Manusia dalam perjalanan...

'"Luck is when preparation meets opportunity..."

Manusia Dalam Perjalanan

Hari ini: Menunggu, Menanti, Mengharap.

Kelmarin: Pun menunggu, Menanti, Mengharap.

Esok: Akan menunggu, Menanti, Mengharap.

Bila-bila pun: Menunggu,Menanti,Mengharap.

Hinggalah Ridwan mengucap Salam…

(Mamat M. T.)

31-10-1981

Pahang - Unwind and relax...

“It’s an experience we shall always remember or an experience which, alas, we shall never forget...” - Julius Gordon

Last night before we went to sleep, we talked about the earlier mishap and thanked God that it was only a minor one. We talked about what ifs, and ended up holding each other close while we slept, valuing the precious borrowed time we had together.

The next day, to calm nervous minds, we decided to drive to nowhere in particular. We headed towards Segamat and stopped at the foot of Gunung Ledang, the legendary mountain where the Sagil waterfall located at the base is a local favorite picnic area.

From Segamat we headed to Kuantan where we stopped for lunch. We drove on to Cherating Beach, where we checked in the Legend Resort and spent the evening walking along the beach and watching the beautiful sunset.

Although we booked in for two nights, the next morning, we decided to go to Taman Negara. To access the park, we can either take a three-hour boat ride to Kuala Tahan, or go by land.

We decided to go to the park driving through a long winding road. The drive was exciting, the scenery lush green.

Along the journey, we recollected the experiences of our travels, local and abroad while listening to a compilation of songs of the 70’s and 80’s, which without fail brought nostalgic sweet memories.

To many visitors, Taman Negara is a favorite adventurous getaway where they can explore lowland forests or mountains along the marked trails.

As for us, we just want to spend our time together relaxing, while watching the motor boats carrying passengers across the Sungai Tembeling.

Visitors don’t often get to see wildlife unless they are very lucky. And we thought we were when a few naughty monkeys hurled green unripe mangoes at us when we passed under the mango tree.

Later, a huge wild boar passed us and disturbed our tranquil rest while we were drinking fruit punch and eating apple pie at the restaurant terrace…

I'm happy for the time we spent together. It would be more exciting if the kids were with us...

Near miss, close shave...

"There's nothing sadder than getting to the end of your life and saying: I didn't do it right..."

It was the second day of Hari Raya and we were on our way to Melaka.

All my siblings were already at my parents’ house. Tonight there will be a majlis bertunang for one of my nephews. Our kids didn’t follow us as they have to start work right after the Raya holidays.

It was still drizzling when we started our journey late that afternoon. Earlier it was raining quite heavily. The road was wet and slippery, but the traffic flow was surprisingly smooth. Hubby drove carefully and slowed down when we approached the sharp corner of the Sungai Besi flyover bridge. We were engrossed in our conversation, when it happened.

In one split second our car skidded and slithered from the center of the road and hit the barrister. Hubby reacted quickly, managed to straightened the car but the road was too slippery and the car hit the barrister the second time. We were lucky that the cars in front and behind were a distance away and avoided smashing right into our uncontrolled car.

During that few seconds, hubby's biggest concern was to get the car off the barrister and avoid the car from flying over the bridge. My biggest concern was how my beloved kids will take to the news of losing both their parents at the same time. In that few seconds, my entire life reeled in my mind in slow motion. In my life, the last fifty years were littered with near misses and close shaves. And I was thinking that all it takes is this one particular moment.

I was not injured and neither was he. But we were shocked to the bone….

Timeless Moments...

"The bitterest truth is better than the sweetest lie..."

Timeless Moments

Love is most nearly itself

When here and now cease to matter

Love is itself unmoving

Timeless, and undeserving

Except in the aspect of time

Caught in the form of limitation

(Author unknown)

SELAMAT HARI RAYA EIDIL-FITRI

Maaf Zahir & Batin

Belated Arabic Exam...

"Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence..." - Robert Frost

Since early this year, I have been attending the Arabic classes two nights in a week. The class was interesting and the Ustaz was good. We learned our lessons in a relaxed environment and most of the time we deviated from the syllabus to cater for some slow coaches and those who often took unauthorized absence more too often.

Although it was the policy for all students to have more than 75% record of attendance to sit for the final exam, only a handful of us met that criteria. The Ustaz being lenient and nice, would not report on us. The reason being only a small minority were of hardcore miscreants. The rest of us were good and obedient and never missed to submit our homework.

Towards the end of the semester, attendance got better and the class was full-house again. I made a point not to miss classes as Ustaz would, in between revisions, sometimes gave hints on probable questions for the final exam. A list of soalan bocor circulated among the 3 classes and students were all excited and geared up to sit for the final exam. Confident to receive the much coveted certificate, a license to enroll for advanced Arabic class next year.

I was the unlucky one. I missed my final exam as the date clashed with my Umrah trip. Sensing my frustration, Ustaz advised me to request for a special sitting at a later date. After I came back from my trip, I was engrossed in my normal busy life and forgotten all about the exam.

Until last Tuesday, when I received one sms from my Ustaz: ‘Saya dah arranged untuk awak ambik exam hari Khamis. Datang lah, pukul 8 pagi…’

This morning, sitting in one corner in the administrative office in Masjid Negara, I took my written Arabic exam, while eaves-dropping on conversations among the office staff discussing about balik kampung, kueh raya, ketupat and rendang…

Berbuka Puasa @ haunted the Penthouse...

"Fear and love are the deepest of human emotions..." Donnie Darko

All these years, somehow or other I managed to join the ladies in the Majlis Berbuka Puasa Puspanita. This year, Sara is joining me.

The AJK has selected the venue at the Penthouse in Block C instead of the Café. The choice might not be the best location, but judging from the status of some of the guests, it is decent and respectable enough for me. Tonight we have invited the DG’s and AG’s wives and all the Lady Directors. We have also invited Ustazah Kalsom to deliver a short ceramah and later lead us in solat tarawih.

The Penthouse is fairly large and spacious enough to cater for the majlis, generously furnished and with very airy living and dining rooms. Recently they have renovated and covered the balcony with tall glass windows with scenic views of the Royal Selangor Club and the Sultan Abdul Samad Building. The 3 bedrooms used to cater for those who had to stay back at night to finish work. This usually happened when we need to finalise the annual accounts at the end of the year. Those days, no one will want to spend the night in the bedrooms in the penthouse, except only the brave and the daring. The rest, including me, will find comfort to sleep on the floor next to our work place. Those days, we spent the New Year’s eve banging on our calculators to balance our journals to the last cents. Computers were never heard of during my early years in the organization!

In the early 80’s, the Penthouse was occupied by a caretaker who took care and maintained the place well. Later when the caretaker retired, no one was hired to replace him. The Penthouse was left empty. Once in a while, the cleaners will clean up the place. And once in a while there will be requests for the Penthouse to be opened for a certain function. We heard that the penthouse is haunted. We heard so many ghost stories and eerie experiences from those who’d stayed the nights there.

Ghosts or no ghosts, the Majlis Berbuka Puasa went pretty well.

The Bentong Court Case...

"They say we learn more from losing than from winning..."

Any of you who have been to a court of law, be it high, middle or low – either as plaintiff or respondent, accused person, witness or defendant, learned lawyer or nosy observer – would not have failed to notice that the preliminaries are often long winded and not in any way related to the case.

And today I was subjected to these long winded preliminaries when I attended the court case in Bentong as an expert witness. After the oath or rather declaration to speak ‘the whole truth and nothing but the truth’, I gave my testimonials and was cross-examined by the Counsel. What irritated me most was when I have to repeat my statement every time before he could comprehend it completely. Even His Lordship took pity on me and a few times stopped the Counsel from asking the same questions over and over again. Either he’s hard of hearing or he was not paying attention. The statement which normally take an hour or two, lasted the whole morning and the court has to adjourn for lunch break.

I was lucky that I was seated in the witness box when I presented my analysis, whereas, the accused would be all the time standing in his ‘kandang’ and perspiring on his feet. Fancy the physical strain, especially on the calf muscles and the mental agony, particularly while at the tender mercies of the Counsel.

The drive back to KL was uninteresting and a few times I nearly dozed off at the steering wheel.

House warming party...

"Those who give have all things. Those who withhold have nothing..." - A proverb

Today, Sara and I will break fast at Iwan’s Mandy Villa Apartment. Ella is going to cook mihun sup for dinner! They have invited two of their girlfriends to join too. I fried cucur udang to bring to their house. We were late when we arrived and it was already time to break fast.

While we were having dinner, hubby called from the airport. Earlier he sms to inform that he’d already boarded the ERL from KL Sentral and will be breaking fast at KLIA. Tonight he is flying to Dhaka. He will be there on business for a week and will only be coming back next Saturday. And I am going to miss him…

Yang, love is missing you whenever we're apart, but somehow feeling warm inside because you’re close in my heart...