Little Things 148 : On death

A first sign of the beginning of understanding is the wish to die. - Franz Kafka 1. Franz Kafka is known as a depressed writer, he wrote things oddly beautifully and miserable. But I couldn't agree more with that specific quote that I read several months back, on the wish to die. = If you start to understand the meaning of life, you'll greet death as your friend.  2. Something that I also...

Places : Istanbul 4

The Grand Bazaar is a place everyone talks about. A must-go place in Istanbul. One of the largest and oldest market, over 3,000 shops, 61 covered streets, more than 300,000 visitors daily. Fancy. We got a chance to go there on our last day. I wanted to buy little trinkets that I can bring back home and that was my only chance. My mom was determined to find a good leather bag/s with a great deal...

Little Stories 82 : That blue jogging shirt

I was walking out from my apartment's corridor when the cleaner stopped me at the grill.  "It's opened. I need to do the mopping". I smiled. I asked her about her busy day and she explained to me about how the management asked them to mop until the 2nd floor and leave the 3rd floor, but she can't just avoid cleaning up another 1 floor, can't she? - she asked me. I nodded and smiled, mentally...

Places : Istanbul 3

After a long walk, lost in the city of maze, several talks with the locals, a medium-length Metro ride, we arrived at Sultanahmet station. It was raining heavily, we ran to the sidewalk and went into some shops at the corridor near the station. Merely looking at things until the rain stopped.  People were everywhere. Tourist, locals, faces from all around the globes, variety of languages...

Little Stories 81 : Little Urchin

"A ragged urchin", I silently thought. In front of me was a boy as little as 5-6 years old, clear brown eyes, messy sticky hair and dirty cloth. He smiled mischievously at me. He spoke to me in language that I can't understand. He was pleading with his eyes, with his eyebrows pointed downward and his lips pursed so I would give him another piece of Batik DIY. I gave him 1 the day before and...

Little Stories 80 : RapidBus Driver

Previous posts : bus conductor to Metro's bus driver. Several night ago, I waited for my usual daily-routined bus in front of the train station. From afar, I saw the usual Rapidbus arriving and when it was near, people crammed to get in like the usual Malaysian way. From the bus's door, I saw the bus driver with his formal Rapid's shirt tucked in his black pants and his hair tidily combed....

Little Things 147 : Being straight-forward

Although most of the time I am pretty soft-spoken, I can be quite straight forwardly rude. Can't blame it on introversion, because I had always been the one that wants to talk my mind.  Example : 1) Normal question people would ask when someone just got back from a vacation is whether he/she brought back 'ole-ole' or not. I've never been so good with answering small questions, so I would...

Places : Istanbul 2

On our 5th day: At Taksim, we went exploring on foot. We found so many beautiful pathways and alleys, welcoming our exploration. The day was hot and sunny but we were hidden by shadows from old buildings and soothing cold sea's wind. We found a beautiful small bookshop and I asked the owner if he sells any map. With little English understanding, he nodded and passed his last copy of Istanbul's...

Little Things 146 : Random writing in Istanbul

❤ Odd enough, I'm beginning to understand about my little journey in this foreign land.  Although the first few days were fully occupied with people and work,  slowly I began to have a clearer view.  It is not about the place, or the people. It is not about the food or the weather. But it is about how deeply involved I was with the moment, whenever, whatever condition...

Place : Istanbul 1

I'm back !  I'm quite excited to type down all the things that I've experience so I can get it all out. So I'll write in category : the event, the weather, money, people, places, transportations, little stories, and such. Until I've had enough of talking about Istanbul.  * About the Event : It started when my mom received a call from Balai Seni Visual Negara during Eid. She was...

Places : Istanbul

Expensive flight tickets, lost passport, and confusing boarding time.  If there are still stories for me to tell, I'll be back to write some more. Behave, readers. I'm off to Turkey. ...

Little Things 145 : Independence

Maria Popova wrote an article on The Psychology of Our Willful Blindness and Why We Ignore the Obvious at Our Peril, and in that article, she included a TED session by Margaret Heffernan on the Danger of "Willful Blindness". During the Merdeka Day holiday I got yesterday, I had several conversations with my siblings on the topic of Independence Day and what it meant to them. Roughly I got...