The Reader

I love potluck picnic..

After our cycling at Taman Botani,we had our Potluck Party at Pusat Rekreasi Air,Putrajaya with my riding friends and their family members..We exercised in a group, we shared our food we brought from our homes and we had great conversations! I could not ask for more..Thank you Allah for this opportunity to enrich my life with my friends.

As we cycled ,a friend who used to stay overseas told me that cycling in Putrajaya is better than in Europe except for the hot weather.As for me who could not afford a regular overseas holidays, this is the best my money can buy.It is free..It is there but many had chosen to ignore it and let it passes away.

Once the water in the river passes by us,it will go to the sea and we could never get the same water again no matter how long we keep waiting..

 

Banner slasher!

A few days ago,I read about a mysterious banner slasher in Bangsar.I thought it was done by a vigilante who got fed with DBKL who failed to keep the town clean from unauthorised and irritating banners hanging from lamp posts,traffic light posts and anything these irresponsible people who just wanted to advertise their products.Later,it was discovered that the banner slasher was an insane person.I just love to hire that guy to come to Bandar Baru Bangi.Some of the advertisement on 'tenaga batin' here are very vulgar.

I just wonder what the local council is doing?We call this department as Pihak Berkuasa Tempatan but the way I see it,it is pihak tidak berkuasa(kuasa ada tapi tiada upaya).It is free for all and sundry...

My residence area is semi gated.I am lucky that every time some people come to hang their banners, our guards will just pull them down.

The beauty of simplicity..

The beauty of simplicity in whatever we do-even at iftar!We managed to successfully complicate our lives with so many of our desires that we actually don't need at all.Later on, we are left with the headaches of paying the bills and taking care of them.My rich Dato' friend has five cars in his garage.He told me every morning ,he got problem which car to drive?I told him,"Why not you give me your Jaguar?".He replied,"That one,cannot! Very nostalgic for me?".C'est la vie..Here is my simplicity.

Chocolate lovers..

Just sharing some info among fellow chocolate lovers.The address is No 8,Jalan 9/1,Seksyen 9,Bandar Baru Bangi.I almost can smell it from my kitchen;-)

Disclaimers: I have no commercial interests in the company and 'sadly' I am not being paid to do this promotion.Since I love chocolate,I am seriously considering to be a chocolate distributor.At least I can make some money while enjoying my passion;-)

Cafe with food and drinks but no culture?

As I was moving up on the escalator,I saw this nice view of a group of men having drinks at 0'Briens-my favourite cafe.I got nothing against Starbuck if someone would take me  and pay for my drink but given the choice I prefer O'Briens for the coffee and the sandwiches. 

My first encounter with high cost kedaikopi(coffe shop) was at Delifrance located next to The Tangs Orchard Rd ,Singapore in late 80's. In the 90's, the cafe phenomena invaded Kuala lumpur and today you can see them every where, including kopitiam.

As a frequent visitor to cafes and kopitiam,I have yet to see the cafe culture.What I saw was the nicely decorated places where people who have more money to spend come for a snack and casual chat and business discussion,then off they go.With the local wifi, I saw more and more people are working online or just surfing the Internet with their laptops.And that is our Malaysian cafe culture!

By the way I hosted a Deep Conversation session in march,2004.

You can read more about World Cafe here.I tried to take do something similar but it failed to take off.Now, my priority has changed as I am approaching my golden age.

Below is what I wrote more than 10 years ago in my alumni mailinglist list.

Date:	Sat, 05 Jun 1999 23:15:34 +0100
From:	"a.d.i.b" <[email protected]>  Add to Address Book
To:	[email protected]
Subject:	[sdar] Best Cafe in Town

ASM sdara,

Most of us  frequent a few TT(teh tarik) stalls and some who have more money to
spend will frequent a few coffee houses at a few hotels or cafe/tea
outlets.In Melawati,we used to go to Restoran Nora;in Desa Pandan we
used to have TT at D'Taj and a few months back a sdara gathering
arranged by Ampangbear,we have coffee at San Francisco coffee outlet at
Ampang Points.Lately,Bond told me Starbuck coffee has opened an outlet
at KL Plaza.It is observed that the cafe culture is invading us in all
major and small towns all over Malaysia.And Teh Tarik is now our
national pastime?

Please give your views on this cafe culture and at the same time please
also suggest the best cafe/TT stalls just in case some of us happen to
visit your place or the places you have been-local or overseas.




Best regards,
-/a.d.i.b/-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and
the last fish been caught,will we realise that we can not eat
money".-Cree Indian saying.

Lunch with my classmates

My thanks to everyone who attended the lunch yesterday at Holiday Villa-especially  to Ho Choo Seng for organising the event.We took our MCE(SPM equivalent) in 1970.I still remembered the dark days of May 13th,1969 when about 200 of us who lived in the hostel with very little food to eat.

After our MCE and HSC,most of us went on our separate ways to gain further education/training and later started a family.We did not have mobile phones and Internet(email/blog/Facebook/Twitter) yet in the 70's and 80's to keep us connected like the younger generation these days.Yesterday,I hugged my friend Lim Min Hui,my classmate which I have not met almost 40 years!!!

My special thanks to YBhg Dato' Lee Hwa Beng( a few years my junior) for your presence-for old time sake.

For mothers only..

At the back of my house is a day care centre for small children.Every working day,I see young parents bringing their kids to be taken care while they are at work.At times,I see kids crying when their mothers have to leave them to go to work.What a sight to behold!

A few days ago, while my wife was washing dishes in her kitchen facing the back of the Day Care Centre,she saw four little girls were standing by the window staring at her.One of them said,"Itu mak saya..'.pointing to my wife.Then the other three girls said together,"Itu mak saya.." a few times.My wife had a great time listening to kids calling her 'mak saya' because her youngest kid is already 21 years old!

When my wife told me about this incident,I felt very sad for both mother and child.The young kids were longing for their mothers and my wife was there standing 5 metres away from them to represent the images of their mothers in person! Given the choice, no mother will leave her young child to others, but the harsh reality of life today that both parents have to go to work to make ends meet.

Children at play..

 When my kids were small,I used to watch them playing in the field.It was a great joy for me then.Yesterday, after my morning walk,I saw a group of kids from nearby school running to the playground to play.It put the smile on my face looking at them having fun-the noise was music to my ears. One minute later,my heart sank when I saw a teacher was pushing a handicapped girl in a wheel-chair trailing behind.She is one of those happily running kids going to the padang for their PE class.Just imagine her feeling watching her friends running around having fun and she got stuck in a wheel-chair!

Immediately,I recited Alhamdulilah a few times because I was blessed with three healthy boys.Now, they are young men in their 20's.Thank you my Lord for your rahmah and rahim to my family.And please forgive my inadequate gratitude to You and my disobediences to Your Commands.We can disobey the Commands of Allah,but we can't run away from the Wills of Allah!

To parents reading my musing today, you know the feeling...

Note: My previous note on being  a father here.

Neglected pillbox

 During my recent visit to Pantai Irama(Bachok,Kelantan),I brought my cousin to see one of the dilapidated concrete bunker/pillbox used by the British to defend Malaya during the World War 11.It was left to rot away...

What a great shame to those in power and the people for not taking care of our own  history....

You can read and see more photos here.

Full photo below:

 

A Walk @Pantai Irama,Bachok

Every time I go back to my kampung,I must visit Pantai Irama.The Malay proverb says,"Tempat jatuh lagi dikenang,inikan pula tempat bermain".My kampung Pondok Beris,located about 5km away.It was THE beach for us at that time.

When I was a kid in the 60's,we don't walk-we run  and  we swim.It was fun all day.Now,some fifty years later,I am glad that I could walk and do a short run.As I walked the childhood memory started to return like the train of South China Sea waves arriving in drove and finally settled on the beautiful beach.

Yesterday,my cousin Ramzan joined me for a 5.4km of brisk walking.As we walked,we talked about old days.I don't need to take along my iPod to provide music along the beach because the sound of rolling waves was much better.

Below are two shots.The first is Morning Walk and the second is my version of Message in The Bottle.InsyaAllah,I shall write more when I recovered from 1320km travel by car over the last 5 days..