Kaleidoscope Of Life

I’ve just received really good news yesterday! It really made my day…The public-speaking team from our college came out first in their categories respectively! Yay! (okay this is the part where I need those cheerleaders’ super cheery cheer) ;-)
Yes, I was indeed very elated with the news as there was just so much commotion regarding this. I was simply sharing Wana’s joy and was happy for her as she had proven her capability in handling the team. Kudos Wana! And of course not forgetting the participants themselves, Kani and Shahira, who have done the college proud through their constant practices and endurances of our critics.
So this August, it’s KAKOM and it’s OLYMPICS. However, try as I might, I just couldn’t get all thrilled up about sports. Well perhaps only in some categories can I sit still and watch them, such as, track events, gymnastics(they are so graceful!) and hmmm….. and hmmmm… well only that. So as I was saying, I’m not into sports unless well it comes with hunks, then I’ll consider;-). Watching them yes, participating is a big NO-NO. Basically, I’m happy without the company of Mr. Sun and I don’t need more tan.
What do I do then? Basically, many things, according to my mood and interest at that particular time. I’m going to share one of my favourite activities, which is henna or mehndi, in my language. Well, almost every bride wears this on her wedding day and it would look incomplete without adoring her hands and feet with these beautiful intricate designs of mehndi.




Very beautiful, don’t you think? So let me just give some information about mehndi. So basically, there’re plenty designs, this being the more contemporary design, which is popular among brides these days and less intricate…yes my friends, this is not considered very intricate…the traditional Indian brides normally have those intricate designs and normally the designs are up to their elbows and mid calves.

And in a traditional Indian, Punjabi, Pakistani wedding, there’s the Mehndi ceremony whereby, in my opinion one of the best coz there’s gana(singing), nachna(dancing) and of course this mehndi application on the bride’s hands and feet.
If you’ve been watching hindi films, you might learn that the name of the groom is written among those intricate design. In the olden days where marriage was arranged, and when couples didn’t know anything about each other; I believe one of the ways of breaking the ice was for the groom to search his name on his bride’s hand. Rather cute right?
So basically, I have been trying to improve on my skill on applying mehndi, which is difficult considering that I am not good in drawing, and one has to have a steady and strong hand. So over the years, I think I have managed to do better with each application, thanks to the various mehndi sites, and thanks also to my family and friends who have lent their hands and feet for this purpose. So basically, these are some of my works. And I hope to improve more in future…!!!!

When it comes to fashion, I’ve tons of things to say, I simply lurve to see what new things I could get for my wardrobe…i.e. for MYSELF and for me, and I go mostly for accessories. So these are my fave list…
1. Bags ( a girl could never have enough bags…) so basically that’s THE must see item whenever I go out…a small one where I could take when I just need to bring along my purse and phone and keys, and there’s one which I could fit in everything, from my whiteboard markers to my money case for all the RD and newspapers’ payment, and that oversize bag where I could chuck in a few items for that weekend getaway at my sis’s place and some just simply coz they look fantabulous!
2. Bracelet…hmmm…I’ve boxes of them, that at one point my mom banned me from buying it until I’ve used all of them…you see I keep forgetting I’ve some items (sometimes on purpose;) ) and so I keep buying…hehehe..well..that ban lasted a month I guess then she gave up…J
3. Shoes (again a girl can never get enough of it) well, there’re slippers when I wear if I wanna go somewhere nearby, there’s flat sandals for the shopping time, there’s the glitter sandals to dress up that simple attire, there’s the comfy covered shoes when I need to go to the movies and it’s so excruciatingly cold and my toes would be freezing and begging for some warmth…and that heels to add to my vertically challenged built(sob sob), which at times killing due to all that flight of stairs to classes…and those flat shoes for those days where I’m just plain lazy to dress up for classes.
4. Oh oh oh wait how could I forget Earrings…now this I must have…and again my fave…. Loops … imagine JLo and her huge loop earrings…well she can carry it off no matter how huge it is…lucky her! So I’ve heaps of loops…all sizes…which of course all now belong to my sista!
5. Rings…another fave of mine which I can never resist buying…until now I can’t decide which is my favourite from the collection I have…oh that reminds me…I’ve yet to buy a red ring…hmmm…
Ok so that is basically the items I normally go for when I shop apart from necklaces, hair clips, bands etc. Lately, these few months ago, I started to wear ‘tudung’. So naturally I had to get myself a whole collection of ‘tudung’ (again SHOPPING!!! Yay…) and the place to go for choices and reasonable priced items…Jln TAR and Masjid India!!! It took me a few trips to get the collection I need so I’ve basically every colour..hehehe…yes I must have that, and BLACK had to be more than 1. So for the first trip, I went with my sis, Zareen and we had to drag along my nephew, Feer, who, dreaded Masjid India as much as I hated durian. So we hunted from one shop to another, and by the end of the half day shopping…I ended up with 7 pieces. Hmmm..not too bad…
Then the second trip I went with a friend, this time I spared my nephew the pain of accompanying me, and there I was walking ten miles and enduring the scorching heat and even bearing the sweat (I wish M’sia wasn’t this hot!) just to get the type of tudung I wanted…it was definitely not an easy task…but all in all, what is satisfying is when you get what you wanted…
Ok so let us just leave all that shopping and let me tell you my experience adorning the head scarf or ‘tudung’ or hijab(whichever you wanna call it) for the past few months. Well, I’ve had many reactions from people around me, be it from my family, relatives, friends, colleagues and even strangers on the road. Let’s begin to those closest to me. They had questions but they were supportive of my decision, and of course the adapting part….when I go out with them, the initial stages, they would at times not recognize me walking with them ha ha ha really funny to see their reactions sometimes when they turn around and suddenly they had this look on their faces ‘who are you?’ then in a second, the look changes when it dawned to them it’s ME after all…hahaha… Then, the relatives’ part, again plenty of questions, since most of my maternal side don’t wear it…so inevitably, it will take some time before they can digest it. And colleagues, hmmm….all very surprised…a good surprise though when the new semester started…and many compliments on top of it…oh how could I forget my ex-PDT students…also compliments from them…
Above all, very surprising to me was the reaction I get from the unfamiliar faces wherever I go. Most ‘makcik’s would smile at me and start talking to me … well all I’ve ever gotten before was stares…acknowledging that I am different from them (in terms of look, due to mix parentage)…but now suddenly I have become ‘them’…hmmm…very interesting don’t you think? And again these unfamiliar faces would smile at me whenever I look their way…a very nice gesture indeed…but again not the reaction I usually get. I have suddenly become more approachable and as I said earlier…one of ‘them’. I did discuss with my friends of my interesting observation and most of them agreed that I do look more approachable when I sport the ‘tudung’…or also in their words…less snobbish…hmmm…I don’t think I look snobbish…well perhaps I have been good at ignoring stares thrown my way and so I seem indifferent to everyone around. Hmmm…again, what has the ‘tudung’ got to do with it? What we wear on the outside doesn’t change who we are. But I guess to some people in the world that is how things work…sadly I must say.
However, this overall experience have taught me a little bit more about the world, about people’s perceptions towards one who starts to wear ‘tudung’ and about developing my own maturity in thinking.
We need change from time to time, in fact we have to change for the better for if we remain static and caught in our web of time and thinking, we shall never be a better person.
Let me end with one nice quote I came across…’’If we wait for the right time to do something, we might never do it.”