail, so you can just choose the safer option of not to contact them. However, when it comes to relatives,well, that is a different ball game all together! I mean, we can choose to not attend family gatherings but may miss some relatives who we are close to or face the wrath of your mum or dad. So we have to face our relatives, especially during family gatherings.

In every family, there will be one or two family members whom we just cannot stand. maybe it's the chemistry. These are the ones that you can barely tolerate. There could also be some in your immediate family that just drive you up the wall! But what can we do since we see them at raya gatherings, family reunions and so on. Sigh.... It's even worst if he/she is your in laws or your own sister or brother right?

simplest is the best

A friend brought me to a restaurant recently. I just breakfasted at a yummy sate place in Hartamas called Satay Station. My friend wanted to eat rice and the sate place doesn't serve rice. So we went to the Timor Place in Taman Dagang, Ampang.

I was pleasantly surprised to see different things on the menu which we hardly find in other restaurants. I saw things like 'keropok lekor' and 'lempeng' (pancake made of flour and coconut). I quickly ordered the lempeng that came with sambal. t was yummy although I was very full. So I managed to eat only a quarter of it. Then I asked the waitress to tapau' it.

The next morning, while I was having my sahur (early breakfast before subuh prayers for those wanting to perform fasting) I suddenly remembered that I had that lempeng in my fridge. So I quickly took it out and heat it for awhile. In the wee hours of the morning I realised that sometimes, the simplest thing is the best after all... I totally enjoyed the simple sahur/breakfast which I have not had for the longest time.