The celebration of remembering.

To have someone that you love so dearly is wonderful but to have someone who means everything to you is even better. For me, that someone is my grandma who I call Nekwan. Ever since that I could remember, my family would stay at her house for every Raya. The night before Raya would be the night that my sisters and I would try to grab the spot in front of the tv to sleep. We would watch the shows on the tv while waiting to sleep. The next morning, after the raya prayers, all of my relatives nearby would gather at Nekwan's house and share the food brought from home. The colourful clothes, the laughter, the teasing, the bonding. It was a sight to behold.

Nekwan's house is the old kampung house which is built higher than the ground and has the wooden staircase. I would play under the house and chased the chickens and ducks that Nekwan reared which would be cooked for rendang. When it was the time for the sun to shine, I would play with small dots on the floor. The roof of the house is made of zincs, so as time goes by, there would be small holes on the roof. The light from the sun would go through the holes and create the dots that I would diligently try to chase but couldnt get a hold of.

I must say that I was a bit spoiled by her. It must be because I knew how to amuse her. When I was 4 or 5 years old, she would ask me, " Dah besar nanti jadi duktur nek ye?" and I would smile and say yes, not knowing what it was. She would laugh, amused that I would just say yes to whatever she asked though she had a weird way to pronounce the word 'doctor'. She was the one that I would go to whenever I was about to be scolded by my dad for playing truant. I would cry and she would ask my dad not to be so hard on me. Obviously, the crying stopped after that.Hehe.

But everything must come to an end. I was Form 5 at that time. I was so devastated that I asked why couldnt she at least wait before I get to be a doctor. As I dont think I will ever be a medical doctor now, maybe I should try to obtain a PhD. I would still be called a doctor anyway. Ive been thinking to write something about her but I would get all gloomy and sad whenever I think about her. So I said to myself, I wont write something sad about my grandma, I would write the good things that I remember whenever I was with her because I believe someone that you love would always be with you, no matter what.

What I remember most about Ramadhan.

Most people eagerly wait for the arrival of Ramadhan, the month for fasting. For the religious Muslims, it is the month to get closer to God by doing as many good deeds as possible. For food junkies, it is the time to indulge into the variety of foods at the bazaar. As for me, when I was a child, the only thing that I looked forward to during Ramadhan, apart from it's getting closer to Syawal which means duit raya, was playing with my friends as the grown-ups were performing the terawikh prayers at the mosque.

One of our activities back then was to play with karbait. This is the substance that is used inside the meriam buluh which made the explosion effect. It is actually used to light up lamps, is white colour and shaped like small rocks. I dont know if you can still find it now because I havent played with it for the longest time. As my friends and I find it difficult to get a buluh for our meriam, we stole the stop signboard pole at our neighbourhood and cut it so that it can be used as the meriam. Sorry Tok Penghulu......hehe

It functions the same like the normal meriam buluh but with supposedly added protection as it is less prone to shatter into pieces. But not everyone can play with them. Before you can play with the cannon, you have to graduate from something that is less exciting. For newbies, they have to use the karbait with paint tins first. It can still create the explosion but most of us still prefer to use the signboard pole as it gave better explosion. We had our own roles in creating the best explosion. There are the mixers who will mix the karbait with the correct amount of water so that the explosion wont sound like a false fart.Haha. Then there would be those who would ignite the mixture by using a long stick which is lit up at the far end of it. The rest? Just enjoy the show.

I had a great childhood as I got to play with DIY stuffs like this and learn things such as the virture of cooperating between friends, economics ( which is dividing money to buy the karbait) and even got to experience being chased by the police because someone complained about us.Haha. For me, those are the things that you cant learn in class and can only be learned through experience. Because of that, I wont trade the experience for anything else in this whole wide world.

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri.

A short trip to Melaka.

My friends, a whole group of people and I went to Melaka yesterday. It was planned to be a simple photo outing but it ballooned into a mass photo outing involving around 50 people. Not an ideal one, but that's what you get when a renown photographer involved in the photo outing. We went to Pantai Klebang, Masjid Tanah and took pictures of the beach there. On the way there, we passed by my alma mater, Melaka Matriculation College, which I havent seen for 4 years. Memories of being there for that one whole year came back to me. But I guess they remain only as that, memories. So here are the pictures from the photo outing.











After that, we went to Eye on Melaka which is a bit smaller than the Eye on Malaysia. It is situated near the Melaka River as you can see in the picture below.


After Eye on Melaka, we went to Eye on Malaysia which is situated at a secluded place so you have to know your way to get there. Not many people were there last night which made it an ideal night to take pictures.



I'm not really satisfied with the pictures as the clouds are a bit flat. Guess I have to make another trip there or just go to Port Dickson which is nearer to my house.hehe.

Not bad. Not bad at all.

I woke up today, reading an email about my job application as a sub editor. I was informed that my application was unsuccessful. Disappointment is too less of a word to even describe my feelings at that time. I told myself, it's ok, maybe there is a bright side to this. Yes, people always say to look at the bright side when something bad happened. So I tried. But I couldnt find any.

At noon, the postman came and brought a letter addressed to me. That's weird, I said, normally it's either for my mom or dad or even if there's a letter for me, it's the bill that Digi asks me to settle =_=

So I opened the letter and to my surprise, it's my first cheque from Nuffnang! I have been waiting for it that I almost forgot about it. I ripped open the letter and took a closer look to the cheque. There it was, my effort after all this while. I guess there is a bright side to everything after all.

Now, just another gazillion cheque from Nuffnang till I can buy that Honda Accord =_=

Plethora of cultures.

I went to the KL Crafts Complex yesterday to have a look at an event to promote crafts of Malaysia. It is going to be held until this 14th September 2009.

There are many crafts that are sold there and made by our Malaysians. The price for the crafts are very affordable too considering that they worked very hard to produce their masterpiece.





The one pictured below is actually a lamp which has the shape of a whale. Interesting, isnt it?


Visitors can also buy clothes such as batik and kebaya for this Aidilfitri. So if you are not so fussy about getting a ready made clothes, then you have so many choices here.


Apart from that, during the weekends, there will be performers performing traditional music for the visitors there every alternate hours. The one that performed yesterday was Haqqani Maulid Ensemble.


The lead singer here has one of the sweetest voice that I have ever heard. Dont judge him by how he looks, he can really sing. Even better than Mawi I think.

Moreover, on weekends, they also have traditional foods cooking demonstrations. For example, wajik.


Ketupat.



Dodol and many more.


Apart than that, they have craft-making demonstration for the visitor.

Such as batik colouring.



Bubu that is used to catch fish.



And also the sulaman keringkam. This is an art where you sew gold and silver thread onto a piece of clothe that is usually used as a shawl. It is not cheap though, as the shawl can cost you around RM1200 per piece due to the gold and silver thread sewn onto it.

According to Pn Nik Rahimah, the one in the picture, the art is a dying art as not many in Malaysia are actually practising it anymore. She said that there are only around 10 people in Malaysia who know to sew the gold thread and only 2 who are truly expert in it.

Going there is actually an eye opener for me. Most of them have almost identical grouses. It is either they dont have anyone to continue their art or not enough assistance is given for them to promote their arts. It is disheartening listening to them, actually. Malaysia is focused too much on science and maths that arts is somehow being kept aside and left to rot. I just hope the arts industry in Malaysia can prosper and shine even in the darkest surroundings.

Dear Editor.

I was so busy yesterday that I didnt have the chance to read any newspaper till I got home around midnight. So before going to sleep, I read the News Strait Times (NST) just to know outdated news as it was already late night =_= While reading through the Letters to Editor section, I found the letter that I sent to the editor a few days back. I was so ecstatic as I sent the letter out of trying and didnt expect it to be published. It was edited here and there but I dont mind, that's normal when we send something to the newspaper.



The link to the website is here. Actually, the letter is an entry from my blog that I wrote a few entries back. It is about the temple issue. I am happy because many people across Malaysia got to read my writing and also because my writings have been published in both NST and The Star. I just hope this lucky streak continues.

A good deed indeed.

I am so tired after a long day. I just got home, havent changed my clothes yet but I just have to write this.

I was driving home and listening to the radio to escape the boredom of driving alone. Then, a caller called the radio station and told the deejay about her day. Her name is Michelle,if I'm not mistaken, and she was driving when suddenly she had a flat tire near Bukit Tunku. She stopped and tried to change the tire but to no avail, she couldnt change the tire on her own. Suddenly a man on a motorcycle stopped and helped her to change her tire. When the man had done changing the tire, the woman offered to buy him food as it was near the breaking fast and that the man is a Muslim. The man declined the offer and answered,

'It's Ramadhan and I should at least try to do something good. I dont want you to get robbed here and that's why I helped you.'

I dont know who that man is and might never will. I just want to say thanks for giving me something contradictory to what some Muslims did before this. Not many men would do something like that and for a Muslim to help others who are in need is something that is truly commendable. I just hope I would be as kindhearted as this man next time when I see someone in need of help. I guess you would too.