A blast from the past

I hope readers would pardon me for indulging in a bit of nostalgia. Around this time thirty years ago, I boarded an aeroplane for the first time in my life, to fly to the land of our colonial masters. I am inspired to write about old times after seeing the photo album that my pal Badique (see previous post) created in his Facebook profile. The album is a collection of scanned photographs of his post-MRSM days while studying in the United Kingdom. I am in some of those photos.

It was sometime in December 1979 that I first met this friend of mine. I had arrived at MRSM Seremban to attend an orientation program being held by Mara for students selected to study in England. I arrived alone and didn't know anybody at Seremban. I wasn't sure who else from my school were selected. It was quite a hectic period because we had only just sat for our MCE exams the previous month and hardly had time to enjoy the break. Mara contacted the selected students by way of telegram. Back then, only the rich had telephones at home. Internet or emails were non-existent yet.

I was trudging up the slope to the entrance gate of MRSM Seremban when a guy in front of me looked back and asked where I come from.

`Dari Johor Bahru,' I replied. I was actually staying in Singapore at the time but I wanted to avoid explaining things too much.

`Sekolah mana dulu?' he continued to ask.

MRSM Kuantan, was my reply.

`Aku sekolah kat sini dulu,' he gestured to the place we were heading to. `Meh kita daftar sama... kalau nasib baik mungkin boleh dapat bilik lama aku.'

And thus was the beginning of my friendship with Badique, an ex-MRSM Seremban student. I can't remember how many students attended the orientation but it was quite a sizeable number. We were to be sent to a number of colleges in the UK in early January to do A-levels. It so happened that Badique and I were to be sent to the same college in London.

After the orientation, all of us had to make haste and carry out errands. We had to apply for our international passports, convert money to traveler's cheques and pound sterling, buy thick sweaters and jackets to face the cold English winter etc, etc, etc. In the midst of doing all these, we need to find the time to say good-bye to family and relatives.

The process of applying for an international passport those days is a bit more complicated than today. Among the requirements is for your application to be endorsed by someone of standing in your community, namely your penghulu kampung (village headman), your wakil rakyat (Member of Parliament), or a high-ranking officer in the civil service. Being a resident of Singapore, I did not know any penghulu or MP or civil service officer. I could ask for the help of relatives in JB but I was already in Kuala Lumpur at the time... no time to go back. Luckily, I had a cousin in KL who knew certain top people. He took me to meet the then Parliamentary Secretary of the Federal Territories Ministry, a certain Haji Abdullah Bin Haji Ahmad Badawi, whose office was located within PKNS Building at Jalan Raja Laut. Abang Man, my cousin, simply addressed the officer as Che Lah, and politely asked for his help to endorse my passport application. Che Lah looked at me and asked where I was going. I told him, to the UK for further studies. He reminded me to study hard and make sure I come back and help serve the nation.

My first international passport. Photo of a young man not yet eighteen.

The first UK student visa with date of arrival at Heathrow Airport

Our group of London-bound students left Malaysia to arrive smack in the freezing UK winter on 11 January 1980. I believe there were around 30 of us in the flight, consisting of students who intend to study Accountancy, Pharmacy and Engineering. Upon touching down at Heathrow, we were first taken to the Mara Hostel at Leinster Square in the Bayswater area of London. After a briefing and a short rest, we were divided into groups based on the college where Mara had enrolled us.

Thirteen of us, including Badique and myself, were sent to a college in Greenwich called the Centre for Business Studies or CBS for short. It was the first time Mara is sending students there, hence we were sort of guinea pigs to find out if the college is good enough. CBS is a private college that takes mainly overseas students who want to pursue diplomas in business studies, banking and stuff like that. GCE A-level classes form a small part of their curriculum.

The overseas students were overwhelmingly Africans... prompting us to remark that the place is `penuh dengan gagak'. It was not a good place to study, at least not for A-levels. I didn't learn very much while I was there. I was practically enjoying myself most of the time. We would spend most weekends exploring London. The West End, Oxford Street, Trafalgar Square and Hyde Park are among our favourite haunts. Not that the allowance Mara gave us was lavish but we had to teach ourselves how to spend wisely. To save money, cooking at home is a must. I can still remember buying cow's liver (the cheapest meat available) with such regularity that the halal-butcher would instantly know what I want the moment I step into his shop. London is an expensive city... then and now.

With college-mate Adzim, feeding pigeons at Trafalgar Square. Still to rediscover this friend since separating after A-levels.

We reported to Mara of the poor quality of teaching staff at the college and requested that we be transferred elsewhere. At the end of six months, Mara took us out of the place and registered us at Aston College in Wrexham, North Wales for our second year of A-levels. Aston College had been a favourite institution for placement of Malaysian students for many years.

The autumn of 1980 saw the group of 13 young men being sent to a place where the people speak an entirely different language. We joined our fellow Malaysian friends who had been there much earlier and add to an already sizeable Malay student population in Wrexham.

After a game of football in Wrexham. Can't remember most of the guys now. Yours truly is at the back row in the blue and black striped shirt. Badique is to my left.

Life in the small town of Wrexham is certainly very much different from the city of London but interesting in its own kind of way. But I'll leave these stories to tell for another day.

Two birthdays. One, happy... the other, not so

There are times when someone would come up to you wanting to tell good news and bad news, and you're then asked which one you would like to hear first. This post is somewhat like that. I'll start with the good news...

1. Monday, 18 January 2010

On this date nineteen years ago, my second son was born. Harith or Angah as we affectionately call him, left the comfort of his mother's womb without too much complication. When I first set sight on him, I was a bit surprised that he didn't look much like his elder brother. His skin was very fair and his facial features were more Chinese than Malay. My wife even had to ask the maternity nurse if the baby really was her son.

At that time, I joked with my wife that if she had managed to delay the delivery by one day, our second son would have a lovely number as his birthday, 19.01.1991. She tersely replied, `Kalau dah nak terberanak tu, mana boleh tahan-tahan!'

Angah at 11 months, Taman Cempaka, Johor Bahru.

I happened to be at our Kuala Lumpur Head Office on Monday and so took the opportunity to treat my son for a birthday dinner later that night. Before leaving the office at around 6pm, I sent him a text message about the dinner plan and for him to invite his room-mates as well.

It was raining very heavily in Kuala Lumpur as I drove out of the city on the DUKE highway heading to Shah Alam. The rain however dried up as I reached PJ area.

Upon reaching UiTM, I was surprised that five of Angah's friends wanted to come along. As long as the five of them are willing to squeeze in the back seat of my car, I am more than happy to treat them all to dinner. We went to Restoran Tasik Indah, the seafood restaurant located by the lake in the middle of Shah Alam town.

It was quite a sumptious meal and delicious too. We had fish, squid, prawns, lala, tom yam and bean curd. You can see the delight in the faces of the young men as they heartily tucked in the food. The plates were all wiped clean... and that made me very happy indeed.

Angah (3rd from left) and his room-mates in the after-dinner pose

During the meal, some of Angah's friends asked me about career advice and I was glad to impart some. I can see that they are all good boys and I wish them all the success in their studies.


2. Wednesday, 20 January 2010

One of the real advantages to sign up on Facebook is the ability to re-connect with long-lost friends. In the middle of December last year, I received an add friend request from someone whom I knew from our A-level years in the UK.

I first met this friend in December 1979 at MRSM Seremban when we attended the orientation that Mara held for students selected to go overseas for further studies. He introduced himself by the nickname of Badik, or as I later found out, he likes to spell out in the stylised form of Badique. In Malay, badik is a small knife primarily used as a weapon. How he chose (or was bestowed) this nickname was not revealed.

Four close pals in Wrexham, North Wales, UK circa 1980.
L to R : Khairil, Shahrin, Oldstock and Badique.

Apparently Badique had read my blog and knew that I frequently come to Shah Alam to visit my son in college. He left a message on my FB profile, inviting me to drop by his place at Section 30 for teh tarik anytime I'm again in the area.

Yesterday, I took the opportunity to do just that but I did not inform him beforehand, preferring to make it a surprise visit. He has his house address written as Taman Aisya in Kg. Jalan Kebun at Section 30, Shah Alam. I searched Google Maps but Taman Aisya is nowhere to be found. Jalan Kebun itself stretches for a few kilometres and simply driving along without any pointers would be too time-consuming. I then recalled a reply that Badique made to one of his friend's comments on a photo of his house... something about the house being located at the end of Jalan Haji Abdul Aziz. Another refined search of the map revealed a possible location and I decided that it was good enough. I could have simply called up my friend to ask for directions but I'm always game for a bit of adventure.

I headed out of KL using KESAS highway and easily located the Jalan Kebun exit. From there, it was just simply trial and error. I found my friend's house soon enough, based on the photo he had posted in his FB profile.

Apart from wanting to meet a friend I last saw in 1986, there is another reason why I really need to see him.

Badique is suffering from bone cancer. As I stepped into my friend's house yesterday afternoon, he was really surprised to see me but even after lapse of 24 years, he instantly recognised me. On my part however, seeing my friend in a frail condition immediately saddens my heart. Badique could not stand or walk properly without the aid of crutches. But he hides his suffering bravely and he remained in high spirits throughout our conversation.

For nearly two hours we chat about old times, about old friends we have lost touch, about re-discovering each other in Facebook, about our jobs both previous and present, and about our kids. We talked a bit about the cancer, but not much.

The cancer started at his pelvic bone but how far it has spread, he didn't say. And I didn't have the heart to ask. Badique has declined the conventional treatment of chemotherapy. He believes in alternative medication and is trying out remedies on a few fronts.

Today, the 20th of January, my friend Bahruzzaman Abdul Kadir a.k.a. Badique is 48-years old. Happy birthday, my brother. I pray to Allah swt for the success in your treatment and recovery. I hope to be meeting you again at your next birthday with you hale and hearty, insyaAllah.

Relax kejap...

I guess it is quite normal for the beginning of the new year to be a busy time for most folks. The whole country is mired in this unnecessary religious tension relating to the name that one should use to call one's God. I would like to share my views on this issue too... but it would require a bit of extra thought, time and care to write about something that is sensitive to many people. Maybe later, I think... when things have cooled down a bit.

For now, let's relax and enjoy a piece from my Lawak Santai collection. Credit for the joke goes to rosary_razz at cari.com.my.

Minah, oh Minah...

Alkisah di sebuah kampung Tirai Malam (malam jarang pakai tirai kan..hehehe), tinggalah sepasang suami isteri yang memiliki seorang anak dara yang cun gila wa cakap…

Namanya Minah...tapi ilmu kurang sikit.. hehehe.. biasa la setiap insan ada kekurangan dan kelebihan masing-masing. Tahap air laut la kemasinannya... Minah ni memang menjadi siulan jejaka-jejaka dan jantang miang kat kampung tu tapi sikitpun tak diendahkan.

Si Minah ni berjiran dengan Lebai Aji dan Mak Aji yang mempunyai seorang teruna yang alim lagi warak dan muda remaja. Maka kedua-dua keluarga pun menyatukanlah mereka berdua dalam upacara gilang gemilang.

Selepas semuanya selesai.. maka keesokannya mak Minah ni dok la kat dapur sembang-sembang sambil bagi nasihat kat anaknya yang baru kahwin tu…

Emaknya : Beruntung kau Minah dapat kawing ngan si Mamat tu.. bukan saja hansom tapi baik...warak budaknya.. pot pet pot pet, mak Minah ni dok puji menantu dia.

Minah : Baik apanya... semalam dia selak kain Minah!


Stay cool you all... don't let a few mindless jerks spoil the harmony that we all enjoy :-)

The first departure in 2010

On the morning of Sunday 3rd January 2010, I received a call from my sister in Singapore informing me of our uncle's demise. It was a good thing that we decided to come home the night before after sending our son back to college in Shah Alam, otherwise we might have missed the burial.

My uncle's departure is not unexpected. He had been suffering from heart and kidney ailments for quite some time. I last met him during Aidilfitri celebrations in September last year. Although the death occurred more than a week ago, I want to post about it because there are two related topics that I wish to write about. The first is more for personal reflection while the other is for general information.

1. Strengthening family ties

In Johor (and perhaps Melaka too), there are many families similar to mine who have relatives on both sides of the Causeway. This is hardly surprising because Singapore used to be part of Malaysia not too long ago. Before that, both countries were British colonies.

My mother originally comes from Pontian in Johor. When she married my father, the family moved to Singapore. A few of my mother's sisters also did the same and even took up Singaporean citizenship. Some of my mom's siblings remained on the Malaysian side. I therefore have about equal number of relatives on either side. If you are to count the cousins, the second-cousins, the nephews and nieces, it would be a large number indeed.

As is the norm, the extended family members would get to meet each other once in a while during the standard occassions, i.e. weddings, funerals and Hari Raya. Not all family members come under the `close and cordial' category. There are of course some of us who prefer to remain distant, either by choice or by design. That's the nature of human beings, I guess. Some people prefer to be left alone.

In this respect, I have observed that my Singaporean relatives are more cordial than those from Johor. Whenever a Johor family member holds a wedding, many of the Singaporean cousins make the effort to attend. Sadly, it's not quite the same the other way round. I have heard many excuses but the main one is always, `takde passport nak pergi Singapura.' Granted that it costs a few hundred bucks to apply for a passport but if you do use such an excuse, it just shows how much value you place in the importance of forging close family relationships. And my Johor cousins are not desperately poor people either!

Such an excuse was again heard when news of my uncle's death was being passed around. Being based in JB, I became a sort of point-man to relay the news to relatives in Johor and other parts of Malaysia. Those who stay in distant places such as KL and Shah Alam are not expected to come but I would've thought the ones in Johor Bahru could've easily crossed the border. A few came... but many more did not, mostly citing the sorriest excuse ever.

Entahlah... dah tak tahu nak nasihat macam mana lagi...

2. The need to recycle

In one of my earlier posts in July last year, I touched on this subject of Muslim burials in Singapore. The common burial ground for Singaporean Muslims is called Pusara Aman, located on the western side of the island.

Since the past few years, the authorities have revamped the burial plots by constructing pre-cast concrete chambers or boxes laid out in a grid system, each plot assigned a unique number. This way, all the plots have the exact same dimensions and are neatly positioned with no waste of intermediate space.

When the time comes for burial of a body, the lid of the chamber is lifted out using a small mobile crane to reveal a 6-ft deep cavity whose base is lined with sand. The body is then placed on the bottom and another small backhoe fills the chamber with red earth till about half-way level. The final prayers are then said and family members say their last good-byes. When everyone has left, the cemetery workers would later top-up the earth to full level and re-install the lid. Quick and efficient. Not a single cangkul in sight.

Fifteen years later, the remains would be exhumed and grouped together with the remains from seven other plots for re-burial at a smaller space elsewhere. The original plot can be re-used for another body.

Empty plots prepared well in advance

Lifting the lid off from one of the chambers

The eldest grandson saying final prayers for his grandfather

As I have mentioned before, trust the Singaporeans to come up with ingenious ways to solve their limited space problems. I don't think we'll see such a system in use in Malaysia anytime soon but it is something worth considering for overbuilt urban areas such as Kuala Lumpur.

Buat Allahyarham Ayahanda Supian Bin Ahmad, semuga Allah swt mencucuri rahmat ke atas roh ayahanda dan ditempatkan di kalangan orang-orang yang beriman. Amin.

Meeting old friends in the new year

Another obvious sign that you are reaching the veteran phase of your life is when close friends of your age-group start to marry off their kids. You get invited to their wedding receptions and then start to ponder on when you would be holding such receptions for your own children.

We were in Kuala Lumpur on the 1st of January, to attend the wedding reception of the daughter of a close friend. The reception was held at the newly-built Dewan Serbaguna Taman Tasik Ampang Hilir, just off Jalan Ampang. Tasik Ampang Hilir used to be an anomaly of sorts some time ago. The lake, which I presume to be an old mining pool like many others in and around the Klang Valley, is located in an area bordering Ampang/KL. On one side of the lake, you find upmarket dwellings that include expensive bungalows and residence of foreign ambassadors. On another side, there used to be crammed squatter houses that were visible to traffic plying the MRR2.

The squatters have since been relocated and the lake surroundings were developed into a scenic public recreational park by Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur. The park is now becoming popular venue among Ampang and Pandan residents as place to jog, picnic and in this case, hold wedding receptions.

Groom and Bride

The beauty of attending such receptions is the opportunity to meet old friends that we have not met for years. This time was no different. There was a sort of small gathering of ex-colleagues who all used to work in an organisation in Johor. All of us left the organisation many years ago to pursue separate career paths. But the close friendship still remain.

Old comrades... literally. L to R : Khushairi Hashim, Fadzullah Hassan (father of the bride), Fadhil Isma a.k.a. Oldstock, Hj. Azman Kassim.

Two old couples smiling for the camera. These friends of ours are parents to the young lady who underwent surgery to correct the scoliosis condition that I wrote about here -> Mending a deformed backbone.

Translation skills

This first post of the new year is so late in coming...

An uncle of mine passed away on Sunday morning so we had to rush to Singapore. We just got back from KL the night before.

I was thinking of writing something about the sad occasion but perhaps on a later day. For now, just a simple post about some signs I saw on my travels.

Pic 1 : Bbeteng Restaurant at Taman Tamaddun Islam in KT

Pic 2 : Menu at Bbeteng

Pic 3 : Notice at Jusco Setiawangsa

The first photo is the entrance of Bbeteng Restaurant at the new Taman Tamaddun Islam in Kuala Terengganu, where the Crystal Mosque is located. Nothing interesting in this pic except for the banner proclaiming a special `Menu Musim Bah' that was on offer. It is an introduction to the next photo which shows the restaurant menu... where Keropok Lekor is translated as `Deep fried fish farce'. Hmmm....

The third photo is a notice at Jusco Setiawangsa in Kuala Lumpur, placed in front of the Christmas tree display. The Malay part of the sign sounds okay... but I cringe when I read the English translation.

Update 06.01.10 : Perhaps I should clarify a bit on this post to avoid misunderstanding. It is not my intention to make fun of the mistakes or to show that I have a better command of English. Rather, I am hoping that those who do such translation work to take a bit more care in what they do. If you are translating something that would be read by thousands of people, then please make the effort to do it correctly. If you are not sure about your translation, get help from people who can check your work. And that, I believe, is not a difficult thing to do.

Terengganu trip... in pictures

I have a special affinity for the east-coast of Peninsular Malaysia. I spent my upper secondary school years at a boarding school in Kuantan. During my working years very much later, I was based in Dungun, Terengganu for two years, to handle a construction project.

Whenever possible, I would try to spend my holiday time there. This time around, the trip has a double purpose because we accompanied a rombongan pertunangan of our nephew who got engaged to a sweet lass from Kuantan.

The engagement ceremony was on the day after Christmas. We then took off to Kuala Terengganu the following day. It was quite a satisfying holiday. KT was surprisingly basked in sunshine the whole time we were there. I would like to describe more about our trip but time is a bit short (office stuff has caught up with me). I'll just let pictures do the talking...

Muzium Negeri Terengganu

Masjid Kristal as viewed from the other side of the river

The newly-built Bazar Warisan, less popular than the old Kedai Payang across the road

The latest batik designs on sale

Tasty serunding daging bought from a stall in Pasar Payang

Resort on Pulau Duyong, where the rich Monsoon Cuppers stay

Pok Long's stall at Kg. Ketapang is equipped with the latest in Information & Communication Technology

Enjoying tea-time with the tasty udang, sotong and ikan celup tepung

The latest tourist attraction in KT, a must-visit site for engineers

Pantai Teluk Lipat in Dungun

The filling in the satar and otak-otak at Che Wan's stall in Kuala Kemaman has become `ciput'. The ones sold at Tg. Lumpur in Kuantan are better.

Pantai Teluk Mak Nik in Kemaman... otherwise glamourously translated as Monica Bay

And this signboard confirms it...

Happy New Year to all friends and readers. May 2010 be filled with joy and prosperity. See you all next year.

Dinner in Kuantan

Just a brief update on our east coast trip. We are in Kuantan since Friday and plan to drive up to Kuala Trengganu later this afternoon.

It has been seafood dinners for the past two evenings. The first was at Restoran Timur that I got to know of through a Facebook contact. Last night we had dinner at the popular New Horizon Garden Restaurant that I first read in mamasita's blog.

The following are some pics. Full story after we get back...

Oldstock and his 2nd son at Restoran Timur

We had steamed fish, squids in dried chilli and butter prawns

Cousins, at the entrance of New Horizon Garden

Thai-style deep-fried fish as part of a 6 dish package

Selamat Hari Natal

I once asked my lecturer at Aston College in Wrexham, how he celebrates his Christmas. Nothing much, he said. Just a nice Christmas dinner with family and some friends then maybe sit around the fireplace and enjoy booze and small talk. Christmas nowadays is too hyped-up, too commercialised. People talk more of Santa Claus than of Jesus Christ...

That's almost 30 years ago. I guess if he says the same thing today, he'd probably still be right. Well... whatever it is, I'm going to enjoy my break and do a bit of east-coast traveling. Merry Christmas to all friends and readers who celebrate this occasion. Stay cool, keep warm and take care.

Coincidence and Probability

When I posted about Emila's 2010 Illustrated Calendar a few weeks ago, blogger Wan Lili of Suddenly, Heta! commented that she shares the same birthday as me. I was pleasantly surprised and noted that the chances of that to happen is quite low because this blog of mine doesn't really have that big a following.

Lili's comment reminded me of a programme I saw on The Discovery Channel some months back, about the probability of finding two persons within a group of people who share the same birthday. This problem is also known as the Birthday Paradox and there are quite a number of articles about it available on the internet. The different articles describe the problem in different ways but perhaps the simplest way that I can put it is as follows :

What is the minimum number of people needed within a group so that the odds of finding any two who have the same birthday becomes 50%?

Even for those of us who are mathematically inclined, the initial assumption we arrive at is that it must be a large number. There are 365 days in a year (ignoring leap years for simplicity)... and for 100% probability (i.e. a sure thing), we need 365+1=366 persons. Therefore, for an even chance of finding two people with the same birthday, the number is 50% of 366 or 183 persons.

This answer is wrong. Probability theory shows that we only need to gather 23 persons for the odds to become even (i.e. 50:50 chance). Now how can this be? I don't want to bore you with the mathematical analysis of this problem but you can read the links I've included below for detailed explanations.

This phenomenon is not actually a paradox in the logical sense of the word but it seems so to most people because the mathematical truth contradicts natural intuition. The human brain thinks of progression and extrapolation generally in linear terms and gets confused when some things expand on an exponential basis.

In the second reference article below, Robert Matthews and Fiona Stones carried out a study to test this theory by looking at football matches. In a football match, you can find 23 people i.e. 11 players from each team and the referee. If there are 10 such matches, then probability theory says that we should be able to find birthday pairs in 5 of them (50:50 chance). Matthews and Stones did their analysis on 10 Premier League fixtures played in 19 April 1997. It involved them checking the birthdays of 220 players and 10 referees. Sure enough, they found that there are coincident birthdays in 6 of the matches. In fact, they found two pairs in 2 of the fixtures.

To extend slightly on this subject, the theory also says that we need only 57 people for the probability of any two people with coincident birthdays to become 99%. In other words, if there is a gathering of around 60 persons, I'm willing to bet that I can find at least one pair that share the same birthday.

Graph from Wikipedia, showing the approximate probability of at least two people sharing the same birthday amongst a certain number of people

I did a bit of my own analysis on this matter using the birthdays of my Facebook friends. I compared their birthdays against the sequence of when we became friends. The result is pretty close to the theory. The 24th person who became my FB friend shares the same birthday with the 9th person. I did not have to wait long for the second pair. The 28th FB friend has the same birthday as the 22nd friend.

I was about to do the same analysis on the extended family on my wife's side (parents, siblings, in-laws, nephews, nieces etc.) but then realised that the same-birthday occurrence is found even earlier. My father-in-law (the no. 1 guy) has the same birthday as his youngest son (the 15th family member).

To use the conclusion of the Matthews & Stones research, coincidences really are “out there”, as probability theory predicts, if we take the trouble to look.

References :

1. Birthday Problem - Wikipedia
2. Coincidences : the truth is out there

Last weekend

This post is a bit outdated. I've been meaning to upload the pics much earlier but I was under the weather for the past few days. Just posting something so that this blog is not neglected for too long.

We were in Singapore last Sunday to attend the wedding reception of the niece of an old friend and classmate. I have not met this friend for more than twenty years and it was nice to be meeting him again and catching up on old stories.



In Malay wedding ceremonies, the procession of the bride and groom is normally accompanied by a kompang group. In this instance however, the family opted for a kuda kepang troupe. First time that I've seen this and it does make an interesting difference.



Later that evening, I decided to take a drive down Orchard Road just to have a look at the Christmas lights. It has been quite some time since I was last in the area and the changes are quite surprising. The beautiful lights gave photographers ample chance to practice their night photography skills. Makes me wish to get my hands on a DSLR soon...

To all muslim friends and readers, selamat menyambut tahun hijrah yang baru.

Conversations

She was sitting across him in the cosy restaurant of a 5-star hotel. Her hands were twisting the teacup on its saucer, a clear sign of edginess.

`You’ve not finished your dessert,’ he says, looking at the half-eaten apple pie on the small plate on the table.

`I am not actually hungry,’ she responds. He just nods, sips his coffee and looks at her in silence. It is obvious that she wants to say something but probably finding it hard to know where to begin. The restaurant is practically quite now, with most of the lunch crowd already gone.

She takes a deep breath and then asks, `Why are you leaving?’

`It is time to do so,’ he answers with a subtle shrug of the shoulders.

`There must be more reasons than that?’

`Yes, there are I guess… but it won’t make a difference for you to know.’

`Uh-huh… who am I to be asking you these things, right?’, she rhetorically asks in a resigned tone.

He does not give an answer... because he knows there isn’t a correct one.

Four Fridays on a trot

If you make your living in the state of Selangor, you would be enjoying public holidays on the next 4 consecutive Fridays :

1. 11 December 2009 (Friday) - Sultan of Selangor's Birthday
2. 18 December 2009 (Friday) - Awal Muharram
3. 25 December 2009 (Friday) - Christmas Day
4. 01 January 2010 (Friday) - New Year's Day

That's four long weekends on a trot. You could use the time to go for a mini-break, to catch up on some reading, send your young son for his berkhatan ritual, attend wedding invitations or perhaps organize one of your own...

I bet the TGIF restaurant chain is really looking forward to this.

A good look at books

One of the things I loved about living in KL a few years back is the ability to browse for hours at the Kinokuniya bookstore in KLCC. While I don't actually buy that many new books, spending time flipping through pages of published text and photos is something that I quite like to do. For the buying part of it, I would normally go to the discount bookstore at Ampang Point. Additionally, warehouse book sales are events that I try not to miss.


In Johor Bahru, the only bookstore with a sizeable spread of books is Harris at Jusco Tebrau City. Harris is part of the Popular Book Store group.

This week, Popular Book Store organised a book fair at Danga City Mall and today is the last day. We made our way to the fair this afternoon and picked up a few books that were sold at significant discounts. My wife and I selected 3 books each while my son picked up 2 . I actually wanted to get a few more but I doubt I have the time to read all of them soon. There are still some books that I bought at a Times warehouse sale in PJ three years ago that remain in packing boxes.

All my choices are fiction. Two recent and one old. I had also wanted to get a Charles Dickens classic to re-read but while other titles from Dickens were available, The Tale Of Two Cities was not.

Of the recent books, one is called The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid. I got to know of this book through blogger Dr Wati who posted about it last month. At only RM19.90 less 20% discount, it is a steal.

The books that I've bought today would probably cover my reading appetite for the next two months. After that, I'll be on the look-out for other book sales or maybe even find an excuse to make a trip to Ampang Point.

Spam comments

In the early days of starting this blog, I enabled the `word verification' (captcha) control for submission of comments. I later decided to do away with this step to make it easier for my readers to drop me a line while still maintaining some control by way of moderation.

The absence of this control meant that spam comments can access my blog. Initially, these meaningless comments from god knows where are sporadic. It wasn't much of a hassle to delete them manually. Of late however, the frequency of such comments have become more regular and it is becoming tedious for me to reject them each time I log on. An example of the crap that I get is copied below... this one apparently from Japan :

困っています。 said...
最近寂しくて困っています。夜一人で寝るのが凄く寂しいです…隣で添い寝してくれる男性いませんか？見た目とか特に気にしません。優しくて一緒にいてくれる方大歓迎☆一緒に布団で温まりましょう♪*******@docomo.ne.jp

I am now enabling the captcha feature again (at least in the short term) to see if such spam can be prevented. Sorry to inconvenience my readers on this. Let's see if these jerks can leave my blog alone so that we can return to the norm.

Slaughter and Sacrifice

Surah No. 108 in The Holy Qur'an
Al Kauthar (Abundance)

1. To thee have We granted the Fount (Of Abundance).
2. Therefore to thy Lord turn in Prayer and Sacrifice.
3. For he who hateth thee He will be cut off (from Future Hope).

Translation by Yusuf Ali.

The Aidiladha celebrations this year was merrier than normal because of the ibadah korban that we held within the compound of our family home in Mersing. It is the first time our family has organised a Qurbani (sacrifice of animals) of this scale. It is my first time being involved in the slaughter of cows because all my previous experience in korban involved sheep or goats.

But before I go into detail of our Hari Raya Haji celebrations, just a brief revision on this ibadah of Qurbani. The sacrifice of animals in Islam is the slaughter of permissible animals in the name of Allah on the 10th, 11th or 12th of Zulhijjah in the Islamic calendar. The aim of sacrifice, like all other fundamentals of Islam, is to imbibe piety and self righteousness. It also promotes the spirit of sacrifice for a right cause. To explain its purpose, God says in the Qur’an : “It is not their meat, nor their blood, that reaches God, It is their piety that reaches God”: (22:37).

The permissible animals referred to are domesticated quadrupeds, meaning goats, rams, cows or camels. For the larger animals (cows and camels), it is permitted for the single animal to be shared by up to seven persons. The meat from the sacrificed animal shall be distributed equally to three groups of people : one-third for the poor and needy, one-third for friends and relatives (including non-Muslims) and the final third for the sacrifice-giver's own consumption.

Blogger Zendra has posted an informative write-up on the historical perspective of animal sacrifice in Islam as extracted from the Islamic Voice website -> Re-inventing Zendra.

Our majlis korban this year involved the slaughter of three cows, meaning the participation of twenty-one family members that spanned 4 generations. Heading the list is the patriarch of the family, my father-in-law Haji Md Amin Bin Abdul Karim who is 95-years old. The youngest participant is a 6-month old great-grandson named Qhamarull Suhayl Bin Suhainizam.

My son Angah, giving some soothing words to the first candidate

Cow no. 2 was the largest one

The third cow, giving its handler Sopi, a tough time

The organisation of the slaughter and meat-distribution was headed by our uncle who we fondly call Pak Anjang. The first cow went under the knife at around 10.30 am, after Aidiladha prayers. In terms of size, it was the smallest of the three. It was quite tame and could be led to the slaughter pit quite easily. The second cow was the largest. The third cow put up the most resistance. It took us almost half an hour of roping and pulling before the animal could be subdued. Seeing this spirited fight, some of us joked that the animal reflected the stubbornness of its owners :-)

The slaughter process was done by the time of Friday noon prayers but the more complex process of skinning and cutting the meat resumed after the prayer break. On the whole, the part meant for distribution to the poor came to about 70kg. The beef was cut and packed into 1kg portions and sent to needy households in Kampung Sri Pantai, Mersing. The portion meant for individual consumption actually works out to only about 4.8% of the total meat obtained from each cow (one-seventh part of one-third of whole cow).

Separating skin from meat

Chopping the bones into smaller pieces for the soup

Almost no part of the cow was wasted. Some neighbours wanted the heads while the feet were booked well in advance. The ribs which still had slivers of meat stuck on them, were chopped into smaller pieces and were cooked into a soup in a very large pot. The soup and some bread (french loaves) were then brought to the mosque for consumption by the congregation after Isyak prayers.

Having a hot bowl of beef soup with bread after a hard day's work was like heaven, especially in a large gathering of family members. I probably had 3 or 4 bowls that night.

The next morning, when the pot has cooled down, you can see blobs of solidified fat floating on the surface of the soup. Crap, I thought. Some of those things are probably clogging up my blood veins by now. Better watch my meat consumption for the rest of the week... or perhaps I should resume my weekly swimming sessions to burn off the fat.

More pics can be seen at my Facebook profile -> Fadhil Isma

Emila's Illustrated Calendar 2010

When I first started blogging in April of last year, among the earliest blogs that I linked to was Emila's Illustrated Blog which I came across in the Blog Malaysia directory. Apart from being a talented artist/illustrator, Emila is also a very good photographer.

Last month, Emila invited her readers to suggest suitable quotes that could be inserted in her upcoming calendar for 2010. She was looking for 12 quotations that would accompany her drawings for each month of the year and the selected entry would win a copy of the calendar itself. I suggested a quote from Khalil Gibran for the month of July (my birthday month) and as luck would have it, my entry was chosen.

Last week, Emila delivered the cute calendar to me, complete with a special indicator for the 6th of July. Thanks Emila, for this unique present.

The calendar is available to the general public at only RM12.90 from her online shop at this link -> Emila's Littleshop. While at her shop, you may also wish to browse other unique items on offer.

Salam Aidil Adha 1430 Hijrah

To all Muslim friends and readers, wishing you Selamat Hari Raya Qurban. May all the sacrifices and good deeds you have made in the past year be accepted by the Almighty.

To Muslim brothers and sisters presently in the Holy Land as the guests of Allah, I pray for your safe return.

We will be traveling back to the wife's kampung in Mersing later today to celebrate the Hari Raya. The family has arranged for some cows to be sacrificed. See you all next week. Take care.

Double meanings

I noticed today on Astro TV that the popular local cartoon programme Upin & Ipin has made the transition to English medium and would be aired on The Disney Channel soon. It is quite encouraging to note that a homemade production is progressing to the international stage. But what has an animation series got to do with today's post? I'll get back to that towards the end of this piece. (Image borrowed from Upin & Ipin official website.)

There are many words in everyday use that carry double or even multiple meanings. The English language contain many such words and I guess it is not necessary for me to give examples... but I'd like to anyway. Words like `wind', `set', `pass', `can', `blue', `surf' and `virus' all have multiple meanings. Some of these meanings are closely related but some refer to entirely different things altogether. No wonder many non-native speakers of English find the language confusing.

Take this other example I heard mentioned over a local radio station the other day, where a listener called in to tell the story of his wife withdrawing money at an ATM for the first time. Upon dispensing the cash, the machine asked, `Would you like a payment advice?'. The lady became puzzled and rang up the husband to ask, `Kenapa mesin ATM ni nak bagi saya nasihat...' Lol!

Like any other language, Malay or Bahasa Melayu is also not without its share of double-meaning words.

When I entered boarding school and met students from other parts of the country, I realised that my command and understanding of my own mother tongue is quite limited. I was surprised when a boy from the next room came over and wanted to borrow my `cebok'. All the while, I have understood the word to mean the act of cleaning oneself after doing the `big business' in the toilet. On that day, I learned that the word also means the container that is used to scoop water, which I would call as `gayung'.

`Ketayap' is another word that has two definitions ; a skull-cap worn mostly by elderly Malay men or a type of Malay cake similar to a rolled pancake.

Bahasa Indonesia, while sharing the same root as Bahasa Malaysia, also contain many words that carry a different meaning. `Bisa' in Indonesia means `can' (as in able to do) but in Malaysia it is `poison'. But perhaps nothing can match the stark difference in meaning of the word `butuh'.

Right... now to explain the link of Upin & Ipin that I mentioned at the beginning of this post. This popular animation series about young twin brothers is produced by a firm known as Les' Copaque Production Sdn Bhd. The name of this production company is a play on the phrase of `last kopek', local Malay-English slang meaning the last bit of anything (last effort, last chance, last piece etc.) How this slang came about is unclear but I use it quite freely in daily conversation.

Some years back, I was having lunch at a nasi campur stall with a female colleague who's from Kedah. When I saw the final piece of ikan pari bakar on the plate, I said, `Oh, nasib baik. Ada lagi last kopek ikan pari.'

This prompted my colleague to remark, `Uish! Apa ni sebut pasai kopek!'

Me : `Kenapa?'

Friend : `Hang tau tak apa makna kopek tu?'

Me : `Tau la... kopek tu kan satu perbuatan. Macam kopek buah durian ke, kopek kelapa ke...'

Friend : `Betui la tu... tapi kopek pun ada makna lain. Pasai buah jugak... buah yang ada pada orang pompuan.'

Oops! How was I to know that the word also meant a certain part of the female anatomy? Only then the scary stories of the hantu kopek that catches naughty kids and hide them under her huge mammary glands sort of make sense. I now have to be wary how I use this phrase, especially in front of ladies.

The producers of Upin & Ipin are smart enough to modify their company's name to a French-sounding one. Otherwise they could have run into trouble with sensitive women from Malaysia's northern states.

The zipper club

We were up at KL and Shah Alam last weekend to send our second son back for his second semester at UiTM. After sending my son back to his hostel, I took the opportunity to visit a friend who stays at nearby Section 7.

My friend Yos, had just undergone bypass surgery on his heart 3 weeks ago. On Sunday, he held a kenduri doa selamat (thanksgiving lunch reception) at his house and invited close friends to come over.

I have known Yos since we first met at boarding school in Kuantan. He went on to study in Australia while I went to the UK. We met again when both of us started our engineering careers at the same organization in Johor Bahru.

I first received news of his ailment through our email group in Yahoo just before the operation was to take place. I couldn't make it to KL at the time so I just sent him a text message praying for his successful surgery. So when it was time to be sending my son back to college, it became convenient for me to drop by for a visit.

Yos was in cheerful mood, as he has always been. He told me that he went to see a cardiologist at Damansara Specialist Hospital after feeling some chest pains. The cardiologist, Dr. Daud, who happens to be our junior at boarding school, arranged for a full check-up. As my friend commenced the first steps on the treadmill stress test, Dr. Daud immediately stopped the test and called for a senior cardiologist to review the results. Further tests confirmed that Yos had blockages at 4 locations and that bypass surgery is required.

The surgery was successfully carried out three weeks ago and hopefully my friend is on the road to a quick recovery. Yos is the second close friend of mine who has undergone open heart surgery (the story of the other friend can be read here -> The heart of the matter). He is now a member of the exclusive zipper club, whose members carry the distinctive Y-shaped surgical scars on their chest.

That Sunday afternoon, a few other batch-mates from MRSM Kuantan were also there. One of them asked Yos how healthy he felt at the moment... 60%? 70%?. Before Yos could answer, another friend jokingly asked if he has already resumed the husband/wife activity. Yos sportingly replied that this is in fact, one of the FAQs in the post-surgery info the hospital provided to its heart surgery patients. According to doctor's advice, if the patient can walk 1 kilometre with ease, then he should be able to proceed with lovemaking activity.

Yos then pointed to the children's playground opposite his house. `The footpath around that playground is about 300m', he says. `And I have been completing five laps of it everyday...'

`Yeah?', one of us chipped in. `But have you been doing it with ease?' Hehehehe.....

To my friend Yos, I pray for your continued recovery. Be careful of what you eat. Continue with the therapy and exercises. Pretty soon, you'll be walking that 1km with relative ease :-)