SUMMER LOTUS

30/11/25. 3 min read

At the Orchard Pavilion, Holy Land of Calligraphy, Shaoxing city, China

Writers need inspiration. They need to be moved emotionally by people, situations and stories around them.

I have decided to write about the relevancy and lessons learned from my experiences. If it is of value to readers, then it is a purpose well served.

ShaoXing city 绍兴 is 20 minutes away by high speed train from Hangzhou. I have the good fortune to be inspired there. ShaoXing is known for her famous traditional cooking wine and cultural literati.

One of the most famous personalities is Wang Xizhi . He is to Chinese calligraphy what Shakespeare is to poetry and Da Vinci is to painting.

He was known as the Sage of Calligraphy in the 4th century during the Eastern Jin dynasty. His works had inspired many later generations of Calligraphers. Even Emperors collected his works and learned from his craft. Wang Xizhi’s art form involved various styles and he had excelled in all the scripts.

Works of Emperor KangXi and grandson, Emperor Qianlong(back) engraved on the same Steele. They were avid practitioners of Calligraphy and ardent collectors of Wang’s works.

Wang Xizhi was unique as he had breathed life and motions into the written words. It does not matter if I cannot read the inscriptions fully. Nor was I particularly interested in this skill until now.

I am greatly impressed by his spirit that went into the work he had created. For Calligraphy is not only an art. It involves discipline, grit and creativity.

Wang xizhi dedicated himself to learning Calligraphy from a young age, constantly training. Even without a brush, he would use his fingers to write on his clothes.

He practised so much that washing his brushes in a nearby pond turned it black.

His keen observation of nature led him to mimic the movement of geese that gave him insight into the fluidity and control of his brush strokes especially the semi cursive style.

Geese pond, Lanting, Shaoxing city

His most famous work is Lantingjixu or Preface to the Orchard Pavillion, in which he described a gathering of scholars and poets at the Orchid Pavilion, where they engaged in a poetry competition.

Cups of wine were floated down the winding water and when it stopped, the person next to it would drink wine and write poetry.

The poems were collected and made into a poetry anthology and Wangxizhi’s preface became the masterpiece of Chinese Calligraphy.

The stream where the preface to “poetry Anthology “ was created

This art is like meditation that builds character, no pun intended. You need patience, focus and calmness to indulge in this art. It connects one to the past which is a rich culture ans heritage of China.

Wang Xizhi’s legacy lives on today through his masterful works, which have inspired generations of calligraphers and art lovers alike.

We learn from him Character building through his art.

As they say, “The past determines the future”. What you have sowed, you will reap. It’s never too late to achieve what you set your sights on. Even if it’s not your ultimate goal, you will still harvest along the way.

Successful people have an air of nobility about them and it’s not just money that enlighten them.

The list is not exhaustive but they have at least three good habits that are enablers. And we are not talking about persistence here.

1 Simplicity

2 Humility

3 Kindness

1 ‘Simplicity is the ultimate Sophistication’— Leonardo da Vinci.

It is not simple per se nor does it mean you do away with many things and be spartan.

It is a concept where you achieve a high level of complex and perfect result through refining and simplifying. 

For eg, a sophisticated design is achieved through repeated deliberation, experimentation, and optimization. If a product requires one step instead of three steps to reach its goal, that is a simple product that is sophisticated.

It is very commonly applied to lifestyle these days—pursue a simple life through elimination of unnecessary material and information and you emerge simple and sophisticated.

This leaves room for clarity in vision and more creative thinking.

2 Humility is an underestimated virtue. The tendency for a person who has attained success is that he becomes proud and elated on his pedestal of success. He who lets success gets to his head never progress further. His cup has  runneth over.

A humble person is open to more ideas and learning, understanding that there are far more capable people than oneself.

He sees the strength in others and one’s own shortcomings. Correction of one’s deficiencies results in more success. 

Humility draws people to you from whom you can learn more as everyone has his or own unique talent.

A good example is Jack Ma.

He is the humble billionaire who never fail to share his many failures and he overcame them with persistence and strategy.

He suggested a big heart and a small ego. 

He is humble enough to surround himself with people better than him hence building a strong team.

3 Kindness is the willingness to help others without expecting anything in return. 

We see acts of kindness from renowned figures in history but we also see ordinary people in our daily lives that manifest kindness.

A call to a friend who is down, a helping hand to lift somebody out of his gloom, and giving money and goods to a charitable organisation.

An act to lessen somebody’s stress or trouble.

Kindness heals the person being helped but it also brings mental and physical benefits to the giver including self satisfaction and more social connections in society.

Being kind does not mean that we take over the problems of another. If we can first give a good listening ear to someone who is troubled or dejected, we can help them view issues from another perspective This will encourage or bring about a solution to the troubled person.

Life has a way of rewarding a kind person and it could mean an inner happiness that money can’t buy. 

Let us imbue these three traits into our daily lives — simplicity,  humility and kindness. Life can be as smooth as you have never imagined.

27th Oct 2025. 3 min read

One would call it Karma for not heeding warnings. The car, being an intelligent vehicle these days are programmed to warn one of undue mishaps. It’s time for service but I had not heeded it.

Finally, it broke down at 5 pm in the bustling city area downtown, like a dead fish, cold as ice smacked at the traffic light.

I was glad that I had no agitation, and felt that I have transcended myself in terms of emotional reaction. The first thing that crossed my mind was how to pass my time productively during the lingering wait for the emergency tow truck.

Like a well programmed robot, I switched on the hazard blinking light, then went to the back of the car to hang the car warning sign.

I sat in the car and figured who to call. First was the tow truck from Automobile Association of which I am a member,  then my mechanic to say that I will have my car towed there. 

Subsequently, I notified my husband what had happened and how I would handle it myself without disrupting his meetings. 

I wanted him to know that his wife had faced multitudes of hiccups along life’s journey and always handle with calm and grace without alarming anyone. 

There will always be incidents that would irk me because patience is not my virtue. I see this inconvenience as another possible trigger.

What I learned after a phone call again to determine when the emergency truck would come was that I was not supposed to sit inside the car to wait as some unknowing vehicle may crash into me.

The emergency truck came earlier than I had expected. The driver waved, I waved back and smiled. I reckoned it was near his off duty hours as it was nearing 6.30 pm

After fixing my car for towing, I got a chance to sit in the tow truck which had a high vantage point and sitting next to the driver gave me an opportunity to understand his work.

He was an Indian Malaysian named Rawa with a pleasant disposition. The day’s schedule was always full. 

He would drive across the crossway from JB in Malaysia to Singapore every morning after leaving the house at 6.30 am to escape the morning traffic jam.

Work finishes around 6.30 , sometimes delayed as the request to tow vehicles may come in late.  Then he might have to return to JB in Malaysia as late as 10 pm. The work cycle repeats itself except for one off weekday.

Every job has its challenges but to do it with a smile is winning the game of life.

Every hiccup in life also allows one to win at life by dealing with it calmly. The driver was a good example of one whose spirit was not dampened by a late work request.

From the truck, I noticed scenes which I otherwise would have missed.

There was a serene canal along Nicoll Highway with glistening water. There were many new shops and eateries along the road to the workshop which would not have been noticed driving each day in my car.

The vehicle was smoothly towed to the mechanic’s workshop where Rawa parked with military precision. I tipped him handsomely for his cheerful and professional service. Rawa’s face lighted up. 

He thanked me, took the pictures of the vehicle that he had safely delivered to the workshop and sent to his office as a report.

I handed my car key to the mechanic who subsequently diagnosed a flat battery the next day and fixed it.

Few years ago, I might have acted utterly annoyed at what happened.

I had made it a non event.  I am happy things turned out the way that  I wanted it to, no drama, racing of heart nor swearing.  Just a day of calm, unfazed by life’s little interruptions.

life’s snippet….. 25th August 2025

It was the first time that happened to me in the plane. Troubled over a personal matter, I had lost my focus and was dreamy.

This might be a trite matter to some people but it was an important social principle to me.

I was using the cabin’s washroom but had forgotten to lock, for the first time in my innumerable plane trips. While going about my business, a crew suddenly opened the door to which my quick reflexes slammed the door back, visibly hitting his body. I was embarrassed and angry with myself. It was purely my fault for forgetting to lock the door.

Nevertheless, after I came out, I saw him standing at the end of the section to see who was the ‘ violent’ passenger who had slammed the door on him. Then I saw him quickly drew the curtain and walked down the other alley, looking pissed and returned to the galley.

I paused for a while, gathered my thoughts and decided to extend my apology to him and to check if he had sustained any injury. I am a strong lady and had slammed hard on the door.

After looking for him, the crew in a white top, which I suspected was a cockpit crew, one of their team conceded he had brought up the matter. I mentioned that I wanted to apologize sincerely in person. Through the connecting phone, the crew said the flight team were busy preparing for landing so he would not be free to meet me. Apparently, he was all right but must have been still angry.

It was a matter of principle. I was wrong, the mistake was solely mine. I told the crew to ask him to forgive my unintended rudeness and the the crew responded with a lot of assurance.

I have learned not to be dreamy in any situation anymore. When one does something, one has to do it with full attention even if it is about using the washroom. It will never happen again.

I am glad that I approached this matter with a sincere apology though it was an embarrassing incident to bring up but words of apology can soothe the hurt caused to the person.

As for me, I felt relieved that I handled the matter without delay and not caused unhappiness to another person. I am happy that I had exercised courage. To face a situation where it needed to be put right. To be courageous with morality.

it’s natural to blunder along Life’s journey

August 9th 2025. 3 min read

Some years ago, my topic for the Humorous Speech Contest was ‘My Blunders’ .

I have made many blunders in my daily life with no real damage done to anyone except made some people laugh. This time is Blunders 2.

Where shall I start? Maybe from the start of my working life. At 18 after college, when I had no money to pursue my Uni studies, I knew the best paying job was an air stewardess job.

Back then, SQ was not an icon and the flights were limited to mostly Asia.

After training, we were given 5 trainee flights during which you could commit errors when flying solo.

Being the first time in the plane, I walked backwards when the plane taxied forward.

On one flight, I announced the wrong destination after the plane landed in Bangkok. It was a mindless moment and I quickly corrected myself. The passengers collectively heaved a sigh of relief after their exclamation.

On one flight in First Class, I spilled champagne on a. passenger as I was not steady. Fortunately, the passenger happened to be conversing with the training check personnel and she immediately pointed to my trainee badge. All was forgiven.

On one trip to Hong Kong, when I was still a newbie, I noticed my senior colleagues taking drinks even liquors before disembarking so I put a coca cola can on top of my opened hand carry bag.

It was not the right thing to do, but it was monkey see monkey do.

At the check in of the crew hotel, as I put my bag down, the Coca Cola can fell out. It started to roll across the marble lobby floor.

Imagine the drama with the sound of the rolling can while my crew members and I watched with trepidation and despair as it travelled some 10m and finally hit the polished shoe of my training supervisor.

He looked up, motioned me forward, and I knew that my career was over for sure. Instead, he leaned over and said, “Next time put it right into the bag!” Phew!

And there were many more but I would like to talk about my blunders in other settings.

As a young dental student, I remembered an incident involving an oral diagnosis on a patient. The patient had oral mucofibrosis which was a serious condition. It involves the mouth becoming very fibrous and limited his opening. It carried a risk of oral cancer.

When the Professor asked me what cure could be provided, I, an unthinking blundering lass said no cure!

Subsequently I was chided for being insensitive to which I have learned to become more tactful.

As they say “Folly belongs to the youth”.

It got more embarrassing. One day, a relative came to my in law’s house with her husband.

I mistook him for her son as he was dressed in a T shirt and kaki shorts. “Your son has grown” I said

“ This is my husband “. She said, looking annoyed.

“Oh, sorry your husband do look young in that outfit” but I was sure that did not help.

Let me be clear!

I am very careful when rendering treatment with no incidents but I blundered in trite matters that were laughable.

One day in my current practice, an old friend Leah whom I haven’t met for years said she would bring her maid for dental treatment.

When my dental assistant announced their arrival in the clinic, I went out and immediately hug her while she was seated at the sofa.

“ Leah, nice to see you!” Only to notice seconds later that Leah was standing at the counter, amused. Abashed, I turned to hug Leah, “Oh Leah, nice to see you” and tried to sweep the fiasco under the carpet by changing the subject. Leah’s eyes twinkled.

It happened again another time. My long time patient has brought a lady seated on my chair. As I turned around after washing my hands, I exclaimed, “ Oh your daughter has grown” , only to find out she was her Philippino helper. Embarrassed, I apologised realising the patient is only in her late thirties.

My most recent boo boo came in the form of a text message. I had sent a car to my son’s friend who owns a mechanic shop.

Subsequently, I sent a message to my son, Joe but it wrongly sent to his mechanic friend instead.

Text went like this;

“Dear, I would like to send you the massage cream for your backache. Also Cook the Japanese beef curry for you.”

It was later that I noticed the error and instantly corrected it;

“Sorry , I meant to send the message to my son for his backache🤣🤣🤣you must think I am a crazy Auntie and customer.”

His Reply; “Oh no I thought my dinner is settled tonight 😝”

My reply; “Hahaha🤣Have changed your contact from ‘Joe’s mechanic friend, Shaun’ to ‘Shaun, mechanic boss, Joe’s friend’ so I won’t see ‘Joe’ first.

I have since slowed down and filter my thoughts and actions.

Blunders will still happen as we are human. We could make light of these incidents if we share and laugh about them. Nothing to feel guilty about. As long as we learn from them and become more refined.

(For Blunders 1, search Blunders by Summer Lotus)