So it begins

And so it begins…..

The day of a new chapter of my life,

Time is ticking.

Not getting younger therein.

21 years of life on this earth,

Thanks to God above,

And my sweet parents too,

Their care and love pursue.

My sweet sister thereafter,

12 years of bliss and colour.

So it seems the fruit that made me fertile,

Prepare the way for both happiness and null.

I am what I am because of them,

Strong and healthy, with shining clinking armor and a helm.

And so it begins…

Along came my morning princess,

Prophesied six months before,

“On my nineteenth birthday a maiden of sweet folklore”

“Will appear right at my door”

“Love at first sight the eyes which dwell upon her”

“Immaculate and spirited melting the heart of the beholder.”

Be it done to me according to thy will,

So it happened - appear my darling for real.

Thank you dear for your beauty gift,

Arrived from Malaysia to Nehru like a thief.

Stole my heart again and again,

Sweet words on the card moved me till I was slain.

And so it begins...

The time has come…

Tomorrow I will turn twenty one...

Hmm… frankly speaking I’ve been a bad boy the whole of this year; the self-proclaimed breaker of hearts with great mischief and a whole lot of tricks up my sleeve. So I for one will commit to a “tell all” confession to reduce the punishment that will be afflicted on me on my birthday tomorrow – (hehehe) apparently some are planning an “Aruba” on me, especially Zhong, Thung and hisham, which is the act carrying me with force, spreading out my legs, and without mercy… erm… hitting my “centre” on a pole… ouch!
Well... I will begin it like the book “Five people I meet in heaven” as suggested by my good friend Phang.

Today is Johnathan’s birthday. Johnathan has just turn 21 and he is reeling with wonder and amazement. It had never occur to him before that time have finally caught up with him and it seemed too fast – way too fast, like a bullet train that never meant to be. Sitting on his bed at his hostel room with the lights off, leaning on the stain wall, cross legged, he started to feel something amiss. In the midst of silence, a certain emptiness abode in his heart. 21 years had past. 21 years of his life had flown by him, being abducted and diminished, never to be returned again.

And maybe there was more. The atmosphere today seemed too quiet. He thought about it and search deep into his soul in retrospection of the feelings and his deeds that had come by – was it worth it what he had done all this while? He could not answer.

Johnathan was now a medical student in the Manipal Medical College and so happened his birthday fell on the week that was considered as one of the busy weeks on which all students prepare for their soon to come, end of semester examinations. He had also just finished a back to back viva voce examination in anatomy and a physiology quiz a day before and was naturally exhausted – just like everybody else.

But still, there he was, in the wee hours of the morning of his birthday thinking of what was going to happen to the rest of his day. Was it going to be like any other energy-draining day, where everybody stays in their rooms to study and exams filling the closet of their tensed minds? Perhaps that was the reason of his longing and emptiness. Does his friends considered him as worthy of them to be abandoning their medical mission, just for a moment, to acknowledge the day that was special to him? Or did he deserve punishment for all the wrong he had done to them in this past year.

Once, he disappointed a dancing group he was involved in by being irregular for practices and pulled out at their last performance. It was not his fault though, as he had other more important responsibilities as a medical student and decided to stay firm with his priorities. On top of that, the last performance was a week before his second end of semester exam and he decided that he just could not cope. Nevertheless there was the guilt in his heart of quarreling with three girls, pushing one of them to the brink of tears, and another, disgusted, turned away with frustration. Their friendship was never the same again.

Being a victim of circumstances, he again deny a singer her chance of singing a duet with him for the Chinese orientation because he was afraid of the soon to come biochemistry class test which was actually postpone to a later dated.

He promised to play guitar for a senior during Christmas caroling, but he pulled out a few weeks later without even practicing due to the heavy medical workload – he should not have agreed in the first place.

There was a time, after a person have had shared with him her life story, he back lashed with unkindly words and requested for her to stop. He did not want to hear of it ever again as he doubted her sincerity at that moment… but the harsh attitude of his actions left him a deep hole of emptiness.(note: this is something to think of before joining the Befrienders).

What’s more, he was also the initiator of the “yum sing” incident at his friend’s party whom he linked with a girl (the friend admires) and of course the spot light interrogation, forcing the friend to spill out the story of his love life… not mentioning the cake they pressed his face into like a rotten pancake.

Excessive pushing of his friend during a photo shoot making the friend do the elbow kiss on a female classmate, and later creating a scandal out of it.

Frantic and at a loss at the long list he managed to gather, Johnathan did not know what to do. There was no turning back on his uncharitable dealings and many friends were affected. Everything seemed to point at the direction of a sly villain in him and yet he knew they were unfair in their judgments. His nature was not of that effect but a prisoner of desperation and fear – academic excellence was after all out of his control and he was merely taking steps to improve it at the expense of others he did not mean to hurt.

Flashes of thoughts passed him by… grimacing at each one of them. Occasionally there were sweet thoughts as well, not forsaking him entirely, giving him a little hope, making a slight difference out of his flickering mind.

He gave up keeping his eye lids open any longer. Then he laid his soft fluffy pillow by the top end of his bedside and after resting his weary head, said a few words of prayer in gratitude to the Lord, and expiring into deep slumber.

Just then, his hand phone vibrated heavily on his table. He picked it up with half sealed eyes and noticed an astounding 29 new messages and a buzzer indicating that his inbox was flooded. He was dazed at himself for not perceiving the alarm and the SMSes earlier and even more surprised by their sheer numbers.

And out of the 29, the first message came from his sweetheart…

“ Happy birthday Johnathan Chong… me love u!!”

(Note: this is a exaggerated account of me. Only part of it is real… the confession part and my sweetheart being the first to wish me… hehe… and of course, being a medical student in Manipal)