Lewis Carroll's Alice('s Adventures) in Wonderland...

Alice
If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?

I was 10 when I first read Alice by myself – well, the children version of it, of course. But back then I was too fascinated with the idea of a potion that can make ppl shrink & a cake that can make ppl grow so big, bigger than the normal size. And at that young age, nothing is more mind-boggling than the idea of having to swim through your own tears ;p haha! If you know how sad I was as a child then you’ll know how freaky this is to me back then.

So, 4 years went by and I found myself stuck in a rundown all-girls hostel back in my hometown. I was 14, trying to adjust living in a smaller, quiter town and yeah in that rundown hostel. I don’t quite know the ppl there at first so, I often sit & read in the hostel’s library during my free time. For some reason, the first book I picked up was Alice in the Wonderland – the adult or rather the full version of it.

One thing about this book, no matter how many times you read it – yes, it’ll be the same ol’story – but it will somehow gave you different effects & interpretation according to the situation you’re in at that point of time.

As a child, this book really piqued my curiosity & has made me that imaginative little girl that I used to be. Curiouser and curiouser! :)

But as a 14 years old, the same book made me embrace my independence, that it’s actually okay for me to go out alone & have adventures of my own. The weirdness of the surrounding with odd strangers around didn’t scare me at all becoz I knew wherever I go, whatever I do, it'll always gonna be a new, exciting chapter of my life experience.

Then I’ve read Alice again somewhere in 2005, right after graduation. I was in a major crossroad of my life, I didn’t really know what to do with my so-called future at that point of time. There’s a part that I love so much in that book back then, when Alice asked the Cheshire Cat which way to go from there. The Cat replied, “If you do not know where you are going then any road will take you there.” Or that’s the summarized version of the whole conversation, that is ;p But what I’ve learned from this, no matter if you don’t know what to do next in your life, you’re free to try anything coz any road will take you to your ultimate goal, even when it was unknown at that point of time.

Then, I’ve read it again recently while bouncing back from one of the lowest point of my life (closest frens should know abt this very well ;p).
It’s another conversation between Alice & the Cheshire Cat as well. But last time, the words didn’t get through me as effectively as it was later on.

Alice: What sort of ppl live about here?
The Cat: In that direction lives a Hatter, and in that direction lives a March. Visit either you like: they’re both mad.
Alice: But I don’t want to go among mad ppl.
The Cat: Oh, you can’t help that, we’re all mad here. I’m mad, you’re mad.
Alice: How do you know I’m mad?
The Cat: You must be. Or you wouldn’t have come here.

Alice: And how do you know that you're mad?

The Cat: To begin with, a dog's not mad. You grant that?

Alice: I suppose so.

The Cat: Well then, you see a dog growls when it's angry and wags its tail when it's pleased. Now I growl when I'm pleased & wag my tail when I'm angry. Therefore I'm mad.

So, moral of the story, we’re all mad in our own way but most ppl nowadays tend to be judgmental towards each other without taking a step back & evaluate their own madness instead ;) lalala~

Anywaiz, read it ppl, you’ll be surprised what sorts of interpretation you’ll get from the same, ever-beloved book. It's a bookful of philosophy and enthralling absurdity but if you carefully decode the inner-meaning of it you can learn so much from it. Else, kalau malas juz wait for the movie, IMHO Johnny Depp makes the most perfect Mad Hatter. Dun you think?

P/S: Fave / over-used phrase:- You gotta be as mad as a Hatter ;)