Hang on, Malala

I have been engrossed by the news of Malala since it first came out. Malala Yousafzai, a young girl from northern Pakistan, started to write about her daily life for BBC at a tender age of 9 and later became a fearless campaigner for girls' education. She was shot in the head by Talibans on 9th of October this year for her continuing support and voicing for the right to education.

She's now made her way to UK to receive specialists' care. I am so pleased and proud that Britain offers the help to treat her instantly when the news came out. The overwhelming international responses and helps offered to her just make me admire her even more. A 14-year old girl! Her courage and bravery just pale my life into insignificance.

I want to hug you, Malala, when you come out of the hospital well and fine and walk out with your head held up high. That's the best finger you could show to Talibans.

Best wishes and find you later all smiling in the newspaper.

A relief

Over the past few months, I have been living in cancer scare. Yes, that C word.

It was mentioned to me during a routine examination. "This does not look right", she said. "I will put you on an urgent list so that you can be assessed by a specialist asap". Just like that, one day I went to my GP for a regular test and came back with a disturbing news. I went through all the expected emotions and actions, disbelief, blaming myself for so careless with my health (signs were spotted 6 years ago), googling for symptoms, solutions and prognosis (yes I know it's not right but needed to divert my mind somewhere else), trying to make myself think positively (didn't work) and yet with realistic expectations, and waiting anxiously for the appointment with a specialist clinic. I contemplated on possible outcomes, ranging from bad to worse, until the day in specialist clinic with an outpatient surgery. After that, I could only wait patiently, for the biopsy results to come back.

Today, a letter came from the hospital. I am given a clean bill of health. We embraced each other happily and tightly while reading the letter together. After a short moment of silence, we both blurted out: "what a relief".

A relief indeed and I chided myself again for ignoring my body's signals for so long. I want to promise myself to be more diligent with my own health issues. I pride myself to be proactive on several fronts but health so far is not one of them. This is silly. Without a good foundation (i.e. health), all my future prospects are like built on loose sand. If this is not a wake-up call, then I don't want to know a potentially even bigger one.

Yes, my friend, if you read this, heed your body's needs and complaints, no matter how insignificant they may be. Let medical professionals do their jobs properly instead of you doing theirs.

I wish you good health to live a fulfilling life.

First of October

Holy Macaroni, in three more months I have to say goodbye to 2012.

Autumn and winter have been my favorite time of a year. Yes, I like that mother nature changes to a warmer color tone, and I get to be wrapped up in my cashmere and enjoy hearty food needing no excuses. Above all, I am most productive at my work around this time.

We've planned a nice little holiday just before Christmas. Let me keep a secret on the location until then because I want to work extra hard to get the paper out of the way. I would feel terrible during the trip if I couldn't finish what I promise myself.

Where did the time go?