I meet people in the oddest ways. And sometimes the oddest ways are the best ways.
Over the years of blogging, I’ve met people who read my blog and they tell me they like reading what I write. That’s actually quite lovely to hear because like I said, when I first started out, the blog was a way for me to vent, to rant, to muse, to wonder aloud.
And since then, I’ve still done my fair share of venting, ranting, musing and wondering aloud and yes, sometimes the comments aren’t so beautiful but I take it as part and parcel of the world of blogging.
Many months ago, I got a tentative email from someone who reads my blog.
I do get lots of emails from people who are often wondering about things like:
* why a Chinese woman takes on a Muslim name like Maya (to which I’ve had to let her know that Maya is not a Muslim/Malay name. Maya comes from Sanskrit.)
* why I don’t have Advertising on my blog when every other blog out there is cashing in on their popularity (I think some spaces are sacred and this blog is one of them. Somehow this ‘baby’ of mine does not need to be tainted by Ads.)
* why people know me as MayaKirana as well as my real name (I started off not wanting people to know who I am and in the end, after 8 years’ blogging, everyone kind of gets the connection so in the end, it’s an open secret.)
* why I do this and what benefits I derive from it (a blog allows me to record my observations, my life, myself captured in a moment. I look back and see the person who was and the person who is.)
Anyway, that is how I met Reese. She contacted me via my blog and she told me she knew a friend of mine. We started emailing back and forth and she even took time to come meet me despite not having a car. She took a RapidPenang bus to USM. Other people would have balked at the idea of waiting for a bus.
We chatted and became friends.
She’s residing in Penang for a while she decides her future.
Which is really like taking a gap year.
Only that her gap year is a gap year from work.
She’s exploring Penang and in the process, understanding her birthplace.
I like that idea a lot.
Most people don’t take time to reflect about what they really want to do. Most people fall into a routine of going to school, graduating, getting a job and getting married, having kids, buying a home and buying or upgrading their cars.
Some people stop and think.
Reese is one of those people. And she cares deeply about Penang, her little island. Just like I care for Penang, my little island.
Time and again, I’ve said to people that it’s most wonderful to live and work in Penang. Penang has a charm that wraps itself around you, and you fall in love with this Grand Old Dame despite her dirt, her clogged drains, her lack of transportation.
And Reese is one of those who have fallen in love again with Penang with her blog being a true testament to our love for our little island in the sun.
Reese draws and paints and takes photos. She also blogs besides volunteering with Penang NGOs. She learns, she observes, she thinks. And she thinks there is a better way.
Enjoy her blog!