Random thoughts

Today started pretty horribly. It was bad enough that Kim and I overslept and had to make a mad rush in order to get to class on time, but as if to add some spice and sprinkle some ‘excitement’ into an otherwise dreary Tuesday morning, the lock on our door got conveniently jammed. So there we were, a couple of fools trying to ‘un-jam’ the errant lock. Our efforts, much to our chagrin, ended in vain. We had to ask the security office for their ‘professional’ help. Boy, did I wish I didn’t enlist the help of that surly, burly old man. He glared at us as if it was our fault that the lock got jammed. He then dismantled the whole doorknob and re-fixed it. Then, he forced me to test it 2 times, in a really ‘unfriendly’, stern manner. All the while saying “OK?! OK?! Don’t say it’s jammed again. OK?!” in Malay. Ya, Mr. Locksmith, we woke up this morning and by means of a good morning greeting said to our dear door-lock “ Hey mate, would you do us a favour and go jam yourself?”

5 minutes after he left, I opened the door to go to the washroom. Much to my horror, the door did not budge open at all ! The only thing I held fisted in my palm was the doorknob! Detached from the door. As I stared dumbly and rather stupidly at the knob, I couldn’t suppress the hysterical laughter that bubbled up my throat. When Kim saw what happened, she just said “Shit” and we convulsed into helpless laughter. Having had such a bad experience with the security guy, we endeavoured to ‘repair’ our own door, which basically involved us shoving the whole doorknob back into the doorhole?(whatever it’s called) but not without a lot of prayer before that.

The whole campus is abuzz with the recent news of the fatal attack on one of our fellow collegemates. I was horrified to learn that there was another case which happened barely 5 minutes later after the first one. It’s truly tragic and saddening that such a thing could have happened. And to someone so young. You read about such cases in the newspapers practically on a daily basis but when it happens to someone your age, someone your friends know,someone from your hometown and for the past 5 years studied in the school adjacent to yours, the sense of unreality hits you even as reality itself sinks in.

I was walking back from the canteen after dinner today and I beheld a beautiful sight. A sight that very seriously stole my breath. The sky was splashed a mellow hue of orange, while white, fluffy clouds were tinged in a halo of gold,reflecting flecks of pink. And in that instant, it hit me how utterly lucky I was.To be able to see something so simple yet beautiful. How lucky I was to be alive. How blessed I am to be able to breathe without the aid of beeping machines, to be able to run and laugh and be a part of life in all it has to offer. The ups, the downs, the whole rollercoaster ride life itself is. It hit me that out there, there are kids leaving this world even before they get the chance to savour the banquet life has spread out. That people like Lee Khian Yip will never ever be able to watch the sun set ever again. That how often we take simple things like this for granted when these are the things we need to treasure the most. Family, friends, and simplistic beauty. And in all that, sorrow is an essential part of the opera of life. For without sorrow, how then will we know what true happiness is?