Thank God it's Sunday

Yesterday, Sunday April 13, was a hectic day indeed, perhaps a microcosm of what multi-religious, multi-ethnic Malaysia is, or can be.

After church in the morning, where the pastor regaled us with some funny anecdotes in his sermon on how to build/maintain a good marriage, I rushed off to Methodist Secondary School in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur, to lend some moral support to my siblings and friends who were manning their char kuay teow stall for the Ti-Ratana Food and Fun Fair Family Day.

This is the annual fund-raising effort put on by one of the most active welfare societies in Malaysia, which runs orphanages, old folks’ homes, a women’s shelter, community centres, and a mobile clinic, amongst other services. Ti-Ratana is a Buddhist welfare society, but its aims transcend any one religion, and the multi-ethnic, multi-faith support it receives is heartening.

I’d post pictures except that my hard drive chose to die on me today. ☹ For a taste of what our well-oiled char kuay teow stall looks like, here’s the gang in action during an earlier fund-raising affair.

I had hoped to attend the Save Bukit Gasing family day at 4 pm, but a storm forced me to stay indoors. The event, however, wasn’t cancelled – bless you brave folks – and made the front page of The Malay Mail today. More on this later, although you really have to laugh at the headlines (or shake your head, or smack your head, or yell ‘Alamak’).


You have to laugh, or rather, I have to laugh, to keep my sanity because to despair at the Mayor, and to despair at the many shenanigans of public officials and politicians here would send me into the depths of eternal depression.

Since Mum was vegetarian yesterday, we went out for dinner at our favourite meat-free place – Chinese-ish vegetarian food cooked Indian style by the irrepressible Mr. Gandhi, in Brickfields. Again, pictures when we resurrect the hard drive from the dead.

And finally, the visual highlight of the Sunday – witnessing the luminescent chariot that brightened our night here.