Marsha Maung:: Freelance graphic designer and writer

The price of petrol goes up…once again! Accordingly, Malaysians enjoy quite cheap petrol prices compared to many developed countries. But still…as a citizen who is ENJOYING the slight advantage we have over other developed nation, it still hurts like mad to know that the price of petrol will be hitched up another notch and we’ll all have to prepare ourselves to pay more for….basically everything! From chicken to computer mouse, from hamster food to CDs. the cost of transporting goods will go up and the consumer bears the brunt of this very cruel joke.

 

But this is life….but I rather enjoyed the article in today’s The Star on the rising cost of living.

 

Global Cost of living statistics

 

Accordingly, Tokyo and Osaka are among the most expensive cities to live in; but the quality of their life is very high. I know we’re heading in that direction although we’re not as ‘cheap’ like Paraguay (which is the cheapest city in the world). I heard that ‘some’ Indonesians need only spend about RM1.00 (USD$0.25) a day to keep a family of four alive! Amazing, isn’t it? All they get to eat is vegetable of the second-rate variety together with rice provided by the government to poor families…and viola, four heads are fed.

 

And also my sponsored child who lives in Hotan, Xinjiang, China and his family survive on RM50 a month…which works out to be RM1.66 a day. But their lifestyle is unenviable. There’s also a friend of mine who prefers to take a bus to work (I don’t like this idea at all because I hate smelling other people’s armpits whenever they raise their arms to hold the banister screwed to the ceiling of the bus!! Eugh!) instead of driving. He owns a very nice car (not your conventional Malaysian car, ok?) and keeps it safely at home while he jumps into a ‘sardine can’ every morning to work?

 

But my friend’s decision is actually very sensible. Sitting over cappuccino, he worked out how much he actually saved by taking the bus. He also worked out the many benefits of waking up early to catch the earliest possible bus, walking to the bus stop, reading while waiting for the bus, and getting home dog-tired and sleeping early…and I am like….mmmm….that’s interesting. On the flipside of having to cramp one’s body into a moving sardine can, you get to live a healthier and cheaper lifestyle. I guess if you looked at it that way, it is KINDA great to take the bus to work, huh?

 

Back to point in contention…..a price rise like this that affects the overall cost of living in a developing country like Malaysia is inevitable. We can’t stay cheap forever and change is unavoidable. But who says we have to smile while ‘change’ comes bossing us around every now and then.

I was reading the papers today (which is rare because I think newspaper is a bearer of bad news) and read something that struck me as ironic. Remember the song ‘ironic’ by Alanais Morisette some eons ago? That song about how you find a fly in your Chardonay, rain on your wedding day, a man who was afraid to die die in his first plane ride…etc?

 

Well, today, a cancer patient died on his way to the hospital. It’s probably like God telling him, “Hey, here’s a gift from me to you. Die quickly instead of slowly”.

 

Cancer, as we know, is a very slow and cruel killer. If one was to die, one would rather it be quick and relatively painless. Well, for it to be completely painless would have to mean that you die when you’re already dead. Make sense? No? Too bad. But the thing is that if human beings had a choice between dying of cancer or dying in a car accident, I suppose many would rather die in a car accident. Choi Kor Lei Tai Kat Lai See (Cantonese Touch Wood)…I know.

 

But suppose this man had a chance to live? I wonder what the report would say after the checkup? Would the doctor say, “Mr. so-and-so, sorry but we made a really stupid mistake. There’s nothing wrong with you. The report we gave you belongs to someone else”.

 

But I guess we’ll never know now since he’s dead before he made it for the checkup. Ironic, eh?

Things I learnt after moving out of the safe confines of in-laws’ home and my own home.

 

1. When using plastic gloves to wash dishes, you lose the use of your touch (feel) faculty. Use eyes when washing dishes.

 

2. Dust is not only on your PC. Dust is EVERYWHERE.

 

3. Ants are hateful creatures. Worse than vultures! And worse yet, they are also very vengeful. Kill one hundred of their brothers (or sisters), a thousand of their kind will come raid your kitchen and dustbins. Thankfully, ants are not very smart creatures. They don’t know and can’t remember what a mortein (insect killer) can looks like.

 

4. It takes so painfully long to cook, and very short time to eat (spill, throw, stuff in fridge)

 

5. Each component in a cuisine (albeit dish) is delicately handcrafted by an art master. Read: Have to cut carrot, potato, onion, garlic, vegetable, and whateverelsethereisinthedumbdish each one individually one meh? Cannot cut all at one go?? Someone should design something like this.

 

6. There’s a very important reason why knives are made sharp – they CUT!!! Wash and use carefully.

 

7. Clothes don’t wash, dry, fold and return themselves to closet without human intervention

 

8. The toilet don’t flush, wash and clean itself. Keep soap at safe height.

 

9. One can actually get bored of canned food. (amazing discovery here. I thought we could actually feed the kids canned food until they are 18)

 

10. Food doesn’t grow in fridges and freezers.