Kata takda duit...

Raya open houses mcm ekonomi sangat kukuh! Negara ini sangat dilimpahi rahmah Allah.Betapa tabahnya rakyat Msia semua mengharungi ujian demi ujian demi ujian.

I attend office raya functions for the hubungan silrahturrahim sahaja. Dah tak termakan-makan sebenarnya. Last night was with the Tashkent group and a guest from the US (nice conversations 3 penjuru).

Raya di RMC

The RMC gals

Z at her do with her colleagues

Discussions 3 penjuru (Msia-USA-Uzbekistan)

Dr Sheila and the gals

Tashkent gals in tudung

Tashkent gals

Steamboat and grill food

Back to back

Drove to Putrajaya for my women's conference.Kuasa doa..not only I arrived before start of event, I was allowed to park betul-betul depan pintu masuk dewan by the guard cos' he said basement 3 carpark penuh.Not only that, breakfast at the VIP table with people who really work for this country: the DG herself, UM covering VC and his Dean of Econs. Tan Sri Zaleha Ismail was there as well. Subahanallah...a fantastic time listening to scholars and administrators who are so inspiring.Sayang I could not stay longer cos' I had another engagement in Gombak.

Then pi beraya at Hazilah's with groups frm Tashkent and rombongan cik kiah kita.Sakan! Food was fantastic.The girls danced..depa tarik I suruh ajar inang.Haha..jgn nanti dituduh takda budaya pulak.

Mek is in a better mood today so we sat and talked.Pasal Sheikh Hamza. And Muhammad Ali.I'm glad a great change from semalam (lepas minum and mandi air Ustaz dengan izin Allah).Semoga Allah beri kami kesabaran menghadapi ujian ini.

Hospital scenes again

I took the day off semalam to send Mek to see her doctor at Putrajaya.Nasib Faiz ada to drive the car.Jaga orang sakit ni bukan kerja seorang.It was easier looking after my mom cos' she could walk by herself.Mek needs help to move around.Lucky her wheelchair is much lighter than the one my mom had.Ketidak menangis nak angkat sorang! Dr. Jamil is a very nice doctor.Tenang je dia ni but buat kerja cekap.Semoga Allah mudahkan urusan harian dia dan memberkatinya.

While waiting at the waiting lounge at the clinic, ada satu makcik ni who just discovered she had cancer.Dia menangis masa cerita.I had to pacify her and said take one at a time, don't think too far.Hari ni focus on getting well..you are seeing the doc which is part of your journey to recovery..yada yada yada.Then I told them our story..Mek's story..how she was near death..makcik tu dgn izin Allah rasa tenang and bersemangat nak jumpa doctor.But I had a supporter..another makcik..a pic of calm who also told her kita mesti redho..nangis2 tak menyelesaikan masalah.She was so calm...tengah buat chemo but didn't look it.She said she byk solat and zikir.MasyaAllah!

Then Faiz and I bwk Mek pi jumpa my physiotherapist. Mr. W mcm biasa...acting like the genuine caretaker he is.I think Mek moved better with some tips taught.

By the time we got home, it was 5 pm.Penat gila. My doa is I pun sihat to help out.My sisters take turn looking after Mek.

Raya stories

I won't pretend this year it didn't feel much of a raya.But I was determined to celebrate it with joy because that is perintah Tuhan.Raya puasa is hari kemenangan bagi mereka yang beriman dan telah berjaya mengikut perintah puasa sebulan kerana Allah Taala so we went to visit the kubur a day before for my parents in law in Kota Dsara and on day two for my parents in my kampong.First day was at our place.About 11 or so we drove back to Raub.Traffic was good.

We stayed at a hotel cos' mak's house was left empty for so long.My youngest, the owner of the house dah upah org cuci but still..I tengok the rumput still panjang. Sal and family slept for a night.Bihah said byk cicak and katak in the bathrooms...ada katak, mesti ada...eeeeiii.Told my youngest to take care of the house..sayang tak berjaga..kalau buat homestay, sebijik swimming pool lepas lagi tu.

I took more time to get to know my cousins on my dad's side and anak my cousin yg stopped growing at 12 intellectually tu.He's 47 I think but has the mind of a 12 year old but he could read and write (he went to sch until standard 6 then demam panas jadi mcm tu). Nama dia Zulkifli but my dad called him Leik.I don't know who added Chaleik.We used to laugh at him..my dad suka usik dia: hari ni makan lauk apa Leik? He would happily answer: lauk rimau.Or lauk buaya.And we would laugh and mock him.But guess what? Anak syurga inilah yang menjaga ibubapanya yang dah tua.Somehow, his emotional intelligence is very high.He's very protective of his ailing mom and dad.

Every raya, we would drop by to say hello and catch up.Biasa every raya Leik would get rm10 or more from each of us.This raya, my hubby just handed an envelope.Kita tak sangka Leik would inspect immediately.He found dua ringgit in his raya envelope.He muttered aik? Dua ringgit sahaja? My kak ngah thought he would redho and accept it but she saw him get up and shouted at Nik (we were by the roadside, ready to go): woiii...dua ringgit je ke? Nasib masa tu takda orang lalu lalang..suara Leik tak perlu pakai hailer.Haha. My hubby pun kasilah his usual rate.

Malam tu Leik and family went to visit Mek at Kak De's.I had told them about the early incident.But somehow someone gave rm5 in duit seringgit.He thought the same nightmare and asked seringgit lagi ke? Sal said awak kena redho Leik..apa juga rezeki yg diberi orang.He said iyalah..seringgit tu dapatlah beli air satu tin.Sal said ada dua ringgit tu.Dua tin, said Leik.

He has OKU allowance and he would quietly spend it on helicopter control and car control.Bukan main2 hobi Leik ni.But wht else would he do? I think this raya we look up to Leik with more respect and wish him well.

I'm inviting my non-Muslim neighbours over for a simple raya lunch today.Z's friends came last night.Amir and gang.Amir will be based in Cambodia for 3 months.Alia and Hanna and Z plan to visit him nanti.Byk le duit budak2 ni nak travel sana sini.

at Nadiah's wedding post Raya

Konon-konon anak ramai

Malam raya, waiting for org surau datang takbir

Juadah raya di malam raya

Jiran/orang surau bertakbir (our plc was the first)

Macam zaman saya kecil, meriah malam raya with takbir

Serai/halia/lemon juice ternyata popular

Solat raya di surau

Potluck raya breakfast after solat

Dah macam kampong kami

Too little, too late

I went back to pray at my surau malam-malam terakhirnya because dah start to feel less rushed with work.Lagipun rugi if I don't maximise the last 10 days.

Surau pun padat so the room was not so cold.Malam pertama, someone brought a baby who would cry non stop.I ni kalau solat, perlukan suasana senyap..no talking, no wailing.So there was a big struggle within as I did my teraweh and witir.Between feeling angry with the mother of the baby (berapa ramai yg akan terganggu focus solat mereka malam tu) and the understanding that the young mother wanted her lailatul qadr too (which she could get wherever she is).

Then you'd have women who love talking about donnia while on their prayer mat while waiting for Isyak.Yg ni I tak tahan betul. Rumah Allah IS rumah Allah...if in a library kita boleh senyap..why can't we in surau and masjid? Zikir ke...baca Quran ke.

Then there are those who would be so concerned over where you place your feet to ensure saf lurus. Dia nak lurus betul macam pembaris.I will need to refer to my ahli fiqh when I go back after Raya.Shoulder to shoulder should be fine..tak pyh le kata tumit tu kena letak kat mana.

Nik is so good this Ramadan.Semua dia buat.Pukul 2 am dah bangun.Wow! And after his iktikaf at the surau just before Sahur, he told me how worried he was if the family could not be together in akhirat.So we both sobbed and set a rule that there should only be one voice frm now on: his.Z was also briefed that no one could veto dad now...Subuh and Isyak must jemaah now in addition to Maghrib on working days.We have to adjust time to ensure this.

Entah berapa lama le tahannya vow tu knowing how busy we all are.Kekadang imam pun balik lewat!

Ustaz tazkirah said whtever Ramadan discipline we have, we have to continue after Ramadan or hati kembali keras..sifat malas akan kembali jika kita tak buat apa kita buat now: solat sunat, ngaji Quran, bykkan bersedekah dll.In some places, people travel by sampans in the dark of the night to listen to ceramah agama (tazkirah ustaz frm Sabah semlm..he quit his job as a lecturer to do dakwah fulltime in pendalaman Sabah di kg2 yg dah islam but no guru to teach them how to pray etc). There are still kids who eat from tong sampah.Ustaz said he grew like that till sekolah menengah but saved by Allah via wang zakat, ihsan orang that dia dapat sambung belajar till uni.SubhanaAllah..how protected our lives are..dok sibuk bagi bantuan sana sini...rakyat kita masih ramai eating from tong sampah.

Anyway, I decided to create the raya mood early this year by doing some flower arrangements using some recycled materials (botol jam and botol minuman in addition to a few vases I have around the house, often unused).

Pulang ke kampong berhari raya

The excitement of balik kampong dah mula terasa (on the radio). Sedih mendengarnya.We used to be excited too about going back to beraya with Mak and other adik beradik. Sebelum raya pun dah sibuk pack apa yang patut dibawa balik.I usually buy new hari raya set for my mom and tempah cake raya yang beranika gaya. Pastu her baju raya and gifts from my various travels for my siblings, young nephews and nieces.

Tadi on the radio, listening to all this excitement made me want to sob je. Well, I did.Even Ramadan tahun ni pun tak terasa semeriah tahun lalu...ustaz-ustaz pun tak sama dah (so I stop going to do my teraweh at the beautiful surau - tu sebab takda tazkirah Ramadan dah this year).Mek is still in the hospital although better.I see her weekends sahaja but hope she will be able to balik beraya with us.

Tapi baju raya semua dah siap..lucunya tersilap ambik baju which I thought was RM880 tapi tak nampak ada 3 di depannya RM3880. Sapa la nak pakai baju mahal mcm ni. Maniknya berat macam batu sungai!

The Uzbek people will arrive after Raya so there'll be a different kind of excitement and busy-ness.
My FRGS tutup hari ni. Last min entry terkecoh2. Semlm lagi I dah mcm naik hangin when told certain things didn't balance up but nasib my RA cekap juga setting things right and I must thank Hizami for his kindness and Prof Ratna as well for helping out.Now we hope there will be more grants our way.It has been a wonderful experience.Not easy but we did it, alhamdulillah.From Croatia to Spain, we have a few publications, a book and a module printed.Praying for more blessings now.

How good are you with secrets?

I almost choked on my sahur drinks today when Z told me I could not keep a secret for long. How I would be "membuak-buak" to spill the beans. :D I was picking a conversation on this secret with Nik infront of her but her radar picked  it up (I forgot Z ni busybody juga orgnya).I had to tell her I was under oath and would not share it with her.

She said well, I'd give you 10 minutes because I can see you dah membuak-buak wanting to tell.

Haha.

I didn't, OK? Despite her trying - asking me all sorts of tricky questions to get some clues.She said she would need to learn from the moral of the story.I said you never listened to my advice so no point telling you any moral of the story. :))

But by 7.30 am, I had told one of my closest friends! (well...to get her advice to help solve the problem). She gave me a very useful advice which none of us would have thought of. :)

Hopefully, all will be resolved before too long.And I'm still behind 5 surah despite finishing 2 on iPad last night.

Azan Asar

A couple of days ago we almost berbuka early.Like pantang dengar azan...tidak boleh terlewat barang seminit!

Bibik yg announced boleh berbuka cos' her radio dah bunyi azan.As we were about to capai kurma, hubby jerit dari atas saying belum masa.TV lambat lagi nak azan.I looked outside.Cerah lagi.So which radio Bibik dengar ni? Radio Spore ke radio Indonesia.

We found out that it was radio Johor.Mcm joke org yg berbuka awal bila ditanya mengapa, he said azan Asar sama bunyi dengan azan Maghrib! :D Yang ini, azan Johor sama dengan azan KL.When we told Nik, he didn't think it was funny. Haha.

The new guy in my office is very resourceful.He was from everywhere so we worked on the CREAM schedule all morning and much of the afternoon (with Naim, Haslina, Su and Aznili). By the time I drove home, my head was throbbing so hard that I thought it would burst! ).And I have another conference to work on as well.Pengsan gua.

29th anniversary

Syukur alhamdulillah, Nik selamat sampai from his umrah trip - a day early from our 29th wedding anniversary celebration.There were flowers for him everywhere in the house.He just noticed the small bouquet by the bed.Duh! And he even forgot the flowers were also meant for our 29th anniversary.He thought hanya nak sambut dia pulang from umrah...what can I say??

At first we thought of some fine dining tonight.Then teringat betapa membazirnya bayar mahal-mahal tapi boleh makan separuh pinggan je.So we have decided to eat at the surau.Kebetulan malam ni someone is throwing a big kenduri.Haha.Just pretend it's for us.I'll bring in some fav kuih to be shared.Nak bawak lebih-lebih pun tak kena, kenduri orang lain.My first time berbuka di surau ni.

I'll take some pics tonight IA.

Nota kaki: I forgot to bring my phone so no pics.Bibik took some but I do not know how to transfer them here. :)) It was a meaningful berbuka.Some people from the pprt flats were thr.Alhamdulillah.

Bonding with my gal

Z is always busy with work but this week, we spend a bit more time together.Her dad is still away so we have to do the marketing together, sometimes scale bazaar ramadan up and down together or she would drive me to Putrajaya to visit Mek. So last night I belanja her berbuka at Everly in Putrajaya although budget asal kat kedai mamak near Ummi's home (murtabak dia mcm murtabak Spore sedapnya) but she and my maid had been good gals the whole week so kasi special treat la sikit, kan?

Masih ramai orang berbuka di hotel.Penuh! Everly is never known for good food but its Ramadan spread baguslah.Tapai pulut, bubur lambuk, jus kurma, jus limau kasturi, jus winter melon, sirap bandung...just to name a few. Kambing golek..mak oii..I didn't eat much (buffet mcm ni cepat muak) but the tapai and lambuk were good!

Bibik tunggu Mek mlm tadi cos' she demam.The professional nurse we hire jaga dia siang je and on week days.Weekends we take over.Alhamdulillah she is better but still bedridden.

Puasa

Carlotta arrived on Sunday. I told her tahun ni I could not take leave and my weekends are full, looking after Mek cos' we take turn looking after her now so my weekends are out. And I said dia boleh tinggal dua hari je at my house (teruk tak?) cos' I would be working and sibuk nak melayan dia.It's Ramadan.I would like to spend more time doing things I should for Ramadan.But I took her to Taman Tun bazar ramadan.Bukan dia je nak gila tengok makanan dan minuman anika warna.Me also.Mcm tak pernah puasa! The best of Ramadan is also this. :)

She wanted to interview me for her Muslim women project. So we spent all day and part of my evening on this. Sari pun tak lepas ke surau for teraweh. Nik is in Makkah with Mus. So malas nak pi sorang without him. Z and I solat di rumah je.

Just heard that one of the twins berlanggar..habis kereta Mek - total loss.Besarnya ujian Mek kali ni.Semoga dia & family tabah and will sail through this ujian. Sal said it's also a test for all of us.

Alfatihah Muhammad Ali

I heard the news on my morning radio this morning.The Champ died on a Friday.Allahuakbar, the Most Merciful and Compassionate! Mulianya mati seorang mujahid. Not because of drug overdose, heart attack in some seedy nightclub, not in the arms of a prostitute, not drunk...

I cried more than 3 times over his death. I wondered about my over-sensitivitiness.Semi mentioned something about us belonging to his era.I don't get sentimental over such thing easily. I think it's because for a long time I discovered what a genius he was.He came out off black poverty, discrimination and racial hatred. He dreamt big and made it happen.Not without faith in Allah.My god, every time I listen to his interviews, I marvel at his intelligence and wisdom. Read what Muhammad said here:

 "Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them — a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill, and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill."

and this:

"The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up."

US Presidents from Bush to Clinton to now Obama all had honoured him.Clinton gave him the honour to carry the Olympic torch way back in the 1990s. Obama gave him this tribute http://tmz.vo.llnwd.net/o28/newsdesk/tmz_documents/0604-obama-statement-02.pdf

Alfatihah Muhammad. May you meet the other Muhammad (pbuh) in firdausi.

The Defense

All 29 or so of us turun padang to justify or validate our MyRA 5* rating.I started frm home 5 am stg to catch the 6.50 am bus to Putrajaya (malas drive). I thought it would be done by mid-day.Habis pukul 6 pm! Wough...what a long day.

Our bit went smoothly.We had a nice and kind auditor.The other auditors pun baik-baik but a couple of units got into sticky situations...byk juga points kena tolak.Finance turun to 8 million from 21 million. But we still pray that we could reclaim our 5* back after sliding one * last year for MyRA 2014.

The result will be out in 10 days. Some happy pics after a hard day's work at The Everly in Putrajaya (Alamanda is such a boring shopping mall).