Post raya

I can't believe Z and Nik dah balik kerja on raya ke 3! Nik was on a long leave (almost two months) so I guess he feels obliged to cover staff dia yg nak cuti lama sikit for raya.Z as a new intern takda cuti..she's working for 8 weeks tapi semlm her CEO belanja all interns mkn.The gen y kids bwk Boss dia org pi kat Bubba Gump.Never heard of it, he said.Haha.Sounds like me (except Z took me there before on many occasions).Budak2 muda ni..instead of learning from their Boss, they ended up telling him how to improve the organisation.Nasib Boss baik. :)

Everyone would have left Raub today: Kak Ngah, Mek, Eishah and Sal.Eishah said a certain kind of sadness seeped in after she balik ke Pekan semalam.I feel it this morning.And I think of all the moments I was mean to my mom.May she forgive me. The house needs a lot of repairing and I told the group to start doing this...the 3 toilets kena buat balik (was thinking about the old bathtub..my dad very canggih..in the early 70s pun dia installed bathtub in the new home with hotwater system), tingkap and pintu...semua kena buat baru.I told them susahnya mak bapak kita kerja nak buat rumah for us.The least we can do is look after harta mereka yg mereka tinggalkan.The house is given to Eishah but she said we all can use it (dia dah berakar umbi in Pekan).The younger ones in the family grew up in that house...we got married there, kenduri cukur rambut di situ, segalanya.And it has a nice view (overlooking Banjaran Titiwangsa? Gunung Tahan? Some banjaranlah).I particularly love the space for gardening.Kalau sepakat, we can create a beautiful garden di situ.Okid2 mak I dah lama kena curi even while she was alive and living with us in KL (rumah kosong tak berjaga...senang sgt orang masuk).

I hope the idea will be well-received by my siblings.I nak buat sorang tak mampu ler.I'm not rich.

The 3 Rs

Pak bryani I cooked (from kotak Shan)

waiting for solat raya to begin.Masjid Besar Raub

Ladies' section

Apo solat tak rapat saf ni!

Smart women in their saf

raya at Long's after solat raya

The only thing missing was my Mom

Tahlil malam at Long's

Potluck bryani and satay

tahlil among family members je

Angah's open house (he lives satu taman with my mom)

the debaters in the family (Z and Ijat).There's
another one - Hidayah (now a lawyer)

  Macam kenal jer 

Raub,Raya,Rest.

That sums up our raya in Raub without my Mom and Irsyad this year.
Surprisingly I didn't cry.That can only mean two things: I am at peace with myself (the guilt's gone) or all my emotions are all frozen up.I think it's the first option.Redho and akur that death isn't the end of everything...amalan kita masih bisa dimanfaatkan oleh orang yg sudah tiada.No point being bersedih2.

And spending raya at my mom's home gave her presence to our raya.I have her bedroom and her bed as I always do every raya (she'd give up her room for us and will sleep on her fav sofa outside with anak2 and cucu2 lain...I feel selfish but she would insist.Bilik dia ada air con and attached bath so takkan nak derhaka,kan? :)) )

I set her the same environs at my hse tapi dia tak mau naik tangga and would always sleep downstairs.

We went to visit the pusara a day before Raya.The real sunnah is to visit at night any time during Ramadan dan Rasulullah melarang kita menyambut hari kemenangan kita di tanah perkuburan.Nak ziarah di luar Ramadan,go second day.This info was given by Mizi who studied Shariah at Madinah Uni.He's Eishah's hubby and he was the imam who read the khutbah raya at masjid lama Raub (we went to masjid raub yg baru tu cos' parking is easier).Shahrul went to the old mosque and told us Pak Su baca khutbah berbau militant sbb dia suruh org berjihad di Palestine.I asked if he got tepukan gemuruh frm the jemaah.Shahrul said adalah dua tiga orang pakcik2 yang tua mengangguk2 tanda setuju.I said org tua yg mmg tak larat nak pi perang..no point.Haha...hilarious betul mrk ni).

We went to beraya at my cousins' in the kg..one on my mom's side..the other on my father's side (first time we went..sbb I went to collect buah manggis a day before raya...berbakul2 I got..syukur..kalau kat KL..I spent Rm30 for manggis yg tak sampai brp kilo tu)Dulu my grandma's plc byk pokok manggis...we didn't go to chk sbb dah lama tinggal rumah tu.Must get my siblings to convert the hse into homestay ke hapa..still looking strong.Kayu cenggal.

We did tahlil at mak's mlm raya tu.Bsknya bfast at Long's,lunch at Kak De with her famous nasi dagang and another tahlil at Long's.A nice get together.

Hari ni Angah is hosting lunch.I am mindful over how much I eat (konon).
Mak maybe gone but  there are 7 replicas of her this raya! We hv all become like her,it's funny.

Z's theory

Z has a little theory over what is happening around the world: missing planes, crashed planes, shot planes, Netanyahu's madness in Gaza, US's wargames with India, Japan etc in preparation of China's "aggression" in the South China Sea hatok dia orang..Kata Z, the setting for WW3 is set...the war initiator (USA-Israel la kot?) nak buatkan orang takut  supaya don't leave home..just stay home so that war migrants will not flood the western countries.Z ni kadang2 byk lagi pemikiran budak2nya (despite being thought of as a Consultant twice at her current workplace.Walhal intern je..Gaya mesti lebih)

Ramai dah cutinya today but most people will head back to their kampong tomorrow morning.Nik and I will berhari raya as anak-anak yatim piatu this year.I will go back to Raub to visit the kubur, Sal will raya first day in KL sebab nak ziarah kubur Irsyad, Mek will spend her first raya with her boys and cucu in JB and will only balik Raub on the second day (masa tu I dah balik ke KL since Nik & Z tak cuti).

Terasa hambar raya kali ni but saya mengucapkan selamat hari raya kpd semua, maaf zahir batin.Travel safe dan banyakkan berzikir dan berdoa sepanjang perjalanan pulang.

2 in 1

Yesterday's tazkirah was so long that I imagined me standing up protesting in Kelantanese, " bo la tu!". It was a Turkish guy put impromptu and you know how it is with some people..dapat microphone tak mau lepas.:) But he's sincere I know.He wanted the ummah to speak in one language yakni Arabic.Also in wht I read as despair over the Gaza situation in which Muslim jihadists aren't forthcoming in droves, he reasoned out that parents did not raise their children to be as committed as Sallehuddin Ayubi (such a character does not grow overnight but would be raised well by parents), Nuruddin, etc yg sanggup mempertahankan iman and justice.Every parent wants a rich, powerful child.Inilah padahnya: inaction...cowardice...self-interest. Now, that really got me.That haunted me all nite and all day today.

Mlm ni, tazkirah was by my fav speaker..who would always reduce me to tears bila dia buka mulut je.Dr. Sharifah Hayati from UM.My god..she really does not waste words.She spoke on kasihsayang Allah over us esp. in Ramadan.Ketahui hak Allah and do it for ganjaran yang tidak ternilai (habis nilai kosong if you want to put a value to it): zikir the syahadah and istighfar.Dua ni Allah suka.Hak kita di bulan Ramadan which Allah will grant if you really mean it: mohon keampunan dan mohon lindung dari siksa api neraka.Ask! ask! And insyaAllah you will be heard.

Lagi cerita sedekah

The Academic Staff Association (ASA) at IIUM has a new batch of young academics this term.They are very energetic and today since the Prez could not join the jv community project with ABIM, I pun pergi sebagai one of the reps.We went to Kg Sg Pusu (the uni's immediate neighbour which we are rarely in touch with...adalah projek2 lain but ASA tak pernah terlibat).

Prez ABIM gave a short tazkirah since Dr. Maszlee could not come.Dr. Fauzan (who's just joined ASA Exco and giving much input) and Dr. Luqman je yg dapat hadir.Dr. Fauzan and I were invited to give away some of the Raya packs.Mcm MPs lah pulak.;) Then I noticed this young man berdiri lama next to us.I asked you dah ambik your raya pack.He said no.So I told one of the comm members.The guy said org tu OKU and that mak dia dah ambik hers.I told the young man..your mom has taken for you.He said dia nak juga.I told Dr. Fauzan bagi ke jelah..bdk ni nanti ahli syurga...takkan kita nak be mean to him, kan? Fauzan said tunggu Penghulu agih2kan kpd yg dlm senarai..then we'd see how.Then Penghulu invited the young man to get his pack.Punyalah suka hati dia.The truth is bukan dia faham apapun..he just wanted to be like others..org dpt, dia dpt.

I asked him sapa nama.

He said, "Affendi". (nama suami saya)
Hampir nak tersedak saya! Patut le my instinct was to be kind to him.Kah kah.

Cash!

My aruah mom often reminded me if there's anything strange which was good that came from Allah, do not flaunt it.Just say syukur quietly and feel insaf.

How can you tutup mulut tempayan? :) I'm writing about it so that you will insaf with me.

Ceritanya:

Not too long ago, a friend wanted to borrow some money but I was already on my way to holidaying in Europe.Also I takut nanti tak bayar, bergaduh besar pulak kita.Didn't want to spoil our friendship.So I said I'd give a little and not the amount needed (4-figure on the low side instead of 5-figure on the high side).Malah ciput sangat (celah gigi kata orang)!I think it would not help my friend with anything at all but she accepted gracefully.


Hari ni I gave a little something for someone (again ..ciput) so that dia boleh bergembira sedikit this raya.Sebaik the angpow raya bertukar tangan with this young person, my phone rang.My friend asked for my bank account details cos' dia nak pulangkan balik the money she pinjam about 2 months ago.Then added she'd tambah RM500 extra.Wough!I said no needlah but then I told her nak kasi pun OK cos' I can give it to needy others - tolong panjangkan sedekah dia :)

Itulah cerita yang menginsafkan.If you do not believe in the power of sadaqah (no matter how ciput), please be convinced now! Allah bayar cash (like the phone rang sebaik angpow I bertukar tangan!Subhanallah.Dulu Ustaz dah cerita something like this happened to someone who came to minta doa agar cheque dia dapat cepat from the gomen cos' pekerja dia nak raya.Ustaz suruh sedekah duit untuk beli generator for the poor in Cambodia..sebaik the money was wired, the phone rang from the Ministry asking him to pick up the cheque. Another Ustaz cerita how he gave his mom some money and went to give his ceramah...they gave him sumbangan beribu instead of the sumbangan biasa yang tak sampai RM500 sekali ceramah)

You have a few days left to perbanyakkan sedekah so that orang yang bukan kita dapat happy2 this raya.

I'm beginning to understand Ramadan better this year.

The best doa for the lailatul qadr's week

Syukur alhamdulillah I could go to the surau for the last week of Ramadan.After dropping by to collect my baju raya at the Curve (finally!) and nasi kerabu at Tmn Tun's pasar ramadan, we planned on how to 'hunt' for malam seribu bulan lailatul qadr.

Tonight's ustaz was an academic from UM.He spoke Kelantanese.Teringat kat Tok Ayah cos' he spoke sebijik like him.His talk was on how not to be ahli neraka.He said there were two types of people who would be hell dwellers and heaven dwellers:

Hell:

        1. He or she who has good amalan syurga at tne beginning but ends with amalan neraka as he/she dies or at the point of dying.

         2. All his/her life buat amalan ahli neraka and dies as one.

Likewise syurga dwellers: bad first, good at the end or all good all through his/her life till she/he dies.

He said in looking for lailatul qadr, jgn doa nak itu ini sangat.Keep it short, simple but precise as according to the hadith: say it three times and hell will plead with Allah to have our names deleted from being listed as hell dwellers: Kau yang Maha Pengampun, Kau ampunkanlah dosa ku dan hindarkan aku dari api neraka (3x).

Also to be ahli syurga, we must be kind to everyone.The prophet said whoever who did kindness to others, he himself would guide us (pimpin tangan kita) masuk syurga.Wahhhh....sapa yang tak mau!

He said those who like to share whatever bermanfaat with others would be favoured by Allah also as ahli syurga.E.g. you have RM10k, you'd give some to others in need (tempiaskan sedikit rezeki Allah beri kpd kita tu).I think this would also mean sebarang ilmu yang bermanfaat yah?Jgn beri utk beriak-riak.

Also the most practical doa is this: Ya Allah aku pohon apa yang Rasulullah pohon kpd Mu dan aku minta lindungi apa yg Rasulullah pohon Engkau lindungi buatnya Ya Allah.

He has other reminders on his fb.Look up Dr. Ahmad Faisal or just Ahmad Faisal.I belum tengok but that's his name.

The Strand

An earlier entry aborted.It would not click 'go'.Growl!

 I was writing about the new mall near my plc.Pretty cool but not all shops are occupied.Z and I checked out its open space raya bazaar.Found some pretty stuffs there.She bought a nice outfit.I got myself a nice shawl.

 Amzar and Bashir tagged along when we went to the Curve.Boys are more difficult to please at shopping than girls.But in the end, they found what they liked.I don't think they should miss out on their childhood raya just because someone they love has just passed away.I'm sure it is tough on the kids, losing two loved ones within 50 days.But such is life.

Raya shopping with N

I dropped by to see how Sal and her family were coping.My other siblings and cousins were already there,lending emotional support.N had another fit last night, still grieving.So I asked if she would like to join me do our facial together.She said OK.Her mom said she could have a haircut as well.

Off we went to the Curve.We shopped for baju Raya first.N found one which she liked.Nice silky Italiano blue. Then we went for N's haircut.Waahhh..looked so syok doing the scalp treatment, massage and all.Later, the facial.I slept through mine.Fuiyooo...the new place is not so bad.N went next door to my regular salon.Dah penuh so I went next door.

I forgot something: matching shoes and handbag so we rushed downstairs to get N those.She was so graceful saying,"Tak payahlah..you have spent so much already on me". If only Z says that to me every time we go shopping. :)) Anyway, I'm glad N caught up - shopping IS a therapy. :D But she would not stop talking about Irsyad.Irsyad this.Irsyad that.I let her express her grief.I listened and laughed at funny memories she had of him.

By the time I dropped her home, she had this nice smile on her.It's Ramadan, folks.Forget your own Raya shopping.Make a child happy and raya is yours.

Ahmad Isyad in memoriam

In his family of five, he was seen as the quietest, helpful but at times could be headstrong.He went for a 3 years tahfiz school but later decided he could not cope so the parents placed him in a regular school.At the beginning of his Form 5 year or maybe a few months before the exam, he was diagnosed with "germ" cancer (short for germination,I think) which is common among teenagers.But the good thing is it has 70% chance of complete recovery via chemo treatment.So Irsyad went through chemo.The cancer marker came down to normal but the tumour shrunk only an inch or a cm.Irsyad was devastated (he was after all budak lagi...17) and felt lied to by the docs and just clamped up, withdrawn etc.Her parents never stopped berikhtiar.

I thought he looked better before I left for my holidays in Europe.Bila balik, I was practically seeing a dying boy.Then we brought him back to the docs..by now they had to drain water out of his lungs...the cancer had spread to his lungs and liver.But we were still hopeful and another full cycle of chemo was supposed to take place once the water in his lungs cleared.Irsyad was in much pain after they tebok his lung.They gave him morphine.I visited him last Sunday.That was the last time I saw him.His mom said he got worse on Wednesday and by Thursday nothing pleased him anymore except being with his parents.

"Ummi, usaplah rambut Uda (his home name)" he asked his mom.Sal said dia makin manja di saat-saat akhirnya.

When he refused to eat, his dad would encourage him to have something.He'd say,"Abah suapkanlah".

And today I had the blessings of Allah meeting his best friend of his tahfiz school days..Ashraff.He is also suffering from cancer but he pulled through after dah nazak last year.Kata mak Ashraff (who came with him to visit) Irsyad was the only friend Ashraff spoke with cos' hanya mrk faham penderitaan masing2. Ashraff dulu pun mcm Irsyad...withdrawn etc and he has only started to walk again the last two months.He is now in between treatments but he is cheerful dan mudah berborak now,kata maknya.Ashraff tak sempat dgn jenazah but insisted nak ke kubur Irsyad.So Irsyad's dad bawak dia ke kubur after they solat Jumaat.Biarlah puas hati dia saying the final goodbye.Kita doakan Ashraff will recover fully.

I must record that Irsyad's eldest sister was so badly affected that she had her seizure dlm masjid while orang sedang nak solat jenazah.I thought she was going...she went blue in the face and just shook non stop.Then she teriak.I had never seen her like this.Besarnya ujian Allah dan sabarnya si Sal ni!Kak Ngah,Ummi,Sal and Yayan came to cool her off.I tried but Yayan said I should not have tarik her leg and to just let it be.Lepas tu we let her rest and sleep.

According to Nabihah, the weeks Irsyad was in the hospital, they became very close.N took care of him when Sal had to solat ke hapa ke.Bila Irsyad jemu just lying down, N would put him on the wheelchair and bawak Irsyad pusing2. Irsyad enjoyed this most.N pandai bake cakes..masa sihat, Irsyad would want this cake and that (bila dia org tak berkelahi..:))) And N told me the set of blue towels I gave Irsyad were much used by him masa dia sakit baru-baru ni.One thing about Irsyad..he knew how to appreciate gifts by the aunties and cousins.

Well Irsyad, thank you for the happiness you gave us and semoga kita semua berjumpa di jannah nanti.

Al fatihah buat Irsyad

He passed away at HUKM jam 2.30 am.Al fatihah Ahmad Irsyad.

Langgak Golf iftar

The spread

I hope this will be the last iftar out this Ramadan but I had looked forward to this evening because of the special guest speaker brought over by the Australian High Comm for their 2nd berbuka puasa event with Muslims in KL.Susan converted very young (19) and since then has been active doing community work and she's famous.Hubby dia pun famous so it was a pleasure meeting her.

Equally pleasurable was meeting Ilham, South African-Australian Muslim whose hubby is the culture attache at Oz High Comm (he said the azan for berbuka).And meeting the wife of the High Commissioner is even more humbling.The couple had just renovated their home: buat musolla wanita siap dgn tempat wudhu'.SubhanaAllah! I usik Leanne, wife to the High Commissioner: ni mesti pengaruh you fighting for a space for the women.Dia gelak manis.

Then dia ckp dia teringin sgt nak tengok kami solat.Ilham kata since I tak puasa, sila layan and explain psl solat to her.Leanne was so cautious nak join..byk kali she asked me takpa ke sbb dia tak tutup aurat (dia pakai skirt).I said takpa, kita duduk diam2 kat belakang jemaah..lagipun ni rumah you,I reminded her.Sekali lagi dia ketawa baik. So I became the juru ulas as my sisters solat (berbisik2 kat belakang).I terangkan maksud fatihah and al ikhlas.Ayat lagi satu tak habeh tafsir nak cerita.Lepas tu dia ckp mmg dia curious.So I explained a bit more.I rasa kecil sgt duduk sebelah dia...begitu jujur dia nak belajar.Dia tanya kita solat 5 waktu ni masa ramadan je ke.I said tiap2 hari but we do more in Ramadan.6 kali? Tanya dia..dak..5 campur 8 and I explained teraweh.Then she said stg yg I tak pernah terpikir pun.She said if you do more and repeatedly, the focus will be more.MasyaAllah..kita sangat perlu mata ketiga begini utk memahami ibadah kita.

Anyway, I was sitting with a bunch of interesting people.Gamaknya yg paling kuat gelak meja kami.Nani's husband (he's very mixed...Syrian plus Turkish plus French plus American) yg sgt at home with Middle Eastern meal tu went to collect his desserts sambil bertanya: where's the shisha.:)) Dia pandai mcm Nani juga.Suka nengok couple ni.Dia masih bertudung lawa biarpun dah lama graduated from IIUM and Harvard.
Then Ariff (also very mixed-melayu campur cina campur english) buka cerita Bukit Chandan and perihal how it was common in the old days for Chinese babies born out of wedlock to be given away to Malay families for adoption...istana babies.Mmg ada tukang take care of these babies.I was like oh wow!

Readings at the Indian Culture Centre

 Jo Kukatas spoke well on writing to empathise 

 Dato Shan and His Excellency Tirumurti, High Commissioner

of India in Kuala Lumpur

 Panelists Uthaya Sankar and Sharon Bakar

 The crowd was good

 food was good too

 berbuka di sini 

 mingling

 can order online

 Dipika signing books for her readers

 India, off the wall

must visit one day

My Chicago-based writer friend, Dipika Mukherjee is in town as guest writer to an event hosted by the Indian High Comm in KL.She has kindly invited me to attend, perhaps say a few words too about Msian literary scene.

The event started with dinner.Met a few people (writers) I know..met new friends too.Sharon Bakar and Uthaya read their fav excerpts and gave commentaries.Uthaya started with an extract yg mmg menimbulkan kontroversi even with Dipika's editor or potential editors.I thought Dipika was surprised too over the choice but we addressed wht could have been a difficult topic to discuss.Then a few of us were invited to say a few words: me, Jo Kukatas, Dato Shan, and someone yg I tak ingat namanya (she's with a newspaper).

Yang bonus was listening to the High Commissioner - a published creative writer in India.I like what he said about banyan tree...the branches grow roots and in the end sustain the tree.He sees diasporic writers as such too.Must google and buy his book online altho he said he'd try look if he still has a copy or two on him. He said he appreciated wht I said about the need to move fwd and not be stuck with the race thingy...to go beyond our own community and feel wht others feel outside our circle.And while I may not agree with writers projecting the 'other', we should just accept writing the 'other' with an open mind...sama juga if Malays writing about the 'other'...jgnlah marah.Or stg like thatlah.I pun lupa apa I cakap. Yang nyata we discussed things openly and we were mature enough to listen well.

Buntat grounded!

It's gloomy everywhere (we are all worried about Irsyad.Please pray for his recovery). Hari ni at a friend's iftar, one of the Profs (of chemistry) told us a very encouraging story of juice daun belalai gajah and juice durian belanda for cancer patients yg docs dah give up hope.Tan Sri Ani told me the same thing.Irsyad tried tapi tak bersungguh.Org minum berbulan2 dan bertahun2 even after clearance.Must tell Sal again.The family's so supportive.Someone bought him a new phone.That brought him a smile of happiness and lots of enthusiasm.May Allah's endless love and mercy shower him and give his parents much sabr.

I tak puasa but kantoi juga whn the guys solat berjemaah (I thought my performance of looking tired and haus was good...masa org berbuka..I pun joined berbuka mcm org berpuasa juga tapi bila semua org berjemaah..I terpaksa duduk di dapor basuh pinggan!) But we had a good chat over what we wanted to do next.Jgn tinggal chat udah ler.

One of the gals in my family's whatsapp group sent me this.Buntat grounded for trying to be smart:

I  PAHANG
9 hrs ·
CERITA PEDO'OH DAN PUNGKOR LOGHAT NEGERI PAHANG

Kesoh Buntat yang terlajok bijok....

Dalam sebuoh kelas, cikgu pun memulakan pelajarannya....

Cikgu : Murid2... binatang apa yang bermula dgn huruf 'G'??

Dengan laju Buntat bangun dan menjawab... 'Gajoh, cikgu!!'.. Lalu Buntat pun dipuji oleh cikgu...

Cikgu : Soalan seterusnya.. binatang apa yang bermula dgn huruf 'D'?

Semua orang diam... Buntat pun bangun dan menjawab... 'Dua gajoh cikgu'... murid2 lain dalam kelas mula ketawa, dan cikgu pun mula maroh...

Cikgu : Buntat!!.. Awok berdiri atas kerusi sekarang... Ok... soalan seterusnya... binatang apa yang bermula dengan huruf 'M'?

Semua murid diam lagi.... Lalu dengan selamba Buntat menjawab... 'Mungkin gajoh'....

Cikgu : Buntat!! Awok keluor sekarang... berdiri kat pintu tu....
Soalan terakhir... binatang apa yang bermula dgn huruf 'J"?

Semua murid diam... cikgu menunggu seseorang menjawab tapi semuanya diam membatu... Lalu Buntat yang berdiri kat muka pintu menjawab.... 'Jangan jangan gajoh..."

Sekian.

p/s ; Hogoh Tok Gajoh Hogoh.... itu binatang yg bermula dgn huruf 'H'.........

Arab women poets on resisting war

Prayers for Gaza

I have students living in Gaza.Apalah nasib mrk dan keluarga mrk.I dare not send them emails.Hanya doa dan harapan that Allah will protect them and mereka yang dizalimi.

Try and answer these questions:

1.How much wealth and power is enough for rulers in Saudi,Jordan and Egypt who refuse to help the Palestinians?

2. Apa yang el-Sissy dapat in refusing EU medical relief team from entering Gaza?

3.Apakah Obama ingat the world will remember him as a courageous leader by not being firm with war criminals like Netanyahu? Dia hanya seorang budak hitam yang bercita-cita besar.

4. Apa lagi yang kita tunggu? Cukup ke hanya berkongsi sentimen2 di facebook?

5. Kenapa Malaysia tidak mendesak negara2 OIC supaya mendesak sekurang2nya konco2 Netanyahu? Terasa bodoh soalan ini!

6. Mana pergi human rights activists kat Msia ni? Hanya ramai org Melayu yg bising...adakah kaum lain melihat Gaza sebagai perang agama? Muslims vs anti Muslims? Are we fighting only for our own self interest?

I dah naik muak sebenarnya.Bak kata a facebooker - why are we still protesting in 2014?

Some images of people and life in Palestine

Guess who came to iftar?

Pak Ngah and family! So we had like ten people breaking fast with us. I don't see much of PN and family so it was nice catching up.They leave for Kuantan mlm ni juga...not sleeping over (Shahrul has work to do and he drives better in the evening).

 Guests at iftar (Shahrul and his dad)

 disiksa dgn masak lemak cili api ketam

 Alia and Ameerul

 Alia is so bijak, playing with Z's barbie dolls (she still keeps 

her toys for younger guests to play with)

Nik and my nephews (Shahrul and Syam - Kak Ngah's two boys), 

merokok kononnya rokok Swiss

Z got her exam results today (online) Syukurlah...within Shell's conditions.She's started doing her internship dah (and getting paid four figures!) and will be based at the Putrajaya branch every now and then (she declined Shell's internship in Miri sbb jauh sgt and if she went, she would only have a couple of weeks with us or none at all.I'm OK with it...I can fly to Miri on weekends or alternate weekend but her dadlah...daddy's gal...what can I say). But her stint with this company in PJ pun OK juga..closer to home.Her boss sounds like a very kind person so I guess Z is in good hands.Kita doa yang baik2 sahaja for the young ones.Cabaran mrk lagi besar dari zaman kita nanti...the world is more competitive, barang2 scarce and expensive, climate semakin panas, etc.I think stress level makin tinggi.

Irshad demam today but still in a happier mood dan nak makan.Bayangkan Gaza.Dugaan ibubapa di sana lagi besar.