Read, write and kick!!

This morning, I went to Silverfish to buy some books to be used in the World Literature course, and few others for light reading. Will list down the books at the end of the blog because I find them quite interesting and as Raman, the owner of Silverfish, puts it, "it's good to see undergrads reading some sensible books." My interest in books bloomed quite late actually. I learned to write even before I mastered the reading skills. I used to memorize the sound and the pattern/picture of each alphabet and I managed to write long sentences. When asked to read the sentences that I've written, it was hard a little bit hard, but later on, I forced myself to memorize every single word that I've written, and when asked by my teacher to read it, I could "read" it out loud fluently. I went to kindergarten for two years, when I was five I entered the second year. One of the tests given to me to ensure that I qualify to join the second level was to spell out my own name together with my father's name and then my mother's name. I had a tough time proving myself to my kind teachers. I spelt my name correctly, but I was stuttering when spelling out loud Baba's and Mom's name. I didn't memorize the spelling at that time hehehe. If you write down my parents' name on a piece of paper, I would be a little bit slow in connecting the alphabets and voicing the spelling out (dulu lah, not now). Some how, I passed the test, thanks to my dear teacher, Cikgu Aliza (I can't remember her name, but I hope Aliza is her name hehehe). I picked up the reading habit towards the end of standard five, if I'm not mistaken. As a teenager, I read a large number of English books, and some sastera Melayu books - Orang tua di kaki bukit/gunung (hope it's the correct title) and Great Expectation were some of my favourites. I spent a lot of time at the ER (english room), and most of my readings were done there. It feels good when I read and write, it's different from practicing martial arts. When you read, you get an overview of a particular culture and nation. You'd be able to "go" to places that you've never heard or imagined of. You might encounter the same culture more than twice in different books, but in different presentation and setting - it makes you eager to know more about it. When I write, I have this God-like power to a certain extent (don't look at this as a negative thing ya!), I could determine what characters to add in my story, their beginnings and their ends, how to manipulate the characters and the plot etc., most of the time you have to be realistic, even though you can decide the fate of your character you have to be realistic so that your audience or readers could "dwell" or attach themselves with the characters - feel the pain of suffering, share the joy of victorious/happy moments. You won't get this by punching, kicking the sandbag and dancing to the rhythm of the pattern. The satisfaction is different from what I get in martial arts. You can say that, all these brute movements in martial arts is an escapism for a stressful life, you get the satisfaction out of it in a different form. When I "play" the pattern, it gives me some sort of peaceful feeling, it might be because of the breathing techniques - relaxing your mind and body. Some people might disagree with this - well, you can achieve this relaxation of mind and body to a certain extent. If you want ultimate relaxation of your body, mind and spirit - go learn yoga.


- Narayan,R.K. The Guide. Indian Thought Publication
- Tagore,Rabindranath The Home and The World. Rupa.Co
- Lim, Shirley Geok-lin Joss & Gold Times Books International
- Lahiri, Jhumpa Interpreter of Maladies. Flamingo
- A set of Rhino Press Black and White collection (I think there are ten small books or so, of short stories etc.)