Maybe I’ll be born into a well to do family. Maybe my parents will be beautiful people, wearing themselves out to serve others. Maybe I’ll be the younger brother that the daughter of the family always wanted. My family will shower me with love and fulfill my every need. My sister will spend so much time with me, shaping my thoughts and behavior. My parents will allow me to learn a musical instrument, and I will delve deep into the world of music and come to enjoy music as a part of my life. They will teach me the rights and wrongs of the world, and to be kind to those less fortunate than I am, even going so far as to give me a name which symbolizes kindness and forgiveness. My parents will send me to a good school, as they know the importance of a good education.

I’ll grow up into a healthy boy and start to attend school, where I will make many new friends. I will come to like and dislike some teachers. Then, I will have my own group of friends and I will do everything with them; eating, playing games, studying, laughing, crying, and so much more. And then we’ll graduate from primary school, where we’ll be separated when enrolling in secondary school but I won’t cry one bit. I will continue on my secondary education, eventually forgetting some of my friends and meeting new ones who will come to replace them. I will make some rivals in school, and we will encourage each other to study hard and achieve good results in the exams. I will be entrusted with some leadership posts in clubs, and strive to make my club better than all the others. I will get my own brothers and sisters in school and we’ll be inseparable; staying over at each others' homes, going on holidays together, and spending our days happily together. Maybe one day I will have a fated encounter with a girl and start going out with her. I will have so much fun spending time with her, helping each other out, and eventually falling in love. Maybe I’ll get teased by my friends sometimes but we will just laugh it off.

Maybe I will represent my school in a competition. I will work very hard and make my school proud, even if I lost. Maybe I will represent my nation to another country, showing off our wonderful culture and hospitality to the world. Maybe some teachers will disagree with the way I do things and try to punish me. Maybe there will be teachers who will vouch for me too. Of course, there will be my group of friends who will have my back. In my final year of secondary school, maybe my friends and I will pull all-nighters together to study for the final exams. Maybe we will not get a chance to study much but joke with each other instead but none of us will come to regret that in the end. I might break down and cry on the last day of secondary school as I will eventually be separated from my alternate family, or maybe I will face that day with a smile on my face as I hug each of my friends and wish them all the best in their life. I will thank all my teachers for tolerating and teaching me for through my secondary school life. I will try to spend as much time as I can with my friends before they leave to continue their tertiary education.

Maybe my friends and I will all score with flying colours when the results are announced, maybe some of us might miss our targets and cry but no matter what happens we will still look forward and face the world. Eventually, all of us will go our separate ways and meet new people. Even so, I will still remember them for making my school life a joy. Maybe I will be the last person to enroll in a college where I will spend the next five or more years pursuing a degree or masters certificate. Maybe I will miss my friends terribly, or maybe I will find new friends to spend my time with.

Maybe I will become a world renowned doctor, travelling around the globe to save lives. Maybe I will be the most sought-after engineer, creating wonders and mega structures for the world to marvel at. Maybe I will be an officer in the army, risking my life to protect the country I love so much. No matter what I become, though, I will hold strong to my principles in life and become a good person like my parents want me to. I will work hard and get the recognition of my superiors. Eventually, I will be one of the leaders at my workplace. Maybe there will be some people who will try to pull me down or slander me but I will not hold a grunge against them. I will keep working honestly.

Maybe I will get engaged and married to my high school sweetheart after working for a few years. I will buy a beautiful house near my parents’ and we will live happily. I will become a father one day and I will teach my children to be kind and strong, to be sincere in their work, to be honest in their words and to persevere while in hardships. I will watch as they grow up to be magnificent people and meet great friends.

Some day, I will retire from my work. Maybe I will take up music then, composing songs only for my family to hear. Maybe I’ll join philanthropic societies, and volunteer to help others. Maybe I will publish books for the world to read, stories of my experiences or epics from the depths of my mind, where fantastic things happen. Eventually, I have to rely on my children to take care of me as age would have taken its toll on me. Maybe I will pass on with a smile on my face, leaving no regrets in the world. Yes, that seems about right. Maybe I will do that.

-Terence

Last week, my grandmother invited my family and I over to her house for dinner. I was excited to go there because my grandmother was an excellent chef at traditional cuisine. Besides that, whenever she invites us over instead of us going there without her invitation, she has probably prepared, or is preparing a truly luxurious meal and will go out of her way to make some of our favourite dishes. It was my luck, that night, that she decided to cook the traditional nasi lemak while adding her own twist to it, which was my favourite Malaysian dish.

When we arrived there, we were gracefully ushered inside by my grandmother's personal maid. The dishes and cups were all laid out neatly on the table and we were asked to wait a moment while the food was being prepared.

Shortly after that, the first dish was served. It was also the main food, nasi lemak. It was hand-made-home-prepared nasi lemak. It was the bona fide nasi lemak of nyonya origin. I can't begin to describe just how delicious it was. It was soft... yet chewy. It had a sweet smelling pandan fragrance. Even the steam that wafted from it screamed delicious. I sank my spoon into the rice, lifted it up and put it into my already watering mouth. I closed my eyes as I savoured the taste, texture and aroma. I chewed ever so slowly and my body tingled as I swallowed it. I had to exercise great willpower to prevent myself from taking another mouthful just yet, as more dishes were being served within moments.

Then, there were the customary anchovies. I mean, which nasi lemak is complete without them? They were crispy and crunchy, fried to a beautiful golden brown. Even as the plate was being laid down on the table, I could hear the crispy layer scraping each other and the sound of the sizzling oil, creating a most pleasing melody to all present at the table. I picked one up slowly, placed it between my incisors and bit down carefully. Half of it landed on my tongue, and immediately I could taste the slightly salty flavour of the fish as well as it's satisfying crunch as I chewed it more.

The next thing on the menu was the fried water convolvulus. In local language, the kangkung. It doesn't seem as impressive when called kangkung, does it? However, the taste is still the same, and so goes the saying "that which we call a rose would be just as sweet by any other name", or "that which we call a kangkung would be just as tasty by any other name", considering the situation. At any rate, they were simply delicious. They were crunchy, as they should be, and I don't know how or what my grandmother did to make them different from others, but they were very flavourful. Not to mention that they were not only extremely fresh, but they were right out of the frying pan to boot. These kangkung were the cream of the crop, the best I've eaten so far, that's for sure.

I caught a whiff of the next dish even before it came out of the kitchen. I shook with excitement from just the thought of it: my grandmother's famous specialty sambal. It could make me scream for water, yet I just can't help myself from pouring more on my rice or even eat it on it's own. It is that delicious. As an added bonus, there were king prawns added into it that time, not that I fancy those crustaceans very much. Of course, there were a lot of onions in the sambal, cooked to perfection: soft, yet still able to provide a bite. The sambal itself was the thing I loved most. It was unimaginably spicy, as always, slightly sweet and also a little salty. It had a beautiful red coloured surface owing to the oil on it. A perfect match for any meal. Having sambal as one of Malaysia's primary side dishes is one of the reasons why I love this country so much.

I heard the next dish being fried in the wok as I impatiently twiddled my thumbs while waiting. The scent of it only made me more hungry, as my patience slowly edged to its limit. Finally, after what seemed like forever, it was taken out of the kitchen. A plate full of fried chicken, cooked a la nyonya with all its spices. I felt like I was experiencing withdrawal symptoms from all the waiting. My hands were shivering and sweating, my eyes eyed the plate of chicken like how a predator would when waiting for its prey. I licked my lips as the dish was finally placed on the table. The chicken was still sizzling hot, so hot in fact that a small area above it became distorted. It was dark brown, with bits of garlic scattered on top of it. I took a piece of chicken and put it on my place. The moment my fork pierced the crispy skin, its juice oozed out. I couldn't wait any longer, and brought it to my mouth to be relished in all its glory.

I arranged the various food on my plate. It was a work of fine art; the rice in the middle, a large helping of the sambal to its left, some kangkung on top of it, just beside that were the anchovies and on the right was a piece of fried chicken. I was on cloud nine just thinking about how lucky I was to be able to eat food like these on a regular basis. I ate whatever was on my plate and then took seconds and more top-ups after that until every single dish was licked clean off their plates. I was not surprised that I could eat so much, since no matter how full I felt, once I poured another spoonful of sambal on my plate, everything seemed to go down just fine. Let's not count how many glasses of water I drank that night, too.