Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Raya This Year.

Dear Sister far away,


This is the first time I celebrate Raya with a real difference. As a wife who is also expecting, and also not having my sister with me.

Compared to our usual crazy packing the bags for our long 6-7 hours journey on every other years, this was so easy. 2 hours dah sampai kampung Poncho.


Prior to balik kampung, we have prepared all the buah tangan to be distributed to our colleagues in the office. Duit raya sikit aje, as Poncho only has 6 anak buah. Compared to the bomb we usually have to prepare for KB. So, there's a lot of room for colleagues and staff's children to receive.


The day time isn't much different then being in Kelantan, it's so hot so we ended up bathing at least 4 times a day. The practice here is, everyone makes rendang in big, big kawah on the kayu api outside the house. Mother-in-law brought 4 big bags of santan kelapa from KL.


Your bro-in-law sat infront of the kawah outside the house under the atap zink for 2 hours jaga api and the rendang. I sat inside and used my pregnancy as an excuse to be precious.

Before nightfall, they cooked sup tulang, also one big periuk on the dapur kayu api.

We get to sleep ramai-ramai at night.

The next day was still puasa day. The rascals, anak anak Dr. Lily arrived. That's when things got much more merrier.


Look at this, RM300 worth of mercun! The baby somehow doesn't show signs of distress like he usually is when I sleep on my left side. Dia suka la kot bunyi letop letop ni. Asal bukan tahap terrorist punya minat dengan bahan letupan sudah... kan Poncho!

On raya day, as usual, it is very difficult to make Poncho wear full gear baju Melayu and it doesn't help when I brought the wrong samping for him; kain pelikat sembahyang yang aku bawak! Memangla it got my MIL pelik, I saw the big question mark on her face, but I pretended Poncho was cool about it.

End up, si Poncho Mat Salleh tu walked to neighbouring places (dua rumah aje) without any samping. Serupa suruh dia pakai pyjamas aje.

Oh yes, thank goodness you have some baju kurung with you there.

We were back and Raya with mummy and dad and Comot at 6ish. So dead tired but did it.

The next day..... aaaaahhh best, pergi jalan at The Curve and it was as if it is closed just for us to saunter around. Bought study table. Soon I will be a tauke. Bisnes apa tak taula lagi.

With the little cozy place we've made ourselves, we take Raya guests 2 couples by 2 couples at a time. Poncho prepared full Northern Indian food on DeepaRaya last Thursday. When I have the time to upload pictures, I will put them up here.

Hope next year our family will get together again, this time with an addition of the baby and Comot's full grown kittens.

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Tokoh yang Mulia.

Did you read in the article titled 'Pay It Forward' in The Star last Sunday? It made me smile. People wrote in on how they did it.

One suggested to stick a coin at the phone booth with a 'Use Me' note on it.

One puts coins in a potted nursery just so that the 'gardener' gets her little surprise from 'mother nature'.

One gets a bouquet of flowers from the market and send it to the nearest old folks home and she's called 'gadis bunga' since.

One paid the highway toll fee for the stranger behind.

you know.... things which has no prejudice on who and what status the receiver is and there's no intention to fish for a 'thank you'.



"Verily Allah is kind and loves kindness in all affairs."
(Bukhari and Muslim)

"Allah is Kind and loves kindness, and He rewards it in a way that He does not reward harshness, and in a way unlike any other."
(Muslim)

There is one Islamic icon other than Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhari whom I would like others to remember of his contribution.

Professor di Raja Ungku Aziz....

YM. Professor Diraja Tun Dr. Ungku Abdul Aziz bin Ungku Abdul Hamid (28 Januari 1922 - )

- an educationist and economist
- an Islamic activist


Among his contributions:-
* Perlaksanaan Dasar Ekonomi Baru (DEB) bagi membantu bumiputera menikmati agihan kekayaan negara serta Majlis Perundingan Ekonomi Negara(Mapen) II.
* Pencetus idea penubuhan
- Lembaga Urusan dan Tabung Haji (LTH)
- Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP)
- Angkatan Koperasi Kebangsaan Berhad(Angkasa)
- Universiti Malaya
- Akademi Islam
- Pusat Asasi Sains
- Pekanbuku.

I would consider his produce, his daughter, the current Bank Negara Malaysia, Y.M. Tan Sri Dato' Ungku Dr. Zeti Akhtar, as one of his greatest contribution too towards the society.

How many local Professors and Dr's we know that only acquire those status by reading and absorbing knowledge and just merely to be known as an intellect? and nothing else.

Amidst his deep intellectual talks as his gestures is very much Mat Salleh British, I get intrigued when he can still mention 'pedas' things such as

‘‘Ini suatu cadangan yang gila dan kurang ajar. Individu tersebut fikir dia boleh beli apa sahaja yang dia mahu kerana ada banyak wang. Saya sendiri tak kenal orang yang cuba berbuat demikian."

on rumours last June mentioning millionaire, Tan Sri Quek Leng Chan's (Guocoland (M) Sdn. Bhd.) idea to move Malaya University to Sepang and reconstruct the current site as a commercial and housing estate which project would rake almost RM10 billion.
‘‘Saya tidak fikir mana-mana universiti di luar negara sanggup dibeli oleh mana-mana individu hanya untuk kepentingan peribadi mereka kerana mereka sangat menghargai gedung ilmu,’’

I wish one day I would be able to have a conversation with him.... one day...

Ohh there's so much we can do even if we are not highly educated.


Picture ehsan dari: Udeyismail.fotopages.com I would call the picture above 'Sign of Hope'.

Friday, October 05, 2007

A Treasure Just Discovered.




I was trying to surprise Poncho before Ramadhan by asking him for a date to No Black Tie and didn't tell him that a singer we knew in common is going to sing there.

Back then, I can only remember the Malay numbers she rendered like Kupendam Sebuah Duka, Doa Buat Kekasih, Potret Kekasih, Mengapa Aku disalahkan... but she's singing in a Jazz club and I wonder what the connection was.

It's a club that is surprisingly, the kind of place I dream of owning. Small, snug, woody, with a mezzanine floor that enables some audience to look downwards, most importantly, the place is so snug that everyone gets to interact with everyone. Pegi dengar orang nyanyi kat Stadium Putra Bukit Jalil tu lagi bagus tengok TV.

Khaty Ibrahim was clad in a long satin high collared black overall with red frills around the neck. There were three back up singers who are all double XL size but with megawatts smile and sleek image. So much finesse, she was really all out to make an impression, as if it is something she missed doing.

Guess who's songs she sung? She actually belted out numbers by Cole Porter, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Ray Charles, Duke Ellington, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone and Antonio Carlos Jobim.

Yeah! She sang Don’t Rain On My Parade, Luck Be My Lady Tonight, Rollin' and Fever in her own flavour. I don't think I'm the only one yang mulut ternganga, totally surprised to see this part of her. The three girls are actually her daughters, who can sing almost as good. I could imagine how much fun they have at home jamming together in the living hall every now and then. I mean she revved her voice, she sustained long ends, very lively, very effortlessly!

In between she was joking and poking around in Bahasa about her new biz venture, a Restaurant that sells makanan Melayu near University Hospital with promises that her Ikan Masak Asam Pedas and Gulai Masak Lemak are to die for and she'd even entertain home delivery. If I'm not mistaken, it's called Khaty's Kitchen.

Seriously, if Anita Sarawak heard this, she'd feel very very small. Camelia, the jazz singer wannabe... tak payah laaa. I wonder why people never hired Khaty for special occassion events such as Secretary's week etc. She's definitely side by side with Fairuz Hussein, the Malaysian Anita Baker. I hope to see both of them in the same session one day.

We heard just a five minutes medley of all her Malay songs and it looked as if it wasn't even planned, she just squeezed it in to please the audience, and for awhile there's something to sing along with.

Despite the really bad traffic we experienced that day and the trouble to find the quaint place, we walked back feeling so inspired and proud of this elit talent.

People, go book the P. Ramlee the Musical tix quick!

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

EID MUBARAK





WISHING YOU A GREAT RAMADHAN AND AIDIL FITRI


May all your deeds this Ramadhan be more than the last and lesser than the next!


Poncho, Maine and Baby Pokey



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