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My hands smell like antiseptic and hospital soap. They are steady when I clean a wound. Gentle when I hold an elderly patient who is afraid. Careful when I check an IV line at 3am. These hands know how to read a monitor, how to spot when a heartbeat is
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On paper, I am doing well. I am a software engineer in Singapore, earning $5,800 a month. Back in Chennai, that number becomes something else when you convert it to rupees. My parents tell people, “He is settled overseas.” My cousins message me asking if I can help with
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My name is Rahim. I am 29, from Bangladesh. Every morning, I wake up at 6. The room is already warm. Eight of us sleep inside, on double-decker beds, with just enough space to walk between them. We take turns to wash, to cook, to call home. By 7:
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Most fathers are loved. But many are not understood. We are taught that a mother’s love is the greatest. But we often forget the man standing in the wind. We hear it in songs. We see it in stories. A mother’s love is warm. It is visible. It
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This was brunch today. $5.50. Nasi lemak. Green coconut rice. Thick sambal. Chicken wing. Otak. Bergedil. Egg. Ikan bilis with peanuts. And a slice of cucumber pretending to reduce the guilt. Let’s be honest. In 2026, $5.50 doesn’t buy much. It won’t buy you peace.
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I have attended more funerals than weddings. One day, the coffin will not belong to someone else. It will be mine. Death is the one appointment none of us can cancel. No rescheduling. No exemptions. No exceptions for the young, the loved, the needed. Some welcome it after a long
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Food for Thought One meal during Chinese New Year can easily cost twenty times more than what we spend on a normal day. A table filled with abalone, prawns, fish, roast meats, and bottles of drinks. Laughter. Photos. Prosperity tossed high in the air. It is celebration. It is tradition.
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I don’t quite understand this. It’s dinner time. The café is packed. People are walking around with trays, scanning for seats like it’s a competitive sport. Seats are limited. Every table matters. And yet, a laptop is open on a table. One drink. One person. The dining
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Boom. That’s the question. It arrives before the bak kwa plate finishes one round. Before the pineapple tarts settle in your stomach. Before you even sit down properly. “So… where are you working now?” And just like that, you become the reunion dinner entertainment. The spotlight switches on in
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Confession. Chinese New Year is the only time of the year where you can gain three kilos, lose one month’s salary, and question your entire life direction within 48 hours. In the 1960s, we lived in kampong. We wore the same clothes every day. Chicken and bottled drinks were
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A few years before Covid, a minister shared that when he stepped into a lift, he heard people around him speaking in a language not his own. He said it was the first time he felt like a foreigner in his own country. Back then, I was working in the
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When I was in the military, I used to compare a lot. I was a tiny low-ranking fly buzzing around rooms full of shiny high-ranking officers. Everyone had badges, stars, deep voices. I had… a name tag. Naturally, I felt small. Until I discovered my superpower. I knew