ROOTED is a reflective memoir about what remains when the identities a
woman has built - career, marriage, possessions, certainty and the role of
being strong - begin to fall away. Written from the middle of becoming rather
than from a polished finish line, it follows Zielda Zainuddin from a Malaysian
kampung into corporate meeting rooms, through motherhood, loss, silence
and the difficult work of returning to herself.
Across three interconnected parts - Rooted, Rooted in Silence and Rising
from the Roots - childhood memories sit beside adult reckonings. A doll
carried away by floodwater, a borrowed baju kurung, crowded trains, open
kampung doors, family meals, workplace pressure, grief and prayer become
part of one nonlinear search: what did we quietly trade away while we were
busy upgrading?
The book does not offer a formula for healing or claim religious authority.
Instead, it asks the reader to look honestly at loyalty, ambition, endurance, ego
and the stories we tell ourselves about strength. Its Malaysian details and
intentional Malay terms remain rooted in place, while its emotional questions
reach beyond it.
Ultimately, ROOTED is not a rejection of modern life, nor a retreat into
nostalgia. It is an inquiry into what deserves to be carried forward. As external
definitions shift or disappear, the deepest root becomes clearer: faith in Allah,
return to fitrah and the quiet knowledge that what is truly rooted can survive
the storm.
ROOTED is a reflective memoir about what remains when the identities a
woman has built - career, marriage, possessions, certainty and the role of
being strong - begin to fall away. Written from the middle of becoming rather
than from a polished finish line, it follows Zielda Zainuddin from a Malaysian
kampung into corporate meeting rooms, through motherhood, loss, silence
and the difficult work of returning to herself.
Across three interconnected parts - Rooted, Rooted in Silence and Rising
from the Roots - childhood memories sit beside adult reckonings. A doll
carried away by floodwater, a borrowed baju kurung, crowded trains, open
kampung doors, family meals, workplace pressure, grief and prayer become
part of one nonlinear search: what did we quietly trade away while we were
busy upgrading?
The book does not offer a formula for healing or claim religious authority.
Instead, it asks the reader to look honestly at loyalty, ambition, endurance, ego
and the stories we tell ourselves about strength. Its Malaysian details and
intentional Malay terms remain rooted in place, while its emotional questions
reach beyond it.
Ultimately, ROOTED is not a rejection of modern life, nor a retreat into
nostalgia. It is an inquiry into what deserves to be carried forward. As external
definitions shift or disappear, the deepest root becomes clearer: faith in Allah,
return to fitrah and the quiet knowledge that what is truly rooted can survive
the storm.
