Love Letter to Malaysia...

My Dear Malaysia, 

Some love stories never end; and such is our love story. Even though, we may be physically away from each other but your warmth and what I took from you will remain with me for a long time. 


Thank you for welcoming me with open arms when we landed in 2009. It was my first time ever in Malaysia and also the first time I had stepped out of my comfort zone and decided to build a home away from home. Ours was not 'love at first', I will be honest here. But, I liked you from the very first day and things just kept getting better and better until I started loving you in strange ways for strange things. 

My first friends were the magnificent towers. That is all I knew about you prior to my move and those two felt familiar in the strange country. I have spent countless. lonely hours wandering around the towers, sitting in the park or watching the dancing water fountains. Every day, I would wait on my balcony and at exact 12 when the lights of the towers would go off one by one, I would only then go to sleep. We were struggling to settle in a country with no friends or family - building a name and space where no one knew us. Today when I look back, I realize that you taught me the power of hard work and determination. When I could have given up, you made me go on and try harder. It is the same courage that has, today, given me wings to fly to another continent. 

I started falling in love with you when I saw how peacefully you carried different cultures and religions; uniting them in happiness and sorrows. Be it Raya or Chinese New Year, Divali or Christmas, you dressed up in sparkly lights and emitted festivity from every corner. You celebrated everything. I made friends from different cultures and followers of different religions. I learned to admire the similarities instead of focusing on differences. You changed my perception about those who were different from me and also those who were the same but had different opinions. You preached tolerance and patience and I tried to grasp it as much as I could. I learned to respect everyone for their skills and character and not their degrees or language abilities or accents. Long way to go still but you planted the seed. 

I love you for your food -  combinations which have now become addictions were at one point hard to even imagine. When I hear something in Manglish, there is a strange believability about it - a sincerity which is very rare. There is a contagious contentment and satisfaction in Malaysian way of life. Thank you for giving me time for self-reflection, self-evaluation and improvement. 

Above all, you gave me respect and an opportunity to explore my potential, a job that I loved, friends like family and a home that was heartbreaking to leave. 

Dear Malaysia, 

In 8 years you became HOME that I not only lived in but also loved deeply and which will always be this happy place of memories that will keep my heart warm in years to come. 

Until next time <3