there is a lot to do and achieve in life...

wednesday 16 november 2010 / 9 zulhijjah 1431h

hari anugerah

sekolah kebangsaan bandar tasik puteri

rawang, selangor darul ehsan

"ibu mana yg tak bangga...". nuff said.

...long life and we will meet yet again, insya allah!

17 november, 2010 / 10 zulhijjah 1431h
hillcity hotel & apartments
ipoh, perak darul ridzuan

Finally we met...reunited after almost 25-odd years. on this holy and blessed day... former students and teachers of sekolah rendah kebangsaan raja di hilir ekram (1977-1982) and sekolah menengah jalan pasir puteh, ipoh (1983-1985) exchanged embraces. like long lost friends...brothers...families. the sight of once familiar faces (and with some not so recognizable anymore). childhood and school day memories came flooding back. not all of us were present though. some have other commitments. and some have left us...forever. the reunion was brief. too many things to say and too much to catch up on. but that's life. and time does make a difference. shapes changed. wrinkles appeared. black hair turned to white. but the joy is the same for all. alhamdulillah, thank you Allah for this...

...students, teachers, friends, brothers, sisters, parents, children and families...

pic courtesy of mohd jamal nasir

special credit to mohd kamal mohamad noor, azaharuddin abu kassim, kalidas kanagaratnam and the rest.

live life for people or for GOD?

saturday 13 november, 2010
bukit changgang
banting, selangor

one of the tradition in the local javanese community when offering prayer for the deceased is to prepare and serve nasi ambeng ('beng' here does not sound like ah 'beng' but rather to 'beng'ang or 'beng'kak) to the congregation once prayer is finished.

of late, nasi ambeng is regaining its popularity after almost being forgotten especially by the younger generations. but now you can find stalls selling nasi ambeng in nite markets and 'bazar ramadhan'. even in some restaurants...

nasi ambeng and the concept behind it is unique. to foster relationships, closeness, spirit of sharing (as food is hard to come by back in those days) and silaturrahim among families, friends and neighbours within a village.

it is served on banana leaf in a round tray and is divided equally among 4 - 6 persons using hand (covered with plastic bag). once divided, you either tapau (takeaway) or eat it straight away from the tray. everybody will have (almost) equal portion of rice, chicken parts, vege, salted fish, peanuts, meehon, serunding, etc. this symbolizes unity and equality.

lately however through some observance, the relevance of nasi ambeng nowadays brings many not-so-pleasing-notions. firstly, food here is abound and yes, malaysia is famous globally for its food galore. people here get sick for eating too much where else in many parts of the world, many died because there is just not enough food around. wastage is the most prevalent issue here. in many cases, the takeaways turn to thrown-aways. in other cases, some of the congregation are even reluctant to take them back home. you see, many had eaten earlier at home in the evening before going to masjid or surau for maghrib and isya' prayers. many also who came understandably are senior citizens. they don't eat much, and at home they most probably stay only with the spouse. some even ends up having to take 2-3 packets home but there is just no one around to eat the takeaways.

there is a lot to be desired if we are to continue with this traditions. many especially the older generations will not accept these views. and some are pressured into doing it. we have to think of ways so that what we are doing does not contradict with what our beloved Prophet Muhammad SAW has taught us. whatever the thoughts and intentions are, we must reflect back at the fundamental reason why we are doing it in the first place. to please the people around us or to please and get blessings from Allah SWT...

a gift of life...

Revisited...Thursday 21st October, 2010

i don't have much...it's my last gift to life and human kind.

www.agiftoflife.gov.my

let life take its course...

Monday 8th November, 2010 / 1 Zulhijjah 1431H
Kg. Sungai Gali, Gong Datuk
Pasir Puteh, Kelantan
At around 1.30am on that fateful morning, we received a phone call from kak limah. in between her sobbing, we got to know that her mother (mak long - the eldest sister of my late father-in-law) had just passed away. earlier this very year it was pak long, her husband. i can sensed my wife's uneasiness. what should we do? but without her asking i already knew what is in her mind. pondering...it doesn't really make sense. unjustly, i was also a bit annoyed. y'see...during aidilfitri i did planned to make the maiden journey back there. leave was applied ahead but for a particular reason, it did not happened. now, at this hour...with the kids already sleeping...meetings all lined up for the day...and by the way, i don't have the slightest clue on how to get there! what i felt at that time however did not seem right. the outcome seems predestined. it was the least that i can do. for my wife. for the family and ultimately for the deceased. we have to carry out this final obligation. so, we left at 2.30am for our longest journey ever by car. call after call asking for directions with abang din (thank you, bro!) we finally arrived in kg. sungai gali, gong datuk, pasir puteh at around 10 something in the morning. once everything is over, we began our journey back to kl at around 9pm and alhamdulillah arrived safely back home at around 9 something in the morning. what a trip! in a way, i am glad we made the trip. a lesson definitely learned... sometimes we have to let life take its course. we can make all the plans we want...but Allah SWT has already planned every single thing for you. Subhanallah!

citeh made life boring as they parked their bus...

Manchester City 0
Manchester United 0
10th November, 2010
City of Manchester Stadium

Another virtuoso performance from man-of-the-match, Nemanja Vidic...nothing gets past him as Yaya Toure is about to find out. Vida played like his life depended on it! United line up: Edwin Van Der Sar, Rafael Da Silva (John O'Shea), Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra (Wes Brown), Paul Scholes, Micheal Carrick, Darren Fletcher, Park Ji Sung, Luis Nani, Dimitar Berbatov (Javier Hernandez).