Wordsmith at work

Hello there! I’m your humble zip, holding things together as you get on with your day. I’m but two rows of perfectly lined-up metal or plastic teeth waiting to meet. I’ve been tested quite a few times before I’m fitted with your clothes, bags, pouches, and other belongings. I’ve travelled the world stitched to your essentials. A jacket zipped against the cold, a dress fastened by someone for someone, and a suitcase packed and zipped (secured) before a journey. I hear you curse when I get stuck or rejoice when I slide smoothly on trousers, a bag, or a dress. I’ve been tugged in haste or yanked in frustration, or you’ve almost died of embarrassment when you realise that I’ve been left undone. After considerable use, I may get worn out. My teeth are misaligned, or my track comes loose. Then you choose to discard and replace me or repair me. Such is life. So the next time you tug my little head, remember, I’m holding on for you, one tooth at a time, giving you comfort and confi...

  Youth   It’s me, 'youth,' visiting you. I see that you’re not doing too badly even after I’ve left. Good for you. My earliest memories are of living with the cherub that you were. I was your first cry, your first steps, your babble, and scraped knees. I lived in your curiosity and your chatter. Then I grew into an adolescent. I’m rebellious and difficult to control. Emotions rage within me—pride, anger, delight, and embarrassment. I’m always searching for an identity of my own. It’s me, youth at my difficult best during the adolescent years. I’m also fast, bright, and energetic. It's when I live in you that you may make mistakes and be given some life lessons. On the whole, I’m meant to be lived and enjoyed. All too soon, I slip through your fingers. One day I’m there, and the next I’m gone. I’m just cherished memories, nostalgia, or stories you tell. You may desperately try to cling to me, but I say, “Age gracefully." There’s a beauty and charm to agei...

    Hello! We’ve met on a few occasions. Hope you are well. I’m your X-ray machine, stationed in hospitals and diagnostic centers. I’m a silent observer, seeing and revealing to human eyes what human eyes are unable to see and reveal. I’m a web of wires, connections, plates, and invisible light. I may appear cold, clinical, and metallic to you, but I bring clarity and healing. Every day, I watch people walk in. Some are in pain, others anxious yet hopeful, some utterly nervous, and a few are trying to be brave. If I could, I would tell them that knowing is always better than not knowing. I’m just a machine. I cannot speak. As they stand before me, I do what I was made to do. I capture the irregularities; sometimes there are none. I capture that, too, and reveal it all to the doctors. I ask you to be still to get an accurate picture. Bones, lungs, joints.I see them all.  Nothing misses me. I don’t judge or comment. I simply state the facts. I’ve been help...

      It’s summer, so you must be getting thirsty quite often. I’m here to hydrate you and have a little tête-à-tête with you. I’m water. I have existed for a very long time and have no beginning. I’m not sure about my end, either. I’m the silvery odourless liquid that flows through your taps and with which you cannot do without. You require me to cook, wash, clean, bathe, and quench your thirst. I’m food for your plants and crops. I’m also your tears and sweat.   I have no shape and carry the shape of whatever holds me—the clouds, lakes, rivers, pots, and pans. As for sounds, I burble as a stream. You can hear me trickle from a tap, babble in a brook, bubble in a pot, roar as the ocean, and rumble as a waterfall. I can be gentle and calming or angry and destructive. I’m a giver and taker, creator and destroyer. I change from liquid to vapour to ice, a cycle that connects the sky, earth, and sea. You panic when you don’t see me flow from your taps; ...

    Life happens. As we navigate the storms and sunshine, we are often faced with choices between right and wrong. What principles and values do we choose to live our lives by? Here, values talk a little about themselves.  Hello! It’s us, your values, calling on you! A child is born, and she is raised. As she grows, we enter her life through the gentle yet firm voices she hears, the hands she holds, and the stories she is told. Stories about courage, honesty, resilience, and integrity. She is encouraged to live by us and to practise us. But we are not truly real until life tests us. To tell that comfortable lie or be plain honest, to cheat on the test and pass, or to simply bear the consequences of not studying enough. It is in these moments that we come alive…because in the end, it is not what you believe but what you practice that matters.    The little girl changes as she grows. Does she discard us or keep us close? Her actions and words will ...

  Hello! It’s me, your umbrella, popping in for a chat. We never see each other until the monsoon arrives or you can't bear the sun in May.  I was born in a factory, stitched together with fabric, and stretched over eight slender ribs of steel. I was created to protect you against the blazing sun and the rain. I'm your constant companion in the monsoon.  I have siblings in varying sizes and colours, and we are all foldable. We are also known as a parasol, or fondly as 'brolly.' You station me behind a door, hang me on a peg or tuck me away in your bag, and I wait to be of service to you. When you unfurl me, I open up into a canopy of safety, protecting you from drizzles, downpours, or the blazing sun. I dislike the wind because that naughty chap plays games with me. He turns me inside out, and I feel sorry to see you struggling to make me right. I feel humiliated, and there is nothing more pathetic than an umbrella turned inside out. I feel so touched ...

  Trust builds the bridge that carries every relationship.   I’m trust that invisible thread that you humans weave among yourselves when you believe in each other’s goodness and don’t expect betrayal. I’m built slowly. One action, promise, or secret at a time. Then, when you reach the required comfort level, I’m present between you. I’m all about connectivity, reliability, honesty, and protection. Once present, I must be nurtured because I’m fragile. A wrong word or action or lie wounds me deeply and may eventually kill me. There are times when you place me with the wrong people, and then you are disappointed or wronged.   I’m built into friendships, families, workplaces, love, and even in yourselves. If you keep me strong, I can take you through the harshest of storms. I’m the hand that you reach out for. Once I’m lost, finding and rebuilding me is difficult. Yet I observe you give it another shot. I’ve watched you rebuild me slowly and steadily.  I’m ...