A Gift of Smile

On my way back to hostel today, as usual I saw my cobbler with his daughter, the ever cheerful and active young girl running here and there. His dad will be sitting under the shady tree working with shoes everyday as you can see in the photo. Without hesitation I sat there, looked at her and gave her the smiley ball that I always carry alongside me. She was jumping with joy upon receiving the ball. I never realized even such a small yet simple thing will bring joy to her. Seeing her playing with it and bouncing it across the street made my day too. That’s the reason why I always carry simple things that can bring joy to others, because you never know some people may need it more than you do~ =)

I was recovering from my trauma after getting such a relatively low marks for my Multiple True False paper in Physiology today. I have spent hours of preparation for this test but maybe I am not giving my 100% focus on it. However, my sadness will not last long as we should not be too stuck onto something bad for a long time. Looking at how the little girl living a happy life even without shoes, without iPad and without a clean toys like what other girls of the same age have in Malaysia, made me realized life is not about exams, we live to live, not to grief over something bad that cannot be reversed.

I never put high expectation to myself as I realized the higher expectation we have, the higher chances we will become unhappy. As studying in medical course is extremely tough and competitive, one way of living through it happily in this 5 years for me is to accept it and adapt to it but not to compare myself with others. There are only 2 outcomes if you compare yourselves with others.

1)  If you compare yourselves with people who have better results than you, then you will feel inferior and tend to stress up yourselves. Deal with it! Tell yourself that they are more hardworking and they sacrifice their time more, they deserve the good results!

2) If you compare yourselves with others who have bad result and generally lower performance than you, then you will feel relieved for a short moment, before you realized you shouldn’t compare yourself with them as they are not worth comparing. Thus,most of us tend to compare with people who are greater, smarter and better than us, which is healthy but should not be taken too seriously.

In a nutshell, we are who we are and there are times where we struggle so hard that we forget who we actually are. Be yourself because you are unique in your own way!

Self Satisfaction

Elyn & Siong Keat - My 2 sakai friends

Sometimes I felt so lucky to be born in Malaysia. Few weeks back when I was in the library, I came across a lady who worked there. She told me that the to and fro journey from her house to Manipal is rs14 a day which is approximately RM 0.90. Upon hearing that, I told her it is cheap in a slip of tongue but instead, she told me it is quite costly. Immediately after that, I realised I am actually one lucky dude on earth. Just last week itself, my friends and I bought coconuts to quench our thirst. Upon paying, the shop keeper charged us rs36, not for 1 coconut, but 3!

This afternoon as I was walking back to my hostel, I saw Mr Muthu with his daughter along his old and rusty shoe-repairing hut. His daughter was nicely sleeping on a piece of board covered by a not-so-clean towel under the shady tree. This sight definitely will not be seen in my hometown as everyone is happily living in their comfort zone but in India, it is a norm. There are people who struggle all their lives to earn money while there are some who lives happily with what they are having now. For me, I am fortunate to be what I am now and I am always satisfied with the people and things surrounding me.

Before I came to India, my elder sister told me that she encountered a girl who will also be coming to India to study medicine during her working period in Aeon, Station 18. Coincidentally, the girl is in the same campus with me but I have totally forgotten about it after I settle down. Today when I was having a random chat with Lai Yeng, only then she told me she knew my sister and she was the girl who talked to her. I was like ‘OMG why now only you tell me??’

The upcoming weeks for me is no-rest weeks as class tests, spotters, practical examination and  viva voce are in line prior to my block exam at the end of January. That is the reason why I have to gear up and be mentally motivated to face all these tough challenges~ =)

‘Don’t be pushed by your problems, be led by your dreams’ – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Earphone Fantasy

I have never own a earphone of my own until today, when I have the sudden urge to buy myself one. This is mainly due to my parents who strongly oppose my siblings and I from using it since small.

Few days back I was amazed by a tweet of my friend. The tweet was something about entering your own world when you plugged in your earphone. Being a student who visits the library only 7 times a week, this is what I am looking for as a companion - a connection with music. It is undeniable that everyone loves music. The right song at the right time is just perfect to express the innerself of mine.

One of the joyous moment I had here is by scratching a smile in the faces of others. This morning itself when I went to Kasturba Hospital for a medical check-up, I was thrilled as the locals are happy upon hearing me saying simple words like thank you & happy new year in their very own Kannada dialect. The satisfaction within myself is hard to describe in words but the experiences I had gone through made me a better person.

As I am writing this blog post I am surrounded by 3 of my many best friends - Siong Keat, Phuah Sheng & Chee Sian. I feel so bleesed to have known them and go through the ups and downs with them.

Countdown 30 days more to be back in Ipoh~ =)

Hosavarushada Shubashaya

It is the beginning of 2013 and I am glad to survive the so called 'end of the world' =)

Few days back a friend of mine asked me when is my free time. I was stumbled upon the word and it took me few seconds to realise that free time is not in my dictionary anymore. The only free time I have is

1) When I am sleeping

2) While having meals

3) When I am daydreaming while studying

As a medical student, I have to constantly keep up the pace and to survive the class tests week by week is definitely not an easy task. As you can see I do not even have the time to update my blog and to edit my wonderful pictures. So from today onwards, I shall continue with my post without beautifying it with tons of lovely photos in order to resuscitate my blog.

Wishing everyone Happy New Year and have a great start of the year~

Hosavarushada Shubashaya

(it means happy new year in Kannada language)

=)

Mangalore Galore

Finally, the major block exam is over, and it is time to escape from the ever hectic life in Manipal! =D

My friends and I headed to Mangalore, a huge city which is approximately 65km from Manipal on this lovely Saturday afternoon. We took a bus which cost us rs80 (RM 4.80) to travel with the intention of watching some new released movies such as Twilight - Breaking Dawn or Skyfall. 

Unfortunately, the time for the showings are either too early or too late.. =(

We reached Mangalore around 3pm and arrived at one of the busy street there. The first mall we entered was Bharath Mall. 

It was a tiny mall where you can see the other end from the entrance. Not much outlets were there, its kinda like Giant or Carrefour in Malaysia but its much more smaller. Nevertheless, we felt excited as this is the first time we actually entered a shopping complex since we came to India!

After getting bored of the mall, we went to another big shopping mall known as City Centre mall. They actually have outlets same like those in Malaysia such as Nike, Adidas, Puma, Pizza Hut and KFC.

The only restaurant that we are dying for is McDonalds.  We went hunting for McDonalds in Mangalore as one of the locals told us that the restaurant actually exists there. After searching through each and every corner, we realized it is actually a rumour...

We had our simple lunch there and after walking for hours, we departed back to Manipal around 7pm and reached 2 hours later. We were all exhausted!

We saw many of our course mates there too, as if all of us made an appointment to meet at the same mall, haha.

Although we did not visit much places, but it is still an enjoyable trip. The feeling of spending time walking and chatting without much study pressure, too awesome that words simply could not define it~~ >_<

Indian Dance Competition

Initially I thought this is the first time I am joining a dance competition, but my mom reminded me that I had a dance on stage before when I was in my kindergarten year. We have trained in preparation for this competition for almost 2 weeks and finally this is the time to perform in front of the 100+ audience. Our batch has sent out 2 teams for the Western and Indian Dance category~

The moment before our turn, I can feel the pressure and anxiety shooting up my head and I was sweating all the time, we were representing our batch for the Indian Non-Classical dance category! It was not an easy process for me as I am not experienced in dancing, more so in an Indian dance competition~

The shy guy here is Jing Yang, the one who sit beside me in class. He is joining the Western dance group too. Their dance is incredibly superb but maybe other teams are better, they did not get any placing =(

There are some mistakes and forgotten moves which I had done but throughout the entire dance, it was a real enjoyable moment especially when I heard cheers and screams in the packed auditorium. Our effort and hard work paid off! Sadly our group did not get any placing too for this competition but I treasure the journey which brought me till this far.

THANK YOU TO MY WONDERFUL TEAMMATES

Kuganeswary 

Siong Keat

Darshna

Samuel

Sankhavi

Rafu

Navin

Sivagamy

Sithtarr

FOR THE AMAZING EXPERIENCE~ =)

Onion & Garlic

Onion & Garlic is the name for the band formed by my batchmates and they got first runner up for the western group singing competition!! It was a tough competition especially when strong teams from various batches are showing off their talent in this lovely Sunday evening. My indian non-classical dance is supposed to be held on the same day but it was postponed due to rain.

Their singing is real awesome and the song could not even get off from my head for days! Both Siong Keat and I are in the photo because we were their human mic stands, sitting and holding the mic for 5 minutes without moving a single muscle and without getting pay >_<

Congrats again Phuah Sheng, Elyn, Seh Ying, Daniel and Pui Yi~ =)

Mooncake Festival from India

This year is very special for me, as I can only see photos of my siblings and relatives playing with candles, chinese lanterns and firecrackers from Skype, Facebook and Instagram. I have been very busy with my studies and the time for me to blog is getting lesser day by day. Although all these brings back memories, but I am still grateful that I have a bunch of friends who appreciate this meaningful festival in Manipal. No matter who you are and where are you from, wishing you...

Happy Mooncake Festival

中秋节快乐

但愿人长久，千里共婵娟

Distance is never a barrier as long as the heart connects

The Journey to Manipal

We woke up at 3.30am (6.00am Malaysian time) because the flight from Bangalore to Mangalore was set at 7.15am. After some light breakfast, we went by Bus to Bengaluru airport. After checking in our luggage, only did we realized that our flight was delayed for an hour and 45 minutes! Since I was getting hungry at that time, I bought a chicken puff for rs80 (RM4.80) at the airport.

It took us approximately 75 minutes to reach Mangalore. Manipal University buses and luggage trucks were there waiting for us. We had to go through bumpy roads for 90 minutes before reaching Manipal. It was only 60km apart but due to the bad condition of the roads, it took us this long to reach.

Finally around 3.45pm, we reached Manipal University. We were brought to a hall and lunch is provided there. A briefing by the Chief Warden and some of the lecturers were conducted after that. After the briefing session, we were given Airtel sim cards and they charged us rs600 with rs560 debited into our account.

We went and settle down in our hostels after that. I applied for the Nehru block with my friend, Chin Leong but we were granted the RT Hostel, Tagore block. Rabindrantah Tagore is actually an Indian poet who is the first to won the Nobel Prize other than European. The hostel block is named after him. Basically both hostels are twin-sharing with no air-conditioner. The difference is our block was further from the lecture halls and there is minor sunlight there. They even charged us for USD$1000 instead of USD$750 as stated in the hostel application form. How unfair!

It is a very small, old and dusty room with metal cupboard, metal doors, wooden chair and a wooden table. Everything is old there and we have to buy our own pillow and blankets. How can I survive there for 2 and half years? Thankfully after we settle down in our hostel, I met Tan Kian, who is 1 semester earlier than me. We were classmates in secondary school. He bought me and my friends around and introduced us to the places and shops there.

The Indians use different plugs from Malaysia. Theirs is three round headed small pins. My dad bought a gang socket for me with three round headed pins too but mine was 15Ampere and it could not fit into the socket! I have to buy an electrical adapter which acts as a stabilizer because the electricity current in India fluctuates. It may cause damages to my devices.

One terrible experience was when we were buying our pillows. We asked for discount for the rs220 pillow but the shop owner told us it is already discounted price as the usual price was rs250. He claimed that rs220 was a special price for students but after we went back to hostel, we found out it was written on the plastic that the maximum retail price is rs220. This is the way how they make profits out of us, the poor students.

Bombay Surgicals. The place we bought our lab coats, surgical sets, name tags and latex gloves. The shop may look old-fashioned for us Malaysians, but all the shops are the same style there.

For dinner, we went to the Food Court. It is indeed true that they serve Malaysian food such as chicken rice, nasi lemak, fried rice and other delicacies. However, the taste is not Malaysian at all. I ordered chicken fried rice for rs60 (RM3.60) and the rice is so oily. The price of the foods was not as cheap as expected too. It is almost the same in Malaysia and some even cost higher.

Around Manipal town, there are also Domino’s pizza, McDonalds, KFC and Pizza Hut, surprisingly!

First Day in India

I travelled from LCCT to Bangalore via Air Asia airbus for 3.5 hours. It was a tiring plane ride. Before landing, what I could see from the plane window was green and brown. There are only land and plants around the airport area and the land was poorly maintained, totally different from the high rise buildings in Kuala Lumpur.

Since the water in India is not clean, airport areas even have water dispenser for the convenient of tourists. Motorists are pressing their honks all the time! They will honk no matter what is the condition of the traffics, it is a norm there. Road diversions are everywhere as most of the roads are under construction. 

After we reached Bangalore, we were welcomed by Mr Ram Kumar, the deputy registrar for Melaka-Manipal Medical College. We sat a bus which took us more than an hour to reach Royal Orchid Hotel. Some of the roads have no white lines in between and the traffic there was very bad. Our bus driver will be considered reckless if he would be in Malaysia but wait, everyone is driving like him there.

The drivers are cutting each other all the time and all we could hear is just the noise of honks throughout the journey. There are no courtesy among drivers and now I know why the university banned us from buying two-wheelers, it is extremely dangerous! Malaysian driver will be having heart attack because the road is like a war zone.

The hotel is superb because the rooms and facilities are well managed. We will be staying there for one night before heading for another flight to Mangalore the next day.

When we reached the hotel, all of us were exhausted and hungry, fortunately there is Indian style buffet dinner for our pleasure. The Malaysian time was 10pm when we were having our dinner but it was only 7.30pm for the local Indian time.

We went back to sleep after our satisfying dinner.