Earth is round

Today I shall  share a small story. 

The family humor: Whenever, we sisters feel like we have accomplished something great at home such helping our dad and mum do things after dad has nagged us ( Mum's cool, she doesn't nag), we will often brag about it to our my dad especially. Something that goes like this.

Jeeva or Me or Sathi: Pa, neenge rombe kuduthe vecherekenom. ( Pa, you're very lucky). Engele maari nalla pillainge engeyume kidaikathu ( You can't get good kids like us anywhere)

Dad: Athe nalla sollenum ( I should be saying that) .You see, it's the upbringing la. Athavethe, naa vallathe morrai seri ( Actually, it's the way I brought up you all). Kakaka. ( That's his version of laugh) 

Point to note: Self praise is an inherited trait.

The story begins.

Damn it. Again I'm late as always. It's 7.36pm. My class begins at 7.30pm. It's was raining cats and dogs outside. I know I can reach in 8 minutes. And I also know my teacher doesn't begin till I'm there because he has heightened himself as a good man by setting me as a not so good example. He always says "Attending class is important. No matter how late you  are. Just come. Like Jivanti. ( Looks at me and smiles, My lao shi looks a bit like Doraemon so it's hard to roll eyes or make faces at him). "I always notice you're late but that's ok, importantly you attend. We are all busy adults. Many things to do. I understand.....So hao, let's begin..."

So I arrived at 7.45pm. Saw a parking lot and I reversed park. One my right was a Pajero. Huge. Noticeable, on the left I saw a grey blue Myvi, same color as my car. Here is where I need to talk a bit about Kuching people's parking skills. It's bad. Sometimes beyond comprehensible. They're a really a bunch of good people with great manners on the road but when it comes to parking, they're selfish. It is COMMON to see one car taking one and a quarter, half or the ultimatum two  parking. The size of the car doesn't matter nor does the white lines that guides you to park. Kuching people ( not all but many) has this just masuk style.

So while I was reversing, suddenly I hear a thud. Shit. I realized that I have kissed the Myvi's grey blue butt. I did look but I guess with the heavy rain, I couldn't really see plus my mind has decided on it's own  that maybe the grey blue was actually my grey blue instead of the Myvi's Grey Blue. Don't know how but it happened.

So I parked and wound down my window to access the damage on the Myvi's butt. QAQ , Hmmm, new car. Some minor but noticeable scratches enough to cause "Owww" to the owner.

Dark Man: Great!!! This is exactly what you need now. Just leave. No one saw. And it's raining heavily.  

White Man: Maybe you should leave a note on the windscreen. It's a new car.

Dark Man: Don't be stupid. You want to pay for it? Remember, you have commitments and a lot of lottu losseke (miscellaneous) to pay for. And besides the paper might even koyak la if you leave it in the rain. Just go, you're late for class.

White Man: Now, if this was your brand new Honda City, would you not say " Etho orre nayee, idichite pochi la, pavoom la en kadi" ( Some dog hit and ran la, Pity my new car)

I picked up the phone and rang the only person who was relevant to the current situation. My dad. He runs a "Ketuk, Spray" bussiness. So he would know how much it would cost me.

Me : Pa, bla bla bla.... So ah, how much la roughly this would cost me? If it's a new car, can get the same color paint or not? What if he insist I go to Perodua to get it painted.

Dad: No la, that paint can get anywhere la, the car not made of gold what. Kakaka.  Roughly small patch means around rm120.

Me: Oh, so what you think I should do? I'm thinking of just leaving a note to the owner.

Dad: Note? No need la ma. My car also 10 guys knock before. Back, front, left, right. No one left a note. Lucky man, I'm in this business.

Me: Pa, what is this? I'm asking your opinion. 

Dad: You see it's your choice la, Ma.

Me: Ok, fine. So if you were to see a note on your car like that, what would you think?

Dad: There's two possibilities la. Inthemariyum alle irukangela, noore le orethen ( People like this exist, 1 in a hundred). Secondly, Ini mesti orang kaya nie.

Me: Haha. Ok pa. I would like to be the one in a hundred orang miskin. Ok, ok bye. Late for class.

Dad: Bye Bye

I hung up, scribbled a brief story with my number on it and slipped it beneath the viper under the pouring rain. I saw this Myvi had practiced "Just Masuk Skill" as well. Had the car been in it's box, I wouldn't have brushed it. Damn. 

I rushed upstairs to the classroom  to be greeted by my cheerful, ever smiling  Lao Shi. "Hahhh, Jivanti, there you're are. Late ah....( Gives one of his Doreamon laugh) So Hao..let's begin. 
GRRR

Some 30 minutes later, I saw a sms from my dad. Typed exactly like this....

Dear Jivan I am proud of u. You r a good kakitangan kerajaan keep it up honesty best policy

To which I replied

Thanks pa. Athavethe, neenge valathe murai rombe seri ( Actually, it's the way you brought us up)

Haha.

Any given incidences in our life is like two sides of a coin. Never alike but exist in the same matter.

Good and evil lives in the same mind. It's a matter of which one you feed more. One man's misery is another man's happiness.

The owner of the car will be pissed, no doubt. But my dad was a happy man to realise that he has brought up his children well. A thought that every parent want to knows and not just see. You see what you project to the world outside, everyone can see and each parent can be proud of his or her Camry driving son or a lab coat wearing daughter. Let me ask you a question? How many of us have actually thanked our parents for guiding us to the life we have now? We say I miss you and I love you to our friends a lot. Like really A LOT. We live to hear certain words from people. We want to hear. But have you ever thought that maybe the mum and dad that sacrificed so much for us wants to hear it from us? Sometimes, the only word that we should say and must say is also the word that we never say. We are egoisitc. No la. We are shy. We are grown ups.

You may then say "Hey, I'm different ok. I post on FB shoutout. I love my dad so much. He's my hero. I let the world see how I love my parents and family. 
Ok, so how many of our parents actually do HAVE FB or even know where is the power button on a laptop.

My point is: If you love and want to thank someone, tell them and not the whole world. Just say it to them because it should and must only matter to them and no one else. 

Words are powerful, words are caring and words make people remember how you felt about them. 

 " Oh, my mum knows. Dad understands". 

But you still yearn for "I miss you or I love you, You're awesome" from someone right. 

Don't YOU understand?

P/s I later discovered that the car that I brushed was my Lao Shi's car. Haha. And I knew this the next time I went back for class and he said "It's ok, no need to pay me back". Just try to come early for class next time. Haha. No I was just kidding. He didn't say that. 
God decided to cut me some slack and save me the expenses. Of course, I was moved by Lao Shi's kindness.


Karma can be an angel at times, not a bitch as we reckon it could be.