Where Paradise Is...

I was travelling back from Ipoh to KL on a Transnational bus earlier today. It's been a while since I undertook a long journey on a bus, so I was not looking forward to it, honestly. But the bus was one of those newly-designed luxury coaches whose seats reminded you of the aisle on an airplane.

Anyway, there were three people seated near me. From the looks of it they were family. The old woman, I assume, was the mother and the two men with her were her sons. They had the same features, and the two men got their cheekbones from mom. Nothing was extraordinary about them, just a family travelling together on a bus.

Halfway through the journey, the mother decided to have a light lunch. She took out a bun and I thought she was just going to enjoy her share. Instead, she split the bun into three portions and handed out one portion to her son sitting behind her and the other portion to the son sitting in front of her, and she did this with a preciseness that you get from doing something which you have been accustomed to all your life. I was mesmerized. It was almost funny too since her two sons were full grown men, and the one sitting in front was a monk. But no matter what you become in your life, Mom will forever be Mom. She will never forget her responsibility to feed her children when the time comes, even if you are a monk. It was a funny sight but at the same time, it touched me very deeply.

There is a saying which goes "Paradise is underneath the soles of a mother's feet". I guess it's true...