Out and About with friends from Hyderabad

One of the perks of owning my own home and being single is that I get to entertain friends as often as I want to, and can have guests to stay without any inconvenience to myself or my guests.

I was thrilled when my old friend Jayasimha, who I met at the Asia for Animals Conference in Chengdu in 2011, informed me that he intended to visit Peninsular Malaysia with his family around Christmas, and I immediately offered them a place to stay.

The best thing about having guests from abroad is that you get to see your own country and city through different and new eyes all over again. Playing host and tour guide to Jayasimha, Divya and 3-year-old Vedanth gave me great pleasure. They arrived on Boxing Day and we visited my favourite places in the Klang Valley for 3 days. They left for Puteri Harbour and Legoland in Johor on Day 4, after which I returned to work.

Katniss has a new best friend. I don't think she wants to let Vedanth go home to Hyderabad now.

First stop: Batu Caves!

The interior of the main cave was under construction :( Most disappointing! They should leave it as natural as possible. Tourists and devotees are not here to see a built-up temple and painted cave walls)

Cool wind coming in from the openings of the cave.

Taking a break on the temple steps. 

The story of Muruga and Ganesha. I love it that Little Ganesha has a Little Mushika with him.(Unfortunately partly cropped out of the picture in my haste).

Beneath the idol of Muruga with his peacock.

At the Dark Caves run by the Malaysian Nature Society. 

Second stop: Volunteering with Reach Out Malaysia and then stopping by Central Market to see arts and crafts.

My guests joined in to help with the distribution :) Divya was put in charge of the apples and Jayasimha and Divya got to experience volunteering with the homeless and urban poor on their first day in KL.

With apples, cakes and chips sponsored by Aravind, ZiKi, Mark, Nicole and me.

Once we were done with the distribution (which Jayasimha was quite impressed with due to the speed and efficiency of the Reach Out team and the discipline of our homeless clients), we went to Central Market to look at arts and crafts and souvenirs.

Tasting rambutan for the first time :)

And of course this had to happen later that night since I live 10 minutes away from Ikea!

Vedanth got to ride the Postman Pat van when we made a 'quick stop' at Daiso near my apartment the following morning. Everyone knows that Daiso is a time machine -- you plan to get in and out within 10 minutes and end up lost in there for hours.

We went to my favourite restaurant, Vegelife, for lunch. Jayasimha is an adventurous eater and loved the Hakka green tea rice.

We arrived in Kuala Selangor 5 minutes after the last tram and were very disappointed when they would not sell us any more tickets. We pleaded with and cajoled the nice council worker and tram driver and asked Vedanth to give them his saddest face and they finally relented and made a special trip just for us! I gave them a nice tip for being so obliging.

The tram took us to the top of Bukit Malawati and stopped there for a little while so we could enjoy the sunset.

Taking the tram back down the hill and through the town. So glad the rain stopped long enough and the driver was so kind as to go out of his way for us.

Taking Vedanth to say Thank You to the nice Tram Driver Uncle and Council Officer Uncle for taking us on a tram ride after official business hours.

And we drove back up the hill in my car to meet the gentle friendly silver leaf monkeys of Bukit Malawati. Here is a mother with her youngster whose fur is still golden and has not moulted.

Vedanth meets the gentle friendly silver leaf monkeys under my close supervision (since he is braver than Appa and wanted to meet the monkeys so much!)

Vedanth has many interesting things to say to the gentle friendly silver leaf monkeys. "Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me! Would you like a nice banana? Or a nice slice of potato?" 

I foresee a successful career in Marketing for Vedanth.

And once again the Universe conspired to make good things happen for us! There was distant lightning in the sky as we left Kuala Selangor Nature Park and I was afraid it would rain before we got to see the fireflies. But the weather held up and we got there and purchased our tickets and were in a rowboat within minutes. And we got to see the famous synchronous congregating fireflies of Sungai Selangor. 

Well, it's like the 7th time for me of course, but the first time for my dear friends and they were delighted.

It rained like crazy on the drive home.

Thank you, Universe, for holding on to the rain clouds until we got off the boat.

The jetty from a distance taken from our little rowboat.

My friends left in their rented car for Johor on Day 4 but not before leaving me with a feast of vegan goodies from their home city.

Vegan sweets from Hyderabad! I'm not sharing! I'm not sharing!
Well, okay maybe I will but we must cut them into leeeetle-leeeetle pieces so we can try all the different ones.

I trust my friends enjoyed their stay with me as much as I enjoyed hosting them! Please come again soon, Jayasimha, Divya and Vedanth, and tell your friends and family that Malaysia is a nice country with nice people!

Our New Project: Kedai Jalanan Pop-Up Street Store

Kedai Jalanan is a new community project initiated by my good friend Lin Idrus, comprising a pop-up store offering pre-loved clothing and household items FOC to the homeless and urban poor, and a CV-writing service to help our clients seek better employment. It is currently being coordinated by the student volunteers of Universiti Malaya's Gender Studies Unit, led by Lin, and assisted by Lin's friends, of whom I am one, who have experience and interest in community service projects, particularly those involving the homeless and marginalised.

We collected and sorted through preloved clothes, bags, kitchenware (particularly food and beverage storage containers), mats, towels and blankets, as well as unused hotel and sample-sized toiletries. This is a good way of encouraging donors to declutter and share their resources, and of bringing the said resources directly to the beneficiaries, instead of through intermediary organisations. Most of the clothes donated to recycling centres end up in clothing recycling factories that ship the wearable clothes to impoverished countries for sale in thrift stores, and convert the rest into industrial rags, so very few of the donated clothes ever reach local beneficiaries. 

A pop-up store would also afford our street clients more dignity. The clothes are hung up and displayed neatly just like in a real store, and not left in piles and garbage bags on the ground for our street clients to rummage through. I loved this idea from the start and discussed it earnestly with Lin on Facebook prior to the launch of the project.

Lin describes us as her project advisors but really, we're pretty useless ;) She did all the hard work herself and just came to us for feedback ;) 

Students attending to our street clients who queued up for clothes and other practical items.

Lots of student volunteers helping out. They even collected lots of reusable shopping bags to use so that we didn't have to give out plastic bags.

Cutest chalkboard sign ever.

Student volunteers helping out with the CV writing service. I'm useless ;) I just prepared and printed the forms and gave the students a very dubious impromptu briefing and left the rest up to them ;)

We asked donors for unused packs of personal hygiene items that one gets from hotels and airlines to give away at our pop-up store.

Our street friends waiting for dinner to be served by Dapur Jalanan outside Kuala Lumpur's first post office in Jalan Panggung. When I attended law school in this area, this beautiful heritage building was in disrepair. I am glad they've fixed it up and converted it into a quaint little cafe now.

Student volunteers chatting with one of our street clients :)

I thought I was OCD but Serina and Shekin take the prize for sorting and rearranging the clothes hangers by colour and type.

Debriefing session by our caring and inimitable Dr. Rusaslina Idrus ;)

Group photo of Lin and her student volunteers. Good job, guys!

The five of us -- Lin, Serina, Shekin, Aravind and me -- decided to adjourn to a nearby cafe for tea after packing and tidying up. We chose the Malaya-Hainan Cafe at the corner of Jalan Panggung for several reasons. It used to be in utter ruins, and I wanted to see what it looks like after restoration. Also, it used to be the first post office in Kuala Lumpur, and we hoped the cafe had preserved at least some of the original architectural and design features. And most importantly, Lin informed us that the people who manage/operate the cafe are very supportive of Dapur Jalanan and allow the soup kitchen to connect to their water supply for their food distribution and washing up operations. 

It was the right choice. The cafe has an authentic and tranquil charm about it.

Artwork and framed articles of historical interest adorn the walls.

They have retained/restored/replicated some of the original office doors, partitions, counters and signage of the old Post Office.

The cafe serves authentic local food, and I had this yummy ice kacang, which seemed to be 80% fixings (beans, chendol, syrup etc) and 20% shaved ice. Worth every cent paid. 

Right before leaving to pick up the keys to my apartment, I snapped a photo of this shophouse in Jalan Panggung because I love the classic Art Deco facade and roof. Isn't this simply gorgeous? I wonder how many people walk past this building daily without realising its architectural, cultural and historical significance.

Just an anecdote to end this blogpost with:

One of the clients at our CV-writing booth is a young man who declared with much earnestness and sincerity that he is trying to save up enough capital to set up a small business that will employ only the homeless.

"Only when you've been down there will you realise how hard life on the streets is, how powerless you can feel sometimes, and how often you face rejection from those who have never fallen on hard times like we have."

And I am reminded once again how easy it is for the wealthy to make grand pledges and donations to charity, but how much purer and more magnanimous these acts and pledges are when they come from those who have so little themselves. Thank you, brother, for reminding me once again why I do what I do every weekend.

Monthly Bucket List, February 2015

February was such a short month that I had hardly noticed that it had come and gone. The good thing is that this is mostly because we had almost a full week off for the Lunar New Year, and so my days were a whirlwind of activities with friends and family. 

1. Make a new friend. 

During Dr. Jane Goodall's visit to Malaysia in late Jan 2015, I had the opportunity to give her a present -- a pewter turtle necklace from the Turtle Conservation Society of Malaysia, a bird card letting her know how much she means to me, and a copy of my blogpost on reading The Watcher to the boys of Anbu Illam, that I had hestitated to print out for days and then finally decided that no, it wasn't too silly and she wasn't going to toss it into her recycling bin, and even if she did, I would take a chance and give it to her anyway in the hopes that she would read it. 

She didn't merely read it. She LOVED it. I didn't leave my contact information in the card, so she contacted the Roots & Shoots Malaysia project manager, Jyunichi, and asked him to help her track me down so she could thank me for it. Jyunichi and his partner Beatrice succeeded in tracking me down and contacting me, which of course left me ecstatic and giddy with joy. 

When our other Jane Goodall Groupie friend Holly informed Petra and me that she would be coming to KL for a few days, it was decided that we would all meet up for a slap-up vegan dinner to celebrate Dr. Jane and the inspiration that she is. I got to make 3 new friends -- TP Lim, Jyunichi and Beatrice -- over dinner at Radhey's that night, and was really impressed to meet people as passionate and mindful as they are. I signed up with Roots & Shoots Malaysia the same night and will assist as a volunteer whenever required. 

2. Help a stranger. 

Two new stray cats received help from my Project Second Chance in February, namely Tauriel, one of the food court cats in my area that I have been trying to trap for spaying, and Sophie, a week-old kitten I found abandoned in the same food court. 

Tauriel was supposed to be boarded until she gave birth and her kittens are weaned, but she gave birth to one stillborn kitten, and on Dr. Pushpa's advice, we allowed Tauriel a recuperation period of 2 weeks before spaying her. She turned out to be very affectionate and the SPCA offered to help me put her up for adoption rather than have her released back on the streets, so here's to yet another 'Stray No More' success story! 

Tiny baby Sophie was found sans littermates and mother in the same food court, possibly abandoned by a cruel human being, and would almost certainly be dead if I haven't taken her in. A very kind Facebook friend banked in some money to me for Sophie's vet bills and basic needs, and this enabled me to have Sophie boarded with Kak Mazni, our SPCA cat caretaker, for a week, as Sophie still needed to be bottlefed every 2 hours and I cannot bottlefeed kittens in, or bring animals to, this office. After 4-5 days, Sophie discovered she has teeth, and decided she liked the taste of Fancy Feast, and has not looked back since. 

Here is Sophie, back with me and able to eat on her own. The little one had a case of the flu this week so she is not completely out of danger yet. She is on medication and supplements, however, and her condition seems to have stabilised. She is active and has good appetite, and there is hardly any discharge coming out of her eyes and nose anymore. We will keep our fingers crossed for her! 

I haven't volunteered for any new causes in Feb (I signed up with Roots & Shoots Malaysia but have not started doing any work for them yet), but I did conduct cleanups in 2 new places. 

On 22 Feb 2015, 4 friends and I decided to take advantage of the festive break to explore Bukit Nanas Forest Reserve, and I brought along rubbish bags to clean the forest reserve up with. We did a pretty good job and the garbage came down with us. 

On 28 Feb 2015, Aravind and I volunteered with Reach Out Malaysia as usual, but this time as helpers for their Chinese New Year street party for the homeless and urban poor. My friends Nicole, Karen and Shamini turned up to contribute food and help, and while our homeless friends were enjoying the food, we walked to the underground pedestrian crossing areas with our rubbish bags and claws and cleaned up the entire area. We did a really good job on this one, too. 

My friends are beginning to enjoy volunteering very much and are not embarrassed or squeamish about helping me clean up the streets anymore. 

I'd consider this a double win -- I cleaned up a part of town I have never previously cleaned up, for the benefit of strangers; and I recruited friends to help out and now they are no longer strangers to volunteering and public clean-ups. 

3. Eat something/at someplace new to me. 

February was a month of feasting. My family and I ate at new-to-us restaurants in IOI City Mall on the day of our outing to the District 21 adventure theme park. 

On one of the days I had to do last-minute Lunar New Year shopping, I stopped by a new-to-me cafeteria, Farmers Street, for a snacky dinner of pie tees, hot peanut dessert and an iced mango dessert. Everything was delicious. 

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, I took my parents on a day out to see Lunar New Year decorations at Nu Sentral and we had hand-folded ice cream in waffle bowls at The Cream & Fudge Factory, also new to me. 

4. Go someplace I've never been. 

On 16 February, we had a family outing at District 21 Theme Park, IOI City Mall, a destination new to us. 

On 22 February, my friends and I explored Bukit Nanas Forest Reserve, which I have never previously explored except briefly while using a shortcut from the Dang Wangi LRT station to KL Tower. I didn't even know that the forest reserve has canopy walkways and watchtowers. We had a great time connecting with nature and hugging trees. 

5. Learn something new. 

On 7 Feb 2015, MNS Green Living launched a light bulb and e-waste collection and recycling programme at the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) headquarters, in collaboration with, and with the kind assistance of, a non-governmental organisation, The Electronics and Electrical Association of Malaysia (TEEAM). 

An awareness talk was delivered in our auditorium by TEEAM's representative, Dr. Lai, an engineer, and the other participants and I learned many fascinating facts about mercury poisoning, dioxins, pollution and the recycling of scheduled wastes. 

6. Declutter and cull 100 items. 

My decluttering projects are coming along fast and furious. Each week, I pick out 2-3 different cabinets, boxes, shelves or bags to empty out and declutter. Hundreds of items went into the recycling bins or were donated to related causes. 

When I was back at the parental home during the Lunar New Year break, I spring cleaned my room and removed many things that I have been keeping since childhood. I have an enormous collection of newspaper clippings on topics I find interesting or useful. Sadly, most of the content of these articles are either outdated now, or available online. I recycled most of the yellowed news clippings, and reduced the number of binders from 4 to just 1. I've retained only the clippings that meant a lot to me, in particular those featuring my friends and the causes we volunteer for, and my collection of "Shakespeare Today" articles by Ralph Berry. 

Even my bookcase was cleaned out, although it has always been very neat and orderly. I love the way it looks even more now. I colour-coordinated my books in the 1990s, long before 'rainbow bookshelves' became a design trend. 

It seems strange to think that someone who buys so little and practices environmental responsibility and minimalism would have so many things to declutter and dispose of. In my defence, most of the items were not things I purchased. Most, like newspaper articles, are things that are already there. Some are just items brought home from events, trips and outings -- foreign coins from my travels, programmes from a play, door gifts from dinner parties. Many are gifts, although I specifically ask for 'No Presents But Your Presence' from friends and family during special occasions. Even my parents can't get rid of their habit of getting me 'a little something' on their many trips abroad, despite knowing that I don't want 'stuff', and have always told them to bring back edible treats from their travels because food is not wasteful and allows a better glimpse into a different culture better than a plastic Made-In-China fridge magnet can. I hope one day my loved ones will truly understand that I mean it when I say 'no presents', and that more people will start to prefer giving and receiving experience and waste-free gifts. 

7. Give up something for a month. 

For the longest time, I have fallen into the habit of not exercising daily, using my weekly scheduled Skate Sessions and Kickboxing Classes as an excuse. For all of February, however, I gave up the habit of Not Exercising Daily. Several times a day, I make the time to stretch, limber up, do strength-building exercises (bicep curls, fist push-ups and wrist grips) in my room at work or even during my bathroom breaks. When I get home, I do abdominal curls and planks in between household chores. My back feels stronger and my neck and shoulders are not quite so stiff anymore. More importantly, exercising daily gives me a natural high, so this is a habit I am happy to continue for the rest of my life.