A New Year - Part 1

The pig is cute and fat,
It has left but don’t be sad.
As we now have the rat,
To all we hope be glad.

Well, got part of the above poem via sms, and added another bit myself. And it is at this point, you are supposed to hear Chinese Music in your head, “Gong Xi Ni, Gong Xi Ni” with all the wishes for a bountiful new year, excellent health, never ending peace, great prosperity, and perpetual happiness.

And amidst the fireworks raging in the sky, brightening the heavens to usher in the new year, supposedly spring now (but there's winterstorm in China!) and with food aplenty. Reunion dinners abound, strengthening kinships, with the “ong”-ness of red observed for prosperity, angpows being given, wishes galore with blessings and thankfulness for another wonderful year. Yadaa, yadaa, yadaa.... Really, for Chinese, there are so many Do’s and Don’t’s during this time, one would sometimes wonder, and marvel at the importance of signs and symbols. This essentially quickly summarises one aspect of Chinese New Year.


But I am rambling, and my thought process is all over the place. Well, to be honest, part of this post was written during the New Year Eve while the fireworks were raging for at least a good 30 minutes even before the clock struck 12 midnight in my hometown. I heard that in KL, there was hardly a "pop" being heard, obedient to the ban on fireworks and firecrackers. Not sure how true though.

Now am back in KL already, ready (well, not quite - need a longer break!) for work on Monday. Have caught the flu bug, could be psychological, having to go back to work and all ... hmm....