Tabungan Kebahagiaan

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. 

So throw off the bowlines, sail away from a safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails.

Explore. Dream. Discover

--Mark Twain

It's already the 17th day of Ramadan. Yes, it does fly. Najla and Zea welcome this sacred month wholeheartedly. They are already on super LONG school holiday. When I asked what their favourite part of Ramadan is and they said, "An afternoon walk while looking for ta'jil is the best part." Never thought that this simple activities could mean the world to them. The power of Ngabuburit.

Although having breakfasting in a mall is totally not us however there're some invitations that I couldn't miss such as meeting my travel mates. Since our trip to Europe last March, we haven't met again yet. We drowned in our works and other bits and pieces. And Ramadan is the best moment, finally we could get together for a sudden reunion.  

We asked one of our friends about her next trip plan and she said, "Belum ada rencana apa-apa. Pulang dari Eropa, dompet masih kosong TAPI hati masih penuh. Sampai akhir tahun ini rasanya TABUNGAN KEBAHAGIAAN masih berlimpah, jadi belum perlu kemana-mana."

Take vacations

Go as many places as you can

You can always make money

but you can't always make memories.

The Dressmaker (2015)

Directed by: Jocelyn Moorhouse

Produced by: Sue Maslin

Based on: The Dressmaker by Rosalie Ham

Casts: Kate Winslet, Judy Davis, Liam Hemsworth

In 1926 in the Australia outback town, a school boy dies in unknown circumstances. The only witness to his death, a school girl, Tilly  is branded a murderer and exiled from the town.

25 years later, Tilly (Kate Winslet) now an accomplished dressmaker returns to her hometown to take care of her mentally ill mother (Judy Davis) and take revenge.

If people take revenge by having guns and do some violent actions but Tilly has her own way in executing her sweet revenge to those who did her wrong. Let's prepare to see how Tilly with her glamorous and haute couture style beats the people in her hometown. This is a revenge back in fashion. Even the director, Jocelyn Moorhouse, described her movie as "Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven with a sewing machine."

A truly enchanting movie. Enjoyed every minute of it. I couldn't stop laughing and feel sad at the same time to see the mother-daughter relationship between Tilly and her mother and how mean their surrounding to them. Humour is there but so is the pain and sadness of lives destroyed by hypocrites.

Check more on the movie HERE.

Half Life

Title: Half Life

Author: Roopa Farooki

Publisher: St. Martin's Press, New York

May 2010

260 pages

She realizes that running away really is the easy part; it is coming home that is hard.

I found this book with its lovely cover at Big Bad Wolf  (BBW) Books Sale with only IDR 45,000. So far I have finished four books from BBW Books Sale and I must say that all of them are worth-reading.

This beautiful story written down by Roopa Farooki. Telling about the central protagonist, Aruna Ahmed Jones, raised in Singapore but of Bengali descent. She lives in a stylish  London apartment with his devoted and dependable husband, Dr. Patrick Jones. 

One day Aruna left all. She's shaking and barely dressed, headed to the airport and back to Singapore. She suddenly had the urgent desire to make peace with what she left behind. It's time to stop fighting and go home. This statement haunts her.

The story sets in London, Singapore and Malaysia. During Aruna's visit, she finally meets up with her failed romance, Jazz. In fact she left Little India's Singapore to escape her father's death, drug addiction, miscarriages and a psychological determination that she is bipolar.

Enjoyable read. Fresh and interesting. I though the writing style will be similar to Jhumpa Lahiri or Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni but it turns out that Roopa Farooki has her own style and it's excellent. 

Find more on Roopa Farooki at her website here.