I urge you to take a break from people who don't allow you to grieve, and it's ok to tunnel vision for a short while, but leave the door to your tunnel ajar, for all our survival depends on that tiny sliver of hope, of light we allow, like a thread to keep us from getting lost in the forrest.

This post is a little drip-feed post of excerpts from my Dad’s unfinished memoirs. I’ll keep adding to it off and on. He died in 2018. Dad (Ramanathan Gopalkrishnan) was only 8 years old when war came to Penang in Malaysia in what we now call the ‘Indo-Pacific’. His father, my grandad, was assumed dead after not returning home after the 1941 bombing & occupation of Penang by the Japanese.

It came as a shock to many in my Australian multicultural network that not only was I born in England but I have identified with it throughout my entire life. It has shared a special place with my Indian and Chinese heritage of my parents, my connection to their Singaporean and Malaysian roots and formed my understanding of the flaws and pain caused by British colonialism… I have always been inspired by my father who transformed his experiences of colonialism through his deep faith,…

I tried to bake my way out of it, but it was just too hard this year without Dad. He had the sweet tooth:) I’m sure that he would have enjoyed these creative gingerbread cookies.