Letchumi

This is a story of a Malaysian academician,
Whose name is Letchumi,
She lives in Petaling Jaya,
And teaches at a local university,
She was born in Sentul,
Grew up in Brickfields,
In full view, cool,
Of Keretapi Tanah Melayu,
Her father was a station master,
When Malaya was classed in the colonial cluster.

She lives in a single storey bungalow,
With a large compound in Section 5, PJ,
Bought in a year when the ringgit was $2.50
to the US dollar for RM25K,
Now she won't sell it for a million.

She has many friends and reliatives,
Her three children are all grown up,
Living in Australia and Canada,
Her parents have passed away,
Her husband is a professor at Singapore U,
An old BMW sits idle in the garage,


She prefering to drive her new Suzuki Swift,
The Swift is easier to park and easier to drive, she says,
Her bungalow is full of keepsakes,
Mementoes of a full life,
Half opened gift packages,
Unused electrical gadgets,
Six wardrobes of dresses, shoes and oddments
She doesn't know what to do with them
She is still attached to them to be given or thrown away.

With a degree in anthropology and communication theory,
She understands herself and others
She has a collection of mobile phones and computers,
Bluetoothed and wiredup to the Internet,
But towards the end of her tenureship,
She is turning into a recluse
All wired up but no one she particularly wants to call,
All dressed up and nowhere to go.