There's more to life....

There’s more to Life…

Ever wondered why life is so repetitious? Generally a typical day scenario would be, wake up at 6am. In a half drowsy state take a shower. Then reach for the first shirt you can grab and get dressed. I have not even gotten into the nitty-gritty of shaving, vigorously brushing your pearly whites, facials, body scrubs and etc. All this doing simultaneously while getting your morning shower.

This then proceeds with gulping your food down before kissing the kids and wife before heading for the dreaded traffic jams. On an ordinary day, we work from 8 to 6, figuratively speaking. This is excluding ad hoc meeting or deadlines, whereby, there is a need to put in extra hours. Thereafter, we head back home once again bracing ourselves for the traffic jams. By 8pm we should be back home with the comfort of our wives and kids. This is followed by dinner, teaching the kids, playing with them and reading them a bed time story.

By 12am we are completely exhausted and just begging for sleep. The next day the cycle repeats itself. On and on.

So after reaching 40, all of a sudden I got a sort of wake up call. What have I achieved or what do I hope to achieve? I work my ass off and the only gratitude I get is there is always more you can do or contribute in the office. So I decided to stop and smell the roses. Life is so short. There is so much more to life that ….. you fill in the blanks.        

With my new attitude in life, this blog I hope would inspire and open more eyes, hearts and the minds of others to take a step back from the hectic pace of life and to stop and smell the roses.

I love gardens (note that I did not say, I love gardening. Ha haha No punt intended). There is something so serene in nature that calms the soul. All of the gardening in my premise is done by myself 100%. Hence, it is mostly through trial and error that I have garnered knowledge on plants. Therefore, the results obtain would vary from person to person.

Kesidang –

This unsuspecting small white flowered plant is very fragrant. My first encounter with it came about 8 years ago. There was this plant and landscaping nursery besides Subang Parade (long gone now). They had this creeper with palm size green leaves and lovely white flowers. I had never seen such flowers and enquired further. The “nursery helper” kindly informed me that the flower is very fragrant and urged me to keep one flower in my car booth to try. I tried smelling it and was utterly smitten and amazed. It smelled exactly like pandan leaves. It was so fragrant. I took one flower and placed it in my car booth in disbelieve that the smell would last. To my amazement, the next day the whole booth smelled like pandan. It was so pleasant as opposed to how it smells normally. Anyhow, the smell did not last as the booth was open and that was that.

But the fact remains, I was mesmerized by this simple looking and non-assuming plant. In 2008 I managed to own one. It was great; I had to trim it once a month so that it did not grow above the car porch roof. It was a simple plant to nurture. Daily water and fertilize twice a week. Visitors who came to my house use to enquire about the fragrant smell and I gladly provided them flowers to try the car booth test. Ha haha. It had strong roots and grew from holes inside the pot and extended into the grown making the plants hardier and levier. When the shoots and stem are young, they are easily tied and shaped with wires to the desired shape you want. Sadly over time I fell out in favor of its creeper nature and the fact it had not flowered for months. IN 2012, I relocated them to my father’s house where they recently started flourishing. I replaced the kesidang’s original spot at my residence with Thai Jasmine plant.  In short, a good plant to own, easily maintained with minimal fuss. Provided you are willing to trim, shape it, have proper wood/metal/other support for its creeper nature and are willing to bear with lots of dried falling leaves. But just a swift of its smell is heavenly. Never during my ownership of this hardy plant did I encounter any insect or fungus infestation. But it had lots of ants but they were not an issue. I guess I’m not the only one who fancies this plant.    

Sciencetific name is "VallarisGlabra" and it’s the UNESCO World Heritage City state flower for Melaka.

I would like to end my first blog entry with this lovely poem I found on the internet.

Count the Garden by the Flowers,

Never by the leaves that Fall.

Count your Life with Smiles

And not the Tears that Roll.

This is the actual Kesidang plant uprooted into its new location at my dad's house.

A close up view of the flowers.

The old location at my home where the Kesidang used to me. Now replanted with Thai Jasmine. 

As Frank Sinatra said it best...

Regrets I've had a few

But then again too few to mention

I did what I had to do

And saw it through without exemption

I planned each chartered course

Each careful step along the by-way

And more, much more than this

I did it my way

Do I have any regrets, changing the Kesidang to Thai Jasmine??? Yes and No. In short, I just miss the great smelling flowers.