Perfecting the art

Sampai satu ketika, setiap penulis akan berasa seni pembuatan itu sepatutnya mengatasi intipati atau mesej yang ingin disampaikan.

I have arrived at that stage.Isi tetap penting tetapi tiada maknanya jika tiada seni.Bak kata Saniah, seni yang I miliki adalah seni kasar.:D

Tidak berapa lama dulu saya masuk satu pertandingan menulis sebab nak membership free selama setahun.Tanpa saya duga, saya antara 3 orang yang terpilih (seorang dari US, seorang lagi dari India - dua-dua orang putih jadi saya bersyukur dapat mewakili Malaysia.Haha). Jadi selama setahun, saya boleh menikmati pelbagai pelajaran tentang seni tulis.Syukur alhamdulillah.Bila tamat tempoh, saya fikir tidak rugi bayar utk life membership kerana university maya ini benar-benar serious dan very supportive.

Hari ini saya membaca tentang rhythm dan meter bagai.Setengah tu saya masih keliru.Hendak berguru kena juga berdepan dgn guru.Saya fikir jika kita pandai ilmu muzik, akan mudah untuk membawa lenggok yang betul di dalam lirik-lirik kita.

Semoga saya mempunyai masa untuk memanfaatkan free membership selama setahun ini.

Greetings from Singapore

I arrived before noon.Sharleen was already waiting.Then we went to lunch at a nice Indian restaurant near my hotel.After lunch I wanted to shop kain at Arab St.Ann said it was a walking distance away so I pun menapak.Jauh bebenor! Balik I took a cab.Pakcik tu kasi I discount.Baiknya.

My event will start at 5.30 pm.Two other Australian women writers will also speak and read at the event.I baru nak polish up wht to say, which poems to read.

I hope it will go well.I will read some of my new pieces.

Alhamdulillah, we had a lovely session.A small crowd of 20-25 people..many from outside the uni so it was nice and cosy.SMU was having a long break so no students to make the crowd.Kirp had bad stomach from food poisoning in Phnom Penh.His comments of my Ebola piece was spontaneous and witty.I wrote of how our mortality was programmed to a certain time - it had an expiry date..Kirp related his conversation with his Spore taxi driver who told him..worry not..even Lee Kuan Yew died.:) - speaking of which mmg Spore taxi drivers are professional and kind.Everytime I naik, I got discounted price.Taxi Cina mcm tu, taxi Melayu pun gitu.Syukur alhamdulillah.Exchange rate was 2.7.Mmg jatuh wajib rakyat Msia terima sedekah!.

A year today

A year today kami sibuk nak membawa pulang jenazah ibu from the hospital back to her home in Raub.

Al fatihah bonda.Semoga doa anak-anak dan cucu-cucu diterima Allah dan disampaikan kepadanya.

Hosting UNESCO scientists in KL

A few of us got invited to the opening ceremony at Mandarin O (Ministers kita termasuk TPM mcm biasa tak tau jaga masa..tak malu ke kat orang bukan Islam dok menunggu kita?)

Permata kids performed ..choir lagu traditional and lagu Happy.Berbaloi Kak Mah menabung.Mmg world class performance..mcm Vienna Boys lagaknya. Mengada pun mcm dot.dot.But super cute, ok? Kami terhibur.

It was a good place to network among researchers of all sorts. Was glad I went.Ada guy will table my idea (agro-health resort and spa) at his Iskandar meeting besok.I told him kalau jadi, jangan lupa rope in kami.Ideas I suci. :D

The new maid sungguh efficient but we are on our guard..gaya pack baju mcm tak lama (the new maid yg ganti the old maid dah lari ikut boiferen tak sampai 2 bulan kerja dgn kami.I'm OK without maid cos' weekend, two maids will come and do all the cleanings, washings, ironings, gardenings for a week but my hubby thinks washing sebiji mug dan sebuah pinggan on week days is too much for him so we got a new one) This new maid said she tak pernah lari.She would inform her employer if she wanted to leave.Ya right.I asked paling lama awak kerja berapa tahun.Setahun katanya.Nak pengsan I dengar her ketulusan hati.She's been here for 10 years.Bayangkanlah every year a new employer.Enjoy her as she lasts.:)

Stories from the peripheries

 GST has its effect..the restaurant gave us a lot of 

complimentaries (they didn't have too many diners as 

before.Harga mcm bomb!)

Ekraj looking for old text to show us something

It's been 6 years!

Dato Azman on your left and Ir Jamal on your right.

Oyster cake.Tak sedap langsung.Rasa fishcake

Still lembik on Saturday morning but Ekraj (Thailand) and Baibonn (the Philippines) are in town for the religious mediation conference.Since I helped bring them in, I kenalah pi jumpa.But the conf was also my interest.Baibonn had already finished talking when I arrived.Ekraj spoke on the first day (I was in Ktn).The panel session in which religious body reps spoke was exciting.Everyone spoke issues: kalimah Allah, restriction of building houses of worship, conversions etc.Heated discussions but everyone (almost all) agreed the importance of mediation.

Bumped into friends from the last interfaith conf.I told them the paper would be ready by June.Dah almost two years nak buat2 but no time.Lee told Baibonn of the wonderful session we had on family institution.

I told E&B mlm je I bwk depa keluar dinner since I was rushing to another meeting in PJ.Prof Rahmatullah who is on crutches (kaki patah terjatuh dlm monsoon drain!) nak tumpang I since he could not drive.I said balik nanti he had to take a cab.He said no prob.So it was an easy AGM.We planned to go bck to Flinders to celebrate its 50th year nxt year.Cheh..ari tu dgn Liverpool pun gitu and they are going this August.I akan terkulat2 cos' I can't get away frm work..it'll be our research month and I pun baru balik frm Z's graduation.Duh.

Balik frm AGM, terkempol2 nak pi pick E&B for dinner.Nik had another dinner at Putrajaya so it worked well if I balik lambat.Mmg lambat.The two byk sgt cerita from the peripheries.Ekraj cerita perihal this Muslim man who's got Aids.No one nak the jenazah so the Buddhist monks ambik.Kali pertama, depa cremated jelah jenazah malang tu sbb depa tak tau psl kena mandi jenazah
bagai.Second time, depa pi tolak ke mesjid but imam tak terima cos' takut berjangkit. But someone told monks jenazah org Islam tak leh bakar dan kena tanam, kena mandi jenazah etc so monks buka kitab belajar dan buat semua! Tak ke malu kita? But Ekraj had educated psl HIvs kpd org Islam and so now adalah yg sudi nak uruskan jenazah org Islam yg ada HIVs.

Baibonn cerita how her sister terserempak dgn satu Muslim gay kat hospital tengah nazak.So she tlg baca yassin and ajar dia mengucap.Dari wajah ketakutan dan menangis, pesakit itu tenang selepas dibacakan yassin dan ketika mati, kakak Baibonn nmpk mcm asap keluar dari kepala bahagian tengahnya! Kakak Baibonn kaget dan lari ketakutan..terserempak pulak dgn doctor yg berjambang.Kebetulan doktor Muslim! She told him ada org Muslim baru meninggal.Doctor tu lari ke arah bertentangan.Rupa2nya nak ambik batu shiah dia nak letak kat dahi si mati.Dr tu buatlah cara dia dan beritau pihak berwajib mereka akan mengerjakan jenazah itu.

Rezeki jenazahlah tak dibakar.Mungkin ada kebaikannya dia mati dlm syahadat dan diuruskan oleh org yg tidak membakar mayat.Menurut Baibonn dia terpaksa jadi gay sbb nak nolong ibubapanya yg miskin di kampong.Wallahualam.Syurga neraka itu hak Allah.

I suka keluar dgn E&B cos' byk cerita and since they travel a lot, mcm2 ragam manusia la dijumpai mrk.Maryam yg cantik jelita tu rupanya anak bekas Ratu Cantik Filipina.Patut le cantik sgt.Dia masuk Islam after university internship in Mynmar..she worked amidst the Rohingyas.Allah beri hidayah dgn byk cara.

Kuantan workshop

Ktn hosted the TRGS workshop and I brought satu bas IRK colleagues to match research interests.Fun gila cos' there were so many possibilities.One of the doctors said he felt energised. So sweet.

And guess who one of the speakers was? One of the guys I met at a biotech convention in Boston in 2007. Flinders grad juga. We all were inspired by his professionalism and commitment as a scientist (couldn't care less about ranking and meeting KPIs).There was another Prof Azmi (Cambridge grad, UPM based) then but I think he joined the corporate world tak lama balik dari US.Antara dua Azmis ni, I can't really recall which one joined the dinner at MHS's home at Harvard.I rasa the USM's Azmi but he's gone really kurus now (fit) and mukanya tersangatlah Cina looking. :D. My memory cannot hold much now.8 years' event pun dah lupa.A good thing I blog.

I had bad food poisoning ptg semlm when my RA bawak balik some pasta.Then off to Ktn berhenti dinner at R&R. Jam 3.30 am I thought I was dying..I had bad stomach ache.Pagi tu suruh bdk counter belikan 100 Plus cos' I dah lembik kena cirit birit.Then texted Dr Ailin to buy me some anti cirit birit pills which she kindly bought from iium clinic.

I need rest.

Are we trained enough?

Seorang pelajar pasca-siswazah Palestine datang mencari saya dalam keadaan marah2.Lucky I takda di bilik.Dia nak komplen pasal one of his lecturers (dia nak jumpa my Boss but Boss busy and someone suruh jumpa saya as her Deputy.Mak ooii).

Sedang saya seronok mengisi markah2 students (beberapa jam selepas dicari oleh pelajar tadi), dia moncol kembali dalam keadaan termengah2 dan berpeloh2 (maklum my office tingkat 3 no lift).Dia cakap berdiri marah2.

I said sila duduk.Nanti saya bawak air, awak minum kasi tenang.Baca istighfar byk2.Then we can talk. Bila dia telah tenang, saya biarkan dia bercerita.Saya dah beritau..jgn burukkan guru tapi focus on masalah sebenar.Dia pun bercerita.Bila dia habis, saya minta dia jgn menyampuk bila saya bercakap.Ada cubaan tapi saya ingatkan (keluarkan kad kuning..secara metaphorical).

Akhirnya persetujuan diambil dan dia keluar lebih tenang dari dia datang.Phew! Kasihanilah kami para pendidik..bukan mudah berhadapan dgn pelajar hari ini.Ini belum lagi my friend yang dapat death threats, yang kena kencing pintu biliknya, yang itu yang ini.Semoga Allah memelihara kami semua.

Tetapi kita juga harus faham pelajar2 kita.Are we trained enough to handle pelajar2 yang datang dari medan perang..yang rumah mereka dirampas, keluarga mereka dibunuh setiap hari? Mereka ini paranoid, mudah marah, mudah rasa ditindas dan lain2. The least we can do is to be a good listener and help them where we can.

Sesungguhnya saya bukan orangnya.Kalau dia terus berkeras tadi, saya percaya saya pun sama naik menjerit2.Syukurlah Allah permudahkan.

And now to discuss the matter with lecturer pelajar ni..harap2 saya tak kena marah kerana masuk campur urusan orang tetapi sebagai orang tua, kita cuba sahaja lah.Nak dengar, alhamdulillah, Tak nak dengar, don't say I have not spoken.

Knocked out!

I am now convinced doing qiyamulail is good for your health.

I slept at the office with my RMC colleagues last night.Masing2 masuk office masing2... Mcm hotel rooms. We didn't expect the night would be so cold (rupa2nya Arni pi pasang centralised aircon!).I was ill-prepared.Some of us didn't sleep...couldn't..at all.I managed to get some 3 hours.

At qiyam..felt lucky cos' this uni tang ni bagus sgt dia...institutionalised ibadah camp.6 rakaat solat tahajud, hajat and tobat with 3 witir.And then zikir and baca mathurat pagi.My badan yg sakit tidur atas lantai jadi segar.Ini bukan exaggeration.Saya sahkan cerita2 kawan2 yg pulih dari pelbagai penyakit hanya dgn amalan solat tengah mlm dan baca Quran.

Lepas subuh, I went back to my hotel room..sambung tidur till 11 am! Org lain semua dah balik.Went home to feed my fish and went to do my spa..facial, reflexology and body massage.Balik rumah sama dgn waktu Nik arrived frm KT.Lepas Maghrib..another round of sleep.Weii...ni jet lag ke hapa ni? Knocked out habis!

But I remember this frm tazkirah Dr. Latiff: peringkat tertinggi iman is muhsin.Urutannya ialah Muslim, Mukmin/ah, Ihsan,Muhsin.Seorang Muslim belum tentu Muhsin tetapi seorang Muhsin adalah Muslim, Mukmin/ah dan Ihsan.Dia menjaga solat2nya, memberi zakat dan yakin dgn hari akhirat (ayat Quran in surah Luqman).Dia membuat segalanya dgn ikhlas kerana Allah taala.Dosa2 yg byk menghitamkan hati dan Allah akan kunci hati itu sampai empunya diri dah takda rasa takut atau malu membuat mungkar.Dia tidak lagi percaya Allah melihat semuanya dan di akhirat akan dapat balasan (kadang2 cash atas dunia).Seorang peserta bertanya bagaimana nak cuci hati dari titik2 hitam..ustaz kata bkn titik lagi but tebal/nipis hati itu dgn titik2 hitam.Katanya setiap kebaikan yg dibuat kerana Allah (tanpa riak dan diketahui org), akan terpadam titik itu. I tambah "zikir, ustaz". Ustaz said kekadang zikir pun org buat tak betul.Hanana la gamaknya tu.I didn't want to argue. It makes sense...zikir utk diri sendiri..impaknya kurang.Buat baik ramai yg dpt memanfaatkan.

The academic groups I join are upset over outside interference in the running of unis in this country.Ramai sahabat dan tolan kirim microphones melalui social media to me since uia suka sgt merampas  microphone from speakers at forums and lectures. :D

Leaders come and go but our mahasiswa/wi are not dumb.The more administrators resist, the stronger they become so kalau I yg memimpin uni, I give more microphones (and get smart and fearless moderators to ensure scholarly discussions do take place)....then make sure they (students) go bck to studies and get their As after that.Masalahnya ada di kalangan academics yg melihat opposition reps as enemies.I reminded those with this mindset (yg sedih..they are frm legal bground!) that mmg kerja opposition membangkang and tht they are legal entities and stopping them frm speaking at forums is against the constitution. Ada deme kisah? We need people who are genuinely academic to manage unis.Ketidak it's so third world mindset. Mmg kita tau org will come with their own agenda.Fightlah intellectually.Jgn lari - kan uia ramai world class debaters?

Sesuatu yang belum diceritakan...

I'm on Ibadah Camp Sesi Ke 2 (this time with RMC).It's better than the kull's actually cos' we have only one speaker (and it's my friend from the kull..tak tau pulak dia ni lawak orangnya). I learnt mucho.First, it is wajib to jaga our maruah esp in our appearance, etc.Jangan la konon nak zuhud sgt sampai motor pi masjid pun takda tongkat dan dok bersandar kat dinding masjid, he said. :D

Byk benda lain were shared.I will have to refer to my notes.Tunggu.

But ada sesuatu yang mysterious which I had not blogged here.It happened the first night of the conference at Dubrovnik.We went home late cos' we joined the group's dinner.Masa walking home along our walking trail by the sea (dalam gelap tak gelap tu), I was yang paling belakang.I told myself tak perlu takut cos' ada tapak kaki (lelaki) kat belakang I so ada orang.Sampai satu tempat, I pusing belakang to see the man. Nothing, okay? I biarkan je.Maybe my imagination running wild.

Malam tu I tidur mcm biasa. Pagi tu I woke up for Subuh I felt my body (upper body).Tak sehelai baju or cicit baju on me!!! I looked for my clothes bawah duvet, bawah katil.Nothing.Weiiii...(I found them in the closet next to my bed).If it were me, I would have just campakkan on the floor, right? (But no dreams of being raped by anyone)

I told my two friends.The first thing they did was laugh.Then my psychologist friend said maybe you took it out while sleeping.Maybe.I hope so!

Besoknya...nothing happened but my friend said I memelok dia.Kah2.But nasib baik di dalam keadaan decent.

Don't play2..kawasan Croatia...Bosnia ni kawasan perang.I hope it was not a drunk Serb army man who intruded.I hope it was me.

The walled city and the rest of the Balkan memories

How could I have not shared these pics.We were up there the first thing we got to the Old City.I get easily sick in Msian air. Mek said the water in Selangor came from air lombong. So many rumours going around di hari-hari terakhir seorang pemimpin.Adakah yang berikutnya lebih suci atau apa?

Looking at these pics rasa fresh again.

 Tomas yang seronok bercerita pasal politik semasa

(Croats yang bukan Muslim)

 Fuad dan teman, Muslims di Dubrovnik yang pertama kami temui

Croatian lunch

Kawan pemusik Dr Farizah (Kassim Selamat)

The marina at the walled city

On the last day we found a skipper and went on a 50 mins speed
boat ride..when we walked around the nearby shops, people
pointed to us: you are the ladies from the boat! We must have looked like
kinky nuns.Haha

badly shelled in the war but rebuilt and now listed a UNESCO
heritage

damai

air bersih, udara segar

the bus we took to Bosnia

kastam

Pics you have not seen of Dubrovnik

On our way to the airport on Sunday, we paid extra our kind taxi driver Pavla to stop at Cavtat (pronounced Savtat) so we could take some pics of the small town with a nice cove.We got something extra.He showed us where Tito often stayed (Serb armies too..but it was them who bombed the place too during the recent war).