Whenever you feel some itchiness in your throat and it's hot and dry (sure signs of pending sore-throat), just get 5 to 10 leaves, wash them thoroughly, throw them into a cup, boil some water, pour in, cover it for a while until its temperature is down to lukewarm. Then drink it.
Caution: You may scream. Because it's bitter. That's why they call it Hempedu Bumi (bile of the earth). It's an anti-toxin which is good for cleaning out your liver. It also helps lower blood pressure.
Took this shot some years ago. Didn't know the real name of this lime until today. Looks like it's in bloom. We used to call it 'thaiko kam'. Always love the smell of the leaves. Use it as a natural deodoriser in the car. While going through the papers this morning I read about Kaffir Lime, and decided to search Google. And presto!
I found this: http://www.uni-graz.at/~katzer/engl/Citr_hys.html
It’s here again. The Moon-cake/Harvest/Mid-autumn/Lantern festival. There’s your collection of descriptions for this lunar month’s specialty. We, who’ve been handed this traditional practice from our previous generations, often wonder what to do with this variety of names for it. Never mind, we say. Let’s just enjoy it. Let’s join the procession it there’s one around the neighborhood.
So you’d ask, “What’s a hand-painted basket got to do with a lantern festival?”
When I was a kid, we didn’t have much good food or delicacies to go around. Whatever special treats we had was when special offerings were made to the Deities during festivities. I remember one eighth month when we had mooncakes. They tasted so good, I wanted more. Mother had kept them in a beautiful basket hung from a hook attached to a beam in the roof. I’d look up longingly at the basket and begged mother to take down those cakes and give me some. But mother said they’re finished. It was just an empty basket. I wasn’t convinced and insisted she take down the basket and show me. In the end she relented, took down the basket and opened it. After I‘d seen for myself that it was really empty, I stopped whining.
Now, whenever I look at the basket, I remember how great mooncakes tasted back then. But these days, mooncakes cost a bomb, especially those designer pieces that are specially made for some people to present as special gifts to their parents or in-laws. And they’re not really that appealing to me anymore.
No doubt these festivals are now commercial issues, but practices must change with the times and reality. Since the Americans have shown proof that they’d planted the Star Spangled Banner up there many years ago, most people have stopped worshipping the Moon Goddess. But the lanterns, sweet cakes, pomelos and groundnuts still remain in the cycle of supply and demand.
Nothing dies harder than fun, food, music, dancing and festivities. But traditional beliefs must be reviewed and revised according to the conditions presented in their beautifully painted containers.
You got a line to design and set up. You get a deadline and you got some help and some ideas and lots of photos and videos from some overseas facilities to benchmark. Then they expect you to become an expert overnight. They expect you to be a superman and perform everything to perfection. They don’t have an inkling of the process because they’re not interested to know. It’s your job, they say. But they have lots of suggestion for unnecessary practices which they think will help them to ‘see’ it better, but they’re not doing anything to help. But when you did something wrong in their eyes, they slam the hell out of you.
When you arrange for a meeting to list out potential problems, they have excuses not to show up or they don’t show up at all. They don’t bother if the reps they appointed don’t show up either. In between, they have other unnecessary or unimportant little issues to keep you out of your seat. Meanwhile, you’re expected to follow up on what you’vie written in your work-orders to other departments or follow up on problems which other departments should be handling. But when these problems are not solved, that’s also your problem. You didn’t follow up! They tell you, you’ve been sleeping. They ask, ‘what have you been doing all this while?’
Then when some expert with many years of experience having solved all the known problems shows up to help you put things in perspective, they come into the meeting room for some free coffee and talk cock, and hold up your time instead of contributing some ideas. Then they demand that every step of the process must be made poka-yoke (idiot proof). They don’t believe in their own people. They don’t think their people have brains. And they keep wondering why Malaysians can't improve themselves. But they're the leadership and they're providing the transparent ceiling over their own people. Then they wash their hands of all responsibilities if their people do something wrong. So you tell them to hire chimpanzees to run production.
That’s the price I pay for opting for an engineering job instead of joining the ass-kissers ranks. (Pardon me if you’re a manager. But in here, they’re a different breed altogether. There’re some good ones but they’re a rare species.) I thought I’d be spared the stress and heavy pressure. But it seems the guns are being turned around now. The weight’s shifted in this direction, and the storm's gathering momentum. You have the first day, they have their fifteenth.
Sigh…its heavy, but life goes on. Besides, money doesn’t grow on trees.
Take a lesson from the woods.
The teeny weenie little creeper said to the big strong tree, “Please sir, shed off some of your leaves and give me some sunshine.”
“No way, you little creep,” Said the big strong tree. “Go elsewhere and find your own sunshine, and don’t pester me. You have no place here.”
So the little creeper crept along the ground trying to find an open space to get a little bit of sunshine. But he couldn’t get very far. He got over-whelmed by all the other bushes and weeds. He finally crawled back the big strong tree and began to climb upwards towards the sunlight. He kept going higher and higher. His brothers and sisters came along and they joined him in the upward journey. Soon, they were climbing all over the tree.
Eventually, without realizing it, the big strong tree began to loose his energy. His leaves shrank in size and branches started growing weaker. Slowly, over the years, instead of growing taller and bigger, he began drying up and some of his branches withered and fell off. Then when the last of his leaves fell away, he died and began rotting away consumed and defeated by the family of creepers.
End of story.
Now relate that to people. Doesn’t it sound familiar? There are people who are rich, powerful and strong and who won’t budge and inch no matter how hard you beg them. They take and take and keep taking, and leave only the bits and crumbs to the weak and lowly. But soon, the weak and lowly would grow and grow and multiply and they outnumber and overwhelm the big and strong ones and somehow, tactically defeat them.
Only the wise ones grow and help others to grow that they become stronger and their strength and the combined strength of others help sustain their great position. Thus they are assured of their lasting power. Those who have their power and don’t think that they owe anyone soon find themselves fighting for their own survival.
Like the big tree.
This old guitar taught me to sing a love song,
it showed me how to laugh and how to cry.
It introduced me to some friends of mine
and brightened up some days.
It helped me make it through some lonely nights.
What a friend to have on a cold and lonely night
This old guitar gave me my lovely lady,
it opened up her eyes and ears to me.
it brought us close together and I guess it broke her heart,
it opened up the space for us to be,
what a lovely place and a lovely space to be.
This old guitar gave me my life my living
all the things you know I love to do
To serenade the stars that shine from a sunny mountainside,
and most of all, to sing my songs for you,
I love to sing my songs for you,
yes I do, you know, I love to sing my songs for you.
(John Denver)
