Happiness is Always Within Us

I am amused each time I see the look of surprise on the faces of some people when they find out that I am moving to Little India. I guess it must be the scenes of throngs of Indians around Little India on weekends. It is the favourite hangout for our foreign nationals from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh on Sundays. During their off days, these people love to visit their favourite grocers and restaurants for some home-cooked meals.

In fact, I look at it from the positive side. It will be a good time of outreach for me for my church. I am attending a Tamil church now and it is conducive for me to bring people to church. I hope I can impove my Tamil and Hindhi and hopefully to pick up some words in Pakistani and Bangladeshi as well.

I often tell my friends I am quite comfortable with races other than my own. I grew up with Indian and Malay neighbours. I remember, once, when I was in Secondary Two, ma ma sent me to the store to buy some groceries at night. Just as I was walking back, I sensed someone following me, and just as I turned around, someone tried to snatch my wallet. Although taken aback, I screamed, "Pencuri! Pencuri! (Robber! Robber!)" Blessed with a thunderous voice, my piercing scream scared the robber and he fled! Now I want to laugh. I think I was more scared of ma ma than the robber, for just as the robber was trying to grab my bag, ma ma's face zoomed before my eyes and it gave me courage to fight and to defend my wallet! Ma ma was a strict lady who would not tolerate the news that the $$ she gave me had been robbed! She would think that the onus was on me to protect the money I had been given.

I remember once I was careless and dropped an ice cube too hard into the thermos flask and it exploded. One of my fingers was cut quite badly and there was a lot of bleeding. Eldest sister came to help me while ma ma chided me for being clumsy and spoiling her thermos flask! That was typical of ma ma - if we wanted any sympathy and compassion, we would have to get them from pa pa. Though we were quite fearful of ma ma, we still loved her and respected her. This was why all the neighbours always congratulated ma ma for being a blessed lady, to have a doting husband and filial children! It is interesting how God always put together a man and a woman as husband and wife.... yet these two could have very different characteristics. Yet, they often complement one another.!

As I grew older, I learnt more and more what made ma ma tick. Whenever she got angry with me, I would try to make her smile and her anger would wane. I would sing tunes from Theresa Teng in Hokkien or Mandarin, "You are my beloved". If I forgot the lines, I would compose my own according to the situation and ma ma would smile. Just a simple illustration of Theresa's song:-

Lu si wah eh sim ai eh lang (You are my beloved),
Wah si lu eh ko ai eh lang (I am your beloved)

Bang ah bang, ah bang li jit lang (Dream, if dream, dream of you only),
Siu ah siu, ah siu li jit lang (Think, if think, think of you only)

Perhaps it was due to this habit that I soon developed a gift of singing a tune, and spontaneously putting words into the tune to suit a situation. I was told that the famous singer, Chang Ti, has this peculiar gift too. Of course, he is a talented and famous singer; for me I just want to make my family and friends smile by being an entertainer.! Now I can also sing some songs in Japanese, Nepali, Tamil and Hindhi.

Happiness is always within us...it is not so much from external circumstances! Have you seen grumpy and bored looking individuals in luxury cars? Have you see tais tais (rich wives) pouting when shopping or playing in casinos? Have you not seen cheerful, Philippino maids on Orchard Road during their day off? Have you not noticed the cheerful foreign workers as their pick-ups speed along the highway to bring them to construction sites?

Happiness is indeed always within us. If we decide to be always happy and count our blessings and name them one by one.... we will always be happy.