Moi nos(tale)gic years
As cliché as this may look, this is just another bittersweet yearning for the things of the past. Memories that were made back during our childhood years are undoubtedly the best that they are very much hard to be forgotten – it is as if they are eternally engraved within our minds. Rewinding back to the year of 1999, precisely on the twenty-eighth of November, I do not remember much during the early years of my infant life as I never heard nor asked much about it from my parents, but one thing I am sure of is that they felt on the top of the world. Hold your thought right there, here comes an interesting fact about my life, typically, doctors would identify a baby’s gender between the 16th and 20th week into a pregnancy. Weird enough, the doctor claimed that I was a boy – not sure how I looked like a male in my mother’s womb – not so sure about their ectopic technical complications.
Growing up in an island, none other than Penang, is nothing as fancy as being brought up in a city, but what really matters to me is the unconditional love my family has given to me which made me who I am today. We are a family of four – my parents, my elder sister and I. I would say that I was brought up in a fairly strict and conservative family – my parents, well, being the ‘A’sian parents they are, never thought getting a B was good enough. As if the stress was not enough from my parents, having an Einstein sibling definitely did exacerbate the situation for me as I was the slow-learner (and still am). In addition to that, I was a rebellious, lazy and playful child. I hated studying so much that I cheated in all papers, until I was caught cheating in my Science paper when I was in my freshman year (of course, the teacher failed me and was gratefully ‘granted’ 8 demerits). I would be lying if I did not say I was traumatized by that unexpected yet embarrassing incident which happened due to my foolishness. I took it as a lesson and motivation to strive harder for excellent grades as I did not want to constantly disappoint my parents and wanted to show them what I am really capable of – besides being an ace at cheating.
Slowly but surely, I started practising consistency in doing my revisions everyday and started being academically responsible. I, then, was announced to be the first girl in the class and was in the top 20 list for three years consecutively after years of being listed in the top 100. With these improvements, came the obligations and pressure to be a straight As’ student, but it really did make me put all my heart and soul in all school examinations, be it PT3 or SPM. True enough, I scored all As in both PT3 and SPM – 5A+s’ and 5As’. For my tertiary education, I enrolled in an Australian Matriculation, known as Higher School Certificate New South Wales and miraculously, I was ranked in the top twenty percent of top achievers in the world and this fulfilled the academic credentials required for me to attain the UCSI University Trust scholarship. I remembered tears streaming down my parents’ faces as I was receiving my award from my head of programme on stage. I am more than grateful to them for always being there for me, guiding me to the right path whenever I stray from the right path.
Image 1 Poster of me made by INTI International College Penang for the top achievers
From my 20 years of living, I have acquired ample brilliant epiphanies, especially from both of my grandparents who have been there looking after me ever since I was a vulnerable tiny tot. Family has always reminded me this, “Never seek help from others, make it happen by yourself. Never be dependent on someone else as your own success is never the responsibility of another person.” This piece of golden advice has entirely changed my whole perspective of life and thus, I will forever hold this advice close to my heart.